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Jewish women reportedly targeted with antisemitic abuse on London bus

A man reportedly made Jewish women the targets of antisemitic abuse on a London bus.

The alleged incident was said to have taken place on 9th June at 14:00 on the 106 bus towards 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: CAD 4080/11JUN23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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Solihull man who shared neo-Nazi material about Jews sentenced to prison

A man who shared neo-Nazi material about Jews has been sentenced to prison after being found guilty of stirring up hatred.

Richard Osborne, 53 from Solihull, shared far-right content which took aim at Jewish people and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

He received a sentence of three years and ten months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of publishing material intended to provoke racial hatred and homophobia.

He also expressed support for the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action. The group was proscribed by the British Government following repeated calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.

In a search of Mr Osborne’s home, police discovered a shotgun under his bed and he was charged with possession without a license. Additionally, a baton that was made from a metal bar was found in his car, leading to a further charge of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

During a court appearance last month, Mr Osborne pleaded guilty to all charges.

Detective Superintendent Anastasia Miller, from Counter-Terrorism Police West Midlands, said: “By pleading guilty, Osborne admitted he held extreme far-right views and through our investigation we were able to provide clear evidence he supported white supremacists as well as a proscribed far-right group banned by the Government. Someone who holds extreme views against those that don’t look like him or hold the same views is not welcome in our society. 

“Today’s sentence should be a clear message to those who intend to spread hate and terror, we will continue to work with partners and the CPS to protect our communities by pursuing and prosecuting such individuals. We work tirelessly to counter terrorism. Our absolute priority is to ensure the safety and security of the people who live, work and visit the West Midlands area.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: West Midlands Police

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Elderly Jewish man walking with wife and grandchild reportedly punched in the eye by cyclist in London

An identifiably Jewish man, who was walking with his wife and nine-month-old grandchild, was reportedly punched in the eye by a cyclist in north London. 

It was also reported that the man was treated by Hatzola, the Jewish volunteer medical service, before having to go to the hospital for further treatment.

The alleged incident was said to have taken place on 8th June at 15:15 on the River Lea pathway, at the bottom of Saw Mill Way, 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: CAD 3715/11Jun23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

Image credit: Google

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“This is what you deserve”: Identifiably Jewish children allegedly victims of assault

Two identifiably Jewish children have allegedly been made the victims of an assault.

The suspect, described as a man in a white top, reportedly wiped his dirty hands on one of the children’s clothes before saying: “This is what you deserve.”

The alleged incident was said to have taken place on 8th June at 17:15 on the corner of Cranwich Road and Denver Road 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: CAD 3715/11Jun23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

Image credit: Google

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Jewish women and children reportedly chased and assaulted by man yelling antisemitic slurs in Stamford Hill

Jewish women and children were reportedly chased and assaulted by a man yelling antisemitic slurs in Stamford Hill.

The suspect has been described as being a man of around 25 years of age.

The alleged incident was said to have taken place on 31st May at 9:30 outside Berry’s The Kosher Food Store 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: 4614772/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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Jewish man reportedly struck after being accosted for cigarette

A Jewish man in Stamford Hill was reportedly struck after being accosted for a cigarette.

The suspect, who is also accused of yelling antisemitic slurs, has been described as being a slim, short man of around 25 years of age who wore a blue jacket and black trousers.

The alleged incident was said to have taken place on 1st June at 9:30 on the corner of Stamford Hill and Linthorpe Road 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: 4614532/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

Image credit: Google

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Jewish man allegedly assaulted leaving synagogue in North London

A Jewish man was allegedly assaulted whilst leaving a synagogue in the north London area of Stamford Hill.

He was said to have been shoved by a slim man around 25 years of age in a blue jacket who yelled “F*** Jew”.

The alleged incident was said to have taken place on 3rd June at 12:10 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: CRIS: 4614771/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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CAA launches witness appeal following video of man swearing and saying “f*** Jews” on London bus

Campaign Against Antisemitism has launched a witness appeal following video footage of a man swearing at someone and saying “f*** Jews”.

This incident reportedly took place this past weekend on the 56 bus to St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is in touch with the victim and providing assistance. Those with information should e-mail [email protected].

The footage was originally uploaded by StopAntisemitism.org.

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Jewish TOWIE star reveals antisemitic abuse

A Jewish cast member of the reality television programme The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) has revealed on a podcast that she has received antisemitic messages.

Courtney Green, 27, who was one of the stars of TOWIE’s seventeenth season, said that while she has enjoyed aspects of fame, she has also received unwanted attention from antisemites.

She said that the messages, which were sent through social media to her and her family, were “heartbreaking”.

She added: “I never thought it would happen to me.” 

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MPs condemn Roger Waters as his London concerts see further comparisons between Israelis to Nazis and unhinged rants 

As Roger Waters made further comparisons between Israelis to Nazis and embarked on unhinged rants during his London concerts this past Tuesday and Wednesday, Members of Parliament have expressed condemnation. 

The MPs’ criticism came as Campaign Against Antisemitism and other communal groups have placed pressure on the venues hosting Mr Waters.

On Tuesday at London’s O2 Arena, the musician railed against Labour Party MP Christian Wakeford, who last month posted a letter to Twitter in which he said that Mr Waters’ upcoming Manchester performance should be called off.

Mr Waters, stopping during his performance to embark on a rant to the thousands of paying concert-goers, said that Mr Wakeford was “working for his “masters in the Foreign Office in Tel Aviv”, before calling him a “cripple”. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to Manchester’s AO Arena over their hosting of Mr Waters next week.

Mr Waters went on to defend the antisemitic former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, shouting: “I’ve watched other people be cancelled. I watched Jeremy Corbyn be cancelled by the Israeli lobby. That was what happened in 2019 and if it hadn’t happened we might have had the first decent Labour prime minister for f***ing 50 years, because he cared about the working classes.” 

This echoed sentiments expressed by Mr Waters’ during a recent concert at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena, when he claimed that “They’re trying to cancel me like they cancelled Jeremy Corbyn and Julian Assange” and that the furore was “all coming from Tel Aviv, promise you”.

On Wednesday, members of Campaign Against Antisemitism captured evidence of the former Pink Floyd star comparing Anne Frank, one of the most famous child victims of the Holocaust, to Rachel Corrie, a person killed accidentally by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.

This is not the first instance of Mr Waters breaching the definition in this way. He recently drew criticism for brandishing the name of Frank next to Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was killed in crossfire between terrorists and Israeli security forces last year in the Palestinian Authority.

Towards the end of Wednesday’s performance, Mr Waters’ plunged into another unhinged rant, for which he seems to have become known, this time declaring that he loves all of his “brothers and sisters…irrespective of their ethnicity, or religion or nationality…well with one possible exception.” He then responded to former Pink Floyd lyricist Polly Samson’s charge that he is “antisemitic to [his] rotten core” in a tweet from February, telling his laughing fans: “All I have to say about Polly Samson is: imagine waking up to that every morning.” 

Outside of the O2 Arena, Campaign Against Antisemitism interviewed fans of Mr Waters to find out what they thought about his comments, resulting in accusations of antisemitism being “weaponised” and admiration expressed for Mr Corbyn. The interview can be watched here.

Amidst the news surrounding Mr Waters’ incendiary comments, he appears to have gained the support of known antisemites.

David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, took to the social media platform Gab where he appeared to defend Mr Waters. In a similar fashion, the antisemitic hate preacher and conspiracy theorist David Icke used his own platform to display empathy for Roger Waters.

However, MPs have expressed their condemnation of Mr Waters. Labour Party leader Sir Keir Stamer said that while “many people will think of Roger Waters as famous for being a member of one of the most important bands in history,” he is now “more synonymous with spreading deeply troubling antisemitism”.

Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said in regard to Mr Waters’ recent remarks that “antisemitic rhetoric like this is completely shameful and totally inappropriate.”

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, said that Mr Waters fell short of the “societal expectation placed on people with a significant public profile to behave responsibly and not abuse their platform.”

Barbara Keeley, the Labour Party MP for Worsley and Eccles South, also sharply criticised Mr Waters, stating that his “actions and comments are completely unacceptable and are antisemitic”. 

Recently a spokesperson for the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said that Mr Khan “fully understands the significant concerns from within the Jewish community and condemns the use of antisemitism imagery”.

Additionally, the US State Department  said that Mr Waters’ performance “contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimised the Holocaust,” adding that “The artist in question has a long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people.”

Disgracefully, however, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, praised the musician on social media, tweeting that the criticism of Mr Waters, who she described as “an immense artist and true icon of our time, a champion of human rights and justice” is “absolutely shocking.”

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently launched a petition calling on venues to stop hosting Mr Waters owing to his long history of baiting Jews, which he has now taken to the next level. You can sign the petition here.

In 2022, in an October episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mr Waters denied being an antisemite, before going on to address a past concert in which he unveiled a balloon pig with a Star of David, alongside other various symbols, emblazoned on its side. He said: “Well, it’s a symbol of an oppressive state. I am lumping you in but it’s not just you.”

He continued: “But that is just me criticising the policies of your government and I’m afraid the Star of David does represent the nation that is committing the crime of apartheid every day, and murdering Palestinians every day. Men women and children, every single day. So yeah, I did [put the Star of David on the side of a pig], and I’m unapologetic about it.”

Mr Waters openly criticised the International Definition of Antisemitism, complaining that “It’s not just me…they smear anyone, anyone, who dares to suggest there’s something bad about their policies. So that’s why the [Definition] is so bad, and so dangerous.”

Taking issue with one of the examples in the Definition, the musician went on to say that the Definition “can’t mean” that the State of Israel should not be criticised for behaving “like people in the past…towards Jews in Northern Europe.” 

In 2021, Mr Waters claimed that antisemitism is a “smear sword wielded at the behest of the Israeli Government”, stating: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, [was] specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”

In 2020, the musician said that Zionism needs to be “removed” and also said that American leaders are puppets of the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Mr Waters has also claimed that Israel teaches America how to “murder the blacks”. He later apologised for this latter remark.

In 2013, he reportedly claimed that there is a “Jewish lobby” in the music industry.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It says something about Roger Waters that he incessantly needs to insist that he is not an antisemite. He has a penchant for breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism, has claimed that antisemitism is used as a ‘smear’, and has a long history of baiting Jews. That record has now even attracted the positive attention of the former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and antisemitic hate preacher David Icke. That might have given any other celebrity some pause.

“That Mr Waters’ latest show includes a visual equation of Israelis to Nazis, which extends his record of making such comparisons, is all the more reason for venues to steer clear of him. Artistic freedom does not justify hate.”

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“Jewish communities are not oppressed”: CAA interviews Roger Waters’ fans to disturbing results

Campaign Against Antisemitism has published an interview with fans of Roger Waters, the Jew-baiting musician and former Pink Floyd member, about their thoughts on Mr Waters’ recent comments, resulting in accusations of antisemitism being “weaponised” and admiration expressed for the antisemitic former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn. 

The interview, filmed outside of London’s O2 Arena, can be watched here.

One interviewee said that “the weaponisation of antisemitism has gone too far…not just [with] Roger Waters. With everybody. Especially with Jeremy Corbyn as well.”

The man continued: “There was a problem with antisemitism in the Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn was not a part of that.”

Another person echoed those sentiments, claiming: “They’re trying to Corbynise Roger Waters.”

A woman who was asked if she felt Mr Waters had crossed a line in his comments or actions, which has included repeated comparisons between Israelis to Nazis, responded that he was not antisemitic as he was the “voice of the oppressed”.

Asked whether that included Jews, she said: “No, the voice of the people from the Jewish communities are not oppressed.” 

Another interviewee bizarrely blamed the outrage at Mr Waters on “Jerusalem’s power”.

“Because Jerusalem has lots of power,” she said, “no one tells anything because, unfortunately, those are like, kind of very political agreements and if you have enough power, no one will say anything if you are putting your power above another community.”

She confirmed that she felt that “because of Israeli power, people are afraid to speak out”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism and other communal groups have placed pressure on the venues hosting Mr Waters.

On Tuesday at London’s O2 Arena, the musician railed against Labour Party MP Christian Wakeford, who last month posted a letter to Twitter in which he said that Mr Waters’ upcoming Manchester performance should be called off. Mr Waters, stopping during his performance to embark on a rant to the thousands of paying concert-goers, said that Mr Wakeford was “working for his “masters in the Foreign Office in Tel Aviv”, before calling him a “cripple”. 

Mr Waters went on to defend Mr Corbyn, shouting: “I’ve watched other people be cancelled. I watched Jeremy Corbyn be cancelled by the Israeli lobby. That was what happened in 2019 and if it hadn’t happened we might have had the first decent Labour prime minister for f***ing 50 years, because he cared about the working classes.” 

This echoed sentiments expressed by Mr Waters’ during a recent concert at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena, when he claimed that “They’re trying to cancel me like they cancelled Jeremy Corbyn and Julian Assange” and that the furore was “all coming from Tel Aviv, promise you”.

On Wednesday, members of Campaign Against Antisemitism captured evidence of the former Pink Floyd star comparing Anne Frank, one of the most famous child victims of the Holocaust, to Rachel Corrie, a person killed accidentally by the Israeli Defence Forces. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.

This is not the first instance of Mr Waters breaching the definition in this way. He recently drew criticism for brandishing the name of Frank next to Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was killed in crossfire between terrorists and Israeli security forces last year in the Palestinian Authority.

Towards the end of Wednesday’s performance, Mr Waters’ plunged into another unhinged rant, for which he seems to have become known, this time declaring that he loves all of his “brothers and sisters…irrespective of their ethnicity, or religion or nationality…well with one possible exception.” He then responded to former Pink Floyd lyricist Polly Samson’s charge that he is “antisemitic to [his] rotten core” in a tweet from February, telling his laughing fans: “All I have to say about Polly Samson is: imagine waking up to that every morning.” 

In 2022, in an October episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mr Waters denied being an antisemite, before going on to address a past concert in which he unveiled a balloon pig with a Star of David, alongside other various symbols, emblazoned on its side. He said: “Well, it’s a symbol of an oppressive state. I am lumping you in but it’s not just you.”

He continued: “But that is just me criticising the policies of your government and I’m afraid the Star of David does represent the nation that is committing the crime of apartheid every day, and murdering Palestinians every day. Men women and children, every single day. So yeah, I did [put the Star of David on the side of a pig], and I’m unapologetic about it.” Mr Waters openly criticised the International Definition of Antisemitism, complaining that “It’s not just me…they smear anyone, anyone, who dares to suggest there’s something bad about their policies. So that’s why the [Definition] is so bad, and so dangerous.”

Taking issue with one of the examples in the Definition, the musician went on to say that the Definition “can’t mean” that the State of Israel should not be criticised for behaving “like people in the past…towards Jews in Northern Europe.” 

In 2021, Mr Waters claimed that antisemitism is a “smear sword wielded at the behest of the Israeli Government”, stating: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, [was] specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”

In 2020, the musician said that Zionism needs to be “removed” and also said that American leaders are puppets of the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Mr Waters has also claimed that Israel teaches America how to “murder the blacks”. He later apologised for this latter remark.

In 2013, he reportedly claimed that there is a “Jewish lobby” in the music industry.

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In deeply troubling move, Jewish Greens appoint expelled Labour councillor Jo Bird as senior official

The Jewish faction of the Green Party has appointed a controversial expelled Labour Party councillor as a senior official.

Jo Bird, who re-joined the Labour Party in 2015 when Jeremy Corbyn was running for the Party’s leadership, 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 Mr 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 has been a member of Jewish Voice for Labour, the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, and she has described Labour’s institutional antisemitism as based on mere “accusations, witch-huntery and allegations without evidence”.

Cllr Bird appears to have been expelled from Labour for her association with the proscribed antisemitism-denial group, Labour Against the Witchhunt.

Cllr Bird then joined the Green Party last year, after Campaign Against Antisemitism long warned of the danger of controversial activists who have left the Labour Party joining the Greens instead.

She has now been appointed as co-Secretary of Jewish Greens, which describes itself as the “first port of call within the Party for educational purposes and Jews and Judaism.” It also promotes antisemitism training for Green Party members.

Cllr Bird is described on the Jewish Greens’ website as “a councillor on the Wirral, coming from a long tradition of Jewish eco-socialists, passionate about equality, justice and fighting all forms of racism. Her grandfathers fought fascism in Europe as soldiers in the British army.”

Zack Polanski, the Deputy Leader of the Green Party and Treasurer of Jewish Greens, reportedly defended the appointment, telling Jewish News: “As the first Jewish Deputy Leader in British politics, I’m really proud of the work of Jewish Greens in the Green Party, working together to tackle antisemitism in society. Jewish Greens have our own internal democratic process to choose our executive and are doing important work.”

Last year, Ken Livingstone tried to join the Green Party but was prevented from doing so.

Our polling of British Jews found that the Greens were second only to Labour in how many respondents felt that the Party was too tolerant of antisemitism (43%).

Campaign Against Antisemitism has extensively documented alleged antisemitism among officers of the Green Party of England and Wales, including the Party’s former Equalities and Diversity Coordinator who now holds the International Coordinator portfolio, on which the Green Party has failed to act.

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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Dr Barbara Molas talks to CAA about acting as the expert witness in notorious antisemite Alison Chabloz’s failed appeal

Dr Bàrbara Molas, an expert on far-right ideology, online radicalisation, and prevention who works as a Research Fellow at the Current and Emerging Threats Programme at The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where she spoke about her experience acting as an expert witness at the failed appeal of the notorious antisemite Alison Chabloz, where she analysed the lyrics of one of Ms Chabloz’s songs for the court.

The two-day appeal hearing at Southwark Crown Court in February followed last year’s two-day trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court which concerned a video of the scene in the classic Oliver Twist film when Fagin, a fictitious Jewish criminal (a character that has come under significant criticism over the past century for its antisemitic depiction), is explaining to his newest recruit how his legion of children followers pickpockets. Ms Chabloz uploaded the video and sings an accompanying song of her own about how Jews are greedy, “grift” for “shekels” and cheat on their taxes.

The video appeared to be either a bizarre fundraising effort for her mounting legal costs due to numerous charges she has faced, including several ongoing prosecutions in which Campaign Against Antisemitism has provided evidence, or an attempt at mockery of Campaign Against Antisemitism for pursuing her in the courts.

During her appeal, Ms Chabloz tried to suggest that the video was part of a personal quarrel, as she had suggested throughout her trial, to no avail. 

Dr Molas told Campaign Against Antisemitism that her task in analysing the lyrics was essentially a “decoding exercising”, owing to the fact that Ms Chabloz “tried to manipulate the lyrics in ways that, for those in circles that endorse antisemitic ideas and far-right ideologies, would have been very easy to identify and very easy to relate to.”

The far-right expert said that she explained to the court that “it’s not just using coded language for humorous discourse or conversations, but actually using coded language to reinforce prejudices against the community that was targeted at that time, helping normalise those prejudices.”

Dr Molas said that the trial and appeal “allowed [her] to understand the extent of how coded language could be used to further the normalisation of antisemitism.”

While Dr Molas said that she found the task to be of interest, she also admitted that she had concerns for her personal safety, and revealed that she was provided support beforehand.

Ms Chabloz is a virulent antisemite and Holocaust denier who has an extensive record of using social media to publicise her hatred for Jews and to convert others to her views about Jewish people. Following a private prosecution by Campaign Against Antisemitism, which was later continued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Ms Chabloz became the first person in Britain to be convicted over Holocaust denial in a precedent-setting case.

Ms Chabloz is fixated on the idea that the Holocaust did not occur, and that it was fabricated by Jews and their supporters as a vehicle for fraudulently extorting money in the form of reparations. This forms the basis for her second obsession: that Jews are liars and thieves who are working to undermine Western society. Ms Chabloz is also connected to far-right movements, at whose meetings she gives speeches and performs her songs, in the UK and North America. She is currently banned from entering France, where Holocaust denial is illegal.

This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.

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Conspiracy theorists who spewed antisemitic rhetoric online and plotted to burn down 5G masts sentenced to jail

A couple who spewed antisemitic rhetoric online and plotted to burn down 5G masts have been sentenced to jail.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Christine Grayson, 60 from York, and Darren Reynolds, 60 from Sheffield, self-dubbed “Bonnie and Clyde with a box of matches”, planned to destroy the masts because they believed that they would be used as a weapon against those who had taken the COVID-19 vaccine. 

The couple had also gathered weapons, which included a crossbow and an M16 and an AK-47 replica assault rifle, in preparation for what they thought was the collapse of society. 

Additionally, the pair of conspiracy theorists encouraged attacks on MPs owing to what they perceived to be “treasonous behaviour” in relation to the country’s regulations on COVID-19.

Mr Reynolds took to the social media app Telegram where he said that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove should be “eliminated” and described Parliament as “a nest of Jews, foreigners, and collaborators”.

He also promoted the “Great Replacement Theory”, an antisemitic far-right conspiracy theory that claims that Jews are the secret masterminds behind a planned “invasion” of non-white immigrants into western countries with the aim of making white people a minority to further an insidious, but largely unclear, agenda.

Mr Reynolds later reiterated his online rhetoric when he told police that he believed “we are being replaced by the dark races” and that the Jews were behind a plan to bring about the “extinction of the white race”.

Additionally, it was reported that Mr Reynolds published links to repositories of far-right writing from people such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler, as well as the Christchurch mosque shooter, Brenton Tarrant, the Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist, Anders Breivik.

In a conversation between the pair on Telegram, Mr Reynolds said that they could be “the first male-female arson team”, with Ms Grayson replying: “Bonny and Clyde [sic] with a box of matches”.

She added: “Think we need a group for fire balling 5G.”

Although Ms Grayson later said that she did not share Mr Reynold’s racist views, she also said that Mr Johnson, who was Prime Minister at the time, was “not even English, he is Turkish, Jewish”, and that there should be “English people” running the country.

Mr Reynolds was found guilty of six counts of possession of material useful for terrorism and one count of disseminating such material and was jailed for twelve years, with an additional year on licence, owing to what the judge termed his “extreme right wing, antisemitic and racist views”.

Ms Grayson was found guilty of conspiracy to commit criminal damage and was sentenced to twelve months in prison, and will be released after spending nine months on remand. Judge Kearl told her that she would be released on licence, but failure to comply would result in her returning to prison to serve the remainder of her sentence.

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Vincent Reynouard appears in court ahead of extradition hearing

The convicted Holocaust-denier Vincent Reynouard appeared in court today.

Mr Reynouard, 54, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for a preliminary hearing in his ongoing bid to avoid extradition to France, where he faces imprisonment.

A new date has now been set for a preliminary hearing, in July, following delays to allow time for the content of videos, that are alleged to have been made by Mr Reynouard, to be translated into English, as well as other delays due to ill health on his legal team. 

Mr Reynouard has continued to post updates on his far-right blog, Sans Concession, despite being incarcerated as he awaits his extradition hearing.

It also is understood that, during his incarceration, a leaflet titled, “Holocaust? What’s Kept Hidden From You”, for the distribution of which Mr Reynouard had been convicted in France, has appeared online for sale on a British website.

Mr Reynouard was sentenced to jail for four months on 25th November 2020 by a court in Paris and again in January 2021 for six months, in addition to fines. His latest conviction is in relation to a series of antisemitic postings on Facebook and Twitter and a 2018 YouTube video for which fellow French Holocaust denier, Hervé Ryssen (also known as Hervé Lalin), received a seventeen-month-jail term earlier that year.

However, Mr Reynouard fled the country before serving his sentence and settled in the UK, where he reportedly worked as a private tutor teaching children mathematics, physics and chemistry. Private tutors are not required to undergo background checks.

In November last year, he was finally arrested near Edinburgh. In the intervening months, Campaign Against Antisemitism has been cooperating with French Jewish groups seeking Mr Reynouard’s extradition to France. Along with Lord Austin, an Honorary Patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism, we have corresponded with police forces and prosecutors in the UK and Interpol in an effort to locate Mr Reynouard and bring him to justice.

Scottish police arrested him at an address near the Scottish capital, where he was apparently living under a false identity. He was brought before a judge on the same day and refused extradition to France.

Earlier this year, Mr Reynouard appeared in court where he was served with a second arrest warrant, as the French authorities had allegedly made an error in their application for the initial arrest warrant. Paul Dunne, Mr Reynouard’s lawyer, said of Mr Reynouard: “He does not consent to his extradition to France.”

Mr Reynouard faces a sentence of almost two years in a French prison, in addition to any further sentence in relation to other ongoing proceedings.

The Office Central de Lutte Contre les Crimes Contre l’Humanité, les Génocides et les Crimes de Guerre (OCLCH) — the arm of the French gendarmerie that specialises in hate crime and war crimes — has been leading the investigation.

Mr Reynouard’s first Holocaust denial conviction was in 1991 for distributing leaflets denying the existence of the gas chambers at concentration camps. Holocaust denial has been a criminal offence in France since 1990. He has been convicted on numerous occasions and his subsequent sentences include multiple prison terms and a €10,000 fine.

Mr Reynouard is alleged to have ties to Catholic fundamentalist groups that deny the Holocaust. In a recent analysis of the French far-right, the newspaper Liberation claimed that Mr Reynouard and Mr Ryssen are key members of a network of propagandists dedicated to the denial and distortion of the Holocaust.

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Welsh teenager who daubed swastikas and “Nazi zone” on mural pleads guilty to criminal damage and terror offences

A Welsh teenager has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of criminal damage and terror offences after he was arrested for defacing a mural.

The seventeen-year-old defaced the mural in Port Talbot with numerous swastikas, the words “Nazi zone”, and the number 1488. 

1488 is often used as a coded reference to the neo-Nazi fourteen-word oath: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”, a slogan initially devised by David Lane, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group “The Order” which was responsible for the murder of Jewish radio host Alan Berg. The number 88 refers to the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, and is intended as a code for “Heil Hitler.”

Following the arrest, police began an investigation into online activities.

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this week, the boy pleaded guilty to three counts of disseminating terrorist material and two counts of possessing material likely to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, as well as to two counts of racially aggravated criminal damage to Port Talbot’s Windrush mural and one of homophobically aggravated criminal damage in Cardiff centre.

The boy was released on bail to allow for a pre-sentence report to be completed and is due to be sentenced in August.

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: Jalisa Phoenix-Roberts

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Jewish sixteen-year-old girl with Down syndrome and friend reportedly attacked on London Underground

A Jewish sixteen-year-old girl with Down syndrome and her friend were reportedly attacked on the London Underground.

The alleged incident was said to have taken place on the Northern Line between Edgware and Colindale on 28th May at 20:30 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 crime reference number 2413849/23 or CAD 2648 4/6/23.

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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Jewish residents frightened following reports of vandalism and intimidation in Stamford Hill 

Following reports of homes being vandalised in Stamford Hill, Jewish residents are said to be fearful to leave their accommodation. 

Three teenagers are alleged to have entered a residential building during which time they were purported to have intimidated residents and misused fire extinguishers, resulting in glass being broken.

The alleged incident was said to have taken place at Hanover Court on Amhurst Park 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 numbers: CAD 5098 and 2696 05/06/23.

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

Image credit: Google

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Backlash after “last Corbynista in power” barred from standing for new regional role purportedly over event with Ken Loach

The leadership of the Labour Party is facing a backlash after it barred a local mayor, dubbed the “last Corbynista in power”, from standing for a new regional role.

Jamie Discroll, the elected Mayor of North of Tyne and a former Chair of Momentum in Newcastle, has been prevented by the Labour Party from standing as its candidate in the race for the first North-East Mayor. Mr Discroll, who has reportedly described the “Corbynista tag” as an attempt to “define us by London Westminster politics,” did not make it into the final three shortlisted for the Party’s candidacy.

Although he tweeted that “no explanation had been given,” it has since been reported that the exclusion stems from his appearance at an “In Conversation” event with the outspoken film director Ken Loach at a Newcastle theatre in March.

Mr Loach was expelled from the Labour Party in August 2021 without public explanation. Mr Loach had been a leading ally of other controversial figures in Labour’s antisemitism scandal, especially those who denied that there was such a scandal of antisemitism. He said at the time of his expulsion: “Labour HQ finally decided I’m not fit to be a member of their party, as I will not disown those already expelled,” adding that he was “proud to stand with the good friends and comrades victimised by the purge. There is indeed a witch-hunt…Starmer and his clique will never lead a party of the people. We are many, they are few. Solidarity.”

In the past, Sir Keir Starmer has promised to sanction Labour members who share platforms with expelled members, but has generally not fulfilled this pledge.

The decision has been greeted with a backlash, including by the far-left Unite union, which warned of “serious consequences” of the decision, and, reportedly, by thousands of supporters.

In addition, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram have also criticised the decision to bar Mr Driscoll, writing to Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC): “Whilst we appreciate the NEC’s important role in upholding standards within the Party, and rooting out any form of antisemitism, racism and discrimination, it also has a responsibility to ensure decisions are democratic, transparent and fair,” adding: “To exclude a sitting mayor from a selection process with no right of appeal appears to us to be none of those things.” They said that Mr Driscoll should be entitled to an appeal process and “deserves to be treated with more respect than he has so far been shown.”

While the prospect of Sir Keir finally keeping his pledge to sanction Labour figures who share platforms with expelled members is welcome, there is concern that there may be a political motivation as well to the decision to bar Driscoll, namely that it undermines a growing Northern power base of senior Labour figures, particularly those who occupy mayoral positions, who may wish to challenge the Party’s more London-centric leadership.

Asked in an interview, Mr Driscoll said that he has not read the full report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into antisemitism in the Labour Party. Campaign Against Antisemitism was the originating complainant in the investigation that led to the report.

Mr Loach, meanwhile, claimed that “the whole antisemitism issue has been substantially revealed as a campaign that is not based on fact. It’s based on political determination to do a number of things, to remove people from the left, to protect the state of Israel, which many people, many Jewish people in the Labour Party, oppose, oppose this campaign.”

Claiming that allegations of antisemitism are used to protect Israel is an example of the Livingstone Formulation. The “Livingstone Formulation”, named by sociologist David Hirsch after the controversial former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is used to describe how allegations of antisemitism are dismissed as malevolent and baseless attempts to silence criticism of Israel. In its report on antisemitism in the Labour Party, the EHRC found that suggestions of this nature were part of the unlawful victimisation of Jewish people in the Party.

Mr Loach’s voice was 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.

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

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

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

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‘Unluckiest anti-racist’ Jeremy Corbyn condemns alleged neo-Nazi after selfie together

The antisemitic former leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, found himself photographed with a man reported to be a neo-Nazi over the weekend.

Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen, a man said to have made several antisemitic remarks, captioned their photograph together: “Jeremy Corbyn, a good man speaking the truth.”

Mr Corbyn has since spoken out about the photo, tweeting: “I am approached for selfies on a daily basis from strangers. I had no idea who know who this individual was. Naturally, I condemn his abhorrent politics in the strongest possible terms.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The world’s unluckiest anti-racist has once again found himself in the company of people who have low opinions of Jews. While Jeremy Corbyn is right to have distanced himself from Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen, he might pause to consider why an alleged neo-Nazi would be so delighted to meet the former Labour leader.

“Within the past few days, Roger Waters, who likens himself to Mr Corbyn, received the backing of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, so it is only apt that Mr Corbyn has now received his own far-right endorsement as well.

“Even the far-right can see these people for what they are. Apparently the only people who can’t are themselves.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has lodged a complaint against Jeremy Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the EHRC’s shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day of the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by an independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has demanded and Sir Keir has promised but has yet to introduce.

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Far-right obsessed teenager filmed himself spraying liquid over girls, court heard

A far-right obsessed teenager filmed himself spraying liquid over girls and edited the videos using swastikas, a court heard.

The boy, now fifteen but fourteen at the time, pleaded guilty to three charges of battery, possessing a bomb-making manual, and dissemination of a terrorist publication on the basis of recklessness.

The boy, from the south-west London area of Isleworth, was said to have worn a blue surgical mask as he approached two girls in a park before spraying them with a liquid in May 2022. In another incident, the boy sprayed a girl who was then taken to hospital by passersby.

The boy filmed the incidents and later edited in swastikas, Russian commentary and death metal.

The Old Bailey heard that the officers who checked the boy’s phone and computer found large amounts of far-right extremist material. The boy also reportedly wrote about wanting a race war and wanting only white people remaining. He had also collected parts needed for a BB gun, Nazi fridge magnets and badges, and a rubber gas mask.

He was said to have used an online alias that referenced 1488, a coded reference to the neo-Nazi fourteen-word oath: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”, a slogan initially devised by David Lane, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group “The Order” which was responsible for the murder of Jewish radio host Alan Berg. The number 88 refers to the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, and is intended as a code for “Heil Hitler.”

The court heard how the boy expressed a deep hatred for non-white races and members of the LGBTQ+ community. In an unsent Telegram message, he said that he would “prefer to live in a white society” and that he identified with the ideology of National Socialism. 

Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, sentencing, handed the boy, who is now taking medication for paranoid schizophrenia, a three-year youth rehabilitation order. He has been ordered to carry out 180 hours of an extended activity requirement as part of the sentence, and a curfew will be placed on him from 21:00 to 18:00, as well as curbs on his use of the internet.

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Fascist group discovered discussing lone-wolf attacks

The New British Union, a self-described fascist organisation, has been discovered discussing the employment of lone-wolf attacks in a secret meeting. 

Parts of the meeting, which was held in the Lake District, were captured on video by a reporter for The Mail on Sunday, who described some attendees as wearing Nazi SS uniforms and noted that some members present were as young as sixteen.

During the meeting, the group’s Deputy Leader, Clive Jones, can be seen on film appearing to talk to other attendees, saying: “Are you familiar with lone wolf? I just wondered, if anything, even with just this number here, if we went that way. We could cause, we could change a few things.”

It is understood that Mr Jones said that individuals could be given a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook, the infamous 1971 publication that details how to make explosives, to use in their lone-wolf action.

The New British Union uses the same symbol as its predecessor, the British Union of Fascists, a 1930s group led by Oswald Mosley that infamously clashed with Jews and anti-fascist campaigners at Cable Street in East London.

The group is known for its efforts to recruit children and previously tweeted an advert for “8-16 year olds”. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: Joe Mulhall

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Teenager who plotted to carry out Jihadist attacks sentenced in court 

A teenager has been sentenced following his guilty plea to terror charges.

Matthew King, 19, from Wickford in Essex, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to a life-sentence with a minimum of six years imprisonment. Before his arrest, Mr King engaged in a number of conversations online with a seventeen-year-old known to the Court as “Miss A”. 

Mr King’s arrest came following an intervention from his mother, who reported him to Prevent, the Government’s counter-terrorism agency. She had become increasingly concerned after he had told her that he wanted to move to Syria with Miss A, whom he had claimed was a doctor or a junior doctor. 

After his arrest, a police officer overheard Mr King on the phone with his mother, saying: “When I get out they will be controlling me, they probably won’t let me have a driving licence because I’ll probably run people over.”

In his conversations with Miss A, with whom Mr King is believed to have had an online romantic relationship, he reportedly said: “I guess Jihadi love is powerful. I just want to kill people.” The two had also discussed plans to target marines and a voice message to Miss A was found in which Mr King described his plans to force two marines to rape each other. 

Investigations into his online activity also uncovered searches for ISIS tactical knife training videos and videos made by Mr King of uniformed police officers. One video showed four officers outside of Stratford Magistrates’ Court, of which he uploaded a photo on Snapchat with the caption, “Target Acquired”. 

In his sentencing, Judge Mark Lucraft KC remarked: “In my judgement you are someone where there is a significant risk to members of the public or serious harm.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2021 showed that almost eight in ten British Jews consider the threat from Islamists to be very serious.

Image credit: Metropolitan Police

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CAA to write to BBC after it disgracefully hosts TikTok prankster who harassed Jewish people 

Campaign Against Antisemitism will be writing to the BBC after it made the disgraceful decision to host a TikTok prankster with a history of harassing Jewish people on its Newsnight programme.

While the prankster known as Mizzy, whose real name is Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, was confronted at times over his videos, the question of why so many of his victims were identifiable Jews was not raised. 

A spokesperson for the BBC told the JC: “Kirsty Wark interjected and challenged [Mr O’Garro] on a number of points, including his criminal activity and we are confident that he was robustly challenged throughout the conversation.”

Mr O’Garro elicited widespread outrage over his recent videos, which led to his arrest last month. However, the furore came only after he started targeting people other than Jews, despite the fact that earlier this year, the prankster uploaded a near-identical video in which he entered a different family’s home.

However, despite the similarities between the two videos of Mr O’Garro entering family homes, the principal difference being that the older video featured the home of religious Jews, it appears only now that news outlets and even Members of Parliament have covered the story and spoken up, with one describing the videos as “abhorrent”.

We reported that the TikTok user had been arrested earlier this year for “assaulting a member of the Jewish community.” 

Mr O’Garro was reportedly held for 36 hours by police for the video involving an identifiably Jewish boy last year, and following action from Campaign Against Antisemitism, TikTok removed many of Mr O’Garro’s accounts.

According to the police statement at the time, the arrest was “a result of the Shomrim notifying police and sharing footage of the assault which has been circulated on social media.” Stamford Hill Shomrim is a Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, with which Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely and with which we have an information sharing agreement.

Mr O’Garro has repeatedly denied that he specifically targeted Jewish people, writing on Twitter today: “The ‘jumping on a Jewish man’ video was a TikTok trend called ‘free OO’ where you leap frog over someone when the beat drops and I’ve done that to a number of different people (whites, blacks, Asians etc) as I don’t discriminate so why aren’t people talking about that? I’m not saying it is good thing to do but don’t listen to everything social media says and especially what the news say as they know what they are doing.”

However, in addition to not addressing the video of him entering the home of a visibly Jewish family, he has also yet to comment on a video that appeared to show him wearing a traditional Orthodox Jewish hat whilst performing a crass imitation, while yet another video featured him mocking visibly Jewish people as he walked past them.

Last week, we reported that Mr O’Garro was fined £365, but not for his persistent harassment of Jews.

The prankster known as Mizzy appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a Community Protection Notice following the video in which he entered a family’s home.

In addition to the fine, it is also understood that a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order has been placed upon him by Judge Charlotte Crangle, during which time he must comply with restrictions on his social media output, he must not trespass onto private property, and he must not visit the Westfields Stratford City shopping centre.  

It was reported that two days after receiving his sentence, he had breached the Order, for which he was arrested.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The prankster known as Mizzy is a criminal who built a modest following by harassing Jews and other locals. The BBC would have done better to have interviewed the police or CPS and questioned why it took so long to charge him, waiting until he expanded his campaign beyond the Jewish community. By giving him a megaphone, the BBC is legitimating his unlawful antics and encouraging other wannabe celebrities to do the same.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan meets with O2 Arena over Roger Waters’ concerts as Campaign Against Antisemitism and other communal groups maintain pressure

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has intervened over the upcoming performances of the Jew-baiting musician Roger Waters.

The move comes as Campaign Against Antisemitism and other communal groups have placed pressure on the venues hosting Mr Waters.

A spokesperson for the Mayor said: “The Mayor’s team have recently met with AEG Europe, the O2 arena venue operator, to express the concerns and issues raised by the Jewish community.”

They added that the Mayor “fully understands the significant concerns from within the Jewish community and condemns the use of antisemitism imagery”.

During a concert at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena earlier this week, Mr Waters reportedly claimed that “They’re trying to cancel me like they cancelled Jeremy Corbyn and Julian Assange.”

“I will not be cancelled,” he reportedly added.

He reportedly added that the furore was “all coming from Tel Aviv, promise you”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to Manchester’s AO Arena and London’s O2 Arena over their hosting of Mr Waters next week. Last week, we wrote to a leading cinema chain calling for it to cancel its screenings of Mr Waters’ film.

On Tuesday, we reported that David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, took to the social media platform Gab where he appeared to defend Mr Waters.

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently launched a petition calling on venues to stop hosting Mr Waters owing to his long history of baiting Jews, which he has now taken to the next level.

You can sign the petition here.

  • In the last week, Berlin police have confirmed an investigation after wide disgust at the costume worn by Mr Waters at a 17th May concert, where he compared Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who was murdered during the Holocaust, to a journalist killed in crossfire between terrorists and Israeli security forces last year in the Palestinian Authority.
  • In 2022, in an October episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mr Waters denied being an antisemite, before going on to address a past concert in which he unveiled a balloon pig with a Star of David, alongside other various symbols, emblazoned on its side. He said: “Well, it’s a symbol of an oppressive state. I am lumping you in but it’s not just you.”
  • He continued: “But that is just me criticising the policies of your government and I’m afraid the Star of David does represent the nation that is committing the crime of apartheid every day, and murdering Palestinians every day. Men women and children, every single day. So yeah, I did [put the Star of David on the side of a pig], and I’m unapologetic about it.”
  • Mr Waters openly criticised the International Definition of Antisemitism, complaining that “It’s not just me…they smear anyone, anyone, who dares to suggest there’s something bad about their policies. So that’s why the [Definition] is so bad, and so dangerous.”
  • Taking issue with one of the examples in the Definition, the musician went on to say that the Definition “can’t mean” that the State of Israel should not be criticised for behaving “like people in the past…towards Jews in Northern Europe.” 

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

  • In 2021, Mr Waters claimed that antisemitism is a “smear sword wielded at the behest of the Israeli Government”, stating: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, [was] specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”
  • In 2020, the musician said that Zionism needs to be “removed”.
  • He also said that American leaders are puppets of the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Mr Waters has also claimed that Israel teaches America how to “murder the blacks”. He later apologised for this latter remark.

Mr Waters is due to perform on several upcoming dates in the United Kingdom and South America, and regularly embarks on major tours across the United States and Europe.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It says something about Roger Waters that he incessantly needs to insist that he is not an antisemite. He has a penchant for breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism, has claimed that antisemitism is used as a ‘smear’, and has a long history of baiting Jews. That record has now even attracted the positive attention of the former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke. That might have given any other celebrity some pause.

“That Mr Waters’ latest show includes a visual equation of Israelis to Nazis, which extends his record of making such comparisons, is all the more reason for venues like London’s O2 arena to steer clear of him. Artistic freedom does not justify hate.”

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New free speech tsar now acknowledges importance and actual effects of International Definition of Antisemitism

The Government’s new ‘free speech tsar’ appears to have changed his mind on the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Prof. Arif Ahmed, a philosophy professor at the University of Cambridge, will begin his role as Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the Office for Students, the independent regulator of higher education in England, later this summer in an appointment that the Department for Education described as “a huge step forward.”

In a blog post in February 2021, he sharply criticised the Definition, writing: “I am strongly against Gavin Williamson’s requirement that universities adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism….This ‘definition’ is nothing of the kind; adopting it obstructs perfectly legitimate defence of Palestinian rights.” He added: “As such it chills free speech on a matter of the first importance. I hope the Secretary of State reconsiders the need for it; but these new free speech duties ought to rule it out in any case.”

It has long been a canard of opponents of the Definition that it restricts freedom of speech on campuses. Campaign Against Antisemitism has previously published a resource explaining why this is not the case. A recent report also showed how there is no evidence of such restriction either.

However, in an article for The Times this week on his appointment, Prof. Ahmed said: “There are urgent threats to free speech and academic freedom in our universities and colleges.” He went on to indicate that the Definition might constitute one of those threats, writing: “The public sector equality duty means institutions must “have due regard” to the need to achieve certain equality aims. They should be clear about equality implications of their decisions. They must recognise the desirability of achieving equality aims, but in the context of the importance of free speech and academic freedom. Similarly, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition [also known as the International Definition of Antisemitism] is an important tool for understanding how antisemitism manifests itself in the 21st century. Adopting it sends a strong signal to students and staff facing antisemitism. But it must not restrict legitimate political speech and protest.

“I have had concerns about this in the past. Since then, I have seen at Cambridge how in practice the working definition can accommodate robust support for free speech and academic freedom. More recently, the report of the Parliamentary task force on antisemitism in higher education indicates that none of the 56 university adopters who were asked reported that its adoption had in any way restricted freedom of speech. I will act impartially. I have no interest in promoting the views of this or of any future government. I have no interest in any ‘culture war’.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are pleased that Prof. Ahmed’s view of the International Definition of Antisemitism has apparently changed in the past two years, and that he assumes his new role with a more accurate understanding of the importance and effects of the Definition and a recognition that the popular criticisms of the Definition have no basis in law or evidence in fact. The Definition plays a crucial role in the fight against antisemitism, and we look forward to working with Prof. Ahmed in securing the rights and safety of Jewish students on campus.”

Prof. Ahmed’s appointment is pursuant to the Freedom of Speech Act, which became law in May. The law is intended to help to protect the status of universities “as centres of academic freedom” and also holds students’ unions to the same legal responsibilities as universities and their colleges, requiring them to “take reasonably practicable steps to ensure lawful freedom of speech.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitismby universities.

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 activist blames “Zionist institutions” for Charity Commission investigation into Islamic Centre of England

Following recent reports that the Islamic Centre of England has suspended all activities until “further notice” pending a Charity Commission investigation, a controversial activist has now placed the blame on “Zionist institutions”. 

At a protest outside the Centre on Thursday, the Chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Massoud Shadjareh, asked the crowd: “Have any of you, who are the charity, been asked what you think about your charity? No, so who is complaining? Zionist Federation, Zionist institutions, Islamophobic groups, anti-Muslim groups and extreme right. They and their papers are complaining.”

This is not the first instance of concerning comments relating to Zionism that Mr Shadjareh has made.

In 2020, Mr Shadjareh reportedly claimed during a debate that there was “huge concern the way that there has been a policy of the Zionists to normalise themselves in all different arenas,” apparently including interfaith programmes between Jews and Muslims. He is reported to have said: “The institution of interfaith was used as one of the tools for this and you know, you could ask yourself, you could look into it, why is it that all the Jewish organisations who are involved in interfaith are actually Zionists while we know there is a huge number of anti-Zionists, non-Zionists in the Jewish community and none of them are represented.”

We reported in May that the Charity Commission has taken action against the Centre, appointing an interim manager.

Solicitor Emma Moody has reportedly been tasked with overseeing the charity and undertaking a review of its governance and administration. The move follows numerous complaints against leaders at the Centre as a result of several concerning reports of inflammatory rhetoric towards Jews.

In March, Abbas Abedi, the Deputy Director of the Centre, was accused of making incendiary claims about Jews and Zionism in a series of speeches, which he denies. 

According to the JC, Mr Abedi gave a speech in Urdu in 2021, in which he said: “Jews took revenge on Muslims and tens of thousands of Palestinians were made homeless, their kids were slaughtered, women raped, thousands violated, kids killed… the Zionist lobby made this possible, it became possible due to American and UK help.”

In a separate speech, he is alleged to have said that Zionism was responsible for the creation of ISIS.

Mr Abedi reportedly claimed that “All people who are free believe that Zionism is the mother of terrorism…Zionism is the mother of ISIS. Don’t say ‘Islamic State’. Say ‘Israeli State in Iraq and the Levant’.”

The Deputy Director refused to accept the accusations, asserting that “Some politically motivated groups are trying to drag the charity into their political disputes.” He also reportedly suggested that “misinterpreting my old speeches” was a restriction of his liberty.

Also in March, it was reported that a cleric in Manchester, who is listed as a speaker at the Centre, gave a speech in which he praised an Iranian terror chief at an event where the audience chanted “Death to Israel”.

Cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar was said to have appeared as a keynote speaker at a memorial event for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) terrorist mastermind, Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the United States in 2020. 

During the event in Qom, Iran, the audience is reported to have chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to England”. Mr Sekaleshfar is also reported to have described Soleimani as a “martyr” in a separate speech in 2021.

Earlier this year, Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to all MPs calling on them to back the Government’s reported proposal to proscribe IRGC under the Terrorism Act 2000.

We have provided the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and the Security Minister, Tom Tugendhat, and all MPs with a dossier on the IRGC, detailing its horrendous record of antisemitism and violence against Jewish people.

In light of the mounting pressure to proscribe the IRGC, there have been calls made to close the Centre, which is located just minutes from several synagogues in the area. The Centre is believed to serve as an office for Iran’s Supreme Leader, and its Director, Seyed Hashem Moosavi, is understood to have been appointed by the regime as a mid-ranking cleric.

The institution also aired an Iranian propaganda film, posted on IRGC websites, featuring children singing a song that referenced an apocalyptic myth about murdering Jews, according to the JC. The Islamic Centre denied that its “local version of the song” carried the same meaning. It also has a history of publishing inflammatory rhetoric about Zionists and extolled Iranian support for the antisemitic terror groups Hamas and Hizballah.

Charity Commission Chairman, Orlando Fraser KC, said: “We need to act robustly where serious concerns about a charity exist, so that the public, and the charity sector itself, can have confidence in what it means to have charitable status. The appointment of an interim manager will help the Commission ensure the charity’s governance is restored and is improved to a better standard.”

Image credit: Google

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In latest provocation, UCU compares Israel to Nazi Germany in new boycott motion

The controversial University and College Union (UCU) has passed a motion to boycott Israel using language that compares the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.

Delegates at the University and College Union’s (UCU) four-day congress in Glasgow confirmed their full support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in a right to boycott motion.

In a motion titled “Israel oppression and the right to boycott”, delegates at UCU’s congress in Glasgow confirmed their full support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

The motion read: “Congress believes that civil society boycotts have an honourable tradition from anti-slavery campaigns through boycotts of Nazi trade to isolation of Apartheid South Africa.”

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

Polling conducted by Campaign Against Antisemitism for our Antisemitism Barometer has shown that almost one in eight British Jews feel intimidated by the tactics used to boycott Israel.

Previously, UCU has listed the International Definition of Antisemitism as a “potential threat”, and has a history of provoking the Jewish community.

A spokesperson for UCU reportedly said: “UCU is proud to stand with the Palestinian people and our congress reaffirmed support for BDS as a peaceful campaigning tactic supported by Palestinian civil society.  Any attempts by the Government to prevent UK citizens, post-16 education staff, students or public bodies taking part are an attack on civil liberties. The University and College Union is a proudly inclusive union with a long history of fighting antisemitism and is a welcoming place for Jewish members.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “UCU’s reputation in the Jewish community is in the gutter. By making the grotesque comparison between the Nazis and the Jewish state, UCU is shamefully telling Jews, once again, that they are not welcome. Such comparisons are a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, which UCU, for evident reasons, has long opposed.

“This is yet another example of how antisemitic discourse pervades BDS activism, and why our polling shows that an overwhelming majority of British Jews find the movement’s tactics to be intimidating. In the fight against racism, UCU very much remains part of the problem.”

If any faculty 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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Filmmaker Amanda Kinsey on how European antisemitism pushed Jews to the American Wild West

Amanda Kinsey, a five-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and the Director and Producer of the new documentary ‘Jews of the Wild West’, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where she spoke about how antisemitism in Eastern Europe caused Jews to flee and start a new life in the American West.

Ms Kinsey spoke of how European Jews were largely forced to move due to “legalised oppression”.  

She said: “People are coming from Europe where there is systematic, legalised, anti-Jewish hate, violence, oppression, extreme limitations in terms of occupation of what you could do, owning land wasn’t possible, carrying a firearm wasn’t possible.

“We talk about it in the film, there was a period in Prussia that marriage wasn’t possible for many Jewish families, unless you had a certain income level, which because people were being kept poor, didn’t really exist…that was a big impetus for people moving to the United States…that sort of legalised oppression didn’t really exist in the United States, so in that sense, there was greater freedom.”

The filmmaker explained that while many Jewish immigrants fled to New York City, most were limited to living in crowded tenements in the City’s Lower East Side and were restricted to certain professions with not much opportunity.

Because of these conditions, in addition to concerns that the influx of Jewish immigrants could see a rise in antisemitism, many Jews left for the American West with the help of the Industrial Removal Office, an agency assisting with Jewish immigration.

The Office would place Jewish people in parts of the United States where jobs were needed, with many opportunities being located West, in places such as Texas or Colorado. 

This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.

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CAA to write to Canterbury Auction Galleries over sale of Nazi memorabilia

Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to a Kent-based auction house over the sale of Nazi memorabilia.

Canterbury Auction Galleries is hosting a two-day auction this weekend that includes a large number of Third Reich items.

Among the lots featured in the upcoming auction are a “WWII German SS Dagger” which is estimated to sell for £250-£350, and a “German WWII Cap” which is estimated to sell for £80-£120. 

The managing Director of Canterbury Auction Galleries has reportedly expressed some understanding to those who do not support the sale of such goods but has still insisted that “you can’t just expunge history”.

Image credit: Google

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Roger Waters: “They’re trying to cancel me like they cancelled Jeremy Corbyn”

Roger Waters reportedly claimed that “They’re trying to cancel me like they cancelled Jeremy Corbyn and Julian Assange” during last night’s concert at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena.

“I will not be cancelled,” he reportedly added.

He reportedly added that the furore was “all coming from Tel Aviv, promise you”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to Manchester’s AO Arena and London’s O2 Arena over their hosting of Mr Waters next week. Last week, we wrote to a leading cinema chain calling for it to cancel its screenings of Mr Waters’ film.

On Tuesday, we reported that David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, took to the social media platform Gab where he appeared to defend Mr Waters.

Campaign Against Antisemitism recently launched a petition calling on venues to stop hosting Mr Waters owing to his long history of baiting Jews, which he has now taken to the next level.

You can sign the petition here.

  • In the last week, Berlin police have confirmed an investigation after wide disgust at the costume worn by Mr Waters at a 17th May concert, where he compared Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who was murdered during the Holocaust, to a journalist killed in crossfire between terrorists and Israeli security forces last year in the Palestinian Authority.
  • In 2022, in an October episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mr Waters denied being an antisemite, before going on to address a past concert in which he unveiled a balloon pig with a Star of David, alongside other various symbols, emblazoned on its side. He said: “Well, it’s a symbol of an oppressive state. I am lumping you in but it’s not just you.”
  • He continued: “But that is just me criticising the policies of your government and I’m afraid the Star of David does represent the nation that is committing the crime of apartheid every day, and murdering Palestinians every day. Men women and children, every single day. So yeah, I did [put the Star of David on the side of a pig], and I’m unapologetic about it.”
  • Mr Waters openly criticised the International Definition of Antisemitism, complaining that “It’s not just me…they smear anyone, anyone, who dares to suggest there’s something bad about their policies. So that’s why the [Definition] is so bad, and so dangerous.”
  • Taking issue with one of the examples in the Definition, the musician went on to say that the Definition “can’t mean” that the State of Israel should not be criticised for behaving “like people in the past…towards Jews in Northern Europe.” 

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

  • In 2021, Mr Waters claimed that antisemitism is a “smear sword wielded at the behest of the Israeli Government”, stating: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, [was] specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”
  • In 2020, the musician said that Zionism needs to be “removed”.
  • He also said that American leaders are puppets of the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Mr Waters has also claimed that Israel teaches America how to “murder the blacks”. He later apologised for this latter remark.

Mr Waters is due to perform on several upcoming dates in the United Kingdom and South America, and regularly embarks on major tours across the United States and Europe.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It says something about Roger Waters that he incessantly needs to insist that he is not an antisemite. He has a penchant for breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism, has claimed that antisemitism is used as a ‘smear’, and has a long history of baiting Jews. That record has now even attracted the positive attention of the former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke. That might have given any other celebrity some pause.

“That Mr Waters’ latest show includes a visual equation of Israelis to Nazis, which extends his record of making such comparisons, is all the more reason for venues like London’s O2 arena to steer clear of him. Artistic freedom does not justify hate.”

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Man who gave talk on “Holocaust lies” and kept gun by his bed jailed for seven and a half years

A man who published videos of Adolf Hitler and kept a gun by his bed has been jailed for seven and a half years.

Alan Madden, 65 from Port Sunlight in Merseyside, was said to have kept the semi-automatic pistol in his bedroom in case of a “complete breakdown in society”.

During a raid of Mr Madden’s home in September, Counter Terror and Merseyside Police discovered a Czech-manufactured firearm in a box alongside 384 rounds of ammunition that included prohibited hollow-point bullets.

Mr Madden admitted to officers that he knew both the weapon and ammunition were illegal in the United Kingdom, and had smuggled them in from South Africa, where he purchased them legally. 

Mr Madden was found to have published videos of Hitler on through his account on Bitchute, an online video platform often favoured by members of the far-right, in which Jewish people were called “liars” and a “satanic power”. He also posted the manifesto of the Christchurch mosque shooter, Brenton Tarrant.

Additionally, Mr Madden was found to have copies of books by Hitler and Oswald Mosley, and a search of Mr Madden’s electronic devices uncovered that he had delivered a talk in Chester called “Adolf Hitler, the Jew and Holocaust Lies”.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how, in a 2017 e-mail, he referred to the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action as “the real deal” and “commendable”. National Action was proscribed by the British Government following repeated calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.

Mr Madden pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm, possessing prohibited ammunition, two counts of possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate, three counts of possessing an offensive weapon in a private place and possession of a flick knife. He also pleaded guilty to three counts of stirring up racial hatred.

Sentencing Mr Madden to seven and a half years in prison, Judge David Aubrey KC said: “[National Action] is a neo-Nazi group and you aligned yourself to its beliefs. Such propaganda disseminated by you via social media featured extremely violent imagery and language.”

Detective Superintendent Andrew Meeks, Head of Investigations for Counter Terror Policing North West, said: “Madden had in his possession a 9mm hand gun and significant quantities of ammunition which is a concern to law enforcement and the communities of Merseyside. He also admitted inciting racial hatred and holding extremist views which presented him as a threat to wider society. The gun and ammunition have now been taken out of circulation and will be destroyed.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: Counter Terrorism Policing North West

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Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke defends Jew-baiting musician Roger Waters in post about “Jewish power”

David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, took to the social media platform Gab where he appeared to defend the Jew-baiting musician Roger Waters.

Gab is a social-media platform that was founded in 2016 with a claim to “champion free speech,” and has become a haven for supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory and other far-right groups and individuals banned from mainstream platforms.

Mr Duke, who has a long history of vile antisemitic views and is a prominent white supremacist, wrote: “​​The Jewish Global Deep State is at war with Roger Waters for daring to expose Israel’s crimes and the crimes of the Jewish controlled USA Gov’t and media. Waters also points out that Russian War in Ukraine was totally provoked (not unprovoked). He also dared to Show the Ukraine War is just one more NeoCon and NeoCommie War by the same usual suspects.”

The post was originally uncovered by Adam Ma’anit.

He continued: “The AP said Waters is accused of antisemitism but denies it. In truth Waters needs to go on the offensive. He should point out: Antisemitism today actually is nothing more of vile smear against anyone who dares to expose the UltraRacist Jewish Globalists behind both the Palestinian Nakba but also the insane Ukraine War. This proxy War caused by Jews is nothing more than Jewish power happy to sacrifice the lives and well-being of millions of Ukrainians, Russians and Europeans in an attempt to harm and destroy Christian Russia.”

Earlier this week, Campaign Against Antisemitism launched a petition calling on venues to stop hosting Mr Waters owing to his long history of baiting Jews, which he has now taken to the next level.

You can sign the petition here.

  • In the last week, Berlin police have confirmed an investigation after wide disgust at the costume worn by Mr Waters at a 17th May concert, where he compared Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who was murdered during the Holocaust, to a journalist killed in crossfire between terrorists and Israeli security forces last year in the Palestinian Authority.
  • In 2022, in an October episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mr Waters denied being an antisemite, before going on to address a past concert in which he unveiled a balloon pig with a Star of David, alongside other various symbols, emblazoned on its side. He said: “Well, it’s a symbol of an oppressive state. I am lumping you in but it’s not just you.”
  • He continued: “But that is just me criticising the policies of your government and I’m afraid the Star of David does represent the nation that is committing the crime of apartheid every day, and murdering Palestinians every day. Men women and children, every single day. So yeah, I did [put the Star of David on the side of a pig], and I’m unapologetic about it.”
  • Mr Waters openly criticised the International Definition of Antisemitism, complaining that “It’s not just me…they smear anyone, anyone, who dares to suggest there’s something bad about their policies. So that’s why the [Definition] is so bad, and so dangerous.”
  • Taking issue with one of the examples in the Definition, the musician went on to say that the Definition “can’t mean” that the State of Israel should not be criticised for behaving “like people in the past…towards Jews in Northern Europe.” 

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

  • In 2021, Mr Waters claimed that antisemitism is a “smear sword wielded at the behest of the Israeli Government”, stating: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, [was] specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”
  • In 2020, the musician said that Zionism needs to be “removed”.
  • He also said that American leaders are puppets of the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Mr Waters has also claimed that Israel teaches America how to “murder the blacks”. He later apologised for this latter remark.

Mr Waters is due to perform on several upcoming dates in the United Kingdom and South America, and regularly embarks on major tours across the United States and Europe.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It says something about Roger Waters that he incessantly needs to insist that he is not an antisemite. He has a penchant for breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism, has claimed that antisemitism is used as a ‘smear’, and has a long history of baiting Jews. That record has now even attracted the positive attention of the former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke. That might have given any other celebrity some pause.

“That Mr Waters’ latest show includes a visual equation of Israelis to Nazis, which extends his record of making such comparisons, is all the more reason for venues like London’s O2 arena to steer clear of him. Artistic freedom does not justify hate.”

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“F***ing Jewish bastard”: traffic incident turns antisemitic

A Jewish driver was the victim of antisemitic abuse as a traffic altercation escalated.

The Jewish driver was blocked from access to his office car park in his vehicle, and beeping at the car that was blocking his access elicited only slight movement by the other car but without opening the way sufficiently.

The Jewish driver then got out and approached the other vehicle to ask the other driver to move further forward, at which point the other driver got out of his car and began swearing at the Jewish driver and telling him to be patient.

After the Jewish driver told him that was unable to enter the driveway, the other driver came close to his face and allegedly made out to hit the Jewish driver. Fearing violence if he did not show confidence, the Jewish driver felt no choice but to swear back at the other driver, whereupon the other driver called him a “f***ing Jewish bastard”.

As the Jewish driver was wearing no outward Jewish sign, he asked the other driver what made him think that he was Jewish, but received no answer. The Jewish driver then went to take a photograph and the other driver drove off.

The other driver was described as having a Middle Eastern appearance, and the incident, which took place in London shortly after 09:00 on 10th May, was reported to the police.

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Campaign Against Antisemitism at [email protected].

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

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Jewish family’s front door reportedly kicked open by gang one year after similar incident

A North London Jewish family’s front door was reportedly kicked open by members of a gang, one year after a similar incident took place.

Last year, we reported that a gang had allegedly been targeting the homes of Jewish residents of Stamford Hill by kicking their doors.

Residents of Hillside Road were said to have initially thought that the disturbances were caused by burglars until they realised that the alleged attackers were only targeting Jewish homes.

The alleged incident occurred at on 26th May 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: 4614130/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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CAA launches petition calling on venues to stop hosting Roger Waters

Campaign Against Antisemitism has launched a petition calling on venues to stop hosting Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician.

Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician, has a long history of baiting Jews, which he has now taken to the next level.

Venues must not platform his hate. You can sign the petition here.

  • In the last week, Berlin police have confirmed an investigation after wide disgust at the costume worn by Mr Waters at a 17th May concert, where he compared Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who was murdered during the Holocaust, to a journalist killed in crossfire between terrorists and Israeli security forces last year in the Palestinian Authority.
  • In 2022, in an October episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mr Waters denied being an antisemite, before going on to address a past concert in which he unveiled a balloon pig with a Star of David, alongside other various symbols, emblazoned on its side. He said: “Well, it’s a symbol of an oppressive state. I am lumping you in but it’s not just you.”
  • He continued: “But that is just me criticising the policies of your government and I’m afraid the Star of David does represent the nation that is committing the crime of apartheid every day, and murdering Palestinians every day. Men women and children, every single day. So yeah, I did [put the Star of David on the side of a pig], and I’m unapologetic about it.”
  • Mr Waters openly criticised the International Definition of Antisemitism, complaining that “It’s not just me…they smear anyone, anyone, who dares to suggest there’s something bad about their policies. So that’s why the [Definition] is so bad, and so dangerous.”
  • Taking issue with one of the examples in the Definition, the musician went on to say that the Definition “can’t mean” that the State of Israel should not be criticised for behaving “like people in the past…towards Jews in Northern Europe.” 

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

  • In 2021, Mr Waters claimed that antisemitism is a “smear sword wielded at the behest of the Israeli Government”, stating: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, [was] specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”
  • In 2020, the musician said that Zionism needs to be “removed”.
  • He also said that American leaders are puppets of the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Mr Waters has also claimed that Israel teaches America how to “murder the blacks”. He later apologised for this latter remark.

Mr Waters is due to perform on several upcoming dates in the United Kingdom and South America, and regularly embarks on major tours across the United States and Europe.

It says something about Roger Waters that he incessantly needs to insist that he is not an antisemite. He has a penchant for breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism, has claimed that antisemitism is used as a “smear”, and has a long history of baiting Jews. That his latest show apparently includes a visual equation of Israelis to Nazis, which extends his record of making such comparisons, is all the more reason for these venues to steer clear of him. Artistic freedom does not justify hate.

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Former prison officer who shared neo-Nazi rap songs found guilty of possessing terrorist document

A former prison officer who shared neo-Nazi rap songs has today been found guilty of possessing a terrorist handbook called the White Resistance Manual.

However, Ashley Podsiad-Sharp, 42 from Barnsley, has been cleared on another terror-related charge.

Mr Podsiad-Sharp pleaded not guilty to one count of disseminating a terrorist document and not guilty to one count of possessing a document containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, the latter of which he was convicted.

Following an investigation into Mr Sharp’s online activity, he was arrested by Counter Terrorism Policing North East with the assistance of South Yorkshire Police in May 2022.

The defendant appeared at Sheffield Crown Court where he faced accusations of running an online fitness club in which he promoted terrorism through the use of neo-Nazi rap music.

Mr Podsiad-Sharp denied such allegations, reportedly stating that he was merely providing a social outlet for lonely “nationalists”.

Said to be the founder of the White Stag Athletic Club, Mr Podsiad-Sharp described the club as “nationalist boy scouts for grown-ups” which he said was “something beautiful, a brotherhood among a lot of men who have none — white working-class men”.

Mr Podsiad-Sharp did not deny sharing the inflammatory songs — some of which included lines about a “national socialist death squad”, sending Jews to “the ovens” and sprinkling “Zyklon like a condiment” (a reference to Zyklon B, the gas used to murder Jews in extermination camps during the Holocaust) — but said that they were used as a means of “shock humour” and “comedic parody”.

“It is shock humour. If someone who is not a national socialist hears it, they will be shocked, as you guys were. No doubt you think these jokes are horrible, sometimes jokes are horrible — it’s like how far is he willing to go for a laugh, a big part of it is braggadocio. 

“It is about how a national socialist sense of humour works. I do not think anybody in their right mind is going to listen to a rap song and conduct terrorism. The very idea is insulting to humanity.”

Denise Breen-Lawton, prosecuting, accused Mr Podsiad-Sharp of issuing a “call to action against the Jews” and “glorifying” the murder of black people, Muslims and homosexuals, to which he reportedly responded: “It is not supposed to glorify, it is supposed to be shocking.”

Mr Podsiad-Sharp also said that there was “very little evidence to support the Holocaust.”

Det Chf Supt James Dunkerley, of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Tackling extremist and instructional material is an essential part of protecting the public and preventing it from potentially influencing or informing the actions of others. We will prosecute anyone found to be in possession of such material and will continue work with our partners to remove content of concern from online platforms.”

Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told Mr Podsiad-Sharp that the offence was “very serious” and “there is but one sentence in a case of this kind, and that is a sentence of imprisonment”.

He is due to be sentenced in July.

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: Counter Terrorism Policing North East

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CAA writes to cinema chain calling for the cancellation of Roger Waters film screenings

Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to a leading cinema chain calling for it to cancel its screenings of Roger Waters’ new film.

Our letter to Everyman Cinemas, which is due to screen Roger Waters: This is Not A Drill, Live from Prague, comes in the wake of the former Pink Floyd musician reportedly beginning a recent concert in Berlin by announcing that he is not antisemitic, shortly before making comparisons between the Nazis to Israel.

At one point during the concert, various names are displayed on large screens. A journalist at the concert reported that Anne Frank’s name was prominently displayed, alongside the statement that her “punishment” for the “crime” of “being Jewish” was “death”.

In an identical format, the name Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was shot last year, was displayed next to text that states her “punishment” for the “crime” of “being Palestinian” was “death”.

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

His announcement that he is not an antisemite arrived in the wake of a court ruling which stated that the city of Frankfurt, which made headlines after it labelled Mr Waters “one of the most widely known antisemites in the world,” was not able to cancel his concert.

This is not the first time that Mr Waters has felt the need to proclaim that he is not antisemitic.

Last year, we reported that Mr Waters repeatedly denied being an antisemite whilst also breaching the Definition on an episode of the podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.

Throughout the podcast, Mr Waters, who has a long record of baiting Jews, claimed he has repeatedly been accused of being an antisemite due to his anti-Israel position. 

Joe Rogan, the podcast’s host, seemingly agreed with Mr Waters, saying: “By calling you an antisemite, they just stop the conversation dead in its tracks cause that’s an indefensible position.”

“Exactly. And you’re not allowed to say ‘I’m not’,” Mr Waters replied. 

Going on to address a past concert in which he unveiled a balloon pig with a Star of David emblazoned on its side, he said: “‘Oh, you once put the Star of David on the side of a pig in a show.’ Yeah but I also put the hammer and sickle, and the crescent, and whatever, and a dollar sign. 

“‘Yeah, but you put the…,’ well, it’s a symbol of an oppressive state. I am lumping you in but it’s not just you.” 

In an apparent conflation between the Jewish people and the State of Israel, Mr Waters then stated: “But that is just me criticising the policies of your government and I’m afraid the Star of David does represent the nation that is committing the crime of apartheid every day, and murdering Palestinians every day. Men women and children, every single day.

“So yeah, I did [put the Star of David on the side of a pig], and I’m unapologetic about it.”

Mr Waters complained that “It’s not just me…they smear anyone, anyone, who dares to suggest there’s something bad about their policies. So that’s why the [Definition] is so bad, and so dangerous.”

Taking issue with one of the examples in the Definition, the musician went on to say that the Definition “can’t mean” that the State of Israel should not be criticised for behaving “like people in the past…towards Jews in Northern Europe.” 

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

In 2020, the musician said that Zionism needs to be “removed” and that American leaders are puppets of a Jewish billionaire and that Israel teaches America how to “murder the blacks”. He later apologised for the latter remark.

In 2021, he claimed that antisemitism is “smear sword wielded at behest of the Israeli Government”, stating: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”

Concerningly, Mr Waters is due to perform on several upcoming dates in the United Kingdom.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It says something about Roger Waters that he incessantly needs to insist that he is not an antisemite. He has a penchant for breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism, has claimed that antisemitism is ‘smear sword wielded at behest of the Israeli Government’, and has a long history of baiting Jews. That his show apparently includes a visual equation of Israel to Nazis, which extends his record of making such comparisons, is all the more reason for these venues to steer clear of him. Artistic freedom does not justify hate.”

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Islamic Centre of England suspends activities amid Charity Commission investigation

The Islamic Centre of England has suspended all activities until “further notice”.

The news arrives after we reported earlier this month that the Charity Commission has taken action against the Centre, appointing an interim manager.

A notice affixed to the Centre’s locked gates reads: “After receiving the concerns of the community and for their safety, we are saddened to inform you that all upcoming programmes, including prayers, have been suspended until further notice.”

Solicitor Emma Moody has reportedly been tasked with overseeing the charity and undertaking a review of its governance and administration. The move follows numerous complaints against leaders at the Centre as a result of several concerning reports of inflammatory rhetoric towards Jews.

In March, Abbas Abedi, the Deputy Director of the Centre, was accused of making incendiary claims about Jews and Zionism in a series of speeches, which he denies. 

According to the JC, Mr Abedi gave a speech in Urdu in 2021, in which he said: “Jews took revenge on Muslims and tens of thousands of Palestinians were made homeless, their kids were slaughtered, women raped, thousands violated, kids killed… the Zionist lobby made this possible, it became possible due to American and UK help.”

In a separate speech, he is alleged to have said that Zionism was responsible for the creation of ISIS.

Mr Abedi reportedly claimed that “All people who are free believe that Zionism is the mother of terrorism…Zionism is the mother of ISIS. Don’t say ‘Islamic State’. Say ‘Israeli State in Iraq and the Levant’.”

The Deputy Director refused to accept the accusations, asserting that “Some politically motivated groups are trying to drag the charity into their political disputes.” He also reportedly suggested that “misinterpreting my old speeches” was a restriction of his liberty.

Also in March, it was reported that a cleric in Manchester, who is listed as a speaker at the Centre, gave a speech in which he praised an Iranian terror chief at an event where the audience chanted “Death to Israel”.

Cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar was said to have appeared as a keynote speaker at a memorial event for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) terrorist mastermind, Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the United States in 2020. 

During the event in Qom, Iran, the audience is reported to have chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to England”. Mr Sekaleshfar is also reported to have described Soleimani as a “martyr” in a separate speech in 2021.

Earlier this year, Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to all MPs calling on them to back the Government’s reported proposal to proscribe IRGC under the Terrorism Act 2000.

We have provided the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and the Security Minister, Tom Tugendhat, and all MPs with a dossier on the IRGC, detailing its horrendous record of antisemitism and violence against Jewish people.

In light of the mounting pressure to proscribe the IRGC, there have been calls made to close the Centre, which is located just minutes from several synagogues in the area. The Centre is believed to serve as an office for Iran’s Supreme Leader, and its Director, Seyed Hashem Moosavi, is understood to have been appointed by the regime as a mid-ranking cleric.

The institution also aired an Iranian propaganda film, posted on IRGC websites, featuring children singing a song that referenced an apocalyptic myth about murdering Jews, according to the JC. The Islamic Centre denied that its “local version of the song” carried the same meaning. It also has a history of publishing inflammatory rhetoric about Zionists and extolled Iranian support for the antisemitic terror groups Hamas and Hizballah.

Charity Commission Chairman, Orlando Fraser KC, said: “We need to act robustly where serious concerns about a charity exist, so that the public, and the charity sector itself, can have confidence in what it means to have charitable status. The appointment of an interim manager will help the Commission ensure the charity’s governance is restored and is improved to a better standard.”

Image credit: Google

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Following action from CAA, former barrister Ian Millard to be prosecuted for five offences contrary to Communications Act

Following action from Campaign Against Antisemitism, the former barrister Ian Millard is set to be prosecuted for five offences contrary to section 127 (1)(a) Communications Act 2003 in relation to the posting of grossly offensive material relating to his assertions regarding the Jewish race on his blog.

In October 2016, the Bar Standards Board found Mr Millard to be guilty of professional misconduct due to his extensive use of Twitter as a vehicle to publicise his antisemitic and extreme right-wing views, leading to him being banned from the profession.

In April 2021, Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Director of Investigations and Enforcement handed a dossier of evidence collected from Mr Millard’s blog to Hampshire Police.

Nine months later, we were informed that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) would be taking no further action. This decision was challenged via the Victims’ Right to Review scheme.

In April of this year, fifteen months after the submission to the scheme was made, we were informed that the CPS intended to prosecute Mr Millard.

At a hearing at Southampton Magistrates’ Court this past Tuesday, the case was adjourned to a date in the near future. Mr Millard stated that he would be entering a plea of “not guilty”.

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Woman rants at identifiably Jewish man about Zionists taking over Tottenham in video

A video appears to show a woman ranting at an identifiably Jewish man about Zionists taking over the north London area of Tottenham. 

In the video, a woman sitting outside of a restaurant can be heard saying: “Don’t want you in Tottenham, you’re not welcome. Stay in Muswell Hill. And I’m not being racist.”

She then goes on: “This is my country. We’re not Israel. You can be Zionist wherever you like in the whole wide world. I’m not anti-Jewish. I’m anti you Zionists coming in and thinking you can take over Tottenham like you did Muswell Hill, and all I’m saying is, isn’t it big enough for you?”

As the video continues, she says: “You are not welcome to come into Tottenham and freaking take it over…how many places in London do you want to take over?”

The incident occurred at approximately 14:00 on 23rd May outside of the Rose Cafe & Restaurant on Philip Lane in Tottenham, 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: CAD 3743 24/05/23.

A statement released by Haringey Council said of the incident: “We are incredibly shocked and angered to see the recent video of a Jewish resident being subjected to abhorrent antisemitic abuse on Philip Lane in Tottenham.

“There is no place for antisemitism in Haringey, not now and not ever. Zero tolerance must mean zero tolerance when it comes to hate and bigotry. Our diversity is our greatest strength, and our Jewish communities are an essential part of the vibrant tapestry of our borough.

“We have been intensely liaising with the police to ensure that this matter is dealt with swiftly. It’s vital that the perpetrator is brought to justice. We are also engaging with our Jewish communities to offer support, as well as provide information about channels for reporting hate incidents.

“We continue to work to ensure that Haringey is a place where all of our diverse communities can feel safe, included, and proud to call their home. Hatred like this simply will not be tolerated in our borough.”

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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‘Jewish Matchmaking’ star Aleeza Ben Shalom urges people to take action against antisemitism

Aleeza Ben Shalom, the host of the new Netflix Series Jewish Matchmaking – a programme where Jewish singles employ the help of Aleeza to help them find a partner – appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where she spoke about the role that antisemitism played in the show, and urged people to take action against Jew-hatred.

Cindy, one of the women on the show, revealed that one of the motivating factors behind why she wants to marry someone Jewish is because of the antisemitism that her family has had to endure. She went on to say that her grandfather had survived the Holocaust and that her great-grandmother fled Libya with gold in her bra in order to preserve her Judaism.

Ms Ben Shalom said on the podcast that it was “tremendous” that Cindy was willing to speak candidly about her family’s experiences with antisemitism. However, Ms Ben Shalom noted that she was not surprised that these were motivating factors for Cindy, as she has come across similar sentiments throughout her career.

The matchmaker said: “I work with people from all over the world, so I will often hear things like ‘Of course I need a Jewish partner. Around here, who else is going to marry you? I’m not in a place where it’s safe to even marry outside of being Jewish. I have to.’”

Speaking on how the rise in antisemitism has impacted Jewish singles’ dating preferences, Ms Ben Shalom noted: “I think now people have an awareness of ‘I may not be accepted by somebody else’s family because I’m Jewish, and so it’s probably going to be easier for me, instead of walking into another culture or another background, and trying to explain myself and why it’s okay and why it’s okay that our kids are going to also be Jewish…’ People have all of these thoughts.”

Recent statistics have shown that, in the United States, antisemitism is at the highest that it has been in over 40 years.

Ms Ben Shalom said: “40 years ago, it was at a high point. Now, again, it’s at a high point. I think there was a middle lull where, ‘Eh, we’re not super concerned, it doesn’t matter.’ Now, we’re in the ‘Oh my gosh, I either have to hide my Judaism again or I have to make sure to marry within the faith, or else this relationship isn’t going to sustain the larger family I’m marrying into.’”

Jewish Matchmaking also challenged viewers on their perceptions of Jews by introducing them to Nakysha, a Jewish woman with Black ancestry who raised questions of what a Jew is “supposed to look like”.

“We have people that are born Jewish that are Black, or of any origin or background. As you know, Jews are in almost every country in the world, we’re all over the place,” Ms Ben Shalom said. “I think there’s a stereotypical ‘Jewish picture’ of what a Jew looks like and I think, if anything, this show said ‘No, actually you’re wrong. There is no stereotypical Jew. We look different, we sound different, sometimes we speak many different languages. If you’re Jewish, you’re Jewish, and none of those other things matter.” 

“We haven’t seen that enough in the media to realise how diverse we are in the people,” she said, before imploring Jews to “Stand proud and stand tall.” 

Ms Ben Shalom went on to encourage people to stand up against antisemitism.

She stated: “Get educated. What is the battle that we’re fighting? Why are we fighting it? And how can we overcome the challenges that are in front of us? When we activate our curiosity about something, we learn something, and then we do something. My advice is to get curious and learn. 

“Activate your knowledge and then activate your body, your hands, your feet, and make an impact in the world, by doing something, by saying something. Support those who are fighting antisemitism, but do something with the wisdom you have once you have it. Listen and do. Listen, learn, find out what you need to know, do something, make an act in the world. In this world, we need action, immediately, as fast as possible.” 

This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.

Image credit: Netflix

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TikTok prankster fined £365 by judge, but not for his harassment of Jews

A TikTok prankster was fined £365 today, but not for his persistent harassment of Jews.

The prankster known as Mizzy appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a Community Protection Notice after one of his videos in which he entered a family’s home went viral. 

In addition to the fine, it is also understood that a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order has been placed upon him by Judge Charlotte Crangle, during which time he must comply with restrictions on his social media output, he must not trespass onto private property, and he must not visit the Westfields Stratford City shopping centre.  

Mizzy, whose real name is Bacari Ogarro, elicited widespread outrage earlier this week over his recent videos, which led to his arrest. However, the furore came only after he started targeting people other than Jews, despite the fact that earlier this year, the prankster uploaded a near-identical video in which he entered a different family’s home.

However, despite the similarities between the two videos of Mr Ograrro entering family homes, the principal difference being that the older video featured the home of religious Jews, it appears only now that news outlets and even Members of Parliament have covered the story and spoken up, with one describing the videos as “abhorrent”.

Bafflingly, The Independent has released an exclusive interview with the prankster, in which it provided him with a platform to defend himself against the criticism. Mr Ogarro said: “I’m a Black male doing these things and that’s why there’s such an uproar on the internet.” 

Otherwise, he seemed satisfied that his inane and awful videos were receiving attention. The article does not include any statement from Jewish community groups.

Earlier this year, we reported that the TikTok user had been arrested for “assaulting a member of the Jewish community.” Mr Ogarro was reportedly held for 36 hours by police for a video involving an identifiably Jewish boy last year.

Another video appeared to show him wearing a traditional Orthodox Jewish hat whilst performing a crass imitation, while yet another video featured him entering the home of visibly Jewish people without their knowledge.

According to the police statement at the time, the arrest was “a result of the Shomrim notifying police and sharing footage of the assault which has been circulated on social media.”

Following action from Campaign Against Antisemitism, TikTok removed many of Mr Ogarro’s accounts.

Stamford Hill Shomrim is a Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, with which Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely and with which we have an information sharing agreement.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “There may be no better use of the phrase ‘Jews Don’t Count’ than a TikTok prankster being publically chastised for carrying out dangerous stunts only a few months after testing them out on Jews first. The prankster known as Mizzy cut his teeth on putting Jews in harm’s way, when he knew no one would care, and while we welcome his re-arrest after his reckless and threatening videos, where was the outrage when his targets were just Jews?”

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2021 showed that over two thirds of British Jews believe that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.

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Roger Waters begins concert by announcing he is not antisemitic before making comparison between Nazis to Israel

Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician, reportedly began a recent concert in Berlin by announcing that he is not antisemitic, shorty before making comparisons between the Nazis to Israel.

At one point during the concert, various names are displayed on large screens. A journalist at the concert reported that Anne Frank’s name was prominently displayed, alongside the statement that her “punishment” for the “crime” of “being Jewish” was “death”.

In an identical format, the name Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was shot last year, was displayed next to text that states her “punishment” for the “crime” of “being Palestinian” was “death”.

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

His announcement that he is not an antisemite arrived in the wake of a court ruling which stated that the city of Frankfurt, which made headlines after it labelled Mr Waters “one of the most widely known antisemites in the world,” was not able to cancel his concert.

This is not the first time that Mr Waters has felt the need to proclaim that he is not antisemitic.

Last year, we reported that Mr Waters repeatedly denied being an antisemite whilst also breaching the Definition on an episode of the podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.

Throughout the podcast, Mr Waters, who has a long record of baiting Jews, claimed he has repeatedly been accused of being an antisemite due to his anti-Israel position. 

Joe Rogan, the podcast’s host, seemingly agreed with Mr Waters, saying: “By calling you an antisemite, they just stop the conversation dead in its tracks cause that’s an indefensible position.”

“Exactly. And you’re not allowed to say ‘I’m not’,” Mr Waters replied. 

Going on to address a past concert in which he unveiled a balloon pig with a Star of David emblazoned on its side, he said: “‘Oh, you once put the Star of David on the side of a pig in a show.’ Yeah but I also put the hammer and sickle, and the crescent, and whatever, and a dollar sign. 

“‘Yeah, but you put the…,’ well, it’s a symbol of an oppressive state. I am lumping you in but it’s not just you.” 

In an apparent conflation between the Jewish people and the State of Israel, Mr Waters then stated: “But that is just me criticising the policies of your government and I’m afraid the Star of David does represent the nation that is committing the crime of apartheid every day, and murdering Palestinians every day. Men women and children, every single day.

“So yeah, I did [put the Star of David on the side of a pig], and I’m unapologetic about it.”

Mr Waters complained that “It’s not just me…they smear anyone, anyone, who dares to suggest there’s something bad about their policies. So that’s why the [Definition] is so bad, and so dangerous.”

Taking issue with one of the examples in the Definition, the musician went on to say that the Definition “can’t mean” that the State of Israel should not be criticised for behaving “like people in the past…towards Jews in Northern Europe.” 

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

In 2020, the musician said that Zionism needs to be “removed” and that American leaders are puppets of a Jewish billionaire and that Israel teaches America how to “murder the blacks”. He later apologised for the latter remark.

In 2021, he claimed that antisemitism is “smear sword wielded at behest of the Israeli Government”, stating: “The antisemitism smear sword that was wielded at the behest of the Israeli government, specifically aimed at Jeremy Corbyn because he was left wing and he might turn into a political leader on the left in the United Kingdom who would actually stand up for human rights in general but specifically the rights of working people to represent themselves and have unions.”

Concerningly, Mr Waters is due to perform on several upcoming dates in the United Kingdom.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It says something about Roger Waters that he incessantly needs to insist that he is not an antisemite. He has a penchant for breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism, has claimed that antisemitism is ‘smear sword wielded at behest of the Israeli Government’, and has a long history of baiting Jews. That his show apparently includes a visual equation of Israel to Nazis, which extends his record of making such comparisons, is all the more reason for these venues to steer clear of him. Artistic freedom does not justify hate.”

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Joint glossary produced by Chief Rabbi and Church of Scotland 

A new document, titled A Jewish-Christian Glossary, produced by the Church of Scotland and the Chief Rabbi’s Office, has been published. 

The new Glossary explores a variety of biblical terminology, such as “covenant” and “chosen people”, and gives both Jewish and Christian perspectives in relation to identity and history. 

One of the publication’s forewords, written by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, references an earlier document published by the Church, titled, Inheritance of Abraham? A report on the ‘promised land’, which led to him calling for “a deeper appreciation for each other’s religions”. 

Inheritance of Abraham? is a controversial document that was published by the Church of Scotland in 2013. It discusses Christian perspectives on the Land of Israel. 

Part of its conclusion reads: “Christians should not be supporting any claims by Jewish or any other people to an exclusive or even privileged divine right to possess particular territory.” 

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

In his foreword to the new document, the Chief Rabbi concludes: “While this endeavour does not seek to be definitive, I certainly hope that the glossary will provide the impetus for a more constructive conversation and relationship between our two faiths in the years ahead.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism works to raise awareness of antisemitism among all faith and minority communities.

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Why do Jews not matter? Outrage over TikTok prankster emerges only after he starts targeting people other than Jews

A TikTok prankster has elicited widespread outrage over his recent videos, but only since he started targeting people other than Jews.

Earlier this year, we reported that the TikTok user, known online as Mizzy, was arrested for “assaulting a member of the Jewish community.”

Mizzy, whose real name is Bacari Ogarro, appeared to confirm on his Instagram account that he had been arrested by posting an image of the police statement, adding that he had been held for 36 hours by police for a video involving an identifiably Jewish boy last year.

Another video appeared to show him wearing a traditional Orthodox Jewish hat whilst performing a crass imitation, while yet another video featured him entering the home of visibly Jewish people without their knowledge.

According to the police statement at the time, the arrest was “a result of the Shomrim notifying police and sharing footage of the assault which has been circulated on social media.”

Stamford Hill Shomrim is a Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, with which Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely and with which we have an information sharing agreement.

According to new reports, Mr Ogarro has once again been arrested, this time after another video in which he enters a different family’s home went viral.

However, despite the similarities between the two videos of Mr Ograrro entering family homes, the principal difference being that the older video featured the home of religious Jews, it appears that only now have news outlets and even Members of Parliament covered the story and spoken up, with one describing the videos as “abhorrent”.

Bafflingly, The Independent has released an exclusive interview with the prankster, in which it provided him with a platform to defend himself against the criticism. Mr Ogarro said: “I’m a Black male doing these things and that’s why there’s such an uproar on the internet.” Otherwise, he seemed satisfied that his inane and awful videos were receiving attention. The article does not include any statement from Jewish community groups.

Late last night, the Metropolitan Police released a statement in which it said: “An eighteen-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and is currently in police custody.”

Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway of the Central East Command Unit, responsible for policing in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said: “I do not underestimate the widespread upset, distress and concern that these videos caused. Some people have referred to these as ‘prank’ videos, but I hope that this significant development demonstrates just how seriously we have been taking this investigation since this footage began circulating online. 

“A number of these videos were produced, impacting on many different people and our investigation remains ongoing as we seek to build a strong picture of both the activity featured in the footage and impact on the public.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “There may be no better use of the phrase ‘Jews Don’t Count’ than a TikTok prankster being publicly chastised for carrying out dangerous stunts only a few months after testing them out on Jews first. The prankster known as Mizzy cut his teeth on putting Jews in harm’s way, when he knew no one would care, and while we welcome his re-arrest after his reckless and threatening videos, where was the outrage when his targets were just Jews?”

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2021 showed that over two thirds of British Jews believe that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.

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“The Jewish community in Scotland have an ally in me as First Minister,” says Humza Yousaf

The Scottish First Minister has assured the Jewish community that he is an ally.

Humza Yousaf, who took over from former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon in March, met with members of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities and the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council. He also toured Giffnock Newton Mearns synagogue.

In a statement, Mr Yousaf said: “We spoke about a number of issues, first and foremost the importance of tackling antisemitism wherever and whenever it appears. In the fight against antisemitism, the Jewish community in Scotland should be in no doubt that they have an ally in me as First Minister. I reaffirmed my absolute commitment that the Scottish Government will continue to engage with the Jewish community on our collective aim of stamping out antisemitism, prejudice, and hate crime, which have no place in Scotland. We spoke about a number of issues, first and foremost the importance of tackling antisemitism wherever and whenever it appears.”

The meeting comes after recent revelations that Mr Yousaf attended a high-level 2008 meeting with Mohammad Sawalha, also known as Abu Obada, a senior figure in the antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation, Hamas. Mr Sawalha, who had been described as having “masterminded much of Hamas’ political and military strategy” was meeting with a SNP cabinet minister and government officials at the Scottish Parliament. At the time, Mr Yousaf was 22 and working as a parliamentary assistant for Bashir Ahmad MSP.

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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56 British universities report no instances where adoption of International Definition of Antisemitism restricted freedom of expression or academic research

56 universities have reported that there has been not a single instance where their adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism has restricted or chilled freedom of expression on campus or academic research at their institution.

A Parliamentary Task Force on Antisemitism in Higher Education, established by the Government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism with support from members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, has published a report that made various findings about antisemitism on university campuses in the UK.

The task force reported that “56 universities across the UK [were] asked about their experience of using the Definition, which they had all adopted. None knew of or could provide a single example in which the IHRA Definition had in any way restricted freedom of speech or academic research, or where its adoption had chilled academic freedom, research or freedom of expression.”

It has long been a canard of opponents of the Definition that it restricts freedom of speech on campuses. Campaign Against Antisemitism has previously published a resource explaining why this is not the case. This report also shows how there is no evidence of such restriction either.

The report also made other concerning discoveries, including that it is “commonplace” for students not to wear “certain clothing or jewellery around campus because it would make them visibly identifiable as Jewish.” The report even found that some Jewish staff choose to keep their identity secret to avoid “negativity” at work.

Polling by Campaign Against Antisemitism has also shown that, more broadly, almost half of British Jews try not to show visible signs of their Judaism when they go out due to antisemitism.

The report further found that Jewish students spoke “repeatedly” of an “underlying fear of being targeted” over their backgrounds and of being “expected to answer questions about Israel,” even showing reluctance to attend seminars or lectures relating to the Jewish state “for fear of personal interrogation”.

According to the Definition, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” is an example of antisemitism.

The report observed that “Jewish students generally have a positive university experience” but recognised the rise in antisemitic incidents on campuses.

The CST has recently reported recent significant increase in antisemitic incidents on campus, while polling by Campaign Against Antisemitism has found that 96 percent of British Jews believe that antisemitism on university campuses it is a problem.

It recommended further adoption of the Definition by universities and for more robust and transparent disciplinary procedures, and emphasised the importance of religious provision for Jewish students and staff.

Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities.

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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CAA writes to Secretary-General, joining call by Jewish groups worldwide for UN to adopt International Definition of Antisemitism

Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to the United Nations’ Secretary-General, backing calls this week by Jewish organisations worldwide for the UN to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The Definition has now been adopted by numerous national governments, multiple US states and Canadian provinces, and cities, municipalities and other public bodies and institutions around the world.

Moreover, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has in the past acknowledged the importance of the Definition, and has previously rightly stated that “antisemitism is not a problem for the Jewish community alone” but rather threatens “all people’s human rights” and that “where there is antisemitism, there are likely to be other discriminatory ideologies and forms of bias.”

A 2019 report by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief astutely observed that antisemitism is the “canary in the coalmine of global hatred” and “toxic to democracy”, and acknowledged the helpfulness of the Definition in identifying and tackling anti-Jewish hatred.

The UN, as is well known, is not immune to the scourge of antisemitism, and indeed is regrettably viewed by many Jews around the world as hostile to our community and insensitive to its needs and aspirations. UN resolutions and activities are often inimical to the welfare of Jewish people, UN officials are routinely revealed to espouse antisemitic views, as we and other organisations have documented over the years, and there are UN-funded organisations that teach hatred and violence towards Jews.

The call from Jewish organisations comes after numerous controversial activist groups called on the UN not to adopt the Definition, despite its support in Jewish communities across the world and its importance in the fight against antisemitism.

Fighting antisemitism may not be popular because Jews are one of the world’s smaller minorities, but if the UN is not able to help protect the world’s more vulnerable communities, then what purpose does it serve?

It therefore behoves the UN to adopt the Definition at its forum on antisemitism in Cordoba next month.

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

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Swastika drawn onto tree in Kilburn

A swastika has been drawn onto a tree in the north west London area of Kilburn, a Twitter user reported this afternoon.

A photograph shows the tree, said to be located on Kilburn High Road, with an orange swastika inside of a pink heart on its trunk.

Earlier this week, we reported that a swastika was spotted on a wall in Watford.

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

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Goldsmiths announces barrister for independent investigation into antisemitism

Goldsmiths, University of London has announced the barrister who will be leading its “independent review into antisemitism at the College”. 

Senior barrister Mohinderpal Sethi KC will lead the investigation, in which current and former University students and staff will have the opportunity to become involved by coming forward with their own experiences.  

The report is expected to be presented by next year.

The investigation was announced last year after Professor David Hirsh was reportedly called a “far-right white supremacist” by its then-Students’ Union President.

Initially, the Students’ Union apparently refused to investigate Sara Bafo, its now-former President, following allegations of antisemitism, despite being requested to do so by the University.

Ms Bafo’s alleged tweet was said to have been written in response to a tweet from Prof. Hirsh, a prominent and highly-respected antisemitism expert, which said: “There is an antisemitic edge to official, institutional, university campaigns to ‘decolonise’ education.”

In response to the University’s request for the investigation, Ms Bafo tweeted that the University “has tried to get the SU trustee board to investigate me for a tweet I made in response to a Zionist Goldsmiths academic’s explicit racist history & his delegitimisation of ‘Decolonisation’ campaigns,” adding: “This was a dirty tactic from the institution to silence me further as I was leaving.”

However, despite the Student’s Union denying the investigation on grounds of “free speech”, the University announced that an independent probe will take place.

Frances Corner, the Warden of Goldsmiths, said at the time: “We are supporting Dr Hirsh after unwarranted messages about him were posted on social media which I believe are utterly without foundation. These kinds of behaviours are completely unacceptable and will always be challenged.

“As Warden I want to make it clear that this kind of conduct is not in line with the College’s values and that it brings harm to individuals as well as our good reputation as a place of learning.”

Prof. Hirsh said of the probe: “I am really pleased that the leadership of Goldsmiths is taking this difficult and courageous step. I have been clear that there is a hostile environment at the college for scholars and students who refuse to embrace anti-Zionism.”

Last year, the University also announced that it would adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism but “without the case studies.” 

In addition, it said that it would also adopt the Jerusalem Declaration, which is a wrecking document intended to undermine the globally-recognised Definition, owing to the fact that the University’s “academic community” favoured it. 

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

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Swastika graffiti scrawled onto wall in Watford

A swastika has been drawn onto a wall in Watford.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has seen a photograph that appears to show a large, black swastika scrawled onto a wall near Watford High Street.

The hate symbol was said to have been spotted this morning at approximately 9:30.

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

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CAA marks Mental Health Awareness Week with podcast about impact of antisemitism on Jewish mental health

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week 2023, CAA has released a new episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism which looks at the impact of antisemitism on Jewish mental health.

We spoke with Asher M. Seruya and Laur Plawker, the hosts of Kvetching on the Couch, a podcast that looks at Jewish mental health.

Ms Seruya is a social worker and psychotherapist specialising in trauma-informed care, weight stigma, and eating disorder recovery, while Ms Plawker is a Suicide Prevention Specialist who works at the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teenagers and young adults in the United States.

The pair discussed the ways in which antisemitism can contribute towards anxiety in Jews, during which time topics such as intergenerational trauma, news reports of violent antisemitism, and hate on social media were raised.

Ms Seruya said: “When you see people like you being attacked, you’re going to feel anxious about it. You’re gonna be scared and nervous, because how could you not be?”

Ms Plawker noted that “we experience so much [antisemitism] now via social media and the internet, and that means that whether or not you are experiencing antisemitism when you walk down the street, you are constantly exposed to antisemitism.”

“With that being true,” they added, “it’s important to give yourself some grace in experiencing feelings of anxiety as it pertains to antisemitism. It’s everywhere, it’s pervasive, it’s in the palms of our hands, in our phones, it’s a part of online rhetoric and discourse, it’s in the news.”

Ms Seruya spoke of the anxiety associated with antisemitism occurring in unexpected spaces.

Directing the conversation to spaces that promote progressive and inclusive values, in which the pair both spend time, Ms Seruya said: “You think Jews would be included in that, and yet, a lot of times they’re not, and in fact, we are the villains in the story. And that’s really complicated when maybe the one space that you thought could be welcoming to you, isn’t, so where can you go? That’s extremely anxiety-inducing.”

When asked about what effects someone may experience when they come across a piece of antisemitic social media content, Ms Seruya spoke of the physiological symptoms of anxiety.

“Mine are getting very warm, flushed cheeks, that really intense panic in your chest,” she said. 

“I also experience anxiety somatically,” Ms Plawker said, “I feel a heaviness. It often feels like a fatigue overcomes me and it quite literally feels like a physical weight in my bones that seeps over me, and often, it leads to the feeling of paralysis, not necessarily in a literal sense but that I don’t know what to do next, I don’t know the move…I find myself very still in a way I find very uncomfortable…frozen in fear, in anxiety.”

Ms Plawker, speaking on her own experience, added: “I’ve posted a picture of a challah that I made, and it’s just a picture of a challah…and in the comments, I’ll get something hateful from people who know it’s a Jewish bread. It really doesn’t need to be an antisemitic post with antisemitic content. So often, it just catches you fully by surprise, and how anxiety-inducing is that? 

“You might have been looking at a challah-braiding video, like ‘I’m so excited to try this out, that looks like something I can do,’ and then in the comments, you might see ‘I wish you were dead.’ And that’s a horrible experience.”

Speaking on the issue of intergenerational trauma, Ms Seruya described it as trauma that is “passed down physiologically and psychologically from each generation, and for Jewish people, this can look a lot of different ways, just like with many other people who are parts of communities that have also been systematically and historically marginalised and traumatised, including mental health issues like anxiety, which also extends to OCD, nightmares about things you’ve never personally experienced. That’s actually one there’s a lot of evidence for.” 

The psychotherapist added: “I should note, a lot of the intergenerational trauma research is actually focused on Holocaust survivors, and on the children of Holocaust survivors. We are in no way, shape or form the only community that experiences it but a lot of the research comes from that, so we do actually have a lot of research that suggests that children of Holocaust survivors, and also not of Holocaust survivors, have a lot of nightmares about fires. It’s just a very common trope within nightmares for Jewish people, statistically.” 

They described how another manifestation of intergenerational trauma among Jews is the perception of food scarcity due to such historical experiences within the Jewish community. 

“Even when we may not have literal food scarcity in our present, we can still feel perceived food scarcity because of the genetic aspects of trauma, and how that can live within you, even if its not your personal lived experience,” they explained.

Ms Plawker, whose grandmother survived the Holocaust, revealed how through conversations with her sister about their childhood, they realised that they had both been experiencing intergenerational trauma.

“Something we both came to the, frankly horrific, realisation of is that we had both identified hiding spaces in our childhood home in case the Nazis came,” she said. “No one told us to do that. Our parents certainly hadn’t told us to do that. Our grandmother had never had that conversation with us. We just, independently of one another, had identified those spaces. I can tell you now where every single exit of the synagogue I grew up in is. Again, no one told me to do that. There weren’t safety trainings for that. It’s just something I carry with me and when I go into spaces, where I am gathering with other Jewish people, I make sure I know where the exits are, and it’s instinctual. It’s immediate. And that’s both an anxiety response and a trauma response. 

“I’m sharing a piece of me, and a piece of my experience, but I don’t think that’s isolated to being my own experience. I think a lot of Jewish people have similar experiences.”

This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.

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Defendants plead “not guilty” to stirring up racial hatred over reported “Khaybar” chant at London protest

Two men who have been charged with stirring up racial hatred after they reportedly performed the “Khaybar” chant at a London protest in 2021 pleaded “not guilty” today at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

The chant “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud” can be translated in English as “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.”

The “Khaybar” chant is a classic Arabic battle cry referencing the massacre and expulsion of the Jews of the town of Khaybar in northwestern Arabia, now Saudi Arabia, in the year 628 CE. The chant has been heard in numerous anti-Israel rallies in Britain and abroad.

Khaldoun Ahmad El-Ali, 27, and Mohammad Jihad Al Safi, 25, had the charges brought against them after they were identified by CST.

The pair have been released on unconditional bail until the preliminary hearing.

A CST spokesman said at the time: “CST welcomes these charges and thanks the police for all the work they have done on this investigation following our original complaint. We hope this sends out a powerful signal regarding chanting on anti-Israel protests.”

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Student who posted antisemitic content found guilty of plotting to blow up Newcastle police station 

A student was found guilty of plotting to blow up a Newcastle police station this week.

Luke Skelton, nineteen from Washington, was convicted at Teesside Crown Court of preparing to commit acts of terrorism.

The jury’s decision came after a previous panel failed to reach a decision.

The court heard that Mr Skelton absorbed far-right ideology whilst researching bomb-making. The student, between the dates of October 2020 and October 2021, carried out a “hostile reconnaissance” of Forth Banks police station in Newcastle, in which he would take photographs and conduct searches for CCTV cameras, whilst he was a student at Gateshead College.

Nicholas De La Poer KC, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Skelton had professed an admiration for Adolf Hitler and Oswald Mosley, and that searches for neo-Nazi content were discovered on his devices. The prosecution said that Mr Skelton posted antisemitic, Islamophobic, homophobic, and other racist and sexist comments online. 

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, the Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “The defendant’s anger towards society, together with his extreme right-wing views, created a dangerous foundation from which his sinister plans were ultimately built.

“He was strongly motivated by this mindset, which continued to fuel his actions and his later offending, despite repeated attempts to draw him away from it. The evidence clearly demonstrated that he was not just a person who held strong views but a terrorist who wanted to cause serious harm.

“It is more important than ever that everyone plays their part in tackling terrorism. We have seen from this case that terrorists research and sometimes visit the places they plan to attack.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: Counter Terrorism Policing North East

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Far-right podcaster who admired Hitler and spoke of hanging Jewish people jailed over antisemitic and racist podcasts

A far-right podcaster has been jailed for producing antisemitic and racist podcasts on grounds of stirring up racial hatred.

James Allchurch, 51 from Pembrokeshire, was discovered to have created the website “Radio Aryan”, later named “Radio Albion”, in order to upload antisemitic and racist podcasts.

Mr Allchurch was found guilty of ten offences contrary to section 21 of the Public Order Act 1986, and not guilty on five counts, and has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

Mr Allchurch was said to have distributed recordings that included the titles “Rivers Of Blood”, “Banned In The UK”, “The Leftist Supremacist Mindset”, and “The Usual Suspects”. The offences were said to have taken place in Gelli, a village in south Wales.

In hearings, Mr Allchurch requested that he be referred to as “Sven Longshanks”, his podcasting name which is apparently taken from King Edward I, also known as Edward Longshanks, who expelled the Jews from England in 1290.

Last year, the prosecution, referring to the podcasts in question, told the court that “These recordings are insulting or abusive and were distributed with intent to stir up racial hated,” labelling the recordings “highly racist and highly antisemitic in nature” as well as “white supremacist in nature”.

The jury was played fifteen episodes of the podcast, in which Mr Allchurch reportedly introduced a song that said that the world was better when Black people were enslaved and Jews were persecuted under Adolf Hitler as “one of his favourite tracks”. 

There was also talk about hanging Jewish people, while in another extract it was said: “No other race is equal to the white race.”

Other recordings allegedly made reference to Jewish people controlling the media, banks, and television and film industries.

In a raid of his home, police reportedly discovered a notebook belonging to Mr Allchurch containing usernames and passwords which included entries such as “JewsAreTheEnemy”, “RaceWarMessiah” and reference to the numbers 14 and 88. 

1488 is often used as a coded reference to the neo-Nazi fourteen-word oath: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”, a slogan initially devised by David Lane, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group “The Order” which was responsible for the murder of Jewish radio host Alan Berg. The number 88 refers to the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, and is intended as a code for “Heil Hitler.”

Mr Allchurch was said to have been joined by guests on the podcast, one of which reportedly included Alex Davies, who was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison last year after he was convicted of membership of the neo-Nazi terrorist group, National Action.

Judge Rees, sentencing, said that Mr Allchurch “had an agenda of racial hatred’ and that “it beggars belief that someone would want to speak these words at all”. 

He described the content of the podcasts as “vile”, and that “Listening to them as the jury had to was a disturbing experience.” 

Speaking to Mr Allchurch directly, he said: “You were bent on inciting racial hatred…you chose your words carefully to that end.”

Nick Price, Head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “The hateful and grotesque views that Allchurch shared on his podcast were a threat to our society, and it is right that the jury found him guilty of his crimes. 

“There is no place in society for these beliefs, and the CPS will continue to prosecute all cases involving hate crime where there is sufficient evidence to do so.” 

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The hateful rhetoric of the virulently antisemitic podcaster James Allchurch, who spoke of hanging Jewish people on his programme, has no place in civilised society. It is only right that this sick Hitler admirer has been handed a jail sentence. We commend the sensible decisions of the judge and jury.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

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Suspension of Labour councillor called into question yet again

The Labour Party’s claim to have suspended a councillor is once again being called into question, nine months after similar concerns were raised, after further evidence has arisen appearing to show that the local Labour group continues to include him in its activities.

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

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

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

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

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

It appears that now, nine months later, little has changed, as photographs produced by the JC appear to show Cllr Iqbal campaigning during the recent local elections. 

Andrew Stephenson, the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Pendle, questioned how legitimate Cllr Iqbal’s suspension was.

“Since his supposed ‘suspension’ from the Labour Party, Cllr Iqbal has continued to sit with the Labour group in Pendle Council and Lancashire County Council,” he said. “He was seen repeatedly out campaigning for Labour in the run up to the local elections and then attended the count to celebrate alongside other Labour councillors.”

He added: “It is therefore unclear what his ‘suspension’ actually means. In the light of the Pendle Labour Party turning a blind eye to antisemitism Sir Keir Starmer should launch an investigation into the local Labour party and make Cllr Iqbal’s suspension permanent.”

Anne-Marie Wrigley, Vice-Chair of Pendle Labour Party, rebuffed Mr Stephenson, whom she called a “desperate man”, and reaffirmed that Cllr Iqbal’s suspension was still in effect. 

She said: “After thirteen years as MP for Pendle Andrew Stephenson is now resorting to personal attacks against Labour Party members because he has seen the tide has turned. This is a desperate man worried more about his ministerial career than anything else.

“Cllr Iqbal is suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation which we hope will be concluded soon. He cannot act on behalf of the Labour Party.”

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

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

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

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Conservative MP embroiled in controversy over use of “cultural Marxism” phrase

A Conservative MP has become embroiled in controversy over her use of the phrase “cultural Marxism”.

Speaking on young people’s futures at this year’s National Conservatism conference, Miriam Cates MP told the audience: “That hope is sadly diminishing in so many of our young people today, because liberal individualism has proven to be completely powerless to resist the cultural Marxism that is systematically destroying our children’s souls.

“When culture, schools and universities openly teach that our country is racist, our heroes are villains, humanity is killing the Earth, you are what you desire, diversity is theology, boundaries are tyranny and self-restraint is oppression, is it any wonder that mental health conditions, self-harm and suicide, and epidemic levels of anxiety and confusion characterise the emerging generation?”

The phrase “cultural Marxism” is popular in far-right circles to allude to the perceived collapse of societal values as masterminded by Jews. It has also spread, with innocuous intent, to the mainstream political right, but still risks being understood by the far-right as a dog whistle even when this is not intended, as is the case with Ms Cates.

In 2020, the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism (APPG) warned a group of Conservative MPs and peers against the use of the controversial phrase “cultural Marxism”, noting that the term could “inadvertently” act as a “dog-whistle for the far-right”, where the phrase is increasingly popular.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Terms such as ‘cultural Marxism’ can function as an antisemitic dog whistle, even if they are not always intended as such. The phrase is often used as a coded means of pinning the perceived degradation of society on Jews, implying that they are masterminding a widespread collapse of values and ethics for their own gain, thereby employing the antisemitic trope of wielding power and influence and drawing upon the far-right believe that Jews are moral degenerates.

“While there is no indication that Miriam Cates meant the phrase in this way, politicians should generally endeavour to find better terms to promote their 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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Solihull man pleads guilty to sharing white supremacist content 130 times

A man has pleaded guilty to stirring up racial hatred by sharing 130 pieces of white supremacist content.

Richard Osbourne, 53 from Solihull, was said to have posted content to the Russian social media platform VK, which is believed to have an active user base of at least 60 million.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Mr Osbourne posted 120 pieces of content that targeted Jews and other groups between 16th February 2022 and 9th January 2023. 

He reportedly posted another ten pieces that were said to have attacked people based on sexual orientation between 24th September 2021 and 1st December 2022.

It was said that Mr Osbourne shared a moving image of the flag of National Action, the neo-Nazi terrorist group that was proscribed by the British Government following repeated calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.

Mr Osbourne also pleaded guilty to possessing a shotgun without a license. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: Google

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Arsenal in talks with police over investigation into Whatsapp group

Arsenal Football Club is in contact with the police as part of its investigation into posts sent through a fan-led Whatsapp group that the Club supports. 

The investigation relates to messages sent in 2019 through a group chat for Ashburton Army, an organisation for Arsenal supporters. Whilst the group itself is separate from the Club, it is known to receive access to a number of lower-tier tickets for Arsenal games, for which its members can then apply. 

It is understood that the content of the messages includes references to the Holocaust, Jewish circumcision and conspiracy theories, among other topics. 

Ashburton Army said: “We strongly condemn any form of racism and antisemitic talk as we are a group with many religions and races and have Jewish members. We will continue to educate members and work with the club throughout the investigation.”

The Metropolitan Police Service has confirmed that an investigation is ongoing, but no arrests have been made. 

Arsenal have said that it “strongly condemns the abusive and discriminatory language being used” and has confirmed that it is in contact with police regarding the messages. 

Earlier this year, Arsenal announced the launch of a new affiliate group called “Jewish Gooners”, whose purpose is to combat antisemitism and cultivate a more “inclusive” environment for Jewish fans. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism continues to report on and act against instances of anti-Jewish racism in all sports.

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London anti-Israel rally featuring Nazi comparisons and calls to “End Zionism” attended by myriad of disgraced figures

Today’s anti-Israel protest outside Downing Street in London, believed to have been attended by thousands, featured a number of comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany.

Volunteers from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit were present at the protest to gather evidence.

One sign read “Free Palestine from German guilt,” while a large banner placed near the BBC’s headquarters made a comparison between Israel and Nazi Germany. A sign affixed to a bicycle presented a swastika next to the Israeli flag.

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

Signs calling to “End” and “Smash” Zionism were present, as were placards calling Israel a “racist” state. Examples can be seen here and here.

The chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was heard throughout the rally. Signs and clothing bearing the words of the chant were also on display.

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

According to the Definition, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is an example of antisemitism.

Calls for another “intifada” were also heard. The “intifada” is widely understood as the campaign of Arab terrorist violence against Jewish Israeli targets in the early 2000s that claimed hundreds of civilian lives and brought an end to the peace process.

One prominent sign at the event, aimed at Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, read: “Racist Starmer supports Zionism without question”. 

Additionally, support for Leila Khaled, a convicted terrorist, plane hijacker and member of the violent Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who took part in two terrorist hijackings in 1969 and 1970, was on display.

The antisemitic former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was one of the event’s featured speakers and issued “a huge thank you to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, not just for today, but for all the days that they’re campaigning.”

A month-long investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism in 2017 exposed extensive antisemitic bigotry amongst Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) supporters on social media. Earlier this year, a PSC branch published an Instagram post calling Zionists “brainwashed racists” who should be fired from their places of work.

Delia Mattis, a self-described “social justice activist” who claims to be the Founder of Black Lives Matter Enfield, also took to the stage to address the crowd. During her speech, she said that Zionism was “a psychotic ideology” and that Israel “stood for white supremacy.”

Attendees at the event included the disgraced Reverand Dr Stephen Sizer, who in January was handed a twelve-year ban by the Church of England after having been found to have “engaged in antisemitic activity” by a tribunal of the Church of England, and the controversial activist Jim Curran who was spotted holding a sign that read “The Nakba was a Holocaust”. Mr Curran has been seen with similar signs in the past and is a regular attendee at a group called Keep Talking, a group of far-right and far-left conspiracy theorists who come together to promote antisemitism.

The protest was also attended by the controversial environmental group, Just Stop Oil, whose founder, Roger Hallam, previously described the Holocaust as “just another f***ery in human history.”

Similar signs and chants were on display at last month’s “Al Quds Day” rally in central London.

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

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Newly-elected Conservative councillor suspended pending antisemitism investigation

A newly-elected councillor, who was barred from running for Labour after the Party was alerted to his history of inflammatory activity on social media but who was endorsed instead by the Conservatives as their candidate, has now been suspended pending an investigation.

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

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

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

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

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

However, it has now been reported that an internal party investigation into Mr Hussain’s posts has been launched, during which time he will remain suspended.

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

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

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“F***ing Jew, he’s a f***ing devil”: Video footage appears to show man threatening Jewish person on London bus

Newly surfaced video footage appears to show a man physically threatening a Jewish person on a London bus.

The man in the video can be seen shouting what appears to be slurs to the person recording.

At one point, the man appears to say: “You shouldn’t be in Palestine, you’re some f***ing murderers…kill people’s children.”

A few moments later, he seems to say “F***ing Jew, he’s a f***ing devil.”

As the situation progresses, the man seems to grow increasingly agitated and jabs at the person recording him with what appears to be a metal pole. 

The person recording repeatedly says “Don’t hit me” before the video abruptly ends.

The alleged incident occurred at approximately 9:00 on 11th May on the 253 bus route from Finsbury Park to 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: CAD 1929/11/5/23.

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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Man who said minorities “should be shot” jailed for over eight years

A far-right individual has been sentenced to eight years and six months imprisonment for terrorism offences.

Vaughn Dolphin, 20, who filmed himself accidentally blowing up his kitchen while attempting to mix explosives, was sentenced in Birmingham Crown Court after being convicted of possession of terrorist documents; disseminating terrorist publications; possession of explosive substances; and possession of a firearm. 

Mr Dolphin, arrested on 27th June 2022 by Counter Terrorism Police, had previously said that “minorities should be shot”. Upon his arrest, he said, “I’m not a terrorist, okay, I have an interest in chemicals and military memorabilia, that’s all.” 

At his home, police found terrorist materials including step-by-step instructions on how to make a shotgun and recipes for homemade explosives. A Totenkopf (death’s skull) – a symbol closely associated with the SS that is sometimes adopted by neo-Nazis – was also found attached to his shed wall.

Police also discovered that he had been in communication with extremists online before his arrest and found that he had a folder on his Telegram account labelled, “right wing”, that contained multiple channels, including one called, “Hitler group”. 

Mr Dolphin was also discovered to have shared a video of Payton Gendron, the Buffalo supermarket killer who described himself as an “ethno-nationalist eco-fascist national socialist” who live-streamed his attack that left ten people dead and three injured. The Judge described the video posted by Mr Dolphin as “a horrific recording of multiple murders.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: West Midlands Police

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Charity Commission takes action against the Islamic Centre of England following concerns over leadership

The Charity Commission has taken action against the Islamic Centre of England (ICE), appointing an interim manager.

Solicitor Emma Moody has reportedly been tasked with overseeing the charity and undertaking a review of its governance and administration. The move follows numerous complaints against leaders at ICE as a result of several concerning reports of inflammatory rhetoric towards Jews.

In March, Abbas Abedi, the Deputy Director of ICE, was accused of making incendiary claims about Jews and Zionism in a series of speeches, which he denies. 

According to the JC, Mr Abedi gave a speech in Urdu in 2021, in which he said: “Jews took revenge on Muslims and tens of thousands of Palestinians were made homeless, their kids were slaughtered, women raped, thousands violated, kids killed… the Zionist lobby made this possible, it became possible due to American and UK help.”

In a separate speech, he is alleged to have said that Zionism was responsible for the creation of ISIS.

Mr Abedi reportedly claimed that “All people who are free believe that Zionism is the mother of terrorism…Zionism is the mother of ISIS. Don’t say ‘Islamic State’. Say ‘Israeli State in Iraq and the Levant’.”

The Deputy Director refused to accept the accusations, asserting that “Some politically motivated groups are trying to drag the charity into their political disputes.” He also reportedly suggested that “misinterpreting my old speeches” was a restriction of his liberty.

Also in March, it was reported that a cleric in Manchester, who is listed as a speaker at ICE, gave a speech in which he praised an Iranian terror chief at an event where the audience chanted “Death to Israel”.

Cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar was said to have appeared as a keynote speaker at a memorial event for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) terrorist mastermind, Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the United States in 2020. 

During the event in Qom, Iran, the audience is reported to have chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to England”. Mr Sekaleshfar is also reported to have described Soleimani as a “martyr” in a separate speech in 2021.

Earlier this year, Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to all MPs calling on them to back the Government’s reported proposal to proscribe IRGC under the Terrorism Act 2000.

We have provided the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and the Security Minister, Tom Tugendhat, and all MPs with a dossier on the IRGC, detailing its horrendous record of antisemitism and violence against Jewish people.

In light of the mounting pressure to proscribe the IRGC, there have been calls made to close ICE, which is located just minutes from several synagogues in the area. The Centre is believed to serve as an office for Iran’s Supreme Leader, and its Director, Seyed Hashem Moosavi, is understood to have been appointed by the regime as a mid-ranking cleric.

The institution also aired an Iranian propaganda film, posted on IRGC websites, featuring children singing a song that referenced an apocalyptic myth about murdering Jews, according to the JC. The Islamic Centre denied that its “local version of the song” carried the same meaning. It also has a history of publishing inflammatory rhetoric about Zionists and extolled Iranian support for the antisemitic terror groups Hamas and Hizballah.

Charity Commission Chairman, Orlando Fraser KC, said: “We need to act robustly where serious concerns about a charity exist, so that the public, and the charity sector itself, can have confidence in what it means to have charitable status. The appointment of an interim manager will help the Commission ensure the charity’s governance is restored and is improved to a better standard.”

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Jewish Netflix star Dr Sheila Nazarian opens up about antisemitism, Jewish students, and escaping Iran as a child

Dr Sheila Nazarian, an award-winning Jewish Iranian-American plastic surgeon and the star of the Emmy-nominated Netflix Series, ‘Skin Decision: Before and After’, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where she expressed her concerns about the way antisemitism is affecting Jewish students on university campuses in the United States.  

The Beverly Hills doctor said that one of her primary concerns right now lies with those “in a position of power to change the curriculum to take out Holocaust education…that’s where the real threat to me is coming from, is the antisemitism cloaked in progressivism, because I’ve smelled that before in Iran.” 

Dr Nazarian, now rising in Los Angeles, revealed on the podcast how she and her family fled Iran, in no small part due to fears for their safety as Jews. 

“We left towards the tail-end of the Iran–Iraq War. There were bombs flying everywhere. My parents could see that there was really no future as Jews and as women in Iran for their two daughters,” she said, “so my father actually said he was going on a medical conference in the US, went to Vienna, and stayed there with a friend, a colleague, and worked on getting visas for my mother, my sister and I.

“Meanwhile, about a week later, my mum, my sister, and I went to the bazaar. We got into the back of a truck in the foetal position with strangers, just fitting in however we can. They put burlap on top of us, and corn, and took us close to the border. I remember there was a pole at the bottom of the truck that they used to tie crops to that was sticking into my ribs. I kept telling my mum ‘That hurts’, and she’s like ‘Shh, just be quiet.’ 

“So, we got close to the Pakistani border, and that’s when she told me in a makeshift hut of a bathroom that was basically made of clay, just a big hole in the ground, that we were going to America…we slept one night in the desert and the next day we were seen by border police. They started shooting at us and we were, thank God, able to get away, and we made it into Pakistan. We were in Pakistan for a few months with other people who escaped, and eventually, we were able to make it to America.”

Dr Nazarian has since become an award-winning plastic surgeon and has guest-starred on numerous television series, including ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’, ‘Basketball Wives’, and ‘Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian’, but still ensures that she has time to speak out against antisemitism, both online and in-person.

The plastic surgeon said that she feels that “antisemitism is always there,” describing it as “underlying everything” and noting “the comfort with which it bubbles to the surface”. 

She told Podcast Against Antisemitism: “I speak on a lot of college campuses to encourage the Jewish students to not hide, to speak up, to educate, to go to administration, and so I think the messaging there is ‘Don’t hide, don’t change who you are, or suppress parts of who you are in order to feel accepted’. What we have to do is empower people to fight for the right thing, to fight for justice, and to speak up.”

Dr Nazarian, who in 2016 was named the “Iranian Jewish Women’s Organization Woman of the Year”, said that her activism began when she realised that her daughter, who was then four years away from enrolling in a university, might not feel able to safely speak on certain aspects of her identity, particularly in relation to Zionism.

“I was like, ‘Wait, if I don’t start speaking up about Judaism and being a proud Jew, how is my daughter going to go bring that message to people in college who maybe have never met a Jewish person before?’”

The award-winning doctor called on people to take action against antisemitism, encouraging everyone to do what they can.

“You can always start in your own capacity and I think speaking up when you witness it is very powerful…supporting activists, or people on social media, even if it’s just a message,” she said. “Being an ally, speaking up for the Jewish people, sharing posts…everyone has the capacity to do something.”

This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.

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Charity Chairman allegedly shared “Zio-zombies” post and claims Israel masterminded 9/11 attacks

The Chairman of a charity is alleged to have shared posts about “Zio-zombies” and claims that Israel masterminded the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Nasar Mahmood, Chairman of the Manchester-based British Muslim Heritage Centre (BMHC), is also reported to have used his social media to publish other incendiary posts and conspiracy theories, including the accusation that Israel harvests organs from Palestinians. 

The claim that Israel is harvesting of organs is reminiscent of the medieval blood libel, in which Jews were alleged to murder Christian children in order to use their blood in religious rituals.

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

Screenshots also appear to show a 2019 Facebook post from Mr Mahmood’s account which links to an article claiming Nick Griffin, former leader of the far-right BNP, accepted money from Zionists in order to attack Islam.

These reports arrive only weeks after we wrote that we would be writing to both the Charity Commission and the Honours Forfeiture Committee over incendiary social media posts that were understood to have been shared by the BMHC’s Chief Executive, Maqsood Ahmad OBE. 

Mr Ahmad, who was reported by the Jewish News to have posted several inflammatory tweets in reference to Zionism and Zionists, is understood to no longer work at the BMHC.

One such post allegedly said: “The Holocaust and Nazism wasn’t just the gas chambers. It had many things that Zionism is today, to a degree…They wail ‘never again’ – but never is happening again. Don’t take my word for it. The decent Jewish are even saying it.”

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

Mr Ahmad also reportedly left a comment beneath a video of a man burning the Israeli flag stating: “Respect, these are the real Jews.”

The JC reported that Mr Ahmed also ‘liked’ Twitter posts in which a United States ambassador and a Congressman was referred to as a “ZioNazi” and one which asserted that Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development, David Lammy, had been “bought and paid for” by the Israeli lobby.

He was also said to have retweeted an image of the Statue of Liberty with its eyes covered by the flag of Israel, alongside the caption: “Palestine [sic] isn’t the only country occupied by zionism.” Mr Ahmed is also alleged to have commented, in response to a post from comedian David Baddiel about rapper Kanye West, that “Kanye West may be dangerous but not as dangerous as Zionist Government of Isreal [sic] who continue to discriminate and occupy Palistinian [sic] land…”

A statement from the BMHC released at the time, apparently signed off by Mr Mahmood, said that Mr Ahmad’s “views are not consistent with the views of the British Muslim Heritage Centre.” 

Trustees of the BMHC have now said that “Maqsood Ahmad left his position as CEO of the BMHC at the end of April,” adding that “We are also reviewing our training, policies and procedures, and will seek support from relevant organisations to strengthen our approach in these areas for both staff and trustees.”

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Liverpool man in possession of neo-Nazi documents jailed for 30 months on terrorism offences

A Liverpool man who was found to be in possession of neo-Nazi documents was jailed on terrorism offences yesterday.

Counter Terrorism Police first became aware of Nicholas Street after he was discovered to be in connection with a man who had attempted to purchase a firearm. West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit further uncovered messages exchanged between the pair, in which they spoke of homemade firearms. 

Mr Street, 20, was arrested in December 2019 by Counter Terrorism Police North West (CTPNW) who conducted a full search of his electronic devices.

The search uncovered messages exchanged between Mr Street and members of far-right organisations which included discussion of guns and the sharing of neo-Nazi propaganda and videos.

Additionally, documents contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 were also found on Mr Steet’s devices. 

Mr Street was arrested once again by CTPNW, one year later, and was charged with three counts of possession of material likely to be of use in terrorism and one charge of encouraging terrorism.

At Liverpool Crown Court, Mr Street pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing terrorist documents contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and, at an earlier hearing, was found guilty of offences contrary to section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

Mr Street has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Detective Superintendent Andrew Meeks of Counter Terrorism Policing North West said: “Individuals idolising and encouraging the actions of terrorists and extremists pose a great risk to our society and I hope the result today shows that CTPNW are committed to rooting out and prosecuting those individuals.

“Every year, thousands of reports from the public help police tackle the terrorist threat. If you see or hear something that doesn’t seem right, trust your instincts and ACT. Reporting won’t ruin lives, but it could save them.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: Greater Manchester Police

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Lancashire community centre defaced with swastikas and antisemitic drawings 

A community centre in Lancashire has been defaced with swastikas and antisemitic drawings.

Images show the interior of Accrington’s Spring Hill Community Centre vandalised, including the daubing of a swastika and the scrawling of the phrase “Seig Heil” on the walls.

In another image, a sketch of what appears to be a racist cartoon of a Jewish person was stuck on the wall. A Star of David was drawn on the person’s face while a swastika was drawn on the chest.

Smashed glass, strewn furniture and splattered paint were also visible in the images. Books, including Islamic children’s books, were thrown on the floor and the iron railings on the outside of the Centre, which also functions as a nursery, had been ripped off.

Shamim Miah, a trustee at the centre alongside his wife, said: “We are speechless. It is so distressing and demoralising. We just don’t know what to do and who to turn to. 

“This is a small community centre and it caters for the local community. We have a nursery which is run by someone else and they had to tell the parents what had happened. Who in their right mind would do this? It is damage on a huge scale. We don’t even know where to start.

“You just cannot comprehend what would be going through someone’s mind to purposely go through each and every part of the building and do this.”

Lancashire Police’s Detective Chief Inspector Tom Edmondson said: “Our enquiries are continuing into this serious offence. We are working closely with community leaders and patrols will be increased in the area for reassurance.”

Image credit: Google

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“The beast will come for you people soon”: Verbal abuse reportedly hurled at Jewish people in London

Video footage has shown what appears to be a torrent of verbal abuse being hurled at Jewish people at the Park Avenue Hotel in Clapton Common, near Stamford Hill.

The video shows a woman seemingly telling the person recording that “The beast will come for you people soon”, quoting the number “666”, known as the mark of the devil.

In another clip, the person in the video, who was later apprehended by the police, seems to yell: “F*** off.”

The alleged incident occurred yesterday 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: CAD 3631 08/05/23.

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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“Jewish motherf***ers”: Suspect arrested following reported verbal abuse against Jewish passersby

A suspect has been arrested following reported verbal abuse against Jewish passersby.

In one piece of video footage, a man seems to yell “Jewish motherf***ers” to someone filming.

In another, an individual, who appears to be the same man, shouts what sounds like “f***ing Jewish” to a person driving a car.

The alleged incident occurred in the afternoon of 7th May 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: CAD 7746/07/05/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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Arrest made following reports of verbal abuse against Jewish woman in Stamford Hill

An arrest has been made following reports of verbal abuse against a Jewish woman in the North London area of Stamford Hill.

The suspect allegedly told the Jewish woman: “One day I will kill all you Jews!” 

The alleged incident occurred on the corner of High Road and Ravensdale Road at 14:30 on 2nd May, 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: CAD 4518/03/05/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

Image credit: Google

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Ofcom finds GB News in breach of broadcasting rules over comparison between COVID-19 vaccinations to “pre-Nazi Germany”

Ofcom has found GB News, the conservative news and opinion channel, to be in breach of broadcasting rules over comparisons made between the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations to practices carried out in “pre-Nazi Germany”.

The breach referred to Rule 2.1 of Ofcom’s code, which states that “Generally accepted standards must be applied to the contents of television and radio services…so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from the inclusion in such services of harmful and/or offensive material.”

The incident occurred at 20:00 on the 4th October 2022 edition of the Mark Steyn programme, later reaired at 02:00 on 5th October, when writer Naomi Wolf said of the United Kingdom’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout: “I think we’re there. I mean, Mark, I’m Jewish and you know I can say this. I don’t think you’re going too far. I think you’re going exactly where you should go. It was the doctors in pre-Nazi Germany in the early thirties who were co-opted by the National Socialists and sent to do exactly what we’re seeing kind of replaying now. It was the medical organisations in the early thirties who were emboldened to be the arbiters of, you know, ‘life worthy of life, life unworthy of life’.”

Ms Wolf said of the vaccine rollout that a “mass murder has taken place”.

The idea of “life unworthy of life”, although conceptualised before the Nazis rose to power, was heavily utilised by the Party as a means of initially justifying the killing of those with disabilities, but shortly expanded to include Jews and other groups deemed inferior, racially or otherwise. 

In its conclusion, the media watchdog said that “It is important to note that the Code does not prevent the broadcast of controversial or challenging opinions and this includes viewpoints which ‘challenge the status quo’.”

However, it added that “We were particularly concerned about the significant and alarming claim that ‘mass murder’ was taking place through the rollout of the [COVID-19] vaccinations which she repeated three times.

“Taking all the above factors into account, Ofcom did not consider that the programme included adequate protection for viewers from the inclusion of potentially harmful material and it was therefore in breach of Rule 2.1.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].

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Far-right group Patriotic Alternative splits

The far-right group Patriotic Alternative (PA) has reportedly split, with a newer, splinter group forming in Scotland. 

The newer organisation, “Homeland”, is said to comprise every former Scottish member of PA, as well as a number of former members from across the UK. The group’s leader, Kenny Smith, the former organiser for PA’s Scottish branch, has allegedly claimed that over half of PA’s membership has now defected to Homeland. 

It is understood that an investigation carried out by the advocacy group, Hope Not Hate and The Herald on Sunday, has identified several members of Homeland, including a cameraman who had previously worked at Scottish National Party conferences.

PA is a UK-based group headed by the former leader of the youth wing of the BNP, Mark Collett. Mr Collett is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, is regularly heard as a guest on the radio show of the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, David Duke, and has described the Holocaust as “an instrument of white guilt”.

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

Earlier this year, the group was suspended from Twitter only one month after being reinstated on the platform.

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

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Alleged member of far-right group Patriotic Alternative told Telegram followers Hitler did “nothing wrong”, court hears

A man reported to be a member of the far-right group Patriotic Alternative said that Adolf Hitler did “nothing wrong”, members of the Old Bailey were told. 

Kristofer Thomas Kearney, 39, has been described as an “alleged far-right fitness guru” who operated under the online moniker of Charlie Big Potatoes. Originally from Liverpool, Mr Kearney was living in Alicante when he was extradited in September to face charges.

In March, Mr Kearney entered his pleas at the Old Bailey by way of video link from HM Prison Chelmsford, pleading guilty to two offences of disseminating terrorist publications, both in relation to two Telegram posts on 23rd January and 8th March 2021. 

The documents reportedly glorified and encouraged extreme right-wing terror attacks.

Mr Kearney posted links to 89 extremist documents in the Charlie Big Potatoes Telegram channel, including the manifestos of the Christchurch mosque shooter, Brenton Tarrant, the Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist, Anders Breivik, and the shooter responsible for the Chabad of Poway Synagogue attack, John T. Earnest. 

Prosecutors have now said that posts made by Mr Kearney, who is alleged to have acted as ‘head of fitness’ within Patriotic Alternative, also described Jewish people as “responsible for a lot of the world’s ills.” 

Mr Kearney is said to have been a regular host on the Patriotic Talk podcast and is understood to have set up a fitness channel named “Fascist Fitness”.

The podcast host reportedly sent messages to Telegram users claiming that Hitler did “nothing wrong,” and posted quotes from the dictator in a private chat group called “west is best”.

Ged O’Connor, defending, described Mr Kearney’s behaviour as “reckless” rather than an active promotion of terrorism, but prosecutor Naomi Parsons refuted this, stating that “There are numerous videos that suggest violence is looming, violence is inevitable. The evidence is consistent with intent rather than recklessness.”

A sentence will not be delivered until a two-day trial is carried out in order to better determine Mr Kearney’s motivation.

It was also said that Mr Kearney was a member of the far-right group, National Action, which was proscribed by the British Government in 2016 following repeated calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.

Patriotic Alternative is a UK-based group headed by the former leader of the youth wing of the BNP, Mark Collett. Mr Collett is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, is regularly heard as a guest on the radio show of the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, David Duke, and has described the Holocaust as “an instrument of white guilt”.

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CAA writes to Loughborough University over tweets comparing Zionists to Nazis

Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to Loughborough University over a number of incendiary tweets comparing Zionists to Nazis, as first reported by the Gnasher Jew Twitter account

The tweets are believed to come from the account of Fazal Rehman who, according to his Twitter account, works at the University in the maintenance department. 

In one tweet, Mr Rehman appears to have tweeted “Hiel Hitler [sic]”, while another tweet read: “Antisemitism the allegation zionist throw around more  than confetti at a wedding.”

Several tweets made comparisons of Zionists to Nazis, some of which are viewable here, here, here, here, and here. 

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

Other inflammatory posts included the claim that “Zionist have control of Facebook” and the accusation that “Israelis are bloodthirsty barbarians with no regard for human life except their own.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Abhorrent tweets of ‘Hiel Hitler [sic]’ and comparisons of Zionists to Nazis, which is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, would be disgraceful regardless, but even more so given that these seemingly originate from the account of a Loughborough University employee. Any individual spewing such hateful rhetoric has no business working near students, and we will be in urgent contact with Loughborough University.”

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Police investigate Hizballah song being blasted outside Jewish school in London

A newly-surfaced video appears to show men in a car loudly playing a Hizballah song outside of a Jewish school in London.

In the video posted by the JC, men are seemingly seen singing and laughing in a car whilst filming a group of young children. A caption at the top says “Drove past the Zionist school on full blast” with three laughing emojis.

The translated song says: “We are Hizballah, be our witness, you son of the most righteous of prophets.” 

Comments on the original video, believed to have been first uploaded to TikTok, reportedly include remarks such as “Why not run them over? You missed the opportunity” from a user called “I hate kikes”.

Another comment allegedly said: “Ah my brother I know exactly where you are and what the school is around that corner! That’s brilliant what you did!!!”

The alleged incident took place on 26th April on the corner of Green Lane and Brent Street, between Hasmonean Primary School and the Independent Jewish Day School.

Reportedly, the original song was first published by Hamas. The words allegedly state that members “are immortalised by blood.” 

The incident is being investigated by police following reports from Campaign Against Antisemitism, CST and others.

In 2019, following a gruelling effort over several years by Campaign Against Antisemitism and our allies, Hizballah was completely proscribed by the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, with the support of the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt.

Hizballah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, has previously said: “If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” Hizballah has been true to its mission, bombing Jewish targets from Buenas Aires to Burgas, and it has even been blamed for setting off two bombs in London outside buildings used by Jews and Israelis.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is a criminal offence to show support for a proscribed terrorist organisation and to incite racial or religious hatred. This incident is especially concerning, having targeted schoolchildren, and both the perpetrators and some of those who commented on the video must urgently face justice.”

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“People should know they can do incredible things”: ‘A Small Light’ Executive Producer and Director Susanna Fogel on creating the series

Susanna Fogel, an award-winning director, screenwriter, and one of the creators behind the biographical drama A Small Light, a National Geographic miniseries streaming on Disney+, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where she spoke on her experiences of creating the series.

A Small Light takes a look at the remarkable real-life heroism of Miep Gies, the woman responsible for hiding Anne Frank’s family, the van Pels family, and Fritz Pfeffer in the Secret Annex during the Holocaust.

Ms Fogel, the series’ Executive Producer and multi-episode Director, said that “a big point of the series is just to keep telling that story so that we can’t forget it.”

Expressing concerns over how many people remain unaware of the diarist’s story, Ms Fogel said: “I think if you’re Jewish, you can’t forget it anyway because it’s constantly part of your upbringing and your historical knowledge of yourself…The Diary of Anne Frank was something that we all read in school when I was growing up, but now I know that that’s not the case, and a lot of people don’t know. Or, a lot of people come to the Anne Frank House and don’t know who she was now. We were told by the people at the Anne Frank House that there are a lot of people who walk in and don’t know the story.

“We have this responsibility, and if the responsibility is an entertaining, immersive miniseries, that’s fine. It’s still just telling that story and making sure that people know that it happened so that they can’t deny that it happened.”

When asked what she hoped people would take away from the series, the director said she hopes that “people just become aware of what happened, whatever that means to them,” going on to say that anyone can make a difference in dire situations.

“I think people should know that they can do incredible things. Anyone can,” she said, echoing the sentiments of Ms Gies, the series’ protagonist.

Ms Fogel would also speak in detail on the personal process that the cast and crew of the series underwent.

She said: “The process of understanding what these people went through, the stakes of what they did, reading books about them, visiting the Terezin concentration camp – which was near where we were filming in Prague – all of these things that people did, retracing Miep’s steps, the things that Bel [Powley] did and the rest of the actors did…I think the actors really undertook those types of preparation in a solitary way. It’s a very personal, solitary thing that everybody kind of did in their independent study way.”

Ms Fogel added that preparation was also conducted as a group.

“When we were together, we really focussed on building those relationships. What is the human bond between these people? Developing the humanity and the warmth and the light and the humour, that’s the thing that we worked on as a group, because that’s the thing that we really wanted to make sure was coming through in the show.”

Speaking further on the relationship between those involved, she said: “The truth is that we all kind of became a family on the set. Everybody got along really well…there was a certain amount of just, living in this world is so dark, that we had to find the moments of levity in the day.”

This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.

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Ahlebait TV fined £10,000 by Ofcom for “antisemitic hate speech” 

Ofcom has fined the television channel Ahlebait TV £10,000 for “antisemitic hate speech”.

The fine comes less than one year after the regulator put the television channel on notice after deciding that it had breached hate speech regulations.

The media watchdog made the initial ruling last year against Ahlebait TV, which offers “current affairs and entertainment programming with an Islamic perspective”, following a complaint from CST.

The incident occurred on an edition of the programme 20th Hour entitled Money Power, Islam and a Just Order in March of 2021 when David Pidcock, one of the guests on the programme, said: “This is why the Jews have been expelled from 47 different countries and city-states in the last 1,000 years and as they recognise…their antisemitism comes from their actions of impoverishing people and they then respond and then they call it antisemitism but we know that it’s because they do and they get punished and as Allah says, you know, he will expel [sentence incomplete] – send them to all corners of the world to be an excoriation and a hissing and a booing to wherever he had sent them.”

Following this comment, fellow guest Clive Menzies remarked that “It’s worth just noting that antisemitism was created by Theodor Herzl at the back end of the nineteenth century in order to frighten and create the circumstances that would encourage Jews to migrate to Israel so antisemitism is actually a Jewish creation”. 

In a summary of its investigation, Ofcom said that it had “found this episode of 20th Hour contained uncontextualised antisemitic hate speech which justified and encouraged intolerance of Jewish people.”

It added: “We considered the breaches were serious. We considered that the programme contained uncontextualised antisemitic hate speech which amounted to abusive or derogatory treatment of Jewish people. We therefore considered that this programme contained statements which justified the hatred of Jewish people based on intolerance on the grounds of ethnicity, race, religion or belief.”

In a statement, the media watchdog said of the fine: “Ofcom has imposed a sanction on the Licensee of a financial penalty of £10,000, a direction to broadcast a statement of Ofcom’s findings on a date and in a form to be determined by Ofcom, and a direction not to repeat the programme.”

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The Guardian editor Katherine Viner must resign following the newspaper’s publication of an antisemitic cartoon

Campaign Against Antisemitism is calling upon Katherine Viner, editor-in-chief at The Guardian, to resign after the newspaper published an antisemitic cartoon on Friday night.

The now-deleted cartoon, drawn by Martin Rowson, depicted Richard Sharp, who last week resigned as Chairman of the BBC, and evoked several antisemitic tropes.

Mr Sharp, who is Jewish, is portrayed with a large nose and swarthy, gruesome features, like those commonly seen in Nazi propaganda about Jews. 

Mr Sharp is seen to be carrying a box containing, among other items, a puppet of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Nazi, Soviet and other antisemitic propaganda has consistently portrayed Jews as puppet masters, secretly pulling the strings and manipulating politics.

The box Mr Sharp is holding in the cartoon appears to read “Goldman Sachs” and contains a squid. He formerly worked at Goldman Sachs, which was once described in a Rolling Stone article as a “vampire squid”. 

However, one must ask, why is that foregrounded in a cartoon about his resignation from the BBC? Nazi and Soviet propaganda portrayed Jews as tentacled monsters, controlling and sucking the life from society, and since medieval times, Jews have been cast as miserly moneymen exploiting workers to enrich themselves.

Also featured in the grotesque cartoon is a pig vomiting blood. In antisemitic images, pigs often refer to the ‘otherness’ of Jews for not eating pork, whilst blood can be a reference to the medieval ‘blood libel’ which accused Jews of drinking the blood of non-Jewish children, leading to massacres of Jews.

Mr Rowson has since apologised for the cartoon, stating: “Satirists, even though largely licenced to speak the unspeakable in liberal democracies, are no more immune to f***ing things up than anyone else, which is what I did here…I know Richard Sharp is Jewish; actually, while we’re collecting networks of cronyism, I was at school with him, though I doubt he remembers me. His Jewishness never crossed my mind as I drew him as it’s wholly irrelevant to the story or his actions, and it played no conscious role in how I twisted his features according to the standard cartooning playbook.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Guardian said: “We understand the concerns that have been raised. This cartoon does not meet our editorial standards, and we have decided to remove it from our website. The Guardian apologises to Mr Sharp, to the Jewish community and to anyone offended.”

This is not the first instance of The Guardian publishing an inflammatory cartoon. In 2020, the newspaper published a cartoon that featured Labour Party Leader Sir Keir Starmer presenting the head of former Leader Jeremy Corbyn on a platter in a pose deliberately reminiscent of the Caravaggio painting “Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist”, a depiction of the New Testament event of King Herod having Jesus’ mentor, John the Baptist, beheaded at the request of his Jewish stepdaughter Salome.

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Today, whilst Jews observed the Sabbath and were unable to respond, The Guardian saw fit to publish a depiction of a Jew that would not have looked out of place on the pages of Der Stürmer.

“Though the cartoon has now been deleted, and the cartoonist has apologetically declared that the catalogue of anti-Jewish imagery — from bags of gold and a reference to banking, to a tentacled animal, to an outsized nose, and a pig apparently vomiting blood — were all a mistake, it was waved through by editors.

“This is surely a resignation offence for editor Katherine Viner whose newspaper has become known in the Jewish community for its platforming of antisemitism deniers, incitement during the Corbyn years, and occasional relapses into raw medieval anti-Jewish imagery of the kind published today. Under her editorship, The Guardian has given a veneer of genteel legitimacy to antisemitism and helped to fuel hatred against Jews.”

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CAA helps Jewish victim of unfair dismissal to achieve major settlement

Campaign Against Antisemitism has assisted a Jewish victim of unfair dismissal to vindicate his complaint against his former employer and achieve a major compensation package.

The victim was invited by his line manager to wear a kippah (skullcap) to a Jewish religious event that the company was hosting two weeks later. Having already intended to wear a kippah for the event, which he always prefers to do at Jewish occasions, the victim agreed.

On the day of the event in question, the victim arrived wearing a kippah, however a supervisor approached the victim and relayed a message from a different manager directing him not to wear the kippah. The victim explained to the supervisor that, as this was a Jewish event, he was wearing the kippah, as he had always done at such events. The supervisor explained that he was merely relaying the message from the manager. The victim ignored the request to remove the kippah and continued working.

An hour later, the manager approached the victim and asked him to remove his kippah. The victim politely refused, even when the manager insisted. Asked again by the manager why he was wearing it, even though it was not part of the uniform, the victim replied: “It’s a religious event, I have worn the kippah at every Jewish event throughout my life. I won’t take it off, but you can dismiss me.”

The manager retorted: “Go then, you’re dismissed”. He allegedly gestured with his hand in a disdainful manner, clearly instructing the victim to go while looking away.

The victim stopped working and turned to leave. As he was on his way out, the victim turned and said: “I want a written reason for my dismissal.”

The manager reportedly yelled at him aggressively: “Reason? No reason! No one else is wearing one, it is not part of the uniform, everyone is wearing the uniform, it’s like you’re doing your own thing! I am happy for you to stay, but not wearing this!”

The victim again refused to remove the kippah, to which the manager reacted: “Go then, you’re dismissed”, waving to the door. The victim said his goodbyes to his colleagues and left.

The victim reported feeling grossly discriminated against, noting that religious symbols were worn openly at the company by staff from other religious communities, including Christians and Muslims. “I feel angry, hurt and upset,” he told Campaign Against Antisemitism. His feelings of distress and anger did not subside for several weeks, during which he suffered from poor sleep, nightmares and anxiety. He also felt nervous about displaying any Jewish symbols, including the Star of David, or his kippah. These effects were in addition to the financial cost of the dismissal.

He was also deeply insulted by the manager’s suggestion that “I am happy for you to stay, but not wearing this,” which the victim interpreted as essentially meaning that “You can work here, as long as you don’t look like a Jew.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism was proud to provide the victim with legal assistance and other support, all free of charge. The lawsuit was settled with a considerable compensation package for the victim, part of which he is very kindly donating to us, so that we can assist others like him who suffer discrimination at work or elsewhere.

The victim was assisted by Jamie Susskind, as counsel, and by Asserson Law Offices, as solicitors.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “What happened to this young victim was utterly appalling. Such racist conduct is abusive and can leave lasting effects. We are proud that this victim stood up for his rights and that he had the courage to come to us and see this case through. The business entirely deserves the financial penalty that it has had to pay. Hopefully it will think twice in future before telling its workers that they cannot engage in perfectly reasonable expression of their religious identities. We are delighted to have secured justice for this victim, and hope that it serves as an example to other victims to come forward.”

If you believe that you may be the victim of antisemitic discrimination at work or elsewhere, please record or write down details of the incident and contact us urgently – as time is often of the essence in such legal cases – at [email protected].

Image credit: JoshMB

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Jewish professional wrestler Simon Miller speaks on antisemitism in wrestling

Simon Miller, a Jewish professional wrestler and one of the presenters of the WhatCulture Wrestling YouTube channel, which regularly posts wrestling-related content to over 2 million subscribers, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he spoke on how issues of Jewish identity and antisemitism have been dealt with in the wrestling industry, both on and off-screen.

Mr Miller discussed how the Jewish identity of the wrestling manager and on-screen character Paul Heyman, who currently works in the global wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and, in a documentary on the WWE Network, revealed that his mother was a Holocaust survivor, has been presented in a positive manner that allows Mr Heyman to playfully draw upon his Judaism.

However, Mr Miller also touched upon the various reported instances in which Judaism and antisemitism were handled poorly.

Remarking on the fact that he read from multiple sources that a “Nazi character” was once pitched as a wrestler, Mr Miller said that he was not entirely surprised, given that this was reported to have occurred at a time “when wrestling was super-duper about stereotypes.”

Mr Miller also gave his thoughts about the way the Jewish identity of the wrestler Colt Cabana was infamously handled, during which, in the mid-2000s, the wrestler had signed with WWE under the character of ‘Scotty Goldman’. Mr Cabana would appear in scripted segments where, in post-edit and reportedly without his knowing, klezmer music and stereotyping sound effects were added in. 

The wrestler also alleged that one of the WWE trainers would refer to him not as “Colt Cabana”, but as “Kike Cabana”. To date, WWE has never commented on or disputed the wrestler’s allegations, but neither have they been confirmed.

Mr Miller said: “You see that headline and you’re like ‘What?!’ I mean, it’s really even hard to come up with the words for it. ‘Scotty Goldman’, the name alone…you’re like, ‘What did you do? Did you just type in “common Jewish names”?’ 

“And to add all the [sound] effects in afterwards…I always thought about it from a Colt Cabana point of view. It must have put him in such an awkward position, because you’ve made it to the top. You’re in WWE…and then the one thing they lean on you for is ‘He’s Jewish so we’ll make him a Jewish guy’. It almost undermines everything else that he’s done.”

The WhatCulture Wrestling presenter went on to say that it was “disappointing, because there’s more to it than that,” adding: “I’m not saying that you couldn’t come up with an interesting Jewish storyline if everything is treated with respect, but that’s the point…it’s not, is it? It makes you want to stop watching.”

Mr Miller warned that presenting Jewish wrestlers in a demeaning manner could have serious, real-world consequences. 

“To an audience that may be a little bit ignorant towards [Judaism] or maybe a little bit uneducated, that may just back up certain ideas or it may actually enforce ideas they never thought they would have had before,” he said.

Speaking on the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and WWE star Bill Goldberg, a wrestler whose Jewish identity had never been acknowledged on-screen, Mr Miller said that had it been acknowledged positively, it could have served as necessary representation for Jewish fans.

“Let’s say on commentary, every now and then you just mentioned that he was of Jewish faith, as somebody may do with sports commentary just to add a little bit of flavour to proceedings, as a little Jewish kid that would have been the coolest thing ever,” he said. “It’s representation, right? It makes you go ‘Well that’s a badass thing! Maybe one day I can grow up and do that too.’ It’s just how people think. 

“So, all of a sudden, you try and make a caricature out of it, all that’s going to do is tell the little kid watching wrestling that maybe their religion is a bit silly, which is just not true, and it’s not fair, and it’s dangerous. More dangerous, I think, than people realise.”

Mr Miller also spoke on his admiration for the wrestler Maxwell Jacob Friedman, known to wrestling fans as MJF, who is signed to the promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the largest wrestling promotion in the United States after WWE. MJF, who is currently the AEW World Champion, has often used his screen time to deliver impassioned speeches about his Jewish identity and antisemitism, revealing that he was bullied at school for being Jewish. 

“I find it really inspiring, and really motivational. I really, really do,” Mr Miller said. “He’s made it to the top, he’s established. He’s been doing it the whole time, and he’s been shining a spotlight on [Jewish identity], and he’s been telling his stories. Be it on social media, or interviews, the fact he doesn’t shy away from it and the fact he’s tied it up in his character, and the fact that he’s proud of it…you look up to it, because you’re like ‘That is so cool to see somebody doing that,’ and he has shared terrible, terrible stories of some of the antisemitism that he has experienced in wrestling, especially growing up.”

Mr Miller praised the manner in which MJF has repeatedly called out antisemitism on social media. “It’s great, because if he is doing it, that should then roll downhill, and other people can get the confidence to go ‘Actually, maybe I shouldn’t let this happen, and I won’t let this happen.’ And as soon as you start doing that, it can really inspire change.

“I think he’s doing a really, really important job, and I bet it’s not as easy as he makes it seem because I imagine he’s been through some real horrible stuff.”

Mr Miller revealed that MJF’s experiences resonated with some of his own, stating that he has been on the receiving end of antisemitic abuse. 

He said: “The big one that always stands out to me was in my first job when I was working in a cinema…there was this one guy, we saw each other every day, and my Judaism came up. He looked at me and he just said, ‘Oh, we can’t be friends anymore. I’m not allowed to like Jews.’ It all came down to the fact that that is what had been instilled in him as a child from his family. ‘We don’t like Jewish people.’ I never found out why.”

The wrestler said that this experience had, over the years, caused him to be wary about who he would reveal his Jewish identity to.

This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.

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Magistrate and Labour Party councillor issued formal warning by Judicial Conduct Investigations Office over posts containing “antisemitic content”

A magistrate and Labour Party councillor has been issued a formal warning by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) over Facebook posts containing “antisemitic content”.

The warning relates to posts said to have been made between 2015 and 2019 that are believed to be behind Ansar Hussain’s suspension from the Party in May of last year.

Mr Hussain, who was elected in Milton Keynes in 2021 and previously served as Wolverton’s mayor, was alleged to have shared conspiracy theories about the Jewish state on social media, including some that appeared to compare Israeli policies to those of the Nazis. 

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

Contacted by the JC, Cllr Hussain reportedly said at the time that he “disagreed with antisemitism” and, regarding the posts, that “I don’t remember these posts.” 

The JCIO said of its warning to Mr Hussain: “Following a judicial disciplinary investigation, a conduct panel of the South East Region Conduct Advisory Committee found that Mr Hussain had, on four occasions between 2015 and 2019, shared and responded to social media posts which contained antisemitic content.

“The panel decided that Mr Hussain’s actions, two of which took place before he became a magistrate, were prejudiced, and fell below the high standards of conduct expected of a judicial office-holder.

“In deciding to issue Mr Hussain with a formal warning, Mr Justice Keehan and the Lord Chancellor took into consideration that he reported the matter to his bench chair straightaway, accepted responsibility for his conduct and that it was highly improper, apologised, closed his public social media accounts, and voluntarily undertook diversity and inclusivity training.”

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

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

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

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CAA to write to Charity Commission and Honours Forfeiture Committee over charity Chief’s alleged social media posts about Zionism and the Holocaust

Campaign Against Antisemitism will be writing to both the Charity Commission and the Honours Forfeiture Committee over incendiary social media posts that are understood to have been shared by the Chief Executive of the British Muslim Heritage Centre.

Maqsood Ahmad OBE is reported by the Jewish News to have posted several inflammatory tweets in reference to Zionism and Zionists, including one which read: “The Holocaust and Nazism wasn’t just the gas chambers. It had many things that Zionism is today, to a degree…They wail ‘never again’ – but never is happening again. Don’t take my word for it. The decent Jewish are even saying it.”

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

Mr Ahmad also reportedly left a comment beneath a video of a man burning the Israeli flag stating: “Respect, these are the real Jews.”

The JC reported that Mr Ahmed also ‘liked’ Twitter posts in which a United States ambassador and a Congressman was referred to as a “ZioNazi” and one which asserted that Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development, David Lammy, had been “bought and paid for” by the Israeli lobby.

He was also said to have retweeted an image of the Statue of Liberty with its eyes covered by the flag of Israel, alongside the caption: “Palestine [sic] isn’t the only country occupied by zionism.”

Mr Ahmed is also alleged to have commented, in response to a post from comedian David Baddiel about rapper Kanye West, that “Kanye West may be dangerous but not as dangerous as Zionist Government of Isreal [sic] who continue to discriminate and occupy Palistinian [sic] land…”

Following the reports of his historic social media posts, Mr Ahmad resigned from his role as the non-executive director of the Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.

A spokesperson for the Trust said: “As soon as we were informed about the comments, we raised them with Maqsood Ahmad and he stepped down from his role on the board with immediate effect.”

However, Mr Ahmad, who is understood to have also worked at the Home Office where he claims that he was “responsible for developing equality and human rights policies for the police”, seemingly remains in his role as Chief Executive of the British Muslim Heritage Centre.

A spokesperson for the British Muslim Heritage Centre said: “We have spoken to the CEO and can assure you that his views are not consistent with the views of the British Muslim Heritage Centre. These are the CEO’s private Twitter responses, expressed on his personal Twitter account. 

“Moving forward we are reviewing our social media policy for all our staff to ensure that they maintain professionalism and good judgment in their private social media activity. In addition to this we will be organising a social media training workshop for all staff.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These comments are horrific. It is staggering to think that someone with these views held such significant positions in these institutions. It is only right that Mr Ahmad has stepped down from his role at the NHS, but he appears to remain as Chief Executive of the British Muslim Heritage Centre, which we will be writing to the Charity Commission about. Additionally, we will be drawing his remarks to the attention of the Honours Forfeiture Committee.”

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Jewish man reportedly punched in the face in Stamford Hill

A Jewish man has reportedly been punched in the face in Stamford Hill.

The alleged victim was said to be walking with a friend in towards Braydon Road Clapton Common when the suspect, described as being a Black male riding a bicycle, supposedly intentionally rode into the victim’s friend. 

The suspect reportedly then turned around and punched the victim in the face, breaking his glasses.

The alleged incident 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: CAD 7375 24/04/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

Image credit: Google

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Andrew Bridgen MP expelled from Conservative Party after comparing COVID-19 vaccines to the Holocaust 

The Conservative Party has expelled Andrew Bridgen MP after he appeared to compare COVID-19 vaccines to the Holocaust.

The move arrives after the Party removed the whip from Mr Bridgen in January following a tweet in which he posted an article about the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the lead American agency handling the US response to the pandemic. The article analysed reports made to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System which apparently indicate side-effects of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

In his tweet captioning the article, he wrote: “As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust.”

During and since the pandemic, anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes, including baseless and grotesque allusions to the Holocaust.

A Party spokesperson said: “Mr Bridgen was expelled from the Conservative Party on 12 April following the recommendation of a disciplinary panel. He has 28 days from this date to appeal.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that he “completely condemns those types of comments in the strongest possible terms”, adding: “Obviously, it is utterly unacceptable to make linkages and use language like that, and I’m determined that the scourge of antisemitism is eradicated. It has absolutely no place in our society. And I know that the previous few years have been challenging for the Jewish community, and I never want them to experience anything like that ever again.”

Mr Bridgen said of his removal from the Party: “My expulsion from the Conservative Party under false pretences only confirms the culture of corruption, collusion and cover-ups which plagues our political system. I have been a vocal critic of the vaccine rollout and the party have been sure to make an example of me. I am grateful for my newfound freedom and will continue to fight for justice for all those harmed, injured and bereaved due to governmental incompetence. I will continue to serve my constituents as I was elected to do and intend to stand again at the next election.”

In 2014, Mr Bridgen attracted controversy when he suggested that “the political system of the world’s superpower and our great ally the United States is very susceptible to well-funded powerful lobbying groups and the power of the Jewish lobby in America.”

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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Amnesty International urges UN not to adopt International Definition of Antisemitism in latest act of hostility toward Jews

In its latest act of hostility toward the Jewish world, Amnesty International has urged the United Nations not to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Amnesty International has signed on to letter to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, that was originally published on 3rd April. The group joins over 100 other far-left organisations among the signatories, including the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour, and the inflammatory activist group Human Rights Watch.

The letter argued that, “If the UN endorses the [International] IHRA Definition in any shape or form, UN officials working on issues related to Israel and Palestine may find themselves unjustly accused of antisemitism based on the IHRA definition,” adding: “We strongly urge the UN not to endorse the IHRA definition of antisemitism.”

The letter also claimed that the signatories “look forward to assisting the UN’s efforts to combat antisemitism in a way that respects, protects and promotes human rights.”

Amnesty International and its network of activist groups have come under fire recently over a string of scandals over its activities, personnel and protocols, including claims of systemic racism. It also reportedly refused to sack an official who compared Israel to the Nazis.

Amnesty International has in the past reportedly voted down a motion to fight antisemitism in the UK, although the organisation denies this.

National Governments and public bodies around the world have adopted the Definition, with overwhelming support from local Jewish communities. Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.

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Arsenal launches “Jewish Gooners” partly in response to antisemitism

Arsenal Football Club has announced the launch of a new affiliate called “Jewish Gooners”, partly in response to antisemitism among supporters.

The purpose of the group will be to combat antisemitism and cultivate a more “inclusive” environment for Jewish fans, for example by enabling Jewish fans who observe the Sabbath to share their tickets with friends.

Jewish fans have complained about antisemitism among some of their fellow fans, including anti-Jewish jokes and Holocaust-denial, and plans to set up the group have reportedly been in the works for a couple of years.

The group will officially launch with a party on 14th May at Emirates Stadium.

The announcement came as Arsenal also disclosed that it was banning five supporters for three years over antisemitic incidents online and in the stadium, as well as 31 other exclusions for other forms of abusive behaviour.

Arsenal’s Supporter Liaison Officer said: “We’re very pleased to welcome the Jewish Gooners supporters’ club to the Arsenal family. We’ve already worked together on a number of initiatives and we’re looking forward to building on this in the future. Their counsel and support helps our ongoing drive against abuse and discrimination and we’ll work collaboratively, as we do with all our supporters’ clubs around the world, to celebrate and champion our diverse communities with the aim of ensuring everyone feels welcome at Arsenal.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image credit: Norwich City Council

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Liberal Democrats suspend council candidate following alleged Facebook posts calling antisemitism “a fraud”

The Liberal Democrats have suspended a candidate standing for Rochdale Council after it was reported that he made and shared several incendiary Facebook posts about antisemitism.

Guido Fawkes reported that several questionable posts and shared posts had surfaced from the Facebook account of hopeful council candidate Fezan Khalid, with screenshots appearing to corroborate the report.

In one screenshot, Mr Khalid appeared to state that “anti-semitism [sic] is a complete fraud”, apparently going on to claim that Ashkenazi Jews “created Zionism/Communism and then Israel…they are not semitic Jews but white European causation [sic] Jews.”

Another screenshot seemingly shows that Mr Khalid shared a post from a different account that said of Home Secretary Suella Braverman: [She] is a Buddhist, Morher [sic] is Indian Christian Father is Hindu. Husband is Jewish mix that up and you get a cocktail of hatred…”

Mr Khalid is reported to now be suspended by the Liberal Democrats whilst an internal investigation takes place.

A spokesperson for the Party said: “Based on further evidence that has been reviewed under the Party’s Independent Complaints Process, Fezan Khalid has been suspended from the party, pending outcome of the complaint.”

Cllr Andy Kelly, leader of Rochdale Council’s Liberal Democrats group, said: “Rochdale Liberal Democrats welcome this decision and cannot make further public comment as not to influence the ongoing investigation. In the meantime the local party have been asked to enforce this suspension as best as is reasonably practical, and will be doing so effective immediately.”

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 to submit complaint to GMC after prominent junior doctor suspended by BMA over jokes on Twitter about gassing the Jews

Campaign Against Antisemitism is to submit a complaint to the General Medical Council (GMC) in relation to a prominent junior doctor with a history of inflammatory posts on social media.

Dr Martin Whyte, a Deputy Chair of the Junior Doctors’ Committee who also sits on the Executive of the British Medical Association (BMA), has been suspended from his roles over tweets that he allegedly posted in the past which the union has described as “totally unacceptable” in an e-mail to members.

In a 2018 tweet, Dr Whyte allegedly wrote: “hahaha zeig heil hahaha gas the jews hahaha just kidding but have you seen these youtube videos about the holohoax the’re pretty convincing imo [in my opinion]…”

That same year, he also allegedly tweeted: “Me: It’s important to represent Judaism and Jewish people fairly and respectfully in art. Also me: Jew banker goblins.”

A year earlier, he allegedly tweeted: “Lifehack: promise not to boycott Israel, but do it anyway. Do it out of spite.”

He has also reportedly posted other controversial material unrelated to Jewish people or antisemitism.

He has reportedly now deleted his Twitter account.

Dr Whyte is a registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and was elected to his roles in the BMA. Following his suspension he has reportedly tried to resign from his positions but is unable to do so while he is subject to an investigation by the union.

In an e-mail to junior doctors, the BMA wrote: “Dear member, We unfortunately have distressing information to share. Today we have discovered that a UK Junior Doctors Committee officer has made deeply troubling comments online that are antisemitic. There is absolutely no place in the BMA for antisemitism.

“The comments in question were made by Dr Whyte, who had until today been an officer of the UK Junior Doctors Committee. This was totally unacceptable. We were not aware of these comments, nor of any antisemitic views. Any form of antisemitism is inexcusable. We strive to be a tolerant, diverse and progressive organisation. We want to assure members that we treat antisemitism and all forms of prejudice and discrimination with the utmost seriousness. As soon as this information came to light, Dr Whyte was immediately removed from all BMA activities and has subsequently resigned from the UK JDC. As such, he is no longer involved with any BMA work or communications.”

A spokesperson for the BMA said: “These tweets are totally unacceptable and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms. The views expressed in no way reflect the values of the BMA. Dr Martin Whyte has been removed from taking part in any and all BMA business with immediate effect and the BMA will be undertaking an external independent investigation.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism shall be submitting a complaint about the doctor to the GMC, the regulator of the medical profession.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These tweets are utterly vile. Imagine how a Jewish patient, or indeed any decent person, would feel on discovering that this is their doctor. The BMA must urgently investigate and dissociate itself from this individual and his views, and we shall be writing to the General Medical Council. Such foul language has no place in the medical profession.”

Image credit: www.independent.co.uk/news/health

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Labour must expel Diane Abbott after she claims Jewish people cannot suffer “racism”

The Labour Party has suspended Diane Abbott after she claimed that Jewish people cannot suffer “racism”.

Ms Abbott, who has a history of minimising antisemitism in the Labour Party, made the claim in a letter to The Observer newspaper.

The letter, published today, was in response to an article by Tomiwa Owolade in last week’s newspaper which commented on a new report on ethnic inequality that revealed that “Irish, Jewish and Traveller people are among the most abused. In fact, the two groups most likely to say they have experienced racist abuse, according to the survey, are Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities and Jewish people. More than 60% of Gypsy and Traveller people reported that they had experienced some form of racist assault. More than 55% of Jewish people report the same.”

In her letter, Ms Abbott wrote: “Tomiwa Owolade claims that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people all suffer from ‘racism’. They undoubtedly experience prejudice. This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable. It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism. In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus. In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, there were no white-seeming people manacled on the slave ships.”

Following an outcry, Ms Abbott issued a retraction, writing: “I wish to wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and dissociate myself from them. The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. But there is no excuse, and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused. Racism takes many forms, and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellers and many others. Once again, I would like to apologise publicly for the remarks and any distress caused as a result of them.”

In the meantime, Labour has withdrawn the whip from Ms Abbott, pending an investigation.

​​A spokesperson for the Labour Party said: “The Labour Party completely condemns these comments, which are deeply offensive and wrong. The Chief Whip has suspended the Labour whip from Diane Abbott pending an investigation.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Diane Abbott’s claim that Jewish people cannot suffer ‘racism’ is outrageous in itself, but made all the more extraordinary given all that has unfolded in the Labour Party over the past few years. She and her allies on the far-left of the Party could never accept how bad antisemitism had become because they do not even acknowledge that it is a form of racism. We already made complaints against her, which the Party has never investigated. Her suspension now is past time, and must be the first step towards her expulsion from the Party.”

On the day of the publication of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) report, Campaign Against Antisemitism submitted a major complaint against Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by the independent disciplinary process that the EHRC demanded and Sir Keir Starmer promised.

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

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

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

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CAA launches 2023 summer internship programme

Campaign Against Antisemitism has launched our summer internship programme, and applications are now open.

The internship programme takes place at our office in Central London from 14th to 27th August 2023.

Students wanting to help us tackle the world’s oldest hatred are invited to spend two weeks this summer making Britain a safer place for Jews alongside our expert staff and volunteer team who dedicate their time to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law.

Successful applicants will get the opportunity to learn more about how to develop and use their skills to protect the Jewish community. Additionally, even when the internship comes to an end, those who completed the programme will remain a key part of our team as they head back to campus, and beyond.

Interns will be placed in one of three teams that have places to offer this year; Litigation, Education and Outreach, and Communications.

Daisy, one of CAA’s 2022 interns, said of her time during the programme: “I decided to do the internship because I wanted to help grow my understanding of antisemitism, as well as understand how Campaign Against Antisemitism works in order to help fight antisemitism. I learned so much about the history and law aspects of antisemitism, as well as how Campaign Against Antisemitism works as a charity. I had an amazing two weeks, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone.”

Lucy, who worked in our Litigation team, said: “I would recommend Campaign Against Antisemitism internship to anyone. I learned so much in just two weeks about antisemitism, antisemitism and the law, and my rights. We had social media training, learned about defamation, and did real work to help real people facing antisemitism. The team is extremely supportive, and I met some incredible people who taught me so many skills that I will definitely use in the future and I use in my everyday life now. It was such an invaluable internship, and I would recommend everyone to do it.”

For more information and to apply, visit antisemitism.org/internships

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Jewish woman and baby reportedly spat on and verbally assaulted on bus in North London

A Jewish woman and baby were reportedly spat on in North London.

The pair, who were said to be travelling on the 67 bus at the time of the reported incident, were also allegedly the victims of a verbal assault.

The suspect has been described as being a man with a small beard who is around 50 years of age.

The alleged incident took place at 11:20 on 18th April on a bus on High Road in Wood Green, 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: CAD 7720 19/04/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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Arrest made after Jewish family in Stamford Hill reportedly has home vandalised after being threatened

An arrest has been made after a Jewish home in Stamford Hill was reportedly vandalised and threats were allegedly made against the family.

The home’s mezuzah – a decorative case containing a Jewish prayer that is traditionally fixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home – was reportedly stolen, the carpet was said to have been doused in water and ketchup was allegedly thrown against the front door.

There are also allegations that death threats were made against the family.

The family, who is said to be feeling scared, includes four children, the youngest of whom is three years old, and a mother who is 38 weeks pregnant.

The alleged incident 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: CAD 8353 19/04/23

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.

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Two men charged with stirring up racial hatred over reported “Khaybar” chant at London protest

Two men have been charged with stirring up racial hatred after they reportedly performed the “Khaybar” chant at a London protest in 2021.

The chant “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud” can be translated in English as “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.”

The “Khaybar” chant is a classic Arabic battle cry referencing the massacre and expulsion of the Jews of the town of Khaybar in northwestern Arabia, now Saudi Arabia, in the year 628 CE. The chant has been heard in numerous anti-Israel rallies in Britain and abroad.

Khaldoun Ahmad El-Ali, 27, and Mohammad Jihad Al Safi, 25, had the charges brought against after they were identified by CST.

A CST spokesman said: “CST welcomes these charges and thanks the police for all the work they have done on this investigation following our original complaint. We hope this sends out a powerful signal regarding chanting on anti-Israel protests.”

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Labour drops prospective local election candidate after being alerted to his history of inflammatory social media comments, but Conservatives take him on

The Conservatives have endorsed a candidate in the local elections who was barred from running for Labour after the Party was alerted to his history of inflammatory activity on social media.

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

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

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

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 University of Gloucestershire over Visa and Immigration Officer’s incendiary comments about Zionists and Hamas

Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to the University of Gloucestershire over incendiary comments made by its Visa and Immigration Officer about Zionists and Hamas.

Comments posted to the Twitter account of Joe Sucksmith, who is said to work at the University in the student-facing role, included saying that “Zionists should stfu [shut the f*** up] on the topic of racism” and that “Zionism is racism”.

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is an example of antisemitism.

Other comments from Mr Sucksmith’s account included writing “Oh f*** off about the Hamas charter” and professing support for the disgraced academic David Miller, whose employment was terminated after Campaign Against Antisemitism brought a lawsuit on behalf of students at the University of Bristol against the institution, which alleged unlawful harassment on the basis of Jewish ethnicity and Judaism, amounting to breaches of the Equality Act 2010, as well as breaches of contract.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Comments minimising the racist hatred of the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group, Hamas, showing solidarity with the disgraced former Bristol professor David Miller, and telling ‘Zionists’ that they have no right to speak about racism, are reprehensible. They have no place even on social media, let alone coming from an official in a university’s administration. The University of Gloucestershire has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism. It must now show that this was not an empty gesture, and urgently investigate and sanction this individual. We will be writing to the University.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities.

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].

Image credit: Twitter via University of Gloucestershire

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Man who shared antisemitic messages and Hitler quotes jailed for twelve months 

A man who shared antisemitic messages and quotes from Adolf Hitler online has been jailed for twelve months after being found guilty of stirring up racial hatred.

Gareth Anthony Brett, 35 from Poole, used his Twitter and Telegram platforms to disseminate the racist posts to his 2,000 followers, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.

Mr Brett reportedly became obsessed with COVID-19 conspiracy theories in 2020, leading him down a “rabbit hole” that saw him posting incendiary messages about people who were not of “Aryan” or European descent.

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Prosecutor Amy Packham said of Mr Brett’s online activity: “There are posts highlighting the physical traits of Jewish people, coupled with images and symbolism which is well known to be antisemitic and antisemitic views used by neo-Nazis. 

“He also on that account documented that he had taken a sample of his own DNA to determine his heritage and he implied that he would take his own life if the results showed that he was to be even one percent Jewish.”

Other messages contained extracts from Mein Kampf and content about white supremacy.

Ms Packham said: “This was not simply Mr Brett finding material that he was attracted to and resharing it, he was creating images such a white man wearing a swastika thumping on the back of a Jewish man with his mouth open against what is either a rail or a curb.” 

Mr Brett was also said to have posted messages and images containing sexist, racist, and homophobic sentiments.

Following Mr Brett’s arrest on 28th January 2021, his Twitter and Telegram accounts were suspended. Admitting to the police officers that it was he who had posted the content in question, he explained his actions by saying that he was “simply posting the truth and wanted to help people realise the truth about the world.”

Jonathan Underhill, defending, told the court that Mr Brett “does accept through me that the nature of the posts that formed the basis of the charge goes beyond and outwith any genuine political view that he may have and fall into the realm of that which is illegal.”

Judge Robert Pawson, sentencing, described Mr Brett as “a loner with no purpose” in his summation, telling the defendant: “Judging someone on the colour of the skin, their religion or their race or nationality is like you being judged on the basis of a Mancunian accent or having a beard. To judge someone on the basis of they’re a White European is, I hope you appreciate, mad. 

“From what I have read your background has a reasonably objectively sad aspect to it. (You have) lost contact with your mum, never known your father and drifting as a loner with no purpose.”

CST reported that evidence was supplied to CPS as a result of its open-source intelligence work.

Mr Brett pleaded guilty to four counts of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred between 29th May 2020 and 15th January 2021, and was sentenced to twelve months and two weeks in jail and ordered to pay a £156 victim surcharge.

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.

Image credit: Dorset Police

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.