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CAA to write to Camden Council over “Zionism is based on racist and supremacist beliefs” sign 

Campaign Against Antisemitism will be writing to Camden Council over an incendiary sign that was seen this week in the window of a Kentish Town residence.

The sign claims that Zionism “is an amoral political belief based on racist and supremicist [sic] (not a religion).”

It goes on to say that the “Israely [sic] State cows and corrupts our political class and media.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” and “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” are both examples of antisemitism.

The sign also draws upon the pseudoscientific idea of “originol Semetic [sic] peoples.”

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Humberside police officers dismissed following antisemitic and racist WhatsApp messages

Seven officers from Humberside Police have been dismissed following WhatsApp messages deemed antisemitic and racist.

Sexist, racist, homophobic, and misogynistic messages were also found.

In addition to the seven officers who were dismissed, two more were issued with a written warning.

The decision took place after a court hearing that ended on 30th June, although the investigation into the officers’ behaviour opened in 2019.

Six of the officers were found to have breached police standards at gross misconduct level.

Assistant Chief Constable Dave Marshall said of the news: “The actions of these officers were deplorable and Humberside Police, its leadership and more importantly, our staff will not stand for this behaviour. When this information came to light, we acted swiftly and robustly, and sought to bring appropriate sanctions to those involved. That has meant that seven of those involved have been dismissed and no longer work in policing.

“The delay in reporting this to the public has been as a result of ongoing criminal proceedings in relation to some of the officers and their behaviours. I would like to reassure the community that while the actions of these officers may have tarnished their view of the police service, these aren’t the beliefs held by the overwhelming majority of officers at Humberside Police.”

Last year, the Metropolitan Police apologised after an investigation from the Independent Office for Police Conduct discovered that officers had been sharing jokes about the Auschwitz concentration camp. It was also reported that there was an antisemitic joke made with reference to “killing flies”.

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Polish town holds foam party on Jewish cemetery 

A city in eastern Poland held a foam party on the site of Jewish graves.

The Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, has condemned the Mayor of Kazimierz Dolny’s decision to mark the 1st June holiday known as ‘Children’s Day’ with a celebration in this location.

The site is estimated to host the graves of a few hundred Jews, and was demolished and made into a children’s playground during the Soviet occupation of Poland.

A prominent hasidic figure, Rabbi Yehezkel Taub, is also believed to be buried there. Many members of the Modzitz Hasidic community make an annual pilgrimage to his grave. 

Chief Rabbi Schudrich explained his unsuccessful attempts to persuade Polish authorities to move this park, saying: “We offered a really nice solution that would involve us helping to fund a new playground and moving the cemetery to an empty field nearby. But they keep stalling or cancelling meetings and it seems like the town just doesn’t care.”

Rabbi Schudrich added that the party “puts into question whether further talks about the site make sense, and casts doubt on whether, regardless of religion, both parties are guided by common values drawn from it.”

Rabbi Schudrich has appeared on a previous episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism throughout Europe.

Image credit: JC

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Councillor rejected by Labour but adopted by Conservatives is suspended and now elected

A candidate in last week’s local elections who was barred from running for Labour after the Party was alerted to his history of inflammatory activity on social media but who was endorsed instead by the Conservatives as their candidate has been elected, even as the Party appears, ambiguously, to be trying to distance itself from him.

Shakeel Munir Hussain had hoped to run as a Labour candidate in Stockton-on-Tees in the local election as he has on previous occasions, but after being blocked by the Party, he then ran instead for the Conservatives in the Ropner ward.

Mr Hussain’s posts, shares and likes on Facebook allegedly include Rothschild conspiracy theories, comparisons of Israel to the Nazis, suggestions that Israel is in league with ISIS, and claims that “the world knows all too well that their governments are controlled by Zionist money” and that the Jews control American politics, all of which are antisemitic tropes.

Mr Hussain ran for the Labour Party in 2019 and 2021, before a member of the public drew the Party’s attention to his social media history. Most of that activity predates those elections and apparently was not picked up by the Party or was ignored. The Conservative Party then committed the same error.

After being alerted, the Conservatives appeared to try to distance themselves from Mr Hussain, with the Party revealing days before the election that he “would not be allowed to join the Conservative group on the council, if elected, until any investigations had been completed.”

Mr Hussain has now been elected, and the Conservative Party’s position is unclear, with the Stockton Conservative Group leader reportedly saying: “Ropner is a really, really great win. The two councillors who won have worked their socks off. They know the issues, the residents are fed up with Labour, they complain about the same issues time after time.”

Elsewhere, in North Lincolnshire, Conservative candidate Ashley Sykes, who was standing for the Ashby Lakeside ward, was suspended by the Party after allegedly sharing jokes about the Holocaust online. A spokepserson for the Conservatives said that the Party had “acted swiftly” to suspend Mr Sykes after becoming aware of the historic posts. Mr Sykes did not win his contest.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Dallas adopts International Definition of Antisemitism 

Dallas has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The Dallas City Council passed the resolution to adopt the Definition on 26th April.

The resolution states that the Definition will be used as “an educational resource for all public safety agencies, including the Dallas Police Department and other city agencies responsible for addressing antisemitism.” 

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds the decision, which demonstrates Dallas’ solidarity with the Jewish community.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Dallas City Council joins a growing list of cities and public bodies to use the Definition.

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism throughout the United States.

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Lord Mayor of Norwich apologises to Jewish community for first known instance of antisemitic blood libel

The Lord Mayor of Norwich has apologised to the Jewish community for the first known instance of the antisemitic blood libel.

The original antisemitic blood libel dates to 1144 when Jews were falsely accused of the murder of a boy known as William of Norwich.

Following this, accusations of blood libel grew in the Middle Ages, eventually evolving to the point of claiming that Jews murdered Christian children in order to use their blood in Passover rituals. In 1290, it was the pretext for the confiscation of all Jewish property and the complete expulsion of Jews from England. They were not permitted to return until 1655. Blood libel has been responsible for the persecution and killing of Jews ever since.

In the modern era, blood libel continues to be a major aspect of antisemitism. It has extended its reach to accuse Jews of many different forms of harm that can be carried out against other people. Manifestations of blood libel include the accusations that Jews steal human organs, Jews harm the children of non-Jews, or Jews drink or utilise the blood of non-Jews.

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is an example of antisemitism.

Lord Mayor, Councillor Kevin Maguire, delivered the apology at a civic Seder to an interfaith audience, stating: “William’s murder is a story for today. We apportion blame for any harms and seek to punish those who are not like us; those who do and say things differently to the way that we say or do things.

“Medieval Norwich blamed the Jews and we see the horrendous events that followed. Today we see other ‘not like me’ groups turned upon and blamed for shortcomings in society.”

Cllr Maguire asked for forgiveness and made a “very personal apology to all Jews who continue to suffer because of the past actions of our citizens and their accusation of the blood libel.”

He added: “For me, the answer is to say ‘no more’ and to work for Norwich to be free of antisemitism – and to counter the lies told blatantly by those who would wish to foment hate.”

Image credit: Norwich City Council

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Candidate for High Peak Council alleged to have posted inflammatory tweets

A candidate for a council in Derbyshire allegedly published a series of controversial tweets about Jews. 

The Twitter account is claimed by Gnasher Jew to belong to David Aris-Sutton, who is currently running as a candidate for High Peak Borough Council. Some of the alleged tweets include comparisons of Israelis to Nazis, the characterisation of Jews as “child bombing [sic]” and “land grabbing [sic]”, and claims that if Mr Aris-Sutton had a time machine, “Hitler would be safe”. 

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism (the Definition) “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” is an example of antisemitism.

High Peak Borough Council has adopted the Definition. 

Mr Aris-Sutton was reportedly suspended from the Labour Party. He continues to sit as a councillor at New Mills Ton Council, sitting as an independent.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

Image credit: Google

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CAA submits recommendations on legal reform to introduce tougher punishments for racist councillors

Campaign Against Antisemitism has submitted recommendations on proposed amendments to the Localism Act 2011 to the Parliamentary Committee for Standards in Public Life, in order to introduce tougher punishments for racist councillors.

The Committee, chaired by Lord Evans, has previously made recommendations to the Government on reforms to the sanctions regime for local councillors. The Government rejected the proposals, but the deficiencies of the current system mean that the problem is still very much alive.

Our submission considers the Committee’s proposals in the light of recommendations that we have published as part of our ongoing study of the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities, which, uniquely, is updated in real-time. The project also records incidents of antisemitism at local councils around the country. To see if your local council has adopted the Definition, please visit the project.

The recommendations include stricter and more uniform sanctions for local authorities to be able to impose on councillors who engage in antisemitic conduct, more clarity on when a councillor is or is not subject to the council’s code of conduct, the importance of training, and other matters. These recommendations are in addition to the importance of adopting the Definition and applying it when allegations of antisemitism arise.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are pleased to be able to provide the Parliamentary Committee for Standards in Public Life with our recommendations for how the sanctions system in local government can be improved to better address antisemitic incidents at local councils. This submission is part of our ongoing policy work, which seeks to ensure that the authorities are empowered by law to address incidents of antisemitism wherever they arise.”

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Has your local authority adopted it? CAA releases first-of-its-kind study surveying adoption of International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities

Campaign Against Antisemitism has published a first-of-its-kind study surveying in real-time the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities across the UK.

The study can be accessed at antisemitism.org/councils.

The study shows that the campaign for widespread adoption of the Definition has been very successful, but that there is still much more to do.

Ever since Campaign Against Antisemitism led the effort for adoption of the Definition by the British Government — which became the first in the world to do so — multiple Secretaries of State for Local Government have joined the Jewish community’s push for local authorities to follow suit.

As this research shows, that campaign has yielded results, with much success owed to the work of grassroots local activists and organisations right across the country. We applaud them and the local authorities that have listened, but there remains much to do.

Currently, there are over 200 local authorities that have adopted the Definition, with around 70 where the status of adoption is unclear, often because it is not clear whether the council has adopted the Definition in full with the eleven integral examples or not. Over one hundred local authorities do not appear to have adopted the Definition at all, as of now.

The study gives a fuller picture of the fight against antisemitism at the local level, exposing which local authorities take this issue seriously and which do not, and enabling local activists and voters to make informed choices.

Unfortunately, our research also shows that there is still a long way to go. While a majority of local authorities have adopted the Definition in full, more than a quarter have not done so. A significant number have not adopted it clearly, which may make applying the Definition in disciplinary matters — when it most matters — more difficult.

The purpose of adoption of the full Definition is not only to send a message of where local councillors stand on antisemitism but also to ensure that the Definition is applied in disciplinary cases involving councillors or staff. As this research also shows, the number of local authorities that have actually incorporated the Definition into their codes of conduct for councillors and staff is negligible. Incorporation highlights the wording of the Definition, provides clarity to any disciplinary proceedings and therefore contributes positively to combatting antisemitism.

The study also discusses the shortcomings of the existing disciplinary and sanctions systems in place for dealing with misconduct by local councillors. Adoption of the Definition and its incorporation into codes of conduct are still insufficient if appropriate sanctions are unavailable and local councillors can engage in antisemitic conduct without consequence. We provide a list of recommendations to remedy these problems.

A separate Campaign Against Antisemitism study exposing antisemitism in political parties has shown just how extensive antisemitism is among local councillors and council candidates. Adopting and applying the Definition in antisemitism cases and enforcing judgments with real sanctions are critical if anti-Jewish hatred is to be eradicated from local politics in the UK.

British Jews should not have to endure antisemitism from their elected representatives, and all opponents of racism in our country should root out prejudice at any level of our politics. It is easy to say that antisemitism is unacceptable, but words must be followed by action. Widespread adoption of the Definition is the bare minimum.

If you would like to write to your local councillors or representatives in a devolved administration, please visit antisemitism.org/councils.

The report comes following a surge of antisemitism at the local level over the past several years, which has resulted in the resignation of at least one leader of a council and political control in at least two local councils changing hands.

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “This groundbreaking, comprehensive study, which is the product of painstaking research by our team, shows that the campaign for widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities across the UK has been very successful. Unfortunately it also shows that there is still a long way to go: over a quarter of local authorities have yet to adopt the Definition.

“This research is designed to serve as an accessible resource for local media and members of the public, whom we invite to write to their local councillors to urge adoption of the Definition. It also provides critical recommendations to ensure that the fight against antisemitism in local politics has a chance of success.

“The surge of antisemitism at the local level demonstrates just how essential it is for local authorities to adopt the Definition and, crucially, to incorporate it into their codes of conduct for councillors and staff. Antisemitism has no place in our political life, and that must include local politics as well.”

The study can be accessed at antisemitism.org/councils. If you have any updates, please e-mail us at [email protected].

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life.

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Vancouver adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

The City of Vancouver adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The adoption came following a six to one vote at the City’s council.

Cllr. Sarah Kirby-Yung, of A Better City (ABC) Vancouver, tabled the resolution to adopt. Prior to casting her vote, she said: “At its very root for me, when I distil it down, this is really about education. Education is the most powerful tool that we have against hate. It’s more powerful than any punitive actions could be.”

In July, the Premier of British Columbia expressed support for the Definition. Nicolas Slobinsky said: “To effectively combat one of the world’s oldest forms of hatred, we must first clearly identify it. In this light, we see the [International] Definition as an important non-legally binding educational tool to help us determine what is and what is not antisemitic, which allows us to work toward a society that is better for all British Columbians.”

So far this year, Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick have adopted the Definition, joining Ontario which adopted it previously.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds Vancouver’s adopted, which demonstrate the city’s solidarity with the Jewish community at a time of growing antisemitism in Canada.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.

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Antisemitic graffiti invoking Holocaust denial removed in Shropshire

Antisemitic graffiti invoking Holocaust denial discovered by a couple has now been removed from a wooden banister in Shropshire.

One section of graffiti read: “You’re going on a trip to a place called Auschwitz. Turns the ovens: high. Burn the Jew swine.”

To its right, the phrase “The Holocaust never happened” alongside a homophobic slur was scrawled.

However, it was only once that it was spotted by the couple, who discovered it while on a walk and then alerted Bridgnorth Town Council and Shropshire County Council, that action was taken.

The couple stated that in their 32 years of living in the area, it was the first time they had witnessed antisemitic graffiti.

Shortly thereafter, they were contacted by Bridgnorth Town Council to inform them that the graffiti had been removed.

Image credit: Mark Michaels

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Senior local authority officer exposed as operating incendiary far-right anonymous social media channels

A senior local authority officer has been exposed as operating incendiary far-right anonymous social media channels.

Leon Mayer, who works as a systems development officer at Swindon Borough Council, is reported to have secretly run Twitter and YouTube accounts that published inflammatory rock songs with racist references to Jews.

Mr Mayer has also reportedly been photographed on hikes organised by the far-right group Patriotic Alternative.

According to watchdog Red Flare, Mr Mayer operates the @NatKumquat handle on Twitter and the Kumquat Nat account on YouTube, a platform that he has reportedly referred to as “Judentube”.

Both accounts have apparently shared antisemitic and far-right content, including songs called Swindon Is Dead, Dresden and Kalergi Express, a reference to the antisemitic “Kalergi Plan” conspiracy theory, which alleges that Jews are “taking over the world” by encouraging immigration, as well as marriage and sexual relationships between members of different races.

When YouTube took down the video of a song called Dissident Detected (Shut It Down!), Mr Mayer complained on his Twitter account: “(The song) gets taken down by Judentube for possible ‘Hate Speech’. They write themselves.” 

Another song, You Called?, proclaimed, “It hasn’t ended, you know that. Walk into the light, Victory will soon be hailed,” and was posted with a video showing a photograph of Hitler as a baby.

The Twitter account also reportedly featured defences of Hitler and disparaging references to Jews and other minorities.

It also commented “Pure Gold” in reference to an antisemitic YouTube post by “Mordecai Sheckelberg”, an account that reportedly mocks the Holocaust.

The JC uncovered these and further inflammatory social media posts.

Confronted by the JC outside his home in Swindon, Mr Mayer reportedly denied being Kumquat Nat, but conceded: “I’ve used an alias similar.” It is understood that both accounts were deleted within hours.

He denied being a member of Patriotic Alternative but said: “I know of them.” Asked by the JC if he had been on any hikes organised by Patriotic Alternative, Mr Mayer replied: “I went on one once, to see what it’s about.” When asked if he was a member of the far-right group, he said: “I’m not a member. I’d have thought you’d have to be paying money or something.” He was asked if he was sympathetic with their policies and replied: “I agree with some of it, yeah. I agree with some of lots of parties. I agree with not becoming a minority within the country.”

Asked by the JC where he stood on Jews, he reportedly replied: “Not really a problem. With the ones who are at the top of things, they’re a problem, like in banking and such things, which is common knowledge.” Pressed on whether he is anti-Jewish, he reportedly said: “No, I’ve said this before, only these oligarchs within certain systems, like the media, which you can’t deny, and other such things that they’re the majority within. The rich ones, but that’s what they do. You could say the same about the Catholics.” 

Swindon Borough Council, which has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism, said that Mr Mayer was being suspended pending an internal investigation into the allegations.

Image credit: JC

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Newham Council resigns itself to inaction after suspended Labour councillor Belgica Guaña apologises for horrific social media posts, but police investigation ongoing

Newham Council has resigned itself to inaction after a suspended Labour councillor has issued an “unreserved apology” after Campaign Against Antisemitism made a complaint about her past social media activity.

Cllr Belgica Guaña wrote to us saying “I would like to say that I totally agree that the package of articles from the Daily Stormer is horrific and I would never knowingly have posted it. The references to the Jewish people and the Holocaust are abhorrent and its Nazi ideology is something I totally reject. I am an international human rights activist and, as an indigenous Latin American, I would actually expect to be persecuted by the Nazis myself.”

With regard to comments that appeared to compare Israel to the Nazis, which would be a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, she wrote: “These statements recognised the reality of the Holocaust but I now believe they made a false equivalence as, although I consider the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians to be wrong, it is in no way equivalent to the Nazis extermination of the Jews and this comparison should never be made. I also now believe that my use of the term ‘genocide’ was totally inappropriate to apply to the case of Israel and Palestine. With these statements I was trying to support the case of the Palestinians and was insensitive to the trauma felt by the Jewish people because of the Holocaust.”

She added that “At the time of these posts I was strongly focussed on Latin America and I did not know so much about British and European politics and history. I knew about the Holocaust of course but I have since learned more about the horrific circumstances in which a large part of the Jewish population of Europe was tortured and killed.”

The letter ended with an apology: “I would like to end by offering my unreserved apology to the Jewish people for the hurt and offence caused by any of the articles I shared and the comments I made.”

In view of her apology, the Council’s Director of Legal & Governance and Monitoring Officer told us: “Given her apology and that this matter occurred prior to her being a Councillor, I am minded to close the complaint. I will be encouraging the Councillor to attending equalities training which is part of the Learning and Development programme the Council had devised for all Councillors too.”

Cllr Guaña was suspended hours before the polls opened in the 2022 local elections after it was alleged that she posted a horrific article arguing that “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today.”

Cllr Guaña was also alleged to have posted the article, titled “The Holocaust Hoax and the Jewish Promotion of Perversity”, on Facebook in 2016, two years before she became a councillor in Newham in London.

The article says that “The so-called ‘Holocaust’ is propaganda in an ongoing war between the Jews and those with the courage to stand up to them – a war that began with the National Socialists coming to power in Germany in the 1930s and continues to this very day. The Jews do not have the means or the numbers to defeat Europeans with the force of arms so they have to rely mainly on infiltration, subversion, and economic and psychological warfare, with the Holocaust hoax being the best example of the latter. 

“The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews (which is all that was actually happening), just as we would be today. Hitler and the National Socialists freed Germany from the death grip of the Jews and gave it back to the German people.”

The essay also argues that Jews use pornography to control western societies by way of the “Holocaust hoax”, and pushes the “white genocide” conspiracy theory, as well as claiming that teenage diarist Anne Frank, murdered by the Nazis at Bergen-Belsen, was a “bisexual degenerate” whose popular diary is an “obvious fraud…laced with pornographic and sexually subversive messages”.

In May 2016, Cllr Guaña reportedly shared a post that said that “The Nazi holocaust [sic] was a crime against humanity, and the Israeli Genocide against Palestinians can not be ignored or denied,” and in December 2017, Cllr Guaña is said to have shared a video of the United Nations General Assembly, writing: “If you can have a minute of silence for the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. So how much time should I ask for the more than 50 years of invasion and oppression of the Palestinian people?” Both posts are further breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The posts were uncovered by Labour Against Antisemitism and reported by the JC. Campaign Against Antisemitism went on to report Cllr Guaña to the police, as well as to Newham Council.

Until recently, it appeared that Cllr Guaña was still listed as a member of the Labour Group on Newham Council. She is now, however, listed as an Independent.

The Labour group at Newham Council has repeatedly been the subject of controversy in relation to antisemitism allegations. In 2020, a leaked report reportedly detailed a complaint by the Council’s only Jewish member about a “culture of accepted antisemitism”, and then last year the Chair of Labour in Newham was reportedly to be investigated over alleged antisemitism, just days after his deputy was suspended over alleged antisemitic social media activity.

Newham Council has not adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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Policewoman once praised for confronting anti-lockdown protestors suspended after posting inflammatory social media messages and being in contact with suspect Jihadist in Syria

A policewoman who received praise for confronting lockdown protestors has been suspended after apparently posting inflammatory social media messages and being in contact with a suspected Jihadist in Syria.

In August 2021, the Metropolitan Police launched an urgent investigation into Ruby Begum, 26, who joined the Metropolitan Police in 2016 and inspired others as a young officer wearing a hijab on the frontline of police work.

However, it was alleged that she posted social media messages in 2014 comparing Israel to Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, and referred to non-Muslims as “kuffars”.

The officer from the Met’s Taskforce, a unit which deals with public order, is alleged to have written on Twitter in January 2015: “It’s alright when Israel does it #HolocaustRemembranceDay,” as well as “Zionists have no hearts! They’ll get what’s coming to them subhanallah [glory be to God]” and “Dirty Zionist. Jahannam [hell] is awaiting.”

In 2014, on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she allegedly wrote: “Must be stupid if you think I’m gonna do 2mins silence for 9/11.” On the 2019 anniversary, by which time she was working in the Met, she is claimed to have written: “Omg it’s 9/11 today? Jokes, I only noticed.”

Ms Begum has also reportedly written, “Kuffar lips have been all over my mug there is no way I’m using that thing again” and is claimed to have described Pakistanis as “p***s”.

She is further believed to have communicated for many months with a woman thought to have left Europe for the ISIS caliphate in Syria in 2014, and Ms Begum also reportedly disclosed without explanation that her own passport had been confiscated for a month, raising serious questions about the Met’s vetting processes. It is understood that there is no indication that Ms Begum ever tried to join ISIS or travel to Syria herself, and that some of her tweets express disgust at the terrorist group’s activities.

Ms Begum’s suspension comes after The Independent Office for Police Conduct launched an investigation once The Mail on Sunday drew attention to the case, with Ms Begum initially being placed on “restricted duties”.Recently, the Metropolitan Police saw one of its own convicted for far-right terrorism.

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Suspended Labour Councillor appears to continue to enjoy membership in Labour Group

A Labour Party councillor who was reportedly suspended by the Party appears to continue to enjoy membership of his Council’s Labour Group.

Cllr Mohammed Iqbal, who served, until his reported suspension, as the leader of the Labour Group on Pendle Council in Lancashire, was reportedly suspended earlier this year by the Party over remarks that he made in a speech in April in which he called for the flag of the Palestinian Authority to be flown from the town hall.

He reportedly said: “The fact is that what’s going on in Ukraine, Palestine, and other areas I’ve mentioned, reminds me, I barely passed my GCSE history at school, but many people in this room will remember what justification Hitler had for what he did to the Jews in the Second World War.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.

Cllr Iqbal reportedly told the JC at the time: “I disagree that this is antisemitic. I have friends who are Jews and Israeli friends who are Jewish and from other faiths.” He apparently added that several Jewish people had contacted him to express their support.

However, Campaign Against Antisemitism has now been informed that Cllr Iqbal continues to enjoy membership of the Labour Group at the Council, despite his apparent suspension. We have, for example, seen a press release sent via e-mail by Cllr Iqbal on behalf of the Labour Group, and a sign-in sheet in which he continues to be listed as a Labour councillor.

Earlier this year, Conservatives in Bury also came under scrutiny after it emerged that a suspended candidate appeared to represent the Party at a hustings.

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Labour expels Brighton councillor Anne Pissaridou, but not over antisemitism

The Labour Party has reportedly expelled Cllr Anne Pissaridou, but not over antisemitism.

Cllr Pissaridou, along with one of her colleagues in the Labour Group on Brighton and Hove Council, was apparently expelled for belonging to a proscribed organisation.

Earlier this year, Cllr Pissaridou, representing North Portslade in Brighton, was suspended by the Party for a second time after new revelations about her social media output. She was accused of posting messages on social media downplaying antisemitism allegations in the Labour Party and reportedly appeared to condone an online attack on a Jewish party member.

Cllr Pissaridou said: “I am taking legal advice in respect of appealing the decision and do not have any further comment to make at this time.”

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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GMP tells CAA it lost track of antisemitic crime data due to new IT system and did not even make Mayor Andy Burnham aware

Greater Manchester Police has told Campaign Against Antisemitism that it has lost track of antisemitic crime data due to the installation of a new IT system.

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, is in charge of police governance for the city, but in correspondence with his office, we discovered that the police force has yet to provide explanations to him for the scandal. We are grateful to the Mayor for his help.

We have now reported Greater Manchester Police to the Information Commissioner’s Office and appointed lawyers.

Greater Manchester Police serves Britain’s third largest city, which is home to the second largest Jewish community in the country. Its data on antisemitic hate crimes is therefore essential to understanding the nature of antisemitic crime and holding police forces accountable for their performance.

Following requests from us from as long ago as April 2021 for data regarding antisemitic crimes and non-criminal antisemitic incidents recorded by Greater Manchester Police for every month in 2018, 2019 and 2020 — which is data that all other police forces in the country hold and have provided to us and the Home Office — the force has consistently failed to provide the data, apparently because it would take days to extract it from its computers. In other words, it appears to have lost track of this data.

Paradoxically, while insisting that the data requested was not easily retrievable, subsequent to our request the force did publish part of the data on its website. However, a substantial amount of data remains missing. The problem remains so severe that it is the only police force in the UK to have been unable to meet minimum data requirements set by the Home Office.

This problem does not affect antisemitic hate crime alone: even the Home Office’s national crime statistics have, for several years until this year, omitted data from one of the country’s largest police forces.

With the assistance of the Mayor, we are continuing to press the force to explain itself, compile the necessary data and provide it.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is scandalous that one of the nation’s largest police forces has effectively lost its hate crime data. Through its incompetence, Greater Manchester Police has deprived the Government, us and the public of critical information. Most pertinent to us, the force’s ineptitude prevents the Jewish community from understanding the nature of antisemitic crime and holding police accountable for their performance. Manchester is home to the second largest Jewish community in the country; if its local police cannot even retain data that is so crucial to keeping that community safe, it raises serious questions about whether and how it carries out its actual police work.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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CAA delivers “highly informative” antisemitism training to Essex Police

Campaign Against Antisemitism has recently completed the delivery of a multi-part training course to Essex Police.

The training was provided to around 60 police officers and other staff over the course of three sessions.

The training follows past engagement with the force on antisemitism cases, and we have delivered similar courses to other forces in the past, including Devon and Cornwall Police.

The material in the course has been described by officers as “ very useful” and “highly informative”, drawing on the personal perspectives and experiences of the course leaders, as well as their expertise.

One police officer has previously said: “I would recommend this training to anyone who wants to know more about antisemitism and for anyone who thinks that there is no longer a problem with hatred against Jews.”

We are grateful to Essex Police officers for their positive engagement with the training and are confident that they will apply insights into their policing.

Campaign Against Antisemitism regularly provides antisemitism training to regulators, police forces, public bodies, university societies and other institutions, free of charge.

If you would like to arrange antisemitism training for your association, please e-mail [email protected].

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West Yorkshire Combined Authority adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism last week.

Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin said: “West Yorkshire’s strength comes from its diversity but sadly discrimination, racism, islamophobia and antisemitism still exist here.

“That’s why it was important that we today formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of Antisemitism. Our local Jewish communities face increasing threats and it is important we stand by them and understand the changing nature of the scourge that is antisemitism.”

However, this decision does not bind the member authorities of Leeds, Wakefield, Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale councils as they are independently governed.

Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford councils have all adopted the Definition in full. However, while Calderdale council has claimed to have adopted the Definition, it is currently unclear whether they have included the examples, and Kirkless council has not yet adopted the Definition in any form.

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British Columbia adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

The Canadian province of British Columbia has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

British Columbia’s Premier, John Horgan, announced the decision in a letter to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), Vancouver.

There has been a Jewish community in British Columbia, mostly located in Vancouver, since the mid-19th century. The most recent data shows that there were over 30,000 Jews living in British Columbia. 

In his letter, Mr Horgan wrote: “To effectively combat one of the world’s oldest forms of hatred, we must first clearly identify it. In this light, we see the IHRA [International] Definition as an important non-legally binding educational tool to help us determine what is and what is not antisemitic, which allows us to work toward a society that is better for all British Columbians.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has consistently backed efforts by the Government to encourage widespread adoption of the Definition by local authorities, universities, public bodies and other institutions. The UK was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.

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New Jersey town forced to pay nearly $200,000 after being found guilty of discriminating against Orthodox Jews

Jackson Township, New Jersey, has settled a lawsuit after officials in the town used zoning codes to ensure that Orthodox Jews could not settle there, forcing many to leave and stopping others from moving in.

This issue dates back to 2015 when some Jackson Township residents objected to Orthodox Jews living near them. One resident took to social media to say that “We need to get rid of them like Hitler did,” while another said that Jews were “filthy f**king cockroaches”.

Later, the local councils passed laws to ensure that private schools were limited to just three areas, preventing the construction of dormitories, and making sure that no new yeshivas (Jewish religious schools), sukkahs (temporary structures built during the festival of Sukkot), or eruvim (boundaries that allow some activities during the Jewish sabbath) could be established.

Following the lawsuit that was filed by the federal Department of Justice, Jackson Township now has to pay a $45,000 fine for its policies, which will be reviewed directly by the Justice Department for three years to ensure any changes to the zoning code are made known to the government, and $150,000 compensation to the victims, while ensuring it complies with all relevant laws associated with fairness in housing distribution and religious land use.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Tennessee applies International Definition of Antisemitism in law

The State of Tennessee has applied the International Definition of Antisemitism in law.

Governor Bill Lee signed bill HB 2673 into law, including a provision that prohibits the teaching of “antisemitic concepts”, empowering schools to use the Definition in cases of alleged antisemitism by students.

Though the records show that Jews had settled in Tennessee as early as the late 18th century, Jewish immigration to the state increased from the 1820s to the 1840s.

According to a 2020 survey, the Jewish population of Tennessee was 22,800, making up 0.3% of a total population of nearly seven million.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds Tennessee’s decision, which demonstrates the State’s solidarity with the Jewish community at this worrying time for Jews in around the world.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Tennessee joins a growing list of national and local governments and public bodies to use the Definition.

Image credit: Brent Moore

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CAA reports to police Newham councillor alleged to have posted horrific article arguing “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has reported to the police a Newham councillor alleged to have posted a horrific article arguing that “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today.”

We have also reported the councillor to Newham Council.

Belgica Guaña is alleged to have posted the article, titled “The Holocaust Hoax and the Jewish Promotion of Perversity”, on Facebook in 2016, two years before she became a councillor in Newham in London, where she was re-elected last week.

The article says that “The so-called ‘Holocaust’ is propaganda in an ongoing war between the Jews and those with the courage to stand up to them – a war that began with the National Socialists coming to power in Germany in the 1930s and continues to this very day. The Jews do not have the means or the numbers to defeat Europeans with the force of arms so they have to rely mainly on infiltration, subversion, and economic and psychological warfare, with the Holocaust hoax being the best example of the latter. 

“The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews (which is all that was actually happening), just as we would be today. Hitler and the National Socialists freed Germany from the death grip of the Jews and gave it back to the German people.”

The essay also argues that Jews use pornography to control western societies by way of the “Holocaust hoax”, and pushes the “white genocide” conspiracy theory, as well as claiming that teenage diarist Anne Frank, murdered by the Nazis at Bergen-Belsen, was a “bisexual degenerate” whose popular diary is an “obvious fraud…laced with pornographic and sexually subversive messages”.

In May 2016, Cllr Guaña reportedly shared a post that said that “The Nazi holocaust [sic] was a crime against humanity, and the Israeli Genocide against Palestinians can not be ignored or denied,” and in December 2017, Cllr Guaña is said to have shared a video of the United Nations General Assembly, writing: “If you can have a minute of silence for the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. So how much time should I ask for the more than 50 years of invasion and oppression of the Palestinian people?” Both posts are further breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism. Other inflammatory material is also alleged to have been posted by Cllr Guaña, both before and during her term in office.

The allegation that Cllr Guaña posted the article was made in the JC, based on research by Labour Against Antisemitism. Cllr Guaña was suspended by the Labour Party on the eve of the local elections last week, reportedly a week after Labour Against Antisemitism submitted its complaint to the Party but, notably, immediately after the allegations were published in the JC.

The Labour group at Newham Council has repeatedly been the subject of controversy in relation to antisemitism allegations. In 2020, a leaked report reportedly detailed a complaint by the Council’s only Jewish member about a “culture of accepted antisemitism”, and then last year the Chair of Labour in Newham was reportedly to be investigated over alleged antisemitism, just days after his deputy was suspended over alleged antisemitic social media activity.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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CAA writes to Conservative Party over disturbing pattern of incidents in Bury

Campaign Against Antisemitism has this week written to the Conservative Party in relation to a disturbing pattern of incidents in the Bury North and South Conservative Association, which we and others have publicised in recent weeks.

On 17th February, it was reported that a Jewish councillor, Jordan Lewis, was deselected by the local association and was thereby unable to run with the endorsement of the Conservative Party. Ordinarily, in and of itself this would not have been a matter of concern, were it not for the pattern of incidents in the association that was to come. He was replaced by Shahbaz Mahmood Arif in the new Bury West ward, more on whom below.

On 31st March, it was reported that Dr Shadman Zaman, a prospective Conservative candidate in Besses ward, was asked to remove messages sympathetic to Jewish victims of terrorism of Israel. Although the local association claimed that it wanted to keep the election “local” and said in a statement that “Dr Shadman Zaman was not confirmed as a Besses ward candidate because of his failure to comply with instructions regarding electoral law and Party guidance and not because of any of his expressed views,” again, in view of the pattern of incidents, this defence was not entirely as believable to the Jewish community as it might otherwise have been.

On 12th April, it was reported, Sham Raja Akhtar, a Conservative candidate for Sedgley ward, had his endorsement by the Party revoked after numerous historic and inflammatory social media posts were uncovered, including one allegedly comparing Israeli footballers to “assassins”. However, it was claimed that Mr Raja subsequently represented the Conservatives at a hustings as late as 23rd April.

On 13th April, it was reported that Shafqat Mahmood, a Conservative candidate for Redvales ward, also had his endorsement by the Party revoked after historic and inflammatory social media posts were uncovered, including one saying that “Jews r at it again” in reference to a fake news item from a Pakistani propagandist outlet about an Israeli national supposedly being involved with ISIS. The baseless and offensive notion that Jews or the Jewish state created ISIS or direct it is an antisemitic trope that has developed over the past decade. According to a report, Mr Mahmood, who had backed George Galloway’s Workers’ Party in the Batley and Spen by-election last year, had allegedly also shared a social media post which labelled Sir Keir Starmer a “Zionist”. As the Home Affairs Select Committee has made clear, “‘Zionism’ as a concept remains a valid topic for academic and political debate, both within and outside Israel. The word ‘Zionist’ (or worse, ‘Zio’) as a term of abuse, however, has no place in a civilised society. It has been tarnished by its repeated use in antisemitic and aggressive contexts.”

Also on 13th April, it was revealed that Mr Arif, the Conservative candidate for Bury West ward who had replaced Mr Lewis, had allegedly shared an inflammatory article from the controversial far-left website, The Canary, about how Sir Keir Starmer was in receipt of donations from a “pro-Israel lobbyist” and that such “pro-Israel” figures who were backing Sir Keir had been opponents of Jeremy Corbyn. The undercurrent of the claims were – as was by that time common on the far-left – that those who had opposed Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party had done so in service to Israel or in order to silence his opposition to Israel, a type of antisemitic trope known as the ‘Livingstone Formulation’, which was highlighted in the EHRC’s investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party.

At around the same time, concerns were raised about Mazhar Aslam, another Conservative candidate in Sedgley, over his past social media activity. The Party accepted his apology and stood by him.

The foregoing does not represent the first time that the local association has been rocked by allegations of antisemitism. Last year, Cllr Robert (Bob) Caserta was found to have breached the Code of Conduct for Councillors and Other Voting Representatives four times over comments apparently made during an interview to recruit a senior officer at the Council in July 2019. During that interview, Cllr Caserta was alleged to have referred to “grot spots” in Sedgley and said that it would be difficult to communicate with residents “unless you are able to speak Hebrew”. He had the whip removed but was reinstated by the Party. He was not a candidate in Bury in the 2022 local elections.

The recent incidents have raised urgent questions about the local association’s vetting processes, how it handles the revocation of endorsements, and whether the association has tolerated or indulged in prejudice towards Jewish people among its membership or has sought to exploit perceptions of such prejudice in any target electorate.

We have called on the Conservatives to investigate the local association as a matter of urgency.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

Image credit: Google

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Labour candidate for Camden council reveals she was subjected to “levels of antisemitism I’ve never had before” during recent local election campaign

It has been reported that a Jewish candidate standing for the Labour Party in the London Borough of Camden was the target of antisemitic intimidation in the run-up to the recent local elections.

Izzy Lenga, who successfully stood for Labour in Camden’s South Hampstead ward, has revealed that she faced “levels of antisemitism I’ve never had before” after she was made the target of a poster campaign that called for people to not vote for her because she supported “apartheid”.

The harassment campaign is reported to have been based on accounts on anti-Israel websites like The Electronic Intifada dating back to 2014 about how Ms Lenga, a well-known young activist and leader in the Jewish community, once took part in a basic training course in Israel organised by the IDF. Ms Lenga also took part in the BBC Panorama documentary about antisemitism in the Labour Party during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Posters publicising this information were plastered on walls and bus stops throughout the South Hampstead Ward in the weeks leading up to the election on 5th May.

The police do not believe that the people responsible for the 2014 articles had any role in the poster campaign, and have arrested a suspect believed to have been involved in the making or distributing of the posters because they apparently repeatedly misspelt the word “apartheid” in the same way each time.

A Metropolitan Police statement said: “We can confirm that a 39-year-old man was arrested on Friday, 29th April on suspicion of a Section 19 offence under the Public Order Act 1986. He was taken to a north London police station and was subsequently released on bail to return on a date in mid-June. Enquiries are ongoing. The arrest relates to two incidents where offensive materials were distributed in the South Hampstead area.”

Cllr Lenga was nevertheless elected as a councillor with the second highest vote in the South Hampstead ward.

Upon being elected, Cllr Lenga tweeted: “I’ve not spoken about it too much, but it’s been a really rough few months. I’ve faced levels of antisemitism I’ve never had before, and am eternally grateful for all those who’ve offered support.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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Welsh Liberal Democrat council candidate suspended hours after being elected after posting inflammatory TikTok video using the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”

It has been reported that a winning candidate for the Welsh Liberal Democrats has been suspended by the Party just hours after the results were announced for sharing an inflammatory video on TikTok a year earlier.

Little-One Brighouse, the newly elected councillor for Disserth and Trecoed with Newbridge-on-Wye in Powys, central Wales, was suspended by the Liberal Democrats after the Party was made aware of a video that she allegedly shared on TikTok in May 2021 which showed a burning Israeli flag.

In the video, the councillor can reportedly be seen posing in front of the camera while two other video clips play concurrently. In one, the viewer can see a burning Israeli flag. In the other, a caption reads: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, which is a popular chant.

The chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state — and its replacement with a State of Palestine — and is thus an attempt to deny Jews, uniquely, the right to self-determination, which is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

A spokesperson from the Welsh Liberal Democrats said: “We have received a complaint regarding this candidate which has been reviewed under our independent complaints process. As a result they have been suspended from the Party while the complaint is fully investigated. Liberal Democrats have a long and proud record of standing up against antisemitism and continue to champion a liberal, tolerant and inclusive society for all.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Labour suspends councillor alleged to have posted horrific article arguing “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today”

The Labour Party has reportedly suspended a councillor alleged to have posted a horrific article arguing “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today.”

The suspension came within hours of the JC publicising the allegation, but reportedly a week since Labour Against Antisemitism first filed the complaint, raising questions anew about how Labour is tackling antisemitism in its ranks and reviving concerns about the extent to which PR considerations are a driving factor.

Belgica Guaña is alleged to have posted the article, titled “The Holocaust Hoax and the Jewish Promotion of Perversity”, on Facebook in 2016, two years before she became a councillor in Newham in London, where she is running for re-election this week.

The article says that “The so-called ‘Holocaust’ is propaganda in an ongoing war between the Jews and those with the courage to stand up to them – a war that began with the National Socialists coming to power in Germany in the 1930s and continues to this very day. The Jews do not have the means or the numbers to defeat Europeans with the force of arms so they have to rely mainly on infiltration, subversion, and economic and psychological warfare, with the Holocaust hoax being the best example of the latter. 

“The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews (which is all that was actually happening), just as we would be today. Hitler and the National Socialists freed Germany from the death grip of the Jews and gave it back to the German people.”

The essay also argues that Jews use pornography to control western societies by way of the “Holocaust hoax”, and pushes the “white genocide” conspiracy theory, as well as claiming that teenage diarist Anne Frank, murdered by the Nazis at Bergen-Belsen, was a “bisexual degenerate” whose popular diary is an “obvious fraud…laced with pornographic and sexually subversive messages”.

In May 2016, Cllr Guaña reportedly shared a post that said that “The Nazi holocaust [sic] was a crime against humanity, and the Israeli Genocide against Palestinians can not be ignored or denied,” and in December 2017, Cllr Guaña is said to have shared a video of the United Nations General Assembly, writing: “If you can have a minute of silence for the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. So how much time should I ask for the more than 50 years of invasion and oppression of the Palestinian people?” Both posts are further breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism. Other inflammatory material is also alleged to have been posted by Cllr Guaña.

Although Cllr Guaña has been suspended from the Labour Party and therefore no longer enjoys its endorsement in her bid for re-election, she will remain on the ballot paper listed as a Labour candidate, which is unavoidable in view of how close the revelations came before the local elections.

The allegation that Cllr Guaña posted the article was made in the JC, based on research by Labour Against Antisemitism. Earlier this week, Campaign Against Antisemitism announced that it is examining legal options in respect of the posting of the article.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously. They are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate action is taken.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said on Wednesday: “The article allegedly shared by this councillor is a not only an abhorrent collection of antisemitic tropes, from Holocaust denial and paedophilia to comparisons of Israel with the Nazis and support for the far-right ‘Great Replacement Theory’, but it may also imply support for Jewish genocide. In view of just how horrific this post is, we are examining legal options.”

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Labour councillor alleged to have posted horrific article arguing “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today”

A Labour Party councillor is alleged to have posted a horrific article arguing “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today.”

Belgica Guaña is alleged to have posted the article, titled “The Holocaust Hoax and the Jewish Promotion of Perversity”, on Facebook in 2016, two years before she became a councillor in Newham in London, where she is running for re-election this week.

The article says that “The so-called ‘Holocaust’ is propaganda in an ongoing war between the Jews and those with the courage to stand up to them – a war that began with the National Socialists coming to power in Germany in the 1930s and continues to this very day. The Jews do not have the means or the numbers to defeat Europeans with the force of arms so they have to rely mainly on infiltration, subversion, and economic and psychological warfare, with the Holocaust hoax being the best example of the latter. 

“The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews (which is all that was actually happening), just as we would be today. Hitler and the National Socialists freed Germany from the death grip of the Jews and gave it back to the German people.”

The essay also argues that Jews use pornography to control western societies by way of the “Holocaust hoax”, and pushes the “white genocide” conspiracy theory, as well as claiming that teenage diarist Anne Frank, murdered by the Nazis at Bergen-Belsen, was a “bisexual degenerate” whose popular diary is an “obvious fraud…laced with pornographic and sexually subversive messages”.

In May 2016, Cllr Guaña reportedly shared a post that said that “The Nazi holocaust [sic] was a crime against humanity, and the Israeli Genocide against Palestinians can not be ignored or denied,” and in December 2017, Cllr Guaña is said to have shared a video of the United Nations General Assembly, writing: “If you can have a minute of silence for the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. So how much time should I ask for the more than 50 years of invasion and oppression of the Palestinian people?” Both posts are further breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The allegation that Cllr Guaña posted the article was made in the JC, based on research by Labour Against Antisemitism.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The article allegedly shared by this councillor is a not only an abhorrent collection of antisemitic tropes, from Holocaust denial and paedophilia to comparisons of Israel with the Nazis and support for the far-right ‘Great Replacement Theory’, but it may also imply support for Jewish genocide. In view of just how horrific this post is, we are examining legal options.

“The Labour Party must urgently investigate both the veracity of the allegation and how Belgica Guaña was allowed to become and remain a councillor in spite of the post, and why she was endorsed by the Party in her bid for reelection.”

Cllr Guaña is not the only Labour candidate in the coming elections to be embroiled in controversy.

Cllr Lee Garvey, an independent candidate representing Pallister and Berwick Hills in Middlesbrough, had applied to become a member of the Labour Party, but was rejected after concerns were raised about material that he had allegedly shared online. Cllr Garvey allegedly compared Israel’s policies to the Holocaust and referenced antisemitic conspiracy theories surrounding the Rothschild family.

In a 2015 Facebook post referencing then-Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, Cllr Garvey reportedly wrote: “Just saw an interview with [Channel 4 News presenter John] snow and CaMORON where he says, we need to stop the Demonisation of Jews…Lets look at how I see it…Israel is doing to the Palestinians what they themselves suffered at the hands of the Nazi’s [sic].”

On another occasion, Cllr Garvey allegedly complained about the number of Jewish characters on television, saying: “Watch any US sitcom or show, you will find the vast majority have at least one Jewish character if not a Jewish family. Why is this when they make up JUST 2.2% of the population?? And if like me you fear the TV is just a Propaganda, it certainly makes you think [sic].”

In another alleged 2015 Facebook post, Cllr Garvey is claimed to have referenced classic antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family, writing: “I also take the sleeping enhancer from those drug companies I despise, use money to purchase items given to us by the Rothschild family who I regard as less than poo and I also maek most of my living in churches and we all know how I feel about them…”

Another Labour candidate, Anne Pissaridou, representing North Portslade in Brighton, has been suspended by the Party for a second time after new revelations about her social media output. She is accused of posting messages on social media downplaying antisemitism allegations in the Labour Party and reportedly appeared to condone an online attack on a Jewish party member.

A third figure caught up in controversy is former Labour MP Martin Linton. Mr Linton served as the MP for Battersea between 1997 and 2010, but is now running as a council candidate in Wandsworth’s Lavender ward. He has allegedly made a number of inflammatory statements in the past.

In 2010, while Mr Linton was Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine, he reportedly claimed that the “Israel lobby” played a malign role in marginal constituencies. During a meeting held at the House of Commons by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Friends of al-Aqsa, Mr Linton is reported to have said that “There are long tentacles of Israel in this country who are funding election campaigns and putting money into the British political system for their own ends…When you make decisions about how you vote and how you advise constituents to vote, you must make them aware of the attempt by Israelis and by pro-Israelis to influence the election.”

In an appearance on the Islam Channel, Mr Linton said that the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas should not be called “terrorists”. That is, Mr Linton explained “the wrong word to use when you are talking about someone who is fighting a military occupation”. Mr Linton’s preferred term is “Gazan militants”, because, while the actions of individuals may be described as terroristic, the same apparently cannot be said for groups and governments.

In 2010, Mr Linton appeared on the Iranian-backed news outlet PressTV to, it has been claimed, defend Hamas terrorists in Israeli prisons. On another occasion, he appeared on PressTV to defend Raed Salah, a prolific antisemite who claims that Israel planned 9/11.

Murad Qureshi, the candidate for the ward of Little Venice in west London, is also embroiled in controversy. Mr Qureshi is alleged to have made comments about the “powerful pro-Israel lobby” in the United States, and retweeted a Twitter post which read “You can get away with offending anyone so lomng as they’re not Jewish”. In a 2013 blog post, Mr Qureshi also reportedly questioned the “legal basis” for the trial of the leading Nazi Adolf Eichmann. Mr Qureshi allegedly wrote that “I am not sure the Eichmann trial can be held up as a model of due processes [sic].” From 2016 to 2021, Mr Qureshi was Chair of Stop the War Coalition, and has been photographed alongside Hamas politicians including leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Liberal Democrats reportedly reintegrate member once suspended for sharing former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke video denouncing “Zionist globalism”

The Liberal Democrats appear to have reintegrated a member once suspended for reportedly sharing antisemitic material online.

In 2019, local Liberal Democrat candidate Abjol Miah was suspended during a council by-election in the Shadwell ward of Tower Hamlets after he reportedly shared antisemitic content, including a video produced by David Duke, five years earlier.

Mr Duke is a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, and runs a daily radio show that promotes the antisemitic “Zionist Occupied Government” conspiracy theory inspired by the infamous antisemitic conspiracy theory The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Henry Ford’s notorious collection of antisemitic articles, The International Jew. The video reportedly shared by Mr Miah was titled “CNN Goldman Sachs and the Zio Matrix”.

“Zio”, short for “Zionist”, is an epithet invented and disseminated by Mr Duke, used to disparage anything that he deems to have come from a Jewish source, whether or not the individuals in question are actually Jewish themselves.

Mr Miah also allegedly shared other examples of antisemitic conspiratorial material. They include a picture of the globe with a Star of David on it featuring the words “Zionist globalism”, a picture that collected a series of logos of major newspapers and media companies with an Israeli flag in the background and the headline “Zionist dominated media”, and an illustration of a figure with a withered face, its mouth gagged with an Israeli flag, and words that appear to say “Zio globalist tyranny!” above it.

Mr Miah is understood to have campaigned for London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, in 2016, before having his Liberal Democrat membership “revoked, pending an investigation” following his alleged online activity. However, he is now understood to have been reintegrated into the Party as part of the campaign for Rabina Khan to become Mayor of Tower Hamlets

Ms Khan is a former member of George Galloway’s Respect Party who also campaigned for Sadiq Khan in 2016 before switching allegiance to the Liberal Democrats.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Local council candidate dropped by Conservatives allegedly still represents Party at hustings

A local council candidate who had his endorsement by the Conservatives revoked has allegedly gone on to represent the Party at a hustings.

Sham Raja, who was the Conservatives’ candidate in the Sedgley ward in Bury, was dropped by the Party on 12th April, after numerous historic and inflammatory social media posts were uncovered, including one allegedly comparing Israeli footballers to “assassins”.

However, it has been claimed that he appeared at a local hustings representing the Party on 23rd April, despite supposedly no longer being its candidate. He was reportedly filling in for Jason McLeod, who is a candidate for the Party in Levenshulme ward, which is not in Bury.

The claim comes as Conservatives in Bury face mounting scrutiny over the series of allegations of antisemitism and revelations of inflammatory past social media posts by some of its candidates.

Last year, a Conservative councillor in Bury who had the Party whip removed after he allegedly made antisemitic comments in a job interview was reinstated by the Party. Cllr Robert (Bob) Caserta was found to have breached the Code of Conduct for Councillors and Other Voting Representatives four times when he appeared before the Standards Sub-Committee over comments apparently made during an interview to recruit a senior officer at the Council in July 2019, when Cllr Caserta is alleged to have referred to “grot spots” in Sedgley and said that it would be difficult to communicate with residents “unless you are able to speak Hebrew”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

Image credit: Google

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Liverpool anti-racism festival omits antisemitism, prompting accusations of double standards

A Liverpool-based anti-racism festival has come under fire after it failed to plan any events or discussions about antisemitism.

Liverpool Against Racism consists of a series of cross-city events. There will be performances by musicians Rebecca Ferguson, The Christians and The Farm. A conference tackling racism is also set to take place with keynote speakers including historian David Olusoga, the BBC’s interim Head of Creative Diversity, Joanna Abeyie, and journalist Kevin Powell. In addition, teenagers will be asked to discuss issues to do with racism, stars will share their stories and give advice about how to tackle racial inequality, and there will be workshop events, including one that aims to deal with Liverpool’s role in the Atlantic slave trade.

However, the festival makes no mention of anti-Jewish racism in its promotional material or itinerary.

The Jewish former MP in the city, Dame Louise Ellman, has spoken out over the omission, saying: “I hope it is not the case that, as David Baddiel would say, ‘Jews don’t count.’”

A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: “The aim of the Liverpool Against Racism event was to focus on anti-black racism, created as it was in the aftermath of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. However, involvement from all of our diverse communities was actively encouraged. Last December we proactively called out for organisations and groups to contact us and get involved. We had an amazing response…which has seen organisations across the city stage events to complement the Liverpool Against Racism programme.

“Following the call-out, we were contacted by representatives from the Jewish community and they were asked if they would like to be part of a panel event at the main conference. This offer was unfortunately not taken up. Mayor Joanne is incredibly proud of the Liverpool Against Racism programme and the fact that the city isn’t shying away from shining a spotlight on discrimination. We hope this inaugural event will pave the way for similar initiatives in the future and that more organisations, including Jewish groups, will join with us.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It appears to be increasingly axiomatic among so-called ‘anti-racists’ that prejudice and discrimination against Jewish people is not worthy of concern. Antisemitism is too often omitted from the agendas of diversity departments, the terms of reference of investigations into hate, and the itineraries of anti-racism events, to be a coincidence. The Jewish community sees this trend clearly, and we will continue to challenge it wherever it arises.”

David Baddiel appeared on a previous episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism.

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Over two hundred signatories endorse letter to Nicola Sturgeon calling for clarity on whether Scottish Green ministers back International Definition of Antisemitism

Over 200 Scots have signed a letter to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in connection with the lack of clarity over whether the two Scottish Green ministers in her Government endorse the International Definition of Antisemitism or not.

Ms Sturgeon, who is the leader of the SNP, has repeatedly stated that all members of the Scottish Government must endorse the Definition as a prerequisite for being part of her devolved administration. However, it remains to be clarified whether or not Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater of the Scottish Greens, which has yet to adopt the Definition but on whose support Ms Sturgeon’s Government depends, support the Definition of not.

In response to these revelations, Sammy Stein, a founder member of the Scottish National Party’s Friends for Peace in the Middle East and Chair of Glasgow Friends of Israel, wrote a letter to Ms Sturgeon which has so far received 213 signatures.

The letter reads: “I was disappointed that you did not provide a clear answer to the matter of the two Scottish Green ministers as, to the best of my knowledge, neither of them has signed up to the IHRA [international] Definition of Antisemitism. I would thank you on behalf of the Scottish Jewish community for continuing to support the IHRA Definition and your strong stance against antisemitism. You have also made your position abundantly clear by stating that ‘I do speak for and am accountable for all the members of my Government, which is a signatory to the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, and every minister before being appointed to my Government has to be clear that they sign up to and accept it. That includes the two Green Party members. It is my understanding however that with regards to your statement above, neither of the Green Party ministers has as yet signed up to the IHRA Definition despite the fact that they were invited by you to join the Government in August 2021. It would be helpful to know if this is correct and if it is, how is it possible that the two Green Party ministers were appointed to your Government BEFORE they signed up to the IHRA Definition.

“I would be grateful if you can advise the steps you plan to take in order to ensure that these two ministers comply with your guidance and how long it may be before you consider the appropriate steps to exclude them from your Government. I would suggest that this is a matter by which your commitment to continuing to actively support your stance against racism in general and antisemitism, in particular, will be judged and I do hope and expect that you will stay true to your publicly stated position.”

Mr Stein said: “There appears to be a clear discrepancy between what Nicola Sturgeon says about combating antisemitism and waht she decides to do about it. I believe she is very sincere in her support for adopting the IHRA definition, but she is clearly concerned about upsetting the Greens and losing control of her majority in Parliament. The fact that so many people felt compelled to sign this letter shows the strength of feeling within the community and I hope she takes notice of this and resolves this matter.”

Ms Sturgeon recently addressed a gathering of Scottish Jews, reiterating her Government’s commitment to the Definition but coming under pressure over the position of the Scottish Greens.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Labour Party candidate in Vale of Glamorgan suspended after referring to Ukrainian President as a “Zionist” and “fascist”

The Labour Party has suspended a candidate in the upcoming local elections after he reportedly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, as a “Zionist”, questioning why he had so much support.

Ziad Alsayed, a candidate for the Baruc ward in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, allegedly wrote the tweet in Arabic on 26th February, saying “How could we side with a country that has a Zionist president?” He has since deleted the tweet.

Alun Cairns, Conservative MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, expressed his concern about another tweet written by Mr Alsayed, in which the Labour candidate calls Mr Zelenskyy a “fascist”. Mr Alsayed is understood to have responded to an expression of solidarity for Ukraine written by London Mayor Sadiq Khan with the words: “If you mean the Ukrainian people that’s OK, but not the fascist president.”

Although the Labour Party has suspended Mr Alsayed pending an investigation, he will remain on the ballot for the election, nominally as the Party’s candidate, because nominations have already closed.

A spokesperson for Labour said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously. They are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate action is taken.”

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Scrutiny mounts over alleged antisemitism and other concerning claims among Bury Conservatives

Scrutiny is mounting over numerous allegations of antisemitism and other concerning claims among Conservatives in Bury.

Shaf Mahmood, who was due to stand as a Conservative candidate in the Redvales ward, saw his endorsement from the Party reportedly revoked last week after it emerged that he has tweeted, in 2017, that “Jews r at it again”. According to a report in the Jewish News, Mr Mahmood, who had backed George Galloway’s Workers’ Party in the Batley and Spen by-election last year, had allegedly also shared a social media post which labelled Sir Keir Starmer a “Zionist”.

That revocation came a day after another Conservative candidate, Sham Raja, who was the Conservatives’ candidate in the Sedgley ward, was also dropped after numerous historic and inflammatory social media posts were uncovered, including one allegedly comparing Israeli footballers to “assassins”. The tweets were reported in the Jewish Telegraph.

Another Conservative, Shahbaz Mahmood Arif, the candidate for Bury West, reportedly shared an inflammatory article from the controversial far-left website, The Canary. He had been selected by the local party after a young Jewish councillor had been – apparently inexplicably – deselected a few weeks ago. Another prospective Conservative candidate who was unsuccessful in his bid for selection feared that he was blocked due to his sympathies for the Jewish community and pro-Israel views, which Bury Conservatives denied.

Concerns have also been raised about Mazhar Aslam, another Conservative candidate in Sedgley, over his social media activity.

In a statement, Bury Conservatives said: “Following certain social media posts being brought to our attention yesterday made by two of the candidates for Sedgley Ward the Association has investigated the matter and spoken to both candidates. Mr. Sham Raja no longer has the endorsement of Bury Conservative Party in this election. Mr Mazhar Aslam continues to be a Conservative Candidate. His explanation was that the single post complained of was not antisemitic in nature although he understood some would not agree with the contents of his post.  He apologised and undertook to be more careful with the use of his language in this sensitive area in the future. His explanation and apology were accepted. We also wish to make clear that Dr Shadman Zaman was not confirmed as a Besses Ward candidate because of his failure to comply with instructions regarding electoral law and Party guidance and not because of any of his expressed views.”

Nick Jones, the leader of Bury Conservatives, said: “I am appalled at such ignorance regarding the State of Israel and I have asked the Conservative Association to investigate these matters immediately. As a Party we accept different views but it’s how these views expressed when the line is crossed is our challenge and investigation must be robust. As these statements have come to the attention of the association, I welcome that they have been dealt with robustly and on the day of them arising. The Conservative Council Group on Bury Council are friends of Israel and we fully support the IHRA [International] Definition of Antisemitism.”

Last year, a Conservative councillor in Bury who had the Party whip removed after he allegedly made antisemitic comments in a job interview was reinstated by the Party. Cllr Robert (Bob) Caserta was found to have breached the Code of Conduct for Councillors and Other Voting Representatives four times when he appeared before the Standards Sub-Committee over comments apparently made during an interview to recruit a senior officer at the Council in July 2019, when Cllr Caserta is alleged to have referred to “grot spots” in Sedgley and said that it would be difficult to communicate with residents “unless you are able to speak Hebrew”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

Image credit: Google

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New York Police Department reveal 92% rise in antisemitic hate crime during March

New data published by the New York City Police Department shows that antisemitic hate crimes rose by 92% in March 2022 compared to a year ago.

23 antisemitic hate crimes were reported in New York in March 2022. In March 2021, the police recorded eleven such incidents.

These findings reflect those of previous months: February 2022 saw a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents compared to February 2021 (56 compared to eleven the year before), while January showed almost 300% additional antisemitic hate crimes year on year.

While the NYPD recorded increases in hate crimes aimed at Muslims, people based on their ethnic origin in general, and based on the victim’s sexual orientation, the number of incidents with Asian or Hispanic victims went down.

Taking all reported incidents into account, the data reveals that there were more antisemitic hate crimes than those experienced by any other group except Asian-Americans.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Streets once named after prominent antisemites in Bayreuth given new names

Councillors in the northern Bavarian town of Bayreuth have voted to give new names to two streets once dedicated to noted antisemites.

One was named after the bishop, Hans Meiser, the first Landesbischof (Regional Bishop) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria from 1933 to 1955. Bishop Meisner, boasting a huge following among Bavarian Protestants, was said to have had Nazi ties and once wrote that there was something “corrosive, caustic, dissolving about the Jewish mind”. It has been renamed Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Straße in honour of the anti-Nazi theologian.

Hans-von-Wolzogen-Straße, named after the friend and biographer of the antisemitic composer Richard Wagner, is now to be called Friedelind-Wagner-Straße. Friedelind Wagner, the composer’s granddaughter, escaped Nazi Germany to the United States in 1941 after being implicated in anti-Nazi propaganda. Baron von Wolzogen, believed to have shared the composer’s antisemitic views, was the editor of the publication Bayreuther Blätter, which published antisemitic material, from 1878-1938.

Richard Wagner lived in Bayreuth from 1873 until his death in 1883. The Bayreuth Festspielhaus (Opera House) was constructed especially for the purpose of showing Wagner’s operas. His villa, Wahnfriend, was converted into a museum dedicated to his life and work after the Second World War.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Glasgow museum displays works looted from Jews by the Nazis but refuses to identify which works

It has been reported that items displayed in the collection of a Glasgow museum may have been looted from their Jewish former owners by the Nazis.

The Burrell Collection, which dates back to acquisitions made by the wealthy shipowner Sir William Burrell in 1944, already knew that two works on display were stolen from their Jewish owners by the Nazis in the 1930s. Glasgow City Council even paid out a large amount of money in compensation to the works’ would-be heirs. 

However, Glasgow Museums curator Martin Bellamy has recently published a book, A Collector’s Life: William Burrell, which maintains that even more works than previously acknowledged can be proven to have belonged to Jewish owners who relinquished their treasures as part of the practice known as “forced sale”. 

This was part of the wider policy of “Aryanisation”, in which Jews in Germany and Austria were forced to register property or assets – including life insurance, stocks, furniture and works of art – valued above a certain amount. They also lost favourable financial incentives available to non-Jews, and were forced to be part of the highest tax bracket irrespective of their actual income. If they chose to leave the country, they were forced to hand over half of their assets and exchange what remained at the least favourable rate of exchange of their destination.

Glasgow Life, a charity that administers the 9,000-piece collection, has admitted that works acquired under these circumstances are on display. They do not, however, identify precisely which works were acquired in this manner.

Scottish historian Sir Tom Devine said: “As long as the provenance of these items is established by experts and curators, it should always be made public. The question the public will ask is, ‘What do they have to hide?’ I find the refusal rather curious. Curators of museums always want the truth to be out, and unvarnished at that.”

Speaking on behalf of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, Ephraim Borowksi said: “I suggest that the point to be made is that this isn’t a question of law, but morals. Given the scale of the Holocaust, there may be no surviving family members to make a formal legal claim. It’s up to public galleries to acknowledge the dubious history of items in their collection.”

The Burrell Collection, which has recently undergone a £70 million renovation, will open to the public on 5th April.

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“I will kill you all, Hitler should come back”: Man in Stamford Hill knocks on neighbours’ door yelling abuse at 4am on Jewish Sabbath

It has been reported that a man woke up his Jewish neighbours at 4:00 by knocking on their door and yelling antisemitic abuse.

The man was said to have shouted: “I will kill you all, Hitler should come back.”

The alleged incident took place on 19th March and is understood to have occurred in the Stamford Hill area of North London on the morning of the Jewish Sabbath and lasted for approximately one hour.

It was also alleged that, yesterday, the same man told a six-year-old girl: “Get inside, I will kill you”, before threatening to burn her house down.

Both incidents were reported yesterday by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 4735 28/03/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2020 showed that three in five British Jews believe that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.

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State of Kansas adopts the International Definition of Antisemitism

The Kansas state Legislature has reportedly adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Bill HCR 5030, the short title of the bill named “Recognising the growing problem of antisemitism in the United States”, was adopted unanimously in the Kansas Senate with 38 “Yea” votes.

Gavriela Geller, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau, American Jewish Committee in Kansas is reported to have said: “We can’t fight what we can’t define. The adoption of the definition is a crucial step towards combating rising Jew-hatred.”

The 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Survey showed that less than one percent of Kansas adults identified as Jewish. In 2017, the Jewish population of Kansas was reported to be 17,300. This has not meant, however, that the midwestern state has been free of antisemitic incidents. 

In April 2014, 73-year-old Frazier Glenn Miller Jr, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and known neo-Nazi, was convicted of murder after killing three people in a shooting spree at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Kansas City and the Jewish retirement community Village Shalom, both in Overland Park, Kansas. Mr Miller was sentenced to death, but died in prison in 2021 while awaiting execution.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Since then, numerous local councils, universities and sport associations in the United Kingdom have adopted the Definition, as have several national governments and myriad municipalities and associations around the world.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Woman arrested on suspected arson of church and synagogue in New Britain, Connecticut

A Connecticut woman was arrested on 12th March for arson and burglary after being accused of setting fires in a synagogue and a church.

Kimorah Parker, 30, allegedly broke into Tephereth Israel Synagogue on 11th March and started a fire that caused “fairly extensive” damage. She has also been accused of setting fire to St Matthew’s Lutheran Church.

Local police are investigating the arson with the assistance of the FBI.

The FBI released a statement in which it said: “Local police have arrested a suspect well-known to them and retain the lead over the ongoing investigations. No other incidents have been reported since the arrest. The FBI will continue to coordinate with local law enforcement and, pending further evidence collection, will determine whether federal charges are appropriate.”

A Tephereth Israel Synagogue congregation member called the incident “devastating,” adding: “We don’t know why the person who started the fire did this…we know she chose a church and a synagogue, so it wasn’t specifically Jewish; we don’t know a motive.

“It’s devastating, because that building holds a lot of memories for me and my family…I’m hoping that [the] building itself is still structurally sound and that they can repair it.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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“F*** Jews”: Jewish woman and six-year-old child flee after being screamed at in Stamford Hill

It has been reported that a Jewish woman and a six-year-old child were screamed at by a man in North London, prompting them to run for safety. 

The man reportedly shouted “F*** Jews” to the woman and child and stood in close proximity to the two.

The incident took place at a bus stop in Stamford Hill and was reported yesterday by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol. 

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 7322 05/03/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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Pennsylvania police investigate after graves in three cemeteries vandalised with swastikas 

Pennsylvania police have launched an investigation after graves in three separate cemeteries were vandalised with swastikas. 

Photographs uploaded to Twitter show large, orange swastikas spray-painted on headstones in Montgomery County.

Also written on one of the headstones was a name and an address.

Plymouth Township Police, who were called at around 6:00 yesterday from a concerned passerby, are using the name and address as a lead but Police Chief John Myrsiades has declined to provide a name at this time.

Chief Myrsiades said: “Either that was the person who did it, or more likely somebody that had a problem with somebody else. So at least it gives us a lead that we’re pursuing to try to get some information.” 

He added: “I’m torn between being sickened and being sad.”

In November, hundreds of residents of the Pennsylvania town of Lancaster turned out to support the town’s Jewish community after a chanukiah in the town-centre was vandalised.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Isles of Scilly councillor required to take diversity training after accusing officials of creating “conditions similar to those in Bergen-Belsen or Dachau” in row over public bins and toilets

A councillor in the Isles of Scilly has been told that he must take diversity training after he accused officials of creating “conditions similar to those in Bergen-Belsen or Dachau” in row over public bins and toilets.

Toby Tobin-Dougan, 63, made what was reportedly described as a “crass assertion” in an e-mail to a colleague and council officers.

A scrutiny committee reportedly found that the independent councillor’s comments, made in October of last year, had been “offensive in the extreme” and designed to “bully the recipients”.

Cllr Tobin-Dougan represents St Martin’s, the northernmost island in the archipelago. The island receives some 400 visitors a day in the summertime but has only one public toilet and no public waste bins. The Council says that it has begun working with the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns the land on the outer islands, to provide public bins.

Cllr Tobin-Dougan has been instructed to write a “meaningful apology” and attend diversity training, “with an emphasis on the need to ensure that respect should be given to the Holocaust.”

He reportedly told The Times that he was not a bully and that the e-mail had been sent “in the heat of the moment”, while a member of the scrutiny committee allegedly described the analogy with a Nazi death camp as “outrageous, beyond all decency,” and that it besmirched the Nazis’ victims. They added: “Were I able to, I would have no hesitation in recommending [Cllr Tobin-Dougan] be suspended.”

The Isles of Scilly have not yet adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

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New report states Harrow Council ignored staff’s claims of antisemitism

A newly published independent race report has stated that Harrow Council ignored several claims of antisemitism that were flagged up by members of staff.  

In addition to antisemitism, several cases of sexism and racism were allegedly witnessed by some members of council staff, though no action had been taken. 

One participant in the report said: “A colleague reported several instances of antisemitism and racism and nothing has been done about it for years. It is no good at all to talk about combating racism, then do nothing about it when reported. We are so fed up of this and this is the reason why nothing will change.”

Other staff members reportedly said that they did not feel comfortable reporting incidents of “casual racism” for fear of losing their jobs.

The report recommended that the council issue a “formal apology”. Harrow Council has reportedly been contacted for comment. 

Harrow Council adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism in 2017.

Image credit: Google

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Conservative councillor accused of supporting far-right group Patriotic Alternative suspended from Tory Party

A councillor for the Conservative Party has been suspended after he being accused of supporting the far-right group Patriotic Alternative.

The group is known for its efforts to recruit youth to its white nationalist ideology. Previously, the far-right group published an online “alternative” home school curriculum condemned as “poison” and “hateful” and attempted to recruit children as young as twelve through livestreaming events on YouTube, according to The Times.

Tim Wills, a borough councillor in Worthing, is alleged to have joined a Patriotic Alternative chat room on the social media platform Telegram in June, where he reportedly posted messages of support.

Earlier this year, the far-right group was found to be using Telegram to create neo-Nazi channels dedicated to sharing vile messages, antisemitic conspiracy theories and images glorifying Hitler. 

On 22nd September, Cllr Wills is alleged to have written: “My view is Covid is a loss maker for us, we just need to centre on white genocide […] because many of our white race are convinced about vaccines, but not about our replacement, and need to be informed about this?”

In another message, he is alleged to have encouraged members to “Remember the fourteen words”, likely a reference to the neo-Nazi fourteen-word oath: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”, a slogan initially devised by David Lane, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group “The Order” which was responsible for the murder of Jewish radio host Alan Berg.

He also reportedly said that because Patriotic Alternative “have no chance of political power any time soon, sadly”, he viewed the Conservatives as “the best of a rotten lot,” as the group would still have a “right-wing minority who are on side”. He also reportedly said that if it were not for his “sensitive job” as a Conservative councillor, then he would take on the vacant regional organiser position in his local branch.

A Conservative Party spokesperson confirmed that “Cllr Tim Wills has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.”

Hope Not Hate describes Patriotic Alliance is “a racist far-right organisation with antisemitism at its very core. They aim to combat the ‘replacement and displacement’ of white Britons by people who ‘have no right to these lands’.” The group reportedly holds that “it is Jewish elites, particularly, who are orchestrating the ‘replacement’ of white Britons.”

The group is led by the former head of the youth wing of the BNP, Mark Collett, who is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, collaborated with the infamous American antisemite David Duke, and espoused antisemitic and racist views.

A report into Patriotic Alternative published last summer found that several members of the group engaged in Holocaust denial.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has been monitoring and acting against the threat from the far-right for years and continues to support the authorities following suit.

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Huntington NY adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

The town of Huntington in Suffolk County, NY, has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The Definition was adopted following the passage of a majority resolution, without objection, at a meeting last week of the town’s governing board.

Earlier this year, Suffolk County, where Huntington is located, and neighbouring Nassau County adopted the Definition.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Former Chairman of parish council under investigation over alleged antisemitic and discriminatory remarks

A former Chairman of a parish council has come under investigation over alleged antisemitic and discriminatory remarks.

Dr Chris Clews is accused of having made antisemitic, racist, homophobic, and sexist remarks in emails to former council colleague Philip Bond. It was also alleged that he insulted parishioners and held views that amounted to Holocaust denial, which would be a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

It was reported that Dr Clews was initially reluctant to resign, but after mounting pressure from angry parishioners, he was forced to step down. In his resignation letter, he wrote: “I do talk a lot, but at least there is some thought to what I say”, and lamented that “it appears we are no longer entitled to express in private, alternative thoughts or ask questions about some matters and events”.

A council spokesman said: “There has been a thorough investigation which established that a significant proportion of the most offensive emails written by Mr Clews were done so privately over a long period of time with the complainant. The finding, after a significant investigation, was that they were not sent in his capacity as a councillor. The sanctions available to local authorities in England in cases where a councillor is found to have breached their code of conduct is restricted by law. In effect the strongest form of sanction available in most situations is censure – in other words a letter of rebuke. This was made clear to all complainants at the start of the process.”

Warwickshire Police confirmed that they are currently investigating the situation.

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“Jew process” councillor and leading union boss reportedly receive warnings of auto-expulsion from Labour Party

A controversial councillor infamous for using the term “Jew process” and a leading union boss have reportedly received warnings of auto-expulsion from the Labour Party.

Jo Bird, a councillor for the Bromborough Ward on Wirral Council, reportedly faces expulsion due to her alleged association with antisemitism-denial group Labour Against the Witchhunt, a faction that Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) resolved to proscribe several weeks ago. Last month its members began receiving letters of automatic expulsion.

Cllr Bird re-joined the Labour Party in 2015, when Jeremy Corbyn was running for the Party’s leadership, and has a long history of controversy relating to Jews, including renaming ‘due process’ in the Labour Party as “Jew process”, for which she was suspended. She was suspended a second time but was readmitted on both occasions. She was apparently investigated for a third time after reportedly suggesting that antisemitism is being privileged over other forms of racism.

Cllr Bird is also a member of Jewish Voice for Labour, the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, and she has described Labour’s institutional antisemitism as based on mere “accusations, witch-huntery and allegations without evidence”. She failed in her bid for election to the NEC, and had been tipped to succeed Dame Louise Ellman, a Jewish MP who quit Labour prior to the election due to antisemitism, as the MP for the constituency.

Cllr Bird apparently intends to appeal the possibility of expulsion.

Recently, it was reported that Labour Against the Witchhunt suggested to its members that they may lie about their political affiliation to avoid being kicked out of the Labour Party, although there is no evidence to indicate that Cllr Bird will avail herself of this advice. Indeed, she has reportedly expressed her pride at speaking at a Labour Against the Witchhunt event.

Also reportedly facing expulsion for alleged association with a proscribed group is Ian Hodson, the elected president of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU). The union has 17,000 members and is apparently threatening to break away from the Party in protest at the threat to its boss.

It has not been reported which of the banned factions – Labour Against the Witchhunt, the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson’s Resist group, Socialist Appeal and Labour In Exile Network – he is alleged to be associated with. However, it has been reported that in 2017 Mr Hodson promoted an article that claimed that Labour’s Jewish affiliate had been “implicated” in the “efforts of the Israeli embassy to damage a Corbyn-led Labour Party with confected allegations of antisemitism.”

It has also been reported that a criminal defence solicitor and Campaigns Officer at Liverpool Riverside Constituency Labour Party has been suspended from the Labour Party for 24 months following an investigation into allegations involving antisemitism.

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Outrage over council leader’s refusal to act against fellow councillor’s anti-Israel rally that featured swastika placard and antisemitic chanting

The Leader of Calderdale Council has refused to act against a fellow councillor who organised an anti-Israel rally last month, where it was reported that antisemitic chanting and a sign bearing a swastika were present, causing outrage.

Labour Party Cllr Tim Swift was urged by members from both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to take action against councillor and Cabinet member Jenny Lynn, who organised the event in Halifax, and who was allegedly filmed raising her fist in the air while the crowd chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

The chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state – and its replacement with a State of Palestine – and is thus an attempt to deny Jews, uniquely, the right to self-determination.

It was also said that a sign depicting swastikas alongside former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on a wanted poster was present.

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, which Calderdale Council has adopted, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” and “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” are both examples of antisemitism.

It is understood that one of the invited speakers at the event was the disgraced conspiracy theorist Rev. Dr Stephen Sizer who, in 2015, was ordered by the Church of England to stop using social media after he claimed that an Israeli conspiracy was behind 9/11, which the Church denounced as “clearly antisemitic”.

Holly Lynch, the Labour MP representing Halifax, was also due to speak but said on Twitter that “upon seeing the speaker list” for the rally, she was “very clear” that she would “not share a platform with one of the speakers” and refused to attend.

Mr Swift was contacted by Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Baker and Conservative group leader Steven Leigh, who both urged him to take action.

Cllr Baker said: “Last year the whole council agreed to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Some of the views expressed by speakers at this event would clearly be seen as antisemitism under this definition. We are pleased to see Holly did not share a platform with them but it’s not acceptable that a Labour councillor and Cabinet member was involved in organising this.”

Ms Lynn appeared to deny any wrongdoing, stating: “There is nothing incompatible about my role as chair of a community based organisation – Halifax Friends of Palestine – and my role in supporting all our communities and I will stand on my record on that. There is nothing antisemitic about standing up for the rights of Palestinian people.”

Lord Austin, an honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism who quit the Labour Party in opposition to antisemitism, said: “Of course Cllr Lynn cannot be the Cabinet member for Communities and take part in events like this. The council leader needs to act.”

However, Mr Swift declined to take action on Cllr Lynn, saying that “Councillor Lynn has a long track record of working for equality and cohesion in Calderdale, both as a community activist and a councillor, and has a proven record of working in harmony with people of all faiths and none”.

In July, Hastings Council reportedly refused to condemn the same antisemitic “from the river to the sea” chant.

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

Image credit: Twitter via the JC

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Village of Great Neck, New York adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

The Village of Great Neck in the State of New York has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The village’s Mayor said that it was “an important message to give”, adding: “Obviously there has been a significant rise in antisemitism with all of the discussions and writings that people make on social media as well as different channels…I think it’s important to really speak in a unified voice against antisemitism or any other racism.”

The Village of Great Neck has a large Jewish population, with a 2013 report citing Jews as making up 71% of the wider Great Neck peninsula.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds the decision. Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Earlier this month, we reported that South Korea had adopted the Definition.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Greater Manchester Police rolls out new virtual reality project to help show officers how it feels to be hate crime victims, with input from CAA and others

Greater Manchester Police has begun rolling out a virtual reality project which allows its officers to experience what it is like to be the victim of a hate crime.

The first-of-its-kind project is designed to help officers sympathise with hate crime victims.

Officers run through three scenarios with three different victims, all based on true incidents that took place in Manchester but which were not reported to police.

One scenario focuses on antisemitism with elements of misogyny, while the other two cover disability and transgender hate crime.

The antisemitism scenario begins in a synagogue, where the victim – a young woman – tells the wearer of the virtual reality goggles about her experience and how it made her feel. The scene then shifts to a reconstruction of the incident, with the wearer becoming the victim in the scenario, including taking on their height and stance.

In the case of the disability scenario, the wearer also adopts the visual impairment of the victim as well.

The final stage of the scenario keeps the wearer in the position of the victim, but this time in conversation with police officers, one who re-enacts a response that received good victim feedback and the other whose response could be improved.

According to the police force, antisemitic and transgender hate crimes were included because of the surge in the number of incidents, while disability was included because it is considered to be significantly underreported. The fact that all three incidents were not reported is a reminder that many hate crimes and hate incidents go unreported.

Campaign Against Antisemitism was one of a number of organisations that provided input into the various scenarios, and we applaud Greater Manchester Police for its ingenuity in training officers about hate crimes.

Earlier this week, Campaign Against Antisemitism reported on very positive feedback from Cornwall and Devon Police following an antisemitism training series that we provided to the force.

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“Extremely informative and useful,” “insightful and eye-opening” and “well-paced”: CAA delivers antisemitism training to Devon and Cornwall Police

Campaign Against Antisemitism is pleased to report on very positive feedback to a training series on antisemitism recently delivered to Cornwall and Devon Police.

After engaging with the police force on a particularly difficult case, in which we continue to support the victim, we were invited to deliver a programme of training.

The force observed that the imagery used in the presentation “was very useful,” as were the explanations of why certain videos and songs are offensive to Jewish people. Officers from the Diverse Communities Team described the training as “excellent”, particularly because it drew on the “personal perspectives” of the course leaders, and noted that the training “will support officers and staff in providing the best service to victims.” The Head of Equality, Diversity and Human Rights described the sessions as “highly informative”.

The Assistant Chief Constable found the training “extremely insightful, interesting and eye-opening,” noting that the presenters were “very approachable in their willingness to answer questions,” while the force’s Engagement Officer said that the course “gave me a deeper understanding of the issues faced by the Jewish community.”

One officer said: “I would recommend this training to anyone who wants to know more about antisemitism and for anyone who thinks that there is no longer a problem with hatred against Jews.”

The force submitted requests for additional training.

We are grateful to Devon and Cornwall Police officers for their positive engagement with the training and are confident that they will apply insights into their policing.

Campaign Against Antisemitism regularly provides antisemitism training to regulators, police forces, public bodies, university societies and other institutions, free of charge.

If you would like to arrange antisemitism training for your association, please e-mail [email protected].

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CAA applauds Labour Party councillors for apologising after ‘liking’ Facebook post comparing Tories to Hitler’s SS

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds Labour Party councillors in Bassetlaw after they apologised for ‘liking’ a fellow councillor’s Facebook post which compared the Conservative Party to Adolf Hitler’s SS.

The SS, the abbreviation of Schutzstaffel, was the leading paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Ian Ampleford, a Momentum activist, shared a Facebook post explaining that he had been banned from a Facebook group because he “made an innocent post comparing the Tories to the SS”. He added sarcastically: “I would like to take this opportunity to apologise unreservedly to anyone who voted for a German military organisation at the last general election.”

It is understood that Mr Ampleford’s original message, leading to his ban from the group, stated that his SS grandfather “would be proud of what the Tories have done to Britain”. This post was reportedly “liked” by Claire Plevin, a councillor for the ward of East Retford North.

Following this, East Retford West councillor, Jim Anderson, added to the inflammatory comparison with a post of his own, in which he stated that he was not surprised that Mr Ampleford had been “blackshirted”. He added: “Surely most self respecting SS thinkers would be appalled at being linked in such a way.” This post was then “liked” by Cllr Clarkson, the current Mayor of Retford.

Campaign Against Antisemitism called on the councillors to apologise. A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism told the Daily Express: “There is no reasonable basis for this offensive compariason. Such trivial equations of today’s politics with the darkest period in human history diminish the meaning and memory of the Holocaust. This is the opposite of the example politicians are supposed to be setting, both about Holocaust education and how to conduct public debate. Labour councillors must apologise.”

All three councillors were criticised by their Labour colleagues and fellow councillors, and were reportedly approached for comment by the media.

Cllr Clarkson said: “I would like to make an unreserved apology. I hold my hands up for innocently and naively liking a post by Jim Anderson as I was flicking through Facebook. I did not read the actual post, so did not know the context. I was merely liking a picture of what I assumed was Jim sat with a glass of wine and a copy of Private Eye whilst he was on holiday. That is my mistake and one which I will certainly learn from.”

He added: “I wholeheartedly support the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s comment that there is no excuse for comparing modern day politicians to the Nazis. Indeed, those with whom I have worked and been acquainted with over many years know that I would never sink to make these kind of comparisons and/or refer to Nazism or the Holocaust in any way other than within its historical context. Once again, I give my unreserved apology for any hurt that may have been caused by my flippant liking of an image on social media without reading the text associated with it.”

Cllr Plevin said: “My actions were wrong and inappropriate, and I apologise unreservedly.”

We applaud Cllr Clarkson and Cllr Plevin for recognising the impropriety of their endorsements of the inflammatory posts and apologising. No apology from Cllr Anderson – who posted one of the inflammatory comments himself – has yet been reported, and we call on him to follow his colleagues’ example.

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Policewoman previously praised for confronting anti-lockdown protesters is revealed to have history of inflammatory social media posts and was reportedly in contact with suspected Jihadist in Syria

A policewoman who has been praised for confronting lockdown protesters is now alleged to have posted inflammatory social media messages and was reportedly in contact with a suspected Jihadist in Syria.

An urgent investigation has commenced into Ruby Begum, 26, who joined the Metropolitan Police in 2016 and has inspired others as a young officer wearing a hijab on the frontline of police work.

However, she is now alleged to have posted social media messages in 2014 comparing Israel to Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, and referred to non-Muslims as “kuffars”.

The officer from the Met’s Taskforce, a unit which deals with public order, is alleged to have written on Twitter in January 2015: “It’s alright when Israel does it #HolocaustRemembranceDay,” as well as “Zionists have no hearts! They’ll get what’s coming to them subhanallah [glory be to God]” and “Dirty Zionist. Jahannam [hell] is awaiting.”

In 2014, on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she allegedly wrote: “Must be stupid if you think I’m gonna do 2mins silence for 9/11.” On the 2019 anniversary, by which time she was working in the Met, she is claimed to have written: “Omg it’s 9/11 today? Jokes, I only noticed.”

Ms Begum has also reportedly written, “Kuffar lips have been all over my mug there is no way I’m using that thing again” and is claimed to have described Pakistanis as “p***s”.

She is further believed to have communicated for many months with a woman thought to have left Europe for the ISIS caliphate in Syria in 2014, and Ms Begum also reportedly disclosed without explanation that her own passport had been confiscated for a month, raising serious questions about the Met’s vetting processes. It is understood that there is no indication that Ms Begum ever tried to join ISIS or travel to Syria herself, and that some of her tweets express disgust at the terrorist group’s activities.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct has apparently launched an investigation after The Mail on Sunday drew attention to the case, with Ms Begum placed on “restricted duties”.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police is reported to have said: ‘There is no place within the Met for any racist, homophobic or otherwise hateful attitudes and officers and staff can expect robust action should they be found to hold or express such views. The information provided by The Mail on Sunday regarding a police constable’s social media posts is concerning and is being treated very seriously. Following that assessment, the Met made a voluntary referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct who determined that the matter should be investigated locally. The Directorate of Professional Standards will now conduct a thorough investigation to establish the full circumstances behind the social media posts. The officer has been notified of the investigation and placed on restricted duties.”

Recently, the Metropolitan Police saw one of its own convicted for far-right terrorism.

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Dame Cressida Dick on recent wave of antisemitism: “I expect we will be bringing people to justice”

Earlier this week, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said that she expects those behind the antisemitic attacks in May to be held responsible and face justice.  

In May, incidents of antisemitism in Britain skyrocketed after clashes erupted between Israel and Hamas, the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group. These incidents included signs that featured antisemitic themes at rallies, a rabbi in Essex being assaulted and hospitalised, and a convoy of cars that drove down the Finchley Road shouting “F*** the Jews…rape their daughters” through a megaphone.

Dame Cressida said that her officers “still have a number of investigations to complete” while adding that she expects her team will be “bringing people to justice.”

It was confirmed that the allegations that are currently under investigation so far include “a very offensive placard” and “somebody who was shouting vile abuse as they were driving along.”

“Antisemitic attacks are obviously vile – we all wish they didn’t happen,” the Commissioner said. She added: “We are working really hard to make sure we get ahead of the problem…we saw, yes a spike, a high in reported antisemitic crime.”

Commissioner Dick noted that “a fair proportion of reported crime was online” but also added that this “does not excuse it.”

Speaking on the anti-Israel demonstrations where several antisemitic signs and chants were present, Commissioner Dick said: “Policing those protests was challenging, although the amount of disorder associated with those protests was very much less than on the last two occasions when tensions had been particularly high in that region.”

Following a complaint from Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Metropolitan Police Service is investigating multiple police officers over their participation in antisemitic protests whilst in uniform.

Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick after two videos emerged, one showing a uniformed police officer embracing protestors and chanting “Free, free Palestine,” with another showing officers at the same demonstration greeting and shaking hands with the drivers of a convoy of cars that displayed Palestinian flags.

The protests were characterised by some of the worst incidents of antisemitism seen on the streets of London in recent years. Swastikas and pictures of Adolf Hitler as well as calls for Jews to be murdered and Jewish women to be raped were all accompanied by the constant beat of the same words that were chanted by the officer who appears in the first video.

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Scottish Labour councillor Jim Sheridan suspended from Party for second time after inflammatory comments

Scottish Labour councillor Jim Sheridan has been suspended from the Party for a second time after his inflammatory comments led to an antisemitism investigation last month.

The investigation came after he appeared to double down on previous inflammatory comments, as well as claiming that former Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from the Party simply for “expressing free speech.”

Cllr Sheridan made the comments during a debate at Renfrewshire Council on the effect on free speech of the recently-passed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill.

Cllr Sheridan was quoted as saying: “I feel I must make a contribution to this debate about free speech. As someone who was personally attacked for contributing, or making, what I thought was perfectly reasonable comments about antisemitism, I was attacked for free speech.

“And I also include, Provost, the former leader of the Labour Party, who was thrown out of the Labour Party for expressing free speech.”

Cllr Sheridan appeared to be referring to a comment that he posted on his Facebook page in 2018, saying: “For almost all my adult life I have had the utmost respect and empathy for the Jewish community and their historic suffering. No longer due to what they and their blairite [sic] plotters are doing to my party and the long suffering people of Britain who need a radical Labour government.”

He subsequently deleted the post, but, following a complaint, he was suspended by the Labour Party pending investigation. Last year, his suspension was reportedly lifted without explanation or apology from the councillor, who now seems to be doubling down on his previous comments as well as excusing the antisemitic former leader of the Labour Party.

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

A complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism against Cllr Sheridan remains outstanding.

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Hastings Council reportedly refuses to condemn antisemitic chanting on town’s streets

Hastings Council has reportedly refused to condemn calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

The chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, which only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state – and its replacement with a State of Palestine – and is thus an attempt to deny Jews, uniquely, the right to self-determination, was heard in an anti-Israel rally in Hastings town centre in May.

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is an example of antisemitism.

Hastings Borough Council, which is led by the Labour Party, adopted the Definition last year after a campaign by Dany Louise, a councillor who had bravely resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism.

Ms Louise, no longer a councillor, called on the Council to implement the Definition and condemn the recent chanting, which she described as “naked antisemitism on the streets of Hastings.” Ms Louise told Campaign Against Antisemitism that two other residents (one Jewish, one not) also sent in written questions to the Council on the same subject, but the Chief Legal Officer rejected all three questions late enough not to leave time for revised questions to be submitted.

The Officer wrote to her: “I have considered your question in accordance with…the Constitution and decided to reject your question as it is not about a matter for which the Council has a responsibility, power, duty or function.”

Ms Louise said: “I was absolutely shocked by the Chief Legal Officer’s rejection of my written questions. In truth, I doubted that the Council leader would take them seriously, but it did not occur to me that they would be rejected entirely, for spurious reasons unrelated to the content of the questions. I find it altogether unsatisfactory – it is an anti-democratic and morally bankrupt action from the Council.”

She added: “I’ve been dealing with this Labour group for about four years now. It has been heart-breaking and phenomenally frustrating attempting to encourage this group to engage or deal with the antisemitism in their ranks. They have simply refused to acknowledge the issue, let alone discuss it in any sensible adult manner.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local councils.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2020 showed that three in five British Jews believe that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.

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Bingham Town councillor apologises for shouting “Heil Hitler” during council meeting

A councillor for Bingham Town Council has apologised for shouting out “Heil Hitler” during a council meeting on 25th May.

Councillor Viv Leach shouted the remark after the councillors voted on a motion, seemingly comparing their raised arms to Nazi salutes.

A Bingham Town Council spokesperson said: “During the Town Council’s meeting on Tuesday May 25, an inappropriate comment of ‘Heil Hitler’ was made by Councillor Leach for which she wishes to apologise unreservedly.”

Apologising for the comment, Cllr Leach said: “The comment was made in response to an observation which, on reflection, was stupid and thoughtless of me. My comment was not intended to cause offense, but it has and for that I am extremely sorry. If I could take the comment back I would, and therefore I fully accept that there may be consequences.”

The Town Council’s Mayor, Councillor Andrew Shelton, said: “the Council does not and will not tolerate such offensive language or unacceptable comments. However, we will support Councillor Leach in making amends and help identify appropriate training.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The Nazi genocide of six million Jewish men, women and children was punctuated by the call of ‘Heil Hitler’. It is therefore shocking to hear the call of ‘Heil Hitler’ in a town council meeting in 2021 Britain. Cllr Viv Leach’s conduct was utterly deplorable and it is no wonder that she has now apologised for it and accepted that there will be consequences. Mere ‘training’ is, however, insufficient. Instead, she should devote time to taking meaningful action against antisemitism so as to show the sincerity of her remorse. She could start by proposing that her council adopts the International Definition of Antisemitism.”

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Sharon, Massachusetts adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

Sharon, a suburb of Boston, has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism, making it the first town in Massachusetts to do so. 

The decision was taken on 23rd March by the Select Board of Sharon after a unanimous vote, for which the work of activists Susan Price and Robert Soffer has been particularly credited. 

Ms Price said: “The Town of Sharon has taken a proactive step that shows it cares about the safety of Jewish residents. The town can use this as a tool to educate its boards, departments and the broader community. It can be used to facilitate meaningful conversations and to identify antisemitic conduct, harassment, assault and vandalism.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Istanbul names park after Nazi sympathiser

The municipality of the Turkish city of Istanbul has reportedly named a park after a Nazi sympathiser.

Although the naming took place last November, it is only coming to light now that the city government named the park after Hüseyin Nihal Atsız (1905–1975), who is believed to have held antisemitic and pro-Nazi views.

“As the mud will not be iron even if it is put into an oven, the Jew cannot be Turkish no matter how hard he tries,” Mr Atsiz wrote in 1934.

He also wrote that “Turkishness is a privilege; it is not granted to everyone, especially to those like Jews…If we get angry, we will not only exterminate Jews like the Germans did, we will go further…”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Shenley Parish Council Zoombombed with atrocious “Burn the Jews” comment

A Shenley Parish Council meeting was interrupted with an atrocious antisemitic comment.

A participant at the Zoom meeting on 16th March commented in capital letters in the chat: “Burn the Jews”. The attendee, thought to have logged in under a pseudonym, was immediately removed from the meeting.

The incident was reportedly witnessed by nearly 80 people, including councillors, the clerk and the Leader of Hertsmere Borough Council, as well as members of the public.

The Chairman of the Council, who was speaking at the time that the comment was posted, said: “We take pride in Shenley being a friendly, welcoming and inclusive community. I was shocked when the meeting was interrupted by this vile individual spouting such religious and antisemitic hatred. Ironically, this came after the meeting was opened by Reverend Daniel McCarthy who had addressed the community with a message of peace and loving kindness, urging us to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves.”

A spokesperson for Hertfordshire Constabulary said: “Police are investigating an incident of malicious communications and hate crime in Shenley. It was reported that between 7pm and 7.30pm last night (Tuesday 16th March) an antisemitic comment was made on a text chat during an online Shenley Parish Council meeting. Any report to police will be taken seriously and dealt with sensitively.”

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101, quoting crime reference number: 41/19051/21.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has previously reported on the phenomenon of ‘Zoom bombing’ and has urged communal institutions to take precautions to safeguard against antisemitic disruption of online events.

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French bishops issue declaration against antisemitism

Leading Catholic bishops in France have issued a declaration to combat what they call the “worrying resurgence of antisemitism in France.”

The declaration,  signed by the President of the Conference of Bishops of France, Monseigneur Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, and four senior bishops, was unveiled at a short ceremony on 8th February at which French Jewish leaders were present.

The text said that the brutal murders of four people last year at the hands of Islamist assailants had confronted the French people with basic questions of mutual respect and called for “special attention to be paid to the worrying resurgence of antisemitism in France.” 

The Bishops said that they “strongly reiterate how much the fight against antisemitism must be everybody’s business” and affirm their “willingness to work with all those engaged in this struggle.”

Calling for “spiritual resistance against antisemitism,” the declaration said that, while “faith in Jesus distinguishes and separates us,” it obliges us to recognise that “ healing from antisemitism and anti-Judaism” was essential “for a genuine fraternity.”

The Chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, praised what he called a “prophetic initiative,” while Francis Kalifat, President of Jewish communal body CRIF, compared its significance to the 1997 apology made to the Jewish community by the Catholic Church in France for its failings during the Nazi occupation of France.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Early retirement for NYPD anti-discrimination officer in “racist” message scandal

The former head of New York Police Department’s discrimination office who was accused of posting “hateful” online messages is reportedly to retire.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department said that Deputy Inspector James Kobel, commanding officer of the Equal Employment Opportunity Division, had submitted retirement papers shortly after the department said that it was planning to suspend him.

Mr Kobel is alleged to have used the name “Clouseau” on a message board called The Rant where law-enforcement officials post anonymously. As Clouseau, he is alleged to have posted antisemitic, anti-Black, misogynist and homophobic slurs. Commenting on an article about Orthodox Jews tired of being photographed by tourists, Clouseau said: “I think that eventually all of the inbreeding may lead to the demise of these clowns. The severity of birth defects will only increase. Unfortunately, the local taxpayer is going to be on the hook for the bill when the children need special programs in the local school districts and the parents continue to leach [sic] off the system.”

The Oversight Division of the New York City Council identified Mr Kobel as “Clouseau”. He Mr denied the charge but was suspended pending an investigation, and has now resigned. The Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, had said that Mr Kobel should be “terminated immediately” if found guilty.

The head of Mr Kobel’s union said that Mr Kobel had retired to avoid a departmental disciplinary hearing, believing that, “given the current political climate”, he did not expect to “get a fair administrative trial”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Chicago suburb adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

A Chicago suburb is the latest American town to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Forest Park, Illinois, adopted the Definition at a village council meeting on 9th November. The meeting, held online over Zoom, was addressed by senior Jewish figures.

The resolution means that the Definition will be available as an “educational resource” to assist police and local government in determining whether a crime or incident was antisemitic.

Pointing out that there had been a rise in antisemitism over recent years, and that some cities and counties in Florida had already adopted the resolution, the Jewish speakers explained that they were trying to get as much “awareness of it as possible” in Illinois and wanted to show how Forest Park could “take a leading role in addressing” the disturbing trend of increasing antisemitism.

At the meeting, the Mayor, Rory Hoskins, explained that recent protests in the Illinois state capital involving antisemitic imagery had motivated him to have the Definition adopted, adding that a spate of graffiti around town in September that had included swastikas would now be investigated as hate crimes rather than merely property damage.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Oceanside, NY commissioner called on to resign over hateful social media posts

Several Nassau Country, NY elected officials, various organisations and the local Jewish community have made calls for the immediate removal of an Oceanside Sanitation Commissioner for alleged antisemitic social media posts.

On the morning of 10th November, elected officials and activists convened in front of the sanitation office with a bipartisan group of Nassau County legislators and organisations to publicly condemn the actions of Ryan Hemsley.

The Sanitation Commissioner is believed to have shared more than thirty offensive posts, dating back several years, that featured swastikas and Nazi imagery as well as the denigration of Holocaust victims.

The series of Facebook posts were anonymously sent in a letter and mass e-mail to the other four board members and the media in October. One politician said: “It’s just hate, hate, hate”. However Mr Hemsley has maintained that many of the posts were not created by him and none of the memes were directed towards any specific group.

Mr Hensley has refused to resign after he was elected commissioner for a two-year term that commenced in September this year. In a recent post on his Facebook page, however, he stated that he would donate his pay checks to the Long Island Coalition Against Bullying, and promised to donate his $7,500 annual salary for the remainder of his two-year term.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office is currently reviewing Mr Hensley’s position. The Sanitation Board’s attorney has requested that all offensive posts be identified, having been deleted from the social media platform, and has asked the Attorney General for potential legal routes. Elected officials may be removed by the District Attorney under state law or if a local resident petitions a court with material that shows misconduct while in office.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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City council adopts International Definition of Antisemitism in Orillia, Ontario

Following an hour-long presentation from Holocaust survivor Man Eisen, Orillia’s City Council unanimously approved the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism on 9th October.

The recent move comes as part of a broader motion that referenced the city’s hope to be a “welcoming, caring, inclusive and accessible community” in its 2018-2020 strategic plan to combat racism in Orillia.

The city’s Mayor invited Mr Eisen to make the presentation to the City Council in order to approach the “disgusting issue of racism”. The virtual presentation explored his experiences of the Holocaust, including the murder of several family members in Auschwitz.

He said while he remains grateful to the country that has acted as a “safe haven”, it is vital that Canadians remain vigilant in the fight against antisemitism. Along with the wider Jewish community, Mr Eisen expressed shock “to see such poison coming out” and suggested that the city’s endorsement of the Definition is an encouraging sign that the rising rates of antisemitism are being effectively tackled.

Many councillors reportedly found the content distressing, and thus decided significant action had to be undertaken to reflect an appropriate condemnation of such hatred.

Canada announced an intention to adopt the Definition in 2019, and the country’s province of Ontario recently recognised the Definition following a series of hateful and discriminatory incidents across the region.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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NYPD anti-discrimination chief accused of racism

A New York Police Department official in charge of combating departmental discrimination allegedly posted antisemitic and other racist comments.

The commander of the Equal Employment Opportunity Division of the NYPD, Deputy Inspector James Kobel, is alleged to have used the name “Clouseau” on a message board called The Rant where law-enforcement officials post anonymously. As Clouseau, he is alleged to have posted antisemitic, anti-Black, misogynist and homophobic slurs.

The Oversight Division of the New York City Council claims to have identified Deputy Inspector Kobel as “Clouseau.” Mr Kobel denied the charge to the New York Times but has been suspended from his job, pending the completion of an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation.

Commenting on an article about Orthodox Jews tired of being photographed by tourists, Clouseau said: “I think that eventually all of the inbreeding may lead to the demise of these clowns. The severity of birth defects will only increase. Unfortunately, the local taxpayer is going to be on the hook for the bill when the children need special programs in the local school districts and the parents continue to leach [sic] off the system.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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CAA applauds Hastings Borough Council for adopting International Definition of Antisemitism

Expectations of an acrimonious debate came to nothing as Hastings Borough Council adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism almost unanimously.

With the exception of Cllr Leah Levane, who abstained, it is understood that all councillors present at the 21st October virtual Council meeting agreed to the adoption. Cllr Levane is a co-Chair of Jewish Voice for Labour, an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation.

The motion was proposed and promoted by Cllr Dany Louise, who bravely resigned from the Labour Party in 2019, saying at the time that “sensible people have long ago abandoned the Hastings and Rye branch of the Labour Party” and that she had been “driven out” because Labour had become a “welcoming environment for antisemites”. Later in the year, she revealed the dismissive reactions of erstwhile colleagues when she rightly raised the issue of antisemitism, including that “Jews should complain quietly”, references to “the Jewish question” and that she herself might have a “right-wing motivation”.

Cllr Louise now sits as an Independent, and Campaign Against Antisemitism praises her and others for pushing adoption of the Definition, and welcomes Hastings Borough Council’s decision.

Cllr Louise gave an impassioned speech at the meeting, saying: “In the last few years, antisemitism has entered the national public discourse in a truly frightening and morally repugnant way. Where once it was the preserve of the far right, it has now become commonplace on the left as well. Shockingly, there has been widespread denial of this fact, with far too many people somehow casting it as yet another Jewish conspiracy theory. The denial itself has become another form of antisemitism, enthusiastically entertained by many who would otherwise call themselves part of the Community of the Good.”

She also rightly noted that the eleven examples “are indivisible from the Definition”, and that any “modified version” of the Definition is “no longer the…Definition”.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are delighted that Hastings Borough Council has joined other local authorities in adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism, something for which we and others have long campaigned ever since we secured the adoption of the Definition by the British Government in 2016. We are particularly grateful to Cllr Dany Louise, formerly of the Labour Party but who quit over antisemitism and now sits as an Independent, for bringing and promoting the motion to adopt the Definition so passionately.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently published its first Audit of Local Authorities, documenting the campaign for widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities.

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CAA investigation reveals more antisemitism and problematic social media activity from Labour’s councillors at beleaguered Sandwell Council

After Campaign Against Antisemitism reported on the numerous investigations, resignations and suspensions of Labour councillors on Sandwell Council – including a Leader and the current Interim Leader – a concerned member of the public has submitted further evidence of antisemitism from members of the Council.

So far, the Leader of the Council, Cllr Yvonne Davies, resigned from Labour in the midst of an antisemitism controversy; Cllr Joanne Hadley, Cllr Ian Jones and Cllr Mohammed Yaseen Hussain have been suspended from the Labour Party for reasons unknown; the interim Leader, Cllr Maria Crompton, and Cllr Bob Piper are understood to be under investigation, although reasons have not been provided; and Cllr John Edwards has also been revealed to have shared problematic social media content, and it is not clear if any action has been taken.

The new evidence, some of which has also been unearthed by Campaign Against Antisemitism, concerns two of the councillors on the above list and one further councillor, and indicates that the problems on Sandwell Council and in the local Labour Party are even worse than previously reported.

Cllr Bob Piper, in 2016, defended the disgraced former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, and insisted that “Hitler’s pact with the Zionists is historical fact, not a matter of opinion.” He also shared a post on Israel in 2014 that said: “And, appallingly (and promiscuously), Israel deploys, yet abuses, the suffering and memory of Holocaust victims to confer on itself a spurious moral supremacy, and to justify these shameful inhumanities on others.”

Cllr John Edwards repeatedly opposed the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party; defended Jeremy Corbyn’s and the Party’s records on antisemitism; defended the disgraced then-Labour MP Chris Williamson; welcomed Labour’s absurd and abortive antisemitism investigation into then-MP Ian Austin; criticised then-Deputy Leader Tom Watson for speaking out against antisemitism; supported those who tried to deselect the Jewish woman MP, Luciana Berger; and boosted Jewish Voice for Labour, an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, even facilitating the membership in that group of the disgraced journalist, Mira Bar-Hillel. As we have previously reported, he also implied comparisons of Israeli policy to the Nazis in breach of the Definition by saying to then-Prime Minister David Cameron that “when you leave Auschwitz David Cameron go to Gaza”.

Cllr Laura Rollins sent several tweets in 2013 referencing “rich Jewish boys”, a “rich Jewish trendsetter” and “rich Jewish friends”. Cllr Rollins deleted those tweets but they were caught by other Twitter users, including the disgusted local MP.

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently published its first Audit of Local Authorities, documenting the campaign for widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council has not adopted the Definition, and we call on it urgently to do so and to incorporate the Definition into its codes of conduct for councillors and staff, so that the Council, as well as the Labour Party, can hold councillors to account when they promote antisemitic discourse.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These new revelations, together with what we already know, indicate that there is an endemic problem in Sandwell’s Labour Party. Labour must consider opening a full investigation into Sandwell’s Labour Party, the reasons for the various suspensions and investigations (and any outcomes) must be publicised, and Sandwell Council itself must itself take action if it to show its opposition to racism. In particular, the Council must adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism and incorporate it into its codes of conduct for councillors and staff.”

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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CAA condemns Mendip District Council for refusing to adopt International Definition of Antisemitism

Mendip District Council in Somerset has voted unanimously to reject the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The matter came before the Council in February of this year but a vote only took place this week, with 35 councillors voting against with none in favour and seven abstaining.

It is understood that the Council determined that it was not necessary to adopt the Definition because existing policies on equality and discrimination were sufficient.

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently published its first Audit of Local Authorities, documenting the campaign for widespread adoption of the Definition by local authorities. Mendip is almost unique in having considered adoption of the Definition but ultimately rejected it.

Rejecting the Definition is completely unacceptable at a time when antisemitism is so common in local politics.

Politically, the Council has no overall control but is dominated by the Liberal Democrats, with the Conservatives and the Greens also holding numerous seats.

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With multiple local councillors and a Party activist suspended by the Labour Party, in some cases over antisemitism, Sandwell Labour appears to have a serious problem

Another local councillor in Sandwell has been suspended by the Labour Party, joining several colleagues who have been suspended by the Party in recent months. At least one case – the most high-profile – involved alleged antisemitism, while reasons in the other cases have not been disclosed.

Cllr Mohammed Yaseen Hussain is the third Labour councillor at the local authority to be suspended by the Party in September alone. It is not clear why he has been suspended. Cllr Joanne Hadley and Cllr Ian Jones have also been suspended. Official reasons have not been provided. Also under investigation are Sandwell’s interim Leader, Cllr Maria Crompton, and another colleague, Cllr Bob Piper. In none of these cases is it known whether or not antisemitism played a role, as it has in other suspensions.

Cllr Crompton became interim Leader after Cllr Yvonne Davies, the Leader of Sandwell Council, resigned from her post in July and was suspended by the Labour Party pending investigation, after Campaign Against Antisemitism called for decisive action by the local authority and the Party over her social media history.

Cllr Yvonne Davies is being investigated by the Party over tweets she sent in 2018, one of which promoted a petition calling for a parliamentary debate over whether Israel has an “improper influence” over British politics, a notion reminiscent of historically popular claims of excessive Jewish power in national politics. In another tweet, Cllr Davies linked to a story titled “Is Israel’s hand behind the attacks on Jeremy Corbyn?”, alongside which she commented: “This makes interesting reading if anyone is wanting to understand where all this emphasis on Labour and antisematism (sic) comes from…” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is an example of antisemitism.

A few days later, another Labour councillor – John Edwards – was revealed to have a record of problematic remarks, including describing accusations of antisemitism as “smears”, calling criticism of the disgraced then-Labour MP Chris Williamson a “smear campaign”, describing the Definition as “unfit for purpose”, and implying comparisons of Israeli policy to the Nazis in breach of the Definition by saying to then-Prime Minister David Cameron that “when you leave Auschwitz David Cameron go to Gaza”. Cllr Edwards has been a Labour councillor for forty years.

In addition, a local businessman and Party activist, Basharat Khan, has also now been suspended by Labour. It is believed that he was suspended after a series of social media posts that the Labour Party said “may reasonably be seen to involve antisemitic actions, stereotypes and sentiments.” One post, from August 2014, shows a cartoon image of a man with a Star of David on his sleeve cutting up a small child, with Mr Khan’s caption: “Until the Kings of KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] are overthrown Israel will continue its killing and destruction of the people of Palestine.”

Mr Khan reportedly said that he was trying to highlight to political turmoil in the Middle East, in particular “Israel’s bombing of Palestine,” adding: “I’m not antisemitic. I have never been antisemitic. I have friends in the Jewish community, the Sikh community, the Hindu community, every community. I am sorry if I got it wrong. It was not my intention to hurt anybody.”

Mr Khan is the complainant in the case against Cllr Hadley, alleging that she made racist comments in a telephone call, which she denies.

A Labour Party spokesman reportedly said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

The string off Sandwell suspensions comes after Campaign Against Antisemitism reported on an antisemitism scandal engulfing Labour in Haringey in London.

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently published its first Audit of Local Authorities, documenting the campaign for widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council has not adopted the Definition.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Two Labour councillors in Cumbria investigated for alleged antisemitic comments online

Two Labour councillors in Cumbria are reportedly being investigated over alleged antisemitic comments that they posted online.

The investigations into the two Copeland Borough Council councillors – Tom Higgins of Egremont ward and Graham Calvin of Moor Row and Bigrigg ward – follow the expulsion of former Councillor Bill Kirkbride from the Labour Party over “offensive” social media posts.

It is reported that a Facebook account appearing to belong to Cllr Higgins referred to Israel and its “co-conspirators in the USA”, while Cllr Calvin apparently made a comment about Jewish donors to the Labour Party, although he reportedly told the BBC that his remarks were making a point about party funding and were not targeted at Jewish people.

A Labour spokesman said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures.” The Copeland Labour group reportedly said that it could not comment on individual cases.

Apparently a third investigation is also underway, into Cllr Dave Banks, who objected in a Council meeting in February to the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the local authority, saying that “antisemitism is not an attack on Jews or the Jewish faith; it is an attack on the Israeli state.” He did, however, vote in favour of adoption and has since apologised for his comments, apparently telling a later Council meeting that he had gotten them “all wrong”.

Copeland Borough Council adopted the Definition but without explicitly including the integral examples.

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently published its first Audit of Local Authorities, documenting the campaign for widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

Image Credit: Copeland Borough Council

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Two Haringey Labour councillors suspended by Party in relation to antisemitism in the latest of antisemitism scandals at the local authority

It is understood that two Labour councillors in Haringey have been suspended by the Party in connection with antisemitism, which represents just the latest in a string of antisemitism scandals at the local authority over the past few years.

The first suspended councillor, Cllr Preston Tabois, was reported by Guido Fawkes to have appeared to endorse the despicable notion that Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in some masterplan to create the State of Israel, and other antisemitic conspiracy theories. Cllr Tabois was also slated to be a Labour candidate for the London Assembly.

The Labour Party reportedly said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

The other suspended councillor is Cllr Noah Tucker, who was exposed earlier this year as having told Tottenham’s Constituency Labour Party to drop a “zero-tolerance” clause from an antisemitism motion that it was debating. Cllr Tucker is reported to have suggested that Israel was somehow to blame for the racist killing of George Floyd, which is a popular antisemitic conspiracy theory, and he has also defended the disgraced then-Labour MP Chris Williamson.

Cllr Tucker reportedly said: “I am an opponent of racism in all its forms including antisemitism. Social media posts have been collated, including selective editing, seemingly in a malicious attempt to falsely associate me with antisemitism. States and organisations which engage politically are legitimately subjects of discussion and criticism. I am confident that a fair process by the Labour Party will reinstate me soon to full membership.”

Another local councillor, Gideon Bull, was previously exposed by Campaign Against Antisemitism as having referred to a Jewish Labour councillor as “Shylock” and consequently withdrew as the Party’s prospective parliamentary candidate in Clacton in the 2019 General Election. It is understood that Cllr Bull is intending to seek the Haringey mayoralty.

In 2018, two Jewish councillors in Haringey revealed that “it has become impossible to operate as a Jewish councillor in the Haringey [Labour] Party without having your views and actions prejudged or dismissed in terms that relate to your ethnicity,” and that “Haringey Labour is definitely not a safe space for Jews.”

The local authority is sometimes dubbed the “Corbyn Council” for its high proportion of Momentum councillors. Its former Leader and the most senior Labour woman in local government at the time, Cllr Claire Kober, stood down in 2018 after ten years in the post in protest against antisemitism, saying: “The levels of antisemitism I’ve seen in the Labour Party are just astonishing. The only thing I see that’s worse than sexism in the Labour Party is antisemitism.”

Cllr Kober was instrumental in the Council’s adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism in 2017, which came amid threats and heckling from the public gallery.

That adoption will not mean much if the Council itself does not investigate and take disciplinary action against the offending councillors, in addition to the Labour Party.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Something is rotten in the London Borough of Haringey. This one Labour-dominated local authority has seen a Council Leader step down in protest at Labour’s antisemitism, another councillor withdraw as a parliamentary candidate over antisemitism, two further councillors suspended by the Labour Party over antisemitism, and Jewish councillors complain of being the targets of antisemitism or having their identity give rise to prejudice by fellow local Party members.

“Under previous leadership, Haringey adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism. Not only must Labour investigate the local Party in the borough, but the Council itself must now launch its own investigations and take action against the offenders. This disgraceful state of affairs is totally unacceptable.”

A further councillor, who has sought to challenge the current Council Leader, has also reportedly been suspended by the Labour Party over an alleged anti-Muslim comment. In addition, another councillor has also previously been suspended from the Labour Party, although he has reportedly denied that his suspension is related to antisemitism and there is no indication that the suspension was related to antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently published its first Audit of Local Authorities, documenting the campaign for widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities.

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Conservatives suspend Cllr Jacqui Harris for the second time after CAA brings her social media history to the Party’s attention

Jacqui Harris, a local councillor, has been suspended again from the Conservatives after Campaign Against Antisemitism brought her social media history to the Party’s attention.

Cllr Harris is currently a Conservative councillor on Stratford-upon-Avon District Council, having previously served as an Independent as well after being suspended by the Conservatives over allegations of antisemitism in 2019. In 2018 she was selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate for the Party.

Some of the examples of her social media history that we brought to the Conservatives’ attention are below.

In January 2019, Councillor Jacqui Harris tweeted: “At this time when we are remembering the horror of Auschwitz – those who were treated so badly back then, seem to have a short memory and are now behaving badly against fellow human beings now! look how they are treating the innocents in GAZA?” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.

In March 2019, Cllr Harris responded to a tweet which alleged, “The whole AS [antisemitism] thing is a false flag, probably masterminded by mossad/cia…Its [sic] not about AS, its [sic] about removing JC [Jeremy Corbyn]”, by saying: “Spot on, don’t you find it timely that this was encouraged fanned and exploded just before the release of the report on Israel and war crimes?” Suggesting that antisemitism accusations are a political-motivated smear orchestrated by Israel represents several antisemitic tropes woven into one.

In December 2019, Cllr Harris ‘liked’ and retweeted a tweet stating: “Trump ran for office on a platform of ‘America first’ — his actions over the last 3 years have clearly demonstrated, he is ‘Israel first’ #Puppet”, which also linked to an article claiming that “All the credible, independent, and objective evidence proves that Israel and the United States were behind 9/11. Despite the fact that the Zionist controlled US mainstream media simply ignores all the evidence.” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism to characterise Israel or Israelis” (in this case the outsized power of the Jews and their involvement in evil events) is an example of antisemitism.

In January 2020, the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour, shared an article on Twitter which alleged that Labour’s performance in the general election had been undermined by a “concerted campaign to falsely describe [it] as antisemitic”, and described those making accusations of antisemitism as “witch hunters”, most of whom were doing so for cynical reasons. Cllr Harris ‘liked’ this.

Campaign Against Antisemitism brought these and other examples of Cllr Harris’ conduct on social media to the attention of the Conservative Party, which has advised us that she has now been suspended from the Party for a second time pending further investigation.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We applaud the Conservatives for taking swift action within days of being alerted the Cllr Jacqui Harris’ social media activity, some of which breaches the International Definition of Antisemitism. Anti-Jewish racism has no place in British political parties or in local politics, and we urge the Conservatives to conduct the investigation quickly and transparently and deliver a verdict that takes into account that this is her second suspension.”

Recently, Campaign Against Antisemitism criticised the Conservative Party for taking so long to investigate two MPs and one parliamentary candidate over antisemitism allegations.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently published its first Audit of Local Authorities, documenting the campaign for widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities.

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Gateshead Jewish housing association’s proposal to build homes on land it owns with private funds meets objections utilising antisemitic tropes

A residential housing proposal by a Jewish housing association in Gateshead has been greeted with objections that have utilised antisemitic tropes.

The Jewish Community Council of Gateshead has applied for planning permission to construct a 26-dwelling estate on the brownfield site of the former Go-Ahead Bus Depot.

The project will be undertaken by Adler Housing and funded by private money with some sponsorship from Homes England.

The houses are specially designed with the size of religious Jewish families in mind, as well as their practices and security needs.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has been made aware of objections to the proposals raised on social media that utilise antisemitic tropes, suggesting that the British Jews for whom the houses are being designed are somehow not really British and that the homes are, as it were, being designated for alien migrants whose rights to housing should be deprioritised in favour of native Britons. There has also been a suggestion that Israel would not tolerate foreigners turning up demanding housing estates be built for them, the implication being that Britain should not tolerate it either.

In reality, the prospective residents are British Jews who have an equal right to housing as their fellow citizens, and the comparisons to Israel are gratuitous. It has also been pointed out by defenders of the proposals that the design of the homes to meet the needs of religious Jews – funded by a mix of private money and a government grant to which others are equally entitled to apply – is no different from housing specially equipped for other protected groups, such as the elderly or the disabled.

It is understood that Gateshead Council is minded to grant the proposal planning permission, subject to a section 106 agreement, which is common in connection with such proposals.

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CAA provides our ground-breaking report on adoption of International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities to Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick as a resource for his department

Campaign Against Antisemitism has provided our new ground-breaking report on adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities to the Rt Hon. Robert Jenrick MP, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as a resource for his department.

Mr Jenrick has been a champion of the campaign for widespread adoption of the Definition by local authorities, recently warning local authorities that those refusing to adopt the Definition would risk losing public funding. 

In September 2019, Mr Jenrick declared that “there is no place for antisemitic abuse” and regretted that local authorities had not followed the Government in adopting the Definition, and indicated that he was taking action to encourage wider adoption. In October 2019 Mr Jenrick wrote to all local authorities in England urging them to adopt the Definition, and in January 2020 Mr Jenrick reiterated his policy, announcing in the House of Commons that he was “requiring all councils to adopt it forthwith”. Mr Jenrick followed up later that month by warning that any local authorities that expressly refused to adopt the Definition would be named and could expect to lose public funding if they failed to tackle antisemitism.

In the letter, Campaign Against Antisemitism said that “We are delighted to provide you with our new, ground-breaking report, published today, that investigates how many and which local authorities have adopted the Definition to date, and which have not.”

In addition to documenting the adoption of the Definition (or otherwise) by each and every local authority in the country, the painstaking report also provides important insights into how disciplinary processes function at the local level and makes significant recommendations as to how these processes can be enhanced in order to eradicate racism from local politics.

The full letter can be read below, and the report can be accessed here: https://antisemitism.org/councils/

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Has your council adopted it yet? CAA report reveals extent of adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities across the UK

Today, Campaign Against Antisemitism publishes its report revealing the extent of adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities across the United Kingdom.

The report — the first of its kind — shows that the campaign for widespread adoption of the Definition is well underway.

Ever since Campaign Against Antisemitism led the effort for adoption of the Definition by the British Government — which became the first in the world to do so — two Secretaries of State for Local Government have joined our push for local authorities to follow suit. As this report shows, that campaign is yielding results, with much success owed to the work of grassroots local activists and organisations right across the country. We applaud them and the local authorities that have listened, but there remains much to do.

The current Secretary of State for Local Government, the Rt. Hon. Robert Jenrick MP, recently warned local authorities that those refusing to adopt the Definition would risk losing public funding. This report examines where pressure is needed by naming and shaming for the first time those local authorities that have failed to adopt the full Definition in line with Government policy.

The report — which finds that 121 of the 422 local authorities in the UK (29%) have adopted the Definition in full — gives a fuller picture of the fight against antisemitism at the local level, exposing which local authorities take this issue seriously and which do not, and enabling local activists and voters to make informed choices.

But the report also shows that there is still a long way to go. While the number of local authorities adopting the full Definition is rising, in total fewer than a third of local authorities have adopted the full Definition so far. With some exceptions, which the report analyses, this failure is national and cross-party.

The purpose of adoption of the full Definition is not only to send a message of where local councillors stand on antisemitism but also to ensure that the Definition is applied in disciplinary cases involving councillors or staff. As this report shows, the number of local authorities that have actually incorporated the Definition into their codes of conduct for councillors and staff is negligible.

The report also discusses the shortcomings of the existing disciplinary and sanctions systems in place for dealing with misconduct by local councillors. Adoption of the Definition and its incorporation into codes of conduct are still insufficient if appropriate sanctions are unavailable and local councillors can engage in antisemitic conduct without consequence.

A separate Campaign Against Antisemitism project exposing antisemitism in political parties has shown just how extensive antisemitism is among local councillors and council candidates. Adopting and applying the Definition in antisemitism cases and enforcing judgments with real sanctions are critical if anti-Jewish hatred is to be eradicated from local politics in the UK.

British Jews should not have to endure antisemitism from their elected representatives, and all opponents of racism in our country should root out prejudice at any level of our politics. It is easy to say that antisemitism is unacceptable, but words must be followed by action. Widespread adoption of the Definition is the bare minimum.

If you would like to write to your local councillors or representatives in a devolved administration, please visit antisemitism.org/councils.

The report comes following a surge of antisemitism at the local level over the past years, which most recently has resulted in the resignation of at least one leader of a council and political control in at least two local councils changing hands.

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “This ground-breaking report, which is the product of painstaking research by our team, shows that the campaign for widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities across the UK is well underway. But the report also shows that there is still a long way to go: only 29% of local authorities have adopted the full Definition so far, a shortcoming that is national and cross-party.

“In support of the policy announced by the Secretary of State for Local Government, this report names and shames recalcitrant local authorities, and makes numerous recommendations. Above all, the report is designed to serve as an accessible resource for local media and members of the public, whom we invite to write to their local councillors to urge adoption of the Definition.

“The surge of antisemitism at the local level demonstrates just how essential it is for local authorities to adopt the Definition and, crucially, to incorporate it into their codes of conduct for councillors and staff. Antisemitism has no place in our political life, and that must include local politics as well.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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It took a week, but Gateshead Council is today removing graffiti after being alerted by CAA and Shomrim

Gateshead Council has removed offensive anti-Jewish graffiti from a building site today.

The graffiti was spotted a week ago on Bensham Road in Gateshead and was reported by Gateshead Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.

Campaign Against Antisemitism then reported the graffiti to Gateshead Council, which has now, after a week, removed it.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews almost four times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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Second councillor quits Labour in antisemitism controversy causing Party to lose control of Brighton and Hove City Council

The Labour Group is on the brink of losing control of Brighton and Hove City Council as a second councillor has now quit the Party in an antisemitism controversy.

Yesterday, Campaign Against Antisemitism reported that three Labour councillors were facing allegations of antisemitism and considering their political futures. Cllr Kate Knight had resigned from Labour in the face of an impending investigation, Cllr Anne Pissaridou had been suspended from the Party but continued to sit with the Labour Group, and Cllr Nichole Brennan had faced no sanction from the Party.

Cllr Knight’s resignation meant that Labour was no longer the largest Party on the Council, falling from twenty members to nineteen, which was equal to the Greens who served as the Opposition. Labour consequently offered to share power with the Greens.

But now, Cllr Brennan’s resignation means that the Greens are now the largest Party and must decide whether to accept the power-sharing arrangement, let Labour continue to run the Council or seek to take administration of the Council over themselves.

Brighton and Hove City Council is the second local authority in recent weeks to change control due to antisemitism. Recently, in Crawley a Labour councillor resigned from the Party in order to defend herself against antisemitism accusations, leaving Crawley Borough Council with no overall control.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.Image credit: Brighton and Hove Council

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Labour agrees to share control of Brighton and Hove Council with the Greens as three Labour councillors embroiled in antisemitism controversies with one quitting the Party and changing the balance of power

Brighton and Hove Council is in disarray as three Labour councillors are embroiled in antisemitism controversies, with one of the councillors having now quit the Party leaving Labour having to offer to share power with the Greens.

Cllr Kate Knight has resigned from the Labour Party in anticipation of a suspension after a series of allegedly antisemitic Facebook posts were uncovered.

Cllr Knight said: “I abhor antisemitism which, along with all other forms of racism, is a scourge that blights our society and every political party. I am not antisemitic and I regret if anything I posted caused distress, as this was not my intention. I do not want this matter to distract from the vital work that the Council needs to do, as we all continue to come to terms with the effects and future consequences of COVID-19. So, after deep reflection and with much regret, I have resigned my membership of the Labour Party with immediate effect.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Anne Pissaridou was suspended from the Labour Party over allegedly antisemitic Facebook posts that she posted several years ago. She stepped down as chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, however she is inexplicably still a member of the Labour Group on the Council.

Cllr Pissaridou said: “I am deeply sorry for my actions and any distress I have caused to the Jewish community. This happened several years ago, before I was a councillor, and the posts I shared do not reflect my views. I do not seek to excuse my mistake. I deeply regret not properly reading information before sharing such hurtful links. I am aware of the complaint that has been made to the Labour Party and will fully co-operate with any investigation.” 

Previously, Cllr Nichole Brennan apologised and resigned from her role as deputy housing chairwoman and rough sleeping chief pending an investigation after pictures emerged showing her holding a sign calling Israel a “racist, apartheid state”. However, it subsequently transpired that she reacted to the ensuing antisemitism investigation by saying she “will not bow down to white supremacy”.

Cllr Brennan has not been suspended from the Labour Party and she continues to sit with the Labour Group.

This means that, of the three controversial councillors who helped to make up Labour’s twenty-strong Group on the Council, one has resigned from the Party, one has been suspended but is still inexplicably sitting with the Group, and the third has not been suspended or faced sanction. The Labour Group now has nineteen councillors, which is equal to the Greens, the Opposition Party on the Council. Consequently, Labour has now reportedly agreed to share power with the Greens.

Recently, in Crawley a Labour councillor resigned from the Party in order to defend herself against antisemitism accusations, leaving Crawley Borough Council with no overall control.

In a further development, in a statement the Leader of the Labour Group on Brighton and Hove Council noted that “I have agreed with the Labour Group that we will establish a Code of Conduct for all Labour councillors. This will have emphasis on social media and the absolute necessity of ensuring people know that what they are sharing comes from trusted sources of information, and the importance of recognising antisemitic tropes.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to the Leader to incorporate into the new code a provision to refer to the International Definition of Antisemitism – which both the Labour Party and Brighton and Hove Council have adopted – in any antisemitism matters.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

Image credit: Brighton and Hove Council

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Worcester councillor’s mezuzah is ripped off her door and posted through her letterbox with a swastika, and Worcester Council responds by adopting International Definition of Antisemitism

A local councillor in Worcester has recounted how her mezuzah was ripped from her front door and posted through her letterbox with a swastika drawn onto it.

A mezuzah is a decorative case containing a Jewish prayer which is traditionally fixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home.

Cllr Louise Griffiths, a Conservative, then tabled a motion at Worcester Council to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism, which the Council unanimously agreed to do.

Cllr Griffiths said: “Antisemitism was not something I experienced on a regular basis, but it has seemingly become part of my daily life in recent years. For me, having the council sign up to this definition of antisemitism is a no-brainer.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has long urged widespread adoption of the Definition. The UK was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.

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After Leader of Sandwell Council resigns over antisemitism allegations following CAA pressure, another Labour councillor’s record comes under the spotlight

Another Labour councillor on Sandwell Council has been revealed to have a record of problematic remarks.

Although Cllr John Edwards says on his Twitter biography that he is “allergic to bigots”, he has described accusations of antisemitism as “smears”, called criticism of the disgraced then-Labour MP Chris Williamson a “smear campaign”, described the International Definition of Antisemitism as “unfit for purpose”, implied comparisons of Israeli policy to the Nazis in breach of the Definition by saying to then-Prime Minister David Cameron that “when you leave Auschwitz David Cameron go to Gaza”.

Cllr Edwards has been a Labour councillor for forty years.

Earlier this week, the Leader of Sandwell Council resigned from her post and was suspended by the Labour Party pending investigation, after Campaign Against Antisemitism called for decisive action by the local authority and the Party over her social media history.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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After CAA pressure, Leader of Sandwell Council is suspended by Labour and resigns from her position

After pressure from Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Leader of Sandwell Council has been suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation and has resigned from her leadership role.

Cllr Yvonne Davies is being investigated by the Party over tweets she sent in 2018, one of which promoted a petition calling for a parliamentary debate over whether Israel has an “improper influence” over British politics, a notion reminiscent of historically popular claims of excessive Jewish power in national politics. In another tweet, Cllr Davies linked to a story titled “Is Israel’s hand behind the attacks on Jeremy Corbyn?”, alongside which she commented: “This makes interesting reading if anyone is wanting to understand where all this emphasis on Labour and antisematism (sic) comes from…”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is an example of antisemitism.

A complaint regarding Cllr Davies submitted to Labour reportedly accused her of “breaching Labour’s social media policy”.

In a cabinet meeting yesterday, Cllr Davies resigned as Leader, having been elected to the post a year ago. In her eighteen-minute resignation statement, she reportedly criticised “the white male old guard” who sought “only to preserve their own power base for its own sake”.

The local authority has seen multiple changes in leadership in recent years and has reportedly been dogged by scandal.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Labour councillor quits Party to defend herself against antisemitism accusations, leaving Crawley Borough Council with no overall control

A Labour councillor has reportedly resigned from the Party in order to defend herself against antisemitism accusations, leaving Crawley Borough Council with no overall control.

Karen Sudan will now sit as an independent on both West Sussex County Council and Crawley Borough Council, leaving Labour and the Conservatives with seventeen councillors each on Crawley Borough Council, such that Labour no longer controls the local authority.

The antisemitism allegations reportedly turn on three tweets that Cllr Sudan posted. In one tweet, from 2017, Cllr Sudan declared that she was opposed to “all kinds of racism” but was blocking a group of Labour antisemitism activists from interacting with her on the social media platform.

A second tweet, from 2018, apparently accused the media of being “too busy making up and/or exaggerating stories about antisemitism in the Labour Party” to worry about other forms of racism. This tweet was sent during the summer of 2018 when Labour was deciding whether to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism and various antisemitism scandals involving Jeremy Corbyn were uncovered.

The third tweet, from earlier this year, shared a link to an article titled ‘Reject the Ten Pledges’, alluding to ten pledges that a Jewish charity was asking Labour leadership candidates to make to demonstrate their commitment to fighting antisemitism in the Party. The article apparently claimed that the notion that Labour had an antisemitism problem had been “widely debunked” and described the ten pledges as “politically motivated weaponisation of antisemitism to attack the Left and the Palestine solidarity movement”.

Cllr Sudan, who has been a member of the Labour Party for 50 years, insisted that she is “not an antisemite”, described the evidence as “pathetic”, and claimed that if she remained a member of the Party, she would “have to keep quiet” about the allegations during an investigation to avoid being suspended, so “the only way I could do that and stop the gossip and the maligning stuff that would be around it was to resign from the Party and put it out there so that people can see how stupid and ridiculous it is.”

In a statement, Peter Lamb, Labour’s leader on the council, denied that the complaint had come from one of Cllr Sudan’s Labour colleagues, saying: “I think she thinks it’s me but I’m not an idiot. If we were going to put in a complaint against someone, we’d wait until the end of the year when you get the chance at the local elections to replace them with someone else.” It is disconcerting that complaints about racism might only be submitted with electoral considerations in mind.

Bizarrely, Mr Lamb reportedly added: “Reading through the text of what was submitted, it looks very professionally written to my mind – which rather removes anyone in the Labour group.”

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Outrage as Blackburn with Darwen Council is revealed to have as many councillors suspended or expelled from Labour over antisemitism on its committees as it does Lib Dems

Blackburn with Darwen Council is facing outrage after the revelation that there are as many councillors who have been suspended from the Labour Party over antisemitism claims on its committees as there are Liberal Democrats.

The controversy relates to Cllr Tasleem Fazal, who was suspended from Labour after it was revealed that he had made a video during an anti-Israel protest in 2014 when he called peace protestors “murderers” and during which he was asked by a demonstrator wearing a skullcap: “ISIS – is ISIS Jewish?” From behind the camera, he responded: “Who’s created it? Who’s created it? Do your homework.” The notion that Jews or Israel created the ISIS terrorist organisation is a popular antisemitic trope.

The other figure is Cllr Andy Kay, who was suspended and then quickly expelled by Labour after saying that “Jewish leaders are worse than Nazis” and referencing “Zionists’ attempts to influence our political processes”.

Both councillors now sit as independents, but they are also members of several council committees. In addition to participating in committees that comprise all councillors, Cllr Fazal also sits on the select Licencing Committee and Cllr Kay sits on both the select Audit and Governance Committee and the select Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

The Chair of the local Conservative Association submitted a complaint to the council, saying: “People suspended or expelled from the Labour Party for antisemitism now have as many committee positions as the Liberal Democrats. The council should hang its head in shame. Giving Cllr Fazal a position on the Licensing Committee is a disgrace.”

Labour’s Cllr Phil Riley, the Deputy Leader of the Council, reportedly responded: “This complaint is outrageous. I am confident Cllr Fazal will perform his duties with appropriate impartiality.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council has purported to have adopted – through a report rather than in a full vote of councillors – the International Definition of Antisemitism, but in doing so the examples of antisemitism, which are integral to the Definition, were omitted not formally adopted. Perhaps this defective adoption of the Definition is why the local authority is content to maintain these figures in committee roles. It makes a mockery of the claim in the report in which the Definition was purportedly adopted that “The Council will not tolerate prejudice and discrimination against any group in society on the ground of religion, race, gender, age sexuality and disability.”

Evidently, Blackburn with Darwen Council does tolerate such prejudice, and indeed rewards it.

Campaign Against Antisemitism shall be writing to Blackburn with Darwen Council.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Conservatives re-admit councillor who minimised the Holocaust following an apology but apparently without further sanction or expectation of antisemitism training

The Conservatives in Scotland have readmitted a former parliamentary candidate and councillor who made comments minimising the Holocaust after a “robust investigation” during which he apologised, but apparently there is no further sanction or expectation for him to undertake antisemitism training.

Ryan Houghton, had been the Conservatives’ candidate for Aberdeen North until it was discovered that he had written on a martial arts forum seven years ago, under the psedonym Razgriz, that although there was “no credible evidence to suggest the Holocaust did not happen” nevertheless “I do find some of the events fabricated, and exegarated [sic] in some cases.”

He continued: “As history is written by the victors there is always going to be a bit of re-writing.” He also praised the “interesting” research of the antisemitic Holocaust-denier, David Irving. However, in a later post he said that he was “not defending David’s Irving’s views” and that he does not agree with “some of the stuff he says.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust)” is an example of antisemitism.

Cllr Houghton was suspended as a parliamentary candidate by the Party, albeit that he remained on the ballot because his nomination papers were already submitted. But he remained the council administration’s business manager and councillor and has now be readmitted to the Cobnservative Party.

Cllr Houghton said: “I apologised at the time and have done so in-person to anyone who has contacted me about the matter. The comments which led to my suspension were isolated and took place nearly a decade ago. They in no way reflect my political or professional record and I find prejudice of any kind abhorrent. I will continue to work and represent my constituents to the best of my ability.”

A Tory spokesman said an investigatory committee took into account Cllr Houghton’s “unreserved acceptance of what he had done when much younger was wrong”, noting he understood the “consequence of his actions”.

There is, however, no indication that Cllr Houghton has had to undertake antisemitism training or that any other sanction has been applied. Campaign Against Antisemitism has always maintained that suspension pending investigation is not in itself a sanction.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Former Labour Mayor of Brent Aslam Choudry regrets posting video suggesting “the Jewish lobby” controls America, according to report

The JC is reporting that Aslam Choudry, a former Labour Mayor of Brent, in London, has said that he made a “mistake” when he posted a video suggesting that “the Jewish lobby” controls the United States.

Cllr Choudry, who represents the Dudden Hill ward on the local council and is the Chair of Brent’s Audit Committee, reportedly posted the video in a WhatsApp group. The video apparently said that just as in Nazi Germany one could not criticise the Nazi Party, so in contemporary America one cannot criticise the “Jewish lobby”, comparing the situation to other totalitarian states. “Both sides, Democrats and Republicans, they both bow down to the Israeli lobby”, the narrator on the video explained, apparently using the phrases ‘Jewish lobby’ and ‘Israeli lobby’ interchangeably.

The video was from Real Face Media, a channel that purports to “spread the true message of Islam.”

Other members of the WhatsApp group, among them local Jewish residents, were appalled, with one writing, according to the JC, that they were “absolutely disgusted”. Another is apparently referring the matter to the Labour Party.

Cllr Choudry wrote in reply: “I’m sorry sent by mistake”.

In 2016, Cllr Choudry shared a video on social media with the caption, “Zionists are even worst [sic] than animals,” for which he said “I apologise unreservedly”.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Conservative councillor and former Lord Mayor of Portsmouth suspended after reportedly baking a swastika into a hot cross bun and posting the image on social media

A Conservative councillor and former Lord Mayor of Portsmouth has been suspended by his Party after reportedly baking a swastika into a hot cross bun and posting the image on social media.

Cllr Lee Mason baked a batch of the oven pastries over Easter, each emblazoned with an expletive or symbol, and put a photograph on Snapchat.

However, he denied that he baked a hot cross bun with a swastika and insisted that the photograph must have been altered online somehow. He admitted that the other buns, words and symbols were unaltered.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Next week the Jewish community will be observing Yom HaShoah, remembering the six million Jewish men, women and children slaughtered during the Holocaust just for being Jewish. Whether the emblazoning of a swastika on a hot cross bun was meant as a celebration of the abominable Nazi regime or a joke, the Jewish community and local residents in Portsmouth expect better from their representatives, and the Conservative Party must investigate this councillor’s conduct immediately. We welcome his suspension pending that investigation.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Brighton and Hove Labour councillor apologises and resigns leadership role pending investigation over potentially antisemitic protest

A Labour councillor in Brighton and Hove has apologised for calling Israel a “racist” state and has resigned from her role as deputy housing chairwoman and rough sleeping chief pending an investigation.

Pictures have emerged showing Nichole Brennan holding a sign calling Israel a “racist, apartheid state” in a protest two years ago at Hove Town Hall against the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the local authority. The Definition lists “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour”) as an example of antisemitism.

Brighton and Hove City Council adopted the Definition.

In a statement, Cllr Brennan said: “I am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused to the Jewish community and I sincerely regret campaigning in this way…This happened two years ago, before I was a councillor. At the time I was not as knowledgeable about the [D]efinition of antisemitism as I am now. I do not seek to excuse my actions.”

She went on to say: “I have referred myself to the Labour Party and will fully cooperate with any investigation and have stepped aside from my role as deputy chair of housing and lead for homelessness and rough sleeping, pending its outcome.”

Cllr Brennan reportedly added that she now fully supports the Definition.

A spokesman for the Labour Party said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously. They are always fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and appropriate action is taken.”

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

(Photo credit: Brighton and Hove City Council)

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London Labour Councillor demands removal of zero-tolerance clause in antisemitism motion as Livingstone defender narrowly loses selection vote

Antisemitism problems are persisting in the Labour Party, including in the capital, as a Haringey Labour Councillor has told Tottenham’s Constituency Labour Party to drop a “zero-tolerance” clause from an antisemitism motion it was debating. Meanwhile in Brent and Harrow, a defender of Ken Livingstone missed out on being selected as its candidate for the London Assembly by merely five votes.

Noah Tucker, who is a councillor on Haringey’s local council, proposed an amendment to a motion on antisemitism that would remove a clause in the motion that stated that the branch should adopt “a zero tolerance position” on antisemitism and that would remove another clause that provided that a failure to address antisemitism claims adequately “leads to a perception of complacency and collusion with antisemitism that is not without foundation”.

The amendment also stated that the Party’s disciplinary process should not be supervised by an independent organisation, and that “it is not antisemitic…to describe Israel, its policies or the circumstances around its foundation as racist because of their discriminatory impact”, an apparent reference to the International Definition of Antisemitism, which lists “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” as an example of antisemitism.

A spokesman for the local MP, David Lammy, said that he “unequivocally rejects this amendment and stands by the Jewish Labour members who spoke out against it in the meeting”.

Last year, Cllr Tucker, who was formerly the cabinet member for corporate services and insourcing until the position was abolished last year, reportedly defended the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson.

Meanwhile, in Brent and Harrow, a controversial candidate — Aghileh Djafari-Marbini — narrowly missed out on being selected to stand for the London Assembly in the area, which is one of the safest Labour seats in the city. Ms Marbini received 619 votes, whereas her opponent received 624.

Ms Djafari-Marbini has been endorsed by John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, local MPs Tulip Siddiq and Barry Gardiner, a frontbencher in Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet, and Apsana Begum, a controversial new Labour MP who accused Tony Blair of spreading “Zionist propaganda” and who claimed that the leaders of Saudia Arabia were “inspired by Zionist masters”.

Ms Djafari-Marbini has reportedly defended the former disgraced Liberal Democrat MP David Ward, who has a long history of commenting about Jews, the Holocaust and Israel. She also reportedly shared an article that defended the image over which the Labour MP Naz Shah was suspended and which she acknowledged was antisemitic, defended Ken Livingstone, and said that Labour’s antisemitism crisis is a “smear”.

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

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Labour councillor suspended for claiming George Michael’s music career was damaged by his opposition to “illegal wars by the Zionists”

A Labour councillor has reportedly been suspended for claiming on social media that George Michael’s music career was damaged by his opposition to “illegal wars by the Zionists”.

Lyn Boyd, who serves on the Durham County Council and is the cabinet support member for finance, was accused of promoting a “wide range of antisemitic tropes and far-fetched theories that you would expect from a far-right activist.”

Another Facebook post described former Prime Minister Tony Blair as “the perfect Zionist puppet”.

Yet another post linked to a video of a German Shepherd mauling a child, accompanied by a caption reading: “This is how the Israeli Zionist attack Palestinian children. You won’t see this in the mainstream media as they control most of it. Please watch and share.”

Other posts sought to downplay the extent of Labour’s antisemitism crisis and suggested that the claims of anti-Jewish racism in the Party were “complete rubbish and designed with one aim only. Ruining Corbyn and the party.”

Ms Boyd insisted that, although she would not seek re-election in 2021, she would “continue to campaign against any form of racism or antisemitic behaviour.”

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life, To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.

(Photo Credit: Durham County Council)

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Labour suspends councillor who said “Jewish leaders are worse than Nazis” and referenced “Zionists’ attempts to influence our political processes”

The Labour Party has suspended a councillor who said that “Jewish leaders are worse than Nazis” and referenced “Zionists’ attempts to influence our political processes”, adding for good measure that those supposed efforts were “racist”.

Andy Kay, who had been serving as a cabinet member for finance and governance on Darwen Council in Lancashire, has been suspended pending an investigation following revelations by the JC of his social media history.

Cllr Kay also wrote that “Jewish leaders are worse than Nazis” in 2014 in a post on Facebook that was reportedly ‘liked’ by Kate Hollern MP, who went on to become a Labour MP and Private Parliamentary Secretary to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. She subsequently apologised.

In 2018, Cllr Kay also shared an article on social media describing Labour’s antisemitism crisis as a “blatant attempt to undermine Corbyn’s leadership”, adding the remark about Zionists. In the comments section of that post in a discussion about the International Definition of Antisemitism, Cllr Kay also said: “I was taught that Judaism was/is a religion, not a nation. In fact one of the tenets of Judaism prohibits the nation state… but I suppose that also depends on which wing of the fantasy you believe.”

Three days later, Cllr Kay reportedly shared an article that claimed that the Definition was “designed by Israeli propagandists to aid their many mass lobby attempts” and referenced the “largely-mythical antisemitism ‘crisis’ in the Labour Party,” which was described as “one of the few tools left to ailing and desperate establishment hacks wanting to smear Corbyn and maintain UK support for Israel.”

In 2019, Cllr Kay shared yet another article, which he described as “food for thought….. real thought!”, that portrayed Labour’s antisemitism crisis as part of a “disgraceful environment” of “disinformation and downright lies cooked up by those with vested interests and promoted by the billionaire offshore owners of the press and fellow travellers such as [the Jewish Labour then-MP] Ruth Smeeth.”

On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

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Watch Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announce all local councils will be required to adopt International Definition of Antisemitism

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced that he will be requiring all local councils to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism “forthwith”.

Robert Jenrick made the comment in the House of Commons in an answer to the Conservative MP, Stephen Morgan, who asked about the Government’s plans to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps. Mr Jenrick noted that although the camps were liberated, this did not bring an end to the “cancer of antisemitism”, and he announced that in addition to the policy on local councils, the Government was providing funding for Holocaust education and visits to Bergen Belsen.

Mr Jenrick also revealed that he plans to participate in the British delegation to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, later this month to mark the occasion.

The announcement comes after it was reported that Mr Jenrick had written to all local authorities in the country urging adoption of the Definition.

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Conservative Party Councillor Sol Wielkopolski in antisemitism mess for a second time

Sol Wielkopolski, a Conservative Party Councillor on Cumbria County Council, has caught himself out a second time over antisemitism.

Cllr Wielkopolski reportedly tweeted a complaint that when he began a search with the letters “Ju”, Google suggested searching for “Judaism just another cult” followed by “Junkers 88”. The Junkers 88 was a Nazi-era military aircraft that flew for the Luftwaffe. In reality these were not Google’s suggestions, but searches from Cllr Wielkopolski’s own search history.

Cllr Wielkopolski’s tweet is now ‘protected’ and can only be seen by his confirmed followers.

In a previous blunder, Cllr Wielkopolski tweeted on 5th August 2019: “Why is Corbyn inciting hatred of the wealthy? I guess it’s consistent with his hatred of Jews. The wealthy pay far more tax and create more jobs than his tribe, so should be celebrated and cherished, not derided. Wealth should be a protected characteristic.” By doing so, Cllr Wielkopolski repeated a deeply-entrenched antisemitic stereotype and myth about Jews and money. The negative stereotype that Jews are wealthy is one of the oldest antisemitic conspiracy theories.

On the previous occasion, Cllr Wielkopolski deployed an antisemitic trope in a blundering attempt to defend Jews. His search history adds further concerns.

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Conservative Party investigating Councillor Mohammad Aslam over Facebook post claiming Jewish MP was “funded by Israel lobby”

The Conservative Party is reportedly investigating Councillor Mohammad Aslam over posts he allegedly shared on Facebook, including a claim that Jewish Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth, who lost her seat in the recent election, was “funded by [the] Israel lobby.”

Under the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the British Government, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is antisemitic.

Cllr Aslam, who represents the Bradley ward on Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire and was a Labour councillor before he defected to the Conservative Party in 2015, reportedly shared a number of other problematic posts on Facebook.

One allegedly said the: “Gaza massacre is the price of a ‘Jewish state.’” He also showed the image of a bloodied child and a description of the Israeli government’s actions as: “Radical Jewish Terrorism.” The post added: “Israel is an illegal state. Israel is a Terrorist State.” In another post, he allegedly shared a video which read: “Jerusalem, we are coming.”

Under the Definition, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is antisemitic.

A spokesperson for the Conservative Party told the JC: “This matter is under investigation. Our complaints process is rightly a confidential one but there are a wide range of sanctions to challenge and change behaviour, including conditions to undertake training, periods of suspension and expulsion, and these are applied on a case-by-case basis.”

Earlier this month, the Lancashire Telegraph reported on a private message allegedly sent from Cllr Aslam’s account, in which he said: “Everyone says you have a mind of Jews.”

According to the Definition, antisemitism “employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.”

A spokesperson for Cllr Aslam told the Lancashire Telegraph that he did not recall sending the message and claimed that his account has been hacked previously. “He is in no way antisemitic or racist. This was a private message on Facebook Messenger. Cllr Aslam does not recall sending it. His Facebook has been hacked in the past. If he did send it, it would appear to have been taken out of context and Cllr Aslam would need to see the full conversation to comment further.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism expects the Conservative Party to conduct a fair, efficient and transparent disciplinary investigation, and to insist that any claims of social media hacking are backed up by ample evidence.

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Government intends to ban councils from divisive boycotts that intimidate Jews

The Government has confirmed that it will honour its manifesto pledge to ban local councils and public bodies from, in the Prime Minister’s words, “taking it upon themselves to boycott goods from other countries to develop their own pseudo-foreign policy against a country which with nauseating frequency turns out to be Israel.”

The Prime Minister made the remarks in the debate over the Queen’s speech in the House of Commons.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that 76% of British Jews felt intimidated by tactics used to boycott Israel. This figure is consistent with findings over the past several years.

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Dyfed-Powys Police upholds professional standards complaint from CAA after officer said antisemitism was just “an opinion”

Dyfed-Powys Police in Wales has upheld a professional standards complaint from Campaign Against Antisemitism over the way that antisemitic e-mails were dismissed as just “stating an opinion” by one of the force’s officers.

Dyfed-Powys Police has confirmed to Campaign Against Antisemitism that it is reopening the case and recording the incident as a hate crime under the Malicious Communications Act. They have formally apologised saying they “completely share the concerns you raised.”

The Divisional Detective Inspector in the Pembrokeshire Division has been asked to review the crime and appropriately allocate the necessary resources to investigate.

When discussing an allegation against Daniel Davies, the owner of Tribestan UK, for the antisemitic e-mails sent to an Israeli man who attempted to order items from the company, Campaign Against Antisemitism was told that the matter would merely be recorded as a hate incident rather than a hate crime. When pressed on this, the officer said that he had reviewed the complaint, and that it would be recorded as the less serious matter, as the e-mails were simply “stating an opinion”.

One of the e-mails sent by Tribestan UK stated: “Unfortunately Jews have negativity on our businesses. Do you know why? Because Jews rip us off! Jews f*** us up!”

A second e-mail sent a short while later stated: “We don’t ship to Israel because the Jews rob us! Sorry but that’s a fact. They scam the world.”

Mr Davies claimed that “our e-mail got hacked via wifi over a business phone”, which is a common excuse that we have heard from other companies that have sent antisemitic messages that they later claimed were the work of hackers.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is providing legal support to the recipient of the e-mails so that a civil claim can be brought against the company.

At a time when British Jews are threatened by levels of antisemitism unprecedented in the UK since the end of the Second World War, effective law enforcement is a vital deterrent. Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds Dyfed-Powys Police for recognising its initial failure in this matter and remedying it by reopening the investigation.

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Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick makes good on pledge to write to all local councils urging adoption of International Definition of Antisemitism

Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has reportedly written to all local authorities in the country urging adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

In doing so, Mr Jenrick makes good on his pledge last month to do so, when he described antisemitism as a “ scourge” and “a stain on our society”, declaring that “there is no place for antisemitic abuse”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomes Mr Jenrick’s ongoing efforts to combat antisemitism in local politics and elsewhere.

In 2016, the British Government became the first in the world to adopt the International Definition, following many meetings with Campaign Against Antisemitism.

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Former Labour leader of Brighton City Council reveals he was hounded to resign after threatening to ban Labour from Brighton

A former Labour leader of Brighton City Council revealed how following the last Labour Party Conference in the city two years go he “wrote a letter saying Labour would not be welcome back in Brighton if it failed to sort out its issues with antisemitism”, only to find that “the backlash against my message was swift and took me by surprise.”

In a remarkable article in The Spectator, Warren Morgan, who was Labour leader of Brighton and Hove City Council from 2015 to 2018 and resigned from the Party in February, recounted how at that previous Conference he had “sat in a studio listening to people who had faced abuse because they were Jewish. I heard statements recorded at a fringe event suggesting it was fine to question whether the Holocaust had ever happened.” He then felt he had to take action.

However, he went on to document what happened next: “For all my good intentions in speaking up for Jewish people who were afraid, months of e-mails, motions and unpleasant messages followed. Apologies and retractions were demanded. There were calls for me to step down. Many of these messages came from the local party, where now-suspended or expelled members labelled Jews ‘Zios’, depicted councillors — including me and one whose husband is Jewish — as dancing rabbis and called for people to march on the local synagogue in response to the suspension by Labour of a council candidate for tweeting about the ‘Israeli bloodline’.

“Finally, a motion calling for me to resign passed by some forty votes to two. It had been moved by the person later suspended after calling for a march on a local synagogue.”

Mr Warren observed that now, “despite the promises of action two years ago, and the small number of suspensions and expulsions, those pushing the same anti-Israel messages which so quickly morph into antisemitism have not gone away.

“Some of those disciplined have been quietly readmitted, or their suspensions taken no further. Those like me who have spoken out on antisemitism, however, have been pushed to the point of resignation, or deselected while the Party has simply stood by.”

Mr Warren courageously declared that “you don’t get to pick and choose the racism you stand up against”.

We commend Mr Warren for his efforts to resist the rising tide of antisemitism in the Labour Party. He has taken a courageous stance, but the institutionally antisemitic Labour Party has made him pay a heavy price.

On 28th May, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In recent months, twelve MPs and three peers have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.

Over 55,000 people have now signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite and declaring him “unfit to hold any public office.”

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Jim Sheridan who accused Jewish community and “their Blairite plotters” of undermining Labour promoted to deputy leader of Renfrewshire Labour

Labour Councillor, Jim Sheridan, who accused the Jewish community and “their blairite [sic] plotters” of undermining Labour has reportedly been promoted to deputy leader of Labour on Renfrewshire Council near Glasgow in Scotland.

Cllr Sheridan was also the Labour member for Renfrewshire West from 2001 to 2005 and for Paisley and Renfrewshire North between 2005 and 2015. He will now sit as a Labour representative on the Scottish National Party (SNP) run council’s Leadership Board.

On 17th August 2018, Cllr Sheridan posted on his Facebook page, but subsequently deleted: “For almost all my adult life I have had the utmost respect and empathy for the Jewish community and their historic suffering. No longer due to what they and their blairite [sic] plotters are doing to my party and the long suffering people of Britain who need a radical Labour government.”

On 18th August 2018, it was reported that, following a complaint, he had been suspended by the Labour Party for his post, pending investigation by the Party.

Cllr Sheridan’s suspension was reportedly lifted on 25th January this year. No explanation was given as to how the decision to do so had been reached. Cllr Sheridan made a statement in which he reaffirmed his conviction in his position, saying: “Whilst I am delighted with this decision, I remain of the view that my accusers were misguided and overreacted to what was intended to highlight my personal frustration and criticism of those intent on undermining our leadership in Scotland and the UK.”

Aside from a period of suspension, we do not know whether disciplinary action was taken by the Labour Party against Cllr Sheridan.

Cllr Sheridan told the Paisley Daily Express that he was “honoured” with his new position. He said: “I’m looking forward to it. It’s another challenge. I’m hoping to fulfil the role to its expectations. I’m quite honoured that the group voted for me and felt I was capable.”

The Labour group leader Eddie Devine said that Cllr Sheridan had been the unanimous choice of the group’s AGM.

On 28th May, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In recent months, eleven MPs have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.

Over 55,000 people have now signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite and declaring him “unfit to hold any public office.”

We are seeking to recruit a Video and Content Creator to join our London office

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Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.