Palestine activists to hijack Armistice Day in latest desecration
Armistice Day is a time to honour the sacrifices of those who have fought to defend our country and our way of life. It is an opportunity to salute those who serve, previously served or who made the ultimate sacrifice.
But sadly, not everyone agrees. Over the last few years, statues have been desecrated, war memorials vandalised and the sacrifice of our armed forces disrespected – all in the name of ‘Palestine’.
- Israel-hating activists have substituted the traditional red poppy, commemorating those who made the ultimate sacrifice in Flanders Fields, with a ‘Palestine poppy’. You can read more here.
- The man who led the free world in defeating the Nazis is a regular target for Palestine activists. Winston Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square has often been attacked or spray painted, including earlier this year. You can read more here. Churchill’s words, “we shall never surrender”, are still resonant in our current struggle against those who hate our society.
- Palestine activists have gleefully targeted the Cenotaph, the site of National Remembrance every November, with activists spray painting “180,000” killed next to the Cenotaph and placing a Palestinian Authority flag. Nothing is sacred to these people.
- In 2023, a group of Palestine protestors climbed onto the Royal Artillery Memorial on Hyde Park Corner, waving Palestinian Authority flags and placards. You can read more here.
- In Rochdale, the local war memorial has been targeted multiple times with “Free Palestine” graffiti and the damaging of Remembrance wreaths. The hatred of the Palestine movement is present in cities, towns and villages across our country.
- After a Palestine hate march last month, the site of the Battle of Britain memorial was strewn with rubbish including flags and a placard saying “From the River to the Sea”. The Royal Air Force’s victory stopped Nazi domination of the skies over Britain. The average age of a pilot in the battle was just 20 years old.
Now, protestors are planning to gather outside Leeds Civic Hall on Armistice Day, this Wednesday, 11th November to endorse the ‘Zionism is racism’ motion, which became official Party policy when it was adopted at the Greens’ conference last month. You can read more here.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and the Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine (GMFP) have also organised demonstrations to coincide with Armistice Day, and the PSC is reportedly planning to march in support of the Green Party motion. You can read more here.
Palestine activists regularly disgrace the memory of the fallen. That’s because they despise our country and our values. Those who put Palestine first put Britain last.
We honour those who protect our country and uphold our values, and salute their courage and remember their sacrifice. It’s time that the ‘Free Palestine’ movement did the same.
BBC fails to deliver on promise of review into Gaza coverage
A year and a half ago, when the BBC was engulfed in a previous antisemitism scandal and under pressure from us and others, they scrambled to do damage control.
As part of that exercise, the BBC quietly promised the Jewish community a review into their Gaza coverage – and gave us at Campaign Against Antisemitism every assurance in private correspondence that we had with the Corporation. A year and a half on, no such review has been launched, let alone concluded.
After we alerted The Telegraph exclusively to what has transpired – or rather what hasn’t – they also got in touch with the BBC, which told them that “The independent review of the BBC’s output of the conflict in the Middle East will be a significant piece of work. Due to the complexity and sensitivity of this, time and care are being taken to consider both who will conduct the review and its scope. We expect to publish the terms of reference soon so work can commence imminently.”
“Time” is an understatement. And it is exactly what the Jewish community doesn’t have. The BBC’s biased coverage is fuelling antisemitism in Britain and around the world, and recent revelations show that it may well stem from a workplace culture in which Jewish people are marginalised, belittled or worse.
The BBC cannot constantly be allowed to mark its own homework: the Culture Secretary must now step in and impose an independent investigation into the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish interest, its coverage of Gaza and its treatment of Jewish employees and partners.
Meanwhile, the BBC continues to be embroiled in one controversy after another.
- It has been revealed that one of the charities selected by a winner of the BBC’s hit show Celebrity Traitors to receive half of the prize money, which is funded by the broadcaster’s licence fee, has apparently expressed exclusionary views towards Jewish staff members following the 7th October 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel. You can read more here.
- And unbelievably, in its biography of Adolf Hitler, BBC Bitesize – an educational resource for GCSE students – fails to mention key events which led to the Holocaust, including any reference to the “Final Solution”, a plan devised by the Nazis to orchestrate the mass murder of European Jews. You can read more here.
It is past time for our national broadcaster – which we all pay for – to be held to account. In the meantime, the licence fee should be suspended.
Light Up London at Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Annual Chanukah lighting
Campaign Against Antisemitism is coming together with United Synagogue and Chabad UK to light up London in the spirit of the festival of Chanukah.
On Sunday 6th December, in front of Parliament, we will bring light to the darkness and celebrate the endurance of Jewish life in the face of those who mean us harm, in the best tradition of Chanukah.
Join us to light the menorah, stand together as a community, and show that Jewish life in Britain will not be dimmed.
Green Party leader under fire for reposting X accounts which appear to dehumanise Jews
Campaign Against Antisemitism worked exclusively with the Daily Mail to reveal a series of incendiary X accounts reposted by Green Party leader Zack Polanski to his more than 200,000 followers.
At least six accounts Mr Polanski reposted appear to have expressed hateful views on Jews and Zionists, including blood libels, antisemitic conspiracies and the glorification of violence against Israel. You can read more here.
Mr Polanski may not have shared these particular posts, but we have uncovered how he has repeatedly amplified accounts that peddle vile antisemitic tropes. That speaks volumes about the online company he keeps.
Coming hard on the heels of the antisemitic ‘Zionism is racism’ motion adopted by the Green Party that he leads, it is yet more evidence that he is surrounded online and in real life by extremists. That includes in the Green Party, which is why we have referred it to the EHRC.
Birmingham City Council backs boycott of Jewish state
Birmingham City Council has voted to pass a motion which calls for a review of West Midlands Pension’s investment holdings and examination of “options for engagement, exclusion or divestment” – all the while mentioning only the Jewish state in the text of the resolution. You can read more here and here.
The morally reprehensible motion, which passed by 54 votes to nineteen, characterised Israel’s war on Hamas as a “genocide” and applauded sanctions announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in September. It was promoted by Gaza-obsessed independents on the Council but also backed by their governing allies the Liberal Democrats and by opposition Labour councillors, including one who works at the Home Secretary’s constituency office.
Local councils should be focusing on local issues and bringing communities together, not driving them apart with divisive and inflammatory declarations that, as Birmingham City Council has itself admitted, can barely be put into practice under law.
We expect the Government to reiterate the legal position and underscore that Birmingham’s singling out of the Jewish state is no more than performative vice-signalling.
This comes amid a string of controversies relating to Government employees and local councillors from across political parties.
- Rebecca Morrish, recently appointed as a special adviser at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport by the Secretary of State, Lisa Nandy, reportedly signed an open letter to the London School of Economics (LSE) whilst a student there in 2021 which included calls to boycott Israel, the world’s only Jewish state. You can read more here.
- Green Councillor Bliss Wylie of Thorpe Hamlet has reportedly been expelled from the group running the city after she apparently posted a graphic to her Instagram account bearing the words “Resistance is justified when people are occupied”, alongside a woman holding a weapon. You can read more here.
- Reform UK local councillor Caley Ashman of Cradley North and Wollescote in Dudley has apologised after he apparently used the incendiary phrase ‘goyslop’ in his social media posts before assuming office. You can read more here.
Extremism has no place in our politics. Some of these politicians and parties have done the right thing on these occasions. Others must follow suit.
Winner of UK Music Video Award allegedly expressed support for terror online
Chris Murdoch, who has won Best Producer at the UK Music Video Awards (UKMVAs) for a second year running, appears to have posted content on his Instagram account that is flattering to Hamas, a proscribed group under UK terrorism law.
These include a graphic which says that “On October 7th 2023 Palestinians exercised their rightful legal right to resist 75+ years of Israeli occupation and genocide,” captioned with the words “Long live the resistance” in a likely reference to Hamas. He also posted a story which describes former Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar as someone who “outsmarted Israel, spoke Hebrew, and was killed on the battlefield”. You can read more here.
Why appear to try to defend a barbaric genocidal, antisemitic terrorist group which has committed appalling atrocities instead of celebrating life, which is what art is usually meant to do?
Cultural spaces are becoming an increasingly hostile environment for Jews in the UK, and reputed institutions must do their bit to confront antisemitism wherever it emerges.
It’s refreshing that amid surging antisemitism in the arts, one celebrity is standing firm against Jew-hatred.
This past week, Boy George visited the site of the Nova Festival and shared his heartfelt solidarity with the Jewish world, which continues to suffer from the trauma of the massacre that took place there while young people were partying.
The event comes as part of his visit to the Jewish state around a concert he’s holding in Tel Aviv where, alongside his unforgettable classics, he plans to sing his powerful song, ‘We will dance again’. This comes before his next tour in the UK.
We thank him for unequivocally standing with the Jewish community amid record levels of antisemitic hate.
Boy George has shown celebrities the world over what solidarity looks like. Lots of people imagine, looking back at history, that they would have spoken out, but they have shown that in reality they wouldn’t.
The charitable sector isn’t faring any better; a trustee for an ‘anti-racism’ charity in Barrow-in-Furness appears no longer to be in post after several social media posts which allegedly breach the International (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism were revealed. You can read more here.
Elsewhere, the Home Office has had to act. Moath Hamzeh, the vice-president of UK charity Sun of Freedom, has reportedly been banned from entering the UK following allegations that he had pushed antisemitic conspiracies and made statements threatening Jews and Israelis.
Supreme Court hears Palestine Action appeal against its proscription
Last week, the Supreme Court heard the appeal of outlawed terrorist organisation Palestine Action against its proscription.
The group was proscribed last year after we and others called for a ban, and we submitted a dossier of evidence to the Home Secretary regarding its impact on the Jewish community.
The group encourages criminal activity and violence against Jewish communal, Israeli and UK military targets. Its activists have severely injured a police officer, sabotaged British military hardware, intimidated British Jews, vandalised Jewish businesses and the premises of major UK companies and more.
We have been monitoring proceedings in court closely. Outside the court, supporters of the terror group have been arrested, as others were in a similar protest elsewhere in the capital last weekend.
The proscription of Palestine Action is one of the few measures the Government has actually taken in the fight against the worst antisemitism we are seeing in our lifetimes. If the Supreme Court rolls back even this limited measure, the British state will have extremely little to show for itself after over three years of unprecedented levels of violent Jew-hate and unabashed extremism in this country.
Unbelievably, The Observer printed a fawning interview with Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori to discuss the legal case.
This was a shameful editorial decision. Presumably if Palestine Action targeted minorities other than Jews, the newspaper would be condemning it without restraint, but perhaps because it is the Jewish community that has felt the brunt of Palestine Action’s intimidatory and violent criminality, The Observer is unmoved – or perhaps even delighted.
Leave a legacy to Campaign Against Antisemitism!
Where the authorities and politicians fail to defend the Jewish community, Campaign Against Antisemitism will step in. But we need your help.
That’s why at Campaign Against Antisemitism, as well as tackling antisemitic incidents when they arise, we also always have to plan for the long term. This fight requires sustained commitment and support to meet the challenges of the years ahead.
You can help, by considering leaving a gift to us in your will. You can find more information here.
By doing so, you help safeguard our community and provide critical resources to ensure that future generations are equipped to continue the fight. Thank you!
Today and tomorrow, we are remembering Kristallnacht
The week we will mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom that left such damage it was named the ‘Night of Broken Glass’.
For all the commemorations and Holocaust education, Jewish people and their property are being targeted in modern Britain at a scale unknown in living memory.
Elie spoke to Rabbi Shua Bitton about the experiences of his five daughters, who have faced disgusting antisemitic abuse simply for being Jewish.
Rabbi Bitton’s daughters are far from alone, and too many Jewish children in Britain are growing up learning to hide who they are.
The anniversary of Kristallnacht is a reminder of what happens if we don’t fight back. Campaign Against Antisemitism will always be on the front line of that fight.
