Guardian restores Israeli whisky that it edited out of drinks column
Readers express concern that the newspaper might be boycotting Israel-related content after an Israeli whisky was removed from a print and online feature
The Guardian has reinstated a drinks writer’s praise of an Israeli whisky distillery in his online drinks column after it was edited out of the copy in the print edition.
Concerns surfaced at the weekend that the newspaper may now be boycotting all Israel-related content after reference to the whisky was edited out of a feature in Sunday’s Observer newspaper – the Guardian’s sister title – on unusual whiskies from non-traditional regions.
The title’s drinks columnist, Henry Jeffreys, included in his review a mention of Israel’s M&H distillery – known for its award-winning single malt aged in pomegranate wine casks near the Dead Sea.
Jeffreys was further shocked to discover that mention of the distillery, which had appeared when the column was first put on the Guardian’s website, was later removed.
Expressing his frustration on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote: “I was surprised to see that the Guardian removed a reference to an Israeli single malt from M&H (formerly known as Milk & Honey) distillery over the weekend from my drinks column. It was there on Friday and by Saturday it had gone.”
Jeffreys added that the edit left him in an awkward position, having informed the distillery of its inclusion only for it to be absent by the time the link was accessed.
The article, titled “There’s more to whisky than scotch and bourbon,” originally highlighted the distinctive qualities of M&H’s four-year-old 2019 (The Heart Cut) and its Sherry Elements, which won the World’s Best Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards 2023.
Following an inquiry from Jewish News, the article was amended on Tuesday to reinstate the reference to the M&H distillery and a footnote to that effect added at the bottom of the page.
The footnote fails to mention the words “Israel” or “Israeli” but states: “This article was amended on 5 November 2024 to reinstate a reference to a whisky from the M&H distillery.”
The Guardian’s u-turn comes in the wake of its deleted review of a Channel 4 documentary on the 7 October Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri by Stuart Jeffries, who suggested that the portrayal of Hamas captured on CCTV cameras “demonised” the terrorists. Following backlash, the newspaper issued an apology, citing a “collective failure of process”.
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