Britain’s ‘anti-racists’ may be coming to a neighbourhood near you
This past Saturday, Stand Up to Racism and other ‘anti-racist’ groups gathered in London, ostensibly to protest a march organised by Tommy Robinson.
But there was plenty of racism on display among the so-called ‘anti-racists’, including signs and flyers demanding that “Zionism must be destroyed” and calling for an “End to Zionism”, claiming that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson are all “Israeli puppets”, and explaining “genocide maths” as “racism plus colonialism equals Zionism.”
Labour MPs and National Education Union leaders were among those in attendance. For those who like far-left ‘anti-racism’ maths, this seems like a more accurate equation: all anti-racisms are equal, but some are more equal than others.
The next day, the ‘anti-racists’ came to JW3, the Jewish cultural centre in North London, where a conference on Israel was taking place amid other regular programming. As members of the Jewish community entered the venue in order to attend that day’s events, they were forced to bypass an angry mob, who were screaming and chanting intimidatory slogans.
We have offered support to Jewish counter-demonstrators who were reportedly arrested by police, who otherwise allowed the anti-Israel protest to take place directly outside the entrance to the centre.
We are writing to the Metropolitan Police. Of course, this is the same Metropolitan Police whose officers do not seem to know that Hizballah is a terrorist organisation, even at a time when we know that Iran and its proxies pose a threat to Britain and the Jewish community.
After we publicised a video exposing ignorance among police officers, the Met rightly acknowledged the need for improved briefings for its officers. However, it feels like twelve months of excuses now while terror is being glorified on our streets, and British Jews are paying the price with unprecedented levels of antisemitism.
If you want to remind Hizballah supporters and forgetful police officers about the law of the land, our T-shirts and hoodies – with the caption “Hizballah Are Terrorists – It’s not an opinion. It’s the law.” – are available for purchase!
Show us the legal advice on UNRWA funding!
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has refused to reveal to us whether legal advice was sought or obtained in relation to the restoration of funding to the highly controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), so we are now calling on Foreign Secretary David Lammy to publish the legal advice in the interests of transparency and consistency.
Last month, “in the interests of transparency” Mr Lammy published a summary of the legal advice in relation to the decision to suspend some 30 licences for arms exports to Israel following legal advice from the Attorney General, due to a supposed “clear risk” that they may be used in ways that breach international law.
We called on the FCDO to confirm whether legal advice had been sought or obtained in relation to the decision to resume UNRWA funding, but the Ministry has refused to tell us. We have therefore now written to Mr Lammy calling on him to do so, and to publish a summary of the advice.
It is time that, in the interests of transparency and consistency, Mr Lammy reassures the British public that legal advice identified no such risks in relation to taxpayer funding of UNRWA.
Watermelons on Big Brother
Last week, a Big Brother ‘housemate’ was seen wearing a t-shirt depicting the map of Israel as a watermelon – a symbol widely associated with anti-Israel sentiment. Many British Jews regard this symbol as a genocidal message similar to the slogan ‘From the River to the Sea’ which calls for the elimination of the world’s only Jewish state.
We therefore submitted a complaint to Ofcom in relation to its appearance on the programme.
After we did so – and others complained as well – the episode was removed from ITVX and re-uploaded, having been edited to remove the offending image.
A spokesman for Big Brother said that the show did not “allow any personal items into the house that could be deemed harmful,” adding: “We regret that the implications of this particular item of clothing were not fully understood in our bag checks or prior to broadcast of last night’s show. We apologise to any viewers who have been offended by the broadcast and assure viewers that Big Brother was unaware of the implications of the image.”
We are grateful to ITV for acting swiftly to ensure that this sort of programming is free from unnecessary political or threatening messaging.
How the British media sees Israel’s conflict with Iran and its terror proxies and supporters
In explaining Israel’s targeting of military infrastructure in Iran over the weekend, BBC News offered a backgrounder, with the anchor saying: “Let us just remind you now of exactly how we got here.”
What followed was several minutes in which Israel was portrayed as the solitary actor engaging in entirely unprovoked military action against Hizballah – which was not described as a terrorist organisation or explained in any way – and Iran, whose firing of the largest barrage of ballistic missiles in history against Israel was played down.
You can watch the full clip and read our analysis here.
Once again, the BBC’s failure to describe Hizballah as a terrorist organisation was not impartial but inaccurate. We will be writing to the BBC.
When the Jewish state is falsely portrayed, as in this BBC report, as needlessly aggressive and the methods and motivations of its enemies are whitewashed, it invites viewers to view Jews negatively and gives licence to antisemites to attack them. In this surge of antisemitism in Britain, the BBC is not innocent.
Please sign our petition calling on all broadcasters to call Hizballah what they are: terrorists.
The BBC is not alone in its dubious portrayal of what is happening in the Middle East or right here in Britain. Last weekend, Sky News gave national airtime to a ‘peaceful’ protester who claimed that Israel is “systematically targeting civilians” in Gaza.
Yet, we interviewed this same individual earlier this year, and he openly described Hamas as a “legitimate resistance organisation”. In fact, he even admitted that if he were a Gazan, he would probably join Hamas himself. In 2015, he also ran as an Independent Parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green, one of the most heavily-Jewish constituencies in the UK.
When people show you who they truly are, believe them. These are not peace marches. It’s time they stopped happening on our streets.
Meanwhile, The Guardian recently removed its appalling review of ‘One Day in October’, a documentary about the Hamas massacre on 7th October. In the review, the author lamented that, watching the documentary, “All our sympathies are with relatable Israelis…By contrast, Hamas terrorists are a generalised menace on CCTV, their motives beyond One Day in October’s remit.”
The review did not meet its editorial guidelines, according to the newspaper, but we’re wondering why. After all, we put together a selection of other articles which are still up on the newspaper’s website that apparently do meet The Guardian’s editorial standards.
Clearly, The Guardian’s editorial standards are deficient. Perhaps at long last, it is time that The Guardian acquired some moral standards.
Sukkot and Simchat Torah, which we celebrated over the past two weeks, were joyous occasions. But they were tinged with the memory of what took place at this time last year.
We remembered those murdered on these days twelve months ago, and mourned their absence. We also marked the absence of the over 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity.
Thanks to a contribution from a generous supporter, we were able to build and dedicate a sukkah to the hostages, and in particular recreated what the Bibas family sukkah may have looked like if Yarden (35), Shiri (33) and their beautiful children Ariel (5) and baby Kfir (1) were free to celebrate this wonderful festival with the rest of their people.
We continue to hope, advocate and pray for their safe return.
