Leftist Guardian Writer Who Said 'There Is No Cancel Culture' Gets Canceled For Criticizing Israel

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Feb. 11, 2021

A leftist Guardian writer who proclaimed "there is no cancel culture" just got canceled himself for tweeting a sarcastic joke criticizing US military aid to Israel.

There is no cancel culture. The fastest way to get a book deal in this country is to whine about cancel culture. Every single one of these people ends up on their feet. They are fine. They have giant platforms. They are heard loud and clear. Right-wing opinions are everywhere.
— Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) June 10, 2020

One of the most serious threats to free speech is the silencing of criticism of the government of Israel.

I have now found this out the hard way, having just been fired as a Guardian columnist for sending a tweet about US military aid to Israel https://t.co/EEfLqjY1IM
— Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) February 10, 2021

A Twitter user hilariously predicted it:

This pretty much guarantees that you will be cancelled.
— Alice 🌿 (@AliceFromQueens) June 11, 2020

There is no joy in prophecy
— Alice 🌿 (@AliceFromQueens) February 11, 2021

Robinson wrote about his canceling in an article titled, "How the Media Cracks Down on Critics of Israel":

Personally, I had never thought about the question of whether I could suffer consequences for criticizing the government of Israel (and U.S. support for it). I have just about as much "free speech" as you can get in this world. Perhaps I should have thought about it more, though, because as soon as I crossed an invisible line, it was very quickly made clear to me. The moment I irritated defenders of Israel on social media, I was summarily fired from my job as a newspaper columnist.

I have been writing for the Guardian US since 2017, first as a contributor and then as a full columnist. I write almost exclusively about U.S. politics. I have never written about Israel. My editor has always been satisfied with my work, which is why I kept getting commissioned. I am good at putting out sharp, well-sourced, political commentary quickly, and needed little editing. (I only had a column spiked for content reasons once, as far as I can remember, which occurred when I criticized Joe Biden over Hunter Biden's corrupt business ties.)

Here's the tweets he got canned for:

Guardian US editor and chief, John Mulholland, sent him an email titled "Private + confidential" where he accused him of being an anti-Semite.

"No such law exists," Mulholland said, referencing his sarcastic joke. "Given the reckless talk over the last year--and beyond--of how mythical 'Jewish group/alliances' yield power over all forms of U.S. public life I am not clear how this is helpful to public discourse."

"Saying that the only Jewish state controls the most powerful country in the world is clearly anti-Semitic. The myth of 'Jewish power' informs murderous hatred. Delete this and apologise," Mulholland said.

Robinson did delete his tweets and apologize but his column was canceled nonetheless.

Incidentally, The Guardian has no issue with pushing endless columns demonizing white people as supremacist masterminds who are holding everyone down.

In fact, that's practically all they do.

Robinson concluded his article by saying it was clear he was "explicitly being censored for sending a tweet critical of Israel":

It was made very, very clear to me: your tweet about Israel annoyed the editor in chief. Now you are fired. Do not come back.

Incidentally, just last week the Algemeiner, a paper focused on Jewish and Israeli news, published a column which said that "we need cancel culture" to "fight hate and antisemitism."

I guess cancel culture is real after all!

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