Campaign to Refute Anti Israel Statement by The Guardian's Michael White

On Monday 14 December 2009 during The BBC Radio London Breakfast Show with Joanne Good and Paul Ross,The Guardian's Associate Editor Michael White made the following comment concerning the physical vulnerability of political leaders:

"In Israel they murder each other a great deal. The Israeli Defense Forces murder people because they don't like their political style and what they've got to say and it only means that people more extreme come in and take their place".

These are extremely serious and baseless accusations and perhaps offer a disturbing insight into the mindsets of The Guardian's senior staff as well as those BBC presenters who simply grunted in agreement.

Does the IDF target terrorists and their leadership in order to defend Israeli citizens from terror attacks? Certainly. Does the IDF engage in deliberate murder in order to silence dissent in the same style as a police state or dictatorship? Certainly not.

Accusing the IDF of murdering people because they disagree with their "political style" is an absolutely outrageous slander. How can the paper's Associate Editor represent The Guardian on a public platform, spreading slanderous accusations while expected to produce reliable and credible material in a mainstream newspaper?

Please send a complaint to The Guardian's readers' editor Siobhain Butterworth - reader@guardian.co.uk - and demand that The Guardian takes action against Michael White who is unfit for the task of Associate Editor if he publicizes such ridiculous untruths. Despite Michael White's language, please remember to be civil when addressing your complaint.

You can also send a complaint to the BBC, which allowed such a slur to go unchallenged, through the BBC Complaints website - www.bbc.co.uk/complaints - remembering to include the full details of the BBC radio show in question.