Jonathan Cook (born 1965) is a British freelance journalist based in Nazareth, Israel, who has published in The Guardian, The Observer, ZNet, Electronic Intifada, CounterPunch, Al Jazeera and Information Clearing House. He authored the book Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State.
Background
Jonathan Cook was born in Buckinghamshire, England. He received a BA Honours in Philosophy and Politics from Southampton University in 1987, a postgraduate diploma in Journalism from Cardiff University in 1989 and a Masters degree in Middle Eastern studies, with distinction, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, 2000.
He has been a reporter and editor of regional newspapers between 1988-94,[citation needed] a freelance sub-editor with national newspapers between 1994-96,[citation needed] a staff member of The Guardian and Observer newspapers between 1996-2001,[citation needed] a freelance writer based in Nazareth, Israel, covering the Middle East since September 2001.[citation needed]
Views
In his website, Cook states that as a freelance journalist and as the "first foreign correspondent to be based in the Israeli Arab city of Nazareth, in the Galilee"[1], he has a unique perspective unavailable to Western journalists based in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv in Israel, or Ramallah in the West Bank.
Cook has written in the Guardian newspaper in Britain that there was "a relentless campaign to target, discredit and silence critics of Israel."[2]
Debate with Human Rights Watch
In regard to reporting on the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Cook claimed that Human Rights Watch (HRW) made statements regarding the intentions of Israel and Hezbollah to target or to avoid targeting civilians which were not justified by the available evidence
Contributions
Cook's article have appeared in the Iranian government run - Teheran Times. In one article published there, Cook statees that “In a bid to staunch the flow of damaging evidence of war crimes committed during Israel’s winter assault on Gaza, the Israeli government has launched a campaign to clamp down on human rights groups, both in Israel and abroad.”[1]
In an interview with Iran Daily, Cook said: ”There is a common misperception in the West that Israel is not only a democracy but that it is a normal regime in terms of its political structure.”[2]
Cook's article's have also appeared on David Duke website. In “Israel’s Jewish Problem in Tehran” Jonathan Cook claims that since Iran is tolerant towards its Jewish community there is no chance Iran will commit genocide against Israel Jews. He says “There is an interesting problem with selling Iran as “Nazi Germany”. If Ahmadinejad really is Hitler, ready to commit genocide against Israel’s Jews as soon as he can get his hands on a nuclear weapon, why are some 25,000 Jews living peacefully in Iran and more than reluctant to leave despite repeated enticements from Israel and American Jews?”- David Duke
References
- ^ Cook, Jonathan. "Jonathan Cook website". Jonathan Cook News Archive. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
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(help) - ^ Comment is free: The propaganda machine
External links
- Official Website
- Video: Jonathan Cook - Blood and Religion: Unmasking the Jewish and Democratic State (December 28, 2006), interview.
- [3] Official David Duke website