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Antisemitic graffiti discovered in Dorset on Armistice Day

It has been reported that antisemitic graffiti was found on a footpath leading to a gazebo in Langmoor Gardens, Dorset. 

Dorset Police have not yet confirmed what the graffiti depicts but have stated that “Dorset Police takes hate crime extremely seriously and we are committed to identifying those responsible.”. 

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.

Image credit: Google

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Taxi driver reportedly accused pregnant Jewish woman of “killing Muslims in Israel”

A heavily pregnant Jewish woman has reportedly been abused in a taxi.

The incident occurred after the woman called a minicab service to collect her from Homerton University Hospital. 

Upon getting in the cab, the driver allegedly said to the woman: “This is the last time I am taking Jews as you kill Muslims in Israel.”

 If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 8112 15/11/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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War memorial desecrated with swastika and neo-Nazi flag on Remembrance Sunday in North Wales

A war memorial has been desecrated with a swastika and a neo-Nazi flag in North Wales.

Police are now investigating after the war memorial in Flintshire war was vandalised on Remembrance Sunday.

Inspector Iwan Jones called the incident a “distressing and distasteful hate crime,” adding “We will do all we can to identify those responsible.”

Buckley Councillor David Ellis said: “Last night the memorial was desecrated with a nazi slogan this is the ultimate mark of disrespect to those who gave everything. There is CCTV around the area and it will be checked by the Police.

“A big thank you to Steve Blackwell of Blackwell Memorials for his help and assistance in removing the Nazi slogan and Mark Edwards of Streetscene for his quick action.”

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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Fugitive French Holocaust denier finally arrested in Scotland following appeals from CAA and Lord Austin

A notorious French Holocaust denier living in Britain, who was convicted by the French courts last year, has been arrested near Edinburgh after spending two years on the run.

Vincent Reynouard, 53, 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.

According to far-right activist Fabrice Jérôme Bourbon — who was himself convicted in December 2021 in connection with denial of war crimes and defending Hervé Ryssen and fined €8,000 — Mr Reynouard was visited by local police and Interpol on 25th October 2021.

Mr Bourbon elaborated in his far-right weekly magazine, Rivarol, claiming that police and Interpol visited Mr Reynouard’s flat at the time, believed to be in Kent, at around 16:00 in order to apprehend him and potentially initiate extradition proceedings. Mr Reynouard allegedly concealed his identity and fled the scene, remaining at large.

On 11th November 2022, he was finally arrested in Fife, 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. We are delighted that he has finally been caught.

Scottish police reportedly arrested him in his hotel room in 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. He is being held pending a further hearing. French authorities are anxious to ensure his return to France to serve his sentence.

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.

General Jean-Philippe Reiland of the OCLCH said: “Vincent Reynouard was able to be arrested thanks to a huge effort of international cooperation, and in particular thanks to our British counterparts. Despite the legal difficulties that may exist, the Office will not let go of the ideologues who propagate hatred, wherever they are,”

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.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Vincent Reynouard is a despicable Holocaust denier who has repeatedly been convicted by French courts. For him to have evaded justice, only to settle in the UK as a private tutor teaching children, is intolerable, which is why we worked with French Jewish organisations to secure his extradition so that he faces the consequences of his abhorrent incitement. We are pleased that, after months of investigations and, along with Lord Austin, correspondence with police and the criminal justice authorities, he has now finally been caught. We will continue to do everything within our power to ensure that he is extradited and serves his sentence in France.”

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Success for CAA as our complaint to BBC over presenter insisting there is “absolutely no evidence” that Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic is upheld

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s complaint to the BBC over a presenter who claimed on BBC 5 Live Breakfast earlier this year that there is “absolutely no evidence” that Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic has been upheld by the Corporation’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU).

The Unit has also stated that there was a “breach of the BBC’s standards of accuracy”. 

Rachel Burden said towards the end of the programme, referring to her interview earlier with the businessman John Caudwell, who described the former Labour Party leader as “a Marxist and antisemite”, that she redirected him back to the topic under discussion but “I should have challenged him on the particular allegation of antisemite [sic] because there is absolutely no evidence that the leader of the Labour Party at that time, Jeremy Corbyn, was or is antisemitic. He had to deal with allegations of that within his party but there is nothing to suggest that he himself as an individual was. So I apologise for not challenging more directly, I should have done, and I want to emphasise there is no evidence for that at all.”

It would have been understandable for Ms Burden to say that Mr Corbyn would dispute the characterisation, but it was unacceptable for her to editorialise and dismiss publicly-available evidence that has been reported in the national media for years.

Over two years ago, for example, Campaign Against Antisemitism published data, using a peer-reviewed research method, showing that Mr Corbyn was personally responsible for 24 incidents relating to antisemitism, which was equal to fifteen percent of all recorded incidents involving parliamentary candidates and party leaders in the lead-up to the 2019 General Election. That meant that, if Jeremy Corbyn were a political party, the ‘Jeremy Corbyn party’ would be responsible for almost four times more incidents than all the other major parties combined.

Moreover, it was remarkable that Ms Burden would refer to the antisemitism in the Labour Party as mere “allegation” even though the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) reported that the allegations of racism against Jews in the Party were not only made out but were so bad as to have broken the law. Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant in the EHRC’s investigation.

Our Antisemitism Barometer last year revealed that two thirds of British Jews are deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints.

Earlier this week, Ofcom warned the BBC for its “serious editorial misjudgement” over its abominable Oxford Street coverage, attacking the BBC’s failures over the course of “eight weeks” which were “causing significant distress and anxiety to the victims of the attack, and to the wider Jewish community”.

The result vindicates formal complaints by CAA and others, which also led to CAA holding a demonstration outside BBC Broadcasting House and calls for a Parliamentary inquiry into the way that the BBC handles complaints relating to antisemitism by the JC and others.

Fraser Steel, Head of the ECU, said: “Although I am reluctant to find fault with an attempted correction which was clearly well-intentioned, unscripted and made under some pressure of time, I cannot discount the fact that there remains controversy around the question of Mr Corbyn and antisemitism, and the statement that there is ‘absolutely no evidence that…Jeremy Corbyn was or is antisemitic’ did not take account of instances which many people consider to be evidence to that effect. I think I must therefore acknowledge that there was an inadvertent breach of the BBC’s standards of accuracy here, and I am upholding your complaint to that extent.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “For Rachel Burden to have baselessly belittled the evidence of Jeremy Corbyn’s antisemitism was misleading and fell below the BBC’s standards. We are pleased that the Executive Complaints Unit has now acknowledged that the broadcaster was in breach of its standards, a concession that comes within days of Ofcom’s brutal findings of the BBC’s coverage of the antisemitic Oxford Street attack. The BBC must now pay greater attention and show more sensitivity when discussing racism towards Jews.”

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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Labour launches probe into antisemitism allegations before dissolving parliamentary selection committee

The Labour Party has launched an investigation following allegations of antisemitism that were reported to have taken place during the parliamentary selection contest for the Kensington seat.

It was revealed earlier this week that an e-mail circulated to Labour members accused the Muslim Councillor Mete Coban of being a “sellout” to “his people and his race” and being a “supporter of apartheid, racism and baby killers.”

The e-mail also said that the charity he runs “is funded by the United States embassy who are proven to have strong ties with Israel.”

The Party reportedly dissolved the selection committee and announced that it would be carrying out “a serious investigation into antisemitism” as well as over the need to “suspend members due to antisemitism.”

Earlier this year, Party leader Sir Keir Starmer received a standing ovation for saying “That’s why we had to rip antisemitism out by its roots” in his speech at a Party Conference, which proved a marked contrast to the Party’s conferences under Sir Keir’s predecessor.

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 Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) 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.

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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Assailant who beat two Jewish men pleads guilty to assault

A man who was arrested after punching two identifiably Jewish men to the ground in London has today pleaded guilty to assault and possession of a weapon but not guilty to the racially/religiously aggravated charges. 

Malaki Thorpe, of Fairview Road N15, who had been remanded in custody, had previously been determined to be mentally unfit to give his plea. However, he finally appeared in court today for his plea hearing following the January assault in Stamford Hill.

CCTV footage showed a man striking blows to the two Jewish men’s faces and bodies.

The incident took place on Cadoxton Avenue and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.

The victims, Israel Grossman and Erwin Ginsberg, were hospitalised following treatment by Hatzola, a volunteer-run emergency medical service.

Mr Thorpe pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of a weapon in a public space, and pleaded not guilty to racially or religiously aggravated assault, as part of a court-directed plea in view of his mental condition. 

It is understood that Mr Thorpe will remain in Chase Farm Hospital to receive medical treatment for what his lawyer had previously described as “psychotic illness”. 

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Environmental activists compare themselves to people who hid Anne Frank

The environmental activist organisation Just Stop Oil compared themselves to people who hid Anne Frank on Twitter earlier today, drawing condemnation from several users.

The group, which recently gained notoriety for its public stunts intended to cause inconvenience to the general public as a means of bringing attention towards oil usage which has included throwing soup on rare artworks and hanging banners over motorway gantries, made the comment on Twitter in reply to the former UKIP leader Henry Bolton.

Mr Bolton, replying to a tweet posted by the activist group which stated that one of its members responsible for causing disruption to traffic on the M25 motorway would be imprisoned until her trial, wrote: “If you commit a crime, don’t complain if you’re arrested, prosecuted and and [sic] jailed.”

In response, the activist group wrote that “The people who hid Anne Frank during WW2 were criminals, Henry. So were the French Resistance.”

It added: “Obeying the law does not give you the moral highground [sic] — not when it’s still legal for our Government to greenlight enough oil and gas to kill millions.

“Good people break bad laws.”

The tweet drew the ire of several Twitter users with many denouncing the comparison. It is reported that the group is led by Roger Hallam, the co-founder of the activist group Extinction Rebellion, who was disowned by his colleagues after he described the Holocaust as “just another f***ery in human history.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Such comparisons to victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of six million Jewish men, women and children, are totally inappropriate and insulting. This is not the first time radical environmentalists have been caught up in Holocaust controversy. By resorting to degrading the memory of a Jewish girl murdered as part of the worst atrocity in human history, Just Stop Oil only weakens its case and whatever remains of its credibility.”

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Abdullah Qureshi finally found guilty of antisemitic hate crimes, as CAA and others vindicated for pressuring CPS to reinstate racially/religiously aggravated charges

Abdullah Qureshi has been found guilty of the reinstated racially/religiously aggravated charges that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially dropped, before intervention by Campaign Against Antisemitism and other groups.

On 7th April, Mr Qureshi, 28, from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates’ Court to two counts of assault by beating and one count of grievous bodily harm with intent. The charges related to a series of assaults on 18th August 2021 in Stamford Hill in which five religious Jews in the North London neighbourhood were violently attacked.

In one incident at 18:41 on the day of the attacks last August, an Orthodox Jewish man was struck in the face with what appeared to be a bottle. In another at 19:10, a child was slapped on the back of the head, and in yet another at 20:30, a 64-year-old victim was struck and left unconscious on the ground, suffering facial injuries and a broken ankle. Two further incidents were also alleged.

The incidents received significant media attention at the time, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, condemned “this appalling attack,” adding: “Let me be clear, racist abuse and hate crime, including antisemitism, have absolutely no place in our city.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism then revealed that the CPS had dropped the racially/religiously aggravated element of those charges as part of a plea deal with Mr Qureshi. After we, Shomrim, CST and other communal organisations made representations to the CPS, it agreed to reinstate the aggravated elements, but Mr Qureshi appeared in court to resist the reinstatement of the aggravated element.

In August, Stratford Magistrates’ Court agreed to reinstate the racially/religiously aggravated element to the charges against Mr Qureshi, and, at a further hearing at Thames Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded not guilty.

At today’s trial at Stratford Magistrates’ Court, Mr Qureshi did not have legal representation, having previously dismissed his lawyer prior to pleading not guilty over the summer. The court heard how the victim of the GBH assault broke four bones in his foot in the incident, requiring three screws and a wire to be inserted and leaving him in severe pain physically and mentally. He had dizzy spells lasting for two weeks and said that he was told that he may have PTSD. He told the court of his trauma, revealing that “I’m not the same confident person I used to be,” that he is now “scared and every noise makes me jump” and that he feels that he is “still traumatised.”

A second victim described the incident as leaving him “shocked and traumatised”. A teacher, he recounted that he could not teach for several days after the incident and that he is also worried that the children in his school could be attacked in the neighbourhood as well. “I came here today,” he explained, “so that this doesn’t happen again to other people of my community.”

Both victims testified behind a screen so that Mr Qureshi could not see them.

A third victim, who was fourteen at the time of the attack and is now sixteen, chose to submit a statement to the court, which was read out, rather than attending in person because, he explained, “If I go to court and he [Mr Qureshi] sees me again afterwards he may do something to me again.”

District Crown Prosecutor Varinder Hayre accused Mr Qureshi of being motivated by hostility towards Jewish people, exhibiting screenshots on his phone that were uncovered by police, one of which, described as a “Dua [Islamic prayer] for protection from your enemy,” said: “Oh Allah, we ask you to restrain them by their necks and we seek refuge from you in their evil.” Mr Qureshi denied that this was a reference to Jewish people but rather to evil spirits, and that in any event it was not his message but rather had been sent to him.

The court also saw previously unseen footage taken from a kosher grocery store a few hours before the attacks, where Mr Qureshi appeared to engage in a dispute with the workers in the shop who accused him of trying to steal water and attempted to retrieve it from him. The prosecutor argued that Mr Qureshi did not attack those workers because they were not Jewish. Mr Qureshi claimed that the incident made him angry and he lashed out at random people on the street afterwards, all of whom coincidentally happened to be Jewish. He insisted that he had not meant to cause harm.

The prosecutor also argued that Mr Qureshi had travelled from Dewsbury to London in order to commit attacks in a Jewish neighbourhood, but Mr Qureshi claimed that he was merely visiting family in the capital for a week and spent two nights in Stamford Hill for sightseeing and shopping.

The court heard that Mr Qureshi had been calm and relaxed at the local hostel where he stayed for two nights after the incident, with the prosecution arguing that he did not attack anyone there because they were not Jewish.

Despite pleading guilty to the assaults previously, Mr Qureshi also now denied hitting the minor, but the presiding magistrate, John Law, dismissed that assertion. Mr Qureshi also tried to downplay the severity of the other assaults, for example saying that the victim who severely injured his foot had simply fallen over himself during the encounter rather than Mr Qureshi having directly caused the harm.

Throughout the hearing, Mr Qureshi appeared bored and drew spirals on the papers before him. He insisted that “I’ve got nothing against Jewish people” even as the prosecutor claimed that “You think Jewish people are evil,” “You were seeking revenge on Jewish people,” and “You were motivated by hostility toward Jewish people.”

Mr Qureshi was found guilty of the racially/religiously aggravated element on all three counts. The judge rejected his denial that he hit the minor and his claim that he barely touched the GBH victim, observing that the footage indicated that it was “a very hard punch.” He also rejected Mr Qureshi’s claim that he was walking around “simply for the purpose of buying food,” noting that one can see from the CCTV footage that Mr Qureshi was “clearly deviating from his path to attack the victims.” In sum, the judge declared: “I find the evidence he gave today unconvincing.”

Mr Qureshi was released on the same bail conditions as prior to the hearing, namely that he not enter N16 and that he reside at his Yorkshire address. A pre-sentence report is now to be prepared, and sentencing is due to be held at Snaresbrook Crown Court in December.

We would like to thank the Metropolitan Police Service’s DCI Yasmin Lalaniand, who oversaw the case, and District Crown Prosecutor Varinder Hayre of the CPS for bringing about the verdict today in court.

DCI Yasmin Lalani said: “I have made my position clear: I will not tolerate hate crime of any form anywhere in London. The Metropolitan Police Service has a zero tolerance policy for hate crime. We want to build safe and strong communities where people say no to hate crime.

“Do not come to Stamford Hill to commit any crime against our community. We will hold you to account. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Varinder Hayre who has worked relentlessly on this with us every step of the way to achieve this excellent outcome for our victims and our community.”

Ms Hayre said: “The assaults Abdullah Qureshi carried out were entirely unprovoked and based solely on his religious hatred. Mr Lipschitz, continues to suffer pain and dizziness several months after the attack, and the fourteen-year-old boy was traumatised by the incident and remains fearful when he is in the street.

“We had a strong case and I’m pleased the court agreed. The random nature of these attacks also caused fear more widely across this close-knit community, given it was clear that the attacks were religiously motivated.

“This type of hate crime, against any community, will be robustly prosecuted. The charges chosen by the CPS allow the court to increase the sentence to reflect the religious hatred that motivated these attacks.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are very satisfied that Abdullah Qureshi has been found guilty of the racially aggravated elements of his assaults. This verdict begins to redress the serious harm caused to his victims and we expect the court to impose a sentence appropriate to the severity of his awful crimes.

“Today’s verdict also vindicates efforts made by Campaign Against Antisemitism, Shomrim, CST and others to pressure the Crown Prosecution Service into reinstating the aggravated charges after they were initially dropped. The CPS claimed that it did not have sufficient evidence to make out the antisemitic element of the crimes, but we disagreed and the court has now in effect found that we were right to do so. We are grateful to the CPS for making the case forcefully in court today and bringing about this outcome. The CPS must now recognise that victims of antisemitic crimes cannot be made to accept deficient legal outcomes, and perpetrators are on notice that we will not stop until Jewish victims have justice.”

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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“It is important to engage with every situation”: Rudy Rochman on why he will debate anyone, even neo-Nazis

Rudy Rochman, a Jewish-rights activist who rose to prominence after videos of his on-the-street debates around issues of antisemitism and Jewish identity went viral, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he explained why he chooses to debate antisemites.

“I would say my work revolves around correcting the problems that I see,” he said. “For me, it’s about empowering the next generation of Jewish people…to be able to stand up for ourselves.”

He stated that one of the problems that he sees is “antisemitism…from the right to the left to every extreme.”

Mr Rochman believes in using social media as a tool to combat misinformation and to empower Jews. “I always think it is important to engage with every situation,” the activist said. 

This attitude has seen the activist take on all comers, including neo-Nazis. In one video, a tense interaction sees a man becoming increasingly angry and invading Mr Rochman’s personal space. “I’m warning you not to touch me,” the activist says.

In another debate, one man, referring to the Holocaust, tells Mr Rochman: “You want me to cry for some fake six million.”

After the man alleged that millions of deaths were caused by “Jewish lies”, Mr Rochman says “So everything bad in the world, you blame on the Jews,” to which the man says: “Absolutely.”

The activist’s philosophy requires him to engage his opponent’s ideas while maintaining boundaries. “Maybe its the first time that person meets a Jew, maybe its the last time that person meets a Jew,” he said. “So, there’s always a balance of respect, but also there’s a certain line I don’t let them cross where they have to respect as well, and I will definitely expose the individual if they cross a certain line…it doesn’t mean we just accept what they say but we do have to engage those ideas and correct them.”

Mr Rochman says that he has always been blessed with a calm demeanour, allowing him to not get flustered during his debates. However, as he says, “Some of these people are looking to trample over Jews and I’m holding a certain level of ‘I’m not going to let you cross this line’ which also prevents them from going too far.”

The key, Mr Rochman believes, “is finding the balance between demanding respect in a conversation with your confidence and with the way you communicate but also not trying to trigger the other person and aggravate the other person, and to the contrary, trying to calm them down.”

Throughout the interview, Mr Rochman touched upon a variety of other issues which included his upcoming documentary series, getting kidnapped in Nigeria and why he believes there is no such thing as a lost cause in regard to antisemites.

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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Architect receives two-year ban after reportedly performing Nazi salute and making antisemitic comments

An architect has been banned from practicing his trade for at least two years after reportedly performing a Nazi salute and making antisemitic comments.

The Architect Registration Board (ARB) made the decision to ban Justin Rooney after it found him guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct”. 

The ARB’s investigation concerns complaints made by Mr Rooney’s fellow staff members during his time at GRID Architects Ltd, London (GRID) in November 2021, where he was hired as a temporary architect. 

In one incident that occurred on Mr Rooney’s last day at GRID, during an interview arranged to discuss his conduct at work, he reportedly said that he was antisemitic and that “he hadn’t realised” he had “joined a practice of f****** Jews” and that he had been placed within the office “with f****** Jewish freaks”.

Leaving the office, Mr Rooney allegedly told a fellow member of staff: “F*** off, you Jewish c***” and “Die, Jewish c***.”

Mr Rooney was also accused of saying that there was a “need to be alert around Jewish people” as “they were likely to use and mistreat people” as well as expressing a desire for his children not to be taught by Jews.

Additionally, Mr Rooney wa said to have performed Nazi salutes on more than one occasion. 

While Mr Rooney did not attend the ARB Professional Conduct Committee’s (PCC) hearing, he submitted a letter in his defence in which he wrote: “I’ve been the subject of something of a targeted campaign by a certain section of the people in the architecture and construction industry for a few years now and this experience has made me quite intolerant. 

“Please note I am decidedly not a racist. How my tolerance has been worn down over the years culminating with my experience in GRID is not something I believe should be the source of a formal proceedings of a consumer protecting professional body as the ARB.”

The PCC has said that in two years, Mr Rooney can apply to become a registered architect again. However, he will have to “seek to demonstrate that is fit to be registered in the light of the concerns found established in these proceedings”.

In 2020, the ARB removed an architect following an investigation into his claims that Judaism is a “cult” and Jews should be banned from “important public office”.

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Antisemitic graffiti invoking Holocaust denial removed in Shropshire

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image credit: Mark Michaels

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CAA to write to iFL TV and iD Boxing over platforming of unrepentant antisemite Wiley

Campaign Against Antisemitism will be writing to two popular YouTube channels after they both posted videos featuring the unrepentant antisemite Wiley. 

Earlier this week, the YouTube channels iFL TV and iD Boxing, whose collective subscriber base totals nearly one million, both posted interviews with the rapper in which they spoke about the current state of boxing. During the course of both interviews, neither host questioned the rapper on his antisemitic remarks.

Campaign Against Antisemitism will be writing to call for the removal of both videos.

The rapper Richard Kylea Cowie, who is known as Wiley, went on an antisemitic tirade on social media in July 2020. In his tirade, Wiley likened Jews to the Ku Klux Klan and claimed that Jews had cheated him and were “snakes”, tweeted that Jews should “hold some corn” – a slang expression meaning that they should be shot – and added: “Jewish community you deserve it”. He also called on “black people” to go to “war” with Jews and repeatedly evoked conspiracy theories that Jews were responsible for the slave trade and were imposters who usurped black people — a conspiracy theory that has incited acts of terrorism against Jews in the United States.

In the days that followed, Wiley continued to rail against Jews on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Following discussions with Campaign Against Antisemitism, a major 48-hour boycott of Twitter and Instagram in which we participated, and our projection of antisemitic tweets onto Twitter’s London headquarters, which then went viral, Twitter, Facebook (which owns Instagram), Google (which owns YouTube) and TikTok agreed to remove Wiley from their platforms, depriving him of access to his nearly one million social media followers.

At the time of Wiley’s original antisemitic tirade, Campaign Against Antisemitism immediately reported Wiley to the Metropolitan Police Service, but the police eventually confirmed to us that Wiley was not in the UK at the time of his tirade. Under Home Office rules, that means that the Metropolitan Police must give primacy to police in the jurisdiction where Wiley was at the time. Lawyers acting for Campaign Against Antisemitism have filed a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands, which is where he was located when he launched his tirade against Jews.

We also called for Wiley to be stripped of his MBE and have his Ivors Award rescinded.

However, barely a year later Wiley was again active on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, notwithstanding their pledges to ban him. Wiley tweeted at the time: “In all my years on earth I realised everyone wants you to care about their stuff like Holocaust etc but not one of them give a f*** about the enslavement and f***ery of black people so it’s hard for me to care for them knowing they don’t care for us #YaGetIt #JusSayin.”

Wiley, despite promises of permanent suspensions from Twitter to Campaign Against Antisemitism, has repeatedly been able to create new accounts and spout racist hate towards Jews, even directly attacking Campaign Against Antisemitism. 

One such incident occurred in December when Wiley targeted a senior figure in Campaign Against Antisemitism directly, changing his profile picture to an image of this member of our team and tweeting a further picture of him. He then proceeded to taunt him in a series of tweets, including calling him a “coward” and then posting a video on Instagram taunting him.

The rapper, who recently released an album unsubtly titled “Anti-Systemic”, told our member on Instagram: “Don’t hide” and “come outside”. We are in touch with the police over the taunts and are examining legal options.

In the days that followed, Campaign Against Antisemitism unearthed footage from the rapper’s Instagram Live in which he rants about Jewish people and shouts to his audience: “Why did Hitler hate you? For nothing?”

Wiley continues to demonstrate a lack of remorse for his antisemitism by propagating the antisemitic conspiracy theory of Jewish influence and power.

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Suspect arrested following reported attacks on visibly Jewish men

A suspect has been arrested following reported attacks on visibly Jewish men.

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 4450 28/10/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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PhD student who defended the phrase “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust” reportedly no longer employed by Sheffield Hallam University

An academic who believes that “Zionist lobbies…buy presidents”, defended the phrase “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust” and shared a video called “Truth About Zionist Jews Talmud” is no longer employed by Sheffield Hallam University, according to the JC. 

Shahd Abusalama, who was studying for a PhD in cinema at the University, reportedly shared tweets defending a first-year student who had made a poster that said “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust” and who was accused by a Jewish student of antisemitism.

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

On social media, Ms Abusalama defended the student by citing Jewish individuals who have made the same analogy, and also wrote: “I understand why a first-year university student used #Holocaust when thinking of Israel’s repeated bombardment of Gaza”, adding: “Maybe she thought she’d garner European sympathy for Palestine by evoking ‘Never Again’ slogan.”

She noted of the term “Holocaust” that she herself would not “use such a politicised word often used to justify the racist state of Israel” because it “distracts attention from the Zionist practices of settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians.” However, she proceeded to use other inflammatory terms and claimed that the suggestion that the University’s Palestine Society should undertake antisemitism training in light of the incident was indicative of a “hierarchy of racisms” asking: “Are Islamophobia & Xenophobia insignificant? Prioritising one form of racism over others is itself racist and divisive.”

This was not the first time that Ms Abusalama has courted controversy. She is active in the BDS movement to boycott Israel, the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of British Jews find intimidating, and in the past she reportedly urged people to watch a video on YouTube called “Truth About Zionist Jews Talmud”, which presented numerous antisemitic myths about the Talmud. The video’s description asked “Why the Zionist don’t want us to know what’s in Talmud? [sic],” adding: “Why they want the teaching of the Talmud to be known only to Jews.” Ms Abusalama wrote on Twitter: “Must watch this video that tells you the truth about #zionist #Jews. They take their legitimacy from #Talmud.” In another post, she reportedly wrote that the “Zionist lobbies control all this for their interest,” adding: “They buy presidents/slaves.” The video and tweets have since been deleted.

Ms Abusalama has also asserted that “Zionism is one of the worst forms of antisemitism,” described the BBC as part of the “Zionist propaganda machine”, claimed that the Jewish Chronicle newspaper is so named in order to “cement the analogy between anti-Zionism and antisemitism” and has further claimed that “Germany was always one of the greatest supporters and Zionists managed to mobilise German guilt for Nazism to normalise and enable their oppression and dispossession of the Palestinians.” She has also reportedly posted: “Barak Hussein Obama is b*stard! Those racists should be happy now & re-elect him as he’s anti-Arabs and anti-Muslims & #Zionists’ puppet [sic].”

In 2013, Ms Abusalama reportedly appeared at the 46th anniversary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation. The event was addressed via video by the convicted terrorist, Leila Khaled, with Ms Abusalama reportedly singing in front of a PFLP banner. In a blog post, Ms Abusalama has also reportedly described Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese Red Army terrorist who participated in the PFLP’s 1971 Lod Airport massacre, as a “freedom fighter”, and described six terrorists who escaped from an Israeli jail last year as “heroes”. She has previously referred to Akram Rikhawi, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for transporting suicide bombers, as “legendary”.

During the University’s short-lived investigation into Ms Abusalama’s posts, she claimed that “Zionist racist publications/trolls have renewed online #bullying to discredit my academic reputation,” and she was suspended by the University. She declared: “Family, friends, and followers, I am under renewed attack by Zionist publications protesting my recent appointment as an Associate Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, where I also recently submitted a PhD dissertation on the historical representation of Palestinian refugees in colonial, humanitarian and Palestinian documentary films, from 1917 and 1993. The Zionist defamation campaign by Jewish News, Campaign Against Antisemitism and Jewish Chronicle joins a historical pattern where the Zionist colonial narrative is consistently privileged over the narratives of the oppressed.” She also claimed that “Zionists are still targeting me.”

She was then reinstated to her teaching duties, and it is understood that the investigation by the University was then dropped entirely and she was given a full-time position at Sheffield Hallam. Campaign Against Antisemitism corresponded with the University over the fiasco.

However, the JC has now stated that shortly after, a second investigation took place following a complaint from a Jewish student. The investigation was reportedly carried out by human rights barrister Akua Reindorf.

According to Sheffield Hallam’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, Richard Calvert, Ms Abusalama “chose to leave the university” after the second investigation.

Among Ms Abusalama’s supporters was the controversial former President of the National Union of Students, Malia Bouattia, who was found by her own institution to have made antisemitic comments.

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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Vindicated: Ofcom warns BBC for “serious editorial misjudgement” over abominable Oxford Street coverage, bolstering calls for Parliamentary inquiry

Ofcom has warned the BBC for its “serious editorial misjudgement” over its abominable Oxford Street coverage, attacking the BBC’s failures over the course of “eight weeks” which were “causing significant distress and anxiety to the victims of the attack, and to the wider Jewish community”.

The result vindicates formal complaints by CAA and others, which also led to CAA holding a demonstration outside BBC Broadcasting House and calls for a Parliamentary inquiry into the way that the BBC handles complaints relating to antisemitism by the JC and others.

Whilst finding that the BBC did not technically breach the Broadcasting Code, Ofcom warned the BBC: “in our view, the BBC made a serious editorial misjudgment by not reporting on air at any point that the claim it had made in the news broadcast was disputed, once the new evidence emerged. This was particularly the case given that the BBC was aware that its news broadcast and online article were causing significant distress and anxiety to the victims of the attack, and to the wider Jewish community.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Almost a year after the BBC’s abominable coverage of an antisemitic incident on Oxford Street, Ofcom has seen what every viewer and reader of the BBC’s coverage could but which the BBC itself refused to accept: its reportage added insult to the injury already inflicted on the victims and the Jewish community and abysmally failed to meet the most basic editorial standards. Ofcom’s decision today begins to undo that insult.

“Sadly, the BBC’s stonewalling is exactly what British Jews have come to expect from our public broadcaster. Now that Ofcom has warned the BBC after the BBC disgracefully failed to uphold our complaints against it, it has become clear as day that a Parliamentary inquiry into the BBC focusing on its coverage of issues relating to Jews is warranted, and we have joined the Jewish Chronicle and others calling for one.”

Earlier this year, the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) largely dismissed complaints by Campaign Against Antisemitism and other Jewish community charities over its coverage of the antisemitic Oxford Street incident late last year. The broadcasting regulator Ofcom then announced that it would investigate.

On the first night of the Jewish festival of Chanukah, Jewish teenagers who were celebrating on Oxford Street were attacked by a group of men who hurled antisemitic abuse at them, forcing them to retreat to their bus. The men, who appeared to be of Middle Eastern heritage, proceeded to hit the vehicle with their hands and then their shoes, spitting on it, trying to break windows and performing Hitler salutes. The victims filmed part of the attack.

In its coverage of the incident, the BBC reported that the explicit expressions of antisemitism evident in the footage were merely “allegations”, and simultaneously claimed — alone among all media outlets — that “some racial slurs about Muslims can also be heard from inside the bus,” an assertion made with no evidence to support it and which was even contradicted in the BBC’s own article by a witness from the bus who said that she heard no such slurs. It was also subsequently contradicted by independent audio analysis.

On its BBC London Evening News, the BBC even suggested that “it’s not clear what role [the supposed slurs] may have had in the incident.” After public fury, the BBC amended the article to refer to an “anti-Muslim slur” in the singular, but failed to show any evidence why a supposed slur that nobody could hear with certainty was described as “clearly heard” and reported as fact — and even implied to have been a cause of the antisemitic harassment — while the harassment itself remained mere “allegation”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism and others submitted complaints to the BBC, and we held a rally outside Broadcasting House in London, attended by hundreds of protestors, to deliver the message: “BBC News: Stop Blaming Jews!” Lord Grade, a former Chairman of the BBC and now the Chairman of Ofcom, told Podcast Against Antisemitism that the BBC’s reportage was “shoddy journalism” and called for answers in a video supporting the rally, which was endorsed also by Dame Maureen Lipman.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has joined the JC in calling for a Parliamentary inquiry following growing communal concerns regarding the Corporation.

Polling that we conducted last year for our Antisemitism Barometer revealed that two thirds of British Jews are deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints. These figures reflect years of eroding confidence in the BBC on the part of the Jewish community.

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].

Image credit: Nathan Lilienfeld

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Jewish child left with cuts and torn clothing after being knocked off bike in Stamford Hill

A Jewish child has been left with cuts, bruises and torn clothing after being knocked off of his bike on Forburg Road in Stamford Hill.

The man alleged to have knocked the child off was reportedly also shouting obscenities. 

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 4267 04/11/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

Image credit: Google

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BBC admits “unacceptable delay” in handling of watchdog’s complaints relating to Jewish concern

The BBC has admitted that it is responsible for an “unacceptable delay” in its handling of complaints relating to Jewish concern from the news watchdog CAMERA.

The watchdog revealed that out of its 26 submitted complaints, “only seven received a proper, timely response and resolution.” It added: “The BBC’s complaint system is unable to meet its own standards when it comes to content in Arabic about Israel and Jews.” 

In response, a BBC spokesperson said: “Our complaints team are in regular and direct contact with Camera Arabic who submit a comparatively large number of complaints to us each year. 

“Whilst there has been dialogue on the complaints, we acknowledge that some of them have not yet been actioned or responded to with a formal outcome letter. We apologise for the unacceptable delay and will ensure formal responses are issued as soon as possible.”

Polling that we conducted in 2020 for our Antisemitism Barometer revealed that two thirds of British Jews were deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints. It is likely that these figures would be even higher if polled today.

Recently, Campaign Against Antisemitism joined the JC in calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the BBC. The public petition was prompted by growing communal concerns regarding the Corporation.

The petition highlights the BBC’s appalling coverage of an antisemitic incident on Oxford Street over Chanukah last year, when a group of Jewish teenagers celebrating the festival were accosted by racist thugs who forced them back onto their bus and began hitting the vehicle with their hands and then their shoes, spitting on it, trying to break windows and performing Nazi salutes, as well as shouting antisemitic insults and swearing, as one such example. 

A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “As calls mount for a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism at the BBC, this feels like a forced apology. For years, the BBC has shown a disdainful attitude towards Jewish concerns and failed to engage with the community’s complaints.

“The rot has been festering for years and now needs to be drawn into the light of parliamentary scrutiny. The BBC is seen as an authoritative voice around the world, and it is disturbing to consider the extent to which the views expressed on BBC Arabic may have fanned the flames of hatred over the years.”

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].

Image credit: Nathan Lilienfeld

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Activist reveals how Jewish pride “saved her life” following threats and attempts to leak her address

Ysabella Hazan, a Canadian activist and the founder of Decolonized Judean, a movement based on Jewish pride and empowerment which seeks to educate people about Judaism through the perspective of a Jewish lens, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where she explained how Jewish pride saved her life after being on the receiving end of threats.

Ms Hazan said that certain community leaders advised her to stop posting her online content, which focuses predominantly on antisemitism and Jewish empowerment, due to fears regarding her safety. Concerns grew once people attempted to post her phone number and address online.

“I had security cameras installed in my house,” the activist revealed. “They said ‘stop posting’. But I’m not saying anything that’s inflammatory. I shouldn’t be discouraged to wear my Magen David (Star of David).”

However, Ms Hazan refused to remain silent. Two of Montreal’s most prominent news outlets reached out to her, and she then provided them with screenshots of the threats that she had received. 

“It made it to the front page of their newspaper. I said ‘My family didn’t leave Morocco to be persecuted by the same brand of antisemitism that they experienced there’.”

A Canadian minister would then go on to retweet her, raising awareness of her situation, and people would begin to take notice.

Ms Hazan said: “So when this happened, the threats stopped. The person who was threatening me, who was leading a movement against me…he stopped because he saw that this girl is not going to stop.”

The activist said that the response to the incident invoked “a sense of pride within the community”. 

She added: “No one wanted to mess with me anymore. They said ‘This girl…the more we bother her, the more she gets stronger, we’re going to leave her alone’. So, the Jewish pride is what saved me. Had I stopped, had I cowered, they would have sensed that fear and they would have acted.”

Throughout the interview, Ms Hazan touched upon a variety of other issues which included how she tackles antisemitism through a framework of ‘decolonisation’, why she believes it is so important to remain visibly Jewish and how her family escaped persecution.

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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Antisemitic hate preacher David Icke banned from entering several European countries

The antisemitic hate preacher and conspiracy theorist David Icke has been banned from entering several European countries.

The two-year ban came prior to a planned demonstration in Amsterdam, which was scheduled to have taken place this Sunday, after Dutch immigration authorities told Mr Icke that “there are concrete indications that your arrival in the Netherlands poses a threat to public order.”

Following his ban, the rally was reportedly cancelled by the organisers.

Mr Icke’s ban reportedly includes 25 other countries due to it also applying to the EU’s visa-free Schengen area.

Last month, the organisers of the demonstration were called upon by Amsterdam’s mayor, police and prosecutor’s office to disinvite Mr Icke due to his “antisemitic and hurtful statements”.

In a video response uploaded to his website, Mr Icke said that he was “demonised” by “ultra-Zionist organisations”.

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

After years of pressure from Campaign Against Antisemitism, Mr Icke was banned from most social media platforms.

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Wimbledon fan given three-year football ban for performing Nazi salute during game

An AFC Wimbledon fan has been banned from attending football matches for three years after performing a Nazi salute during a game.

Alan Strank, 42, pleaded guilty at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court yesterday to a racially aggravated offence under Section 4 of the Public Order Act.

Mr Strank performed the Nazi gesture to supporters of Milton Keynes Dons, the opposing team, at Wimbledon’s Cherry Red Records Stadium on 9th April, the court heard.

In addition to the three-year football banning order, Mr Strank must also carry out 50 hours of unpaid work in the community and pay a fine of £180.

Police Constable James Crawley, the investigating officer, said: “Racism has no place within football, or indeed in society, and those who engage in such behaviour should be under no illusion that they are committing a crime. The consequences of that crime were clearly demonstrated today.

“Genuine football fans and players are fed up with this kind of toxic discourse surrounding the game and we will use all the policing powers available to us to stop it from happening.”

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

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Shaima Dallali reportedly accepted award from group that allegedly branded Jewish-Muslim interfaith a ‘Zionist plot’ days prior to removal as NUS President

It has been reported that Shaima Dallali accepted an award from a group that allegedly claimed that Jewish-Muslim interfaith work is a ‘Zionist plot’ days prior to being removed as President of the National Union of Students (NUS).

Images of her on-stage alongside the Palestinian Forum in Britain surfaced on Twitter. The group previously held a meeting at an art gallery in London entitled “How interfaith groups are being used to normalise Israeli apartheid”.

Earlier this week, Ms Dallali was removed from her position as NUS President amidst investigations into her conduct following allegations of antisemitism.

In a letter to Campaign Against Antisemitism, NUS confirmed that its investigation — which is still ongoing — had “found that significant breaches of NUS’ policies have taken place” and that consequently “we have terminated the President’s contract.”

The letter continued: “We are sorry for the harm that has been caused and we hope to rebuild the NUS in an inclusive way – fighting for all students as we have done for the past 100 years.”

It came after Ms Dallali last month became the first President in the Union’s 100-year history to have been suspended. The decision to remove Ms Dallali is subject to appeal.

The removal follows an internal investigation conducted by NUS, while an independent investigation is underway, led by Rebecca Tuck KC. Campaign Against Antisemitism has provided input into the latter investigation.

The investigations arose following a string of controversies surrounding the NUS and its leadership, and were announced after Robert Halfon MP wrote together with Campaign Against Antisemitism to the Charity Commission calling for an investigation into the Union’s charitable arm. The full dossier on NUS, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, can be read here. In addition, over twenty former NUS Presidents wrote a letter expressing their “serious concerns about antisemitism”, and another letter, organised by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and signed by over 1,000 Jewish students and allies, called for NUS to launch an independent investigation.

There have been numerous controversies involving NUS this year. In one recent scandal, the rapper Kareem Dennis, known as Lowkey, was due to headline NUS’s centenary conference last month. After initially dismissing the concerns of Jewish students, who pointed out the rapper’s inflammatory record, the union came under media scrutiny and eventually Mr Dennis withdrew from the event. As the scandal erupted, Robert Halfon MP excoriated NUS for failing to send a representative to attend a hearing held by the Education Select Committee, which he chairs.

This scandal was immediately followed by the election of Shaima Dallali as NUS’s new President, despite her history of antisemitic tweets and other inflammatory social media posts. 

Ms Dallali was forced to apologise for tweeting the words of an antisemitic chant. In 2012, during an escalation of tensions between Israel and the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas, Ms Dallali tweeted the words “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud.”

Translated into English, this chant means “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” It 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.

Ms Dallali issued a statement on 23rd March, saying: “Earlier today I was made aware of a tweet I posted ten years ago. During Israel’s assault on Gaza I referenced the battle of Khaybar in which Jewish and Muslim armies fought. I was wrong to see the Palestine conflict as one between Muslims and Jews. The reference made as a teenager was unacceptable and I sincerely and unreservedly apologise.”

It also came to light that Ms Dallali’s output on Twitter also included other inflammatory messages, including one last May allegedly saying that “organisations like UJS [the Union of Jewish Students] have a history of bullying pro-Palestine sabbs [sabbatical officers] and activists. You speak one word of solidarity and they’re after you. UJS and their likes need to be called out.”

Another alleged tweet from 2018 read: “So your special forces invade the Gaza Strip, attempt to kidnap a Hamas commander, kill him and others. Then cry about Hamas being the terrorists. Makes perfect sense. #GazaUnderAttack.” Hamas is an antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation that is proscribed in the UK.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Ms Dallali’s election and the duration of her term, both in spite of the public history of her comments and the limited remorse that she has shown, bolster concerns over the culture of student politics and the institutional problems at NUS. 

“For an NUS President to have apparently appeared on stage to accept an award from a group that reportedly claimed Jewish-Muslim interfaith is a ‘Zionist plot’ is appalling, but worse still is the fact that it was not surprising. The task of rebuilding NUS’s relations with Jewish students is colossal and urgent.”

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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Man reportedly defending Hitler and handing out flyers chased out of school by students in Larkhall

A man who reportedly defended Adolf Hitler and handed out flyers was seemingly chased out of school by students in Larkhall, Scotland.  

A video on Twitter appears to show a man speaking with schoolchildren in which he says: “Hitler wanted a country for white people. He also wanted a country for every other people.

“And, obviously, there was a small group of people who controlled all of the media, all of the banks, and this small group…they promoted pornography, promoted cultural marxism, and it destroyed Germany. Hitler took control of the media and the banks and put the interests of the German people first.”

When asked by a student “if the Holocaust is real,” the man replied: “No, it is not.”

The man’s t-shirt appeared to be adorned with a Nazi sonnendrad, or sun wheel, symbol. 

Later on in the video, an apparent confrontation takes place between the man and a student, prompting him to decry “I’m here to help you.” His manner then becomes aggressive and he states: “What the f*** are you gonna do?”

A 20-year-old man was arrested in connection with the incident and is scheduled to appear at Hamilton Sheriff Court on 22nd November.

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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Spate of incidents sees visibly Jewish men physically assaulted in Stamford Hill

A spate of incidents has seen visibly Jewish men physically assaulted in Stamford Hill, most of them seemingly occurring on the same day.

On 28th October, outside Sainsbury’s in Stamford Hill, a man reportedly assaulted a visibly Jewish man and tried to knock off his hat. Failing, he then yelled: “I tried but didn’t manage.”

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 4548 28/10/22

In an incident on Durlston Road, a man on a bicycle reportedly attacked a visibly Jewish man and knocked his hat off. This reference number is: CAD 4663 28/10/22

In yet another incident that day, a man on a bicycle again assaulted a Jewish man in Clapton Common, knocking his hat off and punching him. This reference number is: CAD 4766 28/10/22 

It was also reported that a Jewish man, also in Clapton Common, was assaulted to the point of having a bloody eye. This reference number is: 4630257/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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Firework thrown out of passing vehicle at Jewish man in Stamford Hill

A firework was reportedly thrown out of a passing vehicle at a Jewish man. 

The incident occurred on Lordship Road in the North London area of Stamford Hill.

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 3145 01/11/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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Theatre company pulls production of Romeo and Juliet set in Nazi Germany

A theatre company has cancelled a production of Romeo and Juliet which was to be set in Nazi Germany.

The adaptation from London’s Icarus Theatre Collective was billed to present Romeo Montague as a member of the Hitler Youth, while Juliet Capulet would be a Jewish girl.

The description read: “In defiance of their entire society and in secrecy from their closest friends, hopeful young lives burn amidst a cataclysmic backdrop of impending war. Sun and moon shine down on star-crossed lovers as a Jewish girl falls for a member of Nazi Youth and the boy questions everything he was taught to believe.”

However, it transpired that an apparent error resulted in the casting notice omitting any mention of Jewish people, contrary to Director Max Lewendel’s initial draft.

Upon this coming to light, Mr Lewendel stated: “Our first draft had it, we don’t know how it went wrong. We are correcting that as soon as possible. That is absolutely not what was intended, and apologies to anyone that was understandably affected by this.”

When questioned on why an adaptation of the play involving Jews and Nazis was conceived of in the first place, Mr Lewendel said: “It’s the increasing fascism in the world today that has kind of become a trend in my work. 

“I gained some comfort that the idea could be accepted when I saw things like ‘Jojo Rabbit’, and it shows this young boy – younger than Romeo – who’s been indoctrinated but doesn’t really understand what he’s been indoctrinated against.”

The Theatre then said that following the error, it was no longer working with the Casting Director alleged to have been responsible for the change in the draft.

However, it has since announced that it would now be dropping the project altogether. In a statement released on Twitter earlier today, it said: “We apologise and are deeply sorry for the offense and pain we caused to the Jewish community. 

“As a company led by a Jewish Artistic Director who knows the pain of losing family in the Holocaust, we recognise that we’ve made mistakes that have resulted in the Jewish community and Jewish artists feeling excluded and being hurt.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are glad to hear that an apology has been issued after it was revealed that a casting notice for a play about Jews and Nazis did not mention Jewish people.

“We still struggle to think how this production could be anything but tasteless. It is staggering that anyone would find this play about morally-equivalent feuding families to be an appropriate way to explore Nuremberg-era persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany.”

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“I hate Jews”: Jewish mother and baby verbally abused on bus in North London

A Jewish mother and baby were verbally abused on a bus on Tottenham High Road in North London.

The reported incident occurred on the 243 bus when a woman reportedly yelled: “I don’t know why Jews were saved from the war, I hate Jews.”

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 2012 1/11/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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“You Jews, you think you own the world”: Jewish man verbally abused in Stamford Hill

A Jewish man was verbally abused in the north London area of Stamford Hill by a man reported to be violent.

The incident occurred near St Andrew’s Mews when the suspect allegedly yelled: “You Jews, you think you own the world.”

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 2593 1/11/22

Following this, a witness, who was also Jewish, was reportedly punched in the chest. This reference number is: CRIS 4630279/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

Image credit: Google

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Man convicted of public order offences after yelling “I’ll blow you up, you f***ing Jew”

A man has been convicted of public order offences after yelling “I’ll blow you up, you f****** Jew” to a Jewish man earlier this year.

Paul Daniel Newman was reportedly found guilty at Stratford Magistrates Court of racially or religiously aggravated disorderly behaviour as well as causing fear or provocation of violence.

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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Shaima Dallali removed as NUS President following antisemitism investigation prompted by outrage from CAA and others

Shaima Dallali, the President of the National Union of Students (NUS), has been removed from her position amidst investigations into her conduct following allegations of antisemitism.

In a letter to Campaign Against Antisemitism, NUS confirmed that its investigation — which is still ongoing — had “found that significant breaches of NUS’ policies have taken place” and that consequently “we have terminated the President’s contract.”

The letter continued: “We are sorry for the harm that has been caused and we hope to rebuild the NUS in an inclusive way – fighting for all students as we have done for the past 100 years.”

It came after Ms Dallali last month became the first President in the Union’s 100-year history to have been suspended. The decision to remove Ms Dallali is subject to appeal.

The removal follows an internal investigation conducted by NUS, while an independent investigation is underway, led by Rebecca Tuck KC. Campaign Against Antisemitism has provided input into the latter investigation.

The investigations arose following a string of controversies surrounding the NUS and its leadership, and were announced after Robert Halfon MP wrote together with Campaign Against Antisemitism to the Charity Commission calling for an investigation into the Union’s charitable arm. The full dossier on NUS, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, can be read here. In addition, over twenty former NUS Presidents wrote a letter expressing their “serious concerns about antisemitism”, and another letter, organised by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and signed by over 1,000 Jewish students and allies, called for NUS to launch an independent investigation.

There have been numerous controversies involving NUS this year. In one recent scandal, the rapper Kareem Dennis, known as Lowkey, was due to headline NUS’s centenary conference last month. After initially dismissing the concerns of Jewish students, who pointed out the rapper’s inflammatory record, the union came under media scrutiny and eventually Mr Dennis withdrew from the event. As the scandal erupted, Robert Halfon MP excoriated NUS for failing to send a representative to attend a hearing held by the Education Select Committee, which he chairs.

This scandal was immediately followed by the election of Shaima Dallali as NUS’s new President, despite her history of antisemitic tweets and other inflammatory social media posts. 

Ms Dallali was forced to apologise for tweeting the words of an antisemitic chant. In 2012, during an escalation of tensions between Israel and the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas, Ms Dallali tweeted the words “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud.”

Translated into English, this chant means “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” It 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.

Ms Dallali issued a statement on 23rd March, saying: “Earlier today I was made aware of a tweet I posted ten years ago. During Israel’s assault on Gaza I referenced the battle of Khaybar in which Jewish and Muslim armies fought. I was wrong to see the Palestine conflict as one between Muslims and Jews. The reference made as a teenager was unacceptable and I sincerely and unreservedly apologise.”

It also came to light that Ms Dallali’s output on Twitter also included other inflammatory messages, including one last May allegedly saying that “organisations like UJS [the Union of Jewish Students] have a history of bullying pro-Palestine sabbs [sabbatical officers] and activists. You speak one word of solidarity and they’re after you. UJS and their likes need to be called out.”

Another alleged tweet from 2018 read: “So your special forces invade the Gaza Strip, attempt to kidnap a Hamas commander, kill him and others. Then cry about Hamas being the terrorists. Makes perfect sense. #GazaUnderAttack.” Hamas is an antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation that is proscribed in the UK.

Binyomin Gilbert, Programme Manager at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The removal of Shaima Dallali as NUS President is an encouraging first step, and may represent the first acknowledgement by NUS of how dreadful its relations with Jewish students have become.

“Nobody with a history of expressing antisemitic sentiments has a place in student leadership, and while her removal is certainly the right decision, the culture in NUS and student politics that allowed somebody like Ms Dallali to rise so high must still be addressed.

“This is hardly the first time that we have had to raise concerns about antisemitism at the top of NUS. That is why Rebecca Tuck KC’s investigation into antisemitism in NUS more widely, to which we have contributed, is so important.”

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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London library found hosting bishop who claimed only 200,000 Jews died during Holocaust

A London library has been found hosting a bishop who previously claimed that only 200,000 Jews died during Holocaust. 

Bishop Richard Williamson has a reported history of Holocaust denial which has seen him convicted of Holocaust denial in Germany.

Among various claims surrounding Jewish people and the Holocaust, he has previously said that he believes that “the historical evidence is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers,” and that “there were no gas chambers.”

It has now been reported that Bishop Williamson has been delivering sermons about Jewish people in South London’s Earlsfield Library, during which he allegedly accused Jewish people of killing Jesus and conspiring to undermine the Catholic Church.

The accusation of “Deicide” – the belief that the Jews are collectively responsible for the death of Jesus Christ – is part of the classic repertoire of antisemitism, and has led to innumerable acts of violence against and mendacious claims about Jews for centuries. 

It was also reported that he blamed Jewish people for the orchestration of the COVID-19 pandemic and that after one of the services, attendants discussed the far-right group Patriotic Alternative.

Upon being informed of the bishop’s reported sentiments by the JC, the Library labelled them “disgraceful and unacceptable” and said: “We have terminated all the group’s bookings with immediate effect.”

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Protesters chant “From the river to the sea” in Manchester’s St Peter’s Square

A group of anti-Israel protesters were filmed chanting “From the river to the sea” while waving Palestinian Authority flags in Manchester’s St Peter’s Square today.

The incident reportedly occurred at 17:45 before the protesters embarked on a march.

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.

The footage was captured by an evidence-gathering team from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit.

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Hitler painting shredded by Jimmy Carr for Channel 4 television programme reportedly a fake

A painting by Adolf Hitler that was reportedly purchased by Channel 4 with a view to letting comedian Jimmy Carr destroy it in a new television programme has been deemed a fake. 

The concept of the programme, titled Jimmy Carr Destroys Art, is to let an audience decide on whether artwork from “problematic” artists should be destroyed following a debate surrounding the ethics of separating the art from the artist.  

The other artists include Pablo Picasso, Rolf Harris and sexual abuser Eric Gill.

In a statement, Channel 4 said: “Jimmy Carr Destroys Art is a thoughtful and nuanced exploration of the limits of free expression in art, and whether work by morally despicable artists still deserves to be seen. It speaks directly to the current debate around cancel culture and is in a long tradition of Channel 4 programming that seeks to engage a broad audience with the biggest and thorniest ethical and cultural questions.

“In relation to the Hitler painting; the artwork, should the audience decide, will be shredded. Not torched.” 

However, Bart Droog, who has written extensively in fake paintings attributed to Hitler, has reportedly said that the piece of art in question is not a genuine painting by Hitler. 

“This is a clear fake. It doesn’t even resemble any known authentic Hitler watercolour.

“By seeking cheap publicity with sensational, bogus Hitler news, Channel 4 not only insults and hurts the Jewish community but does the same to all relatives of his victims.”

When asked if Channel 4 should have known the painting was fake, Mr Droog stated: “Yes, they would have known if they had employed a true expert. By buying a fake Hitler work and presenting it as authentic, Channel 4 not only sponsored criminals and inspired forgers to make more phony Hitlers, but also cooperated with the forgers in faking history itself.”

A Channel 4 spokesperson said: “The painting was bought from a reputable auction house which had authenticated it as genuine. It was made clear in the programme the painting may not be a genuine Hitler.”

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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BBC editor reportedly blames ‘a particular lobby’ for cancellation of programme hosted by inflammatory Abdel Bari Atwan

An editor at the BBC has reportedly blamed ‘a particular lobby’ for the cancellation of a programme hosted by the inflammatory broadcaster Abdel Bari Atwan.

Nick Guthrie was said to have made a speech in which he criticised the BBC for cancelling the long-running programme Dateline London, in which he reportedly stated: “Just because a particular group, government, lobby groups, whatever, object to views expressed by others does not mean the BBC has to kow-tow.”

Last month, Campaign Against Antisemitism revealed that Mr Atwan believes that “massive Jewish institutions” try to silence him and others because they “believe they own the entire universe and control all the media.”

In an interview, when asked, “Who exactly are the bodies who aim to silence Abdel Bari Atwan and seek to incite against him in the UK?” Mr Atwan answered: “Massive institutions. Massive Jewish institutions. And institutions loyal to Israel. And there are also parties. These parties, for example, the Conservative Party, right now, it is controlled, there is control, one way or another, by these institutions, they want it to adopt what is the Israeli policy. There is also the Labour Party, there are groups, Israel’s friends in the Labour Party, Israel’s friends in the Conservative Party, it is they who want to silence us. They want to enforce the Israeli policies upon us. This is the story.

“And these people, they have deep roots in British society. However, in exchange there are people who support the right cause, the cause of justice, the Palestinian cause, and defend it. They were expelled from British parties because of these positions. But they, these people, although the number of Jews in the UK does not exceed 350,000, 400,000 people, nevertheless, they have seventy members in the House of Commons, do you hear? Seventy representatives in the British Parliament, because they have formidable financial power and economic power, and all of them form an alliance against Abdel Bari Atwan. It is because they don’t want voices. They know the extent of these voices’ influence. They know the extent to which people have reacted to these voices, the extent of the blow to their plans of obstruction and coverup in which these Jewish Israeli lobbies engage within British society. This is the gravity of the matter.”

Needless to say, there are not seventy Jewish MPs in the House of Commons and, even if there were, that should not be a cause for concern, any more than if numerous MPs from any other ethnic or religious minority were sat in Parliament in noteworthy numbers.

It was also reported that Mr Atwan defended Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ remark that Israel has committed “50 Holocausts” and his refusal to condemn the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack on Israeli athletes. 

In 2007, Atwan is reported to have said: “If Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight.” In 2010, it is claimed that Atwan told an audience at the London School of Economics that “the Jewish lobby… [is] endangering the whole world”.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “One wonders who Nick Guthrie is referring to when he says that the BBC ‘has to kow-tow’ to ‘a particular lobby’, which sounds rather like a classic dog whistle. Surely he does not mean the Jewish community, as not only would that amount to a dangerous trope, but the BBC has rebuffed every attempt made by Jewish groups to remove Abdel Bari Atwan from its airwaves due to his antisemitic outbursts and alleged glorification of terrorism.

“No Jewish group, to our knowledge, has asked for any programmes to be cancelled, despite the BBC beaming this Mr Atwan into our living rooms on a regular basis. Perhaps Mr Guthrie would care to enlighten us as to who it is who exercises such power over the BBC. British Jews could then direct our concerns, which the BBC seems routinely to dismiss, to them.”

Recently, Campaign Against Antisemitism joined the JC in calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the BBC.

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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BBC Bargain Hunt’s Charles Hanson reported to be auctioning Nazi memorabilia

Charles Hanson, who regularly appears as an expert on the BBC programme Bargain Hunt, has been reported to be selling Nazi memorabilia at his auction house. 

The reported items include a yellow star worn by a Dutch Jew, an SS dagger and scabbard and a swastika patch.

Images seen by Campaign Against Antisemitism also include a crash helmet, a hat, and several Nazi medals and pins.  

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These items belong in a museum, not in the hands of sick collectors acquiring them from an auction house that stands to make a profit from these sales. Charles Hanson must apologise and remove the items, as well as explain how on earth his website has come to be offering memorabilia and mementos from a genocide.”

Last year, fellow BBC Bargain Hunt expert Tim Weeks apologised after it was revealed that Nazi memorabilia was due to be sold at his auction house.

Some of the items that were listed in Mr Weeks’ Wessex Auction Rooms auction included a £2,000 Third Reich banner, a £300 swastika and a collection of badges.

Mr Weeks apologised for the incident, stating: “Upon learning that a number of Third Reich items are listed for auction I have contacted the head of our militaria department to withdraw them immediately from sale as we would never wish to cause any offence. We apologise if any has unintentionally been caused.”

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Jewish man forced to join neo-Nazi gang tells harrowing story of survival

John Daly, a Jewish man who was forced into joining a neo-Nazi gang in Florida, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he recounted the terrifying ordeal of his time in the gang and the devastating repercussions of what happened once his fellow gang-members discovered his Jewish identity.

Mr Daly, the subject of the documentary Escape from Room 18 which tells the fascinating story of his time in the gang, was part of an anti-racist skinhead gang in his youth. However, the Aryan Youth Force, a close-by neo-Nazi gang, took over and absorbed the non-racist members into their own, quickly letting them know that any attempt to leave would end in violence, or worse.

“One day there was a knock on my door, and there were three neo-Nazi skinheads standing outside,” Mr Daly said. “I thought, being Jewish, that initially, it was an attack.”

Fearing for the safety of his family inside, Mr Daly chose to go with the gang members. 

Recalling his first encounter with the gang members, he said: “I got in the car and we drove off, and each [gang member] told me a story of someone who used to be involved and quit hanging out and was mysteriously shot, or mysteriously run over, or mysteriously caught on fire.

“I understood what they were saying without saying it. The driver reached over the back [of the seat], put his hand towards mine and said ‘welcome aboard’. 

“I said thanks, and I didn’t know I was shaking the hands of the guy that later on was going to try and murder me.”

Mr Daly remained a member of the white supremacist gang for six months before they discovered his Jewish identity. Shortly thereafter, he was ordered to an officers’ meeting. Upon arriving, he felt that the others were behaving differently around him. 

The gang ordered Mr Daly to accompany them to the beach, where he was then attacked.

“We got down to the sea. Once [there], one guy punched me behind my right ear. When I turned to face him, somebody shouted out ‘now!’ and the other six jumped on me. And so I had six guys punching and kicking me at the same time. I was kicked in and out of consciousness numerous times.”

They then dragged Mr Daly into the sea, where they attempted to drown him. Convinced he was dead, they left. Miraculously, he survived. 

Following the incident, he stayed for a time in hospital before taking those responsible to court whereupon they were convicted. 

“Every time I’d go to court, I had a bodyguard with me, an undercover policeman. I knew my life was in danger, but I felt like it was the right thing to do so I stood up and did it.”

Throughout the interview, Mr Daly touched upon a variety of other issues which included what his life has been like after the attempted murder, visiting Auschwitz concentration camp with a fellow ex-gang member, and how his life has been impacted by his three brain surgeries, all of which he was awake for.

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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Child abuse victim recalls how he was subjected to “kill the Jew-boy” chants at residential school

A Jewish man has revealed to the JC how he was subjected to antisemitic abuse by a pastor at a residential school.

Mike Bralowski said that during the mid-1950s, he spent this time in Essex’s Hutton Residential School “terrified” after regularly being subjected to “kill the Jew-boy” chants from staff and students.

He was also subjected to beatings by the headteacher, who reportedly told him that he was a “worthless Jew”. 

Mr Bralowski, who was the only Jewish child in his house, described the racial abuse as “frightening”.

“On Sundays, we all had to attend church on school grounds where Pastor North was in charge,” he said. “At Easter he made me stand in front of the congregation and admit that I was personally responsible for the death of Jesus, which earned me yet another bad beating and another night of absolute terror as the chants went on and on.

“Other students and staff including Pastor North also subjected me to extensive sexual abuse. I eventually ran away back to my parents but they phoned the school, demanding they take me back.”

In 2020, when Mr Bralowski would report the abuse to Islington Council, which referred him to the school as a child, he was told that he was ineligible for the council’s scheme which compensates people who survived abuse between 1966 and 1995, owing to the fact that he attended the school prior to that period, a move that was labelled “unjust” by Islington Survivors Network. 

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Chelmsford said: “We looked into this case and offered support when the issue was raised with us in 2019. The priest concerned, now deceased, was employed by the local authority to run Hutton Residential School, and we provided details of a survivor network which includes a redress scheme for survivors of abuse at this school.”

However, according to the spokesperson, “The priest concerned never held a Church of England appointment in the Diocese of Chelmsford or any authority from the Bishop of Chelmsford to exercise ministry in the Diocese.

“We are aware of the courage it takes for survivors of abuse to come forward and share their story. The cases of abuse perpetrated by clergy and others in the Church of England over many years are a cause of great shame and we are committed to supporting anyone who has suffered abuse.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “We’re deeply sorry for the council’s past failure to protect vulnerable children in its children’s homes, which was the worst chapter in this council’s history.”

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Neo-Nazi who proclaimed “I love being a racist” handed three-year prison sentence

A neo-Nazi has been given a three-year prison sentence after it was revealed that he had posted racist material to VK, the Russian social media platform. 

David Hutchinson, 61 from Sutton, pleaded guilty to seven offences of publishing racist material, contrary to Section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986, between December 2020 and October 2021. 

Mr Hutchinson’s social media profile reportedly included a reference to the numbers 1488, which 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.”

Additionally, Mr Hutchinson wrote in an online chatroom that he was “waiting for my white race to wake up and fight back”, suggesting he is “looking for 40 men” and is “trying to organise whites”.

In an apparent call to action, he added: “I love being a racist and I want to get in with people who say ‘f*** the system’ and ain’t frightened to fight for a good cause.”

Following the sentencing at Kingston Crown Court, Nick Price, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division, said: “Over a ten-month period David Hutchinson persistently posted these derogatory racist memes on a social media site which he believed consisted of like-minded people.

“His comments went beyond free speech and demonstrated hostility to several racial groups. By his pleas he has accepted they were intended to stir up hatred against those groups. Hate crimes have a corrosive effect on society and we will always prosecute where there is sufficient evidence to do so.”

Tell MAMA Director Iman Atta said: “We welcome the conviction of 61-year-old neo-Nazi David Hutchinson. They dreamed of turning their vicious, asinine racist views towards Muslim, Jewish, and Black communities online into violence on our streets. Our investigation found extreme racism and homophobia on their VK account.”

Last year, it emerged that VK was reportedly rife with antisemitism, where some examples of the alleged content included offensive caricatures that evoke classic antisemitic tropes of Jews with exaggerated facial features, as well as portraying Jews in positions of power over the media.

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

Image credit: Metropolitan Police

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Success: After over 180,000 sign our petition, Adidas finally cuts ties with Kanye West

After over 180,000 people signed our petition over the past several days, global retailer Adidas has finally dropped its partnership with Ye (also known as Kanye West) following his repeated antisemitic outbursts.

The petition went viral and was endorsed by numerous celebrities and influencers around the world.

Adidas’ belated decision comes after other brands like Balenciaga and Vogue, and agencies like Creative Artists Agency cut ties with the artist. His label Universal also denounced his comments, if rather weakly, and his own lawyer has dropped him as a client. Leading film studio MRC has also shelved a documentary about him.

On his partnership with Adidas, Ye has said: “The thing about me and Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic s*** and they can’t drop me. I can say antisemitic things and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

Ye now knows.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Adidas has finally joined other brands and agencies and cut ties with Ye (Kanye West). This would not have happened without the over 180,000 who signed our petition and the celebrities and influencers on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world who helped promote it and amplified the message. A company with a Nazi past must be at the forefront, not the rearguard, of fighting antisemitism. But better late than never. No company should profit from antisemitism.

“As for Ye, who has spent the last two weeks threatening Jews and empowering neo-Nazis, he said that he could say antisemitic things yet Adidas could not drop him and asked ‘now what?’ Now he knows.”

A spokesperson for Adidas said in a statement: “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness. After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”

Ye has posted brazen antisemitic statements in the past month on social media.

  • On 7th October 2022, he posted on Instagram: “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”
  • Two days later he tweeted: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con [sic] 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” 

On an episode of the Drink Champs podcast, aired on 16th October 2022, Ye:

  • Said: “The thing about me and Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic s*** and they can’t drop me. I can say antisemitic things and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”
  • Demanded: “I want all the Jewish children to look at they daddy and say ‘Why is Ye mad at us?’”
  • Stated that was “Me Too-ing the Jewish culture. I’m saying y’all gotta stand up and admit to what y’all been doing, and y’all just got away with it for so long, that y’all ain’t even realise what y’all doing.”
  • Referred throughout the interview to “Jewish business secrets”, “Jewish Zionists”, and stated how Jewish people in the entertainment industry “will take one of us, the brightest of us, that can really feed a whole village, and they’ll take us and milk us until we die.”
  • Claimed that he had been “blocked out” by “the Jewish media”.
  • Said: “Jewish people have owned the Black voice, whether it’s through us wearing a Ralph Lauren shirt, or it’s all of us being signed to a record label, or having a Jewish manager, or being signed to a Jewish basketball team, or doing a movie on a Jewish platform like Disney.”
  • Doubled down on his tweet about “going death con [sic] 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”, claiming that he “is Jewish also”, adding: “We’re not just Black. We are Jew [sic], just like the Jewish people…I can’t be an antisemite.”
  • Claimed that he responded to being invited to a Holocaust museum by saying: “I want you to visit Planned Parenthood. That’s our Holocaust museum.” 
  • Complained about being photographed in public, saying: “You get used to being screwed by the Jewish media.” 
  • Said: “A thing that a Jewish person will always say is they’ll say ‘This is mine’. Something that a Black person built, or any company built, they’ll be like ‘This is mine now’.”
  • Referencing fellow rapper Ice Cube, who was criticised for sharing an antisemitic image, said: “You really influenced me to get on this antisemite vibe, and I’m here to finish the job.” (Ice Cube has refuted this claim and distanced himself from Ye.)

In an interview on CUOMO on the NewsNation network, aired on 18th October 2022, Ye:

  • Said: “I don’t like the term ‘antisemitic’. It’s been a term that’s allowed people, specifically in my industry, to get away with murder.”
  • Made comments referring to the “Jewish underground media mafia”. 
  • Claimed “Jewish people own the Black voice.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, examples of antisemitism include “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions,” and “Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.”

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Safeguarding course falsely claimed Jewish people practice female genital mutilation 

It has been reported that an online safeguarding course that was delivered nationwide falsely claimed that Jewish people practiced female genital mutilation. 

According to Israeli Maariv, the false information was flagged by a dental assistant, who was asked to take the course run by the healthcare group Bupa.

The assistant said: “As part of the course, we learned about signs of abuse, and it was written that Jews circumcise girls – a fact that is not true and even antisemitic.

“I was shocked and posted it on the Jewish Britain Facebook group.”

According to Bupa, the course “was prepared by a third party and was not reviewed by us.” 

“We have now instructed that this offensive content be taken down,” Bupa added. “We apologise to those who were harmed by this.”

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Alleged social media post by SNP inclusivity official breaches International Definition of Antisemitism

An SNP official recently elected as the Party’s disabled members’ convener is alleged to have published a social media post that breaches the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Andy Stuart is claimed to have written on Twitter and Facebook in 2016: “The irony is that Israeli forces are acting no better towards the Palestinians than the Nazi’s [sic] did to the Jews…” The post also shared a link to a Facebook group called “Palestine News”.

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

An SNP spokesman said: “Mr Stuart has deleted these posts from 2016, which were made shortly after the drafting of the [International Definition of Antisemitism]. He appreciates the poor choice of words at that time and why it could cause offence. The National Secretary will examine the circumstances to assess what further steps are required.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, which the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon has adopted, ‘Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis’ is an example of antisemitism. Promotion of such views is intolerable in a political party, and it is particularly heinous coming from a figure at the forefront of equality campaigns in the SNP. The SNP must urgently investigate, be seen to apply its Definition, and take action.”

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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Fifteen-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of vandalising Ilkley War Memorial with swastika graffiti

A fifteen-year-old boy has been arrested after the Ilkley War Memorial was vandalised twice in one week.

Police found pink swastikas painted on the memorial on 16th October and again on 19th October.

The teenager was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, with both incidents in the West Yorkshire town being treated as racially aggravated hate crimes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The JC uncovered these and further inflammatory social media posts.

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

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

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

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

Image credit: JC

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Labour blocks former MP Emma Dent Coad, Ruth George bows out, and Laura Pidcock reportedly quits

The Labour Party has blocked the former MP Emma Dent Coad from running as its candidate in Kensington.

The former Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, expressed his solidarity with Ms Dent Coad and his outrage at the Party’s decision to block her candidacy, calling it “disgraceful”.

Ms Dent Coad, who served as the Labour MP for Kensington from 2017 to 2019, previously ‘liked’ a comment on Facebook by another user that read: “I’ve always been a Bevanite — my ultimate political hero…and as a Jew, the current Israeli apartheid regime disgraces all of us Jews worldwide.” The comment was posted in response to a post by another user that criticised “Blairite” MPs and “members of the Netanyahu fan club”.Following media attention, Ms Dent Coad apologised and ‘unliked’ the comment.

Meanwhile, Paul Mason, another controversial figure, has reportedly applied to become Labour’s candidate in Sheffield Central.

Elsewhere, Ruth George, a former Labour MP with a troubling record who now sits as a local councillor, has declined to put herself forward to become Labour’s candidate once more in High Peak.

Laura Pidcock, the former Labour MP, has reportedly quit the Labour Party, having resigned from Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) earlier this year after a motion calling for the restoration of the whip to the antisemitic former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, failed to pass.

Ms Pidcock, a staunch ally of Mr Corbyn’s who sat on his front bench, previously voted against the NEC’s proscription of the antisemitism-denial group, Labour Against the Witchhunt, and later challenged the practice of expelling Party members based on apparent involvement with the group.

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 petition calling on Adidas to drop partnership with Ye (aka Kanye West) following his repeated antisemitic outbursts

Campaign Against Antisemitism has launched a petition calling on global retailer Adidas to drop its partnership with Ye (also known as Kanye West) following his repeated antisemitic outbursts.

The petition can be signed here.

Ye has posted brazen antisemitic statements in the past month on social media.

  • On 7th October 2022, he posted on Instagram: “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”
  • Two days later he tweeted: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con [sic] 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” 

On an episode of the Drink Champs podcast, aired on 16th October 2022, Ye:

  • Said: “The thing about me and Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic s*** and they can’t drop me. I can say antisemitic things and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”
  • Demanded: “I want all the Jewish children to look at they daddy and say ‘Why is Ye mad at us?’”
  • Stated that was “Me Too-ing the Jewish culture. I’m saying y’all gotta stand up and admit to what y’all been doing, and y’all just got away with it for so long, that y’all ain’t even realise what y’all doing.”
  • Referred throughout the interview to “Jewish business secrets”, “Jewish Zionists”, and stated how Jewish people in the entertainment industry “will take one of us, the brightest of us, that can really feed a whole village, and they’ll take us and milk us until we die.”
  • Claimed that he had been “blocked out” by “the Jewish media”.
  • Said: “Jewish people have owned the Black voice, whether it’s through us wearing a Ralph Lauren shirt, or it’s all of us being signed to a record label, or having a Jewish manager, or being signed to a Jewish basketball team, or doing a movie on a Jewish platform like Disney.”
  • Doubled down on his tweet about “going death con [sic] 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”, claiming that he “is Jewish also”, adding: “We’re not just Black. We are Jew [sic], just like the Jewish people…I can’t be an antisemite.”
  • Claimed that he responded to being invited to a Holocaust museum by saying: “I want you to visit Planned Parenthood. That’s our Holocaust museum.” 
  • Complained about being photographed in public, saying: “You get used to being screwed by the Jewish media.” 
  • Said: “A thing that a Jewish person will always say is they’ll say ‘This is mine’. Something that a Black person built, or any company built, they’ll be like ‘This is mine now’.”
  • Referencing fellow rapper Ice Cube, who was criticised for sharing an antisemitic image, said: “You really influenced me to get on this antisemite vibe, and I’m here to finish the job.” (Ice Cube has refuted this claim and distanced himself from Ye.)
  • In an interview on CUOMO on the NewsNation network, aired on 18th October 2022, Ye:
  • Said: “I don’t like the term ‘antisemitic’. It’s been a term that’s allowed people, specifically in my industry, to get away with murder.”
  • Made comments referring to the “Jewish underground media mafia”. 
  • Claimed “Jewish people own the Black voice.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, examples of antisemitism include “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions,” and “Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.”

On his partnership with Adidas, Ye has said: “The thing about me and Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic s*** and they can’t drop me. I can say antisemitic things and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

Adidas must answer Ye’s question. It must denounce antisemitism and end its partnership with Ye.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “By continuing to align itself with a public figure who has revealed himself to be a virulent antisemite, Adidas would be demonstrating that it does not care about racism against Jews. Ye has claimed that he can ‘literally say antisemitic s*** and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?’ Adidas must answer Ye’s question: It must denounce antisemitism and end its partnership with Ye.”

The petition can be signed here.

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CAA joins JC in calling for parliamentary inquiry into BBC

Campaign Against Antisemitism has joined the JC in calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the BBC.

The public petition, launched by the JC, was prompted by growing communal concerns regarding the Corporation.

Polling that we conducted in 2020 for our Antisemitism Barometer revealed that two thirds of British Jews were deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints. It is likely that these figures would be even higher if polled today.

The petition highlights the BBC’s appalling coverage of an antisemitic incident on Oxford Street over Chanukah last year, when a group of Jewish teenagers celebrating the festival were accosted by racist thugs who forced them back onto their bus and began hitting the vehicle with their hands and then their shoes, spitting on it, trying to break windows and performing Nazi salutes, as well as shouting antisemitic insults and swearing, as one such example.

In response, Campaign Against Antisemitism announced a “BBC News: Stop Blaming Jews!” protest outside the BBC’s headquarters at Broadcasting House, which was endorsed by Lord Grade and Dame Maureen Lipman.

In addition, the JC also highlighted the BBC’s repeated platforming of the inflammatory broadcaster Abdel Bari Atwan. 

In September, Campaign Against Antisemitism announced that we were submitting a complaint to the BBC regarding Mr Atwan’s inflammatory comments.

It was also reported that Mr Atwan defended Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ remark that Israel has committed “50 Holocausts” and his refusal to condemn the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack on Israeli athletes. 

In 2007, Atwan is reported to have said: “If Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight.” In 2010, it is claimed that Atwan told an audience at the London School of Economics that “the Jewish lobby… [is] endangering the whole world”.

Earlier this year, Campaign Against Antisemitism visited Broadcasting House to tell the Corporation to “switch off the Jew-hate”.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The BBC’s handling of its coverage of the attack on Jewish children last Chanukah and its platforming of various deeply concerning individuals are among recent examples of the failure to fix the BBC’s problem with the Jewish community. That is why we have been at the forefront of efforts to hold the BBC to account and why we are joining with the JC on this important initiative. As a publicly funded organisation, the BBC should welcome Parliamentary scrutiny of its poor performance.”

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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Palestinian journalist who praised Hitler and advocated for the extermination of Jews stripped of award

The Thomson Reuters Foundation has stripped a journalist of an award following disturbing new information regarding her social media output.

The Foundation announced on Friday that Palestinian journalist Shatha Hammad was awarded a Kurt Schork Award, specifically the 2022 Local Reporter Award, which included a $5,000 cash prize and the opportunity for her work to be “spotlighted through a multi-media campaign on the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s social media channels.”

However, shortly afterward, the award was rescinded after historic social media posts, uncovered by media watchdog HonestReporting, revealed that Ms Hammad seemingly praised Adolf Hitler and advocated for the extermination of the Jews.

One social media post, which was translated from Arabic into English by HonestReporting, stated: “Me and Hitler are friends. We have influence over each other and share the same ideology, such as the extermination of the Jews.”

In other posts, Ms Hammad allegedly signed off using the alias of ‘Hitler’. 

Following the decision to withdraw the award, the Foundation released a statement in which it said: “The decision has been made following the discovery of a social media post on Hammad’s Facebook feed that appears to quote Hitler – which, in doing so, suggests an endorsement of his ideology. The comment appeared in 2014. 

“The Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund stand opposed to hate speech of any description. We have therefore taken this unusual step in order to protect the integrity of the Kurt Schork Awards, established to recognise and celebrate the courageous and brilliant reporting of conflict, corruption and injustice from journalists around the world, who risk their lives daily to speak truth to power. 

“We are aware of a second Facebook post using extreme antisemitic language that purports to be drafted by Hammad, also dated 2014. However, Hammad strongly denies that this post is hers.”

Image credit: HonestReporting

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University of Edinburgh to host academic who stated that “only Jews are immune from criticism” and referred to “Jewish financial power”

The University of Edinburgh is set to host an academic who has previously stated that “only Jews are immune from vilification or even criticism” and made reference to “Jewish financial power”.

Salman Abu Sitta is set to deliver a seminar at the University in November.

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is an example of antisemitism.

Additionally, Mr Sitta referred to the antisemitic former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn as “a great, honourable man”, who was “unseated” by “the enemy” after they used their “money” and “political influence”.

Mr Sitta’s comments, which were captured on video, were unearthed and uploaded to Twitter on Monday.

The University has adopted the Definition in full, including all of its examples.

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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“You are a racist Jew bitch”: Police investigating reported incident of racial abuse

Police are investigating after a Jewish teenager was reportedly racially abused in Stamford Hill.

The incident took place outside of Sainsbury’s where the suspect reportedly yelled at the teenager: “You are a racist Jew bitch…f****** Jew.”

If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: 4627238/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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Amnesty International reportedly refuses to sack official who allegedly compared Israel to Nazis in apparent breach of International Definition of Antisemitism

Amnesty International has reportedly refused to sack an official who allegedly compared Israel to the Nazis.

Garry Ettle, who represents the controversial activist group as “country coordinator for Israel and Occupied Palestinian territories”, allegedly retweeted a message asking about video footage appearing to show Israeli youth “harassing” a woman: “How is this any different from Nazi Germany?”

In a Facebook post in 2020, he also allegedly described Israel’s policies toward Gaza as a “slow holocaust”, among other inflammatory social media posts.

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

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.

Amnesty International defended Mr Ettle, saying in a statement: “Garry Ettle is a committed and highly principled human rights activist who has opposed the Israeli authorities’ system of apartheid for years. This is just the latest attempt to intimidate and silence us for our important work in documenting serious and systematic human rights violations under successive Israeli governments.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Only at Amnesty and like-minded organisations could someone who allegedly compares Israel to Nazis describe himself as a ‘human-rights activist’. Such comparisons are a breach of the universally-accepted International Definition of Antisemitism. We would call on Amnesty to investigate and dissociate itself from this individual, but the organisation’s record on antisemitism gives little reason to think that it holds the views of the Jewish community in anything but contempt.”

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Welling United Football Club appeal for information following swastika graffiti on pitch 

Welling United Football Club has appealed for information following graffiti scrawled on the pitch at Park View Road stadium.

Images appear to show the Club’s pitch defaced with swastikas, which reportedly occurred at around 18:00 on 12th October.

In a statement, the Club said: “Two youths broke into the stadium and used club equipment to paint an offensive slogan onto the pitch which also included racist symbolism. 

“Police were called to Park View Road on Thursday morning with evidence collected, including CCTV footage and an investigation is under way to find the individuals responsible. Welling United wholly condemn the acts of those involved and condemn all forms of racism and discrimination.”

The Club added that a reward is being offered “for any information that leads to a successful prosecution”. 

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

Image credit: Welling United FC

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Reward increased to £30,000 for information on Oxford Street Chanukah attack as CAA, Jewish News and Jewish Chronicle join forces

Campaign Against Antisemitism has joined with the Jewish News and the Jewish Chronicle to increase the reward to £30,000 for information leading to the conviction of any of the perpetrators of the appalling Oxford Street Chanukah attack last year, tripling the £10,000 reward offered by Campaign Against Antisemitism on Friday.

The call for information comes after the Jewish News revealed that the Metropolitan Police Service closed its investigation into last November’s high-profile attack, in which a group of identifiably Jewish young people celebrating the Jewish festival were racially abused and attacked by a group of men.

The incident was filmed by passengers on the bus and appeared to show a group of men hitting the vehicle with their hands and then their shoes, spitting on it, trying to break windows and performing Nazi salutes.

The men appeared to be of Middle Eastern heritage and hitting an object of antipathy with one’s shoes is common in that region.

The teenagers were on their way to a candle lighting ceremony in central London to celebrate Chanukah.

If you have any information relating to the attack, please contact [email protected] or call us on 0330 822 0321, either with an anonymous tip or leaving your contact details if you wish to be eligible for the reward.

The reward will be payable upon Campaign Against Antisemitism following the conviction of one or more of the perpetrators based on information provided to us by you. If you contact the police directly and do not also contact us, you may be ineligible for the reward, given that we may be unable to contact you or determine that it was your information that led to the conviction. The reward is subject to our terms.

At the time of the attack, Campaign Against Antisemitism and others publicised the video footage and called on the police to investigate, and we were also in contact with the victims.

The police confirmed last year that they were treating the incident as a hate crime, but they closed the investigation in July after making no arrests. This was despite footage of the racist attack going viral on social media, leading large numbers of people to see the assailants’ faces.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Service said: “On 29th November 2021, officers responded to calls about antisemitic abuse being directed at passengers on a private bus in Oxford Street by a group on the pavement outside. The bus left the scene of the incident to avoid further confrontation and officers met it nearby. The suspects had also left the area and could not be located.

“Video footage of the incident was shared on social media and we issued an appeal for anyone who recognised those involved to come forward. Two further appeals were issued which included photographs to help with identification.

“The only names provided in response to those appeals have been eliminated from our enquiries. The identity of those involved is still unknown. A decision was taken in July to close the case.

“Hate crime of any kind is unacceptable. Should new information come to light that provides a realistic line of enquiry, we will of course be willing to carry out further investigation.”

Last week, Campaign Against Antisemitism announced a reward for information that leads to the conviction of any of the perpetrators in the attack, and that reward has now been tripled to £30,000.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Shocking footage of an abhorrent attack on a bus carrying Jewish passengers at the heart of London during the festival of Chanukah last year was widely broadcast on social media and on the news. Despite the video going viral and all the resources at its disposal, the Metropolitan Police Service failed to make any arrests and quietly closed the investigation in July.

“If even high-profile hate crimes such as these are not solved and the perpetrators brought to justice, what hope do the many other antisemitic crimes against Jews have of being satisfactorily investigated? Indeed, the revelation that the investigation was closed comes at the same time as the Home Office has announced that last year police forces recorded the highest number of antisemitic crimes yet.

“Together with the Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish News, we are offering a £30,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of any of the perpetrators of this heinous attack. Only then will antisemites understand that abusing Jewish people is not without cost.”

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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Channel 4 purchases Hitler painting for Jimmy Carr to potentially destroy in television programme

Channel 4 has reportedly purchased a painting by Adolf Hitler, with a view to letting comedian Jimmy Carr potentially destroy it in a new television programme. 

The programme, titled Jimmy Carr Destroys Art, will see an audience decide on whether artwork from “problematic” artists should be destroyed following a debate surrounding the ethics of separating the art from the artist.  

The other artists include Pablo Picasso, Rolf Harris and sexual abuser Eric Gill.

Ian Katz, Channel 4’s Director of Programming, said: “There are advocates for each piece of art. So you’ve got an advocate for Hitler. There’ll be someone arguing not for Hitler, but for the fact that his moral character should not decide whether or not a piece of art exists or not.”

Mr Katz said that if the audience were to decide that the painting by Hitler should not be destroyed, it would not be placed in the Channel 4 boardroom and would be “appropriately” disposed of.

In a statement, Channel 4 said: “Jimmy Carr Destroys Art is a thoughtful and nuanced exploration of the limits of free expression in art, and whether work by morally despicable artists still deserves to be seen. It speaks directly to the current debate around cancel culture and is in a long tradition of Channel 4 programming that seeks to engage a broad audience with the biggest and thorniest ethical and cultural questions.

“In relation to the Hitler painting; the artwork, should the audience decide, will be shredded. Not torched.” 

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The Holocaust is still within living memory and must be treated with the utmost respect. Using artwork from Adolf Hitler, the murderous dictator responsible for the deaths of six millions Jewish men, women and children, as a prop for an entertainment show risks disrespecting the memories of the victims, which is something that Channel 4 would do well to bear in mind. While we welcome debate surrounding the moral and ethical issues surrounding the art of Adolf Hitler, it must be done soberly and tastefully.”

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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Neo-Nazi terrorist ‘Miss Hitler’ to be released early from prison 

A neo-Nazi terrorist is to be released early from prison, according to reports.

In June 2020, a woman who entered a “Miss Hitler” beauty pageant in order to attract new members to the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action was found guilty of membership in the proscribed organisation and sentenced to three years in prison.

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

Ms Cutter was described in the trial as a “central spoke” of the banned group, exchanging hundreds of messages, including racist and antisemitic material, attending meetings with group leaders despite the ban, posing for a Nazi salute outside Leeds Town Hall in 2016 and attending a demonstration in York in May 2016. She had also joked about gassing synagogues and using a Jew’s head as a football.

Mr Jones was sentenced to five-and-a-half years, as the judge said he had played “a significant role in the continuation of the organisation” after its proscription by the British Government following pressure by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Also sentenced were Garry Jack, 24, who reportedly self-identified as a Nazi and was given four-and-a-half years in prison while Connor Scothern, nineteen, who was apparently a practicing Muslim and activist with the extremist anti-fascist group, Antifa, before joining National Action, was given a sentence of eighteen months in prison.

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

According to police, the group was preparing weapons for a “race war”.

Speaking on the decision to release Ms Cutter early, a spokesperson for the Parole Board said: “A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.” 

“Protecting the public is our number one priority,” they added.

Image credit: West Midlands Police

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Cricketers Azeem Rafiq and Andrew Gale reprimanded by Cricket Discipline Commission for antisemitic social media posts

Azeem Rafiq and Andrew Gale have both been reprimanded by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) for historic antisemitic social media posts and acting in a way that is “prejudicial to the interests of cricket”.

The charges brought against Mr Rafiq by the England and Wales Cricket Board relate to Facebook messages exchanged with former Leicestershire cricketer Ateeq Javid in 2011. According to the newspaper, Mr Rafiq, who was nineteen at the time, and his interlocutor were apparently discussing another professional cricketer whom they appeared to accuse of being reluctant to spend money on a meal out because “he is a Jew”. Mr Rafiq joked that he will “probs go after my 2nds again ha…Only Jews do tht sort of shit [sic].”

Mr Rafiq has since apologised and looked to learn more about anti-Jewish racism. In a JC-organised tour of the Jewish Museum, Mr Rafiq was accompanied by Holocaust survivor Ruth Barnett and Mr Silverman, who explained the history of the antisemitic trope of Jews and money and why Mr Rafiq’s historic remarks had been so hurtful.

In response to the ruling from the CDC, Mr Rafiq tweeted earlier this week: “This summer, I unequivocally accepted a charge from the ECB regarding my antisemitic social media post from 2011. You will hear no complaint from me about the CDC’s decision today.

“It is deserved and I fully accept this reprimand. I want to repeat my apology to the Jewish community. I remain ashamed and embarrassed. I hope I have demonstrated in the past 10-11 months that I am trying to educate myself about the horrors and prejudice the Jewish community has historically – and continues – to face.

“I will keep trying and I thank the Jewish community for the forgiveness and kindness that has been shown to me so far.”

Recently, fresh allegations of antisemitism against Mr Rafiq have surfaced. However, he has denied them as “categorically untrue”.

The charges against Mr Gale relate to a 2010 tweet that included the words “Button it y**!” The tweet is believed to have been sent in reply to Leeds United Football Club’s then Head of Media, Paul Dews.

Yorkshire initially suspended Mr Gale pending a discplinary hearing into his message, but he was then fired along with Yorkshire’s entire coaching staff. The cricket club then admitted that unfair dismissal complaints by him and five of his former colleagues were “well-founded” as part of wider legal battles over the terminations.

Mr Gale initially denied “each and every” accusation made against him and reportedly described the ECB investigation as a “witch hunt”, but has reportedly admitted culpability in response to the CDC’s verdict. 

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

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Royal Court Theatre faces torrent of abuse over new play highlighting antisemitism

The Royal Court Theatre is facing a torrent of abuse for putting on a play highlighting antisemitism, according to the JC.

Jonathan Freedland’s new play, Jews. In Their Own Words, examines the history of antisemitism while also drawing material from interviews and real-life experiences.  

The play, created in response to the increase in antisemitism, also discusses Royal Court’s Rare Earth Mettle controversy.

The theatre, which is considered to be a significant cultural voice but has a history of controversy relating to the Jewish community, received backlash after a play late last year, Rare Earth Mettle, from writer Al Smith and director Hamish Pirie, used the name “Hershel Fink” for the character of a greedy Silicon Valley billionaire.

The theatre issued two apologies when the controversy first arose in November 2020, with questions raised over how the character came to have such a name and the failure of senior figures at the theatre either to notice the problem or to respond properly to concerns raised earlier in the process by Jewish colleagues.

The character’s name was shortly thereafter changed and the incident was described by theatre critic and JC columnist Kate Maltby as an act of “unconscious bias” on Podcast Against Antisemitism. 

It has now emerged that the Theatre has been on the receiving end of antisemitic comments following the staging of Mr Freedland’s play, which has included abusive phone calls to its staff and a series of complaints to its switchboard and social media channels.

Mr Freedland told the JC: “As soon as that piece of mine appeared in the Guardian — setting out what the play was about — the trolls were out in force, not only on social media, filling up the Royal Court’s timeline, but in real life, harassing the theatre’s box office staff with phone calls, many of them abusive.”

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University of Aberdeen shamefully adopts wrecking Jerusalem Declaration instead of International Definition of Antisemitism 

In a shameful decision, the University of Aberdeen has adopted the Jerusalem Declaration, a wrecking document intended to undermine the globally-recognised International Definition of Antisemitism. 

The University finalised its decision after consulting for a reported two years, following concerns raised at the University’s senate which alleged that the Definition “impinged too heavily on academic freedom and the work of academics” and posed a “threat to academic freedom”.

The advice of the University’s Race Definitions Task and Finish Group was apparently ignored after it unsuccessfully proposed that the Definition should be adopted in May 2021, and have since noted that the Jerusalem Declaration was “developed largely as a response to the [Definition]”. 

A spokesperson for the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities said: “If the critics of the [Definition] had taken the trouble to read it, they would see that far from ‘defining antisemitism as any critique of the state of Israel’, it explicitly says the opposite – the second paragraph begins ‘criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.’

“Unfortunately however there is no shortage of antisemitism of all kinds on campuses, and universities and their staff should be at the forefront of stamping it out. If they claim to oppose racism but tolerate antisemitism of any kind, they are simply proving David Baddiel’s thesis that ‘Jews don’t count’ and indulging in second-order antisemitism.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The Jerusalem Declaration is a wrecking document intended to undermine the globally-recognised International (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism. The University is the only such institution in the country to take this scandalous position. In rejecting the Definition that has consensus support across the Jewish community in favour of the fringe and controversial Jerusalem Declaration, the University has done the opposite of standing with British Jews and Jewish students.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Newham Council has not adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

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

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CAA offers £10,000 reward for information leading to conviction of Oxford Street Chanukah incident perpetrators after police admit failure and close investigation with no arrests

The Metropolitan Police Service has closed its investigation into the appalling Oxford Street Chanukah attack last year, in which a group of identifiably Jewish young people celebrating the Jewish festival were racially abused and attacked by a group of men.

The incident was filmed by passengers on the bus and appeared to show a group of men hitting the vehicle with their hands and then their shoes, spitting on it, trying to break windows and performing Nazi salutes.

The men appeared to be of Middle Eastern heritage and hitting an object of antipathy with one’s shoes is common in that region.

The teenagers were on their way to a candle lighting ceremony in central London to celebrate Chanukah.

Campaign Against Antisemitism and others publicised the video footage and called on the police to investigate, and we were also in contact with the victims.

The police confirmed last year that they were treating the incident as a hate crime, but it has now been revealed that they closed the investigation in July after making no arrests. This was despite footage of the racist attack going viral on social media, leading large numbers of people to see the assailants’ faces.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Service said: “On 29th November 2021, officers responded to calls about antisemitic abuse being directed at passengers on a private bus in Oxford Street by a group on the pavement outside. The bus left the scene of the incident to avoid further confrontation and officers met it nearby. The suspects had also left the area and could not be located.

“Video footage of the incident was shared on social media and we issued an appeal for anyone who recognised those involved to come forward. Two further appeals were issued which included photographs to help with identification.

“The only names provided in response to those appeals have been eliminated from our enquiries. The identity of those involved is still unknown. A decision was taken in July to close the case.

“Hate crime of any kind is unacceptable. Should new information come to light that provides a realistic line of enquiry, we will of course be willing to carry out further investigation.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism is now offering a reward of £10,000 for information that leads to the conviction of any of the perpetrators in the attack.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Shocking footage of an abhorrent attack on a bus carrying Jewish passengers at the heart of London during the festival of Chanukah last year was widely broadcast on social media and on the news. Despite the video going viral and all the resources at its disposal, the Metropolitan Police Service failed to make any arrests and quietly closed the investigation in July.

“If even high-profile hate crimes such as these are not solved and the perpetrators brought to justice, what hope do the many other antisemitic crimes against Jews have of being satisfactorily investigated? Indeed, the revelation that the investigation was closed comes at the same time as the Home Office has announced that last year police forces recorded the highest number of antisemitic crimes yet.

“We are offering a £10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of any of the perpetrators of this heinous attack. Only then will antisemites understand that abusing Jewish people is not without cost.”

If you have any information relating to the attack, please contact [email protected] or call us on 0330 822 0321, either with an anonymous tip or leaving your contact details if you wish to be eligible for the reward.

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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Jews over five times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than other faith group, CAA analysis of Home Office stats shows

An analysis by Campaign Against Antisemitism of new Home Office statistics released this week shows that Jews are more than five times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group, as figures reach record numbers.

Police forces across the country record hate crimes against Jews as religious hate crimes, and these records show that in the year 2021/22, 1,919 hate crimes were committed against Jews, making Jews the target in 23% – more than one in five – of the total number of religious hate crimes.

These figures mean that there is an average of over five hate crimes directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales. Hate crimes against Jews are also still widely believed to be under-reported, and also do not reflect the extent of antisemitic material and abuse on social media.

However, when one accounts for the miniscule size of the Jewish population, it emerges that Jews are statistically more than five times more likely to be the targets of hate crimes than any other religious group, with some 730 hate crimes per 100,000 of the Jewish population in 2021/22.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “For yet another year, Home Office figures show that Jews are far more likely to be victims of hate crimes than any other religious group. Contrast this with the pitiful number of prosecutions for antisemitic hate crimes, and it throws into high relief the failure of the Crown Prosecution Service to take proportionate action against racism directed at the Jewish community. With England and Wales’ minuscule Jewish community suffering an average of more than five hate crimes every single day, identifying, prosecuting and punishing perpetrators is absolutely urgent.”

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Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters insists he is not antisemitic whilst defending Nazi comparisons and emblazoning Star of David on a pig on Joe Rogan’s podcast

Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician, has repeatedly denied being an antisemite whilst also breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism on yesterday’s 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.”

Throughout the interview, Mr Waters also stated how he was “close friends” with Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, and claimed that the antisemitic former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was smeared as an antisemite due to his anti-Israel views.

This is not the first time Mr Waters has made inflammatory comments surrounding antisemitism or Jewish people.

In 2020, he 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.

Last year, 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.”

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Merseyside police seek man in connection with reported antisemitic hate crime

Merseyside police are looking to speak with a man in connection with a reported antisemitic hate crime.

The reported crime in question took place in a Southport pub on 21st September when the suspect hurled antisemitic slurs towards a man in his fifties. 

The victim was said to have been “extremely distressed” following the incident. 

Detective Inspector Matthew Kerr said: “We will not stand by and let people be subject to such disgraceful comments because of others perceptions. Hate crime will simply not be tolerated in our community and we are working hard to find the person responsible and bring them to justice.

“If you were in the pub on Lord Street, near to Albert Road on Wednesday evening, 21st September and recognise this man or if these images remind you of anything you saw that night then please let us know.

“Also if you have any similar images captured on your mobile phone, CCTV or other devices from that evening then please review it and tell us if you see anything.”

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.

Image credit: Merseyside police

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JVL’s Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi apologises to journalist John Ware in open court 

Following a libel case brought by journalist John Ware, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, the Media Officer and one of the founders of Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, has apologised in open court.

The libel action concerned comments made by Ms Wimborne-Idrissi on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 show, in which she claimed that Mr Ware had a “terrible record of Islamophobia, far-right politics” and that the BBC had in the past had to “apologise” for his journalism and discipline him.

The claims were then repeated on the JVL website, and JVL’s Web Officer, Richard Kuper, was also a defendant. Mr Kuper is the founder of Pluto Press, which was previously the publishing arm of the International Socialists, now known as the Socialist Workers Party. Mr Ware denied the claims made by Ms Wimborne-Idrissi.

Mr Ware was the maker of the BBC Panorama documentary “Is Labour Antisemitic”. The programme, which was televised in July 2019, showed former Labour Party employees speaking out publicly to reveal Jeremy Corbyn’s personal meddling in disciplinary cases relating to antisemitism. The programme explained how senior Labour Party staffers, some of whom Campaign Against Antisemitism has known for years, used to run Labour’s disciplinary process independently, but soon after Mr Corbyn’s election as Party leader found themselves contending with his most senior aides, who were brazen in their efforts to subvert due process. During the programme, Labour’s press team made claims that the staffers featured had political axes to grind and lacked credibility, and the whistleblowers and Mr Ware commenced libel proceedings against the Labour Party.

At a preliminary hearing to determine the ordinary meaning of Ms Wimborne-Idrissi’s words, she argued that they were just “honest opinion.” However, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that reasonable listeners would have understood the comments as statements of fact, namely that Mr Ware had “engaged in Islamophobia and extreme, far-right politics, as a consequence of which the BBC has had to apologise for his conduct,” and that there were “reasonable grounds to suspect” that Mr Ware had “an extensive record of Islamophobia and of involvement in extreme, far-right politics.”

Mr Ware observed that he had never been disciplined on any matter by the BBC, had no “record of Islamophobia” and had never promoted “extreme far-right politics”. 

Following this ruling, Ms Wimborne-Idrissi had to prove that these assertions of fact were true, which is a higher threshold than showing that they were mere honest opinions.

JVL subsequently wrote a tweet saying that they have a “large bill to pay”. It was reported that the group faces “financial collapse” due to the proceedings.

In her apology to Mr Ware, Ms Wimborne-Idrissi said: “I accept the Court’s judgment that my comments about John Ware in a live radio programme on the Jeremy Vine show were defamatory. I should not have asserted that the BBC had taken action against Mr Ware in connection with allegations he has engaged in Islamophobia and extreme far-right and/or racist politics. Nor that this was in any way reflected in his journalistic work.

“I now accept these allegations to be untrue. JVL and I have apologised unreservedly to Mr Ware and explained that I spoke in the way that I did because I was so angry at the content of the “Is Labour Antisemitic programme” for which Mr Ware was the reporter.”

In his recent report, Martin Forde QC ludicrously suggested that JVL should have a role in antisemitism education in the Labour Party, of which JVL is still, outrageously, considered a legitimate faction.

Ms Wimborne-Idrissi was recently elected to Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee but was shortly thereafter suspended by the Party for the second time.

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

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

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

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Birkbeck professor appears to agree International Definition of Antisemitism “restricts” debate on Israel on panel at Conservative Party conference fringe event

A Birkbeck professor appeared to agree with the spurious claim that the International Definition of Antisemitism “restricts” debate on Israel.

Responding to a claim by an audience member that the Definition “does restrict what people can say about the Israel/Palestine conflict” and other assertions, Eric Kaufmann said: “I totally agree with you”.

Prof. Kaufmann made the comment while sitting on a panel organised by the Taxpayers Alliance and Institute of Economic Affairs in a fringe event at Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has shown that the claim that the International Definition of Antisemitism conflict with freedom of expression is wrong as a matter of law.

Birkbeck, University of London has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

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Swastika and SS graffiti found in Greater Manchester park 

Antisemitic graffiti has been found in Greater Manchester’s Drinkwater Park.

Images posted online show several swastikas spray-painted alongside the letters ‘SS’, the abbreviation of Schutzstaffel, which was the leading paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

According to CST, swift removal of the vandalism was arranged. 

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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Former Belfast councillor posts “Smirking Merchant” meme on platform favoured by far-right days after appearing in Patriotic Alternative interview

A former Belfast City Councillor has posted a well-known antisemitic meme on Gab, a platform favoured by the far-right, days after being interviewed by the leader of the far-right group Patriotic Alternative.

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.

Its founder, Andrew Torba, was accused of antisemitism after he reportedly posted a string of tweets containing inflammatory remarks about Jewish people, including one which said that Gab was building a “parallel Christian society” after being “fed up and done with the Judeo-Bolshevik one”. 

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”.

Jolene Bunting posted the “Smirking Merchant” meme to her Gab and Telegram accounts. The meme depicts a hook-nosed man with a nefarious grin wearing a head covering and holding banknotes and is thought by many to be a classically antisemitic representation of a Jewish person. 

Also included in the meme were offensive portrayals of Black people and Muslims alongside the caption: “We are NOT the problem…”

Ms Bunting, who was first elected to Belfast City Council in 2014, was suspended in 2018 following fourteen complaints. Some of the complaints are believed to have been in relation to Ms Bunting’s posting of a video from the far-right group Britain First as well as tweeting a “racist and offensive” cartoon.

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Visiting fellow at LSE reportedly posted inflammatory tweets comparing Israel to the Nazis

A visiting fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE) is reported to have posted several inflammatory tweets about the Holocaust.

Saqib Iqbal Qureshi, whose Twitter account now appears to be deactivated, reportedly tweeted: “6m Jews died in the Nazi holocaust, which had more non Jewish than Jewish victims. There is no minimizing [sic]. You simply want to appropriate “holocaust” exclusively for Jews so that Israel can continue its dismantling of all things Palestine. Why else are you fretting?”

Mr Qureshi also asserted that “German Jews murdered ordinary German civilians to protect fellow Jews” and that “Nazim wrecked the Jews. Israel wrecked Judaism,” before using the hashtag ‘zionazi’.

Also posted on the Twitter account was a meme which features an antisemitic quote falsely attributed to Albert Einstein that reads: “It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.” 

Other tweets seemingly posted from Mr Quereshi’s Twitter account included “Israel is committing a holocaust against Palestinians” and “As far as I can tell, the only reason the holocaust matters today is to help justify the decimation of Palestine. I can’t see what other purpose it serves. It’s not about “never again”. It’s about “we got decimated, so let us decimate in turn, turn a blind eye please.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” and “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” are both examples of antisemitism. 

Following a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 that was submitted by Campaign Against Antisemitism, LSE has told us that it has adopted the Definition in full, including all its examples, but it has not provided evidence to support its claim.

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“That’s why we had to rip antisemitism out by its roots”: Sir Keir Starmer gets standing ovation at very different Labour Conference, but concerns remain

Sir Keir Starmer received a standing ovation for saying “That’s why we had to rip antisemitism out by its roots” in his speech at this week’s Labour Party Conference, which proved a marked contrast to the Party’s conferences under Sir Keir’s predecessor.

Sir Keir was ambiguous as to whether he believed that the task of tackling Labour antisemitism, which he described in the past tense, had been completed or whether it was still in progress – an ambiguity that he has cultivated for some time. Indeed, at the Labour Friends of Israel reception at Conference, he said: “I knew when I became leader of this party we had a big task before us. We had to root out antisemitism, and we have made progress, but I’m not complacent. We will never, ever end this work. We have made progress, but there is more to do.”

Wes Streeting MP, who, like Sir Keir, remained in the Party as it became institutionally antisemitic, has asserted that Labour is now safe for Jewish people to support again: “My message to all of those Jewish Labour voters whose doors I knocked and who felt heartbroken by what happened to the Party would now be, ‘You’ve got your Party back.’”

Also at Conference, a proposed rule change that may have helped the antisemitic former leader of the Party, Jeremy Corbyn, stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election, failed to pass. Elsewhere, Mr Corbyn settled a defamation case that had been brought against him.

Meanwhile, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, the recently-elected member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee who was suspended last week, apparently had her Conference pass removed, while fellow Jewish Voice for Labour figure Jenny Manson was reported to have suggested that the controversial antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation may disaffiliate from Labour.

Concerns remain about the Labour Party, however. As the conference took place, it was reported that yet another Labour councillor is under investigation amid antisemitism allegations. Cllr Tariq Khan of Coventry City Council reportedly said that he does not remember sending the offending images, which the BBC claimed would be considered antisemitic and anti-trans, three years ago. Cllr Khan has not, however, been suspended. It comes as a fellow Labour councillor on the same council, Christine Thomas, was embroiled in controversy over alleged antisemitism just last month.

There was also a marked contrast at this year’s Labour Conference between how Rupa Huq MP immediately had the whip removed after she made comments about the Chancellor of the Exchequer widely viewed as racist – including by Sir Keir – while complaints by Campaign Against Antisemitism against numerous Labour MPs have been languishing for years without investigation. The appropriately rapid response to Ms Huq’s remarks demonstrated that Sir Keir and the Party do have the power to move quickly when they choose to do so – often, it must be said, and as in Ms Huq’s case, when there is media scrutiny.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This Labour Party conference was certainly a positive contrast to those held during Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as leader, and reflects the progress that has been made in the fight against Labour antisemitism.

“However, Sir Keir Starmer’s persistent ambiguity about whether he feels that that fight is over or ongoing is troubling, particularly as it was announced during Conference that yet another Labour councillor is under investigation. The rapid response to Rupa Huq’s comments is also in marked contrast to Labour’s failure to take any action so far against the MPs against whom we have lodged complaints.

“Sir Keir has pledged repeatedly to tear out antisemitism by its roots, but there remains much more to be done.”

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 Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) 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.

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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Muslim Association of Britain praises Islamist antisemite Yusuf al-Qaradawi for his “profoundly positive impact” and “principled stances”

A group that describes itself as a “leading Muslim grassroots contribution for a fair and prosperous British society since 1997” has mourned the death of the antisemitic Islamist cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), said in a statement that “Sheikh Yusuf was a renowned and greatly respected figure worldwide, referring to him as “a leading contemporary Islamic thinker,” adding that “In the UK Sheikh Yusuf has had a profoundly positive impact on the Muslim community and MAB had the pleasure of hosting him in 2004 when he visited the country.” It observed that, while visiting Britain, al-Qaradawi “met many high-profile British personalities”.

The statement further claimed that al-Qaradawi “was also known for his principled stances against oppression and dictatorial regimes around the world,” and that he “leaves behind an outstanding legacy of work that will continue to inspire Islamic scholars for generations to come.”

The Egyptian-born, Qatari-based cleric died in Doha this week, aged 96. He was well-known in the UK for his inflammatory statements about Jews and other minorities.

In 2008 the Home Office banned him from entering the UK for medical treatment amid fears that his preaching “could foster inter-community violence.”

In January 2009, al-Qaradawi said on Al Jazeera that he would “shoot Allah’s enemies, the Jews.” In a sermon that took place in that same month, he again spoke of Jewish people and called upon God to “kill them, down to the very last one,” saying that Jews deserved “annihilation”.

In a 2013 sermon, he said that he would not be attending the following year’s interfaith dialogue in Qatar if Jews were attending, as “their hands are soiled with blood”, and he also complained of a “Jewish plot” to control the Middle East.

He reportedly argued in a book that the Jewish state should not exist, Muslims should not be friends with Jews, and all Jews worldwide are enemies.

He also asserted that the Holocaust was “divine punishment”.

Al-Qaradawi had previously justified violence against Israeli Jews, and had close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. He was sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Egypt, and the Governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates also accused him of terrorism in 2017.

Al-Qaradawi rose to prominence in the UK over the past two decades following high-profile support from two-term Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who condemned the ban on Al Qaradawi’s entering Britain.

Campaign Against Antisemitism shall be writing to the Charity Commission regarding MAB’s statement.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Yusuf al-Qaradawi said that the Holocaust was ‘divine punishment’, that Jews worldwide were enemies of Muslims and that the Jewish state should not exist. He condoned violence and was banned from entering the UK, notwithstanding protest from inflammatory figures like Ken Livingstone. This is not a man whom a UK charity should be mourning or praising. We are writing to the Charity Commission to launch an urgent investigation.”

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Quakers in Britain cancels David Miller booking at Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House

Quakers in Britain has cancelled a booking of the disgraced academic David Miller at Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House.

Mr Miller was due to speak yesterday at a Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign event called “Solidarity with academics under attack: free speech on Palestine,” but in a statement on Twitter, Quakers in Britain said: “After further consideration this booking at Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House has been cancelled. Quakers in Britain believe that all forms of racism, including antisemitism, are barriers to building a just and peaceful world.”

David Miller was fired by the University of Bristol over comments he had made about Jewish students, a month after Campaign Against Antisemitism commenced a lawsuit on behalf of current students against the institution and amidst a Jewish communal outcry.

He is a conspiracy theorist with a history of controversy relating to Jewish students. In one outburst, he asserted that “Zionism is racism”, declared his objective “to end Zionism as a functioning ideology of the world” and accused the Bristol University Jewish Society of being part of a worldwide Zionist conspiracy, adding that it is “fundamental to Zionism to encourage Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism”. At the same online event, Prof. Miller also observed that the Jewish Society and the Union of Jewish Students are Zionist, thereby implying that Jewish students (and the wider Jewish community) inherently “encourage Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism”.

He also portrayed the International Definition of Antisemitism as an attack on free speech and accused the Israeli Government of engaging in an “all-out attack” on the global Left as part of an “attempt by the Israelis to impose their will all over the world”. In comments reminiscent of the darkest years of the United Nations, Prof. Miller insisted that “Zionism is racism” and asked how “we defeat the ideology of Zionism in practice”, “how is Zionism ended” and about the way “to end Zionism as a functioning ideology of the world”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism revealed that Mr Miller was behind disgraced MP Chris Williamson’s Resistance Movement. The group aimed to give a home to the “politically homeless” politicians who had been expelled from the Labour Party for antisemitism, such as Jackie Walker, Tony Greenstein and Mark Wadsworth.

He has also previously accused the current leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, of taking “Zionist money”, and he has talked about what he referred to as the “witch hunt” against Labour members accused of antisemitism.

It is revealing that Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign would consider Mr Miller to be an appropriate speaker.

We applaud Quakers in Britain for cancelling this event and dissociating themselves from Mr Miller.

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Al Jazeera’s boring propaganda trilogy, ‘Labour Files’ is not real journalism

Following the airing over the past week of the ‘Labour Files’ programme on Al Jazeera, Campaign Against Antisemitism has released a statement assessing the so-called documentary.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Those who managed to watch all the way through Al Jazeera’s rather boring propaganda trilogy, ‘Labour Files’, were presented with a parallel universe of the Labour Party’s antisemitism crisis.

“With the astonishing and insulting premise that ‘Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was condemned for antisemitism [but] the Labour Files reveal they were the victims of distortions and misrepresentation’, the so-called documentary purports to show that antisemitism in Labour was a sham without speaking to any of the victims or leaders of the Jewish community or antisemitism experts. A viewer would barely know from the programme that the EHRC, an independent body established by a Labour Government, found that Labour was so racist that it broke the law, following an investigation in which we were the complainant.

“Relying on testimony from members of an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, as well as figures with records of inflammatory views, the programme ludicrously tries to argue that there were significant fissures within the Jewish community on Mr Corbyn or the International Definition of Antisemitism. The programme also repeatedly insists that the facts plainly support claims that Labour antisemitism allegations were fraudulent, yet this is not borne out by the outcomes of any of the legal cases relating to the matter so far.

“Just as the Corbyn era ended with claims of a ‘hierarchy of racism’, so does Al Jazeera, with a repellent last-ditch assertion that there is a hierarchy of racism in Labour that privileges Jews, which is itself a form of antisemitism.

“The Labour Files has added next to nothing to the collective understanding of Labour’s antisemitism crisis. It is not real journalism, but rather the sort of propaganda that we have come to expect from a Qatari-owned media outlet with its own agenda and priorities.”

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.

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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Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi suspended from Labour again, but in circumstances that call Party’s disciplinary process once more into question

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi has apparently again been suspended from the Labour Party.

Writing on Twitter, the controversial Labour activist said: “I’ve received a Notice of Allegation and Administrative Suspension from @UKLabour. The charge – I “committed a Prohibited Act contrary to Chapter 2, Clause I.5.B of the Rule Book” by speaking at an event run by proscribed organisations in September last year.”

She added: “Admin[istrative] Suspension means I can’t attend AGM of the NEC [National Executive Committee], to which I have just been elected, at Liverpool conference next week. No link of course to my appearance in @AJIunit [Al Jazeera Investigations]’s #LabourFiles series exposing multiple abuses within Labour. First one out tonight. Not to be missed!”

“Solidarity with all the many, many left delegates to conference and other comrades who have been expelled or suspended in recent days and weeks. What a travesty of democracy! Don’t we have some Tories to fight?”

Ms Wimborne-Idrissi was referring to a current controversial Al Jazeera documentary that fruitlessly seeks to challenge the well-established antisemitism scandal in the Labour Party.

Last night, after she revealed her suspension, Ms Wimborne-Idrissi appeared to admit that she did indeed attend a meeting last year of the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson’s Resist group, knowing that it was a faction proscribed by the Party.

The controversial pro-Corbyn Momentum faction has tweeted in support of her.

Ms Wimborne-Idrissi is the Media Officer of Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation. She was reportedly suspended from the Labour Party two years ago but her suspension was inexplicably lifted. She was also previously the Vice-Chair of Chingford and Woodford Green Constituency Labour Party before reportedly being removed last year.

She was recently elected to serve on Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), which was one of several results in that election that called into doubt Labour’s progress in dealing with its antisemitism scandal and the culture that created it.

Earlier this month, it was announced that JVL had settled a libel case brought against it by the respected Panorama journalist John Ware in relation to comments made about him by Ms Wimborne-Idrissi. The settlement has reportedly raised the possibility that JVL may be in financial trouble.

Ms Wimborne-Idrissi has been embroiled in controversy over recent days, particularly after it was reported that, in a Palestine Deep Dive podcast last week, she allegedly said: “There are cases where people have said, ‘we’ve got a Holocaust denier in our branch, what are you going to do about it?’ ‘Oh, let’s have a look at his credentials. Oh, he’s a right-winger, no, no, he’s fine, he can carry on.’” Following calls on social media for her to provide evidence for her claim, it is not believed that any has been presented, even as other social media users have made suggestions about whom she may have been referring to.

Joe Glasman, Head of Political and Government Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “We welcome Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi’s suspension from the Labour Party, but we have been down this road before only to find ourselves back where we started after she was readmitted to the Party. Time will tell whether this removal is permanent.

“This latest suspension has come following her embarrassing election to the NEC, immediately after a controversy about her comments on a podcast, and also as she features in a newly-released controversial documentary by Al Jazeera. However, the reported basis of the suspension relates to her alleged association with a proscribed group a year ago. If so, why was she not suspended for that alleged association until now, and why has this latest suspension not referenced the recent comments and controversies that everyone presumes to be the real reason that the Party wants her out all of a sudden? This chronology hardly inspires confidence in Labour’s disciplinary process, which seems as chaotic and arbitrary as ever.

“From the start, we have always called for a fair and transparent disciplinary process that is not dictated by political expedience or media scrutiny. Ms Wimborne-Idrissi has no place in the Labour Party, as any such process would conclude, but it should not take all of this negative public attention on the Party to bring about that outcome.”

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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“The more proud one is, the taller one stands”: Rabbi Joseph Dweck on antisemitism and Jewish pride 

Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi of the S&P Sephardi community, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he spoke about his concerns surrounding antisemitism both here and abroad, and the importance of education on Jewish history. 

Rabbi Dweck has been a longstanding friend of CAA, having delivered speeches at many of our rallies and events.

During the podcast interview, he said that antisemitism “in the modern setting is almost always tied to Israel” which is “an easy target” when it comes to young people on social media.

“One does not condemn an entire people because of the [the Israeli government’s] behaviours,” he stated.

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

Speaking on the importance of having Jewish pride as a means of tackling antisemitism, the Senior Rabbi said: “The more proud one is, of who one is, the taller one stands, the more confident one is to be who one is in the world. That makes a huge difference.”

He continued: “If you’re strong and proud of who you are, you speak up, and you represent. That is something we have certainly seen.

“I’m very concerned about university students experiencing that…it is important for young people to not feel that every time they go outside they need to hide this aspect of their identity…[Jewish pride] will further encourage young people and generations coming to be able to represent the Jewish people and to speak in favour and strength and to be able to have absolutely zero tolerance for any kind of antisemitism.”

When asked about the differences between antisemitism in the United States and the United Kingdom, he noted that he “feels it more here” in London, noting that “the antisemitism here has a very anti-Zionistic colour.”

However, he stated there is a “tremendous rise in antisemitism” in the United States, which has given antisemites “license to be more vocal and present, and violent”. 

Some such antisemitic incidents in recent years included white supremacist shooting in synagogues, a Black Israelite shooting, the Islamist hostage incident in Colleyville, Texas, and persistent attacks on Hasidic Jews. 

Rabbi Dweck lamented that “it’s concerning to me in general” in areas that used to be “tranquil for Jewish people”. 

“Violence, hate speech against Jews is becoming more acceptable. There is a stronger feeling of allowance for people to do this and not have repercussions, and this really worries me,” he said.  

Rabbi Dweck additionally spoke about his own podcast, ‘Humans Being’ where he interviews, in his words, “thinkers, innovators, and creators from across society on the meaning and value of what they do”. 

He commented how he “wanted to speak to people in every area from a background of Jewish thought” and reaffirmed his believe that “Jewish thought, and Torah, is a framework of thought”. 

Leaving a message to the Jewish community for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Rabbi Dweck said that “although we may all feel a bit unstable, our people have survived for thousands of years, we will thrive and continue to do so.”

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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Children’s football match marred by antisemitism

A children’s football match just north of London has been marred by allegations of antisemitism.

Following a 4-3 win against a Jewish children’s football team in a Hertfordshire Football Association fixture on Sunday, a player on the winning team posted a message on social media saying “Hitler would be proud” of his team’s victory and noted their “4-3 win against some random Jews.”

The father of the teenage player has reportedly sent an apology, and the boy may attend antisemitism awareness training.

It is understood that Herts FA has been informed of the incident, and the police have been made aware.

Hertfordshire FA said in a statement: “We are aware of an incident involving antisemitic abuse that occurred following a match over the weekend. A full investigation has been opened and the affected club has been offered assistance via Sporting Chance who provide dedicated support to victims of discrimination. We’re clear that discrimination has no place in football, whether on the pitch, at the training ground, in the stands or online. If you witness unacceptable behaviour in football, please tell us about it so that we can deal with it accordingly.”

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

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One year after incident, Jewish civil servant finally gets apology over HR failure

A civil servant who works in a Whitehall Department attended a talk last year delivered by the Head of Human Resources (HR) of their unit. During the talk, the speaker, who is themself from an ethnic minority, said that when they worked at a different Ministry, they were the only senior leader from an ethnic minority.

In the question and answer segment at the end of the presentation, the civil servant gently raised the point that the Permanent Secretary of that Ministry at the time was Jewish, but the Head of HR brushed away the civil servant’s comment, claiming that they had merely been talking about senior leadership in the HR department, which apparently was clearly not the case.

The civil servant, who has understandably requested anonymity, followed up the incident with an e-mail to the Head of HR who delivered the presentation and also wrote separately to the CEO of the Department. The civil servant, who is Jewish, was then told that they had acted in a “shocking” manner and that the query had “felt like an attack”. The civil servant later spoke again to the Head of HR who told them, in no uncertain terms, that they did not view Jews as an ethnic minority.

The civil servant felt that the incident caused them considerable distress and discomfort at their place of work, without recourse to the very department – human resources – that should be available in such circumstances. Moreover, they felt that their ethnic identity had been marginalised and belittled.

The civil servant occupied a relatively junior position in the civil service at the time and, notwithstanding the professional risks, spent some time trying to resolve this issue with senior management, to no avail. No apology was forthcoming and the senior management refused to acknowledge that any mistake had been made, even as certain leading figures in the unit were recognised across the larger organisation for their work on inclusion and diversity.

The civil servant was in contact with their union before turning to Campaign Against Antisemitism for additional support and guidance.

Having exhausted every avenue for resolving the issue informally, the civil servant proceeded to submit a formal complaint.

Almost a year after the original incident, the civil servant did finally receive an apology from the Chief Executive of the unit, but it only related to the distress that was caused and still did not address the original incident or the substance of the matter.

After a further delay of several months, the civil servant was told by the unit’s new Head of HR that antisemitism would be addressed better in future, including promotion of antisemitism training among senior leadership, and making efforts to ensure that Judaism is recognised as an ethnic minority.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism: “Whether it is overt racism towards Jewish people or more subtle aggressions that make Jews feel marginalised or belittled, no industry is immune to antisemitism.

“It is particularly alarming when these incidents arise in the context of HR or diversity and inclusion programming, as these resources are meant to protect all employees, especially those from minority backgrounds. Those tasked with providing these services should be more attuned than anyone to the sensitivities of inclusion and discrimination and to the support that vulnerable employees may require. Clearly those services failed in this case.

“This civil servant courageously pursued the matter to the end, and we are pleased to have provided them with support in doing so. It is regrettable that it took so long for lessons to appear to be learned by those in positions of authority, and time will tell if they have been. We hope that by publicising this incident, others with responsibility for the wellbeing of those in the civil service or any other industry will take heed.”

If you have been the victim of antisemitism and require assistance, please e-mail us in confidence at [email protected] or call +44 (0)330 822 0321.

Image credit: Can Pac Swire

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Manchester Conservatives finally remove candidate from website five months after his endorsement by the Party was revoked following social media revelations

It has taken Manchester Conservatives some five months to remove from its website a local election candidate whose endorsement from the Party was revoked after social media revelations.

On 12th April, it was reported, Sham Raja Akhtar, a Conservative candidate for Sedgley ward in the 2022 local elections, had his endorsement by the Party revoked after numerous historic and inflammatory social media posts were uncovered, including one allegedly comparing Israeli footballers to “assassins”.

It was one instance of a wider pattern of scandals at the Bury North and South Conservative Association, about which Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to the Party.

It was also claimed that Mr Raja subsequently represented the Conservatives at a hustings as late as 23rd April, shortly before the election, an allegation that we also publicised and put to the Party.

Last week, local news revealed that Mr Raja was still listed as Deputy Chair of the Manchester Conservatives on its website, some five months after the scandal and after the Party supposedly cut ties with him.

Since that revelation, it appears that he has finally be removed from the website. Whether his association with the Party endures in the background remains to be seen.

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

Image credit: Manchester Conservatives

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Fringe Jewish group Na’amod apologises after expose showing it providing assistance to antisemitism-denier Pete Gregson

A fringe Jewish group has apologised after an expose was published showing that it had apparently provided assistance to antisemitism-denier, Pete Gregson.

Na’amod: British Jews Against Occupation, was found by the researcher David Collier to have provided assistance to Pete Gregson.

According to e-mails uncovered by Mr Collier, it appeared that Mr Gregson was organising a tour for the fringe and controversial Neturei Karta group’s Rabbi Dovid Weiss and the activist Azzam Tamimi, who has previously urged the people of Gaza to “explode in their faces” and engage in Jihad, in an apparent reference to violent terrorism against Israelis.

When details of the tour first emerged in late July, Campaign Against Antisemitism condemned it.

The e-mail exchange appeared to show Mr Gregson telling Na’amod that he was looking for venues in several cities, including those with large Muslim populations but that he also wanted to reach out to Jewish people. He asked Na’amod if it could suggest some venues.

According to Mr Collier, a reply e-mail to Mr Gregson allegedly from Na’amod said, “That all sounds really good” and attached a master list of venues that the group uses for its own events, apparently in order to assist Mr Gregson.

In 2019, Pete Gregson was suspended by the Labour Party and expelled from the pro-Corbyn pressure group Momentum and the GMB union for saying that Israel was a “racist endeavour” which “exaggerates” the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis for “political ends”. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust” is an example of antisemitism, as is “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).”

In the same year, Mr Gregson set up LAZIR to support Jeremy Corbyn, to campaign for the International Definition of Antisemitism to be dropped by Labour and for Labour’s Jewish affiliate to be thrown out of the Party.

In September 2019, police officers removed an antisemitic poster outside the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. The poster depicted the then-Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, piloting a fighter jet labelled “the lobby” and yelling “Antisemite! Antisemite! Antisemite!” at the then-Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who is standing at a podium labelled “Palestinian rights”. The implication of the poster is that the Israeli Government or the “Israel lobby” — portrayed in a militaristic fashion — has weaponised antisemitism and is behind defamatory accusations of antisemitism against the Labour leader, and that Israel wields significant power over British political affairs. The poster was designed and put up by Mr Gregson.

Mr Gregson is believed to be a member of the Resist Movement, headed by the disgraced former Labour MP, Chris Williamson, and is believed to be the chair of the antisemitism-denial group Campaign Against Bogus Antisemitism.

After Mr Collier apparently first privately put the allegation to Na’amod, the group published a defiant statement on 23rd August, saying: “Na’amod has been accused of supplying a list of venues to Pete Gregson for his ‘Rabbi On The Road’ tour. Na’amod has never supported this individual in this or any other capacity. Targeting of Na’amod is consistent with far-right, pro-occupation groups and individuals who attempt to undermine those striving for the human rights of Palestinians under occupation. Na’amod will continue to take a stand against the moral crisis that is Israel’s occupation, and mobilise our community in support of freedom, equality and justice for all in Israel-Palestine. Join us.”

Amidst a Jewish communal outcry, the group then put out a more equivocal statement on 8th September, saying: “We recently put out a statement regarding accusations of assisting Pete Gregson. Our initial investigation uncovered no evidence of assistance, and we have been unable to locate any e-mail to suggest that we have supported him on his tour.

“We will continue to conduct an internal investigation and seek external support, to get a clear understanding of what has happened and whether our communication channels have been compromised. We want to reiterate that Na’amod rejects Gregson’s rhetoric. We will continue to mobilise our community in support of freedom, equality and justice for all Palestinians and Israelis.”

After an investigation, Na’amod determined that the allegation was, in fact, accurate.

In a statement a week later on 14th September, the controversial group said: “We have spent the last few days comprehensively investigating the origin of the unauthorised e-mail which was sent from the Na’amod account to Pete Gregson, and have concluded that the e-mail was sent by a member of our team, who is no longer in their position.

“As a movement, we try to be transparent when we get things wrong. This e=mail should never have been sent, and was not approved. We unequivocally reject and condemn Pete Gregson’s antisemitic views, and want nothing to do with him.“We are committed to being honest and open, and learning to be a better movement, in order to mobilise our community in support of freedom, justice and equality for all Jews, Israelis and Palestinians. We are hugely regretful and disappointed that this happened, and offer our sincere apologies.”

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CCTV footage released of suspect reportedly behind parade of smashed Jewish-owned shops in Stamford Hill

CCTV footage has been released of the suspect believed to be responsible for a series of Jewish-owned shops being smashed in Stamford Hill.

Last month, a series of Jewish-owned shops had their windows smashed in Stamford Hill on at least two separate occasions, which we understand caused £25,000 worth of damage.

The incidents were 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 4620417/22 or CAD 8616 02/08/22

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

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Chart-topping Hasidic Jewish rapper says his way of fighting antisemitism is “to be proudly Jewish”

Moshe Reuven, a chart-topping Hasidic hip-hop artist, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he spoke about his journey of breaking antisemitic stereotypes as an identifiably Jewish musician.

As well as having his debut single top international charts, he recently collaborated with Julian Marley, son of the legendary reggae musician Bob Marley, on a single. He described the experience of working with Mr Marley as “surreal”, and a “huge blessing”. When asked about the compatibility between the two artists, the Hasidic hip-hop star said that it “makes a lot of sense” due to how, in his view, the “spirituality of Hasidism” can be harmonised with the “sort of spirituality people think of” when it comes to the younger Marley. 

The rapper revealed that he got into hip-hop music in his youth. “I didn’t grow up religious,” he said, adding that “part of being a kid in the secular world, hip-hop is pop culture…more people listen to it than any other genre”. 

The musician’s religious journey drove him to get into creating music, as he found the content that characterised mainstream hip-hop music was “treif”, meaning not kosher, and in his view, “not teaching the right morals”. 

He describes his musical journey as part of “bringing myself into Hasidism, Torah, and how I’m relating to what I know is right”. 

In previous instances, hip-hop music has contained antisemitic lyrics. Earlier this year, the UK media regulator Ofcom sanctioned London-based radio station Rinse FM after they aired a Jay Electronica song that was deemed to have contained “antisemitic hate speech.”

In recent times, musician Nick Cannon apologised for alleged antisemitic comments and claimed to make an effort to educate himself, while the rapper Wiley has only continued to double down on the severity of the antisemitic tweets that he posted in July 2020.

Commenting on the dichotomy between the two, the Jewish rap star said that “it’s sad that someone took the other approach” and that this “shows the two options a person has if they make such a mistake”.

He said that people can “grow up with the wrong information” and repeat “what someone they look up to says” without reflecting on its wider potential to offend, adding that sometimes animosity “isn’t a general ‘we hate the Jews’ and sometimes it is”, but that either case is problematic if it ends up in widely distributed song lyrics.

He went on to condemn the horrific antisemitic attacks taking place against identifiable Jews in both London and New York, asking of the assailants: “Are you a big dude for doing that to someone? That’s some innocent guy that wouldn’t hurt anyone, and you’re going to punch him in the face? How ridiculous is that?”

Throughout the interview, the rapper stressed how being “proudly Jewish”, in his view, is the best way to fight antisemitism, and the importance of being “strong in our culture”.  

He added that it was important to “be proud of who you are” and lamented the fact that some Jews would feel embarrassed to be Jewish due to the judgment of others.

“It’s a very special thing to be Jewish,” he concluded.

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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Barrister pays £500 fine following inflammatory tweets about antisemitism

A barrister has been handed a £500 fine over tweets written from an anonymous Twitter account containing inflammatory remarks about antisemitism.

Daniel Bennett resigned from Doughty Street Chambers after he was found to have been responsible for “inappropriate and offensive” messages about antisemitism sent between September 2018 and June 2019 and directed at his colleague and fellow barrister, Adam Wagner, who is Jewish.

The Twitter account allegedly connected to Mr Bennett, which had some 4500 followers, described Mr Wagner, who had taken issue with how the Labour Party dealt with antisemitism allegations under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, as “a lying propagandist”, decried the stories about antisemitism as “fraudulent”, and claimed that antisemitism allegations were made up for “factional political gain”.

Mr Wagner said that the messages had caused him “considerable anxiety and unwelcome attention”.

Mr Bennett told the tribunal that the tweets “reflected his own strongly held views” but he “could and should have stopped them appearing”.

Although the Bar Standards Board, which regulates barristers, did not specify that Mr Bennett sent the tweets himself, it said that he “allowed” them to be sent and in doing so behaved in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence in him and the profession.

Mr Bennett has 21 days to appeal the decision, but the ruling does not provide any context about his misconduct or say whether mitigation has been offered or accepted.

It has previously been reported that Mr Bennett has apologised for any offence caused.

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

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Artist with history of inflammatory social media posts about Jews granted exhibition in London art space

An artist with a history of inflammatory social media posts about Jews is exhibiting her work in a London art space.

Anna Laurini, whose works are also featured on the website of the online art marketplace, Saatchi Art, is exhibiting her work in the show, “All this Energy”, at a North London cafe. 

In one Instagram post, a figure, which appears to be Ms Laurini, poses on a rooftop with the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City in the background. The caption reads “Imagine a world without #Israhell”, a reference to the conspiracy theory that Israel was responsible for the terrorist attacks on New York City on 11th September 2001.

In a Facebook post, Ms Laurini appears to have shared an article from what appears to be the publication, Palestine Voice, which seems to have featured Ms Laurini in a 2020 edition. Ms Laurini captioned the post with the words “From the river to the sea”, part of the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

This chant 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.

Another online post apparently shared by Ms Laurini, features a black and white image of the gates to what looks like a Nazi concentration camp, but replaces the infamous words above the entrance gate, “Arbeit macht Frei” (“Work sets you free”), with the words “Green pass macht Frei”, which compares COVID-19 restrictions to Nazi ideology.

Ms Laurini appears to have repeated the sentiment in this post with one that features a version of the flag of Nazi Germany. In this instance, the post shows the flag with a green background and the words “green pass”, again apparently comparing Nazism and anti-coronavirus measures put in place by European governments.

Additionally, Ms Laurini appears to have retweeted a post that features the image of Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, who is Jewish, with captions that seem to suggest that the Rothschild family are responsible for a conspiracy that involves the “geo-engineering” of the weather and its “rebranding” as climate change, which allegedly leads to the erosion of democratic freedoms around the world.

The Rothschilds appear in many anti-Jewish conspiracy theories as a sinister, controlling force.

Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.

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

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Jewish primary school in Stamford Hill locks down to protect children from alleged aggressor waiting outside 

It has been reported that a Jewish primary school in Stamford Hill had to lock down and prevent its students from leaving in order to protect them from an apparent aggressor waiting outside.

A suspect captured on video appeared to be shouting a torrent of abuse towards the school that included yelling “You’re evil…the wasteland is where you’re from.”

The incident was reported on Monday 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 4055 12/09/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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Labour councillors previously suspended for alleged inflammatory posts still representing the Party

Two Labour Party councillors who were suspended for allegedly making inflammatory social media posts about Jews are still representing the Party, according to online sources.

After Cllr Ibrahim Ali won his seat in Haringey in the local elections in May, it emerged that he was previously employed by the controversial CAGE activist group. In 2015, he reportedly defended the description of the terrorist known as Jihadi John as a “beautiful young man” while speaking to a Parliamentary committee. 

Cllr Ali was suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation, but has now apparently returned from suspension after the Party reportedly cleared him of any wrongdoing.

During those same elections in May, Councillor Belgica Guaña was suspended hours before the polls opened after it was alleged that she posted a horrific article arguing that “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today.”

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

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

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

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

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism went on to report Cllr Guaña to the police, as well as to New-ham Council.

It now appears, however, that Cllr Guaña is still listed as a member of the Labour Group on Newham Council.

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

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

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Flyers accusing Jews of paedophilia found at Swansea University

A concerned party has contacted Campaign Against Antisemitism informing us that they have found two stickers at Swansea University which make inflammatory accusations about Jews.

The stickers were reportedly found at the University’s Singleton Park entrance.

One sticker contains grainy black and white imagery that apparently documents the circumcision of a baby Jewish boy and contains accusations of paedophilia, a common antisemitic trope.

Underneath the images, the caption advertises the online domain GoyimTV, a video-sharing site operated by Jon Minadeo II, who is understood to be the leader of the Goyim Defence League.

The GDL has been described as an antisemitic hate group whose membership reportedly contains several neo-Nazis. In the United States, the group is divided into regional branches and regularly distributes antisemitic flyers. Last year, Mr Minadeo II created t-shirts carrying antisemitic slogans such as the Holocaust was “a hoax” and more recently, they hung a banner from a bridge in Austin, Texas that read “Vax the Jews”.

The source told Campaign Against Antisemitism that, on an earlier date, they had also found a sticker that contains a version of the “smirking merchant” image along with the caption “Jews have been kicked out of 109 countrieds [sic] over 1300 times”.

The smirking merchant meme depicts a hook-nosed man with a nefarious grin wearing a head covering and holding banknotes. The meme is thought by many to be a classically antisemitic representation of a Jewish person.

The source went on to state that they saw the stickers when they were walking to work at around 8:00 on 1st September, and they were still there when they were walking home around 15:30 the same day, prompting them to take photographs of the images. However, when they returned to the office on 6th September, the flyers appeared to have been removed.

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

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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JVL settles and apologises in libel case brought by journalist John Ware

Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, have reportedly settled and apologised in a libel case that was brought against them by the journalist, John Ware.

The libel action concerned comments made by Ms Wimborne-Idrissi, one of the group’s founders and its Media Officer, on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 show, in which she claimed that Mr Ware had a “terrible record of Islamophobia, far-right politics” and that the BBC had in the past had to “apologise” for his journalism and discipline him.

The claims were then repeated on the JVL website, and JVL’s Web Officer, Richard Kuper, was also a defendant. Mr Kuper is the founder of Pluto Press, which was previously the publishing arm of the International Socialists, now known as the Socialist Workers Party. Mr Ware denied the claims made by Ms Wimborne-Idrissi.

Mr Ware was the maker of the BBC Panorama documentary “Is Labour Antisemitic”. The programme, which was televised in July 2019, showed former Labour Party employees speaking out publicly to reveal Jeremy Corbyn’s personal meddling in disciplinary cases relating to antisemitism. The programme explained how senior Labour Party staffers, some of whom Campaign Against Antisemitism has known for years, used to run Labour’s disciplinary process independently, but soon after Mr Corbyn’s election as Party leader found themselves contending with his most senior aides, who were brazen in their efforts to subvert due process. During the programme, Labour’s press team made claims that the staffers featured had political axes to grind and lacked credibility, and the whistleblowers and Mr Ware commenced libel proceedings against the Labour Party.

At a preliminary hearing to determine the ordinary meaning of Ms Wimborne-Idrissi’s words, she argued that they were just “honest opinion.” However, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that reasonable listeners would have understood the comments as statements of fact, namely that Mr Ware had “engaged in Islamophobia and extreme, far right politics, as a consequence of which the BBC has had to apologise for his conduct,” and that there were “reasonable grounds to suspect” that Mr Ware had “an extensive record of Islamophobia and of involvement in extreme, far-right politics.”

Mr Ware observed that he had never been disciplined on any matter by the BBC, had no “record of Islamophobia” and had never promoted “extreme far-right politics”. 

Following this ruling, Ms Wimborne-Idrissi had to prove that these assertions of fact were true, which is a higher threshold than showing that they were mere honest opinions.

Mr Ware told Jewish News that “I can confirm my case against Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, JVL and Richard Kuper has been settled and that there will be a full apology made to me in open court next month.”

JVL subsequently wrote a tweet saying that they have a “large bill to pay”. It was reported that the group faces “financial collapse” due to the proceedings.

In a statement, JVL said: “Mediation in the case brought by John Ware against Jewish Voice for Labour and two of its officers has now occurred and we can announce that terms of settlement have been agreed, including an apology from Naomi Wimborne Idrissi and JVL for defamatory statements made on the Jeremy Vine Show and included in a Facebook post which we reproduced on our website on 15 July 2019. Once a statement of apology has been read out in open court it will be put up on our website.”

While the scale of any financial settlement has not been disclosed, it is being reported that JVL is crowdfunding for £200,000, telling supporters: “We now need your help more than ever if JVL is to survive and continue doing the work which is so much valued within our movement.”

In his recent report, Martin Forde QC ludicrously suggested that JVL should have a role in antisemitism education in the Labour Party, of which JVL is still, outrageously, considered a legitimate faction.

Ms Wimborne-Idrissi was recently elected to Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee.

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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Charity Commission investigates City, University of London’s Students’ Union’s attempts to abandon International Definition of Antisemitism under Shaima Dallali’s Presidency

The Charity Commission has opened an “ongoing case” into City, University of London’s Students’ Union regarding attempts to abandon the International Definition of Antisemitism during the tenure of the previous President, Shaima Dallali. Ms Dallali has recently been suspended from her current role as President of the National Union of Students (NUS).

It was reported that the Commission received a complaint after the Students’ Union’s Board of Trustees announced in March 2021 that they would hold a referendum about whether the University should refuse to continue to adopt the Definition. The Board of Trustees was, at the time, chaired by Ms Dallali.

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission told Jewish News: “We are aware of these concerns and have an ongoing case into City, University of London Students’ Union. We are engaging with the trustees.”

Ms Dallali was suspended as NUS President at the start of September, apparently pursuant to an investigation of antisemitism allegations at NUS.

During her election campaign, Ms Dallali was forced to apologise for tweeting the words of an antisemitic chant. In 2012, during an escalation of tensions between Israel and the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas, Ms Dallali tweeted the words “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud.” Translated into English, this chant means “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” It 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. She also had a history of other inflammatory tweets and it also emerged that Ms Dallali had been in a group shouting aggressively at Jewish students attending an Israel Society event at King’s College London in 2018, at which it was reported that the “Khaybar” chant was heard.

It is said that this is the first time in the century-long history of the NUS that its President has faced suspension.

The announcement of Ms Dallali’s suspension came after Robert Halfon MP wrote together with Campaign Against Antisemitism to the Charity Commission calling for an investigation into the union’s charitable arm. The full dossier on NUS, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, can be read here. In addition, over twenty former NUS Presidents wrote a letter expressing their “serious concerns about antisemitism”, and another letter, organised by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and signed by over 1,000 Jewish students and allies, called for NUS to launch an independent investigation.

An NUS spokesperson said: “We cannot comment at this time as we are in the middle of an independent QC-led investigation into allegations of antisemitism. But as we have said before, we are prepared to take any and all actions recommended by Rebecca Tuck QC’s investigation.”

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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Statement on the passing of Her Majesty the Queen

For over seven decades, in synagogues across Britain, Her Majesty the Queen’s Jewish subjects have recited a prayer for “our Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth”.

Each week we have prayed that Her Majesty be blessed with wisdom and understanding, that she advance the welfare of our nation, and that she be preserved in life.

Campaign Against Antisemitism joins the Jewish community and the nation in mourning the passing of Her Majesty.

We are grateful for an extraordinary monarch who led our country through good times and bad over a lifetime spent in service, acting as a rock and inspiration to her subjects and the world.

Our thoughts are with the Royal Family.

May her memory be for a blessing.

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CAA criticises BBC’s Director General for discussing broadcaster’s impartiality in Parliament with no reference to antisemitism

The Director General of the BBC attended a hearing at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday, along with the Chair and the Chief Operating Officer, to take questions from MPs on a range of subjects relating to the public service broadcaster, including impartiality.

It was disappointing that, despite our past requests, the Committee did not ask about recent high-profile controversies relating to the BBC’s reportage on issues relating to antisemitism, such as the appalling Oxford Street coverage of last Chanukah, where the BBC baselessly tried to claim that Jewish victims of antisemitic abuse might themselves have made provocative racial remarks.

The Committee also did not explore other areas of BBC bias that have long concerned the community.

Worse still, Tim Davie, the Director General, did not address these issues himself at all. Instead, he insisted that the Corporation was “doing well” when it came to tackling bias and “doing a pretty good job” when it came to neutrality. He said: “We do have hundreds of thousands of hours of output…and overall, I think we are delivering well, I do think that and it’s important we’re proportional about this.”

Whatever Mr Davie thinks, polling that we conducted in 2020 for our Antisemitism Barometer  revealed that two thirds of British Jews were deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55 percent by its handling of antisemitism complaints. It is likely that these figures would be even higher if polled today.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is disappointing that the Digital Culture Media and Sport Committee did not see fit to question Tim Davie on antisemitism, despite our repeated requests for the BBC to be held to account.

“Regardless, Mr Davie’s failure to address the BBC’s lamentable standing amongst British Jews is shameful. Judging issues by the number of complaints received, as Mr Davie does, is a wholly unjust metric for a minority as small as the Jewish community. His insistence that, ‘overall, I think we are delivering well,’ clashes profoundly with the experience of British Jews. Our polling has shown that two thirds of the Jewish community is deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and a majority by its handling of antisemitism complaints, the process for which is notoriously demeaning and Kafkaesque. These are not figures that reflect satisfaction with the broadcaster’s supposed impartiality, and the BBC cannot claim to be upholding its obligation to be impartial as long as the Jewish community views our nation’s public service broadcaster as biased against Jews and the issues that they care about.”

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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“They need to see zero tolerance towards antisemitism”: Rabbi Menachem Margolin on what European countries must do to ensure Jewish life

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the Chairman and founder of the European Jewish Association (EJA), an organisation that promotes and defends Jewish interests in Europe, a large part of which involves raising awareness of, and tackling, antisemitism, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he spoke about the EJA’s first-of-its-kind index which polled the best European countries for Jews to live in.

When asked if he was surprised that the report ranked Italy and Hungary as the top two countries for Jews to live in, while Poland, Belgium and France came out bottom, he said that he was not.

“What is important is not what the media says” he said. “We have to concentrate on what is important for Jewish life.”

Rabbi Margolin said that in the case of Hungary, he noticed “a renaissance of Jewish life” taking place, noting the country’s growth of synagogues as an indicator.

Rabbi Margolin said that he hoped that world leaders would take notice of the findings and that they would back up any promises to enhance Jewish life with actions. 

“The action,” he explained, “is providing the Jewish communities the conditions they need to grow. They need security, they need freedom of religion, they need support, they need to see zero tolerance towards antisemitism, they need to see the government is really committed to combating antisemitism, they would like to see governments treat Israel in a fair way; not with double standards.”

Throughout the interview, Rabbi Margolin touched upon a variety of other issues which included the rise of antisemitism in the United States and his advice for tackling antisemitism.

The podcast with Rabbi Margolin 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 reveals Abdel Bari Atwan believes “massive Jewish institutions” try to silence him because they “believe they own the entire universe and control all the media”

Campaign Against Antisemitism can reveal that the inflammatory broadcaster and regular BBC contributor, Abdel Bari Atwan, believes that “massive Jewish institutions” try to silence him and others because they “believe they own the entire universe and control all the media.”

In an interview broadcast on the Beirut-based, Arabic-language Al-Mayadeen news channel on 14th April 2022 that has been unearthed by Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Online Monitoring and Investigations Unit, Mr Atwan complained of a campaign of as long as 25 years to silence him “led by Israeli security services, Mossad, Shabak and others.” At the time that the interview was broadcast, the JC was urging YouTube to remove a video of Mr Atwan where he reportedly “railed against ‘Jewish Israeli lobbies’ in Parliament, calling the terrorists who killed Israelis ‘martyrs’ and describing their actions as ‘a legitimate right’.” The JC also reported at the time that Mr Atwan characterised the shooting of three Israelis in Tel Aviv as a “miracle” and described the terrorist as a “hero” and those fleeing for their lives were, he claimed, “like mice”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is now able to reveal that Mr Atwan, who is the Editor-in-Chief of the Rai al-Youm Arabic news and opinion website, asserted in the newly-unearthed interview that “in the UK, as well as in many European countries, Israel is considered above the law. It can challenge whomever [it] wants, it can muzzle mouths.” He went on to engage in antisemitism-denial, declaring that “We have witnessed how Israel and its lobbies succeeded in sabotaging the UK Labour Party and isolating the Chairman, who is Jeremy Corbyn [sic], by means of campaigns and accusations that he is, I mean, antisemitic.”

Speaking in Arabic throughout, he also complained that he was not able to refer to a terrorist who murdered Jewish Israelis in Tel Aviv as a “martyr” because of Israeli interference in the media, saying: “Now that things have evolved so that you are forbidden from describing these martyrs as martyrs. These Israelis started interfering with everything. Look, six, I mean, colleagues, journalists, they expelled them from Deutsche Welle, the German television, just because they criticised Israel.”

He was referring to the sacking of several journalists at the German broadcaster after it emerged that they had reportedly used antisemitic language, such as saying that a “Jewish lobby controls many German institutions” to prevent criticism of Israel, and comparing Jews to “ants” that had invaded “through our weak points.”

Mr Atwan emphasised in his interview that “now the Zionists have succeeded in taking control over the media outlets,” and that “They [the Zionists] [have] become stronger than international laws, stronger than British laws, stronger than German laws.” Referring to the Tel Aviv terrorist attack in April, he insisted that “resistance is a legitimate right, all laws have enshrined it, secular and divine.”

Asked by the interviewer, “Who exactly are the bodies who aim to silence Abdel Bari Atwan and seek to incite against him in the UK?” Mr Atwan answered: “Massive institutions. Massive Jewish institutions. And institutions loyal to Israel. And there are also parties. These parties, for example, the Conservative Party, right now, it is controlled, there is control, one way or another, by these institutions, they want it to adopt what is the Israeli policy. There is also the Labour Party, there are groups, Israel’s friends in the Labour Party, Israel’s friends in the Conservative Party, it is they who want to silence us. They want to enforce the Israeli policies upon us. This is the story.

“And these people, they have deep roots in British society. However, in exchange there are people who support the right cause, the cause of justice, the Palestinian cause, and defend it. They were expelled from British parties because of these positions. But they, these people, although the number of Jews in the UK does not exceed 350,000, 400,000 people, nevertheless, they have seventy members in the House of Commons, do you hear? Seventy representatives in the British Parliament, because they have formidable financial power and economic power, and all of them form an alliance against Abdel Bari Atwan. It is because they don’t want voices. They know the extent of these voices’ influence. They know the extent to which people have reacted to these voices, the extent of the blow to their plans of obstruction and coverup in which these Jewish Israeli lobbies engage within British society. This is the gravity of the matter.”

Needless to say, there are not seventy Jewish MPs in the House of Commons and, even if there were, that should not be a cause for concern, any more than if numerous MPs from any other ethnic or religious minority were sat in Parliament in noteworthy numbers.

Mr Atwan ended by claiming that these interests were pressuring the BBC to stop featuring him, but that, he is relieved, thus far the BBC has resisted, concluding: “[They] believe that they own the entire universe, that they control all the media. This is the truth.”

The Al-Mayadeen news channel is viewed by some as pro-Hizballah and supportive of the Syrian Government.

This revelation comes after the BBC came under pressure yet again for hosting Mr Atwan after other recent inflammatory comments.

The controversy relates to a JC report that Mr Atwan recently defended Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ remark that Israel has committed “50 Holocausts” and his refusal to condemn the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack on Israeli athletes. Mr Abbas was condemned by the German Chancellor for his comments, which he made at a joint press conference with the Chancellor on a visit to Berlin, and is facing an investigation by German police.

Mr Atwan reportedly wrote in an article for the news site Raialyoum earlier this month: “I support [Mahmoud Abbas’s] refusal to apologise for the killing of 11 Israeli participants at the 1974 (sic) Munich Olympics, and his use of the term ‘holocausts’ to describe the many massacres to which Palestinians have been subjected by Israeli forces.”

He also reportedly claimed in the article that the Munich terror attack was “not committed by Abbas or by the Black September squad that abducted them” but by “Israeli Mossad operatives and German police,” apparently adding: “[Israeli Prime Minister Yair] Lapid’s hands are soaked in the blood of Palestinian children…Israel, supported by Germany’s guilt complex, considers itself above any law and feels free to twist the facts.”

On the same day as the article, Mr Atwan appeared on the BBC’s Dateline London programme, and said in relation to the recent violent attack on the author Sir Salman Rushdie: “The Satanic Verses actually is blasphemy completely and it is offensive. You know, Salman Rushdie, he was very, very cruel when he talked about the Prophet Muhammad and his wives, and actually, to talk about the wives of the Prophet is really very, very dangerous.” The attack is believed to have been inspired by the fatwa issued and promoted by Iran’s theocratic regime, which has a long history of antisemitic policies.

In 2007, Atwan is reported to have said: “If Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight.” In 2010, it is claimed that Atwan told an audience at the London School of Economics that “the Jewish lobby… [is] endangering the whole world”. In 2021, he is reported to have said that “Israel today is in a state of confusion and panic, they know very well that what happened in Kabul airport will repeat itself at Ben Gurion airport. But Ben Gurion Airport will be closed, there will be no planes in it, they will have no other option but to flee through the sea.  By Allah, they should listen to the advice of Hassan Nasrallah and start learning how to swim because their only option will be Cyprus, their only option will be the Mediterranean Sea.” Mr Nasrallah is the leader of the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group, Hizballah.

Mr Atwan’s remarks have drawn concern that he may be accused of having glorified terrorism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to the BBC and considering legal options.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These new revelations of Abdel Bari Atwan’s apparent view that ‘massive Jewish institutions’ are silencing him, that ‘Zionists’ control the media and that it is lamentable how many Jews there are in Parliament because of the Jews’ ‘formidable financial power’ must surely now force the BBC to drop him as a regular contributor. This man has no place on our television screens, and it is shameful that the BBC has yet to recognise that. We shall be writing to the BBC and considering legal action over Mr Atwan’s possible glorification of terrorism.”

Polling that we conducted in 2020 for our Antisemitism Barometer already revealed that two thirds of British Jews were deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints. It is likely that these figures would be even higher if polled today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CAA to complain to BBC over latest regular appearance of inflammatory Abdel Bari Atwan

The inflammatory broadcaster and regular BBC contributor, Abdel Bari Atwan, has appeared on the BBC News channel once again, despite his recent inflammatory comments.

The JC reported that Mr Atwan recently defended Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ remark that Israel has committed “50 Holocausts” and his refusal to condemn the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack on Israeli athletes. Mr Abbas was condemned by the German Chancellor for his comments, which he made at a joint press conference with the Chancellor on a visit to Berlin, and is facing an investigation by German police.

Mr Atwan reportedly wrote in an article for the news site Raialyoum earlier this month: “I support [Mahmoud Abbas’s] refusal to apologise for the killing of 11 Israeli participants at the 1974 (sic) Munich Olympics, and his use of the term ‘holocausts’ to describe the many massacres to which Palestinians have been subjected by Israeli forces.”

He also reportedly claimed in the article that the Munich terror attack was “not committed by Abbas or by the Black September squad that abducted them” but by “Israeli Mossad operatives and German police,” apparently adding: “[Israeli Prime Minister Yair] Lapid’s hands are soaked in the blood of Palestinian children…Israel, supported by Germany’s guilt complex, considers itself above any law and feels free to twist the facts.”

On the same day as the article, Mr Atwan appeared on the BBC’s Dateline London programme, and said in relation to the recent violent attack on the author Sir Salman Rushdie: “The Satanic Verses actually is blasphemy completely and it is offensive. You know, Salman Rushdie, he was very, very cruel when he talked about the Prophet Muhammad and his wives, and actually, to talk about the wives of the Prophet is really very, very dangerous.” The attack is believed to have been inspired by the fatwa issued and promoted by Iran’s theocratic regime, which has a long history of antisemitic policies.

In April, the JC revealed that Mr Atwan characterised the shooting of three Israelis in Tel Aviv as a “miracle” and described the terrorist as a “hero” and those fleeing for their lives were, he claimed, “like mice”.

In 2007, Atwan is reported to have said: “If Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight.” In 2010, it is claimed that Atwan told an audience at the London School of Economics that “the Jewish lobby… [is] endangering the whole world”.

Mr Atwan’s remarks have drawn concern that he may be accused of having glorified terrorism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to the BBC and considering legal options.

A spokesperson for the BBC said: “Abdel Bari Atwan appeared on Dateline as a commentator primarily to give his view on Saudi Arabia’s dealings with Donald Trump, and the allegations that Mr Trump had passed nuclear secrets to the Saudi state. We also felt it was important to cover the attack on Sir Salman Rushdie. We believe the discussion was fair and duly impartial and we believe it was editorially justified for Abdel to appear. If extreme views are expressed on the BBC, we would always seek to challenge them.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is time that the BBC is held to account for regularly platforming Abdel Bari Atwan, who has allegedly spoken in the past about how ‘the Jewish lobby’ is ‘endangering the world’ and has reportedly expressed support for violence against the Jewish state.

“Now, while appearing to offer apologetics for the violent attack on Salman Rushdie because the author’s writings are ‘offensive’, he apparently has no qualms offending Jews and all decent people by doubling down on Mahmoud Abbas’ refusal to condemn the Munich terror attack and his claim that Israel has committed ’50 Holocausts’ and is thus worse than the Nazis, which is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

“We are submitting a complaint to the BBC and considering legal action over Mr Atwan’s possible glorification of terrorism.”

Polling that we conducted in 2020 for our Antisemitism Barometer already revealed that two thirds of British Jews were deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints. It is likely that these figures would be even higher if polled today.

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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NUS President Shaima Dallali reportedly suspended amidst antisemitism investigation

Shaima Dallali, the President of the National Union of Students (NUS), has been suspended amidst investigations into her conduct following allegations of antisemitism, according to LBC’s Political Editor.

It is reportedly the first time in the Union’s 100-year history that a President has been suspended.

The investigation, which is concerned with allegations against both the Union and Ms Dallali specifically, arose following a string of controversies surrounding the NUS and its leadership. 

The announcement came after Robert Halfon MP wrote together with Campaign Against Antisemitism to the Charity Commission calling for an investigation into the union’s charitable arm. The full dossier on NUS, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, can be read here. In addition, over twenty former NUS Presidents wrote a letter expressing their “serious concerns about antisemitism”, and another letter, organised by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and signed by over 1,000 Jewish students and allies, called for NUS to launch an independent investigation.

The investigation came in the wake of numerous controversies involving NUS. In one recent scandal, the rapper Kareem Dennis, known as Lowkey, was due to headline NUS’s centenary conference last month. After initially dismissing the concerns of Jewish students, who pointed out the rapper’s inflammatory record, the union came under media scrutiny and eventually Mr Dennis withdrew from the event. As the scandal erupted, Robert Halfon MP excoriated NUS for failing to send a representative to attend a hearing held by the Education Select Committee, which he chairs.

This scandal was immediately followed by the election of Shaima Dallali as NUS’s new President, despite her history of antisemitic tweets and other inflammatory social media posts. 

Ms Dallali was forced to apologise for tweeting the words of an antisemitic chant. In 2012, during an escalation of tensions between Israel and the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas, Ms Dallali tweeted the words “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud.”

Translated into English, this chant means “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” It 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.

Ms Dallali issued a statement on 23rd March, saying: “Earlier today I was made aware of a tweet I posted ten years ago. During Israel’s assault on Gaza I referenced the battle of Khaybar in which Jewish and Muslim armies fought. I was wrong to see the Palestine conflict as one between Muslims and Jews. The reference made as a teenager was unacceptable and I sincerely and unreservedly apologise.”

It also came to light that Ms Dallali’s output on Twitter also included other inflammatory messages, including one last May allegedly saying that “organisations like UJS [the Union of Jewish Students] have a history of bullying pro-Palestine sabbs [sabbatical officers] and activists. You speak one word of solidarity and they’re after you. UJS and their likes need to be called out.”

Another alleged tweet from 2018 read: “So your special forces invade the Gaza Strip, attempt to kidnap a Hamas commander, kill him and others. Then cry about Hamas being the terrorists. Makes perfect sense. #GazaUnderAttack.” Hamas is an antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation that is proscribed in the UK.

An NUS spokesperson said: “We cannot comment at this time as we are in the middle of an independent QC-led investigation into allegations of antisemitism. But as we have said before, we are prepared to take any and all actions recommended by Rebecca Tuck QC’s investigation.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “While the details of this unprecedented reported suspension of Shaima Dallali are not yet clear, it may be a very promising first step by NUS as the investigation by Rebecca Tuck QC, to which we have contributed, progresses. We hope that this suspension represents the first acknowledgement by NUS of how dreadful its relations with Jewish students have become, and augurs real change at the union, but it is too early to tell. We will continue to ensure that NUS is held to account for its record and is supported if it shows, for the first time, a real good faith effort to reform.”

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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“This is not a case merely of a few bad apples”: Labour’s NEC election results underscore Party’s enduring cultural problem over antisemitism

Last night, the results of the election of members to the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) were announced.

While most of the results indicated that Labour is trying to move on from its scandal of institutional antisemitism, a number of successful candidates have worrying records that raise questions about the Party’s progress.

Foremost among them is Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, the Media Officer of Jewish Voice for Labour, which is an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation. Ms Wimborne-Idrissi received the endorsement of well over one hundred of the 650 Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) – which poll their members to decide whom to endorse – as well as sufficient votes to win a place on the NEC. She has previously been suspended from the Labour Party before inexplicably being reinstated.

Another is Yasmine Dar, the pro-Corbyn former Chair of Labour’s disputes panel who did not believe that the Party has a problem of institutional antisemitism even as her brother was suspended over antisemitism allegations.

There were other concerning figures as well, such as Young Labour Chair Jess Barnard, who has expressed support for Jeremy Corbyn, amongst other worrying positions.

A spokesperson for the Labour Party said: “Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, we’ve made progress in tackling antisemitism. We are implementing our EHRC antisemitism action plan and are rolling out antisemitism awareness training across the party with the Jewish Labour Movement. Keir Starmer pledged to pull antisemitism up by its roots and that work continues.”

Joe Glasman, Head of Political and Government Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The outcome of the election of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee shows that there still remains a significant section of the Party’s membership that is intent on returning – or even newly elevating – the extremists of yesteryear to power, including those who undermined the disciplinary process and made their names denying the Party’s antisemitism.

“This is not a case merely of a few bad apples that happened to get elected, but rather a problem with the cultural soil of the Party. These fruits are the flowering of the rotten roots that Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly pledged to tear out.

“It must be asked why these people remain members of the Party and therefore able to stand for office at all, and why a group like Jewish Voice for Labour has still not been proscribed, as other groups have been. Then there is the much harder question of why there are so many people in Labour who are electing them.

“Yes, progress has been made since Sir Keir became leader, but his recent claims to have solved the antisemitism crisis are belied by this result, which in any other major political party would be utterly scandalous.”

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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“People who look white but aren’t”: YouTuber exposed for inflammatory remarks about Jews

Following an investigative article in The Times, a British YouTuber has been exposed for his inflammatory remarks about Jews, all made using euphemisms and codewords to trick the platform’s artificial intelligence filters.

James Owens, 37, who goes by the codename, The Ayatollah, complete with a fake profile picture and a pretend accent, is described as being “Britain’s most racist YouTuber”, according to one member of an anti-fascist collective.

Mr Owens, who has reportedly referred to the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler, as “our uncle”, seems to have described Jews as being “people who look white but aren’t” and called Jews “a group of people who tell you what happened to them but don’t tell you why”.

The latter comment is a common trope among far-right groups which suggests that Jews deserve to be persecuted.

Mr Owens has apparently spoken disparagingly of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, saying that “Zelenskyy is doing it for his people. We know who his people are. They ain’t Slavs.”

According to the investigation, Mr Owens believes that Jews are to blame for the “grooming gangs” who sexually abused and exploited young girls in towns in the north of England, as he claims that Jews imposed mass immigration to Britain and are therefore responsible for a significant number of the gang’s perpetrators, many of whom were of Pakistani origin.

Further, it has also been claimed that Mr Owens argues that growth of the transgender community derives from the work of Magnus Hirshfeld, a German-Jewish doctor.

Mr Owens was once an aspiring sports journalist who used to produce podcasts about football in his own voice. Since his apparent turn to far-right politics, however, Mr Owens seems to have used YouTube to cultivate fans across the world with his channel “Tollahvision – The Ayatollah”, which has received 414,000 views in over a year.

The only episode of The Ayatollah that YouTube removed derided the Labour Party MP for Tottenham, and Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development, David Lammy. Mr Owens seems to have claimed that Mr Lammy was a funded Jewish funded agent because Jewish lawyers offered him financial support in order for him to become the first Black British person to attend Harvard Law School.

Another reason that Mr Owens allegedly targeted Mr Lammy is that Mr Lammy’s wife, the artist, Nicola Green, has Jewish ancestry.

Mr Owens’s true identity was revealed after he accidentally announced that he was in fact The Ayatollah to an infiltrator at a neo-Nazi event and, during a YouTube video, explained that he made an appearance at a far-right gathering wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

The YouTube channel is also allegedly used to recruit members for the far-right party, Patriotic Alternative.

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.

The founder of Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS), Fiyaz Mughal OBE, said that the activities of Mr Owens show that “The far right is gaming the system to get access to Big Tech.”

Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS) is a charity comprising British Muslims whose mission is to tackle antisemitism, and Mr Mughal appeared on Season 1 Episode 23 of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he discussed the growing danger of online radicalisation. The podcast with Mr Mughal can be listened to here, or watched in its entirety here.

In an interview with The Times, Mr Owens said that “I use YouTube to communicate with, entertain, and hopefully lift the spirits of other non-compliant white people, by which I mean white people who reject the psychological abuse, dispossession and humiliation of the present, anti-white order. I am trying to provide myself and the audience with a bit of relief in a very hostile, alienating world. I outright reject the concept of ‘racism’. It’s simply an anti-white libel, and a weapon of mass psychological abuse devised and wielded to keep white people from thinking and acting in our own interests while our sovereignty and our homelands are taken from us.”

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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“It started with just a bunch of Jewish students who were fed up”: Isaac de Castro on the creation of ‘Jewish on Campus’

Isaac de Castro, an activist and journalist who was integral to the creation of the ‘Jewish on Campus’ movement, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he spoke openly about the challenges Jewish students in the United States are facing.

Mr de Castro said that “‘Jewish on Campus’ started with just a bunch of Jewish students who were fed up and were meeting on the internet at the very beginning, and height of, [COVID-19]. We were all stuck at home online yelling into the void about what was happening to us on college campuses and how difficult that was and at the same time, everyone was turning to social media to do activism in which they were dragging in antisemitism.

“That, I think, was very fresh and very stressful to everyone. We thought of the stakes of speaking out on antisemitism and how it became so taboo to talk about it because Jews are not perceived as an oppressed group or because supporting Israel is seen as a very, very negative thing on college campuses.”

He explained that the way the organisation managed to convince students to say what was happening to them was to anonymise it.

“[The movement] grew exponentially…thousands of followers a day,” he said. “It was really special, and it was a catalyst for understanding antisemitism on college campuses in the United States. I think people were not really getting the scope of it and these stories put a face to it because it wasn’t just numbers of how many Jewish students have faced antisemitism in which campuses, it was ‘this is my story, this is what I went through, this is what my professor said to me, this is what my peers said to me.’ There was no way of denying how powerful that was.”

When asked what advice he would offer to Jewish students experiencing antisemitism, the activist said: “Find community, whether its a Hillel House or the Jewish student union or confiding in ‘Jewish on Campus’, confiding in Jewish friends. I think it’s very, very important to not isolate yourself and to have like-minded people in which you can confide in because dealing with that by yourself is not great. You’re stronger when you’re united.”

Mr de Castro’s work also looks at the stories of Latino Jews of Sephardic descent, which is the focus of his newest project.

Mr de Castro, himself a Panamanian Jew of both Ashkenazi and Sephardi descent who now lives in the United States, said that his work has been inspired by speaking to people who “have no idea what these communities are like.” 

Speaking on some of the many generations of Latino Jews now living in the United States, Mr de Castro said that “There is a difference in terms of outspokenness, in terms of antisemitism or even understanding antisemitism…there is a difference for sure.”

Throughout the interview, Mr de Castro touched upon a variety of other issues which included his own story of moving to the United States and Jewcy, the Jewish magazine at which he is the editor.

The podcast with Mr de Castro 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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DNA study reveals human remains found in Norwich belonged to Jewish children murdered in medieval antisemitic massacre

Researchers studying human remains that were discovered in a medieval well in Norwich have said that they are the bones of Jews who may have been murdered in an antisemitic massacre.

The DNA of these seventeen skeletons, first found in 2004, may now enable researchers, who published their findings in the journal Current Biology, to find out new information about the medical history of Jews in Europe. It may also allow historians to identify the victims of a pogrom written about by the contemporary writer, Ralph de Diceto. 

The account describes how, in February 1190, crusaders stopped in Norwich on their way to Jerusalem, and massacred “all the Jews who were found in their own houses.”

The bodies were first found eighteen years ago by a group of construction workers.

Using recent advances in genetics, the genomes of six of the bodies – who were mostly children at the time of their deaths – are being analysed. These samples are the oldest Jewish genomes to have ever been sequenced.

This may indicate that the origins of Ashkenazi Jews date back a few centuries earlier than the commonly-accepted account.

Once the researchers had established to whom the remains belonged, the local community organised a formal Jewish burial for them.

The research was co-authored by Professor Mark Thomas from University College London and the evolutionary geneticist, and Merit Researcher at London’s Natural History Museum, Ian Barnes.

Dr Barnes said: “When you study ancient DNA from people who’ve died hundreds to thousands of years ago, you don’t often get to work with a living community at the same time. It’s been really satisfying to work with this community on a story that’s so important to them.”

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“I will take you Jews to Africa and burn you all,” says alleged synagogue vandal in Stamford Hill

A synagogue and a Jewish school in Stamford Hill have been vandalised.

A 50-year-old man is accused of drawing symbols in what appears to be marker pen on and around Bobov Synagogue on Egerton Road on 20th August.

When the alleged perpetrator was confronted by an identifiably Jewish man, he is reported to have said: “I will take you Jews to Africa and burn you all.”

The incident was reported on 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: CAD4243 30/08/22

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have a data-sharing agreement.

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

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Jeremy Corbyn praises “energy and good messages” of inflammatory rapper and activist Lowkey

Jeremy Corbyn, the antisemitic former leader of the Labour Party, has come under fire for praising the “energy and good messages” of the inflammatory rapper and activist, Lowkey.

Mr Corbyn tweeted his support for Lowkey, whose real name is Kareem Dennis, following a performance by Lowkey in Amsterdam. Lowkey wrote on Twitter: “A beautiful conclusion to 4 city tour of the Netherlands in Amsterdam last night. Thank you to all who came out!”

Mr Corbyn responded: “Well done Lowkey, what energy and good messages you carry!”

Lowkey’s songs include lyrics such as “nothing is more antisemitic than Zionism”. He is a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). A month-long investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism in 2017 exposed extensive antisemitic bigotry amongst PSC supporters on social media. Lowkey has previously described Israel as a “racist endeavour” in direct and deliberate contravention of the International Definition of Antisemitism, described Zionism as “antisemitic”, and spoken of the “Zionist lobby” in the context of global capitalism.

More recently, Lowkey has reportedly claimed that the “mainstream media” has “weaponised the Jewish heritage” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “stave off” inquiries about far-right groups in Ukraine. He has also appeared on the disgraced former MP Chris Williamson’s show on Press TV, an Iranian state-owned news network whose British broadcasting licence was revoked by Ofcom in 2012. Lowkey has appeared alongside the disgraced academic David Miller, and was recently embroiled in a controversy at the National Union of Students.

Mr Corbyn currently sits as an independent MP as he is indefinitely suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party, but he remains a member of the Labour MP, from which he was briefly suspended before outrageously being readmitted.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The controversial rapper and activist Lowkey has previously described Israel as a ‘racist endeavour’ and Zionism as ‘antisemitic’, and has spoken of the ‘Zionist lobby’ in the context of global capitalism. He has also repeatedly associated with the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson and the conspiracist and disgraced academic David Miller, and was recently embroiled in a controversy at the National Union of Students.

“Whether despite or because of this inflammatory record, Lowkey has drawn praise from none other than Jeremy Corbyn for the ‘good messages you carry’. Yet still, the Labour Party is happy to have Mr Corbyn as a member. Why is the Party so stubbornly unable to see what all of the rest of us can?”

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.

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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GB News deletes interview with Peter Sweden after controversy over his alleged past Holocaust denial and other inflammatory comments about Jews

GB News, the conservative news and opinion channel, has deleted the video of an interview between host Neil Oliver and the far-right blogger Peter Sweden, after controversy erupted in relation to his past comments, which he now denies having made.

Peter Sweden, whose real name is believed to be Peter Imanuelsen and who has over 330,000 follows on Twitter, first gained notoriety offline in 2017 after Katie Hopkins, the political commentator who has long courted controversy with remarks about various minorities, including Jews, published a picture with Mr Imanuelsen, before deleting it after an outcry.

At the time and since, more and more tweets attributed to him about the Holocaust and Jewish people have surfaced.

On the Holocaust and Nazis, he is alleged to have tweeted:

  • “If you want to know my position on the holocaust btw, I don’t think it happened. Note I’m not a nazi. [sic]”
  • “The claim that 6 million jews were gassed seem highly unprobable. The concentration camps didnt have the facilities for that. [sic]”
  • “I don’t like fascism, but I think hitler had some good points. I am pretty certain that the holocaust actually never happened. [sic]”
  • “I believe the holocaust is a lie to further the agenda of NOW [New World Order]? [sic]”
  • “I have also heard that concentration camps actually had swimming pools, cinema, theatre, football fields etc (photos). Opinion?”
  • “By the way just so you know i am not a nazi : ) I think hitler had some good points, but i don’t agree with fascism or socialism [sic]”
  • “I’m not a nazi, but they sure managed to keep rapefugees out of germany… [sic]”
  • “they even had a commemorate coin with a swasitka on one side & a so called “star of david” on the other side… [sic]”

Numerous alleged tweets have propagated conspiracies about Jewish power:

  • “How is the protocols of the elders of zion ‘anti-semitic’? Is the jews own text on jewish supremacism anti-semitic? [sic]”
  • “Globalist cabal. In other words, Rothschild, Rockefeller, Goldman Sachs, George Soros etc. The aforementioned are Jewish.”
  • “The globalists (mainly Jews) are the ones bringing in the muslims to europe. They seem to work together. [sic]”
  • “The jewish supremacists are the very ones bringing in the muslims. Both are issues. [sic]”
  • “Jews think they’re superior & they think they are going to have gentiles as slaves. Judaism is an antichrist religion.”
  • “Since you are jewish, why don’t you mention that nearly all pornographic studios are owned by jews ? [sic]”
  • “It is the vatican & the jews who are behind NOW {New World Order]. [sic]”
  • “According to statistics 40-75% of jewish households owned slaves. Only 1.4% of whites did” and “These are official stats from the US government. [sic]”
  • “Blair is not jewish from what i have heard. But he is a neocon which are mostly run by jewish people. [sic]”
  • “I think symphatetic jews could be allies, but at a distance. We dont want people like Milo in the AltRight. [sic]”
  • “Why is it often jewish people who are against nationalism…? [sic]”

On the Jews and Christianity, he is alleged to have tweeted:

  • “The way i see this, it is jews hate christianity. That is why they want to try and destroy the west. [sic]”
  • “Look for him ? Jesus has already come. The jews rejected Jesus Christ = they are anti-christ. [sic]”
  • “Im not blocking jews from salvation. If any jew wants to convert & accept Jesus then that is great news ! [sic]”
  • “There has of course been good jews, Peter, John, Paul etc. I suggest you listen to what the bible says about jews. [sic]”
  • “I would suggest you read Martin Luthers book ‘On the Jews and Their Lies’. I think you will be surprised”; “I see you stand with israel. I suggest you read Martin Luthers book ‘On the Jews and Their Lies’”; “Read Martin Luthers ‘On the Jews and Their Lies’. You can see they had a problem with jews using usury back then too”; and “Have you read Martin Luthers views on the jews? [sic]”

These tweets were predominantly from 2016. Following the outcry in 2017 in relation to Ms Hopkins’ picture with him, Mr Imanuelsen apologised, saying: “My views now are very different and I strongly regret things I have said when I was young”. He added that he now believed that the Holocaust happened and that it was a “horrific crime”.

Years on, however, as the controversy erupted this weekend, he has doubled down, claiming: “It is fascinating to see the left hate the truth so much they come with FAKE, photoshopped, so called screenshots with outright LIES about me I have NEVER been a Holocaust denier and anyone claiming I am are LIARS.”

He has described claims that he denied the Holocaust as “categorically false and libel” and has reportedly deleted his previous apologies, possibly because of the paradox of at once apologising for tweets and at the same time claiming that they were never published in the first place.

GB News has now deleted the video of the interview that it posted to Twitter.

A spokesperson for GB News told Campaign Against Antisemitism: “We’ve been made aware that Peter Sweden, also known as Peter Imanuelsen, who appeared on GB News yesterday to talk about falling birth rates, has been accused of being a holocaust denier. As a result of this information, we have removed clips of Mr Sweden’s interview from our website and our social media channels while we investigate. GB News abhors antisemitism and all other forms of racism.”

Peter Imanuelsen told Campaign Against Antisemitism: ”I find it sad to see the mainstream media smearing people with lies, stating that I have been/or are a Holocaust denier. This is completely untrue. I have never denied the Holocaust and it is a lie from the far-left trying to discredit me with views I never had. The truth is that when I was young and started to see the lies in the media, like the lies they now publish about me, I as many lost trust in them and speculated in different views – but Holocaust denial was not one of them.

“These views, like doubts about the moon landing, conspiracy theories about the ”New World Order” and many other views, I have long left behind and strongly distanced myself from. I find it so disingenious to smear people like me with lies, and secondly that people are so full of hate that they cannot accept that someone had bad views and left them behind. But Holocaust denial is a view I never had, and to claim that I did is an outright lie.

“Neither is there any proof to back it up, just some fake, photoshopped screenshots with so called citations from me that are either completely untrue or taken completely out of context. It doesn’t require much technical skill to open a web browser in developer mode and create a fake statement. That I never have been a Holocaust denier is clearly proved to any honest person reading what I actually have written both on my homepage and my Substack.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is extraordinary that GB News would platform someone who has allegedly propagated Holocaust denial and repugnant conspiracies about Jews. This is, at best, a monumental vetting failure that should give the channel pause about where it looks for some of its guests. GB News was right to delete the video, but we and the general public still expect an apology from the station.”

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].

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.