Food critic Jay Rayner claims 'anti-Semites' working at The Guardian

Restaurant critic Jay Rayner has claimed The Guardian has ‘anti-Semites’ on its staff and its editor has ‘not had the courage to face them down’, it has been revealed.

The journalist, who this week quit its Sunday sister paper The Observer, reportedly wrote a message to friends on Facebook where he criticised Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner.

According to a report by The Telegraph, he accused her of not properly dealing with anti-Semitism in the organisation.

Rayner, 58, is said to have written: ‘For years now being Jewish, however non-observant, and working for the company has been uncomfortable, at times excruciating.

‘Viner likes to deny it but there are anti-Semites on the daily’s staff and she has not had the courage to face them down...

‘For years now I have made a point of sending her a back channel email each time the Guardian has published another outrage. It will be a joy to know that I’m not a part of that any more.’

Rayner is said to have called the comment section a ‘juvenile hellscape of salami-sliced identity grievance politics’. 

The lack of action taken over the issue is said to have played a part in the restaurant critic’s decision to leave his job at the company.

The Guardian has responded by saying it took allegations of this nature ‘extremely seriously’ and that the company has a ‘zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism’ and ‘all forms of prejudice and discrimination’.

A spokesman said: ‘When any allegations are made, we investigate them and deal with them swiftly.’ 

Last year there was a row about a cartoon of ex-BBC chairman Richard Sharp, amid outcry that the image was anti-Semitic.

Drawn by cartoonist Martin Rowson, it depicted Mr Sharp – who is Jewish – with what a Jewish charity called ‘outsized, grotesque features’ and included other ‘anti-Semitic tropes’.

Also last year a Guardian article titled ‘Israel must stop weaponising the Holocaust’ was branded ‘unbelievably crass’ by the largest Jewish communal organisation in the UK. 

And in the same year the Guardian announced that it would no longer use any work from cartoonist Steve Bell after he drew a picture of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was never published.

Rayner, who will join the Financial Times, also criticised the proposed sale of The Observer to online start-up Tortoise Media, set up by former BBC director of news James Harding.