Hack, whose emails to security service-linked contacts about taking down left news outlets were leaked, misquotes left activist to smear her with antisemitism and defend friend-of-genocide Starmer at local meeting – but it backfires hugely
Faux-left hack Paul Mason’s reputation imploded when the Grayzone revealed leaked emails showing him plotting with right-wing, security-service-linked contacts to take down left-wing news sites – along with an infamous chart of his imagined links between left groups and China/Russia. Mason did not directly deny the authenticity of the emails, saying only – and bizarrely – that they ‘may’ be ‘altered or fake’.
And his shredded reputation disintegrated further last night after he posted to Twitter claiming that one speaker at a ‘Kensal and Kilburn Better 2024’ debate had accused Starmer of being ‘an agent of Israel and Labour is full of Israeli supporters’.
Mason put the comment in full quotes, indicating that this was an exact quotation. It wasn’t – Mason had grotesquely misquoted her, claiming her criticism of Israel and Starmer’s complicity was aimed at Jewish people. Fortunately, one attendee (@urbandandy) recorded the whole thing and kindly provided the audio to Skwawkbox, of which the relevant parts can be heard, or the subtitles read, below:
Mason’s claim that the woman’s comments ‘soured the atmosphere’ is genuinely and darkly funny once the audio is heard – the ‘sour atmosphere’ was entirely a reaction to his smear.
Wrongly quoting someone and presenting it as an exact quote is a huge journalistic sin. But Mason’s links to the security services and right-wing journalists – and his toadying to Keir Starmer, despite Starmer’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, in apparent hope of selection for a parliamentary seat – meant that his attempt to smear a left activist quickly and hugely backfired, espite Mason’s feeble attempts to cover himself this morning, as an avalanche of derision landed on him and critics pointed out Israel’s already-proven interference in UK politics and the antisemitism of conflating Israel and Jews, as Mason did. A few examples are below:
And thousands more in response to both of Mason’s posts on the issue.
Click here for UrbanDandy’s comments and transcript.
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