The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has referred The Spectator magazine to the Independent Press Standards Organisation over a racist and statistically fraudulent article that brands Palestinians "probably the worst migrant population on Earth" and uses data on 321 individuals from 34 years ago to stigmatize an entire people.
The article, titled "Taking in more Palestinian refugees is a terrible idea," was published by The Spectator on September 29 and written by David Shipley. It describes Palestinians as "highly criminal and highly economically inactive" and claims, in a line the magazine was later forced to quietly amend, that 67 of the cohort had been "jailed." Its only evidence is a single group of 321 stateless Palestinians from Lebanon who were granted Danish residence under special legislation in 1992. From that sample, the author claims that Palestinians having been "ruled by Hamas for over two decades" and "fed endless antisemitic and anti-Israeli propaganda" are now "even worse." The Danish cohort, granted residence in 1992, never lived under Hamas rule. The claim has no factual basis.
The statistics themselves were misrepresented. The article stated that over 63 percent of the cohort had been convicted of at least one crime, a figure used to brand Palestinians as "highly criminal." After ICJP complained, The Spectator amended the article to add a note that the figure of 67 "jailed" individuals included 30 people who received conditional sentences, meaning they never served prison time. Even then, the article did not disclose that two thirds of the cases in the 63 percent figure involved a fine or other non-custodial disposal, nor what conduct those cases involved. The magazine retained the "highly criminal" claim regardless.
The ICJP describes the method as both inaccurate and racist. No conclusion about any national group can fairly be drawn from 321 individuals, regardless of the data. Every population has a crime rate. The United Kingdom has its own crime statistics, yet no one concludes from them that British nationals make undesirable migrants. The article applies this standard to Palestinians alone, on the basis of their national origin, and to no other nationality. As ICJP notes, rhetoric branding entire peoples as inherently criminal and undesirable has historically laid the groundwork for their exclusion and persecution. Its publication in a mainstream British title, presented as fact and backed by figures, creates a dangerous precedent.
ICJP has referred the matter to IPSO alleging breaches of two clauses of the Editors' Code: Clause 1(i), requiring the press not to publish inaccurate, misleading, or distorted information, and Clause 1(iv), requiring a clear distinction between comment, conjecture, and fact. The organization argues that factual claims intended to substantiate racist stereotypes cannot be insulated from scrutiny simply by framing them as opinion.
