Hamas ‘child sacrifice’ ad splits the British media

An advert by a Holocaust survivor accusing Hamas of “child sacrifice” has been rejected by The Times newspaper but taken up by The Guardian.

Author Elie Wiesel, who won the Nobel Prize, penned the inflammatory ad (pictured), which was paid for by controversial British-born Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

“I have seen Jewish children thrown into the fire. Now I have seen Muslim children used as human shields, in both cases, by worshippers of death cults,” Wiesel wrote.

“What we are suffering through today is not a battle of Jew versus Arab or Israeli versus Palestinian. Rather, it is a battle between those who celebrate life and those who champion death. It is a battle of civilisation versus barbarism.”

The ad has run in several American newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. The latter is published by News Corp, which also owns The Times.

However, The Times rejected it because “the opinion being expressed is too strong and too forcefully made and will cause concern amongst a significant number of readers.”

In praise of The Guardian’s decision, The Observer wrote that the left-wing newspaper “obviously believes in free speech and allowing their readers to hear the voice of a Nobel laureate about a very important issue”.

The Guardian said that “accepting an advert does not mean endorsing the views and claims made within it”.