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Labour’s Mayor of Hackney condemns suggestion by his own partner that a leading Jewish charity will select the Party’s new General Secretary

The Mayor of Hackney, from the Labour Party, has condemned a suggestion by his own partner that a leading Jewish charity will select the Party’s new General Secretary after the resignation of Jennie Formby, whose tenure was marred by the institutional antisemitism under her watch.

Craig Parr, who is the local Labour Party’s LGBT officer, tweeted the comment, as well as a further comment that the Jewish charity had lifted a fictional “gagging order” thereby permitting discussion of the leaked Labour report into how the Party dealt with antisemitism amid alleged factional infighting at Labour headquarters. Following allegations of data and privacy breaches, as well as threats to Jewish individuals mentioned in that report, the Party is investigating the leak.

Mayor Philip Glanville reacted to the tweets when asked by local media, saying: “I wholeheartedly disagree with these comments, they were completely unacceptable.”

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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Lord Mann tells Sir Keir Starmer to outlaw use of “Zionist” as a term of abuse

Lord Mann has told Sir Keir Starmer to outlaw the use of the word “Zionist” in the Labour Party, as well as the term “Zionism”, as terms of abuse.

The Government’s Independent Advisor on Antisemitism gave several pieces of advice to the Labour leader, including not wavering from the International Definition of Antisemitism and, “if he wants to really embed comprehensive anti-racism including antisemitism across the Labour Party”, to ban the use of the words in the context of “hatred, abuse [or] contempt”.

Lord Mann made the comments in an online discussion with a Jewish charity.

Shami Chakrabarti (now Baroness Chakrabarti after she received a peerage from Jeremy Corbyn following her whitewash report into Labour antisemitism in 2016), recommended in her infamous report that the term “Zio” – an epithet made to look like the word ‘Nazi’ and exclusively used for abuse of Jews – be banned from use in the Party.

Sir Keir has apologised to the Jewish community for Labour’s institutional antisemitism, but despite his pledges to take action, none has yet been forthcoming and he has failed to address some new instances in breach of his election promises.

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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“I think the Jews are terrible people!”, says Facebook’s new AI chatbot after it learns from watching how humans speak online

Facebook’s new artificial intelligence chatbot, called Blender, is drawing negative attention for spewing antisemitic responses, such as “I think the Jews are terrible people!”

When asked about how it felt about the Jews, the chatbot also reportedly replied: “They are bad people and I think that’s why they have a lot of problems.” When asked why they were bad, it replied: “They are bad because of what they did to others, not just to the Jews.” It added: “They killed other people who are not Jewish, and they do this all the time.”

Blender is claimed to be the largest open-domain chatbot ever and to outperform existing approaches to generating dialogue while “feeling more human”, promising to make interactions with conversational AI systems like Alex, Siri and Cortana more natural. Blender was released about two weeks ago and has been learning from some 1.5 billion conversations on the online platform Reddit, where users are particularly unfiltered in their language and views.

The result is that, whether or not the chatbot is learning better how to communicate with humans, it is certainly picking up the antisemitic prejudices that sadly prevail in many of these chat rooms, enabled by the social media companies that facilitate them and which refuse to take action against abusers. A previous chatbot from Microsoft was closed down just a few hours after its launch several years ago because it had quickly adopted the prejudices of the human it was observing.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Facebook’s AI bot is spewing antisemitic responses because, like a parrot, that is what it has learned from watching human behaviour online. Microsoft’s chatbot was shut down just a few hours after its launch a few years ago for the same reason. These AI models are a mirror of the discourse facilitated by social media outlets and it’s time that Facebook and other tech giants look at the reflection and recognise their culpability.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism continues its robust engagement with social media companies over the content that they enable to be published, and we continue to make representations to the Government in this connection.

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CAA gravely concerned by cost-cutting measures in court system that may leave Jewish victims of antisemitic crime without justice

There are reports that “thousands of prosecutions” for certain minor offences and criminal damage “are set to be dropped as police chiefs try to alleviate pressure on the court system”. Officers are apparently being encouraged to pursue out-of-court measures, such as cautions, curfews and apologies, instead of criminal charges.

As a result of the lockdown arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, courtrooms across the country have ceased operating in person, with virtual trials serving as a replacement – but only in some instances. Prosecutors have already been instructed to prioritise serious cases. As the lockdown begins to ease, the Old Bailey and a small number of other courts are now starting to reopen on a tentative basis.

It is not known at this time whether this advice to police forces and prosecutors is nationwide or only in some areas, nor is it immediately clear whether hate crime – including anti-Jewish hate crime – will be affected.

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “While we are acutely aware of the strain that the pandemic and lockdown is placing on the police and the criminal judicial system, it cannot be a pretext to avoid delivering justice to victims. The rule of law is the most basic function of the state and one of Britain’s most essential traditions: it cannot be undermined by the pandemic. We shall be monitoring developments with grave concern and will continue to assist victims of antisemitic hate crime to attain the redress to which they are entitled at all times.”

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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Xenophobic article in The Guardian by comedian Stewart Lee is described by its target, Tom Tugendhat MP, as a “dog whistle” against the “Jew as foreigner”

The Guardian newspaper is embroiled in controversy over a xenophobic article by the comedian Stewart Lee that targeted the Conservative MP, Tom Tugendhat, over his foreign-sounding name.

In the article, entitled “Now Boris Johnson is talking through his Tugendhat”, Mr Lee wrote: “Stay alert! Many names – Fisher, Cook, Smith – derive from ancient trades. But ‘Tugendhat’ is just different words put together, like Waspcupfinger, or Appendixhospitalwool, or Abortionmaqaquesymptom. This former intelligence officer is the nephew of a real man called Baron Tugendhat. Baron Tugendhat is not a character from a 19th-century German children’s book about a baron with a weird hat, the end of which gets tugged.” The article continued in the same vein, making further mocking references to the MP’s name.

Mr Tugendhat, who has Jewish ancestry, described the article as “the dog whistle – Jews as foreigner. Again.” It was also noted that Mr Lee introduced Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, into his rant. Mr Raab’s Jewish father escaped Nazi Germany just before the war.

The outrage focused in particular on how many Jews felt the need to Anglicise their names when they immigrated to Britain precisely to avoid the sort of racist opprobrium levelled by Mr Lee against Mr Tugendhat. One commentator described it as “playground-level racism”.

In another tweet, Mr Tugendhat elaborated, saying: “The idea of uppity foreigner coming over here and conspiring to take power is literally the archetypal antisemitic trope. It is so standard it’s dull but that doesn’t make it any less true. The search into my name shows he knows the origins. It’s not new.”

Mr Tugendhat further observed, following the publication of the article, that “antisemitism is now so mainstream this no longer surprises me.” Following the 2019 General Election, he revealed that he had witnessed antisemitic abuse during the campaign.

Once again, The Guardian has shown that it is much more sensitive to some types of racism while happily indulging in others.

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CAA writes to employer of star of sick viral TikTok video mocking Holocaust victims

Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to the employer of a man who uploaded a viral video to TikTok which appears to mock Holocaust survivors.

Posted on the popular video sharing platform recently with the hashtag “#darkhumour”, the short clip by Bradley Brooker, a traffic consultant and charity football player, has gone viral, attracting tens of thousands of ‘likes’ on the platform.

In the clip, Mr Brooker acts the parts of both a Jewish taxi passenger and the taxi driver. The clip begins beneath the caption: “Jewish guy getting in my taxi”, with Mr Brooker, as the taxi driver, asking “Hey, what’s your name”. Now playing the part of the passenger, Mr Brooker mimes checking his arm tattoo, before singing, now as the taxi driver, “No I don’t want your number” from the song Scrubs by TLC.

The number appears to be a reference to the Nazi practice of tattooing inmates at the Auschwitz concentration camp with a number.

When confronted over the grotesque video by a member of the public, Mr Brooker doubled down, insisting that it was both humorous and educational.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is now writing to Mr Brooker’s employer and to the charity he represents, seeking his removal. We have also asked TikTok to remove the video.

Campaign Against Antisemitism continues its robust engagement with social media companies over the content that they enable to be published, and we continue to make representations to the Government in this connection.

https://www.tiktok.com/@bradleybrooker1/video/6820725785976982789

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Two suspects arrested over antisemitic graffiti in Hampstead and Belsize Park

Two individuals have reportedly been arrested in connection with antisemitic graffiti that appeared in December 2019 in Hampstead and Belsize Park.

South Hampstead Synagogue and at least twelve other locations were targeted with graffiti commonly used by conspiracy theorists to suggest that the Jews were secretly behind the 9/11 terrorist atrocities.

The graffiti was discovered in the evening of 28th December 2019 and the following morning, and was reported to the Metropolitan Police at around 11:30pm on 28th December. On 14th May 2020 the police arrested a 26-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman on suspicion of a racially motivated hate crime.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “Police investigating a racially motivated hate crime in the Hampstead area have arrested two people. They were released from custody on bail to return on a date in late May.”

A few days after the vandalism occurred, a vigil was opportunistically held by two organisations that have themselves enabled antisemitism in the past. Stand up to Racism has consistently failed to stand with the Jewish community when the community was faced with antisemitism from the far-left and has regularly platformed Jeremy Corbyn. Stand up to Racism was joined in organising the “vigil” by Unite Against Fascism, which supported the so-called “Al Quds Day” in the past, a pro-Hizballah march which has platformed antisemites including Reverend Stephen Sizer, who has claimed that an Israeli conspiracy was behind 9/11, and in February 2015 was ordered by the Church of England to stop using social media.

Nevertheless, it is now being reported that the suspects have no known ties to the far-right or neo-Nazi organisations. The Community Security Trust, which provides security at Jewish community buildings said that it had assisted in the investigation.

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101, quoting reference number: CAD 7282/28.

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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CAA calls for proscription of Order of the Nine Angels

Campaign Against Antisemitism has called for the proscription of the Order of the Nine Angels group following the publication of a report on its activities.

The report by the activist group Hope Not Hate shows that the Order of the Nine Angels promotes extreme violence, Holocaust denial, neo-Nazism and other antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as ‘Zionist’ control of the world.

The group was founded in the 1970s and dates its calendar from the birth of Adolf Hitler. It aspires to destablise contemporary “Judeao-Christian” society and to see it replaced with a fascist and Satanist substitute. It is understood that members are encouraged to infiltrate institutions to undermine them from within or join Islamist organisations to promote the group’s destabilisation agenda. Some of the group’s texts apparently make reference to ritual sacrifice and praise notorious criminals.

Messages between members reportedly extol sexual assault and murder.

Earlier this year, the Home Secretary Priti Patel proscribed the neo-Nazi Sonnenkrieg Division as a terrorist group. This follows the proscription of National Action in 2016, for which Campaign Against Antisemitism had called.

It is believed that the Order of the Nine Angels has been an influence on the Sonnenkrieg Division and on multiple convicted neo-Nazis in the UK.

The Home Secretary must therefore now move to proscribe the Order of the Nine Angels as well.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The Order of the Nine Angles propagates extreme violence, Nazi ideology, Holocaust revisionism and antisemitic conspiracies, such as that Zionists control the world, none of which have any place in modern Britain. The odious group’s links with both Islamist terrorism and the far-right Sonnenkrieg Division, recently proscribed by the British Government, are enormously concerning, and the Government must now move to proscribe the Order of the Nine Angles as well before its dangerous ideology and actions end in the tragedy of yet another far-right terrorist attack.”

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CAA investigation reveals even more racist tweets by Prof. John Ashton as well as his trolling of the BBC to include Gaza in a Holocaust commemoration, while hundreds sign our petition to take him off air

An investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism has revealed that Prof. John Ashton’s racism toward Jews goes even deeper than previously realised.

In one instance, Prof. Ashton trolled the BBC on Twitter urging it to include the “ghetto” in Gaza in a Holocaust commemoration. Among several other ugly breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism, he has even goaded Jews on the Jewish New Year to “get behind the Palestinians”.

After antisemitic comments made by Prof. Ashton were revealed in the Jewish Chronicle last week, Campaign Against Antisemitism launched a petition to urge the BBC, ITV and Sky News to stop inviting him to appear as a regular commentator on their news programmes.

As well as his comments revealed last week (in tweets he has since deleted), which included phrases such as “time for Jews to reflect” and “Zionists behave like Nazis”, we have now uncovered further comments which show the extent and venomousness of his obsession.

In light of these revelations, and the BBC’s and Sky News’ dismissal of Prof. Ashton’s antisemitism as mere “political views”, we call upon others to join the hundreds who have already signed the petition to get him off our television screens. You can sign the petition here.

Prof. Ashton’s equation of Israelis and Nazis was not limited to one or two social media posts, but is in fact a constant theme to which he has returned time and again. “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, yet Prof. Ashton has routinely made the comparison, claiming, for example, that Gaza is a “ghetto” or a “concentration camp”, for which he blames Israel. He has also repeatedly stated that Israel is somehow betraying the victims of the Holocaust and has even appeared to criticise Holocaust remembrance because it focuses on the Holocaust and takes no account of the latest Israeli policies.

His comments include:

  • “Damn you Zionists! How you have betrayed the victims of the Holocaust.” 
  • “They insult the memory of the victims of Holocaust,” which he tweeted while posting an article about Israel by the disgraced antisemitic journalist, Mira Bar-Hillel.
  • It’s very sad how intransigence of the Zionists has sullied the universal empathy for the victims of the Holocaust.”
  • “The Zionist created ghettoes of Gaza.”
  • “Shame on you Israel and damn your custodianship of the victims of the Holocaust.”
  • “The Balfour Declaration [Britain’s pledge to establish a national home for the Jews] provided for a 2 state solution .Instead we have a Zionist (Fascist) state and a concentration camp.”
  • “Israel is burning up all the goodwill that was a legacy of the Holocaust. Is this what our Jewish friends, brothers and sisters really want?” 
  • “Gaza is a concentration camp created by the Zionists. The supreme irony.” 
  • “Israel shames the victims of the Holocaust.”

There have been other instances as well:

  • He has critiqued Israeli policy and alleged Jewish hypocrisy by riffing on a famous poem from the period, tweeting “then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew”.
  • Commenting on a newspaper article about the high approval rating of Israel’s Prime Minister following a war with the genocidal terrorist group, Hamas, Prof. Ashton wrote: “So much for the Holocaust!”
  • When the BBC tweeted that “it is 70 years since the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising. 200,000 people were killed. Hear from a survivor,” Prof. Ashton, apropos of nothing, replied: “Gaza also is a ghetto with many being murdered.”

In September 2013, Prof. Ashton also tweeted: “Happy Jewish New Year. Now get behind the Palestinians.” According to the Definition, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” is an example of antisemitism.

Prof. Ashton also has a habit of condemning Israel for “acting in the name of the Jewish G-d”. For example, responding to claims of a skirmish between Israel and Hamas in 2012, he tweeted: “What is done in the name of the Jewish G-d?” An hour later he tweeted on the same subject: “In Jewish G-ds name”.

He also has an obsession with referencing the Hebrew bible, which is Judaism’s holy book and known to Christians as the Old Testament, as a slur. Sometimes he does this in a context that is unrelated to Jews or Israel, for example, likely with regard to the relationship between the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and the editor of the News Of The World Rebekah Brooks, during the period of the phone-hacking scandal, he tweeted in May 2012: “There’s something very Old Testament about this Rebekah business.“ With regard to a claim in September 2012 that David Cameron was honouring men but not women, he tweeted: “this is perfectly logical. To those who have shall be given +to those who don’t have should be taken away. Very Old Testament.”

More recently, Prof. Ashton replied to someone asking for the most reliable reference source of COVID-19 death rates, and he responded: “Probably at Johns Hopkins . The first proper medical school and School of Public Health in the USA. Before that the universities were all run by professors of divinity with no science . Ironic since our SAGE has been treated as Old Testament prophets. Duh.”

But just as often his comments about the Old Testament are directed toward Israel or Jews, for example:

  • “Fundamentalist Zionist Old Testament interpretation of 20 eyes for 1 eye will produce a new generation of militant jihadists, so it goes on.”
  • “Hundreds of eyes for two eyes. Israel’s disproportionate responses.”
  • “If disease breaks out in Gaza Israel will not be exempt. Very Old Testament.”
  • “Generally speaking 10 seriously injured em for each one killed [sic]. Well done the Old Testament. A child for a child! Shitty philosophy.”

In the past, despite (or perhaps because of) his record, Prof. Ashton has felt the need to emphasise to his followers that he is not antisemitic. For example here, here and here.

When the Jewish Chronicle first reported on some of his previous antisemitic comments, Prof. Ashton advanced three principal defences on social media.

The first was that “Last year I left the Labour Party in part because of the way that Luciana Berger and Dame Louise Ellman were being treated by antisemitic elements.” However, this was a strange announcement, given that he has spent years trolling these two Jewish women MPs from his home city of Liverpool on social media. Instances include:

  • Asking: “why is Luciana Berger silent on full disclosure on campaign funds received from Labour Friends for Israel?” Similarly, he has asked: “Why is Louise Ellman silent on full disclosure of campaign funds from Labour Friends for Israel?”
  • Replying to someone who described Dame Louise as a “vile Zionist”, he mused: “Is it time for a human being to stand against Louise Ellman in next year’s general election??” He has also referred to Dame Louise as a “Zionist” in a derogatory manner in at least one tweet of his own.

Prof. Ashton’s suggestion that Dame Louise, as a Zionist, was somehow inhuman, was also not an isolated occurence. On another occasion, he asked in a now-deleted tweet whether the Jewish Chronicle was “on the side of humanity or in the pocket of the Zionists.” Prof. Ashton appears to believe that Zionism, the movement to grant Jews the same right to self-determination as all other peoples on earth, is the antithesis of humanity.

More generally, he has repeatedly taken  issue with Labour Friends of Israel, with which the two MPs were associated and which he described as “A Party within the Labour Party”.

Prof Ashton’s second response to the revelations on social media was to claim that the allegations of antisemitism are “slurs” or “a vendetta”. The claims, he has said, are “outrageous allegations of antisemitism being used by political forces”; they are attempts at “censorship of critical comment by trumping up charges of antisemitism”; they represent an effort at “tarring dissent as antisemitism. How low can you get”; they are, he has elaborated, “nothing to do with antisemitism and everything to do with diverting attention from the dismal failure to control COVID-19.” In case there is any doubt, he declared: “The friends of the Government wish to silence me about COVID-19. This is an abuse of the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.”

Thus Prof. Ashton believes that calling out his antisemitism is nothing but a smear, and one concocted by “friends of the Government” just to silence his criticism of the current COVID-19 policy.

Prof. Ashton’s third response is the most classic: being accused of antisemitism is the “supreme irony” because he grew up with Jewish friends.

We would like to thank members of the public who drew our attention to some of these tweets.

When the Jewish Chronicle reported on some of Prof. Ashton’s antisemitic and controversial social media history, he said in a statement: “I think this is mischievous and I don’t recognise most of what you have just read to me. My position about antisemitism is very clear. I have always stood firm against antisemitism. I really don’t know what you are about.” Asked about his comparisons between Zionists and Nazis, according to the Jewish Chronicle he said: “I have never compared Jews to Nazis. I would suggest in the interest of world peace to really try to make something out of this is really unhelpful. I am very strongly for interfaith understanding.”

Prof. Ashton has no place on our television screens. Please sign our petition today.

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Tube hero Asma Shuweikh to testify in court if charges are brought against man who harrassed multiple Jewish families on Northern Line last year

Asma Shuweikh, who made headlines last year defending a Jewish family on the London Underground as they were subjected to 20 minutes of antisemitic abuse, has revealed that British Transport Police confirmed that the suspect also harrassed another Jewish family that day, also on the Northern Line, and if the case proceeds to court, she will testify.

The incident last November was caught on video by a commuter and involved the suspect, dressed in a hooded tracksuit top and a cap, reading from what may be a bible and gesturing at a Jewish father and his sons, who are wearing Jewish skullcaps called kippot. He tells them, “I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jewish, and are not, but do lie,” adding: “Behold, I will make them come and worship before your feet, and they will know that I have loved thee.”

The Jewish man can be seen calmly putting his arm around one of his sons and comforting him, saying: “just ignore him.”

An upstanding male passenger, whose face cannot be seen in the footage, confronted the abusive man, who responded by saying “I’m no Christian pastor” and threatens to punch him and telling him to: “F*** off.”

Ms Shuweikh, an observant Muslim who wears a hijab, then bravely stood up for the Jewish family, telling the abusive man not to use such language in front of children. The man replied: “These people are impostors, they are trying to claim my heritage and then try and tell me that it’s cool and then they start the slave trade.” The man continued ranting: “It’s not my opinion, it’s G-d’s word”, but Ms Shuweikh took issue with him again and tried to reason with him, distracting him from continuing his abuse of the Jewish family. The man exited the train at Waterloo Station.

In a statement, Ms Shuweikh said that she was motivated to act by her own experiences of being attacked for her faith.

The Jewish family was later assisted by Shomrim North West London, a Jewish neighbourhood watch patrol group.

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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“Zionist police state 2020” graffiti found in at least two locations in Hackney

Police are investigating after the words “Zionist police state 2020” were found graffitied in at least two locations in Hackney in North London.

The antisemitic vandalism – either an allusion to the racist meme that ‘Zionists’ have outsized power or an association of Zionism with the emergency draconian rules in place during the pandemic – was sighted on a boat called ‘Shalom’ (meaning ‘hello’, or ‘peace’) on the River Lea and on a local map.

The graffiti was noticed by a journalist, Sophie Wilkinson, who said: “Seeing ‘Zionist’ as a pejorative term truly upset me. As a Jew, I am under as much ‘state control’ as the next person, and to suggest Jews gain from this crisis is not only absurd but is part of seemingly never-ending racist conspiracy theories against us. That the Hebrew word for ‘peace’ has been interpreted as a threat to this vandal speaks volumes to their lazy presumptions about Jews and power.”

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.

(Photo credit: Sophie Wilkinson)

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Sign our petition calling on BBC, ITV and Sky News to get Prof. John “time for Jews to reflect” Ashton off our televisions

Campaign Against Antisemitism has launched a petition calling on the BBC, ITV and Sky News to stop featuring Prof. John Ashton, who has a long history of making antisemitic statements, in their programming.

The petition can be signed here: 

https://www.change.org/p/bbc-bbc-itv-sky-news-get-prof-john-time-for-jews-to-reflect-ashton-off-our-televisions?recruiter=330393351&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition 

The text of the petition is as follows:

We call on the BBC, ITV, Sky News and all other broadcasters to stop featuring John Ashton in their programming due to his long history of appalling statements.

He is regularly included as a contributor on the pandemic, but according to the Jewish Chronicle, Prof. Ashton’s statements have included:

  • “Sickening to see Zionists behave like Nazis.”
  • “The Nazi thing was not a distraction to the Jews in Europe. The Zionist thing is not a distraction to the Palestinians.”
  • “[the] way to get on in [the Labour] Party is to curry favour with Zionist donors.”
  • “Is it [Israel] now satisfied about how many children it has murdered? What price the Holocaust?”
  • “It’s very sad how intransigence of the Zionists has sullied the universal empathy for the victims of the Holocaust.”
  • “Can anybody begin to imagine the impact on the mental health of survivors of the Gaza Ghetto? Surely time for Jews to reflect.”
  • Calling Dame Louise Ellman, the Jewish former Labour MP, a “vile Zionist”
  • Saying when Jewish former Labour MP Luciana Berger raised the matter of food banks with the Government: “what about the Palestinians?”
  • “She [Luciana Berger] is from London and a Zionist. Full stop. Doesn’t fit with Liverpool’s universalism. End of.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, examples of antisemitism include:

  • Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
  • Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel.
  • Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
  • 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).
  • Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis.

When confronted with this evidence, the BBC and Sky News dismissed Prof. Ashton’s remarks as just “political views”.

Prof. Ashton has no place on our television screens, and the BBC, ITV and Sky News must cease featuring him at once.

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Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy share platform with Stop The War’s Lindsay German who denies Labour antisemitism and backed disgraced Chris Williamson

The former leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, joined former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and fellow MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy on a platform with a controversial activist who has a history of denying antisemitism in the Labour Party and who backed the disgraced former Labour MP, Chris Williamson.

Lindsay German has repeatedly denied Labour’s institutional antisemitism, describing the allegations as a “witch-hunt”, a line often used by Mr Williamson, whom she has defended, and his allies.

Ms German is a convener of the dubious group, Stop The War Coalition, which has appeared in the past to advocate war against Israel and whose marches routinely feature antisemitic tropes.

The online event comes only days after Sir Keir Starmer failed to take any action against Ms Abbott and Ms Ribeiro-Addy for appearing on a platform with former Labour members expelled from the Party in the wake of antisemitic incidents, despite his election pledge to suspend MPs and members caught doing so. The event was a grotesque attempt to promote the disingenuous, deplorable and divisive claim that addressing Labour antisemitism is somehow racist against the BAME community.

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 Aslam Choudry who shared antisemitic video about the ‘Jewish lobby’ controlling America says he will undertake antisemitism training

A Labour councillor in Brent and the former Mayor of the borough who shared an antisemitic video on a local residents’ WhatsApp group has conceded that it was an “accident” that was “racist and unacceptable” and that he is “seeking to undertake training on antisemitism”.

The JC recently revealed that Cllr Aslam Choudry, who represents the Dudden Hill ward, had posted the video and, after being confronted by other members of the messaging group, said “I’m sorry sent by mistake”.

Following the outcry, he was apparently suspended by the Labour Party, which said in a statement: “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 action is taken. We cannot comment on individual complaints.”

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.”

Cllr Choudry reportedly said: “As you may have seen reported in the media, I recently shared an antisemitic video in a WhatsApp group. This video promotes appalling antisemitic tropes falsely claiming that Jewish people control America. This is not only untrue, it is racist and unacceptable. I am so deeply sorry for sharing this link. I shared the link by accident and when colleagues pointed out that it was an extremely offensive video, I deleted it and apologised. I am so sorry for the hurt and offence I have caused and I will be seeking to undertake training on antisemitism.”

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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BBC and Sky News demonstrate their willingness to tolerate antisemitism by defending antisemitic remarks by Prof. John Ashton as just “political views.”

The BBC and Sky News have demonstrated their apparent willingness to tolerate antisemitism by defending antisemitic remarks by Prof. John Ashton as just “political views.”

Last week, Campaign Against Antisemitism called on the BBC, Sky News and other channels to ban appearances of the public health expert John Ashton, after the JC published his tweets comparing Zionists to Nazis and appearing to minimise Jewish suffering in the Holocaust. Prof. Ashton, an outspoken figure, said, among other revolting comments, that it was “sickening to see Zionists behave like Nazis,” and called Dame Louise Ellman, a Jewish politician, “vile Zionist”.

Across his numerous remarks, Prof. Ashton breached the International Definition of Antisemitism by comparing Zionists to Nazis and holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel. He also appeared to try to minimise the effect of the Holocaust on Jews.

After his record was brought to the attention of the BBC and Sky News, however, they defended his continued appearances on their channels. According to the JC, the BBC’s Head of News, Fran Unsworth, wrote: “I quite understand your strength of feeling about the views you have ascribed to Professor Ashton on Israel and Zionism…Professor Ashton did not, of course, make any comments of the kind that you describe in this programme and I hope you understand that I would have grave doubts about the impact on freedom of speech, and the BBC’s ability to report freely and impartially, if we were to ban contributors from speaking on the subject of their acknowledged expertise because of the political views they have expressed, however abhorrent some members of the audience may find them.” (Emphasis added)

Similarly, when Sky News was alerted to Prof. Ashton’s record, Adam Boulton, its Editor-at-Large, apparently tweeted: “We don’t no-platform people because of their political views especially when talking about something into which they have insight.” (Emphasis added) It is understood that Mr Boulton has now deleted the tweet.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The BBC has disgraced itself yet again, and Sky News has followed suit. Antisemitism is not a ‘political view’. That is the opposite lesson from the past several years of British politics. If the news editors at both channels had made reference to the International Definition of Antisemitism, they would have recognised that Prof. Ashton was not espousing political views but spewing racist bile, and that he therefore has no place on national television. Campaign Against Antisemitism shall therefore be writing to the BBC and Sky News not only demanding that Prof. Ashton is taken off air but also, as we have urged in the past, that they adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism.”

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Shadow Minister wants Labour to be “toxic environment for antisemites” but stops short of calling for suspension of MPs who shared an online platform with expelled members

A Shadow Minister told a Jewish audience that she wants the Labour Party to become a “toxic environment for antisemites”, but she stopped short of calling for the suspension of MPs who shared an online platform with expelled members.

Rosena Allin-Khan, who is the Shadow Minister for Mental Health and ran for the Party’s deputy leadership, made the remarks at a Jewish educational event. She also called for the introduction of an independent disciplinary process and a timeline to deal with the backlog of complaints, as well as mandatory antisemitism training for all Constituency Labour Parties.

Regarding Labour and the Jewish community, she acknowledged that “trust isn’t won back overnight”, and claimed of antisemitism that “we won’t root it out of our society just as we won’t root out Islamophobia”.

When Ms Allin-Khan was asked about last week’s online event featuring the MPs Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, she said that it was “disappointing” that the online event had taken place, but stopped short of agreeing that the participants should be suspended, in line with Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge during the leadership campaign.

She observed that “there should be no reason for MPs and others to take part in a call like that” but insisted of Sir Keir that “I know this is something he takes seriously” and that “no doubt it will be on his radar”, but that “I’m not privy to those discussions.”

The call also featured Salma Yaqoob, the former Respect Party leader who unsuccessfully stood to become Labour’s candidate for West Midlands Metro Mayor, and the “Jew process” councillor, Jo Bird.

Ms Allin-Khan’s position was previously held by Luciana Berger under Jeremy Corbyn, until Ms Berger quit the Shadow Cabinet in 2016 and was eventually hounded out of the Labour Party in 2019.

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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YouTube reverses itself and decides PewDiePie, who paid people to hold up a sign saying “Death to all Jews”, is not only welcome on its platform but shouldn’t appear anywhere else

The online video platform Youtube has overcome its earlier reservations about the online gaming celebrity and provocateur PewDiePie, agreeing that he will make the website his exclusive online stage.

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, who is known on YouTube as PewDiePie, is a Swedish gamer based in the UK whose YouTube channel has over 104 million subscribers and 25 billion views. He has previously come under fire for antisemitic videos and statements, and at one point pledged to make a $50,000 donation to fight antisemitism, before withdrawing the donation after pressure from fans. He was been listed by Time as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2016, and the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website has described itself as “the world’s #1 PewDiePie fan site”.

Youtube, which is owned by Google, had at one point shunned PewDiePie in the wake of some of his racist outbursts, as did Disney. In 2016 he was also temporarily blocked from Twitter after joking that he had joined ISIS.

However, YouTube has now apparently decided the PewDiePie and his views are fit for its platform.

Campaign Against Antisemitism continues its robust engagement with social media companies over the content that they enable to be published, and we continue to make representations to the Government in this connection.

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New report warns Coronavirus amplifying the far-right, while far-left and Islamists work to tie Israel to the virus on social media with the hashtag ‘#COVID48’

A new report has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is “amplifying” far-right voices. Meanwhile, the far-left and Islamists on social media have sought to tie Israel to the virus with the hashtag ‘#COVID48’, alluding to the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948.

The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British think-tank, has published a report noting the “conspiracy theories propagated widely online” in connection with COVID-19 and calls for violence against minority communities, among them Jews. The report observed that “the pandemic has amplified antisemitic tropes and calls for violence against Jewish communities”, and also noted that there have been “calls online by groups such as the British National Socialist Movement for the virus to be ‘weaponised’”.

Recently, Campaign Against Antisemitism has been monitoring the antisemitic hate preacher and conspiracy theorist David Icke, who suggested that Israel was using the COVID-19 crisis to “test its technology”, among other conspiratorial contentions.

Meanwhile, the far-left and Islamists have been active on social media trying to tie Israel to the virus by promoting the hashtag ‘#COVID48’. It is understood that the hashtag originated on Yom Hashoah, the day on which the Jewish world commemorates the Holocaust.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has been closely monitoring the connections between COVID-19 and antisemitism, especially online, since the pandemic began, and has been offering advice and assistance to the Jewish community.

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Owen Jones attacks Michael Gove for buying book by Holocaust-denier David Irving in order to debunk it, despite Jones spending years defending antisemitic Corbyn

The columnist and activist Owen Jones has come under fire on Twitter for criticising the philosemitic Government minister, Michael Gove, and his journalist wife, Sarah Vine, for owning a book by David Irving, after he saw the volume on their bookshelf in an interview conducted from their home.

David Irving is a discredited historian and notorious Holocaust-denier who lost his libel case against Deborah Lipstadt twenty years ago.

During his career as a journalist, Michael Gove wrote about David Irving repeatedly, but only to attack him, describing him as “notorious” and “perverse”.

Mr Jones, a vocal supporter of former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and one of the outriders of Mr Corbyn’s far-left movement, was, however, less troubled by Mr Corbyn’s own antisemitism, not to mention his glowing foreword of an antisemitic book and his relationship with the self-professed Holocaust-denier, Paul Eisen, to whose work Mr Corbyn even made a financial contribution. Although Mr Jones has written in general terms about left-wing antisemitism and the need to address it, he has missed repeated opportunities to do so and has indulged the biggest political threat to Britain’s Jewish minority in living memory.

Scrambling to defend himself, Mr Jones tweeted several more times on the subject, at one point asserting that “Holocaust denial is not a viewpoint, something to take or leave, agree or not with. It is a hateful evil to be crushed, nothing else.” Mr Jones is right, which is why it was so disappointing that he never expressed a similar sentiment toward Mr Corbyn with respect to his association with Mr Eisen. Indeed back in 2015, when this association emerged, Mr Jones seemed more eager to defend Mr Corbyn than to “crush” the “evil” with which he had associated.

We rely on our volunteers and the general public to alert us to incidents of antisemitism, and we have repeatedly called on booksellers not to promote Nazi, Neo-Nazi or Holocaust-denial books as reference sources. However it is legitimate for academics, journalists and others to study antisemitic texts in order to understand and dismantle the mechanics and arguments of Holocaust deniers and conspiracy theorists.

Claims relating to antisemitism should not be made disingenuously or in bad faith, and especially not for political or reputational gain.

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 writes to Sir Keir Starmer on one-month anniversary of his election as Labour leader, as General Secretary Jennie Formby finally resigns

Today is the one-month anniversary of Sir Keir Starmer’s election as Leader of the Labour Party, and Campaign Against Antisemitism has marked the occasion by writing to him welcoming his promises and apology to the Jewish community but denouncing his failure to follow up with real action against antisemitism. The text of the letter can be read below.

Jennie Formby’s resignation as General Secretary of the Labour Party today brings an end to her controversial term in office, when Labour’s headquarters operated as a guardian of antisemites and abuser of whistleblowers. Her departure opens the way for the independent disciplinary process that Sir Keir has promised to introduce and is a vital first step in restoring Labour’s credibility.

A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Jennie Formby’s resignation today as General Secretary of the Labour Party brings an end to her ignominious tenure, during which she oversaw a Party apparatus that shielded antisemites and intimidated whistleblowers. Her departure comes on the one-month anniversary of Sir Keir Starmer’s election as Leader of the Labour Party, an occasion we have marked by writing to Sir Keir condemning his promotion of Afzal Kahn to prominence in the Shadow Cabinet and his failure to suspend Diane Abbott, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Salma Yaqoob, in direct contravention of his election pledge. We also await the promised introduction of an independent disciplinary process, which Ms Formby’s welcome departure now makes possible. Sir Keir’s honeymoon is over and he must now move swiftly to reassure the Jewish community that he is serious about tearing antisemitism ‘out by its roots’.”

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’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that 42% of British Jews have considered leaving the UK, of which 85% cited antisemitism in politics, and close to two thirds of British Jews believe that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.

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.

Full text of the letter

Dear Sir Keir,

We are writing to you on the one-month anniversary of your election as leader of the Labour Party.

As you will doubtless have seen, we have been at the forefront of exposing institutional antisemitism within the Labour Party. To that end, we referred the Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, instigating its statutory investigation into antisemitism in Labour after the Party refused to investigate our disciplinary complaints against Jeremy Corbyn. As the sole complainant in the Commission’s statutory investigation and an apolitical and specialised organisation in this field, we have provided considerable evidence and expertise to assist the Commission. It is disappointing that, in spite of our role as the complainant in the Commission’s investigation, we have not been contacted by you or any member of your team since you took office one month ago.

Our ambition is to safeguard the Jewish community, uphold British values of tolerance and decency and help Labour return to its fiercely anti-racist past. We welcomed your victory speech and were encouraged by your newspaper article addressing the Jewish community. As you correctly recognised, after the Labour Party caused so much sorrow and fear amongst Britain’s Jewish minority, it is incumbent upon you not only to make promises and apologies — welcome though they are as a first step — but to take firm action against antisemitism.

We noted that during your time by Mr Corbyn’s side you took no public action to call out or oppose antisemitism within the Party, however we have attempted to consider your record as leader of the Labour Party in its own light.

Whilst we recognise that we are currently in a state of national emergency, this cannot be an excuse for failing to address Labour’s endemic racism problem. We are now writing to you because we are increasingly concerned by your apparent continued inaction against antisemitism over the course of your first month as Leader. In this connection, we wish to raise three specific matters.

First, we were pleased to see that among your first acts, you excluded a number of troubling individuals from your Shadow Cabinet. However, we are concerned to see that you have still chosen to reward highly problematic figures, notably Afzal Khan MP, whom you have appointed as Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. Promoting Mr Khan, who has posted on social media about a supposed “Israel-British-Swiss-Rothschilds crime syndicate” and “mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars” is inconsistent with tearing antisemitism “out by its roots”, as you promised to do.

Second, having pledged to suspend from Labour any MP or member who shares a platform with former members who were expelled in the wake of antisemitic incidents, you have nevertheless elected to take no action against Diane Abbott MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP and Salma Yaqoob. As you know, last week they (along with numerous other less high-profile Labour members) participated in an online conference with Jackie Walker and Tony Greenstein, two prominent Labour activists who were expelled from the Party in connection with antisemitism. We also note that Ms Yaqoob, who ran to become Labour’s candidate for West Midlands Metro Mayor, was also advertised to appear on another platform on 12th May with Mr Greenstein before withdrawing after we and others publicised it. It is critical that, having only weakly reprimanded these figures, you now take immediate action consistent with your pledge and suspend Ms Abbott, Ms Ribeiro-Addy and Ms Yaqoob.

Third, you have not announced any timetable to introduce an independent complaints process, something that is urgently needed and which you rightly recognised as a prerequisite to restoring Labour’s credibility. We note that Jennie Formby has today resigned as General Secretary, having disgracefully presided over the most opaque and unjust disciplinary system that we have encountered in any political party, by some considerable margin. As we have a number of cases that we wish the Party to investigate and act upon, we urgently await the introduction of a disciplinary system that the Jewish community and the wider public can trust.

You pledged to take “personal responsibility” for rooting out antisemitism in the Labour Party and, though your messaging has been clear and we have welcomed it, we have yet to see you take any real action.

It is a matter of deep regret that we are forced to doubt the seriousness of your pledges so soon after your election.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Gideon Falter
Chief Executive

Joe Glasman
Head of Political and Government Investigations

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After years of CAA pressure, conspiracy theorist David Icke is finally banned from Facebook and YouTube, but not over his antisemitism; and he’s still on Twitter

After years of pressure from Campaign Against Antisemitism, the conspiracy theorist and antisemitic hate preacher David Icke has finally been banned from two social media platforms – but not over his antisemitism. Meanwhile, a third platform has yet to take action against Mr Icke.

Facebook and YouTube resolved to remove Mr Icke from their platforms in recent days, but it comes after years of promoting the antisemitic commentator, much of whose website traffic is directed from social media. Despite extensive dossiers having been provided to the tech giants by Campaign Against Antisemitism in the past detailing Mr Icke’s racist claims about Jews, he has only now been banned – and it was not even related to antisemitism.

Instead, Mr Icke’s YouTube channel and Facebook page were removed because of his misinformation campaign regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been viewed some 30 million times (although as part of this campaign he has also claimed that Israel was using the COVID-19 crisis to “test its technology”).

It is, however, understood that at least one other Facebook page relating to Mr Icke is still live.

Regrettably, another social media platform – Twitter – has yet to take any action against Mr Icke. Twitter did, however, find time and cause to suspend the account of Michael Oren, the esteemed historian and former Israeli ambassador to the United States, for reasons that have reportedly not been disclosed by the company.

Mr Icke uses social media, his books and his stage performances to incite hatred. His preaching is so absurd that since the 1990s he has been dismissed as a crank, but because he is dismissed, there has been no major opposition to him and he has built up a following of thousands upon thousands of disciples whom he has persuaded to adamantly believe that the world is in the grip of a conspiracy run by the “Rothschild Zionists”. His repertoire includes conspiracy myths and tropes classified as antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism. Campaign Against Antisemitism has successfully persuaded some venues to pull out of hosting his events. Last month, Ofcom sanctioned the television channel London Live for airing an interview with Mr Icke on COVID-19.

Campaign Against Antisemitism will continue to press social media companies and other outlets to bar Mr Icke and other antisemites from their forums.

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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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Notorious Bristol professor David Miller and other far-left activists attack Sir Keir Starmer over “Zionist money” behind his leadership campaign

A notorious academic at the University of Bristol is among numerous far-left activists to attack Sir Keir Starmer over “Zionist money” behind his leadership campaign.

Labour members and far-left activists have criticised the new Labour Leader following the revelation that Jewish philanthropist Sir Trevor Chinn donated £50,000 to his leadership bid. One activist claimed that Sir Keir had been “bought” and was “in the pocket of the Israel lobby”, adding that “Our Leader, Shadow Foreign Sec and Shadow Home Secretary all in the pocket of Israel.” Sir Trevor also made a donation to the campaign of Lisa Nandy, the new Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Defending himself against accusations of antisemitism, the activist said: “Let’s be clear. I am not suggesting these MPs are being controlled by Israel or that Israel is ‘pulling the strings’. Trevor Chinn is a well known pro-Israel lobbyist so it’s fair to assume that his donations have bought influence.”

It is understood that a complaint has been submitted to the Labour Party.

Activist Gillian Lazarus has also uncovered numerous similar themes in Facebook groups populated by far-left Labour activists.

But now a prominent and notorious lecturer, Prof. David Miller, has also intervened, reportedly claiming that, because Sir Keir is “in receipt of money from the Zionist movement,” he is “obviously not going to” conduct “a proper investigation” into the leaked Labour report into the handling of antisemitism cases at Party headquarters. The remarks were apparently made after he took part in an online broadcast with the disgraced former Labour MP, Chris Williamson.

Prof. Miller also talked about what he referred to as the “witch hunt” against Labour members accused of antisemitism, appearing alongside controversial activists Asa Winstanley and Kerry-Anne Mendoza, the editor of The Canary, which is presently under investigation by the Government’s Independent Advisor on Antisemitism.

Prof. Miller, a sociology lecturer, has a history of spouting conspiracy theories about Zionism and conspiracies involving various Jewish community organisations and figures that has reportedly discomfited his Jewish students. The University of Bristol has failed to take action against him.

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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Sir Keir Starmer must suspend Salma Yaqoob from Labour for again sharing a platform with expelled Tony Greenstein, in line with his election pledge

Sir Keir Starmer must suspend Salma Yaqoob from the Labour Party in anticipation of her joint event with the expelled Labour activist Tony Greenstein, in line with his election pledge.

On Tuesday 12th May, Birmingham Stop the War intends to host a public event featuring Ms Yaqoob and Mr Greenstein, along with the author Paul Keleman.

Sir Keir made a pledge during his leadership election campaign that he would suspend Labour MPs and members who gave a platform to former members expelled in the wake of antisemitic incidents.

Mr Greenstein was expelled from the Labour Party on three charges relating to comments he made on social media and his blog. The first charge related to “repeatedly using ‘zio’ as a term of derision, stating ‘Gay zionists make me want to puke’ and referring to others as ‘Zionist scum’”; the second charge related to abuse, including calling the Jewish then-Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman a “supporter of child abuse”; and the third charge related to an e-mail sent by Mr Greenstein to the General Secretary of the Labour Party in which he appeared to make a distasteful joke about the Nazis’ “final solution”, their plan to annihilate European Jewry.

Ms Yaqoob, the former Respect Party leader who stood to become Labour’s candidate for West Midlands Metro Mayor, is a recent member of the Labour Party, and she has her own deeply troubling record in relation to the Jewish community.

In a 2013 tweet (that she has since deleted), Ms Yaqoob stated: “Iceland arrests 10 Rothschild bankers…wow”, and linked to an article making this false claim and featuring a prominent image of the banker and philanthropist Lord Jacob Rothschild. The article linked in turn to a longer piece on the “Political Vel Craft” website, which is known for disseminating extreme conspiracy theories.

She has repeatedly tweeted about “Zionists”, including accusing Zionists of “heartlessness”; describing allegations of antisemitism against Ken Livingstone as “Zionist smears”; claiming that Zionists are “aligned…with [the] right promoting Imperial wars”; abusing others as “Zionist trolls”, and stating that “Zionists have abused the memory of the Holocaust to bolster support for today’s Israeli state and its racist and murderous policies.”

Last year, Ms Yaqoob posted a video on Facebook (which has now been removed but remains available on Youtube) of a speech she made to a rally, in which she described Israelis as “European colonisers” who had somehow contrived to be involved in the Eurovision Song Contest, but were only “pretending to be European” in order to gain solidarity from “white” European nations against “brown ‘other’ Muslim Arab dehumanised species”. She ended her diatribe against the Jewish State by stating: “…no matter how much lipstick you put on a pig, a pig is still a pig.”

Non-European nations have regularly been involved in the contest since its inception, and even Australia has recently joined, while Israel’s hosting of the competition, far from being part of a “plot”, as Ms Yaqoob implied, was a result of Israel’s contestant having received the most votes the previous year.

Ms Yaqoob has also praised Jewish Voice for Labour, an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, and has described efforts to address Labour’s antisemitism crisis (which by inference includes the Party’s adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism) as “a vicious campaign for censorship,” while insisting that she does not “stand for even a drop of antisemitism”.

Ms Yaqoob’s record of controversial pronouncements and activity, including with regard to Middle Eastern politics, is longer still. She has also been accused of homophobia and has notably been described as “unfit for office” by Labour MP Naz Shah because of the conduct of her campaign to unseat the Bradford West MP in 2017. There are also questions surrounding how Ms Yaqoob has been able to run as a candidate despite only having recently joined the Labour Party — and having run a vicious campaign against a sitting Labour MP only two years ago which reportedly left Ms Shah feeling suicidal.

Jeremy Corbyn has lionised Ms Yaqoob, describing her as a “hero” and a “fantastic activist”.

The publicity for this Stop the War event comes just a day after the Labour Party, in breach of Sir Keir’s pledge, decided not to take action against Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, two MPs who shared a platform with Mr Greenstein and other expelled and controversial Labour activists in a Zoom event earlier this week. Ms Yaqoob was also on that Zoom conference call.

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Sir Keir Starmer’s first test was to suspend Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy for sharing a platform with Labour members expelled over antisemitism allegations, and he has failed. His second test is to suspend Salma Yaqoob, who was not only in that first event as well, but is now scheduled to share another platform with one of the expelled activists, Tony Greenstein, yet again. Sir Keir made it an election pledge to suspend those who share platforms with expelled members and to take ‘personal responsibility’ for dealing with Labour’s institutional antisemitism crisis. Far from ‘tearing the poison of antisemitism out by its roots’ as he promised, it seems that he is content to let this poisonous weed grow and grow.”

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.

https://twitter.com/ianaustin1965/status/1256168801412022272?s=12
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Sir Keir fails first antisemitism test by refusing to act after Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy share platform with who’s who of expelled Labour members and controversial figures

Campaign Against Antisemitism has condemned Sir Keir Starmer for failing to take action after the JC revealed that two senior Labour MPs participated in an online conference with far-left activists who had been expelled from the Party in connection with antisemitism.

Diane Abbott, the former Shadow Home Secretary, and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a new MP who was immediately promoted to Shadow Immigration Minister under Jeremy Corbyn, were among those who featured on the call, together with Jackie Walker and Tony Greenstein, both of whom were expelled in connection with antisemitism allegations.

The online conference was hosted by the new “Don’t Leave, Organise” faction, which was formed by the Labour Representation Committee, Jewish Voice for Labour and Red Labour.

The Labour Representation Committee is a pro-Corbyn pressure group with a long history of belittling claims of antisemitism and publishing extremely disturbing articles. The Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, is its President. Jewish Voice for Labour is an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation.

Both Ms Abbott and Ms Ribeiro-Addy actively participated in the online event, in which they addressed the recent leaked Labour report but did not discuss antisemitism, using the opportunity instead to complain about factionalism in the Party. They also continued to cultivate the deplorable suggestion that addressing antisemitism is somehow racist against other minorities, as they failed to correct a claim by Jo Bird that antisemitism cases were “over-prioritised” by Labour while racism against the BAME community was “de-prioritised”.

Jo Bird, a Labour councillor, a Jewish Voice for Labour member and unsuccessful candidate for Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, has previously joked about “Jew process” and was suspended from Labour twice. Ms Bird apparently claimed on the call that Labour members had “died” after they received disciplinary letters from the Party in connection with antisemitism. No evidence has been reported to substantiate this claim, but it was not challenged by the MPs.

Fellow Jewish Voice for Labour member, Naomi Wimbourne-Idrissi, was also on the call.

Salma Yaqoob, the former Respect Party leader who stood to become Labour’s candidate for West Midlands Metro Mayor, was on the call as well. Ms Yaqoob reportedly claimed that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) had become “weaponised and politicised”. Ms Yaqoob was referring to the EHRC’s full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party, which it launched on 28th May 2019 following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

Activist Moshe Machover, who defended Ken Livingstone and wrote that Nazim and Zionism had a “basic agreement”, and was expelled from Labour before his expulsion was rescinded, was apparently also present at the online event. He said it was a “mistake to accept the tsunami of allegations of antisemitism” and that there should have been “no concession to these allegations.”

One Labour activist on the call suggested that “Ken Livingstone was expelled from the Party for saying in truth a historical statement.”

Alan Gibbons, the Secretary of Walton Labour Party, defended Prof. John Ashton, the public health expert who was revealed earlier this week to have made antisemitic statements.

Although Sir Keir Starmer made a pledge during the leadership election campaign that he would suspend MPs who gave a platform to former Labour members expelled in the wake of antisemitic incidents, the Labour Party has declined to take any action. Following the event, the Labour Party issued a statement, saying: “The previous comments made by some of the individuals on this call are completely unacceptable. These are not people who support the values of the Labour Party. This is being made clear to the Labour MPs who attended the call in the strongest possible terms and they are being reminded of their responsibilities and obligations.”

Gideon Falter, the Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The participation of Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy in an online conference with Jackie Walker and Tony Greenstein, is a brazen challenge to Sir Keir Starmer. During his leadership campaign, Sir Keir pledged that any MP who provides a platform for Labour members expelled in connection with antisemitism will themselves be suspended from Labour. Instead of keeping his promise and immediately suspending both Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy from the Party, Labour has merely ‘reminded them of their responsibilities’.

“After half a decade of the Labour antisemitism crisis, no MP should need ‘reminding’ not to engage with those expelled from the Party over antisemitism. Instead of ‘tearing antisemitism out by its roots’, Sir Keir has welched. Through his inaction he is telling Britain’s Jews loud and clear that his apologies are meaningless, his promises will be broken, and MPs who consort with even the most notorious expelled activists still have a place on the Labour benches.” 

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 calls for BBC, Sky News and others to ban appearances of public health expert John Ashton after antisemitic tweets revealed comparing “Zionists” to Nazis

Campaign Against Antisemitism is calling for the BBC, Sky News and other channels to ban appearances of the public health expert John Ashton, after the JC published his tweets comparing Zionists to Nazis and appearing to minimise Jewish suffering in the Holocaust.

Prof. Ashton has become a regular fixture on national television, known for his criticism of the Government’s handling of COVID-19. He has also been irritated when his prior political affiliation to the Labour Party and his outspoken views on politics have been publicised.

But he will now be known for incendiary social media postings comparing Zionists to Nazis, seemingly minimising Jewish suffering in the Holocaust and criticising religious male circumcision.

In one tweet in 2012, Prof. Ashton, who was serving as President of the Faculty of Public Health at the time (a position he held from 2012 until 2018), reportedly said that it was “sickening to see Zionists behave like Nazis.” He also apparently said that “The Nazi thing was not a distraction to the Jews in Europe. The Zionist thing is not a distraction to the Palestinians.”

When Ed Miliband, as Leader of the Labour Party, suggested in 2013 that he might be a Zionist, Prof. Ashton is reported to have responded: “Is this true? If Miliband is a Zionist what are the humanistic internationalists to do? Is this Labour Party policy?”

At another point, he apparently suggested that the “way to get on in [the Labour] Party is to curry favour with Zionist donors.” Prof. Ashton was formerly a member of the Labour Party but has since, he says, resigned his membership.

In 2014, he reportedly made reference to the “Gaza Ghetto,” adding that it was “surely time for Jews to reflect.” He also wrote: “Is it [Israel] now satisfied about how many children it has murdered? What price the Holocaust?” He also apparently wrote: “It’s very sad how intransigence of the Zionists has sullied the universal empathy for the victims of the Holocaust.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism, as is “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel.”

Prof. Ashton is also accused of describing Dame Louise Ellman, a Jewish former Labour MP, of being a “vile Zionist”, and in 2012, when the Jewish then-Labour MP Luciana Berger raised the matter of food banks with the Government, he apparently wrote: “what about the Palestinians?”. In 2013 he reportedly said of Ms Berger: “She is from London and a Zionist. Full stop. Doesn’t fit with Liverpool’s universalism. End of.”

Various tweets have also appeared to minimise Jewish suffering in the Holocaust, which may also be a breach of the Definition. On Holocaust Memorial Day in 2017, he reportedly wrote: “It would be helpful if everybody remembered that the Holocaust was about Gays, Gypsies and the Disabled as well as Jews,” adding in that same year: “And homosexuals and people with learning disabilities. The Holocaust was not just one group.”

In 2018, he apparently wrote: “In Germany in the 1930s the Nazis blamed the Jews for everything. In the UK in 2018 the Tories blame Corbyn for everything,” while later that year, with the opening of a Holocaust exhibition in Liverpool, where he resides, Prof. Ashton is said to have tweeted: “And the Gay holocaust and the holocaust of those with learning difficulties?”

When the JC contacted Prof. Ashton, the newspaper reported that he said: “I think this is mischievous and I don’t recognise most of what you have just read to me. My position about antisemitism is very clear. I have always stood firm against antisemitism.” He added: “I really don’t know what you are about,” and “I have never compared Jews to Nazis. I would suggest in the interest of world peace to really try to make something out of this is really unhelpful. I am very strongly for interfaith understanding.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is unacceptable for the BBC, Sky News or other channels to be featuring Prof. Ashton in its programmes. In addition to the concerns raised by others, his history of incendiary social media posts, which include antisemitic comments, mean that he can have no place on our television screens. We will also be writing to his professional regulator.”

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Steve Hedley, the RMT executive suspended for saying he would throw a party if Boris Johnson died of COVID-19, has also made antisemitic comments and must be expelled

An executive in the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) who gained public attention when he said that he would throw a party if Boris Johnson died of COVID-19, has also made antisemitic comments and must be expelled.

Steve Hedley served as Senior Assistant General Secretary at RMT until he was suspended for his comment about the Prime Minister, pending an investigation.

However, Mr Hedley has also made antisemitic comments.

In a Facebook post seen by Campaign Against Antisemitism, Mr Hedley accused “Labour Friends of Israel…in tandem with the right wing” of the Labour Party of campaigning to install a “right-winger” as Labour Leader, and argued that antisemitism allegations in Labour had been “weaponised” and that elements in the Party were at fault for not “combatting” those antisemitism allegations.

Previously, Mr Hedley said to a Jewish activist that “what the Nazis did to you, you’re doing to the Palestinians,” adding: “you’re one of the Chosen People, so you might feel better than me, huh?” The International Definition of Antisemitism gives as examples of antisemitism “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” and “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism calls on RMT and the Labour Party to expel Mr Hedley for his antisemitic comments.

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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“Jews are racist! Heil Hitler”, screams woman arrested by police while trying to break down door of Jewish home

A woman has been arrested by police while screaming “Jews are racist! Heil Hitler” and trying to break down the front door of a Jewish home in Stamford Hill.

The incident took place on Lynmouth Road on 27th April 2020 and was reported 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: CAD7646 27/04/2020.

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.

(Photo credit: Google)

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New poll shows 13% of Britons believe Jews have unhealthy control of banking system, and 38% “couldn’t say” for sure

A new survey has shown that 13 percent of Britons believe that Jews have “undue control of banks”, with a remarkable 38% who said in response to the same statement that they “couldn’t say” for sure or “don’t know”.

The anti-racism charity, Hope Not Hate, published its Trust No One report following three surveys conducted between February and April 2020 designed to “assess the British population’s relationship with conspiracy theories, their trust in the media and public institutions and their attitudes to political participation.”

With regard to antisemitism, the report noted that “while conspiracy theories do not inherently have to be antisemitic, it is remarkable how often Jewish people are explicitly or implicitly identified as the conspirators” and that “it is antisemitic ideas, more so than any other form of racism, that form the basis of modern conspiracy theories.”

The report said that respondents were asked whether the ‘official’ narrative of the Holocaust was exagerrated and whether Jews have an “unhealthy control of the banking system”, but noted that other statements tested can also be have antisemitic connotations, for example, the statement “Even though we live in what’s called a democracy, a few people will always run things in this country anyway”, which can be related to the claims surrounding the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or the ‘Zionist Occupation Government’ conspiracy, both of which claim that Jews strive for world domination and control most governments.

In 2019, our Antisemitism Barometer also found that 20% of British people believed that “British Jewish people chase money more than other British people.”

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CAA calls on Sir Keir Starmer to condemn MPs for event claiming that addressing antisemitism can be to the detriment of other minorities

Following the leak of the Labour report into alleged factionalism in the Party’s headquarters during the era of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, a new narrative has developed in the far-left faction of the Labour Party and among its external allies, namely that addressing Labour’s institutional antisemitism is somehow racist against BAME (Black Asian Minority Ethnic) people.

The essence of the new narrative is that the leaked factional report on antisemitism confirms that “institutional racism” does indeed exist in the Labour Party, but that it is against BAME people rather than Jews, and that the fixation on spurious antisemitism charges has come at the cost of recognising the Labour Party’s real institutional racism crisis.

The leaked report is thus being used to preempt and undermine the investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The EHRC launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party on 28th May 2019 following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant. In the new narrative, the leaked report has supposedly beaten the EHRC to it, by purportedly confirming that the Labour Party is indeed institutionally racist – but against BAME people. The EHRC report into antisemitism is therefore little more than a distraction fuelled by allegations which were designed to damage Mr Corbyn.

The new narrative also suggests that the EHRC is itself part of the problem, as it has privileged antisemitism over other forms of racism, for example by not investigating the circumstances of the ‘Windrush’ scandal or the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.

A public Zoom conference was held yesterday on the “route to building an anti-racist agenda”, featuring numerous figures from the Labour left, including the MPs Diane Abbott, Clive Lewis, Dawn Butler, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Zarah Sultana and Kim Johnson.

There were several hundred people on the call, with no attempt made to control access, therefore it can be assumed that the speeches made by the speakers reflected the message that they wish to impart publicly.

During the online event, the moderator, Huda Elmi, who sits on Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, alleged that the EHRC had previously “tried to investigate and stop Young Labour from introducing equality officers, including a BAME Officer, an LGBT Officer, a Women’s Officer, and a Disabled Members Rep, and it did that because supposedly the Labour Party was breaking equalities law for discriminating against young white straight men and able-bodied men.” She explained that this episode illustrated “the structural disadvantages that do exist and how much we’re up against.”

The criticism of the EHRC might be interpreted as being in order to undermine its credibility in anticipation of adverse findings against the Party, and to suggest that the EHRC is itself guilty of prioritising certain forms of discrimination over others, and therefore that any finding of institutional antisemitism against Labour is suspect.

Neha Shah of Young Labour declared that “a proper reckoning with racism in our Party is long overdue”. Regarding antisemitism, Ms Shah claimed that the Labour Right “used the Jewish community as a weapon to attack Jeremy [Corbyn]” and “deliberately obstructed the ongoing fight against antisemitism” in the Party in order to damage the leadership. She described this as the “exploitation of an entire community” for internal factional ends, thereby regurgitating the line of those behind the leaked report.

Faiza Shaheen, an activist and unsuccessful Labour parliamentary candidate, acknowledged that Labour has not been an anti-racist Party, although she clarified that she was referring specifically to anti-Black and anti-Muslim prejudice. She further claimed that there is a “hierarchy of racism”, with, one presumes, certain forms of racism unfairly getting more attention than others. She suggested that mandatory training on anti-racism should be introduced in Labour, even suggesting that the highly controversial activist charity, Show Racism the Red Card, could be involved.

Zarah Sultana, a newly-elected MP with a history of baiting Jews, said that the leaked report revealed that “senior Labour Party officials…not only dismissed allegations of Islamophobia, [but] they consistently belittled Black members of Parliament and failed to act on horrific incidents of antisemitism,” however she did not return to the topic of antisemitism.

Clive Lewis MP revealed that he expects the EHRC’s report to reveal “institutionalised structural racism” in Labour, but he understood this as racism against black people rather than Jews, even though the EHRC is not investigating racism against black people within the Party.

Dawn Butler MP conceded that “the Party will be found to be institutionally racist, so we may as well accept that now.” But like Mr Lewis, it would appear that Ms Butler’s intention is to portray that institutional racism as being to the detriment of BAME people rather than Jews, despite anti-BAME racism being outside the terms of reference of the EHRC’s investigation.

Diane Abbott, the keynote speaker of the conference, spoke of the importance of minorities sticking together, explicitly naming “Black, Asian, minority ethnic and Muslim people” and omitting Jews. She further lamented “white people playing the divide and rule card”, which she indicates that the leaked Labour report reveals.

Elsewhere, Kerry-Anne Mendoza, the editor of the far-left website, The Canary, which is being investigated by the Government’s Independent Antisemitism Advisor, has also contributed to this new narrative, saying: “We knew when this was happening that the witch hunt – in particular this antisemitism witch hunt – had a particularly strong, passionate, deep running hatred for Black women. That was clear…It was a prominent conversation on the Left. They really seemed to get their rocks off going after Black women.”

Attempts to pit the Jewish and black communities against one another are not new. Claims that Jews bankrolled the slave trade, for example, are common on the far-left and gained prominence in recent years thanks to the efforts of the antisemite and expelled Labour member Jackie Walker.

It is offensive to Jews and BAME people to suggest that tackling prejudice against either community is somehow at the cost of discrimination against the other, and it is an appalling sign of the lengths to which this far-left faction will go to try to exonerate itself from its own central role in Labour’s antisemitism scandal.

It goes without saying that it is appropriate for any substantiated allegations of racism to be investigated, and indeed for any form of racism within the Labour Party to be discussed. However, the use of such allegations – which have arisen in a report designed and leaked in order to give cover for racism against Jews – in order to deflect or excuse antisemitism is disingenuous and deplorable.

Gideon Falter, the Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The odious suggestion that tackling antisemitism means discriminating against other minorities is a deplorable and disingenuous attempt at deflection by the far-left faction of the Labour Party. In anticipation of an adverse finding by the EHRC in its investigation, in which we are the complainant, this far-left faction is prepared to concede that Labour is racist but is adamant that this racism is not primarily directed against Jews. Instead, the far-left’s new narrative tells that the Labour Party whistleblowers, the Jewish community, the EHRC and others have conspired to prioritise, exaggerate or invent antisemitism within Labour in order to damage Mr Corbyn and in the process discriminate against other minority communities. We are writing to Sir Keir Starmer to ask that he condemn this outrageous claim, which is nothing more than the latest expression of antisemitism-denial from the usual suspects.”

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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Infinity Foods applauded for swiftly removing part-time employee who reportedly threatened to identify Jews to far-right organisations

Infinity Foods has been applauded for swiftly removing a part-time employee who reportedly threatened to identify Jews to far-right organisations.

Jewish shoppers made the Brighton-based retailer aware that one of its employees was making the threats over Twitter.

On the same day, Infinity Foods announced that it was investigating, and later that day removed the employee and issued a statement saying: “We were made aware of allegations of online threats made by an employee. Infinity Foods does not and will never tolerate or condone antisemitism or racism of any kind. As of this afternoon the person in question is no longer an employee of the company and we hope that this demonstrates that this kind of behaviour in no way reflects the values of Infinity Foods and its workers.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism joins the consumer and others who brought the matter to light in applauding Infinity Foods for its swift implementation of zero tolerance for antisemitism.

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CAA to write to National Registers of Communication Professionals about member who repeatedly compared Israel to Nazis on social media and promoted Holocaust denial

Campaign Against Antisemitism is to write to the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People (NRCPD) over a member who has repeatedly compared Israeli policy to that of the Nazis on social media.

An activist in the Jewish community has discovered that Tariq Mahmood, a Birmingham-based hearing professional and BSL interpreter who is registered with and regulated by the NRCPD, made extensive use of Twitter to disseminate antisemitic views from 2015 until earlier this year when he deleted his account.

These include: the of an article entitled The Israeli Holocaust Against Arab Children. Israeli Child Killers: Documentary Proof; numerous other comparisons of Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism; the promotion of an article on a Holocaust denial website where the murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime is liberally referred to as “the Holohoax”; and an image with the caption “The Holohoax: a LIE in 1936, a LIE in 1945, and STILL a LIE today!”

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “NRCPD’s code of conduct requires its registrants to behave with professionalism and integrity and to ensure that their behaviour justifies public trust and confidence. It also cautions against unfair discrimination. It is clear that, through his use of social media to promote anti-Jewish hatred, Tariq Mahmood has demonstrated appalling prejudice that can only serve to bring the NRCPD into disrepute. We trust that after reviewing the material included with this letter, the NRCPD will terminate his association with the organisation.”

(Photo credit: Antisemitism, from the dark side)

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Disgraced former MP Chris Williamson to launch new ‘grassroots movement’ with inaugural ‘Resist Festival’ featuring Lowkey and Noam Chomsky

The disgraced former MP, Chris Williamson, has floated the idea of launching a new ‘grassroots movement’.

Mr Williamson, who was embroiled in scandals over antisemitism when he was in the Labour Party, has said that with the election of Sir Keir Starmer to the Labour leadership, many feel “politically homeless”.

He intends the new movement to use “culture, alternative media and street protest” to achieve its aims, with a ‘Resist Festival’ originally planned for June but now postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Resist Festival is due to feature controversial speakers including the rapper Lowkey, the outspoken academic Noam Chomsky, the activist Max Blumenthal and representatives from the ‘yellow vest’ protests in France.

Mr Williamson resigned from the Labour Party in late 2019 after learning that he would not be allowed to stand for the Party in the general election. His extraordinary letter of resignation from the Party read like a manifesto against Jews. He ran in the general election as an independent and, in a rarity for an incumbent MP that demonstrates the depth of his rejection by his Derby North constituents, got so few votes that he lost his deposit.

He has described his erstwhile Party’s institutional antisemitism as “manufactured” and part of an “assault on our democracy” by a “hostile foreign government” to “normalise Zionism in 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, and that 17% of British people believe, like Mr Williamson, that Israel and those who support it do damage to British democracy.

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Former Labour MP Laura Smith defends Twitter user who says Labour is now under “Zionist control”, calling criticism a “witch hunt”

A former Labour MP has been discovered to have defended a Twitter user who said that the Labour Party is now under “Zionist control”, calling criticism a “witchhunt”

Laura Smith narrowly won election in Crewe and Nantwich in 2017 but lost the seat in 2019. She is currently a councillor on Cheshire East Council.

Ms Smith tweeted a defence of the controversial General Secretary of the Labour Party, Jennie Formby on 17th April.

A Twitter user replied to that tweet saying: “Sadly our Labour Party is now under Zionist control. Let’s form a new Socialist party with JC as leader”, presumably in reference to Jeremy Corbyn.

Another user, doubtless noting the suggestion that Labour was under the control of Israel or, if ‘Zionist’ was meant as a euphemism, the Jews, replied “antisemite”.

Ms Smith then replied to the second user saying “I’m sorry Joe but you witch hunting people on Twitter makes you as bad as the factions you supposedly despite.”

It is extraordinary that a recent MP should defend someone on social media suggesting that her Party is under “Zionist control” and rely on offensive tropes such as “witch hunt” to do so, instead of taking the opportunity to call out anti-Jewish racism.

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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London Live sanctioned by Ofcom over interview in which David Icke said Israel was using COVID-19 to “test its technology”

Ofcom has sanctioned the television channel London Live for airing an interview with the antisemitic hate preacher and conspiracy theorist David Icke on COVID-19.

The regulator judged that Mr Icke’s views, which were unsubstantiated and went unchallenged in the interview with Brian Rose, “risked causing significant harm to viewers.”

In the interview, which aired on the first night of Passover, Mr Icke claimed that Israel was using the COVID-19 crisis to “test its technology”, among other conspiratorial contentions.

Ofcom commented that “we were particularly concerned by his  comments casting doubt on the motives behind official health advice to protect the public from the virus. These claims went largely unchallenged during the 80-minute interview and were made without the support of any scientific or other evidence.”

London Live will have to broadcast a summary of Ofcom’s decision “on a date and form to be decided by Ofcom”.

Mr Icke uses social media, his books and his stage performances to incite hatred. His preaching is so absurd that since the 1990s he has been dismissed as a crank, but because he is dismissed, there has been no major opposition to him and he has built up a following of thousands upon thousands of disciples whom he has persuaded to adamantly believe that the world is in the grip of a conspiracy run by the “Rothschild Zionists”. His repertoire includes conspiracy myths and tropes classified as antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism, adopted by the British Government. Campaign Against Antisemitism has successfully persuaded some venues to pull out of hosting his events.

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“Typical Jewish behaviour”, says landlord to owner of Edinburgh’s Bross Bagels after she asks for rent relief during COVID-19 crisis

A landlord reportedly told the owner of the Bross Bagels shops in Edinburgh that she was displaying “typical Jewish behaviour” when she asked for rent relief during the COVID-19 crisis.

Rent relief has been widely introduced as the pandemic causes enormous financial difficulty to countless businesses and individuals.

The owner of the chain explained that when she tried to arrange alternative rent payments with the landlord for the three months (during which the pandemic was expected to affect businesses most acutely), as she had done with the landlords of the other stores, the landlord disputed whether the relief was necessary. But when she texted back to him that she preferred to continue their exchange in writing rather than over the telephone so that she could make their exchange available to her solicitor, her landlord responded that this was “typical Jewish behaviour”.

The landlord was apparently in Turkey for medical treatment when the lockdown was imposed, leaving him stranded.

Without regard to the merits or otherwise of the claim for rent relief, the insulting reference to the Jewish ethnicity of the owner is totally unacceptable.

The landlord subsequently – but not persuasively – claimed that he meant the comment as a compliment to her ability as a businesswoman, and insisted that he had “no intention of upsetting anyone” or “going against any religion”.

The leader on Edinburgh Council, Adam McVey of the SNP, tweeted that it was “disgraceful that a landlord thinks [the] way to respond to a tenant’s request for support is with appalling casual antisemitism.”

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CAA to write to Exeter University and General Medical Council after outspoken activist Ghada Karmi publishes article making numerous antisemitic statements

In an article for the Middle East Eye blog lamenting Jeremy Corbyn’s departure from the Labour leadership and Sir Keir Starmer’s accession, the outspoken activist Ghada Karmi makes a series of antisemitic statements.

Dr Karmi, a medical doctor and now a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, observes in her article that “while much has been made of the capitalist establishment’s role in Corbyn’s downfall due to his socialist economics, it was the pro-Israel lobby that dealt the final blow.” She goes on to say that “persistent campaigning by this lobby since 2016” was “largely mediated” by Labour’s Jewish affiliate, Labour Friends of Israel and a Jewish communal charity and was “likely coordinated by the Israeli embassy”. This ‘campaigning’ achieved its aim: it “transformed [Mr Corbyn] by this propaganda into a racist and antisemite”.

Dr Karmi is suggesting that the Israeli embassy has played an outsized role in British politics and that the Jewish groups calling out Labour’s anti-Jewish racism – of which there are many more than those that she identifies – are doing Israel’s bidding. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective” and “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations” are examples of antisemitism.

Moreover, the suggestion that antisemitism in Labour is a ‘smear’ or “propaganda” has been a common trope deployed to deflect criticism of the Party’s institutional antisemitism over the past several years and to imply that the Jewish community has had an ulterior motive in pointing out anti-Jewish racism in Labour, including that it is doing Israel’s bidding.

Dr Karmi goes further, wondering whether Sir Keir’s pledges to “root out” antisemitism in the Labour Party is in “hopes to win over the [Israel] lobby”. “If so,” she warns, “he may find, as Corbyn did, that such zealous appeasement will not insure him against its further demands if he steps out of line.”

Whilst Dr Karmi applauds some of Sir Keir’s appointments and policy statements, she is concerned that he apparently “calls himself a supporter of Zionism” and “says he believes in the State of Israel”. However, she insists that this position is “incompatible” with opposition to “Israel’s legitimacy as an exclusive state for Jews” (whatever she means by that phrase) and that he must understand – as, interestingly, she alleges that Mr Corbyn does – that “terminating Zionism is the only way to a permanent peace.”

She concludes by noting that “these are uncomfortable ideas for Starmer and all Western politicians. They would prefer to persist with the myth of a Palestinian state living ‘alongside Israel’, so as to avoid confronting the true situation.”

Clearly, Dr Karmi believes that Zionism – the ideology underpinning Israel’s creation – is racist, and that Israel is essentially a racist endeavour and should be destroyed. Indeed in the past she has also reportedly welcomed Israel’s destruction.

The Definition specifies that “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.

There is no place for an antisemite to teach on campus, and Campaign Against Antisemitism shall be writing to the University of Exeter calling for Dr Karmi to be removed from her position, and to the General Medical Council which regulates doctors.

If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].

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Controversial new Labour MP Zarah Sultana expresses solidarity with antisemitic terrorist murderers

A controversial new Labour MP has expressed her solidarity with antisemitic terrorist murderers.

Zarah Sultana tweeted her solidarity with “political prisoners” held by Israel by sharing a video from the controversial charity War on Want, which has reportedly been investigated by the Charity Commission over allegations of antisemitism.

It has been pointed out, however, that some of the figures featured in the video are avowed members of antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisations and have been jailed for the murder of Jews.

Ms Sultana appears to have since deleted her tweet.

It has also been noted that her recent tweet marking Yom HaShoah and “vow to defeat antisemitism wherever it manifests itself” is, in view of her record, a rather empty gesture.

Ms Sultana has a history of unseemly comments about Jews, including telling a Jewish student that it was “privilege” that allowed them to argue for peace in the Middle East, saying: “it is your privilege that lets you speak on stage and call for peace”; saying that students who “go to Zionist conferences and trips should be ashamed of themselves” because they were advocating a “racist ideology”; describing Israel as a “state created through ethnic cleansing”; saying that “those who lobby for Israel” would “in the near future feel the same shame and regret as South African Apartheid supporters”; advocating for “violent resistance” against Israelis; saying that she would celebrate the deaths of Tony Blair and other past and present world leaders (for which she was forced to apologise and was defended by Labour frontbencher John McDonnell); writing that “the Labour Right are scum and genuinely make me sick. Is there any form of discrimination that they won’t weaponise to politically point score like they’ve done in the past with antisemitism and now with homophobia?”; and accusing Jewish students on social media of being on the payroll of Israel’s Prime Minister.

One Jewish student who studied at Birmingham University at the same time as Ms Sultana said: “Her whole raison d’etre was that Jewish students were basically privileged white people who had no right to speak out on racism or injustices” and that she and her peers “completely overstepped the mark” when they “routinely targeted Jewish students who objected to their way of thinking.”

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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Tory activist suspended from Party over racist social media posts now found to have posted antisemitic comments as well

A Tory activist and member who was suspended from the Scottish Conservatives over racist social media posts has now been found to have posted antisemitic remarks as well.

Lorraine Cullen, who campaigned for Douglas Ross MP in Moray and also for the unsuccessful Conservative candidate in Inverness, was suspended after making offensive comments about Jews, Muslims and other minorities.

Following her suspension, it has been revealed that she posted a link to a neo-Nazi website describing a “Jew World Order”, alluding to the age-old antisemitic conspiracy that Jews control the world. The post also refers to “bestiality brothels” spreading through through Germany “thanks to the Jew World Order that makes sex with animals legal”.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Those espousing far-right antisemitic views and conspiracy theories about a ‘Jewish world order’ have no place in mainstream political parties, and we expect the Conservatives to take immediate action and investigate.”

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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Shadow Home Secretary affirms that Hizballah is an “antisemitic terrorist organisation” and now CAA calls for his support to proscribe Hamas as well

It is being reported that the Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, has affirmed that Hizballah is an “antisemitic terrorist organisation”, giving his support for the Government’s recent extention of the restrictions on the group.

Previously, Mr Thomas-Symonds had been criticised for not expressly supporting the Government’s full proscription of Hizballah in its entirety as a terrorist organisation, which the Government did following a long campaign by Campaign Against Antisemitism and allies.

Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomes Mr Thomas-Symonds’ affirmation that the proscription of Hizballah in its entirety was the right decision, and we call on him to support – and the Government to implement – the proscription of Hamas, another genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation, in its entirety as well.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has long called for the proscription of Hamas in its entirety under the Terrorism Act 2000.

In 2001, the UK proscribed Hamas’ military wing, the Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organisation. However, it has not proscribed its political wing. Hamas is a genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation which seeks the murder of all Jews worldwide. Article 7 of the Hamas Covenant issued in 1988, which remains Hamas’ governing document states that: “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’”

British allies, including the United States, designate the entirety of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

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Horrific Holocaust ‘crypto currency’ that burns Jews and trades their ash is uncovered in latest manifestation of online antisemitism

A horrific Holocaust ‘crypto currency’ that burns Jews and trades their ash has been uncovered in what is just the latest – but particularly abhorrent – manifestation of online antisemitism.

The discovery was made by a member of the public, who referred it to Jewish Human Rights Watch, and it was analysed by the researcher David Collier.

The crypto-currency, called ‘Holocoin’, reportedly gives users the option to buy Jews “or let them burn”.

The website ‘burns’ Jews ‘at a rate of 4,107 each day’ (equivalent, the website claims, to the rate at which Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust), and the ‘ash’ produced by this process can also be purchased.

There have apparently been hundreds of ‘trades’, and there are over 200 accounts holding the currency. The two founders reportedly use the names ‘Smaug Hitler’ and ‘30YearOldHimmler’.

Absurd suggestions that the crypto-currency was designed as an educational tool are belied by comments made by its founders, as well as its appalling taste.

Campaign Against Antisemitism calls for any self-respecting server operator to remove this antisemitic filth immediately.

(Photo credit: StopAntisemitism.org)

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BBC compares Israel to Nazis again, after trying to dismiss our ongoing complaint about Orla Guerin’s coverage that did the same thing

The BBC has compared the policies of Israel’s Government to that of the Nazis yet again, even as it tries to dismiss Campaign Against Antisemitism’s ongoing complaint about controversial journalist Orla Guerin’s Holocaust Memorial Day coverage, which did the same thing.

On this occasion, the comparison features in a travel article on the BBC website about life in Bethlehem. The article contains numerous inaccuracies, but most offensively implies an equation between the condition of the residents of Bethlehem – which the author attributes to Israeli policy – and that of the Jews suffering under the Nazis.

The article discusses a “cultural renaissance” in the city, which it describes as both “counterintuitive” but also “surprisingly commonplace where people feel their human rights are under intense restrictions”. Within the same paragraph, three other historic examples are provided, including the most notorious Nazi death camp: “Even amid the infamous Nazi horror of Auschwitz, prisoners passed around poetry and composed music, risking torture if they were caught.” The article goes on in the next paragraph to quote the author of a book titled One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps.

The BBC’s obsession with comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, was also recently exhibited by Orla Guerin.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is in the process of escalating its complaint about that coverage with the BBC, and will submit the complaint to Ofcom if necessary.

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“F***ing Jew, you are killing your children!” woman shouts at Jewish family walking outdoors for day’s exercise

A woman shouted “F***ing Jew, you are killing your children” at a Jewish family walking outdoors for its permitted daily exercise.

The family – parents and three children – were walking at the back of Elder Court in Stamford Hill overlooking the river, when a white middle-aged woman with a ponytail shouted the obscene remark from her window. The children are still traumatised several days later.

The incident took place on at 18:00 on 15th April and was reported 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: CAD2933 20/04/2020.

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.

Image credit: Google

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Watch Holocaust survivor Susan Pollack MBE share her incredible story with CAA and deliver her message for the next generation

To mark Yom HaShoah, in this video Holocaust survivor Susan Pollack MBE shares her incredible story with Campaign Against Antisemitism and delivers her message for the next generation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri4PmdNVINg&feature=youtu.be
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Labour puts Jews at risk yet again in unredacted leaked internal report, as John McDonnell says if EHRC finds the Party institutionally antisemitic “so be it”

Following the revelation that the Labour Party spent the last month of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership conducting a full-scale review into how the Party handled antisemitism complaints during his tenure, an unredacted version of the mammoth internal report has been leaked, putting Jewish complainants and victims mentioned in the report at risk.

Although it is believed that Labour’s General Secretary, Jennie Formby, originally commissioned the report, the source of the leak is not known, and Labour’s new Leader Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner have launched an investigation.

Among those who disseminated the unredacted 860-page report is the Labour MP, Corbyn ally and member of Sir Keir Starmer’s new Shadow Cabinet, Lloyd Russell-Moyle. Mr Russell-Moyle did so by reposting the report in a closed Facebook group which apparently includes as members numerous individuals who have been embroiled in Labour antisemitism controversies of their own (and in some cases have been suspended or expelled from the Party), such as Amanda Bishop, Daniel Harris, Melanie Melvin and Anne Mitchell. Mr Russell-Moyle defended his dissemination of the unredacted report, saying that those focusing on the resulting data breach (rather than the alleged factionalism that the report claims to have uncovered) were “missing the point”, but he has since apologised for reposting the unredacted report.

Lord McNicol, who was Ms Formby’s predecessor as General-Secretary of the Labour Party and is mentioned repeatedly in the report, has resigned from the Lord’s Opposition frontbench while the investigation into the leak of the report is carried out.

With regard to antisemitism, the report, which is titled ‘The work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014 – 2019’, says that its “findings prove the scale of the problem, and could help end the denialism amongst some part of the Party membership.” However, some, such as the disgraced provocateur George Galloway (who lost his deposit in the last General Election), have predictably and erroneously claimed that the report demonstrates that Labour’s institutional antisemitism is an “internally manufactured lie”.

John McDonnell, the former Shadow Chancellor and close Corbyn ally, has indulged similar sentiments, implying that a “culture” of factionalism in Labour Party Headquarters supposedly hindered investigations into antisemitism by staff motivated by opposition to Mr Corbyn and that that would be to blame in the event of an adverse finding by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC): “I think the truth has got to come out…if that means the EHRC comes to a finding saying that the Labour Party is institutionally antisemitic, well, so be it.”

Mr McDonnell was referring to the full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party that was launched by the EHRC on 28th May 2019 following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

The real effect of the unauthorised release of the unredacted report, however, is the threat that it poses to the Jewish complainants, victims and officials who are not only mentioned by name in the report but whose religion and ethnicity is also highlighted therein. It is understood that some of these names are now being listed on far-left and far-right websites and that threats have been made. Campaign Against Antisemitism is offering assistance to those who wish to take action or report the matter to the police. Reports have been made and it is understood that Mark Lewis, the esteemed lawyer and honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism, is representing some of the victims.

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “This internal report is a desperate attempt by the Labour Party in the dying days of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership to deflect and discredit allegations of antisemitism instead of properly dealing with them. However, the Corbyn era’s toxic mix of anti-Jewish hatred and intense factionalism appears to have put Jews in danger once more due to the leaking of the unredacted report that not only names Jewish complainants, victims and officials, but even highlights their religious and ethnic identities, resulting in online threats and abuse from the far-left and far-right. The Labour Party must disclose how the unredacted report was leaked and the authorities must investigate the potential data breach and threats. Campaign Against Antisemitism has been contacted by some of those affected and has offered assistance.”

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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Where have they been for the past five years? The first research of its kind on each of the new Shadow Cabinet members’ records on antisemitism

Sir Keir Starmer has selected his Shadow Cabinet, following his election as Leader of the Labour Party. During the tenure of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party became institutionally antisemitic, was investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), following a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism, and caused almost half of all British Jews to consider leaving the country.

In these unique circumstances, it is of interest to the Jewish community and the wider public what the members of the new Shadow Cabinet have said and done over the past five years in respect of Labour’s antisemitism crisis.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has analysed the records of every member of the new Shadow Cabinet in the first research of its kind, available in full below. We previously published our analysis of Sir Keir’s record.

The deepest stain on the records of each of the new members is their overall inaction during the years of Mr Corbyn’s leadership despite the Party’s descent into racism. They were bystanders when several Jewish colleagues were hounded out of the Party, and they stood by too when principled colleagues made the difficult decision to leave the Party because they could not countenance campaigning for the antisemite Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister, which all of the new members of the Shadow Cabinet did at the end of last year. Indeed some members of Sir Keir’s Shadow Cabinet served in Mr Corbyn’s. Collectively, they have a mountain to climb in order to reclaim the authority to speak out against antisemitism — or indeed any form of prejudice.

Some of Sir Keir’s Shadow Cabinet members have long records on antisemitism – whether positive, negative or mixed – but it is equally telling when their records are short, as it signifies just how little they did as their once fiercely anti-racist Party became mired in anti-Jewish hatred.

Contents

Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader and Chair of the Labour Party

Angela Rayner, who won election as Deputy Leader and has also been appointed Chair of the Labour Party, served as Shadow Education Secretary in Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet.

On 27th January 2015, she published an article both in the Morning Star and on the official website of Unison North West entitled: “Inside the Factory of Genocide.” In the article, describing a visit to Auschwitz, she referenced Norman Finkelstein’s controversial work The Holocaust Industry — in which the author argues that the American Jewish establishment exploits the Holocaust for political and financial gain — calling it “a seminal book”. On 28th November 2018, it was discovered by Twitter users that Ms Rayner had reposted her 2015 article on Facebook in January 2018, on Holocaust Memorial Day. It was also reported that Ms Rayner had apologised after the exposure of her Facebook post had caused outrage in the Jewish community, saying that “I regret the choice of quote I used to illustrate it, and now that I know more about the context I would not make that reference again. I apologise for what was a genuine misunderstanding, in what was always intended to be a message of solidarity with the Jewish community. This underscores the importance of engagement with the Jewish community to improve understanding about this issue.”

Towards the end of the summer of 2018, when Labour was mired in numerous controversies, including over adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism, Ms Rayner posted a tweet about the Labour Party being subject to “smears”. When questioned whether she was referring to antisemitism (as deniers of Labour’s antisemitism crisis routinely claim that the allegations of anti-Jewish racism in the Party are “smears”), Ms Rayner insisted that she was not referring to antisemitism but rather smears in general, but did not elaborate. She also deleted her original tweet.

It is not known whether disciplinary action has been taken by the Labour Party against Ms Rayner. In November 2019, Campaign Against Antisemitism put these matters to her, but did not receive a response.

However, Ms Rayner has also said, in 2018, that “antisemitism has no place in our politics” and that she felt “a little frustrated” with the slow implementation of the whitewash Chakrabarti report in antisemitism in the Labour Party. In an event with a Jewish communal group (which was criticised at the time for hosting her), Ms Rayner also said that “those who distort history by likening Hitler to Zionism are no longer welcome” in the Labour Party.

In 2019 Ms Rayner tweeted support for Luciana Berger when she faced deselection by her local party branch, but when Ms Berger was eventually hounded out of the Party, Ms Rayner nonetheless insisted that Labour was not institutionally antisemitic.

Ms Rayner rejected calls by a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee to abolish the EHRC after it announced its investigation following a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

During her campaign for the deputy leadership, Ms Rayner said: “At my launch, the first line in the sand is antisemitism. Cross that line and you’re out. Apologies are worthless without action.” She also pledged to make Labour’s disciplinary process independent.

Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Anneliese Dodds was elected to the House of Commons in 2017 during Jeremy Corbyn’s first General Election campaign and served as his Shadow Treasury Minister. 

She is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism. She has also engaged with the local Jewish community in her constituency and condemned an antisemitic incident there. Ms Dodds described the mural that Mr Corbyn initially defended as “clearly antisemitic”, and called for the Party’s investigations into Dame Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin, who had both condemned antisemitism in the Labour Party, to be dropped.

However, Ms Dodds gave a lukewarm response when asked whether Labour should have an independent disciplinary process for antisemitism cases, preferring to express “empathy” and “solidarity” rather than discuss details, an approach she has taken on other occasions as well.

Lisa Nandy, Shadow Foreign Secretary

Lisa Nandy sat in Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet in its first few months, but she, along with numerous colleagues, quit over internal Party disagreements, helping to prompt the 2016 leadership contest. She was, however, open to rejoining Mr Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet thereafter if invited.

Ms Nandy has consistently spoken out against anti-Jewish racism in the Labour Party and has acknowledged that a “particular sort of antisemitism has found its home on the far-left throughout history.” She added: “I have been a member of this party for twenty years, and what angers me most is the assertion that a person cannot be left wing and stand up to antisemitism — standing up to antisemitism is a core part of my values.”

She also criticised the handling of the revelations of historic antisemitic statements by Naz Shah in 2016 and opposed the readmission into Labour of the disgraced then-MP, Chris Williamson, in 2019, observing that “we have no right to pick and choose the type of racism we confront.”

Ms Nandy participated in an event at the Labour Party conference in 2019 that featured Omar Barghouti (appearing via video link), who rejects Israel as a Jewish State and is a prominent figure in the BDS movement, the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of Jews find intimidating. However, Ms Nandy left the room before Mr Barghouti spoke. More recently, Ms Nandy endorsed a troubling platform of policies issued by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which we have found to be riddled with bigotry, and reportedly backed the idea of a ban on arms sales to Israel.

During her bid for the Party’s leadership, Ms Nandy made fighting antisemitism in Labour a central plank of her campaign, calling it “a crisis in the soul of our Party” and pledging to take “personal responsibility” for resolving it, including by introducing antisemitism training for members and staff and lowering the threshold for suspension over allegations of racism. She also promised to resolve cases swiftly and under a fixed timetable through an independent disciplinary process; prevent the readmission of prominent offenders and suspend those who supported or campaigned for them; implement the EHRC’s recommendations in full; relate to the Jewish community only through genuine representative organisations; and engage Labour’s Jewish affiliate to provide antisemitism training.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, Shadow Home Secretary

Nick Thomas-Symonds served as Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Solicitor-General and as his Shadow Home Office minister.

Mr Thomas-Symonds defended and backed Labour’s controversial alternative code on antisemitism, which the Party briefly proposed in lieu of adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism, and he was also criticised for not expressly supporting the Government’s full proscription of Hizballah in its entirety as a terrorist organisation. Following Sir Keir Starmer’s election as Leader of the Labour Party, Mr Thomas-Symonds has clarified that he backs both the adoption of the Definition by the Party and the proscription of Hizballah by the Government.

He also campaigned for and congratulated the controversial Labour candidate Lisa Forbes, albeit that he did condemn her deeply problematic social media activity.

Mr Thomas-Symonds has previously tweeted in support of the Holocaust Educational Trust, about participating in Holocaust Memorial Day, and in response to the antisemitic Pittsburgh attack in the United States.

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Rachel Reeves has been consistently critical of antisemitism in the Labour Party. In 2016 she spoke out against antisemitism in the Oxford University Labour Club and Israel Apartheid Week, as well as in Labour more generally, calling it a “growing issue”.

Ms Reeves also condemned threats against Luciana Berger, celebrated the reselection of Dame Margaret Hodge, both widely believed to have been targeted because they are Jewish women, signed a letter calling on Jeremy Corbyn to take action against the disgraced then-MP Chris Williamson, and joined Labour’s Jewish affiliate in solidarity with the Jewish community.

Following the 2019 General Election, Ms Reeves wrote to Labour’s Secretary-General, Jenny Formby, urging the expulsion of a member making “blatantly anti-semitic claims” on social media, and wrote to Ms Formby again to say that members accused of antisemitism should not vote in the Party’s leadership primary.

She also criticised deputy leadership candidates who did not make pledges to implement reforms within the Party to deal with antisemitism.

David Lammy, Shadow Justice Secretary

David Lammy was calling out antisemitism in the Labour Party already in 2017, and since then he attended a rally against Labour antisemitism and was threatened with deselection for doing so. He also supported the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party and defended it; condemned Jeremy Corbyn’s comments about “Zionists” and “English irony”; backed a letter to Mr Corbyn about ousting the disgraced then-MP Chris Williamson; and condemned the routine dismissals of antisemitism as “smears” (although oddly did it by retweeting Mr Corbyn’s Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, who had made such claims).

However, Mr Lammy also asked a Jewish caller to his radio show if he was putting personal concerns about antisemitism over the needs of the country (in a discussion about a ‘no-deal Brexit’) and became frustrated with a reporter for asking about antisemitism at Labour Live. Mr Lammy also backed Labour parliamentary candidate Ali Milani, who has made and apologised for antisemitic statements and called for Israel’s destruction.

Mr Lammy expressed his satisfaction that all Labour leadership candidates had pledged to address antisemitism in the Party, saying: “Tackling antisemitism must be the first priority of the next leader. No excuses.”

Most recently, he opposed an amendment in his local Constituency Labour Party to remove a clause in a motion that stated that the branch should adopt “a zero tolerance position” on antisemitism.

John Healey, Shadow Defence Secretary

John Healey served on Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench as Shadow Housing Secretary.

In 2018, Mr Healey defended Mr Corbyn’s handling of Labour’s antisemitism crisis, claiming that matters had improved, but in 2019 he conceded that “it is also clear that what is being done is not fast enough, it’s not tough enough, and I would like to see, to be honest, whether we could move to a position where we can suspend first then investigate such cases.”

He went on, however, to campaign for the controversial Labour candidate Lisa Forbes, despite her deeply problematic social media activity.

Before the 2019 General Election, Mr Healey apologised to the Jewish community, but reiterated his view that the disciplinary process was improving.

Ed Miliband, Shadow Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Secretary

Ed Miliband was Mr Corbyn’s predecessor as Leader of the Labour Party, and arguably it was during his term that some of the changes in the relationship between Labour and the Jewish community occured.

Although Mr Miliband made some positive interventions on the issue of antisemitism in the Party – for example tweeting against Ken Livingstone (of whom, however, he had previously said in 2012 “He doesn’t have a prejudiced bone in his body”), in support of Luciana Berger, and in condemnation of Labout’s inaction on Chris Williamson – observers were bemused at his apparent indifference to the Party’s antisemitism crisis, despite his previous references to being the son of Holocaust refugees.

He made clear that he would not follow Ms Berger in leaving Labour because he believed that Labour was a force for good in society and it was preferable to remain in the Party and work for zero tolerance of antisemitism, but he then went on to campaign for the controversial Labour candidate Lisa Forbes, despite her deeply problematic social media activity.

Emily Thornberry, Shadow International Trade Secretary

Emily Thornberry served as Shadow Foreign Secretary in Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet and was at the forefront of the campaign to make him Prime Minister. She has consistently defended Mr Corbyn against charges of antisemitism. She has insisted that “there isn’t a racist or antisemitic bone in Jeremy’s body”, ludicrously opining that the reason that he was failing to act on antisemitism was because he was so upset at being called an antisemite himself, and has claimed that the Chief Rabbi was “wrong” to suggest that Mr Corbyn is an antisemite. At a 2020 Holocaust Memorial Day event, Ms Thornberry praised Mr Corbyn for “always calling out those people who play the race card”.

In 2017, Ms Thornberry addressed the collapse of relations between Britain’s Jews and the Labour Party over its antisemitism crisis by saying: “There is clearly a lot of work to be done between the Labour Party and the British Jewish community. And I am prepared to do whatever it takes in order to be able to open channels again and to see if we can sort this out.” She added, however, that: “We need a bit of movement on both sides.”

In 2018, Ms Thornberry listened quietly as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas claimed at a conference that Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves through their “social behaviour, [charging] interest, and financial matters.” He also cited a theory often used by antisemites that modern-day Jews are in fact imposters from “Khazaria”. Rather than challenge him, Ms Thornberry posted on Facebook that it had been her “privilege” to represent the Labour Party at the conference. Only after being called out did she issue a statement criticising his “antisemitic remarks about the history of the Jewish community in Europe which were not just grossly offensive, but utterly ignorant”. In 2018, Ms Thornberry also accused the Israel Defence Forces of deliberately using enhanced ammunition designed for hunters to “do maximum internal damage to the animal”, a claim reminiscent of the blood libel.

During her unsuccessful campaign to lead the Labour Party, Ms Thornberry, whose husband’s family is Jewish, said that the Jewish community “wrongly” believed that a Labour government would have made them unsafe, but expressed her “disgust” that that is how Jews were made to feel by the Party. She later noted how a Jewish member of her staff reported that she could not go to family weddings and other occasions and publicise that she works for Labour, out of shame.

Despite her insistence during the Labour leadership campaign that tackling antisemitism is the “most urgent and immediate priority,” Ms Thornberry was nonetheless happy to meet with Alana Bates, the former local Labour candidate who described claims of antisemitism in Labour as “manipulative smears” and recorded a song with her band that called for the destruction of the Jewish state.

However, in 2017 Ms Thornberry described the BDS movement to boycott Israel, the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of Jews find intimidating, as “bigotry”, saying that the belief “that opposition to the policies of an individual government can ever justify a hatred of the nation and its people, or a boycott of its products, its culture or its academics, or a denial of its right to defend itself from military assault and terror attacks” is “bigotry against the Israeli nation” and that is “has never been justified and it never will be.”

In 2019, Ms Thornberry bucked pressure and called for the EHRC to proceed with its investigation into institutional antisemitic discrimination and victimisation within the Labour Party, which was launched following a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

In 2020 during the leadership campaign, Ms Thornberry claimed that she made interventions in Shadow Cabinet meetings and other forums on the issue of antisemitism and she supported the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party while some of her colleagues did not. She also said that when she tried to raise the issue of antisemitism more generally she was told by Party superiors that it “wasn’t my business” and was told to stick to her foreign policy brief.

She agreed with Sir Keir Starmer that the litmus test for whether Labour had dealt with antisemitism would be whether Jewish former MPs like Dame Louise Ellman felt that they could return to the Party.

Jonathan Reynolds, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary

Jonathan Reynolds served as Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury for most of Jeremy Corbyn’s term as Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Reynolds wrote a piece in 2016 urging Jews to stay in Labour in 2016, and also claimed that both Mr Corbyn and his leadership rival Owen Smith wanted to deal with antisemitism in the Party.

He attended a rally of the Jewish community against antisemitism in the Labour Party and called for the suspension of Labour’s disciplinary chief Christine Shawcroft after she reportedly opposed the suspension from the Labour party of a Holocaust denier. However, he also campaigned for Ruth George, an MP with a problematic record, in her unsuccessful bid to remain in Parliament.

Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Secretary of State of Health and Social Care

Jonathan Ashworth is set to remain in the same post that he held in Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet.

Mr Ashworth has called for zero-tolerance and expulsions in connection with Labour antisemitism, has apologised when Mr Corbyn has been criticised for failing to act, and has conceded that Labour needed to go further and faster. But he has also clearly tried to tread a line between speaking up against antisemitism and publicly supporting Mr Corbyn.

He supported the Party’s adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism, was publicly supportive of Luciana Berger early on when she was targeted for being a Jewish woman MP, but he relaxed his support once she had left Labour.

He did, however, pay tribute to Ian Austin, who also left Labour over antisemitism, and said that he had proposed reforms to address the antisemitism crisis.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Education Secretary

Rebecca Long-Bailey served as Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and was an avid supporter of his ideology and leadership, which she recently rated “ten out of ten”.

Despite representing a constituency — Salford and Eccles — with a Jewish population, Ms Long-Bailey reportedly showed little awareness of issues important to the community in her first few months in office. This lack of awareness apparently spread to the media as well, as Ms Long-Bailey gave an interview to the controversial far-left website, The Canary, subsequently explaining that she was “not aware of concerns about The Canary at the time” of the interview. Lord Mann, the Government’s independent advisor on antisemitism, has since announced that he will be investigating The Canary and other far-left websites in relation to the rise in antisemitism.

When it was revealed that Mr Corbyn had written a gushing foreword to a reissue of J.A. Hobson’s 1902 work, Imperialism: A Study, in which the author cast the blame for great wars on the Rothschild family, which was once predominantly Jewish, and their supposed control of the media — Mr Corbyn described the book as “correct and prescient” — Ms Long-Bailey defended him.

Ms Long-Bailey was also said to have opposed the adoption by the Labour Party of the International Definition of Antisemitism, opting instead to back the infamous “code” on antisemitism that was floated by Party insiders as an alternative to the Definition in order to dilute it. She later claimed that the Jewish community was meant to be consulted on the code but when it transpired that it had not been, she no longer supported it, although that claim has been met with scepticism.

During her failed bid for the leadership of the Party, Ms Long-Bailey claimed that she spoke out on antisemitism in internal Labour meetings over the past few years and that if she were elected leader she would work “very hard and very robustly” to tackle antisemitism in the Party. She added that “I wasn’t happy with the way our process was being run.” Such comments echo those of her most prominent backer, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, whose persistent references to “process” during the General Election represented an effort to deflect attention from the reality that the Party was home to large numbers of antisemites and an antisemitic leadership. In any event, Ms Long-Bailey’s claim to have spoken out on antisemitism behind the scenes has been disputed.

Indeed, Ms Long-Bailey was accused by a fellow MP of being “partly responsible for the failure of Labour to stem the tide of antisemitism within its ranks.” The MP went on to say: “How she can now claim to be concerned about an issue that cost us the election — it’s staggering hypocrisy.”

Jo Stevens, Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary

Jo Stevens served briefly as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales in Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet.

As a backbench MP, she called for the suspension of the disgraced then-MP Chris Williamson, and also called for Ken Livingstone’s expulsion tweeting: “Suspension never appropriate sanction where there’s no apology nor a promise not to repeat remarks. NCC [National Constitutional Committee] decision right. Sanction wrong.”

However, although Ms Stevens agreed that Labour needed to tackle antisemitism, she described the resignation from the Party by Luciana Berger and others over antisemitism the day after Labour MP Paul Flynn’s death as “a bit disrespectful”.

Ms Stevens was also supportive of the controversial Labour candidate Lisa Forbes, despite her deeply problematic social media activity, and has tweeted in support of Hugh Lanning of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which we have found to be riddled with bigotry.

Bridget Phillipson, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Bridget Phillipson has recently disclosed that  she felt compromised by staying in the Party despite antisemitism.

In 2016, she reportedly told Jeremy Corbyn to resign at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, although this was more likely to have been over Brexit than antisemitism.

In 2018, Ms Phillipson called for action on antisemitism, and in 2019 she said that Labour’s antisemitism problem needed intervention from the top and that another investigation by a lawyer – in this case Lord Falconer – would not “get us anywhere” because “the problems are not procedural, or legal. They are political.” In particular, she noted that at least one figure on the Party’s ruling National Executive Committee simply did not belong there and that no amount of antisemitism training would resolve that.

Ms Phillipson said that she was “sad” to see Luciana Berger and other colleagues resign from Labour over antisemitism but insisted that she herself would not leave the Party.

Luke Pollard, Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary

Luke Pollard served as Shadow Minister for Flooding & Coastal Communities under Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Pollard has posted numerous tweets about the need to take action on antisemitism, including supporting the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party; criticising Ken Livingstone and calling for his expulsion; supporting a demonstration by the Jewish community against Labour antisemitism; supporting Labour’s Jewish affiliate; and supporting Sir Keir Starmer’s prioritisation of tackling antisemitism during his leadership campaign.

Mr Pollard has also tweeted his support for Mr Corbyn’s periodic statements on antisemitism.

Mr Pollard opposed the readmission of the disgraced then-MP Chris Williamson, but he did campaign for the controversial Labour candidate Lisa Forbes, despite her deeply problematic social media activity.

Steve Reed, Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary

Steve Reed served in junior shadow ministerial roles under Jeremy Corbyn but has tweeted in support of Labour’s Jewish affiliate and of calls for action on antisemitism, including the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party. Mr Reed also supported the launch of the EHRC’s investigation into Labour antisemitism, which was launched following a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

On the victory of the controversial Labour candidate Lisa Forbes in the Peterborough by-election in 2019, Mr Reed took a more nuanced position than some of his colleagues who had campaigned for her, noting only that he was pleased that the Brexit Party had been defeated.

During the recent Labour leadership primary, Mr Reed supported the candidates’ declarations that they consider themselves to be ZIonists and welcomed Sir Keir Starmer’s apology to the Jewish community on behalf of the Labour Party following his election as Leader.

Thangam Debbonaire, Shadow Housing Secretary

Thangam Debbonaire has posted numerous tweets supportive of the Jewish community and against antisemitism in Labour, including insisting that the Party work with the EHRC on its investigation into Labour antisemitism, which was launched following a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Ms Debbonaire attended a rally against antisemitism in the Labour Party and was heckled by her local Constituency Labour Party for doing so, causing her to bravely storm out of the meeting in protest. She also claims to have helped to remove an antisemitic mural from Bristol’s city centre.

She has tweeted in support of the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party and defended it against critics.

Ms Debbonaire apparently joined Labour’s Jewish affiliate in solidarity with the Jewish community, and, when asked why she would not quit Labour in protest over anti-Jewish racism, she replied that she refused to cede the Party to antisemitism.

Jim McMahon, Shadow Transport Secretary

Jim McMahon served as Shadow Minister of State for Local Government under Jeremy Corbyn.

He wrote to the Co-operative Party’s National Executive Committee to recommend the adoption of proposals made by Jewish organisations to tackle antisemitism in Labour.

He also questioned the circumstances in which Shami Chakrabarti received a peerage following her whitewash report into antisemitism in the Labour Party.

Preet Kaur Gill, Shadow International Development Secretary

Preet Kaur Gill served as Shadow Minister for International Development under Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms Kaur Gill attended a rally against antisemitism in the Labour Party and chaired a meeting on antisemitism with prominent Jewish organisations and personalities, along with the Crown Prosecution Service. She went on, however, to congratulate Lisa Forbes, despite her deeply problematic social media activity.

In hindsight, she recognised that antisemitism was an issue in the General Election, but she was less robust prior to the election, deflecting criticism of Labour by tweeting that there is antisemitism and racism in other political parties too.

Louise Haigh, Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary (interim)

Louise Haigh served as a Shadow Minister under Jeremy Corbyn in various posts.

Ms Haigh has called for more action on antisemitism and met with Jewish organisations and personalities to discuss contemporary manifestations of anti-Jewish hatred.

She also expressed solidarity with Luciana Berger and supported the referral of the disgraced then-MP Chris Williamson to Labour’s National Constitutional Committee.

However, her involvement in the Peterborough by-election on behalf of Labour’s candidate, Lisa Forbes, despite her deeply problematic social media activity (Ms Haigh said that Ms Forbes had “mistakenly engaged in” antisemitic tweets), while claiming that she cared about antisemitism was branded “the very definition of hypocrisy”.

Ms Haigh said that calling Israel an apartheid state is antisemitic but called for sanctions to be imposed against it.

Ian Murray, Shadow Scotland Secretary

Ian Murray criticised Jeremy Corbyn for his inaction over deselection threats against the Jewish MP, Luciana Berger; called for the then-MP Chris Williamson to be suspended; and condemned Labour’s treatment of the Panorama whistleblowers, who helped to expose the depth of the Party’s institutional antisemitism.

During his recent bid to become Labour’s Deputy Leader, Mr Murray made tackling antisemitism a key part of his campaign. He said that Labour could no longer bury its head in the sand, that “I want antisemitism cases on my desk every week as Deputy Leader”, and that he wished to work with the Jewish community. He further tweeted that he would take “personal responsibility for rooting out this cancer” and pledged: “if it’s not done under my watch I’ll resign. I’m so angry about this. Everyone saying they will deal with it – well what have they been doing over the past three-and-a-half years?”

Nia Griffith, Shadow Wales Secretary

Nia Griffith served for several years as Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Defence Secretary.

She also congratulated Lisa Forbes, despite her deeply problematic social media activity.

However, Ms Griffith also supported a rally by the Jewish community against antisemitism in the Labour Party (although she did say that what was needed was “deeds not words” but then continued to sit inertly in the Shadow Cabinet); called for the suspension of the then-MP Chris Williamson; called for stronger sanction against Ken Livingstone; supported Dame Margaret Hodge; said that Labour was at a crisis point over the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism; spoke up for an activist who was receiving abuse online for calling out antisemitism in the Labour Party; and urged Labour’s leadership to apologise to the Jewish community after the courageous intervention by the Chief Rabbi.

Marsha De Cordova, Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary

Marsha De Cordova served as Shadow Minister for Diasbled People under Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms De Cordova does not appear to have been particularly engaged on the issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party, other than tweeting an article by Mr Corbyn pledging to act.

She has, however, engaged with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which we have found to be riddled with bigotry.

Andy McDonald, Shadow Employment Rights and Protections Secretary

Andy McDonald served as Shadow Transport Secretary in Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet.

A particularly fervent member of Labour Friends of Palestine, Mr McDonald has falsely accused Israel of wilful massacre of unarmed civilians and has also been forced to deny making a comparison between Israel and the Nazi regime in a remark defending his advisor, Karl Hansen, who had described Israel as an apartheid state. Mr Hansen had also accused the Jewish television personality and anti-extremism campaigner, Rachel Riley, of smearing political opponents as antisemites.

Mr McDonald defended Mr Corbyn over the infamous antisemitic mural in Tower Hamlets and falsely claimed that the Party was dealing with antisemitism. He also retweeted a dubious story from Rachael Swindon, the Twitter account of the controversial Labour activist Rachael Cousins, who has reportedly accused a Jewish charity of being “Conservative backers” and called on it to “condemn all atrocities by the Israeli military in the West Bank”, thus holding Jews collectively responsible for perceived injustices committed by Israel.

Mr McDonald said that he ‘respectfully disagreed’ with the Chief Rabbi’s criticism of Labour’s handling of antisemitism and tweeted after the General Election that “I have never experienced a General Election when a good and decent, principled man has been so vilified and demonised.”

Recently, Mr McDonald became one of the very last sitting MPs to sign up to the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Rosena Allin-Khan, Shadow Minister for Mental Health

Rosena Allin-Khan served as Shadow Minister for Sport under Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms Allin-Khan has written about being a victim of antisemitic abuse, which she received after engaging with Israeli diplomats in the UK, even though she met them to criticise Israeli Government policy. She also posted a strange series of tweets on the issue.

In June 2019 she called for an independent disciplinary process to deal with antisemitism cases.

In her campaign to become Labour’s Deputy Leader, she made tackling antisemitism a priority, pledging to act and to implement the recommendations of the EHRC when it concludes its investigation into Labour antisemitism, which was launched following a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Cat Smith, Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Engagement

Cat Smith served as Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons under Jeremy Corbyn.

In 2016, Ms Smith called out some antisemitism on Twitter directly.

She has recognised that there is antisemitism in Labour and has encouraged her Twitter followers to learn about antisemitism by sharing Labour’s webpage on the subject

Ms Smith has also said: “I have a Jewish family, my husband is Jewish and my child is Jewish. There are people in the Labour Party that hold antisemitic views and express them and the party has not been able to react fast enough to expel these people.” Ms Smith’s husband works for the Labour Party as its Head of Digital Organising and is a former head of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which we have found to be riddled with bigotry.

Lord Charlie Falconer, Shadow Attorney General

Lord Falconer has repeatedly stated how great a problem antisemitism is in the Labour Party, tweeting numerous times in despair about Labour’s antisemitism crisis and saying that there are thousands of antisemites in the Party.

He even agreed, at the invitation of Labour headquarters, to lead yet another internal inquiry into antisemitism in the Party, years after the whitewash inquiry conducted by Baroness Chakrabarti, but he withdrew after the EHRC launched its investigation, following a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

He eventually came around to the importance of an independent disciplinary process in 2019, having earlier opposed it, calling it “inevitable and necessary”.

Dame Margaret Hodge claimed that Lord Falconer bombarded her with calls encouraging her to apologise when she was ludicrously under investigation by the Party for calling out Jeremy Corbyn’s role in Labour’s antisemitism crisis. Lord Falconer insisted that he was doing so out of friendship with Dame Margaret and apologised “that she thought I pressed too hard.”

Valerie Vaz, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons

Valerie Vaz remains as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, having served in that role under Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms Vaz appears to have had almost nothing to say on Labour’s descent into institutional racism, with the exception of a 2018 apology to the Jewish community where she said that “I think it’s really regrettable that it has got this bad and I would want to apologise to the Jewish community for any offence that has been caused.”

However, in an earlier interview that day with BBC Radio 4, Ms Vaz accidentally praised antisemitism repeatedly. Asked to defend Mr Corbyn, she said: “He’s been steeped in antisemitism, anti-racism throughout his time. Basically the Jewish community does have roots in our Party. They have played a prominent role. We must make sure we continue to show people we are an antisemitic and anti-racist Party.”

While this might be regarded as an unfortunate slip, an alternative interpretation is that Ms Vaz has taken such little interest in how anti-Jewish racism captured her Party that she did not even properly understand what such racism is called.

Afzal Khan, Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons

Afzal Khan served as Shadow Minister of State for Immigration under Jeremy Corbyn.

In 2014, whilst serving as an MEP, Mr Khan tweeted a link to an article entitled, “The Israeli Government are acting like Nazi’s [sic] in Gaza.” Mr Khan’s use of the Nazi slur, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, came despite his prominence in interfaith dialogue work. He is co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester and was awarded a CBE for his community and interfaith work in 2008. However, the Labour Party under Mr Corbyn’s leadership declined to investigate or discipline Khan when a complaint was later submitted.

In 2015, Mr Khan reportedly shared a video on Facebook (apparently originally posted by the virulently antisemitic Philip E. Taylor), the prominent text beneath which referred to “Israel-British-Swiss-Rothschilds crime syndicate” and “mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars”. When the post was uncovered in 2019, Mr Khan said that he was “mortified” for “accidentally” sharing the image, but he did not remove it for a further six months after apologising and only did so when a journalist asked why it was still on his page. Mr Khan also later disputed whether the post was antisemitic at all.

Regarding Ken Livingstone, Mr Khan condemned comments by the disgraced former Mayor of London but failed to agree that Mr Livingstone should have been expelled from the Labour Party.

In 2018, Mr Khan attended a rally against antisemitism but downplayed the fact that the demonstration’s focus was antisemitism in his Party, saying: “Yesterday I attended the ‘Say No to Antisemitism Rally’ to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community. The Labour Party and its leadership are and always have been anti-racist. We will always stand together to fight any form of racism in our Party or society.”

Mr Khan attended antisemitism training at his Constituency Labour Party delivered by Labour’s Jewish affiliate.

Lord Thomas McAvoy, Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords

Lord McAvoy will continue in his role as Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords, in which position he also served under Jeremy Corbyn.

Lord McAvoy did not join other peers in an advertisement that they took out which said that Mr Corbyn had “failed the test of leadership” over antisemitism, but he, along with Baroness Smith and others, did write directly to Mr Corbyn warning of the “cancer” of antisemitism and offering to help to set up an independent complaints process.

Nick Brown, Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Commons

Nick Brown, who also served as Shadow Chief Whip under Jeremy Corbyn, has had little to say on Labour’s antisemitism crisis.

In one instance in 2018, he acknowledged that there was “clearly an issue to be dealt with”, but he took the Party line in stressing that Labour was committed to doing so, even though it clearly was not.

In 2019 he wrote to the then-MP Chris Williamson urging him to cancel a showing of the film WitchHunt that he was organising in Parliament.

Baroness Angela Smith, Shadow Leader of the Lords

Baroness Smith served as Shadow Leader of the House of Lords under Jeremy Corbyn and will continue in her role under Sir Keir Starmer.

Baroness Smith supported Dame Margaret Hodge and also backed the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party.

She also apparently assisted Lord Levy in reporting an antisemitic e-mail that he had received to Mr Corbyn, who did not respond.

Baroness Smith did not join other peers in an advertisement that they took out which said that Mr Corbyn had “failed the test of leadership” over antisemitism, but she, along with Lord McAvoy and others, did write directly to Mr Corbyn warning of the “cancer” of antisemitism and offering to help to set up independent complaints process.

Comment and conclusion

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism said, “This is the first research into the records of each member of the new Shadow Cabinet with regard to antisemitism.

“Our painstaking, fully-evidenced research shows that Sir Keir Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet includes figures who have fought a rearguard action for years against anti-Jewish prejudice in Labour, but it also contains parliamentarians who have contributed to or enabled that racism.

“The research is also a depressing reminder of just how little so many Labour MPs said about antisemitism over several years – and, moreover, how much less they actually did – even as it infested their once fiercely anti-racist Party. Every one of them campaigned last year for an antisemite to become Prime Minister.

“The makeup of the Shadow Cabinet illustrates that Jeremy Corbyn’s poisonous legacy of antisemitism has so permeated the Labour Party that there are too few untainted figures amongst its parliamentarians to fill even these few coveted posts.

“Some of Sir Keir’s appointments to his Shadow Cabinet are inconsistent with his pledge to tear antisemitism out of the Labour Party ‘by its roots’. This research shows just how deep those roots go and how much they have rotted his Party, and no amount of pruning can disguise how much work lies ahead.

“Our research suggests that Sir Keir may already be making factional compromises instead of showing zero tolerance. He will find his honeymoon short-lived if he delays the hard decisions and actions that are necessary.”

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. It also showed that prior to last year’s General Election, 42% of British Jews had considered leaving the UK, of which 85% cited antisemitism in politics, and close to two thirds of British Jews believed that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.

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’s mammoth report detailing anti-Corbyn conspiracy at Party’s HQ is “last ditch attempt to discredit antisemitism allegations” and must be sent to EHRC

Sky News has reported that the Labour Party spent the last month of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership conducting a full-scale review into how the Party handled antisemitism complaints during his tenure.

The report, which is titled ‘The work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014 – 2019’ and has not been made public, says that its “findings prove the scale of the problem, and could help end the denialism amongst some part of the Party membership,” but insists that there was “no evidence” of antisemitism complaints being treated differently to other forms of complaint, or of “antisemitic intent” among current or former staff.

Rather, the report – which is apparently the product of a review of 10,000 separate emails and thousands of private WhatsApp communications between former senior party officials – concludes that there was a lack of “robust processes, systems, training, education and effective line management” and, most controversially, that there is “abundant evidence of a hyper-factional atmosphere prevailing in Party HQ” towards Mr Corbyn which “affected the expeditious and resolute handling of disciplinary complaints.”

The report reserves particular criticism for the former Party officials who turned whistleblowers in last year’s devastating Panorama expose of antisemitism in the Labour Party. Indeed the intent of the report was apparently to give the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) reason to “question the validity of the personal testimonies” provided by the whistleblowers.

The EHRC launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party on 28th May 2019 following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

However, Labour’s lawyers have reportedly advised the Party against submitting the document, and the Party, which has a new leader, is now insisting that it was never intended to be submitted.

The claims of factionalism within the Party’s HQ and the suggestion that antisemitism complaints were impeded by staffers’ motivation to undermine Mr Corbyn’s leadership have been denied by the former staffers and whistleblowers, who responded to similar defences by the Party during the Panorama program by suing Labour.

Campaign Against Antisemitism believes that the very existence of the report illustrates the lengths to which the Party’s apparatus under Mr Corbyn’s leadership went to try to deflect attention from the antisemitism crisis and exonerate itself, instead of actually addressing the crisis and expelling antisemites from the Party. While the report apparently concedes the scale of Labour antisemitism, nevertheless its effect is to deny the allegations by portraying them as a product of factionalism in the Party or a smear designed to damage the leadership.

In a statement, a spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “In the dying days of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the Labour Party appears to have invested in a desperate last-ditch attempt to deflect and discredit allegations of antisemitism. Rather than properly dealing with cases of antisemitism and the culture of anti-Jewish racism that prevailed during Mr Corbyn’s tenure, the Party has instead busied itself trawling through 10,000 of its own officials’ e-mails and WhatsApp messages in an attempt to imagine a vast anti-Corbyn conspiracy and to continue its effort to smear whistleblowers.

“It is a disgrace that the 450,000-word report, which itself claims to ‘prove the scale’ of antisemitism in the Party and serves as an exhibit of the Party’s failure to address the crisis, is being kept secret. Sir Keir Starmer has the report and should ensure that it is immediately provided to us and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, so that it can be considered as part of the Commission’s statutory investigation in which we are 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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Antisemitism and Pesach: a message for CAA’s supporters from Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community

As the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, begins, Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community, has recorded a message for Campaign Against Antisemitism’s supporters on antisemitism through the ages, and the significance of Pesach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_nplcuP6wc&feature=youtu.be
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“Jew process” Labour councillor Jo Bird fails in bid to join Party’s ruling NEC

The controversial Labour councillor, Jo Bird, has failed in her bid to join the Labour Party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).

Cllr Bird sought election to the NEC in one of the two open spots for representatives of Constituency Labour Parties. One of the spots was vacated when the controversial former chair of Labour’s Disciplinary Panel, Claudia Webb, was elected to Parliament.

With over 46,000 votes, Cllr Bird placed fourth, just over 10,000 votes short of the top two spots.

She was endorsed by antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour, Labour Left Alliance and Labour Representation Committee, a pro-Corbyn pressure group with a long history of belittling claims of antisemitism and publishing extremely disturbing articles. The Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, is its President.

Cllr Bird recently had her second suspension from the Labour Party lifted within days, clearing the way for her to run for the NEC and had been considered to be a frontrunner in the race.

Cllr Bird represents the Bromborough Ward on Wirral Council 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; supporting the expelled Labour activist and friend of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Marc Wadsworth, who was thrown out of the Party after a confrontation with Jewish then-MP Ruth Smeeth; and worrying about the “privileging of racism against Jews, over and above — as more worthy of resources than other forms of racism.”

Elected to Wirral Council in August 2018, Cllr Bird is a member of Jewish Voice for Labour, and she has described Labour’s institutional antisemitism as based on mere “accusations, witch-huntery and allegations without evidence”. 

Cllr Bird rejoined the Labour Party in 2015, when Jeremy Corbyn was running for the Party’s leadership, and last year she had previously been tipped to become a candidate to replace Dame Louise Ellman, a Jewish MP who quit Labour prior to the election due to antisemitism.

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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Zoombombing of Jewish institutions is being coordinated by racists, according to report

It has been reported that users of a racist online platform formerly known as 8chan may be coordinating so-called ‘Zoombombing’ of Jewish institutions.

So far, it is understood that a school in the United States may have been targeted in this way. A synagogue in the UK was also targeted last week, although it is not clear yet whether the two incidents, and others that have been reported over the past fortnight, are connected.

The phenomenon of ‘Zoombombing’, whereby Zoom video conferences are infiltrated by uninvited attendees who post antisemitic and pornographic images, is a growing phenomenon, particularly during the COVID-19 global pandemic, when communal, charitable and commercial institutions are communicating through such online platforms while personnel are secluded at home.

Several months ago it was reported that users of the racist platform 4chan were engaged in a coordinated campaign to create fake social media accounts impersonating Jews in order to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories.

There are resources online that may assist with how to avoid Zoombombing, and Campaign Against Antisemitism urges users of Zoom and other platforms to be vigilant and take precautions, and to report antisemitic infiltrations to the police.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is able to assist victims and can be contacted at [email protected].

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Online backlash against new Labour leader takes aim at the Jews

Members of at least one Facebook group backing losing candidates in Labour’s leadership and deputy leadership primaries have vented their frustration regarding the results towards a traditional scapegoat.

Numerous deeply troubling messages on the group, called “Jeremy Corbyn Group supports Richard Burgon for Deputy Leader”, which has almost 23,000 members, have been uncovered by activist Gillian Lazarus.

The messages include statements that the UK is now a “one party state run by the Jews”; that “there is no antisemitism in Labour”; that Sir Keir Starmer, the new Labour leader, is “just another Israeli lickspittle”; and “when is anyone ever going to stand up to these people?”, in reference to Campaign Against Antisemitism, because it promotes the widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Members of the group have previously targeted the Chief Rabbi with their ire.

Mr Burgon, an unsuccessful candidate for the deputy leadership of the Party and until recently a Labour frontbencher, does not have any administrative involvement in the Facebook group, although he also has his own very troubling record in his relationship with the Jewish community.

There was a similar backlash against the Jews among some disappointed supporters of Labour’s hard left following the General Election.

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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An antisemite is no longer running Labour, but now justice must be done for Britain’s Jews

This morning, the Labour Party started the process of turning the page on the era of Jeremy Corbyn, an antisemite who the vast majority of British Jews regarded specifically as a threat to them.

However, retrieving the once fiercely anti-racist Labour Party from the grip of institutional antisemitism is not as simple as replacing its antisemitic erstwhile leader.

Sir Keir Starmer MP, the accomplished Queen’s Counsel and former Director of Public Prosecutions, faces a long-term campaign if he is serious about the very welcome promise he made in his victory speech to seek out antisemitism and “tear out this poison by its roots”, for its roots grew extensively under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, who Sir Keir called his “friend” in his speech.

This is not about politics; it is about justice.

We established Campaign Against Antisemitism in 2014 in response to surging antisemitic crime on campuses, online and on the streets. We never expected to find ourselves leading a media campaign to expose the antisemitic leader of a major political party, or as the complainant in a full statutory investigation into a political party by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, with teams of researchers providing evidence to lawyers for our extensive legal submissions.

At our rally outside the Royal Courts of Justice in 2014, the Chief Rabbi quoted the Torah’s exhortation: “Justice, justice, you shall pursue”. It has been Campaign Against Antisemitism’s motto ever since. Even though we have published ample information on antisemites in the Labour Party, including on Jeremy Corbyn himself, and submitted repeated disciplinary complaints, there has been little justice.

Instead, many who should have stood up for justice, including Sir Keir, instead stood by Mr Corbyn. Some offered words of opposition, but with a number of extremely selfless exceptions, their words were hollow.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer polling released last year, which was designed and analysed by King’s College London, showed quite what Mr Corbyn and his acolytes had achieved: huge swathes of British Jews were considering leaving the country over antisemitism in politics, and the vast majority considered the Labour Party to be rife with antisemitism and Jeremy Corbyn to personally pose a threat. Polling by YouGov commissioned for the study showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Despite the Jewish community doing everything it conceivably could to express its alarm and to try to stop the antisemitic rot within Labour, on December 12th 2019, Britain’s Jews held their breath wondering whether the next Prime Minister would be the antisemitic Mr Corbyn. In the end, it was not the Labour membership or its officers who rejected Mr Corbyn, it was the British public. Campaign Against Antisemitism has never supported a political party and it never will, but as voters made their decisions, polling released in the days after the election showed that millions of British voters made their choice partly on the basis of rejecting antisemitism.

Never again should a minority be put in such fear by a political party in this country.

The people who did this must now face justice, and political expedience must no longer stand in the way.

As the new leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir must disentangle the corruption that allowed antisemitism to be institutionalised in his Party. Those who committed antisemitic acts, those who interfered in disciplinary processes to protect them, and those who dismissed Jewish fears as being part of an orchestrated smear campaign must all be made to answer for their actions.

Campaign Against Antisemitism will be an ally to anybody seeking justice within Labour, and we will hold Labour to account if it fails, using the forthcoming report of the Equality and Human Rights Commission that we have worked so hard to bring about.

It remains to be seen how Sir Keir will perform. His victory speech was welcome and promising, but his record during Mr Corbyn’s leadership was extremely disappointing.

Sir Keir has served on Mr Corbyn’s frontbench in the influential position of Shadow Brexit Secretary and has been a vocal advocate of Mr Corbyn’s leadership. He has insisted, contrary to all the evidence, that Labour is not institutionally antisemitic (in an interview, incidentally, in which he conceded that denying Labour antisemitism was itself part of the problem). He has also claimed that Mr Corbyn is not particularly to blame for the antisemitism crisis that has engulfed their Party, but rather that there is collective responsibility, thus by his own admission implicating himself.

When Mr Corbyn’s defence of the antisemitic mural in East London came to light, Sir Keir declined to condemn the Labour leader, advising instead that Mr Corbyn “had given his explanation”. In case there was any doubt as to Sir Keir’s commitment to Mr Corbyn’s leadership of Labour and his effort to become Prime Minister, during the election campaign, Sir Keir reiterated that he was “100% behind Jeremy Corbyn”.

The solutions proposed by Sir Keir offer a similar agenda to his competitors for the leadership, including resolving cases swiftly and under a fixed timetable through an independent disciplinary process; preventing the readmission of prominent offenders and suspend those who supported or campaigned for them; implementing the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recommendations in full; relating to the Jewish community only through genuine mainstream organisations; and engaging Labour’s Jewish affiliate to provide antisemitism training.

Additionally, Sir Keir has proposed scrapping Labour’s National Constitutional Committee – the Party’s main disciplinary body — in favour of the new independent disciplinary process. He has also called for an end to the imposition of parliamentary candidates by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, a process that was blamed for numerous worrying candidacies at the previous General Election.

Mr Corbyn’s toxic legacy is likely to hamper reforms. For example, 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.

If Sir Keir takes on antisemitism within Labour, he will find an ally in Campaign Against Antisemitism. We will provide evidence and expertise to help to return British politics to a time when antisemitism in public life was an appalling exception, not commonplace. If Sir Keir fails to pursue justice for British Jews, we will hold the Labour Party to account using the forthcoming report of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

We would like to take this moment to thank everyone who has helped Campaign Against Antisemitism to shine a spotlight on antisemitism in the Labour Party, from the thousands who have attended our rallies in Parliament Square and outside Labour headquarters to the many tens of thousands who signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite who is unfit to hold a position of power, to the brave (now former) Labour members who helped provide evidence, to the journalists who worked with us to expose Jew-hatred, to the lawyers who helped us to make the case over the course of many months to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to the many volunteers of Campaign Against Antisemitism of all faiths who have worked without public praise and plenty of sacrifice to produce hundreds of case files across all political parties, to those who have donated what they could to help us to right the wrong done to Britain’s Jews. The Jewish community owes a great deal to the decency of those who saw antisemitism and stood up to it in whatever way they could. Our work to repair British politics continues, and we look forward to the day when politics is free of this ancient bigotry.

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “As the new leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir has no time to lose in making good on his pledge to seek out antisemitism and ‘tear out this poison by its roots’ and rebuild relations with the Jewish community. As a Queen’s Counsel and former Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir knows that this is not a matter of politics but of justice, and justice requires an impartial process of inquiry with sanctions for offenders. This must start with addressing our outstanding complaints against Jeremy Corbyn and disciplining him in order to send a message that anti-Jewish racism no longer has a home in the Labour Party.”

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CAA’s message to new Labour leader: disciplining Jeremy Corbyn is your litmus test

The new leader of the Labour Party will commence his or her term in office during the worst health crisis in living memory, but that must not delay dealing with another priority, addressing the Party’s need for internal reforms, starting with unravelling its institutional antisemitism.

On the campaign trail, the contenders have often spoken of the importance of a “litmus test” to evidence whether antisemitism is being taken seriously. Naturally, the recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which will come in due course, must be implemented in full. But the real litmus test is more immediate and it has a name: Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Corbyn’s leadership failed electorally, moreover it wrecked Labour’s record as an anti-racist party and led to swathes of the Jewish community questioning their future in Britain. Restoring the Party’s credibility is no small task, particularly if the new leader is from Mr Corbyn’s frontbench, but it must begin with disciplining the outgoing leader.

The EHRC’s full statutory investigation into Labour was launched following a formal referral from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant. But what has not been revealed until now is that the original impetus for the investigation was the Labour Party’s repeated refusal to treat seriously a series of complaints that our organisation made against Mr Corbyn.

The process of repairing the Labour Party must begin with the man who did so much to break it by refusing to address its scourge of anti-Jewish racism and at times personally indulging in it.

Mr Corbyn’s offences during his long parliamentary career are documented on our website. They include working to excommunicate Labour’s Jewish affiliate; claiming that Israel exercises an outsized influence in the British media; describing the antisemitic genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Hizbollah as his “friends”; endorsing the comparison of Israel’s policies to those of the Nazis; trying to undermine the centrality of the genocide of the Jews in Holocaust Memorial Day; writing an adulatory foreword to an antisemitic book; defending an Islamist preacher banned from Britain for indulging in the medieval blood libel that accuses Jews of using the blood of non-Jewish children to bake bread; backing the disgraced Reverend Stephen Sizer; defending an obviously antisemitic mural; suggesting that British “Zionists” lack a sense of irony despite having lived here their whole lives; instigating the whitewash Chakrabarti Inquiry and then awarding its author with the peerage that he promised never to bestow on anyone; describing The Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland’s motives in raising the matter of Labour antisemitism as “disgusting subliminal nastiness”; and directly interfering in numerous disciplinary cases on behalf of the offending Labour members while standing by (at best) while Jewish women MPs were hounded out of his Parliamentary Party.

To top it off, Mr Corbyn was opposed to the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party. He may have been motivated in part by the recognition that allowing the adoption to proceed might highlight his own multiple breaches of the definition and require the Party to act against him. Regrettably, even after the Party’s reluctant adoption of the definition, it failed to do so.

But Mr Corbyn’s retirement as Labour leader is only the first step. What matters now is how his successor deals with him. It is not enough simply to ‘draw a line’ and start afresh; the whitewash Chakrabarti report into antisemitism in the Party tried to do that several years ago and the problem only got worse.

It is Mr Corbyn’santi-Jewish legacy that must now be addressed and exorcised from the Party, and that must begin with him. Our review of the records of all Parliamentary candidates in the recent General Election showed not only that Mr Corbyn was himself responsible for a breathtaking fifteen percent of all incidents involving antisemitism, but that Labour’s candidates accounted for a breathtaking 82 percent of all of the incidents across all parties.

Most worryingly, however, was the finding that a third of incidents related to Labour’s new candidates who had never held Parliamentary office before. Far from investigating and eliminating antisemitism, as he deceptively claimed, Mr Corbyn and his allies in the Party’s headquarters and on its ruling bodies have injected more of it into Parliament.

This problem is not confined to the House of Commons: one post-election poll showed that nearly three quarters of Labour members said that the issue of antisemitism in the Party was “invented or wildly exaggerated”, with that denial rising to over 90% among members of the pro-Corbyn Momentum group. Only one in five Labour members agreed that “antisemitism was a real problem” in Labour.

Naturally, the Party’s disciplinary processes must be made independent and its sanctions enhanced – that much is clear. There are plenty of other important measures that the Party should introduce, and we have made those recommendations to the EHRC as part of our recently-concluded legal submissions.

But Mr Corbyn must be made to bear personal responsibility for his central role in cultivating anti-Jewish animus in his Party. This will send a message to other culpable MPs, officials and members that they cannot hide.

The candidates have talked of a litmus test: disciplining Mr Corbyn must be it.

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A reminder of the records and platforms of Labour’s three leadership contenders on antisemitism

Minutes ago, voting for the new leader of the Labour Party closed, with three candidates having made it through the three-month election process. The result of the primary is due to be announced on Saturday.

The winner of the contest, who, as head of the largest opposition party, will also take the post of Leader of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition, will become the head of an institutionally antisemitic party that is being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), following a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Previously, Campaign Against Antisemitism analysed the records of the leadership hopefuls in order to inform the public, and to this we now add the stated positions of the candidates with regard to internal Party reforms and addressing the antisemitism crisis. As the result of the vote draws near, it is vital for the Jewish community and the wider public to be aware of the victor’s platform in order to hold him or her to account.

The deepest stain on the records of each of the candidates is the fact that they stood by the Labour Party during the years of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership despite its descent into racism. They were bystanders when several Jewish colleagues were hounded out of the Party, and they stood by too when principled colleagues made the difficult decision to leave the Party because they could not countenance campaigning for the antisemite Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister, which all of the three candidates themselves did at the end of last year. Whether these candidates can ever reclaim any authority to speak out against antisemitism — or indeed any form of prejudice — is therefore doubtful.

The two candidates who served as senior figures in Mr Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet and most actively campaigned to make him Prime Minister, in the face of polls that showed almost half of the Jewish community were considering leaving the country if they were successful in their campaign, are particularly unlikely ever to be able to provide a satisfactory justification for their failure to stand up to Mr Corbyn.

Rebecca Long-Bailey

Rebecca Long-Bailey was one of those members of the Shadow Cabinet, serving as Mr Corbyn’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. She supported Mr Corbyn’s ideology and leadership — which she recently rated “ten out of ten” — throughout the past several years, to the point of being widely viewed today as the continuity candidate.

Despite representing a constituency — Salford and Eccles — with a Jewish population, Ms Long-Bailey reportedly showed little awareness of issues important to the community in her first few months in office.

This lack of awareness apparently spread to the media as well, as Ms Long-Bailey gave an interview to the controversial far-left website, The Canary, subsequently explaining that she was “not aware of concerns about The Canary at the time” of the interview. Lord Mann, the Government’s independent advisor on antisemitism, has announced that he will be investigating The Canary and other far-left websites in relation to the rise in antisemitism.

When it was revealed that Mr Corbyn had written a gushing foreword to a reissue of J.A. Hobson’s 1902 work, Imperialism: A Study, in which the author cast the blame for great wars on the Rothschilds and their control of the media — Mr Corbyn described the book as “correct and prescient” — Ms Long-Bailey defended him.

Ms Long-Bailey was also said to have opposed the adoption by the Labour Party of the International Definition of Antisemitism, opting instead to back the infamous “code” that was floated by Party insiders as an alternative to the Definition in order to dilute it.

She recently claimed that she spoke out on antisemitism in internal Labour meetings over the past few years and that if she were elected leader she would work “very hard and very robustly” to tackle antisemitism in the Party. She added that “I wasn’t happy with the way our process was being run.” Such comments echo those of her most prominent backer, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, whose persistent references to “process” during the election campaign represented an effort to deflect attention from the reality that the Party was home to legions of antisemites and an antisemitic leadership. In any event, Ms Long-Bailey’s claim to have spoken out on antisemitism behind the scenes has been disputed.

Given this record, it is unsurprising that Ms Long-Bailey has been endorsed by Pete Willsman, a pro-Corbyn member of Labour’s National Executive Committee who has been suspended from the Party twice. It is equally reasonable that she was accused, just a few days ago, by a fellow MP of being “partly responsible for the failure of Labour to stem the tide of antisemitism within its ranks.” The MP went on to say: “How she can now claim to be concerned about an issue that cost us the election — it’s staggering hypocrisy.”

Turning to Ms Long-Bailey’s stated positions during the campaign on internal reform and antisemitism, she intends to resolve outstanding and future antisemitism cases swiftly and under a fixed timetable using an independent disciplinary process. Prominent offenders who have been expelled from Labour would not be permitted to return to the Party and anyone who supported or campaigned for them would be suspended, under her plans. She would implement in full the EHRC’s recommendations, engage with the Jewish community only through reputable representative organisations and conduct antisemitism training via Labour’s Jewish affiliate.

Lisa Nandy

Lisa Nandy has consistently spoken out against anti-Jewish racism in the Labour Party and has acknowledged that a “particular sort of antisemitism has found its home on the far-left throughout history.” She added: “I have been a member of this party for twenty years, and what angers me most is the assertion that a person cannot be left wing and stand up to antisemitism — standing up to antisemitism is a core part of my values.”

Ms Nandy also criticised the handling of the revelations of historic antisemitic statements by Naz Shah in 2016 and opposed the readmission of the disgraced then-MP, Chris Williamson, in 2019, observing that “we have no right to pick and choose the type of racism we confront.” Although she sat in Mr Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet in its first few months, she, along with numerous colleagues, quit, helping to prompt the 2016 leadership contest.

Ms Nandy participated in an event at the Labour Party conference in 2019 that featured Omar Barghouti (appearing via video link), who rejects Israel as a Jewish State and is a prominent figure in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of Jews find intimidating. However, Ms Nandy left the room before Mr Barghouti spoke. More recently, Ms Nandy endorsed a troubling platform of policies issued by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which we have found to be riddled with bigotry.

Like her colleagues, Ms Nandy too is guilty of having stood by Labour even as it degenerated into an institutionally antisemitic party and campaigned for a government that would have been led by Jeremy Corbyn, despite the unprecedented fears of the Jewish community.

Ms Nandy has promised to implement the same policies as Ms Long-Bailey, including resolving cases swiftly and under a fixed timetable through an independent disciplinary process; prevent the readmission of prominent offenders and suspend those who supported or campaigned for them; implement the EHRCs recommendations in full; relate to the Jewish community only through genuine representative organisations; and engage Labour’s Jewish affiliate to provide antisemitism training.

In addition, Ms Nandy has made fighting antisemitism in Labour a central plank of her campaign and has pledged to take “personal responsibility” for doing so, including by introducing antisemitism training for members and staff and lowering the threshold for suspension over allegations of racism.

Sir Keir Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has served on Mr Corbyn’s frontbench in the influential position of Shadow Brexit Secretary and has been a vocal advocate of Mr Corbyn’s leadership. A former Director of Public Prosecutions, he has insisted, contrary to all the evidence, that Labour is not institutionally antisemitic (in an interview, incidentally, in which he conceded that denying Labour antisemitism was itself part of the problem). He has also claimed that Mr Corbyn is not particularly to blame for the antisemitism crisis that has engulfed their Party, but rather that there is collective responsibility, thus by his own admission implicating himself.

When Mr Corbyn’s defence of the antisemitic mural in East London came to light, Sir Keir declined to condemn the Labour leader, advising instead that Mr Corbyn “had given his explanation”. In case there was any doubt as to Sir Keir’s commitment to Mr Corbyn’s leadership of Labour and his effort to become Prime Minister, during the election campaign, Sir Keir reiterated that he was “100% behind Jeremy Corbyn”.

Having now lost the election and apparently recognising the political advantage of disassociating himself from Mr Corbyn’s leadership, Sir Keir has announced that “the handling of antisemitism [in Labour] has been completely unacceptable. It has caused deep distress for the Jewish community, which we must all accept responsibility for and apologise.” Sir Keir is hardly the first politician to offer cheap words; one suspects that there would have been little in the way of apology or responsibility had his ambitions of government been realised.

Sir Keir has insisted, like Lisa Nandy, that he would take “personal responsibility” for addressing Labour’s antisemitism crisis, and has proposed a similar agenda to the other candidates, including resolving cases swiftly and under a fixed timetable through an independent disciplinary process; prevent the readmission of prominent offenders and suspend those who supported or campaigned for them; implement the EHRCs recommendations in full; relate to the Jewish community only through genuine representative organisations; and engage Labour’s Jewish affiliate to provide antisemitism training.

Additionally, Sir Keir has proposed scrapping Labour’s National Constitutional Committee – the Party’s main disciplinary body – in favour of the new independent disciplinary process. He has also called for an end to the imposition of parliamentary candidates by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, a process that was blamed for numerous worrying candidacies at the previous General Election.

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.

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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Show Racism the Red Card gets its own red card as trustee bravely quits the charity in protest against its support for Ken Loach despite concerns of Jewish community

A trustee of Show Racism the Red Card has bravely quit from the charity over its support for Ken Loach despite the concerns of the Jewish community about the filmmaker’s record, according to the JC.

Azeem Ahmad resigned from the group’s Management Committee because he was “troubled and uncomfortable” by the charity’s refusal to reverse its decision to enlist the controversial director to be a judge in an anti-racism competition that it was running for hundreds of schools across the country.

Despite concerns being raised by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others regarding the appointment, Show Racism the Red Card stood by its decision before eventually reversing itself under pressure. Even then, however, the organisation partly blamed the “abuse” that Mr Loach was apparently receiving online. As we pointed out at the time, abuse is never acceptable, and Campaign Against Antisemitism hopes that Show Racism the Red Card was not suggesting that highlighting Mr Loach’s history of inflammatory comments on the subject of antisemitism and his consequent unfitness to serve as a judge in an anti-racism competition constitutes abuse.

Mr Ahmad quit before the group dropped Mr Loach from the panel, and his resignation was in reaction towards the insistence of the group’s CEO, Ged Grebby, that Mr Loach remain as a judge, as well as wider concerns over the charity’s stance on antisemitism in the Labour Party and the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Mr Ahmad told the JC that he had resigned after six years as a trustee in February, and that his resignation was accepted in March. He said: “What makes the whole antisemitism issue and the whole Ken Loach issue so uncomfortable for me is that Ged is very clear on what is and what isn’t racism. He knows what he is doing, and it is not like he doesn’t understand what racism is and how it can manifest itself. That is where I have been left deeply uncomfortable with the way the Jewish community has been treated. Not just with the Ken Loach issue, but also with Jeremy Corbyn’s appearance at (the charity’s annual) Arsenal stadium event. That last event the Labour leader attended after the EHRC investigation had been announced. That to me is deeply troubling.

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism also criticised the inclusion of Mr Corbyn at the Arsenal stadium event.

Mr Ahmad went on to say that this episode reflected deeper administrative failings at Show Racism the Red Card and problems over dealing with antisemitism. Noting that the criticism of Mr Loach’s appointment was due to be discussed at a trustee meeting on 21st February, Mr Ahmad recalled: “I knew the recruitment of Ken Loach was going to be a problem. There were public accusations of antisemitism being made (on social media) towards the chief executive of the organisation. They one way or another had to be addressed. It was the failure to do that, combined with an email forwarded to the trustees in which Ged sent an email from Ken Loach and all the other letters of support for him. At that point, I knew the decision to appoint him would have been upheld, it was a forgone conclusion. I just felt I couldn’t have anything to do with it, so my resignation got submitted via my solicitor on the morning of the meeting of 21st February where it was discussed.”

It also emerged that concerns from the Jewish community that had been relayed to Mr Grebby about the appointment were not discussed at the meeting.

Mr Ahmad continued: “I don’t want to turn this into a political debate but left-wing politics overrides the organisation, in my view. Through association, through the funders, it’s very much about doing what they want us to do. I’m not sure where the autonomy has been.”

Regarding Mr Grebby, Mr Ahmad said: “He has his vision. Things stem from that. He leads by statement, rather than through discussion. There has not been a great deal of consultative leadership.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has previously written in depth about Mr Grebby’s own problematic record.

Mr Ahmad also lamented Mr Grebby’s failure to “understand the value” of the International Definition of Antisemitism. “Where has the organisation been on this issue over the past two and a half years? To me it seems like a lost opportunity. A lot of the work the charity does is quite good.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has in the past also noted that Show Racism the Red Card describes itself as an anti-racism educational charity and appears to focus on discrimination and hate towards Black and Asian communities in the UK. It does not appear to offer resources on antisemitism.

Mr Ahmad spoke to this point as well, responding to Mr Grebby’s apparent insistence that the charity’s educational materials do include resources on antisemitism by saying: “That is just not true. I have never known any specific antisemitism activities that the organisation has run in the past. As far as I’m aware there has never been anything specific on it.”

“Ultimately racists are racists,” Mr Ahmad said. “They don’t care whether we are Jewish or Muslim, we are other.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds Mr Ahmad for courageously protesting Show Racism the Red Card’s failures to take the concerns of the Jewish community into account. It is probable that Mr Ahmad’s resignation helped to bring about about the reversal of the appointment of Mr Loach, and Mr Ahmad is to be commended for his principled stance. We hope that this will be a wake-up call to Show Racism the Red Card.

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Far-right group impersonates Extinction Rebellion to post inflammatory messages about ‘white Brits’ and COVID-19 online and in the streets

A far-right group has again impersonated the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion in order to post inflammatory messages online and on the streets about ‘white Brits’ and COVID-19.

Posters displaying the Extinction Rebellion font and logo have been observed in Bedford describing “white Brits” as an “endangered species”, while similar posters were seen in Brighton earlier this year. Local police are investigating the incident.

Meanwhile, online a fake Twitter account which purported to be Extinction Rebellion’s East Midlands regional arm declared that “Corona is the cure. Humans are the disease!” in reference to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The tweets showed pictures of posters in the local area displaying that message.

It has been suggested that both the posters and the Twitter handle are the work of a far-right group called the Hundred Handers.

The Hundred Handers is an anonymous far-right group that apparently takes its name from a many-headed monster in Greek mythology with a hundred hands, in reference to its practice of producing posters and stickers, disseminating them to its membership and expecting members in Britain and the United States to append them to public property. The initials of the name, HH, are also the intials of the phrase ‘Heil Hitler’ and are a common neo-Nazi moniker.

Extinction Rebellion has repudiated the posters and Twitter account, as it recently did its own co-founder after he used inflammatory language regarding the Holocaust.

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Disgraced Mira Bar-Hillel doubles down on mockery of JC’s Stephen Pollard’s cancer as CAA uncovers more of her repulsive anti-Jewish tweets

After Campaign Against Antisemitism denounced the journalist Mira Bar-Hillel for her recent spate of Jew-baiting tweets and mockery of the Jewish Chronicle’s editor, Stephen Pollard, over his cancer, Ms Bar-Hillel has doubled down, calling those who expressed their revulsion at her “unloved trolls” and Mr Pollard a “schmuck”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism, however, can now reveal more of her historic incendiary tweets, some of which breach the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Her tweets include:

  • Calling antisemitism the “biggest scam of the 21st century”;
  • Hoping that the Jewish people ceases to exist;
  • Claiming that Jewish toddlers are taught in nursery school to hate non-Jews;
  • Saying that Jews care more about the misfortunes of others if they are Jewish;
  • Contending that Jews do not believe that they can be perpetrators of hate crimes, only victims;
  • Applauding another Twitter user for “standing up to Jewish money”;
  • Claiming that “Jewish donors dictate [British] Government foreign policy”;
  • Saying: “How very dare Corbyn’s shadow cabinet seek to represent the 99.5% of our population who are not Jewish?!?”;
  • Saying that the International Definition of Antisemitism is “more about protecting Israel than British Jews”;

In view of Ms Bar-Hillel’s atrocious record of Jew-baiting, Campaign Against Antisemitism reiterates its call on newspapers never to publish Ms Bar-Hillel again.

Please join us in reporting her Twitter account.

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“F*** Jews” found painted on external wall in Gateshead

As the nation is in partial lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some anti-Jewish racists have taken the opportunity to paint antisemitic obscenities on a wall in Gateshead, in the north of England.

The phrase “F*** Jews” was found painted on the external wall of a property in a back lane off Whitehall Road this week.

The vandalism was reported to the police, and it is understood that the local council has now cleaned the wall.

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101, quoting reference number: CAD248 31/03/20.

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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“The unresolved crisis of antisemitism nearly cost us our soul”, says Jewish former MP Ruth Smeeth of Labour in stinging rebuke of Jeremy Corbyn

The Jewish former Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth, has declared of her Party that “the unresolved crisis of antisemitism nearly cost us our soul” in a stinging rebuke of the Party’s outgoing leader, Jeremy Corbyn, of whom she said: “his failure on anti-Jewish racism will rightly forever tarnish his reputation – and those around him in both Parliament and the Party.”

Writing in The House magazine, Ms Smeeth wrote of how “I experienced the horror of being a Jewish female Labour MP at a time when it felt that the leadership of my Party thought that Jews were fair game – something I still can’t believe I’m writing.” She went on to describe how “I sat in meetings with Corbyn as he refused to acknowledge that we had a problem or that he should take any responsibility.”

Referencing Mr Corbyn’s numerous failures to deal with antisemitism, Ms Smeeth observed how she was ignored, even abused. “The justification of ‘that’ mural; the ‘Zionists don’t understand irony’ video; his association with known Holocaust deniers; his support for Ken Livingstone, Chris Williamson and those who minimised the scale of the problem, and of course his ‘present but not involved’ laying of a wreath to honour terrorists who murdered Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Each time, I and others fought back.

“For three years, nearly every week, we would see yet another antisemitism scandal. Every week I, with others, tried to make Corbyn act to fix it…But we were ignored and dismissed – occasionally shouted at.”

Ms Smeeth described Mr Corbyn’s common refrain – “I oppose all forms of racism” – as “trite, emotionless and hollow.” She added that “It’s never a good look to deflect from your own racism by pointing out the problems with others.” The response from the Labour leadership was “shameful”.

Ms Smeeth also wrote of the “ignominy” of Labour being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), blaming Mr Corbyn’s leadership for having “indelibly stained us as a Party that tolerated racists.”

Mr Smeeth was referring to the full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party launched by the EHRC on 28th May 2019 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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Black metal festival with bands accused of promoting neo-Nazism moved to Edinburgh after Glasgow venue cancels booking

A black metal festival due to include bands accused of promoting neo-Nazism had its booking in Glasgow cancelled after concerns were raised, but it has now been moved to a venue near Edinburgh.

The event, which is tied to the National Socailist Black Metal scene within black metal music, was scheduled to take place in November 2020, but the Classic Grand venue in Glasgow withdrew, saying it would not provide “a platform to any form of hatred” after becoming aware of “certain connections to fascist ideology being associated with the festival.”

The organiser of the event rebuffed the suggestion that some of the bands promoted neo-Nazism, accused critics of a “witchhunt” and announced that the festival would proceed at an undisclosed, “privately-owned space” near Edinburgh.

Last year the event took place in Glasgow, and the organiser implied that the rescheduling of this year’s event, called Darkness Guides Us, was tied to logistical changes arising from the COP26 climate summit and COVID-19.

Some of the bands that have previously been subjects of controversy include Taake, Kalmankantaja and Satanic Warmaster. Last year, the festival sought to book a band called Korda, but the band was not permitted entry into the UK.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is monitoring developments.

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Synagogue’s online Zoom service interrupted by far-right hackers as American Jewish institutions also report incidents of antisemitic ‘Zoombombing’

A synagogue’s Friday night service conducted using the online video conferencing platform Zoom was infiltrated by far-right activists.

North Western Reform Synagogue (also known as Alyth) in North London was holding a virtual Friday night service last week, which was led by its rabbi and watched by some 250 members, when at least five far-right activists hacked into the chat room and sent multiple antisemitic messages.

The messages, sent over the course of about five minutes, apparently included references to world domination by Jews, as well as offensive descriptions of Black people. The chat room was shut down.

Congregants were reportedly deeply upset by the incident, and the police have been informed.

There have been similar reports from the United States, including from a Jewish school board president in California.

The phenomenon of ‘Zoombombing’, whereby Zoom video conferences are infiltrated by uninvited attendees who post antisemitic and pornographic images, is a growing phenomenon, particularly during the COVID-19 global pandemic, when communal, charitable and commercial institutions are communicating through such online platforms while personnel are secluded at home.

There are resources online that may assist with how to avoid Zoombombing, and Campaign Against Antisemitism urges users of Zoom and other platforms to be vigilant and take precautions, and to report antisemitic infiltrations to the police.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is able to assist victims and can be contacted at [email protected].

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Mira Bar-Hillel should never be published again after rejoicing that JC editor Stephen Pollard is driven to tears worrying over COVID-19 and his cancer

Campaign Against Antisemitism is calling on all newspapers never again to publish articles by the journalist Mira Bar-Hillel following a spate of Jew-baiting tweets, culminating in today’s sickening mockery of the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Stephen Pollard, for expressing concern over the danger COVID-19 poses to him due to his leukaemia and how the global pandemic is forcing him to come to terms with his condition.

Ms Bar-Hillel, who worked for the Evening Standard for 30 years, has over the past couple of months posted a series of appalling and incendiary tweets, including:

  • Suggesting that “the loudest Jewish voices demand a monopoly on the Holocaust”;
  • Replying to the disgraced Labour activist Rachael Cousins (also known as ‘Rachael Swindon’) to say that “Zionism” was going to take over the Labour Party;
  • Reiterating the claim that the Chief Rabbi and a prominent Jewish communal organisation are “staunch Tories”, a popular refrain for those claiming that prominent Jewish figures spoke out over antisemitism in the Labour Party due to a secret partisan agenda and scapegoating the Jews for the defeat of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in the General Election;
  • Circulating the false claim that Israeli Jews were responsible for the tragic death of a boy in a well, who had in fact been drowned by rainwater;
  • Implying that the Jewish community is in fact selecting the Labour Party’s new leader and suggesting that the Jewish community is involved in a “purge” of “socialists” from the Party;
  • Stating that “lies” are the “stock in trade” of individuals and organisations fighting antisemitism in the Labour Party, redolent of the prevalent belief among some that Labour’s institutional antisemitism crisis is a ‘smear’;
  • Insinuating that the Government is avoiding criticism for its policies on the Coronavirus outbreak because it can hide behind claims of antisemitism against its opponents;
  • Saying that “The ultimate irony is that the top tip in the (forged) Protocols of the Elders of Zion [an antisemitic tract from Czarist Russia that purported to show that Jews control the world] was ‘control the means of communication’. So, in 2020, far from being (wrongly) blamed for EVERYTHING, Jews must now not – even if guilty – be blamed for ANYTHING on pain of non-platforming”; and
  • Stating that “Jews never liked schwartzes”, using a Yiddish term for black people.

Reaching the climax of her animus, Ms Bar-Hillel has now tweeted a response to an article by Mr Pollard in which he describes the effect of the coronavirus on his life-threatening cancer and emotional wellbeing.

As Mr Pollard expressed in raw and heartfelt terms the feelings of many others in the current ‘high-risk category’ who fear that COVID-19 may kill them, Ms Bar-Hillel responded: “So @stephenpollard, the self-appointed Supreme Arbiter of who is and isn’t a proper Jew, witchfinder general of antisemitic Jews and enabler of Boris’s landslide, is crying himself to sleep as he contemplates his demise. It would take a heart of stone not to rejoice.”

With such a record of spewing revolting and prejudiced bile, no newspaper should ever publish Ms Bar-Hillel again.

Please join us in reporting her Twitter account.

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Disappointment as Boris Johnson praises Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at his last PMQs without reference to the fear he instilled in British Jews

At yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions, which was Jeremy Corbyn’s last as leader of the Labour Party, Boris Johnson praised the Leader of the Opposition without referencing his antisemitism and the fear he instilled in British Jews.

The Prime Minister said: “I wish to pay tribute to [Mr Corbyn] for his service to party and country over the past five years in a very difficult job. We may not agree about everything, but no-one could doubt his sincerity or his determination to build a better society.”

It was deeply disappointing that Mr Johnson did not reference the terror felt by British Jews at the prospect of Mr Corbyn becoming Prime Minister, which, according to polls, could have led to half of the Jewish community in the UK fleeing the country.

Honorary Patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism and former Labour MP Ian Austin, who quit the Party in disgust at the growth of antisemitism under Mr Corbyn’s leadership, summarised the outgoing Labour leader’s legacy as “A party poisoned by racism. Jewish MPs driven out. The EHRC investigation….What a disgrace!”

Mr Austin was referencing the full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party launched on 28th May 2019 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission 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 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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Following CAA’s intervention, Edge Hill Students’ Union suspends result of presidential election and opens investigation into new president elect’s behaviour

After Campaign Against Antisemitism publicised the troubling behaviour of Edge Hill University’s Students’ Union (SU) new president-elect and demanded action, the SU has now announced that it will suspend the result of last week’s election and open a full investigation.

The information about the candidate was originally provided to Campaign Against Antisemitism by a concerned student.

Sam Farrell, the new SU president-elect, recently dressed up as a Holocaust victim for a “Movie and TV Show” themed night out and was seen in images posted on social media apparently in striped pyjamas with a number appended, and wearing a cap, reminiscent of an inmate at Nazi concentration camps, with captions accompanying the images referring to “needing a shower” and “feeling gassed”. Then yet another social media post emerged in which he jokes about the billing for a club night saying: “pretty sure the Holocaust had better headliners”.

Mr Farrell went on to win the election last week and was due to become the SU’s new president. Mr Farrell had issued a lengthy apology, and the SU released a statement explaining why, despite learning of his behaviour in November 2019, it nonetheless permitted him to run as a candidate.

However, the SU has now released a further statement disclosing (extracted): “Due to new evidence [of Mr Farrell’s behaviour] coming to light and new evidence received by the University and the Students’ Union over the past 48 hours, new disciplinary action has also been opened. The Students’ Union will be fully transparent in cooperating with University counterparts in full should they wish to begin their own investigation, and the Students’ Union itself can confirm that it will be re-examining existing and new evidence as part of its new investigation. To be clear, the result of the SU Presidency election will be suspended until the result of any disciplinary procedure has been finalised.

“We do not underestimate the severity of this situation and the harm that the SU President-elect’s actions have caused.”

The SU will also be undertaking antisemitism training with the Union of Jewish Students.

Binyomin Gilbert, Programme Manager at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “We are very pleased that the SU has taken this step, and we will also be writing to the University to follow suit. Prejudice of any sort has no place on a university campus, and certainly not when it comes from a potential president of a students’ union. Jewish and non-Jewish students at Edge Hill deserve to be represented by someone who stands up for them, not someone who distresses them. It is right that the SU is taking this seriously, and we will continue to monitor the process to ensure that a suitable sanction is recommended and enforced.”

If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].

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WH Smith apologises for selling Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and immediately removes the books from sale

WH Smith has apologised for selling Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and immediately removed the books from sale.

The booksellers had been offering various editions of Adolf Hitler’s tome – apparently including the “Official Nazi Translation” and the “1939” edition – on its website, along with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious Czarist antisemitic tract.

WH Smith now says that it has “strict guidelines on the books it sells, and it is against our policy to stock books which incite hatred. These books have been immediately removed from sale, and we are investigating how this has occurred with our wholesaler. We apologise sincerely for any offence caused.”

This is the third time that WH Smith has been caught selling Mein Kampf, with the book previously found to be on sale in Jordan and Singapore. Campaign Against Antisemitism will be writing to WH Smith for an explanation and action.

Recently, both Oxfam and Amazon removed the same books from sale in their respective online shops.

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Teenager urinates on front doorstep of Jewish home while his friends look on and laugh

A teenager was seen urinating on the front doorstep of a Jewish family’s home while his friends looked on and laughed.

The incident took place yesterday on Oldhill Street in Stamford Hill and was reported 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: CAD3535 23/03/2020.

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.

(Image credit: Google)

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“Edge Hill has become synonymous with mockery of the Holocaust”: CAA to write to university after it exposes record of its newly elected Students’ Union president

After Campaign Against Antisemitism publicised how one of the candidates to become Edge Hill University’s Students’ Union president had recently dressed up as a Holocaust victim for a “Movie and TV Show” themed night out, more evidence has come to light of his mockery of the Holocaust.

Sam Farrell was seen in images posted on social media apparently dressed in striped pyjamas with a number appended, and wearing a cap, reminiscent of an inmate at Nazi concentration camps, with captions accompanying the images referring to “needing a shower” and “feeling gassed”. Now yet another social media post has emerged in which he jokes about the billing for a club night saying: “pretty sure the Holocaust had better headliners”.

Mr Farrell went on to win the election last week and will be the Students’ Union’s next president and the face of Edge Hill’s student body.

The student who originally spotted the photographs and contacted Campaign Against Antisemitism complained to the university at the time and Mr Farrell was advised to remove the images from social media, but apparently no further action was taken by the university and he was permitted to continue to stand in the election by the Students’ Union.

She said: “I feel this is very insensitive, inappropriate and not someone who I want to represent my university if he feels it is appropriate to mock such a devastating event like the Holocaust.”

In a lengthy statement, Mr Farrell said (extracted): “Despite what my past posts may suggest, I do understand the severity of making light of events from history, especially when that history plays a fundamental role in reminding us of the needless persecution of others. I only hope I can convey how genuine I am when I say that I now realise how naïve and ignorant my past behaviour was. It was wrong, it will not happen again, and it should not have happened in the first place. I will not attempt to justify the behaviour by saying it occurred before I was nominated for SU President, but instead want to learn from past mistakes.”

The Students’ Union also explained that “As a Students’ Union, we take matters of this nature extremely seriously and when the individual’s actions were first brought to our attention in November 2019 we formally took disciplinary action to deal with his inappropriate behaviour. The student fully cooperated and apologised…and reiterated that it was not his intention to cause offence. He fully understood the severity of these accusations and was also given an appropriate disciplinary sanction following a thorough investigation. Since then, the student has tried to make amends and has engaged in lots of proactive initiatives to support his fellow students.

“Edge Hill Students’ Union made the decision that he should be able to run for any student officer position after carefully examining their Election Bye-Laws, which state that complaints can only be made against a candidate’s behaviour during the time that they are a candidate in the election. Taking these factors into account and adhering to the National Union of Students official guidance, the student was allowed to continue to stand in the 2020 Students’ Union Elections.”

Binyomin Gilbert, Programme Manager at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Sam Farrell clearly didn’t expect any repercussions from his grotesque attempt at humour, and sadly Edge Hill University has proved him right. The university’s failure to discipline him when the incident occurred means that now, as he becomes the face of its student body, Edge Hill has become synonymous with mockery of the Holocaust. The university’s inaction is unacceptable, and we shall be writing to the administration and the Students’ Union demanding his expulsion and to the Charity Commission calling for them to investigate the institutional failure to address this matter appropriately.” 

If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].

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The Government has called for the help of volunteers and we are ready to play our part

Today the Government said that it would establish a network of hubs around the country to cater to the need of those most vulnerable to COVID-19, and that those hubs would partly rely on the help of volunteers.

We have already witnessed the best of our country coming together as the NHS mobilises to treat those affected by COVID-19, as manufacturers divert their resources to designing and mass-producing ventilators, as retired medical professionals answer the call from the frontlines for help, and as scientists hurry to develop tests and vaccines.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led organisation and many of our volunteers now find themselves at home with time and talents to contribute. We would be very pleased to hear from other charities or the Government as to how our volunteers can support the national effort. We have written to our contacts at 10 Downing Street to seek any direction from them as to how we can help.

Meanwhile, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies, Campaign Against Antisemitism endeavours to continue our work as usual. We are in particular seeking to expose and silence conspiracy theorists who are claiming that the pandemic is the work of Jews.

We have taken internal measures to avoid exposing our team to risks, but our charity is built to be extremely resilient and we are lucky to be able to rely on extraordinary volunteers. Nevertheless, our fundraising is impacted and your support will be even more gratefully received than ever before.

In this precarious period for the country and the world, Campaign Against Antisemitism wishes everyone good health.

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CAA wishes everyone good health in this precarious period

As the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak intensifies, Campaign Against Antisemitism endeavours to continue our work as usual.

We have taken internal measures to avoid exposing our team to risks, but our charity is built to be extremely resilient and we are lucky to be able to rely on extraordinary volunteers. Nevertheless, our fundraising is impacted and your support will be even more gratefully received than ever before.

In this precarious period for the country and the world, Campaign Against Antisemitism wishes everyone good health.

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Youth confronts Jewish man asking for money and knocks off his hat in laughter

A religious Jewish man walking on Upper Clapton Road in Stamford Hill was confronted by a male youth asking him for £1. When the victim replied that he was not carrying any money, the assailant threw off the victim’s hat (worn for religious purposes) in laughter.

The incident took place yesterday at 16:10 and was reported 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: CAD6529 19/03/2020.

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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‘Miss Hitler’ and accomplices convicted of membership in banned far-right terrorist group National Action

A woman who entered a “Miss Hitler” beauty pageant in order to attract new members to the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action, has been found guilty of membership in the proscribed organisation following a retrial in Birmingham Crown Court.

Alice Cutter, who is 23 years old, used the name “Buchenwald Princess” to enter the online ‘National Action Miss Hitler 2016’ contest in June 2016, weeks after her now ex-partner, Mark Jones, visited the execution room of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Ms Cutter was described as a “central spoke” of the banned group, exchanging hundreds of messages, including racist and antisemitic material, attending meetings with group leaders despite the ban, posing for a Nazi salute outside Leeds Town Hall in 2016 and attending a demonstration in York in May 2016.

Mr Jones is reportedly a “leader and strategist” of the organisation, as well as a former member of the British National Party’s youth wing. The court heard that he held “feelings of admiration” for Adolf Hitler and had a special wedding edition of Mein Kampf. He also gave a Nazi salute on his visit to Buchenwald’s execution chamber.

Also convicted were Garry Jack, 24, who reportedly self-identifies as a Nazi, and nineteen-year-old Connor Scothern, who was apparently a practicing Muslim and activist with the extreme anti-fascist group, Antifa, before joining National Action.

Another defendant, Daniel Ward, 28, pleaded guilty to being a member of National Action last year. He was jailed for three years.

The four convicted individuals will be sentenced at a later date.

West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit’s Deputy Chief Superintendent, Kenny Bell, said: “Being convicted of membership of this extreme right terrorist group is the same as belonging to other terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda or Daesh. They share a real toxic extreme ideology which is a danger to the public…This group was amassing weapons and recipes for bomb-making. They communicated through secret channels to recruit others to their cause. Left unchecked they presented a real threat to the public.”

(Photo credit: West Midlands Police)

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Even as Coronavirus keeps most people at home, antisemitism persists on the streets, as man shouts “all Jews look the same” at Jewish passersby

A man shouted antisemitic abuse at Jewish passersby, yelling “all Jews look the same!”

The man also mocked the wig worn by an observant Jewish woman passing by, saying “bird like you with a wig”, and told passing Jewish men, “go to the hairdresser to cut your curls,” in reference to their religious Jewish side curls.

The incident took place yesterday at 17:30 on Oldhill Street in Stamford Hill and was reported 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: CAD1504 19/03/2020.

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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MPs say UK Government shares responsibility for antisemitism in Palestinian Authority school textbooks and society

The British Government shares responsibility for antisemitism in Palestinian Authority school textbooks and society, MPs have said.

Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament, new Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis, a former teacher, bemoaned the “environment of institutionalised radicalisation” that prevails under the Palestinian Authority and observed that school textbooks there teach children to count “martyrs” (a reference to genocidal terrorists killed attempting to murder Jews), that “Jews control the world”, and that Israel must and will be destroyed.

“As a former secondary school teacher myself,” he explained, “I know just how impressionable young minds are and the impact that such messaging can have on pupils’ development, values and worldview.”

Reacting to the educational material in use, Mr Gullis said: “Make no mistake: this is antisemitism, and we must condemn it as strongly as we fight antisemitism at home.”

Another new Conservative MP, Nicola Richards, observed the prevalence of Holocaust denial in Gaza and under the Palestinian Authority and that the curriculum “push[es] prejudice and division”, concluding that this “proves that something is going seriously wrong”.

Labour’s Steve McCabe MP said in the debate that the UK government bore “some of the responsibility” because aid from Britain “fund[s] the salaries of some 30,000 teachers and officials” in the Palestinian Authority’s school system. “Let us be clear,” he said: “we are paying the salaries of those who designed and administer the curriculum and those who teach it.”

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One of the two candidates for President of Edge Hill University’s Students’ Union recently dressed up as a Holocaust victim

One of the two candidates running to become President of Edge Hill University’s Students’ Union recently dressed up as a Holocaust victim for a “Movie and TV Show” themed night out.

Sam Farrell is seen in images posted on social media apparently dressed in striped pyjamas with a number appended, and wearing a cap, reminiscent of an inmate at Nazi concentration camps. Captions accompanying the images referred to “needing a shower” and “feeling gassed”.

The student who publicised the photographs complained to the university and Mr Farrell was advised to remove the images from social media, but apparently no further action was taken and he was permitted to continue to stand in the election.

She said: “I feel this is very insensitive, inappropriate and not someone who I want to represent my university if he feels it is appropriate to mock such a devastating event like the Holocaust.”

Voting in the election closed on 17th March and the results are due tomorrow.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Sam Farrell should be expelled for his repulsive stunt. Someone who thinks the murder of 1.5 million Jewish children during the Holocaust is a joking matter at a time of rising Holocaust denial and antisemitism in Britain is clearly utterly unfit for any leadership position.”

If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].

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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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Michael Gove: Jeremy Corbyn wanted to “smuggle into our political conversation antisemitic expressions and antisemitic tropes”

Michael Gove, the Conservative frontbencher, has accused the leader of the Labour Party of trying to “smuggle into our political conversation antisemitic expressions and antisemitic tropes.”

Mr Gove made the remark at a reception in Westminster for the Mainstream UK group co-founded by the former Labour MP and honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism, Ian Austin, who quit the Labour Party in disgust at its institutional antisemitism.

Mr Gove, who serves as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, observed, however, that the British people rejected Mr Corbyn’s views and what those “acting in his name had argued for.” Mr Gove praised Mr Austin’s “bravery” and lamented that the term ‘Zionist’ “has come to be used as a term of abuse. We can see the way in which anti-Zionism has mutated, so anti-Zionism has become the new antisemitism.” He noted that “in the past you could be Jewish in the ghetto, or you could be Jewish but had to suffer disability under the law,” and that “more recently, antisemitism has taken a new form. That new form is to say that that expression of Jewish identity…either has to be removed or Israel has to survive on terms set by others.”

He also warned the audience, which included the BBC presenter Andrew Marr, that Mr Corbyn’s retirement as Labour leader did not mean that “toxicity” would not persist in the Party, and also that “in the same way as some choose to stigmatise and vilify the Jewish community, there are others who are equally willing to use stereotypes to vilify other people who are British, who are our friends and neighbours.”

The cabinet minister added: “What we must do when confronted with hatred and prejudice is stand four square against it. Put whatever political boundaries we have to one side.”

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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Oxfam apologises for selling antisemitic tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and removes it from online sale

The poverty charity Oxfam has apologised for selling copies of the notorious antisemitic tract, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and has removed the book from its online shop.

The antisemitic work was originally published in Czarist Russia in 1903 and, having since been translated into multiple languages, is still popular in parts of the world today. It is a fake record of a fictitious meeting of a Jewish cabal discussing its control of the world.

Oxfam’s marketing of the book was noticed by Israel’s ambassador to the UK, with a 1936 edition selling for £100 and a 2002 version available for £12.99. Reportedly, the English translations books were priced, photographed and put online by volunteers.

Oxfam released a statement saying: “As soon as the books were brought to our attention we removed them from sale and they are being destroyed. They should not have been listed.  We provide guidance to our staff on items that are not acceptable for sale. We apologise for the error and offence caused. We will look at steps to take to prevent it happening again.”

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Ken Loach won’t judge Show Racism the Red Card competition after all, but not for the reason you think

The controversial filmmaker and Jeremy Corbyn enthusiast, Ken Loach, will not judge a Show Racism the Red Card competition after all.

Show Racism the Red Card describes itself as an anti-racism educational charity and appears to focus on discrimination and hate towards Black and Asian communities in the UK and does not appear to offer resources on antisemitism. Earlier this year, the activist group again became involved in controversy over antisemitism following an invitation to Mr Loach to join a panel of judges for a school competition on creative anti-racism designs.

The group’s chief executive, who has his own troubling history in relation to the Jewish community, described Mr Loach at the time as a “valued supporter” and he said that he could not “think of two people better qualified to choose winners,” in reference to Mr Loach and another controversial judge.

But today the organisation released a statement saying that it and Mr Loach “have together agreed that Ken will not act as a judge for the SRtRC School Competition 2020.” The statement reaffirmed that Mr Loach “has been a supporter, and advocate, of SRtRC for many years. He is a member of our Hall of Fame, in tribute to the work he has done over many years in combating racism and his support is greatly appreciated.”

The statement went on to disclose that evidence had been presented to the organisation of Mr Loach’s support via email for an appeal by Pete Gregson, a Labour activist, against his dismissal. Mr Gregson has been suspended from the Labour Party and expelled from the pro-Corbyn pressure group Momentum and from the GMB trade union after suggesting that the Holocaust was exaggerated and for abusive behaviour towards a female Jewish Labour member. Mr Gregson is the founder of Labour Against Zionism and Islamophobic Racism (Lazir) and was a guest speaker at an event organised by Keep Talking, a conspiracy theorist group that brings the far-right and far-left together.

The statement claims that Mr Loach “has since unequivocally denounced and rejected Peter Gregson for his antisemitism and behaviour, now that Gregson’s antisemitic behaviour and comments have been drawn to his attention. Ken Loach accepts a mistake in expressing support for Peter Gregson and in failing to contact the GMB prior to his reply to him…SRtRC and Ken Loach unreservedly support the GMB in the decision to expel Peter Gregson.”

However, although this revelation is implicitly a reason for Mr Loach’s withdrawal as a judge, the statement adds that “a significant factor in Ken Loach’s decision is the abuse online and in person that he and his family have received. It is profoundly distressing, and he is very concerned to protect those closest to him.”

Abuse is never acceptable, and Campaign Against Antisemitism hopes that Show Racism the Red Card is not suggesting that highlighting Mr Loach’s history of inflammatory comments on the subject of antisemitism and his consequent unfitness to serve as a judge in an anti-racism competition constitutes abuse.

Mr Loach’s voice has been among the loudest of those who attempt to dismiss Labour’s antisemitism crisis as non-existent and a right-wing smear campaign. He claimed that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was subjected to a “torrent of abuse” that was “off the scale” and that regardless of what he did, the “campaign” of antisemitism accusations was “going to run and run”. He described the BBC’s Panorama investigation into Labour antisemitism as “disgusting because it raised the horror of racism against Jews in the most atrocious propagandistic way, with crude journalism…and it bought the propaganda from people who were intent on destroying Corbyn.” He was also reportedly behind a motion passed by Bath Labour Party branding the Panorama programme a “dishonest hatchet job with potentially undemocratic consequences” and asserting that it “disgraced the name of Panorama and exposed the bias endemic within the BBC.” John Ware, the programme’s reporter, is apparently considering legal action against Mr Loach for his comments.

In 2017, Mr Loach caused outrage when, during an interview with the BBC, he refused to denounce Holocaust denial. The International Definition of Antisemitism states that “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 a manifestation of antisemitism. Although Mr Loach later sought to clarify his remarks, he has continued to make inflammatory and provocative statements about Labour’s antisemitism scandal. While speaking at a meeting of the Kingswood Constituency Labour Party, Mr Loach advocated the removal from the Party of those Labour MPs, some of whom are Jewish, who have taken a principled stand against antisemitism. Shortly after that incident, the Labour Party announced that it would no longer use Mr Loach as a producer of their election broadcasts.

Mr Loach’s record should have been sufficient to disqualify him as a prospective judge in an anti-racism competition, and it is regrettable that further evidence of his disconcerting views had to come to light before Show Racism the Red Card reversed its decision to enlist him. Still, Show Racism the Red Card is at pains to defend and praise Mr Loach instead of cutting ties completely. Evidently, some types of racism are more tolerable than others.

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“The Jews invented Coronavirus”: Antisemites waste no time blaming the Jews for COVID-19 and say the proof will be if Israel is first to develop vaccine

Antisemites have wasted no time in blaming Jews for the COVID-19 outbreak or hoping that Jews are disproportionately impacted by it.

One commentator on Turkish television explained that “Jews, Zionists have organised and engineered the novel coronavirus as a biological weapon just like bird flu” in order to “design the world, seize countries and neuter the world’s population.” Some have claimed that the proof of Jewish involvement would be if Israel invented the vaccine.

An Iraqi political analyst has claimed that the novel coronavirus is an American and Jewish plot to reduce the world’s population.

A professor at California State University predicted that Israel would use the virus as an opportunity to put all the non-Jews in prison.

On Twitter, one user joked that the novel coronavirus is not as bad as the Jews because it does not kill children, a comment invoking the antisemitic blood libel.

Another user urged the President of the United States to use the virus as an opportunity to expel the Jews.

Others insisted that the Jews invented the virus or hoped that the cure would be pork-based in the belief that this might mean the Jews could not use it.

The notion that the Jews have a sinister role in global pandemics goes back at least to the Black Plague, when, during the period from 1348 to 1351, there were attacks on Jewish communities which were scapegoated for the epidemic.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is monitoring for UK-based examples of such antisemitic conspiracy theories, the promotion of which would be very likely to constitute a criminal offence.

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, Campaign Against Antisemitism is continuing our work as usual. We have taken internal measures to avoid exposing our team to risks, but our charity is built to be extremely resilient and we are lucky to be able to rely on extraordinary volunteers. Our ability to raise funds has been impacted however and we would be especially grateful for donations at this time. We wish everyone good health.

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York to mark 830th anniversary of city’s massacre of Jewish community

York is to mark the 830th anniversary of the city’s massacre of its Jewish community on 16th March at York Castle.

The anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of the city’s 150 Jews in 1190 will also be used to commemorate the Holocaust and will take place under Clifford’s Tower, where the massacre took place after the community gathered there seeking refuge from the belligerent townspeople.

The event is due to include music, readings and lanterns.

York council’s executive member for culture and communities, Darryl Smalley, said: “York is proud to stand with others once again, to raise awareness and commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. We hope to see both residents and visitors join us at Clifford’s Tower memorial to show their support for York’s Jewish population.”

The massacre at York was one of a series of antisemitic pogroms in England in 1189-90 which also included Norwich and Lincoln.

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New Corbyn-backed chair of Labour’s disputes panel, Yasmine Dar, does not believe Labour has an institutional antisemitism problem, even as her brother is suspended

The new chair of the Labour Party’s disputes panel does not believe that the Party has a problem of institutional antisemitism, even as her brother is suspended over antisemitism allegations.

Yasmine Dar, a councillor in Manchester and member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), was elected this week to head up the Party’s disputes panel, which oversees its disciplinary processes.

Ms Dar has previously responded to the opening of an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in May 2019 by saying that “I haven’t seen any evidence that this prejudice among a minority of members is an institutional problem” and accusing the independent body of “political point scoring”.

The EHRC launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party on on 28th May 2019 following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

Ms Dar, a longtime backer of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who voted for her to chair the disputes panel, has also previously accused the “Labour right” of being part of a conspiracy to undermine Mr Corbyn, claiming: “Our Party’s bureaucracy was controlled by the Labour right until last year, who – recent leaked e-mails suggest – may have sat on antisemitism cases to destabilise Jeremy’s leadership.” She has also in the past expressed support for the Iranian Revolution, which brought an antisemitic genocidal regime into power.

Ms Dar’s brother, Majid Dar, has also reportedly been suspended from Labour over allegations of antisemitism, and there are concerns over the independence of the investigative and disciplinary process in view of his sister’s new role.

Ms Dar, a member of the unions Unite and Unison who also sits on Labour’s North West Regional Board, replaces Claudia Webb in the prominent role after Ms Webb, a defender of Ken Livingstone, won a safe seat in the General Election. Ms Webb was originally elected to the role in 2018 after her candidacy was proposed by Pete Willsman, another NEC member who has since been suspended. Calls to expel Mr Willsman have recently intensified.

A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The election of Yasmine Dar to replace Claudia Webb as the head of Labour’s disputes panel is another illustration of Jeremy Corbyn’s enduring legacy and shows not only that zero progress has been made in confronting the Labour’s institutional antisemitism but also that there is no will in the National Executive Committee to do so. Labour cannot possibly win back the trust of the Jewish community while it continues down this path.”

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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Green Party co-leader and mayoral candidate Sian Berry expresses “frustration” that her party still hasn’t adopted International Definition of Antisemitism

The Green Party co-leader and mayoral candidate, Sian Berry, has expressed her “frustration” that her Party has still not adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Speaking at a campaign briefing for the Jewish community, Ms Berry observed that motions to adopt the Definition have been placed before the Party’s conference twice, but blamed the failure to adopt it on other priorities for the membership. She also noted that she sponsored another motion for the Party’s Spring conference this month but that it was ruled “out of order”. She said: “That’s really frustrating to me because we didn’t get another chance to rewrite it to be in order. So it isn’t going to the current conference that we’re about to have in March.”

(The Green Party’s Spring conference has now been cancelled due to concerns over COVID-19.)

Ms Berry noted that she supported the adoption of the Definition by Camden’s local authority, where she is a councillor, and hopes the Greens will eventually do the same, as the Definition “gives you clarity on what is prejudice and where the line is”. She rejected the criticisms of the Definition on free speech, declaring them to be “unfounded”. “There is quite a lot of clarity in the definition,” she said.

Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomes Ms Berry’s remarks, her support for the adoption of the Definition in Camden and her continued efforts to secure adoption of the Definition in her 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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Leading journalist Robert Peston says Labour antisemitism so “toxic” he feels the need to declare that he’s a Jew before reporting on it

A leading journalist has revealed that Labour’s antisemitism crisis is so “toxic” that he feels he must declare that he is Jewish before reporting on it.

Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, made the remark at the annual Cudlipp Lecture, saying that “in the current febrile political climate, it matters – and I say this with regret – that I am Jewish,” as he described the “toxic question of antisemitism in the Labour Party.”

Mr Peston, who is the son of a Labour peer (although he has not been a member of a political party since he was 24 years old) and who recently moderated the Labour leadership hustings of the Party’s Jewish affiliate, describes himself as secular, and explained that “I feel I have to say [that I am Jewish] – because although I strive to be as impartial in covering this issue, as I would a general election, or reporting on a corporate takeover, I cannot shed my Jewish identity in the way that I can cease to be a member of a political party or can dispose of shares in a company.”

He went on to explain that “there is an argument, that because antisemitism is a personal issue for me, I should not report on it,” adding that he is “someone who believes in the importance of impartial journalism.”

According to Mr Peston, Seamus Milne, Jeremy Corbyn’s head of communications, criticised his reporting, saying it had “not been remotely fair or balanced and included a high degree of slanted editorialising.” The “low point” was Mr Peston’s interview with the Chief Rabbi following his courageous intervention in the general election, which Mr Milne cited as a reason not to permit ITV news to interview Mr Corbyn, Mr Peston said. Mr Peston maintains that the interview was “impartial”.

Referring to the Chief Rabbi’s intervention, Mr Peston said that “this alienation of an important part of a British community could not be ignored, which is why I was surprised – to put it mildly – that Milne cited it when disqualifying me as a suitable interviewer of his boss.” He went on to ask: “Would Milne or any of us have qualms about a woman journalist reporting on gender pay inequality or a gay journalist covering gay marriage in the church? I doubt it. In a way it is extraordinary any of this needs saying.”

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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Alison Chabloz falsely claimed that court officer agreed with her vile antisemitic views, investigation concludes

An investigation has found no evidence for the claim made by notorious antisemite and Holocaust denier Alison Chabloz that the court officer who handcuffed her told her that she shared her vile views.

In June 2018, Ms Chabloz was found guilty of breaching the conditions of a twenty-week suspended prison sentence. The sentence had originally been imposed following a private prosecution by Campaign Against Antisemitism when Ms Chabloz was found guilty in a landmark precedent verdict on incitement on social media and on whether the law considers Holocaust denial to be “grossly offensive” and therefore illegal when used as a means by which to hound Jews.

In September 2019, Ms Chabloz was released from prison pending appeal, and the next day posted a message on the alt-right social media platform, Gab, saying of her arrest in court a few months prior: “The court warden who cuffed me was the same warden who cuffed me in 2017 at Chesterfield Immediate Remand Court. We recognised each other and I reminded her that she had congratulated [me] when I had been released two years ago, saying that I was simply saying what everyone was thinking but didn’t dare to say out loud.”

Ms Chabloz repeated the claim the following day in a blog post.

Later in September 2019, Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court to investigate whether the claim about the court officer is true. GEOAmey, the firm that employs the officer in question, carried out an investigation and has now replied to Campaign Against Antisemitism to reassure us that employees “must not discriminate unlawfully against individuals or groups because of their racial group, religion or any other factor” and that such behaviour as that alleged is “not acceptable and will not be tolerated.”

Consequently, the investigator met with the officer in question in March 2020 and discussed the concerns. The officer “confirmed that she does recollect the female defendant” but “strongly denies the comments which have been falsely quoted as her words,” adding that “at no point did she ever agree with the opinions and racist views of the female defendant and in addition she does not and would never agree with such racist and antisemitic views.”

It is understood that the court officer has been employed with GEOAmey for several years, has an exemplary record and has recently completed the re-vetting process. Accordingly, the investigator concluded that she is “confident that the allegations are unsubstantiated.”

A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are grateful that GEOAmey took our complaint about Alison Chabloz seriously and investigated the matter. We are unsurprised that the allegations made by the notorious antisemite and Holocaust denier about the court officer have been utterly refuted and that the officer in question is as repulsed by the suggestion that she shares Ms Chabloz’s views as we are. The investigation has found that Ms Chabloz’s capacity to falsify history is not limited to cataclysmic events in the twentieth century but extends even to recent trivial matters in her own life.

“Campaign Against Antisemitism will continue to hold Ms Chabloz and her ideological allies to account, and will monitor with interest her appeal against her breach of the conditions of her sentence.”

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Labour members dismiss antisemitism in new poll but it persists in the Party at national and local levels and on social media

An overwhelming majority of Labour members believe that the problem of antisemitism in the Party is either exaggerated or simply non-existent, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by YouGov for The Mail on Sunday, showed that 53 percent of Labour members believe that the problem of antisemitism in the Party has been exaggerated and 25 percent believe that there is no such problem at all – a total of 78 percent.

However, the Party remains beset with allegations of anti-Jewish racism.

Ian Murray, one of the candidates for the position of deputy leader, sent out a campaign email to all Labour members in which he noted his endorsement from the Party’s Jewish affiliate and stated his intention to “tackle the stain of antisemitism in our Party.”

In reply he received numerous abusive messages, including claims that “the Jews thought they owned the Labour Party”; that Mr Murray is a “Mossad agent”; that he is associating himself with “a bunch of war criminals and latter-day Nazis who are committing genocide”; that Labour’s Jewish affiliate is “a political racist movement” which “prioritise[s] their race or religion ahead the Labour Party”; that Mr Murray’s “true loyalties lie…firmly in the CIA-Mossad HQ in Tel Aviv”; that antisemitism was being weaponised; that Mr Murray was being “manipulated by a biased media, in the control of an elitist group whose vested interest is to maintain the status quo and their financial interests and neuter Labour opposition”; that “the antisemitism charge [against Labour] is a smokescreen to validate the Israeli Government’s [policies]”; and that Mr Murray “should be protecting the majority of our millions of citizens not just a few thousand of a small minority.”

Mr Murray has reportedly forwarded the abusive messages to the Labour Party.

A Facebook group supporting another candidate for deputy leader, called “Jeremy Corbyn Group supports Richard Burgon for Deputy Leader”, which has almost 23,000 members, is replete with antisemitic material, as activist Gillian Lazarus has uncovered.

In comments on a news article about Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis’ speech to the American political organisation, AIPAC, one member commented: “the chief rabbit [sic] needs to sod off to the vile apartheid state and take [Sir Keir] Starmer with him.” Others asserted that the Chief Rabbi is politically conservative, implying that his courageous intervention during the General Election was motivated by partisan concerns; as one commenter put it: “he’s a lying partisan duplicitous b******.” One member simply called him a “traitor”, while another called the Chief Rabbi a “killer of children” in a comment reminiscent of the medieval blood libel against the Jews. The comments go on and on holding the Chief Rabbi accountable for supposed policies of the Israeli Government.

Mr Burgon does not have any administrative involvement in the Facebook group, although he also has his own very troubling record in his relationship with the Jewish community.

Another Facebook group – that of the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour – contained a comment suggesting that Labour leadership hopeful Sir Keir Starmer has “admitted he toasts the President of Israel every Friday evening” and therefore “I think we know where his money is coming from.”

Meanwhile, a Labour candidate for the Almondbury ward of Kirklees local council in the May local elections has reportedly been suspended by the Party after being accused of sending antisemitic tweets.

In tweets over the past two years, Paul Connolly apparently made reference to “Jewish hate mongers” and bribes from “the Israeli lobby”, but despite being reported to the Party a year ago has only now been suspended pending investigation.

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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“Move your car right now, I will kill you, you f****** Jew”: Minor parking dispute allegedly escalates into antisemitic assault

A minor parking dispute escalated into an alleged antisemitic assault in Stamford Hill.

The victim, a shopkeeper, tried to drive into St Andrew’s Mews from Dunsmere Road, where he has private parking for his shop. He found the route blocked, however, as a grey car was parked in the driveway obstructing the gates, thereby blocking access.

The driver, reported to be a white male, was seen walking away from the parked car to visit the supermarket.

The victim therefore parked his own car in front of the other car in order to attend to his shop.

The other driver then returned and, finding his vehicle now blocked, entered the victim’s shop to demand that the victim move his vehicle immediately so that he could drive away.

The victim said that he kindly asked the driver: “Can you please wait two minutes until I finish serving a customer?”

The driver then allegedly pushed the victim and said: “Move your car right now, I will kill you, you F****** Jew, I will smash up your shop and your car.”

The victim was left in shock and traumatised by the incident, which took place on 28th February and was reported to the police 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: CAD4828 28/02/2020.

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.

(Image credit: Google)

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SNP readmits Neale Hanvey MP following sanction, training and apology to Jewish community, in positive example of rehabilitation

The Scottish National Party (SNP) is understood to be preparing to readmit Neale Hanvey, a candidate who was suspended by the Party during the General Election after his historic antisemitic social media posts came to light.

Mr Hanvey was the SNP’s parliamentary candidate for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in the 2019 General Election, but during the campaign it emerged that he had posted antisemitic comments on social media in 2016, in one case comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, and in another case sharing an image of the Jewish financier George Soros depicted as a puppet master controlling the world.

Upon the revelation, Mr Hanvey issued an immediate apology, recognising, importantly, how at least one of his comments breached the Definition and saying that he was “genuinely and deeply sorry”. Nevertheless, the SNP suspended him, saying: “Neale Hanvey is no longer an SNP candidate, and his membership has been suspended pending disciplinary action. All support for his campaign has been withdrawn.” Despite the impact that this suspension could have on the SNP’s chances in the marginal seat, the Party took swift action. Mr Hanvey remained on the ballot under the SNP’s name, however, because the deadline for nominations for electoral candidates had passed.

Local SNP activists continued to campaign for Mr Hanvey, however, despite the calls from Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, for them to cease doing so and campaign for neighbouring candidates instead. Whether these calls were genuine or simply issued to appear to distance the Party from Mr Hanvey’s comments in the knowledge that the activists would ignore the calls anyway and help elect someone who appeared to be the SNP candidate is not known.

Mr Hanvey won the election but entered Parliament as an independent MP. He says that he has felt “tortured” by his punishment, has experienced an “internal moral panic” and is “earnestly trying to make amends”.

The SNP is now expected to readmit Mr Hanvey following a six-month suspension (dating from the original suspension rather than from his election) and on condition that he completes antisemitism training with a reputable antisemitism charity and meet with a Jewish representative organisation in Scotland to apologise.

Ordinarily, suspension pending investigation should not be treated as a sanction, but it may be in some circumstances and if combined with other sanctions or conditions. Moreover, it is significant that the social media posts were historic rather than current, and that, when it was pointed out, Mr Hanvey instantly acknowledged that his comments were racist and unacceptable and immediately and persistently apologised, and that the SNP took rapid action to suspend him and distance itself from his comments.

The SNP faced a deeper controversy when a Party official tasked with investigating Mr Hanvey on behalf of the Party was herself forced to resign after she described Israel as a “Nazi state”. It is likely that the Party therefore has more to do to eliminate antisemitism among its officials and members.

A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Different cases of antisemitism in politics will require different responses. The case of Neale Hanvey is instructive. When Mr Hanvey’s antisemitic social media posts were uncovered, he immediately apologised and has consistently shown contrition. When the posts were publicised, the SNP suspended him at once and its leader instructed local activists to cease campaigning for him (albeit that they continued to do so).

“Usually a suspension pending investigation should not be regarded as a sanction, but he began his tenure as an independent MP under suspension from his Party, will be taking antisemitism training with a reputable charity and will be meeting with a Jewish representative organisation to apologise.

“While we would rather that he undertakes the training before readmission, broadly-speaking this is a positive response from the SNP and hopefully will also show that an MP willing to listen and learn from his past prejudice can become a better legislator going forward. We applaud the SNP for its approach to Mr Hanvey’s case.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right, and that 42% of British Jews have considered leaving the UK, of which 85% cited antisemitism in politics.

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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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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Police officer arrested on suspicion of membership of proscribed neo-Nazi terrorist organisation

A police officer has been arrested on suspicion of membership of a proscribed neo-Nazi terrorist organisation.

The extraordinary development took place yesterday at an address in North London, where the twenty-one-year-old officer with the Metropolitan Police was arrested and a search was carried out.

The suspect reportedly works in frontline policing, but the Police insisted that there is no threat to the wider public. The case will be supervised by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. The offence carries up to ten years in prison.

Only two neo-Nazi terrorist organisations have been proscribed. One is National Action, which was banned in 2016 following calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Then, last month, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, proscribed the neo-Nazi Sonnenkrieg Division as a terrorist group as well. Sonnenkrieg Division is believed to be a Nazi Satanist violent sexual festish group that formed after a split with another neo-Nazi group, System Resistance Network, which is itself an offshoot of National Action.

Campaign Against Antisemitism continues to call for the proscription of System Resistance Network as well.

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Lord Pickles calls for reform in House of Lords after Jenny Tonge says Israel is America’s “puppet master” without sanction

Lord Pickles has called for reform in the House of Lords after Jenny Tonge called Israel America’s “puppet master” and received no sanction.

The peer, who is the UK’s Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues, has called on the authorities in the upper chamber of Parliament to “address the anomaly” that the disgraced Baroness Tonge, whom he described as a “Jew baiter”, can make an antisemitic statement in the Lords without censure.

Last week, Baroness Tonge described Israel as “America’s puppetmaster” in a remark in the House of Lords. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “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 an example of antisemitism, as is: “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism to characterise Israel or Israelis.”

In response, Lord Pickles said this week that he has “not the slightest doubt that she has breached” the Definition, adding: “It is shameful that the only place where Jew-baiters are immune from the consequences of their bigotry is the Chamber of the House of Lords. The House Authorities must address this anomaly.”

Baroness Tonge, who was suspended from the Liberal Democrats before eventually resigning, has a long history of Jew-baiting, denouncing Campaign Against Antisemitism, suggesting that the antisemitic attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue might be Israel’s fault, blaming Israel for a rise in antisemitism, and sharing a cartoon comparing Israel’s policies to those of the Nazis, which is a breach of the International Definition.

In December 2019, Campaign Against Antisemitism joined 88 members of the House of Lords in condemning remarks on Facebook by Baroness Tonge following the general election, in which she commented: “The Chief RabbI must be dancing in the street. The pro-Israel lobby won our General Election by lying about Jeremy Corbyn.”

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CAA lawyers considering legal action against SOAS if EuroPal, which promoted antisemitic conspiracy myth, is allowed to deliver antisemitism training

The controversial organisation, EuroPal, is scheduled to present a session on antisemitism at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on 7th March, despite the group’s history of promoting an antisemitic conspiracy myth.

The event is part of a day long student workshop titled ‘Advocacy for Palestine on Campus’, hosted by SOAS’s Palestine Society. The particular session is intended to “[look] comprehensively at the ‘new antisemitism’ and how it has affected Palestine advocacy at large, and what it means for pro-Palestinian advocacy moving forwards.”

It is outrageous that EuroPal could be invited to deliver a session on antisemitism, given its own troubling history. The organisation is reported to have published and distributed a pamphlet containing antisemitic conspiracy theories once employed by the Nazis and since by modern-day neo-Nazis and white supremacists such as the KKK.

The pamphlet – ‘Basic Facts on the Palestinian Issue’ – promulgates the Khazar myth, which is a universally discredited, derided, offensive and decidedly unacademic theory that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from a nomadic people in Central Asia who converted to Judaism during the Middle Ages. The theory’s sole purpose is to delegitimise the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in its ancestral homeland. It is unconscionable for an organisation that holds antisemitic views to be allowed on campus by SOAS for the purpose of delivering training in antisemitism.

SOAS has in the past refused to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism, despite growing concerns over campus antisemitism, thereby affirming the abysmal reputation of the university in the Jewish community.

A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “EuroPal has no place on a university campus. For such an organisation to lead a discussion on antisemitism is an insult to the Jewish community and to what is left of the integrity of the university, which is already known within the Jewish community as the School of Antisemitism.

“Time after time SOAS manages to fall short of the ever lower expectations accorded to it by the Jewish community. We are consulting our lawyers on measures we can take if this event goes ahead.”

Last year, the Equality and Human Rights Commission published a report showing that two-thirds of students who said that they had experienced racial harassment during the first half of the 2018/19 academic year did not report it to their university.

The former Universities minister, Chris Skidmore, has called on universities to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism, with the Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick suggesting that public funding for institutions that fail to do so may be in jeopardy.

If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].

Campaign Against Antisemitism is currently raising a litigation fund, a major focus of which will be to challenge universities through legal action. Please consider contributing.

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Antisemite who called Jewish parents “dirty Jews” and attacked their baby in pram found guilty of racially aggravated assault

A man who called Jewish parents “dirty Jews” three times and attacked their baby in its pram has been found guilty of racially aggravated assault.

The incident took place in broad daylight in August 2019 when Adam Cassidy confronted the family outside a Costa coffee shop on a busy high street in St Alban’s, north of London. One of the Jews was wearing a kippah (skullcap). The altercation was filmed and the footage went viral.

Mr Cassidy, a twenty-year-old who according to media reports was raised in Egypt, apparently claimed in court that the victims had called him a “dirty Arab” first, but this suggestion was rejected. Mr Cassidy also kicked hoarding at the family.

The judge said to Mr Cassidy: “I don’t accept your evidence. I don’t accept that anybody called you anything. Whether it was an accident when you bumped into the buggy I don’t know. That doesn’t excuse what you did and doesn’t excuse your response. There are plenty of words you could have used if you just wanted to be rude; this was motivated by a racial motive. It was obvious that they were Jewish because of their skullcaps and for that reason you said ‘dirty Jew’ three times.”

He was found guilty of racially aggravated assault and of using an antisemitic slur.

A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We see more and more of this sort of casual antisemitism on our streets and it must be punished and deterred. This is a welcome ruling, but now the court must send a message of zero tolerance for antisemitism through an adequate and severe sentence.”

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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Frontrunner for BAME representative on Labour’s ruling NEC reportedly suspended for antisemitic social media post

The frontrunner for the position of BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) representative on the Labour Party’s ruling body has reportedly been suspended for posting an allegedly antisemitic cartoon on social media.

Mehmood Mirza, the vice chair of the West Ham branch of the Labour Party, was considered the favourite for election to the post on the National Executive Committee, but following a complaint back in October 2019 about a cartoon he posted on Facebook, he has now been suspended.

The cartoon apparently depicted a man wearing a headband with the words “free Palestine” who had a sticker with the word “antisemitism” placed over his mouth. The cartoon was drawn by the controversial cartoonist Carlos Latuff, an artist who placed second in Iran’s Holocaust Denial Cartoon Contest.

Some activists expressed disappointment that Mr Mirza was allowed to run at all, given the complaint had been lodged some time ago. Nevertheless, he received 75 local party nominations – more than any other candidate – and was backed by the TSSA union and the Labour Left Alliance group.

At least five candidates have been suspended over the course of the campaign thus far, namely Jo Bird, Mohammed Azam, Graham Durham, Mehmood Mirza and Keith Hussein, albeit Jo Bird had her suspension lifted.

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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Police promptly remove Nazi graffiti from Kilburn McDonald’s

Police have promptly removed Nazi graffiti from a McDonald’s in Kilburn.

A swastika was spotted at 18:00 on Saturday 29th February at the fast food eatery on the corner of Kilburn High Road and Victoria Road in London.

A passerby reported it to the Met Police and applauded the authorities for their quick response.

Anyone with information should contact the police on 101, quoting reference number: CAD/6699/29/02/2020.

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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Labour asked Facebook to ban left-wing antisemitic social media groups that support the Party

The Labour Party has asked Facebook to ban left-wing antisemitic groups on its platform that support the Party.

It is understood that staff at the Party’s governance and legal unit contacted the social media giant last year to ask that eleven groups be moderated or removed because they contained antisemitic material.

The material is believed to include conspiracy theories about Jews, Holocaust denial and explicit expressions of anti-Jewish hatred.

In a meeting last October, Party staff handed over four reports containing hundreds of pieces of evidence to Facebook, and one of the groups, “Truthers Against Zionist Lobbies”, was shut down in December after an intervention by the celebrity antisemitism campaigner Rachel Riley. In a February meeting, the staff reiterated their request to Facebook and provided supplementary evidence.

The administrators are not believed to be current Labour members, although some may have been suspended or expelled by the Party.

In a statement, Facebook said that its standards “make very clear that there is absolutely no place for hate speech” on its platform.

The revelation comes as it also emerged that the largest Facebook group supporting the Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey is reportedly replete with antisemitic material.

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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Talent agency ‘Money Management’ defends then removes antisemitic Fagin image from website

The talent agency Money Management, which represents numerous celebrity clients, defended the use of an antisemitic caricature on its website, before apparently removing it.

The caricature, based on the Jewish character Fagin from the Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist, featured on the company’s website and apparently was also recently offered as part of an auction lot called “Antisemitism and Nazi propaganda”. It was also not lost on visitors to the website that the company’s name incorporates the word ‘money’ as well.

The company’s director defended the image, saying that he is a third generation Holocaust survivor and that he loved the Oliver! musical songs, including “You’ve got to pick-a-pocket or two”, which he noted was composed by a Jewish musician. He accused critics of having rushed to judgment.

However, the website now no longer appears to feature the image.

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Plaid Cymru reinstates an activist suspended over reported antisemitic social media posts with no sanction and will stand her as candidate for Welsh Assembly

A Plaid Cymru activist who was suspended over antisemitism has been reinstated with no sanction and will even stand as a candidate for the Party in elections for the Welsh Assembly.

Sahar Al-Faifi was reported to have made antisemitic comments on social media some years ago, which Plaid Cymru intended to investigate during her suspension. Ms Al-Faifi deleted and apologised for the posts, but a Jewish organisation involved in the case considered her response to be unsatisfactory, as other social media posts that she was asked to amend apparently went unedited for some time, reportedly including one that linked the London Bridge attacks to “pro-Zionists”. After pressure she has now deleted them.

Following her reinstatement, in a statement Ms Al-Faifi disclosed that a Plaid Cymru panel found on 8th January that “there was no need for sanctions”.

She apparently also shared an article on her reinstatement from a highly controversial organisation which read: “While antisemitism must never be tolerated and should be challenged wherever it is found, the use of the term as a political tool for shutting down criticism of the Israeli government devalues the experiences of those who face antisemitic abuse on a daily basis.”

Ms Al-Faifi has even been enlisted as a candidate for the Party in next year’s Welsh Assembly elections in South Wales Central. At her launch this week, she was joined by former Party leader Leanne Wood.

A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It would appear that Plaid Cymru suspended Ms Al-Faifi during the general election in order to deflect attention and pressure when antisemitism was in the public life, but after the spotlight shifted has taken zero disciplinary action against her and has even rewarded her with a candidacy position.

“Clearly Plaid Cymru believes some forms of racism are welcome in its Party and that antisemitism has a prominent place in its vision for Wales.”

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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Conspiracy theorist group showcases convergence of far-left, including former Labour members, with far-right to promote antisemitism

Infiltration of a conspiracy theorist group has revealed a convergence of the far-left, including former Labour members, with the far-right, which come together to promote antisemitism.

Among those who have reportedly attended meetings of the Keep Talking group are:

  • notorious antisemite and Holocaust denier Alison Chabloz, who became a Labour Party supporter in 2015 and against whom Campaign Against Antisemitism brought a private prosecution subsequently taken over by the Crown Prosecution Service, resulting in a conviction and landmark legal precedent;
  • antisemitic conspiracy theorist, James Thring, who has apparently been linked to the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke and who spoke unchallenged about Holocaust denial at a Keep Talking event, claiming that no deaths were recorded at the Auschwitz concentration camp;
  • obsessive poster of conspiracy theories and founder of the secret Facebook group, Palestine Live, Elleanne Green, who is a friend of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (who was also a member of Palestine Live, which indulged in Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories that Israel was responsible for 9/11), who accompanied the disgraced former MP Chris Williamson to court when he brought proceedings against the Labour Party over his suspension in connection with belittling antisemitism, and who was suspended by Labour in July 2018;
  • suspended Labour member Pete Gregson, who was expelled from the pro-Corbyn pressure group Momentum and from the GMB trade union and suspended from the Party after suggesting that the Holocaust was exaggerated and for abusive behaviour towards a female Jewish Labour member, who went on to found Labour Against Zionism and Islamophobic Racism (Lazir), and who was a guest speaker at a Keep Talking event;
  • American-Israeli activist Miko Peled, who has said that people should be free to ask “Holocaust, yes or no” because “there should be no limits on the discussion,” and has compared Israel to the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism;
  • co-founder of Keep Talking, Ian Fantom, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who has appeared at a Keep Talking event with Piers Corbyn, the Labour leader’s older brother;
  • notorious Holocaust denier, Nick Kollerstrom, who has reportedly described Auschwitz as “storybook gas chambers”; and
  • alleged Holocaust revisionist and former Labour councillor, Gill Kaffash, who was a former secretary of the Camden branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

The exposé was a years-long project by the Community Security Trust and Hope Not Hate.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has long warned of the nexus between the far-right and the far-left. Our Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that Mr Corbyn was the candidate of choice for those holding antisemitic views and that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

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 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.

We are seeking to recruit a General Counsel a Creative Communications and Events Officer a Communications and Research Manager an Education and Outreach Intern 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.