Nearly every day for the past month, Novara has run a segment themed entirely around why being against Zionism is *bad ackshually*, or has encouraged its commentators, who are supposed to be talking about another topic, to go off on tangents demonizing the Green Party for daring to have an anti Zionist policy. Novara’s recent pet project of trying to marginalise anti Zionism has undoubtedly yielded new interest from millionnaires and billionnaires in donating to the organisation, but this organisation needs to start practicing what it preaches regarding both strategy (how ‘strategic’ are the ‘coms’ of creating self fulfilling prophecies by supporting mainstream media attacks on the left that very much resemble the campaign against Corbyn) and democratic centralism (I get that, after the decision is made, all must either support it vocally or stay silent about their dissent, but in this case it is inconceivable that if everyone in Novara had voted on what path to pursue, anyone besides Aaron Bastani himself and perhaps one other person would have thought ‘yeah, I’d like our only Palestine related coverage for a whole month to be demonizing a Jewish led anti Zionist moderate left party for being too extreme’). How strategic (let alone ethical) is it for a ‘left’ (even purportedly communist) media outlet to pursue a political philosophy of deciding on policies only based on poll testing how they currently perform with a corporate-media-saturated, colonial white supremacy pilled British electorate, while acceding to the ‘realism’ of an overton window defined by every new and deranged idea the right astro turfs? (Including such famous lows as certain Novara commentators— who thankfully walked it back fast— defending Keir Starmer’s Island of Strangers speech.) Cowardly and unimaginative reiterations of Starmerism and Clintonism is the last thing anyone needs from the “left” now. And the sudden crusade against anti Zionism is not even for sincere, albeit self-serving, institutional reasons as much as it appears to be just a disgusting petty personal vendetta. Kieran Andrieu, Novara’s rising star contributor (and the only Palestinian employed at Novara) was best known for reporting from the Gaza flotilla and being imprisoned by Israel, but he also excelled as a news host. He was one of the few Novara news contributors who could be called a real investigative journalist, not just a pundit. Andrieu was sacked by the organisation (possibly just by Bastani) earlier this year. Ever since, it turns out he’s been helping to lead the ultimately victorious campaign, as a prominent Green Party member, for the exact moderate anti-Zionist motion that Bastani, previously a big supporter of this sort of thing (“one democratic state” voices were platformed near daily on Novara from 2023 to early 2026), has suddenly decided is the spawn of Satan. Novara’s shifting line on this is not only a tacit endorsement of genocide against Palestinians, it’s deeply unethical from a journalistic perspective.
