The media bias against Israel and the Jewish community is at pre-Second World War levels, a leading Jewish journalist has warned.

Melanie Phillips, who is an author and columnist for the Daily Mail, made the remarks at a debate last Sunday on the Media and the Middle East at The New North London Synagogue in Finchley, hosted by Michael Gove, assistant editor of The Times.

Both hacks lambasted the British media, branding it dysfunctional, and attacked it for its pro-Palestinian slant on the coverage of Middle Eastern affairs.

Ms Phillips, who is a member of the synagogue, said: "9/11 brought a type of dysfunctionality and corruption of the British media. It is not just the gullible, but the majority of the country, who have formed a very strong view over Iraq and believe that it is not so much a rogue state as Israel. What the public will be seeing of the state of Israel is not objective and not equal."

When asked whether the world today is similar to that of the 1930's, Ms Phillips said: "This is more than an etching of the 1930's. We are not facing the same thing but I do think it is extremely similar. I do not think opinions would change until there is a September 11 here. But if we have a significant attack [on a Jewish target] I do not think that we will alter people. People will simply say they had it coming."

Both journalists claimed the press cherry-picked evidence to distort stories on the Middle East, and many other issues. The lack of ethics shown by journalists in terms of cross-checking Palestinian versions of events was also criticised, and the paucity of balanced reporting bemoaned.

The BBC was also condemned for its policy to seek balance rather than objectivity in reporting. Mr Gove urged people to respond to any bias with a a specific complaint to the public company, providing full details of where factual errors were made.

Ms Phillips said: "I would read the full report of the Hutton Inquiry and then the BBC coverage. To read the press coverage the next day, it was like being in two different universes."

Mr Gove said: "I do not know how newspapers can get away with it. You can have criticism of the state of Israel but it is entirely different to say it shouldn't exist. It is applying to the Jew a different standard than you apply to anyone else.” "It is Israel which is called into question, because criticising Israel is far easier than for other countries."

"The most scandalous [reporting] was of events in Jenin. The word massacre was branded around. When the UN investigated, it discovered that the number was around 60 from both sides.

"Robin Cook said it was wrong that we are fighting to enforce UN resolutions in Iraq but not in Israel. But he knew that they were under a different charter of UN resolutions. Robin Cook must have known the difference after the time he spent in the Foreign Office."

Ms Phillips also blamed Israel for losing the PR game, saying while the Palestinian authorities fawn to foreign journalists, the Israeli government does not provide journalists or news agencies with any help.

"They [Israeli government] say that if you have the right foreign policy it will talk for itself — well it doesn't. They say they do not have any friends — apart from the US. When you say there is a crisis in Britain and Europe with Jewish attacks, they answer 'what would you expect from the Europeans,'" she said.