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CAA applauds Church of Scotland for adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds the decision which demonstrates the Church of Scotland’s solidarity with the Jewish community in Scotland at this worrying time.

Reverend Dr Richard Frazer, Convener of the Church and Society Council, put forward the proposal to adopt the definition and noted that “antisemitic incidents in the UK are at a record high for the third year in a row.” His motion said that adopting the definition would “aid the Church in challenging antisemitism.”

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Eric Pickles and others worked hard for over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. The Church of Scotland’s move follows adoption of the definition by the Church of England in September last year.

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Kamran Ishtiaq, President of British Pakistani Youth Council, would still “salute” Hitler for killing Jews and claims Holocaust might have been caused by Jews

Kamran Ishtiaq, who has been President of British Pakistani Youth Council since 2009, said in 2014 that he would “salute” Hitler for killing Jews, and has now reportedly reaffirmed his views.

After posting a picture of Hitler on his Facebook page, which received 40 likes, he was admonished by another Facebook user who wrote: “Hitler was a racist bro”. Mr Ishtiaq responded: “I know that and to be honest he would have killed Muslims too if he got a chance. But you know what, I would salute him still if he killed 90 Muslims and 92 Jews.” He then followed up with another comment, adding: “Now why he is my hero cuz, he just killed Jews, didn’t get a chance to kill Muslims… lol.”

In a long telephone interview with BirminghamLive, he confirmed that he stood by his statements, whilst also questioning whether six million Jews really died in the Holocaust, suggesting that the figure might have been “exaggerated” in order to justify Jewish “revenge”. He also suggested that the Jews may have done something “to the Germans” to cause the Holocaust.

Asked by BirminghamLive whether he still felt that Jews deserved to be massacred, Mr Ishtiaq said: “To be honest with you, I feel that about the Jews who are killing the Palestinians now. Not the Jews who are leaving Israel — there are Jews who support Palestine. I was reading today in the media that there are Jews leaving Israel because Israel didn’t live up to their expectations. OK, but Jews, American Jews, yes I feel like that about them. The ones who are murdering the Palestinians. I do feel that about them. And what I wrote there, it’s about the Jews.”

He added: “When I say Jews, it’s not the Jews fighting the Jewish killers of Palestinians, the Jews who are with Muslims, but the Jews which are killing the Palestinians, yes. The murderers. I mean if anything happened to any Jewish community here my youths would be there frontline to support them. Jewish people here are not Palestinian-killing like the Jews over there. They’re peaceful like us Muslims here. They don’t want nothing to do with that. It’s like the terrorists. You can’t hate all Muslims because you hate terrorists. You can’t hate all Jews because you hate the killing Jews.”

Asked about Jews killed by the Nazis, Mr Ishtiaq said he did not believe that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust: “To be honest, I don’t believe that. Every attack, anything on Jews is exaggerated. Yeah. I think that was an exaggeration too. He killed Jews, yeah. He did kill Jews, there’s no doubt in that. He killed Jews. But that figure is a question mark for me.”

Asked why he thought the Nazis killed Jews, he replied: “We don’t know what happened then. If they were doing this now, killing Palestinians, we don’t know what they done to the Germans at that time.”

Asked why the figure would be exaggerated, Mr Ishtiaq said: “It gives the Jewish people a reason, you know retaliation — ‘Look what’s happened to us? We were nearly being ethnic cleansed and have to stick together’. It gives them a point of unity, it gives them a reason to retaliate, revenge, you know, empathy, whatever, you could say.”

Asked if he thought Hitler was wrong to kill the Jews, he said: “Er, no, I can’t think for Hitler. I can’t think why Hitler killed them. I just made that statement [on Facebook]. So why and how, I couldn’t tell you. I stand by the statement I made, yes.”

Mr Ishtiaq said his views about Jews were shared by young people he worked with: “They feel ten times worse. My job is to get that feeling out of them, but I need positives to erase that feeling out of them. The Jews, the Israel [sic], have not given me a positive. Them feelings are getting day by day worse after what the Israelis are doing.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism is reporting Mr Ishtiaq to West Midlands Police, as well as to Birmingham City Council as he absolutely should not be anywhere near children if he holds such views.

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Tickets nearly sold out for Campaign Against Antisemitism’s comedy night fundraiser with award-winning artists

Tickets are nearly sold out for the first event in Campaign Against Antisemitism’s new fundraising programme to support our ongoing efforts to counter and expose antisemitism in Britain.

The first event on the calendar is a comedy night that will be held later this month at the Arts Depot in Finchley, London. “Funny you should say that!” features an exciting line-up of the best of British Jewish comedy, headlined by comedian Bennett Arron, dubbed the “Welsh Seinfeld”. Also performing on the night are special guests: “Mock the Week” regular Gary Delany; celebrity prankster, Simon Brodkin (aka Lee Nelson); Jewish Comedian of the Year 2015, Philip Simon; Sol Bernstein, the comedy creation of veteran stand-up Steve Jameson; and writer, director, and educator Rachel Creeger who is currently on her debut tour.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s fundraising team are currently inviting any supporters who are interested in assisting at events or donating facilities for future events to e-mail us at [email protected].

Tickets are selling fast. if you would like to support Campaign Against Antisemitism by attending “Funny you should say that!”, or would like to learn more about the event, please visit the Arts Depot online box office.

Book your ticket now

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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CAA applauds Church of England for adopting International Definition of Antisemitism, in full, with no caveats

The Church of England has adopted the full International Definition of Antisemitism.

The Council of Bishops took the decision on the recommendation of the Archbishop of Canterbury after he met with the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis. Rabbi Mirvis had expressed his concern about the “deep sense of insecurity” among the Jewish community in the UK.

The Council also issued a statement calling on public figures to “reject all language and activity that leads to prejudice, stigma, or hatred towards people on the grounds of their religion, culture, origins, identity, or belief.”

The Church of England’s unquestioning and complete acceptance of the full International Definition of Antisemitism has come just a week after Labour’s National Executive Committee voted to accept the definition with a caveat and an option to revisit the issue at a later date.

Dr David Walker, the Bishop of Manchester, said that the Jewish community should feel reassured that the Church of England will continue to reject “prejudice and bigotry”, and that “[we] will continue to speak out critically”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds the decision, which demonstrates the Church of England’s solidarity with the Jewish community at this worrying time.

Image credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Facsimile Editions Limited
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On the occasion of Jewish new year, we rededicate ourselves to doing everything in our power to defend British Jewry’s future

Tonight, Jews around the world will begin to celebrate the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah. At Campaign Against Antisemitism, we have adopted the Jewish tradition of taking this moment to reflect on the year that has passed, and to anticipate the year ahead.

We have achieved so much more than we had hoped to achieve at this time last year. We recruited over 1,000 people who have stepped forward to join our outstanding volunteer team, and we opened a new office in Manchester, our first base outside London.

Together, we have fought at the forefront of the Jewish community’s struggle against antisemitism in politics, working closely with journalists, especially this summer, to expose Jeremy Corbyn’s antisemitism and Labour’s growing institutional antisemitism. We have now triggered an investigation into Labour by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and reported Labour to the police for covering-up threats of violence by its activists towards its own Jewish MPs.

We have also had a spate of legal successes. We won our three-year legal battle with the Crown Prosecution Service to force them to finally prosecute neo-Nazi leader Jeremy Bedford-Turner. He has now been sentenced to a year in prison for incitement to racial hatred over his speech at a rally against the “Jewification” of Golders Green, which the Crown insisted was not a crime until we proved it was in court.

We have also taken legal action to ensure that Alison Chabloz was convicted of criminal offences in relation to songs mocking Holocaust survivors and claiming that the Holocaust was a Jewish fraud. She was convicted in the first case of its kind, following a private prosecution by Campaign Against Antisemitism, which the Crown eventually agreed to take over.

A defamation action forced antisemitic author and saxophonist, Gilad Atzmon, into a humiliating capitulation in libel proceedings. He had claimed that we “fabricated” antisemitic incidents as part of a “business plan” to fraudulently obtain donations and make personal profits. He was forced to admit that his claims were false and agreed to pay substantial damages and costs.

We have also just launched judicial review proceedings against the Crown Prosecution Service over its failure to prosecute the leader of the pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” parade, Nazim Ali, and the Crown Prosecution Service’s subsequent attempt to block us from privately prosecuting him.

We have launched a pioneering educational programme and provided guidance to students experiencing antisemitism on campus and sent teams to monitor events of concern all over Britain. Our interventions resulted in events being banned.

As in years past, we have continued to publish comprehensive research into antisemitic crime and prejudice, and antisemitism in political parties. Our research has become widely-used by journalists and policymakers.

We have also partnered with other organisations to launch the British Council for Countering Antisemitism, which has fostered ties and promoted cooperation between Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Jewish Police Association, three Shomrim organisations and KSPA.

And in just the past few weeks we have launched #TogetherAgainstAntisemitism, through which thousands of Jews and our non-Jewish friends have been able to show solidarity against the world’s oldest hatred.

Of course, there is so much more that we have done, but without listing every single accomplishment, it is safe to say that this past year has seen Campaign Against Antisemitism go from strength to strength, with many new successes to our credit.

However, this year has also been a year of unprecedented challenges and dangers. As the burden of countering antisemitism has increased, Campaign Against Antisemitism has had to spend large amounts of money. Providing state-of-the-art cloud computing systems to our volunteers has become increasingly costly, and due to the unrelenting media work that we have been engaged in, we have just hired our third member of staff. In anticipation of continued pressure in the coming year, we are preparing to hire a fourth member of staff. The result is that Campaign Against Antisemitism is beginning to cost a lot of money to run. Our expenditure is still well below that of pretty much any other organisation around the world tasked with this kind of work, thanks to the dedication of our volunteers who donate their time night and day, but costs are still mounting despite our culture of thrift. Generous donors have stepped forward in the past year to support our funding needs, but we still need your help.

If, like us, you feel that antisemitism poses an existential threat to British Jews, and you want to see antisemites held to account, be they high-ranking politicians or invisible thugs on social media, please ask yourself: “What will I do to help? How will I ensure that action is taken?” If you have already volunteered or donated, you know the satisfaction of making a difference. If not, please consider stepping forward to help us.

Let us hope for a relief from those threats in the year to come. We all have a great deal to be proud of, and so much more to do. It is truly a privilege to work with such an exceptional group of people on something so important.

For those who are celebrating tonight and over the coming days, Shana Tova. May your prayers for a better future be answered.

For our many non-Jewish volunteers and supporters, now is a perfect moment for us to thank you for being such a source of hope and strength for all of British Jewry in these trying times. May your sheer decency and sense of human solidarity inspire many to follow you in standing shoulder to shoulder with all of us against antisemitism in the year to come.

No matter what next year brings, our volunteer team will do whatever it takes to defend British Jewry’s future.

Please help us to keep achieving our goals.

Image by kind permission of: Facsimile Editions

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Officially defining Jews as an ethnicity could complicate efforts to track antisemitism

Campaign Against Antisemitism is concerned that proposals to create a ‘Jewish ethnicity’ on official forms could complicate efforts to track antisemitism.

Presently, all official forms which include a question about ethnicity offer a choice between a range of white, black, asian and mixed ‘ethnicities’ which are in fact largely based on race more than shared cultural or other characteristics. The Government accepts that “There is no single agreed international definition of ethnicity and race or of the distinction between the two”.

For decades, there has been a debate as to whether Jews can be considered a race as well as a religion. In the landmark case of Mandla v Dowell Lee in 1983, it was determined that for the purposes of hate crime legislation, Jews could be considered as either. This had the benefit of affording Jews protection under legislation that had created a criminal offence of incitement to racial hatred at a time when there was no equivalent offence of incitement to religious hatred.

Aside from pragmatic legal arguments for defining Jews as a race as well as a religion, the topic is controversial. Clearly, as the result of conversion and intermarriage, there are Jews from many races.

At present, when it comes to the matter of official statistics, Jews are counted as a religious group, and not as an ethnicity. However, recently there have been renewed suggestions that the Office for National Statistics should define Jews as an ethnic group as well as a religious group.

Many official classifications are based on categories used by the Office of National Statistics, and we are concerned that counting ethnic Jews and religious Jews separately creates the likelihood of diverging sets of data which might make the Jewish community and antisemitism difficult to quantify.

Were regulators and employers, for example, to start holding separate data for ethnic and religious Jews, antisemitic incidents might be counted in different ways. For example, might a regulator consider that discrimination occurred due to a victim’s Jewish ethnicity or religion? Would someone who does not consider  themselves to be religiously Jewish consider themselves to be ethnically Jewish because of some Jewish ancestry? The fact that the answers to these questions are unpredictable could lead to the gathering of separate data on discrimination against Jews on the basis of ethnicity and religion, with little clarity on the overlap between the two. The problem would be less likely to affect police forces, which use a special flag to identify crimes motivated by antisemitism, but not all antisemitism is recorded as a crime, which means that it is crucial that other sources of data on antisemitism remain reliable.

Ultimately, Judaism is not a skin colour, and for centuries Jews have made their homes all over the world. Jews are much more likely to identify as Jews because they practise the Jewish religion or cultural traditions originating in the Jewish religion. Since ethnicity forms require respondents to self-define their ethnicity, it must be possible for the forms to be interpreted consistently in order to ensure some consistency of data.

Campaign Against Antisemitism sees considerable risk and little merit in the suggested adoption of a category of ‘Jewish ethnicity’ by the Office for National Statistics.

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UK delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance issues statement condemning tampering with the International Definition of Antisemitism

The UK delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has issued a statement condemning efforts to tamper with the International Definition of Antisemitism by removing or amending the examples of antisemitism which form part of the definition.

The statement does not mention the Labour Party, but the timing and content of the statement appears to be a response to the Labour Party’s refusal to adopt a number of the examples in the definition.

In a pointed remark, the statement says: “Any ‘modified’ version of the IHRA definition that does not include all of its 11 examples is no longer the IHRA definition. Adding or removing language undermines the months of international diplomacy and academic rigour that enabled this definition to exist. If one organisation or institution can amend the wording to suit its own needs, then logically anyone else could do the same. We would once again revert to a world where antisemitism goes unaddressed simply because different entities cannot agree on what it is.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomes IHRA’s intervention to defend the integrity of the definition. It should shame the Labour Party that its efforts to tamper with and undermine the definition precipitated such a move.

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Renowned libel and privacy lawyer Dr Mark Lewis becomes an honorary patron of CAA

Renowned libel and privacy lawyer Dr Mark Lewis has today become an honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Dr Lewis began advising Campaign Against Antisemitism pro bono two weeks after it was established, contributing substantially to its successes from behind the scenes, without recognition.

Dr Lewis is one of the foremost libel and privacy lawyers in the country and has been responsible for landmark legal victories, including the voicemail hacking claims which led to the demise of News of the World and the Leveson Inquiry. He devised a strategy for bringing libel actions which he and Campaign Against Antisemitism have begun to use to force antisemites into either apologising in court, or paying substantial damages. The first win for Dr Lewis’ strategy was the recent High Court success against Gilad Atzmon, a notorious antisemite, who was forced to apologise and pay substantial damages.

Dr Lewis joins other public figures as honorary patrons of Campaign Against Antisemitism, including Sir Eric Pickles, Lord Mitchell, Lord Ahmed, Lord Carey, Baroness Deech, Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Ian Austin MP, Mike Freer MP and Dr Matthew Offord MP.

Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Dr Mark Lewis is a hero of the Jewish community whose work has gone unsung for far too long. He has been instrumental in making Campaign Against Antisemitism the success that it is. Today we are delighted to recognise his enormous contribution to our work by appointing him an honorary patron of our charity.”

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CAA to launch new bridge-building and public speaking course in Manchester

Campaign Against Antisemitism is launching a new short course in bridge-building and public speaking in Manchester.

The course will include sessions on public speaking about antisemitism and how to build bridges with natural allies, as well as how to disrupt the spread of the extremist antisemitic ideologies of the far-left, far-right and Islamists.

The first training session will take place on 10th May at 18:30 in north Manchester.

Anybody who would like to help build bridges and disrupt the spread of antisemitism should sign up at antisemitism.org/volunteer.

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Changing of the guard as Nathan Hopstein steps down after more than three years as CAA’s Director of Organisation and Finance

Nathan Hopstein, one of the original founders of Campaign Against Antisemitism is stepping down as Director of Organisation and Finance after three-and-a-half years ensuring that our charity has been soundly managed during a period of intense growth. At the end of last year, Nathan informed us of his decision to take a step back from the helm of the charity, and the search began for his successor.

Our new Director of Organisation and Finance will be our former Head of Online Monitoring and Investigations, who has extensive experience in organisational strategy, systems, compliance and building processes to support the growth of a volunteer-led organisation.

Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Nathan has been a guiding hand from the foundation of Campaign Against Antisemitism. His wise and steady counsel has seen us through many challenges and a period of extremely intense growth as demand for our work has rapidly increased. He is a mensch of the first order and we all wish him great success in the future. We are also delighted to welcome Nathan’s successor to the board, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise that will help us to continue to build our charity over the coming years.”

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Shaw Trust opens investigation after worker allegedly tells Jewish man at party “The 1940s called…your shower’s ready”

A leading learning disability and mental health charity has opened an investigation after one of its employees reportedly posted on Facebook an account of how she told a Jewish man: “The 40s called…your shower’s ready”, according to controversial anti-racism group Hope Not Hate.

Julie Brownlee, from Lowestoft, allegedly made the comment, an apparent reference to Nazi gas chambers which were sometimes disguised as showers, to the man, whom she also referred to as a “Jwish [sic] prick” on social media, at a Christmas party in response to him criticising her shirt.

In reply to Ms Brownlee’s Facebook post, former National Front activist, Paul Warburton, replied: “Fire up the ovens”.

Ms Brownlee’s role involves helping people with disabilities and learning difficulties to find employment and independent living. Those she helps would have been murdered under Nazi Germany’s programme to kill those with certain disabilities.

As well as posting her outrageous, antisemitic comments, Ms Brownlee also posted asking for party game ideas for the adults with learning disabilities whom she was assisting. The post attracted some appalling replies which Ms Brownlee commented would not “go down well with the powers that be”.

Ms Brownlee has apparently been associated with far-right groups for some time, including the South East Alliance, North East Infidels, Bishop Auckland against Islam, North West Infidels and the Scottish Defence League. She has reportedly not just attended events organised by these groups but spoken at them. According to Hope Not Hate, she was also expelled from the UK Independence Party for “associating with the English Defence League”.

A spokesperson for Shaw Trust told us: “We are treating these allegations extremely seriously, and our HR team are investigating the allegations fully.”

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CAA ends 2017 with £31,000 deficit, issues call for monthly donations

Contrary to the imagination of the antisemites who have come to fear us, Campaign Against Antisemitism is not funded by the vast resources of international financiers. Our annual budget is funded by donations by members of the public who support our work, like you. We do not receive any annual grants.

Due to unprecedented demand for our services, for which we do not charge, our costs in 2017 increased by nearly seven times against 2016. Fortunately, more people than ever have stepped forward and signed up to make monthly donations, but despite their generosity, our management accounts show that we ended 2017 with a £31,000 deficit. Part of our funding was lost after a foundation was lobbied by another Jewish community organisation to stop funding us due to our robust challenging of the authorities.

In the past year, our numbers have swelled to 700 volunteers, supported by two outstanding full-time members of staff working from a tiny rented office. The two salaries we pay, our rent, the systems that we use to coordinate our work, and the costs of running our various projects, will come to almost £100,000 this year.

Fortunately we have emergency reserves which we use to fund urgent, unexpected work, and last year we burned through £31,000 of our reserves to cover the shortfall last year. This year, we will continue to work to secure enough funding, but we need your help.

If all of our supporters gave just £5 per month, we would not have to fundraise. From the outset, Campaign Against Antisemitism has been community-led campaign, and we want to remain independent.

We are determined not to let our community down. We will continue to speak truth to power. We will continue to privately prosecute antisemites when the authorities fail to act. We will continue to take the authorities to court and win when they shirk their responsibility to protect British Jews. We will continue to work with social media giants to clean up their act. We will keep raising antisemitism as a national priority in the mainstream media. We will not stop producing research that spotlights antisemitism, its dangers and its effects. We will expand our programme to train volunteers to educate those at risk of being radicalised by antisemites.

But we will only do so with your help. If you want Campaign Against Antisemitism to exist and continue to ensure that antisemites face the consequences of their actions, now is the time to go to antisemitism.org/donate and sign up to support us with a regular monthly donation.

We are determined to do whatever it takes to defend British Jews, but we can only do it together.

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CAA starts recruiting volunteers for new team conducting targeted online investigations on social media

Campaign Against Antisemitism has begun recruiting volunteers, including a team leader, for a new team that will conduct targeted online investigations on social media, and ensure that action is taken to disrupt and penalise antisemitism.

If you would like to volunteer, please visit antisemitism.org/volunteer.

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Jewish Leadership Council CEO must stop sniping and apologise for claiming CAA’s private prosecution of pro-Hizballah march leader will “make yet more fear”

The CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council, Simon Johnson, has once again launched an attack on Campaign Against Antisemitism, this time berating us for privately prosecuting the leader of this summer’s pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” procession through London after the Crown Prosecution Service failed to act.

Mr Johnson, who claims to represent the British Jewish community, used Twitter to publicly decry our private prosecution, saying that it “risks making things worse” and we will “make yet more fear”, which he claimed is “par for the course” for Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Ironically, Mr Johnson, whose salary is double Campaign Against Antisemitism’s annual operating budget, claimed that our private prosecution, which is being conducted by expert lawyers who are donating their time pro bono, is a “waste of money”.

Mr Johnson was rounded on by Twitter users who fiercely defended Campaign Against Antisemitism and its volunteers, with one activist even setting up a petition demanding that Mr Johnson apologise or resign. We are very grateful to the many people who have spoken out in our support.

In August, Mr Johnson humiliated himself by making a video claiming that our volunteers engage in “hyperbolic scaremongering” as part of an “attempt to grab attention and appearances on television”. Sharing the video through the Jewish Leadership Council’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, he admonished us for highlighting antisemitism, which he said was an attempt to “create a situation of panic in this community”, and for daring to criticise the authorities for failing to take sufficient action.

At the time, we did all that we could to resolve the matter behind the scenes to avoid embarrassing the Jewish Leadership Council and they deleted the video, which had provoked revulsion within the Jewish community and won the praise of antisemites. That should have been the end of the matter, but instead, despite an agreement that neither side would comment, a day later the Jewish Leadership Council said that it stood by the video that it had deleted.

Mr Johnson, who is a former solicitor, should have realised that his repeated efforts to impugn our motives will likely be seized upon by defendants whom we privately prosecute. Other than that, what does his sniping achieve?

Yet despite repeatedly humiliating himself with his ill-conceived attacks, Mr Johnson has a long track record of publicly attacking Campaign Against Antisemitism. In February 2015 he gave his word that he would offer any criticism privately rather than engaging in public sniping. When he broke his word months later, we asked whether his word was worthless. His reply: “Well, so it was. I admit.” That is not Jewish leadership.

Antisemitic crime and the inadequate response to it by the authorities is a very serious concern that should be seen as an urgent priority for British society and our law enforcement authorities. Mr Johnson’s highly-personal attacks on our volunteers suggest that far from trying to address the situation by raising awareness and taking legal action when the authorities fail to act, we are in fact trying to “make yet more fear” so that we can “grab attention and appearances on television”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has a longstanding policy of refusing to engage in Jewish community politics. Our focus is on countering antisemites. However, Mr Johnson’s shameful interventions have become too persistent to ignore. Enough is enough.

The Jewish community has many enemies to contend with, and this public sniping by Mr Johnson at those of us trying to tackle antisemitism must now end. Campaign Against Antisemitism has done all that it can behind the scenes to try to stop Mr Johnson’s damaging smears, but since he will not honour his word and does not heed the opinion of our community, it now falls to the trustees of the Jewish Leadership Council to insist that he apologises and then falls silent.

https://twitter.com/robbiewh111/status/943590494759727107

https://twitter.com/RosalieJulius/status/943571286785253376

https://twitter.com/RosalieJulius/status/943562220964843525

https://twitter.com/CaldonJimmy/status/943611053908414464

https://twitter.com/RandomPundit/status/943759108397662208

https://twitter.com/Dov67/status/943760021384548353

https://twitter.com/cquilty52/status/943521001371062273

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Yousef al-Kuwari, head of Qatari Nectar Trust, reportedly founded website which called on readers to “hate” Jews and Christians “for the sake of Allah”

Yousef al-Kuwari, the Chairman of the registered charity, Qatar Charity UK, now renamed the Nectar Trust, reportedly founded a website, Islamweb, which allegedly called on readers to “hate [Jews and Christians] for the sake of Allah.”

According to The Telegraph, Islamweb issued edicts stating that it is “forbidden” to swear an oath to gain British citizenship. In June, it reportedly warned of Jews and Christians: “It is incumbent to hate them for the sake of Allah.”

Between 1998 and 2010, fatwas were reportedly posted on the website including calls on all citizens to “wage jihad by every means against the Zionist occupation and aggression” and stating that “living in non-Muslim countries is forbidden except for a dire need”.

The Mayfair-based Qatar Charity UK, which claims “To relieve poverty and provide assistance to the needy in all parts of the world affected by war, natural disasters or catastrophes,” is the British arm of Qatar Charity, a Doha charity which has reportedly been designated a proscribed organisation by neighbouring Gulf states. According to the Companies House database, the UK’s registrar of companies, on 23rd October, Qatar Charity UK changed its company name to become the Nectar Trust. Mr al-Kuwari is one of only four trustees. The charity’s website is no longer active.

Mr al-Kuwari was previously head of information technology at the Qatari Ministry of Endowments and reportedly set up Islamweb, which issues religious edicts or fatwas. The ministry is listed as registrant and administrator of the website. In a 2007 posting, Mr Al-Kuwari is referred to as chairman of its board of directors, a role he held until 2010.

Qatar Charity UK told The Telegraph that during Mr al-Kuwari’s time as Islamweb chairman “he was not involved in the development or moderation of the website’s content or in its daily management. The views and contents expressed in the website do not reflect the views of Mr al-Kawari and cannot be attributed to him. They certainly do not reflect the views of and cannot be attributed in any way to QCUK.”

In 2015, Qatar Charity UK reportedly provided a grant of £400,000 for a “multipurpose centre in the UK”, a project they worked on with the Emaan Trust in Sheffield in the north of England. The Telegraph reported in June that one of the trustees of the Emaan Trust, Dr Essam Al Fulajii, said Muslims and Christians should unite against the “monster” Jews. In October 2015, Dr Al Fulajii reportedly wrote in the Al-Watan newspaper: “I am still convinced that the international Zionists and Mossad were behind the September 11 attacks in the US. There were no Jews in the two buildings at the time of the incident.” He also reportedly wrote an article for the Al Anba newspaper this April, entitled “The spread of Jews in the world,” where he claimed that “the Jewish people are the ones controlling the world.” He said that “This was done with great subtlety, planning, deceit, conspiracy, extortion, women, money, “riba”[usury]  and organised crime and mafia.”

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Event: How can we secure a future for British Jews?

How can we secure a future for British Jews? As antisemitic crime rises and antisemitism becomes increasingly normalised in politics, Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, takes you inside the fight for British Jewry.

The event will begin at 20:15 on 9th November at a North Manchester venue, and there will be time for questions.

Tickets cost £5 and can be booked by calling 0161 766 3732.

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British Council for Countering Antisemitism established to ensure unity and strength in response to antisemitism

Campaign Against Antisemitism has today co-founded the British Council for Countering Antisemitism, with the Jewish Police Association, the Kehilah Security and Protection Association (KASPA), Shomrim Broughton Park, Shomrim North West London and Stamford Hill Shomrim. The organisation will have no staff or offices, the secretariat being provided by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

In a joint statement, the co-founders said: “In response to mounting antisemitism, organisations responsible for fighting antisemitism in the United Kingdom have come together to establish the British Council for Countering Antisemitism (BCCA). The BCCA aims to foster cooperation between its founding members, enabling them to speak with a single voice on important matters and providing a forum through which to devise and deliver new strategies and frameworks for countering antisemitism in the United Kingdom.”

In the past two years, antisemitic crime has surged by 45%, and 39% of British Jews now conceal their religion in public.

We are delighted to be co-founding this initiative with partners who share our dedication to keeping British Jews safe. It is absolutely crucial for Campaign Against Antisemitism and other organisations which counter antisemitism in Britain to work together closely for the good of the Jewish community and British society as a whole. Establishing the BCCA is an important step in ensuring that we challenge antisemitism from a position of unity and strength.

You can follow the BCCA’s work on its website, Facebook page and Twitter account.

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CAA contacts Reading International Solidarity Centre over charity’s planned book launch for notorious antisemite Gilad Atzmon

The Reading International Solidarity Centre will be hosting a the launch of notorious antisemite Gilad Atzmon’s new book, Being in Time — A Post-Political Manifesto. Organised by Reading Friends of Palestine, the event is part of the Reading International Festival and will take place at 7:30pm on 22nd October.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to the Reading International Solidarity Centre to alert them that Gilad Atzmon is a notorious antisemite who has, for a number of years, used social media as a vehicle to harass and bait Jewish people. If they insist on holding the event, we will contact organisations which donate to the Centre, as well as the Charity Commission.

In March this year, Mr Atzmon attended a talk at the London School of Economics with Richard Falk, the discredited and disgraced fringe antisemitic conspiracy theorist and the former UN envoy, where he reportedly told those around him that “the Jews were expelled from Germany for misbehaving.” Stunned audience members asked him to repeat what he had said and he did. Mr Atzmon also was heard recommending the works of disgraced historian David Irving, who in 2000 was proven in court to be an antisemite, a Holocaust denier and an admirer of Hitler. It is also reported that Mr Atzmon later said, “Jews are always expelled for a reason.”

In December 2014, he told a Jewish Twitter user, “I am not a Jew any more. I indeed despise the Jew in me (whatever is left). I absolutely detest the Jew in you.”

Another of his books, The Wandering Who, was described in 2011 as “quite probably the most antisemitic book published in this country in recent years.”

He has stated that Jews were responsible for their persecution by the Nazis, Jews should apologise for making gentiles hate them, burning synagogues is “a rational act”, Jews are trying to control the world, Jews are harming the planet, Jews caused the credit crunch, and Israel is worse than Nazi Germany. He has also trivialised the scale and impact of the Holocaust.

The International Definition of Antisemitism, adopted by the British government, states, among other things, that the following are antisemitic:

  • 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.
  • Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
  • Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

In March 2012, a collective of Palestinian writers and activists disavowed Mr Atzmon for his attacks on Jews and Judaism, as well as his denial of the Holocaust.

You may wish to contact the Reading International Solidarity Centre to politely add your voice to calls for the launch to be cancelled by e-mailing [email protected] or calling 01189 586 692.

Facsimile Editions Limited
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Our reflections on the past year on the occasion of Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah

Tonight, Jewish families around the world will start to celebrate Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah. It seems like a good moment to reflect upon our work over the past year. We have had an incredibly busy year, and that is both a good and a bad thing.

First the good. Almost 700 people are now registered to volunteer with us, a growing number of whom are not Jewish, which we find hugely encouraging. To support our growing team of volunteers we have expanded from one part-timer to two exceptional full-time members of staff, and we are investing time and money in sophisticated systems (and cybersecurity) to manage our projects and the network of volunteers who work on them. Our work with Downing Street continues to bear fruit, including the British Government’s agreement to become the first in the world to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism. Our strong relationship with the Home Office has also produced results, such as the first ever ban on a far-right terrorist group, National Action. Our lawyers have held the authorities to account, winning our 13-month High Court legal battle against the Crown Prosecution Service over a decision not to prosecute, launching our first private prosecution, and producing expert guidance for Government bodies, regulators and universities on the application of the definition of antisemitism. We published new research on the prevalence and effects of antisemitism, and antisemitic crime and prosecutions. We have helped those who seek our assistance to secure criminal and professional sanctions for antisemites, and those results have been widely reported in the media, sending a clear message to other antisemites that we are working to ensure that their hatred has severe consequences. Our team has also travelled the country, speaking to Jewish communities about what action they can take against antisemitism, and educating the non-Jewish public about the threat to society that antisemitism poses. Campaign Against Antisemitism is now three years old and has developed an excellent reputation, so we are privileged to have secured the support of our distinguished Honorary Patrons, public figures who stand with us in our fight against antisemitism.

The bad news is that our work is increasingly necessary and urgent. Our research showed that antisemitic crime surged by 45% between 2014 and 2016, whilst prosecutions remained at a paltry level. We are hearing from more and more people affected by antisemitism, many of whom never imagined that they would experience it in their lifetime, and that when they did experience it, they would have such difficulty in obtaining justice from the authorities. We have also seen disturbing violent manifestations of antisemitic hatred, including the firebombing of two kosher restaurants, and a man chasing Jews down the street armed with a meat cleaver and machete, shouting antisemitic abuse. We remain extremely disturbed by the way in which antisemitism in major political parties, especially the Labour Party, remains unaddressed. Our work relating to police forces, prosecutors, regulators, universities and political parties is increasingly urgent, and we are lucky to continue to recruit outstandingly talented and committed volunteers to take on this difficult work.

We would like to end on a very positive note: for the past three years, we have worked with YouGov to measure antisemitic prejudice in Britain. Whilst antisemitic crime is increasing alarmingly rapidly, antisemitic sentiment amongst non-Jewish Britons is in decline. That means that, British people are increasingly thinking about and rejecting antisemitism. Antisemitic hatred has been growing all over Europe, but in Britain, uniquely, antisemitism is falling, although we still have a long way to go. We believe that our media strategy of talking about antisemitism and raising it as an urgent national issue is one of the factors leading a significant number of British people to think about and fulsomely reject antisemitism. In the next few days, weeks and months, you will continue to see our work and its impact in the news.

Our campaign is run by volunteers like you and our staff of two and our office are funded by people like you. We will do whatever it takes to secure the future of British Jews and protect British society from the poisonous ideology of antisemitism. To succeed, we rely on people like you to volunteer or give a regular monthly donation, so if you haven’t already supported us in this way, please play your part by donating monthly or volunteering today.

On this Jewish new year, on behalf of everyone at Campaign Against Antisemitism, we wish all of our supporters, Jewish and non-Jewish, a happy, healthy, safe and successful year ahead. It is thanks to your support and solidarity that we can be hopeful for the future.

Cover image credit: Facsimile Editions

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Former Archbishop of Canterbury becomes Honorary Patron of CAA

We are delighted to announce that the former Archbishop of Canterbury has become an Honorary Patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism.

The Rt Rev. and Rt Hon. Dr The Lord Carey of Clifton PC RVC GBE FRSA served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002. Both during his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury and since, Lord Carey has spoken out firmly against antisemitism and worked tirelessly to strengthen bonds between Christians and Jews. Lord Carey led efforts to deepen the Church of England’s involvement in Holocaust commemoration, and has devoted many addresses to discussion of the lessons of the Holocaust. He is Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews and in 2016 he delivered the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s important Dorothy Gardner Adler State of Antisemitism Lecture.

He joins our existing Honorary Patrons, The Rt Hon. The Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon, Bob Blackman MP, The Baroness Deech of Cumnor DBE, Mike Freer MP, Jonathan Goldberg QC, Fabian Hamilton MP, Brian Kennelly QC, The Baron Mitchell of Hampstead, Dr Matthew Offord MP and The Rt Hon. Sir Eric Pickles.

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CAA Chairman writes in Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Jewish Telegraph explaining our Antisemitism Barometer research

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Chairman, Gideon Falter, has this week written articles in the Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Jewish Telegraph, explaining the results of our Antisemitism Barometer research, which were misrepresented by some who claimed that we were expecting almost a third of the UK’s 269,000 Jews to leave the country imminently. If you would like to voice your support for CAA’s work, please feel free to e-mail [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected], making sure that you include your postal address (indicating that you would prefer that it is not published).

We must resist the seduction of both complacency and fear

The following article was published in the Jewish News.

I have never understood why some people get used to antisemitism. There are people in our community who see nothing disturbing about dropping their children off at fortified schools, or passing through airport-style security to enter their synagogue. As antisemitic crime surges, they look perplexed and observe that nothing feels different to them because nothing has happened to them personally. They accept the risk of antisemitism as part of their everyday life, but fail to act as long as they themselves are not targeted.

Our charity seeks to educate against antisemitism whilst simultaneously working to inflict criminal, professional and reputational sanctions upon antisemites. To succeed, we must pinpoint the problem, and that is why the accuracy of our research is crucial: if it contains mistakes, we could find ourselves fighting the wrong battles.

Last week, Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) published our Antisemitism Barometer research. Conducted over three years, it included three specially-commissioned YouGov polls of the British population’s attitudes towards Jews, and two separate CAA polls of British Jews, the data from which was weighted by a former Associate Director at YouGov. Our rigorous research showed that antisemitic prejudice was actually declining, but that British Jews were becoming increasingly fearful with almost one in three having asked themselves whether to leave the UK. They do not need to be packing their bags for the question to be significant. When our polling asked British Jews to point a finger of blame, more than half accused the Crown Prosecution Service for failing to prosecute all but a handful of antisemitic crimes annually, and the Labour Party was attacked by 4 in 5 of us for its newfound mastery of the art of whitewashing antisemitism.

Just when we should be celebrating a fall in prejudice against Jews, we find ourselves grappling with rising fear of surging antisemitic crime and the acceptance by swathes of the electorate of a political party riddled with antisemites. Our findings sparked national debate, but the communal debate was no less interesting because of the divisions that it exposed.

Some complained that they had never been a victim of antisemitism, and so it could not possibly be true, accusing us of exaggeration. Others accused us of somehow suppressing the voices of those who are making plans to leave.

Perhaps in this world of social media bubbles and fake news, we are all losing the ability to listen to the views of others. British Jews’ experiences will vary according to their denomination and whether they wear visible signs of their Judaism. They vary by neighbourhood, age, and gender. Those with children may feel differently about the future to those without. As a community, we must accept these variations and try to understand the whole picture, not just our personal part of it.

The facts are in our research and we neither played them up nor down. They tell us that Britain is one of the best places in the world in which to be Jewish, but we can also see that our comfort in this country is increasingly at risk. There is no contradiction in recognising how lucky we are, whilst fighting the threats that assail us. Our research tells us that however satisfied we may be with our laws and the majority of our politicians, it is imperative that we focus our attention on the failures to prosecute, and antisemitism in the Labour Party. Future generations will not forgive us if we enjoyed the golden era for British Jews but watched complacently as it ended.

Our dedication to ensuring CAA hate stats add up

The following article was published in the Jewish Chronicle.

In last week’s JC, sociology researcher Keith Kahn-Harris welcomed Campaign Against Antisemitism’s latest research into antisemitism in the UK, and British Jews’ responses to it, but he raised questions about our charity’s approach to the answers which I am happy to answer.

Our Antisemitism Barometer research is the product of three years’ work. We undertook five polls and analysed 10,567 responses. We commissioned leading pollsters YouGov to survey attitudes towards Jews amongst British people in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Separately, we worked with partners in the Jewish community to poll British Jews’ responses to antisemitism in 2016 and 2017, hiring a former Associate Director at YouGov to ensure that our results accurately represented the national Jewish community. As Dr Kahn-Harris recognised, “The report’s findings need to be considered seriously.”

Our charity seeks to educate against antisemitism whilst simultaneously working to inflict criminal, professional and reputational sanctions upon antisemites. To succeed, we must pinpoint the problem, and that is why the accuracy of our research is crucial: if it contains mistakes, we could find ourselves fighting the wrong battles.

We found that British people are becoming less antisemitic. Today, 36% hold at least one antisemitic prejudice, compared with 45% in 2015. Only 54% say that they have ever met a Jew. We pinpointed the worst regions, age groups, political persuasions and more. Amongst Jews, we found that in the past two years, nearly one in three has considered moving abroad due to antisemitism. That does not mean they are busy packing their suitcases, but Jews are asking themselves alarming questions about their future here, and that is significant. 39% of us are concealing our religion in public. 64% of us think the authorities do too little to punish antisemitism, and 52% think that the Crown Prosecution Service does too little. 76% say political developments have caused more antisemitism and 83% say Labour is harbouring antisemites. We use this information to target our work, including drawing up recommendations that we are discussing with the Government.

Dr Kahn-Harris asks questions about our research, focusing on the speed of our analysis and what he called our lack of “collegiality”. He might just as well have asked us by e-mail as in a newspaper column.

It is hard to characterise a three-year study as hasty. Rather than being disconcerted by the speed of our analysis, he should understand that Campaign Against Antisemitism operates like a startup. Instead of salaried 9-5 functionaries, we are powered by dedicated unpaid volunteers working all hours when needed. By the time we had concluded our 2017 polling, we had already built the data models to analyse it and discussed previous years’ findings. All that remained was to analyse the latest results, and how they compared to what we had found previously.

I suspect that Dr Kahn-Harris most objects to what he perceives as our lack of “collegiality”. He explains that we are rarely to be seen at conferences or at communal symposia, and he blames us. The fact is that Campaign Against Antisemitism is excluded from the Jewish community’s cosy club of established bodies, but we will always be willing to collaborate constructively against antisemitism. Next time there is a conference, if he invites us, we will be delighted to come.

CAA polling was accurate and rigorous, but disturbing

The following article was published in the Jewish Telegraph.

Last week’s Jewish Telegraph led with a headline attacking a poll conducted by Campaign Against Antisemitism, claiming that it had been “panned” by “Jewish academics”. Readers would have had to turn to page 23 to find that out that was not the case.

In fact, none of the academics cited, or this paper itself, criticised the polling, and in any case, as specialists in history, politics and management, the academics asked to comment were hardly experts in statistics. They did not criticise the polling but did express dismay, even disbelief, that so many British Jews are now having second thoughts about their future in this country.

The journalism was uncharacteristically unfair. Most editors would not admit that, so I am grateful for this opportunity to set the record straight.

In five polls over three years, we asked what British people think about Jews, and what British Jews think about antisemitism. We asked expert pollsters, YouGov, to poll the British population’s attitudes towards Jews in 2015, 2016 and 2017. In separate polling, we worked with Jewish community bodies to poll a nationally representative sample of British Jews about antisemitism in 2016 and 2017, hiring a former Associate Director at YouGov to review our work. We analysed 10,567 responses over three years.

What we found was both harrowing and uplifting.

First, the good news: British people have begun to shun antisemitism. In 2015, YouGov found that 45% of British adults held at least one antisemitic stereotype, but that fell to 39% in 2016, and 36% in 2017. We can be grateful that antisemitism is falling in Britain even as it soars on the Continent. Of the one third of British people who hold some prejudice against Jews, there are degrees of severity, which our research helps us to pinpoint. We now know, for example, which regions we need to target, which age groups, and which supporters of political parties.

Now the bad news: British Jews are increasingly fearful, with almost 1 in 3 saying that they have considered leaving Britain in the past two years. Last week’s coverage absurdly suggested that we now expect a third of the UK’s 269,000 Jews to pack their bags. However, it is significant that British Jews are increasingly considering this option. Delving into the responses further, we find that 76% of British Jews say that political events caused antisemitism to rise, and 83% of us feel that the Labour Party is harbouring antisemites. 37% of us have been concealing our Judaism in public and merely 39% felt confident that an antisemitic crime against them would be prosecuted. 52% say the Crown Prosecution Service does too little. Our community is hugely concerned about Islamism, the far-left, and antisemitism disguised as discourse about Israel. Perhaps none of this is surprising, but it is important to know, and important to be able to demonstrate it to the Government.

Our research provides a roadmap that Campaign Against Antisemitism will use to fight antisemitism. Campaign Against Antisemitism is a charity that trains unpaid volunteers (including me) to work in highly-effective teams with backup from eminent lawyers to ensure that antisemites pay a crippling criminal, professional and reputational cost for their hatred. Simultaneously, we interrupt the flow of antisemitic ideology through highly-targeted outreach and education work. Anybody can join us in our fight against antisemitism by visiting www.antisemitism.org/act.

Our rigorous research has shown that we are starting to turn the tide, but we still have a great deal to do.

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CPS responds to CAA research by pointing out that it is prosecuting plenty of hate crime, just not antisemitic hate crime

The Crown Prosecution Service has bizarrely attempted to defend its extremely poor record on prosecuting antisemitic hate crime by pointing out that it is prosecuting more hate crime than ever before, just not antisemitic hate crimes.

In response to Campaign Against Antisemitism’s National Antisemitic Crime Audit research, which was released today, the Crown Prosecution Service issued a statement saying: “Last year we prosecuted more hate crimes than ever before – more than 15,000 cases. We do not recognise the statistics contained in this report. Religiously-aggravated hate crimes display an ugly element of society which can be devastating to victims who have been targeted because of their beliefs. We will always prosecute crimes against people of all faiths where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so.”

The statement fails to address the crux of our criticism of the Crown Prosecution Service, which is that last year they prosecuted a paltry 20 known cases of antisemitism, and only 12 the year before. Admitting that they prosecute many thousands of hate crimes every year, but have yet to prosecute more than 20 antisemitic crimes merely proves the validity of our criticism.

Our research revealed, the parlous state of law enforcement against antisemitism, with hate crime targeting Jews surging by 44.5% in the past two years, but charging of antisemitic crime plummeting by 35.5%, whilst only 15 and 12 known cases were prosecuted in 2016 and 2015 respectively.

The research and our press effort was the work of volunteers. If you would like to support our work, please do volunteer or donate.

We are encouraging our supporters to read more about the report, or watch our short explanatory video, and then write to their MP.

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Mosque trustee removed after being exposed as a vehement antisemite

A report by the Global Muslim Brotherhood Research Center has revealed that Dr Al-Fulaij, a Kuwaiti national who served as a trustee and director of a major new mosque in Sheffield, wrote several antisemitic articles in Kuwaiti newspapers and posted a video on Twitter which claimed that Jews had subverted American media and politics.

Dr Al-Fulaij, who is listed as a director and trustee of the Emaan Trust, which is building the mosque, claimed in the video from 2012: “No candidate or politician can ever hope to be elected without the obligatory visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Israel, whilst being forced to wear that mind-numbing yarmulke [Jewish skullcap].”

More recently, Dr Al-Fulaij repeated the claim in an article , writing an article for Kuwait’s Al Anba newspaper, entitled: “The spread of Jews in the world.” In the article, he opined that “the Jewish people are the ones controlling the world. This was done with great subtlety, planning, deceit, conspiracy, extortion, women, money, riba [usury]  and organised crime and mafia.”

Dr Al-Fulaij has also claimed that recent terrorist attacks in Europe were “a work of the Zionist intelligence” and he has also proposed that “the international Zionists and Mossad were behind the September 11 attacks in the US.”

The Emaan Trust told The Daily Telegraph that they had “by mutual agreement, agreed that Dr Al-Fulaij will cease to be a director and trustee” because “Dr Al-Fulaij’s personal views are incompatible with the workings and objectives of the Emaan Trust, and in particular in serving the wider community in Sheffield.”

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This Pesach we need your help: please volunteer or donate to the fight against antisemitism

This evening, Jewish families around the world will read those words as we celebrate the festival of Pesach. We recall the passage of our ancestors from darkness to light as they escaped slavery under the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Tonight, we pause to celebrate our freedom, but also to remember that those who seek our annihilation will never rest.

Sadly, the message of Pesach has not lost its relevance for Jews over the millennia.

From the all-volunteer team at Campaign Against Antisemitism, we wish our Jewish supporters a happy and meaningful Pesach, and we invite our non-Jewish supporters to join us in reflecting upon our collective freedom, and upon those who strive to do us harm.

Those who seek our destruction hate not only Jews, but all of society. Ours is the fight for civilisation itself.

This Pesach, please take the opportunity to join the fight against those who threaten British Jews and all of society by volunteering or donating. If you donate, you can make your donation last beyond Pesach by signing up for monthly donations of whatever amount you can afford. Thank you for your support.

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Purim celebrates an ancient victory over antisemitism — we need your help to keep fighting in that same spirit

The Jewish festival of Purim is now a week away. It celebrates the salvation of the Jews of ancient Persia from an antisemitic genocide masterminded by the king’s second in command. The Jews’ salvation is secured with the blessing of the king, but it is delivered by the Jews themselves, who are simply given permission to fight to prevent the planned bloodbath.

Thankfully we live in very different times, but the echoes of the Holocaust remind us that it was not so long ago that such machinations were successful.

Even in modern Britain, antisemitism is still present and it is growing. Whilst the British state defends its Jews from antisemitism, sometimes that protection is not forthcoming. Indeed this month, Campaign Against Antisemitism will be in court due to correct dismal failures by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Our team consists of talented volunteers who give many thousands of hours of their time, day in, day out, to defend British Jews and British society at large from the corrosive disease of antisemitism. Supported by our two brilliant employees, our charity takes robust action against antisemitism, including groundbreaking legal work. We do so working closely with the government, whose respect we have earned because when the authorities fail to act, we hold them to account, even in court when necessary.

We do what we do because this is the fight for the future of British Jews and we cannot afford to lose.

We continue to rely on your donations to cover the costs our work.

This Purim, if you care about the future of British society and British Jews, please help us to beat antisemitism back into the shadows by volunteering or donating. We are reliant upon you for success.

We wish all of our Jewish supporters a Purim sameach.

Volunteer

Donate

Image credit: Facsimile Editions

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Precious Life comparing pro-choice campaigner to Hitler diminishes the Holocaust

Precious Life, an anti-abortion campaigning group in Northern Ireland, has compared advocating for a woman’s right to choose an abortion on medical grounds to Adolf Hitler’s eugenics programme which saw disabled people and other undesired members of society, including Jews, murdered by doctors.

The debate over abortion should be had without such cheap shots which diminish the Holocaust in what might be called ‘softcore’ Holocaust denial. Adolf Hitler was not a pro-choice campaigner, he was the ultimate author of the Holocaust. Precious Life ought to be ashamed of itself.

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Muslim Public Affairs Committee congratulates Ecuador on antisemitic slur

The Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC) has tweeted its congratulations to Ecuador after Horacio Sevilla Borja, and Ecuadorian diplomat said he did not think there was “anything more similar” to Nazi persecution than Israeli policy. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.

The tweet was part of a series of tweets in which MPAC used an Israeli Defence Forces training video taken on a rooftop to allege that Israel trains its servicemen to throw children off rooftops. Since that allegation has no factual basis whatsoever, some might suggest that it is a modern day antisemitic blood libel.

MPAC has a long and notorious history of antisemitism. It once used its Facebook page to comment on Holocaust Memorial Day: “I’m trying not to swear so you’ll have to fill in the gaps. Take your Holocaust, roll it up nice and tight then shove it up your (be creative)!”

MPAC was banned from university campuses in 2004 for its antisemitism under the National Union of Students’ “No Platform” policy. In 2006, MPAC was accused by an all-party parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism of replacing “Jewish” with “Zionist” and articulating “Jewish conspiracy theories through the language of Zionism describing it as an ‘octopus that now penetrates every western nation and pushes it to start world war three upon Muslims’ and warning that ‘Any man who knows anything of Zionists, knows that they will not stop until the Muslims followed by mankind are dead or enslaved’”.

MPAC’s founder, Asghar Bukhari, recently spoke out to defend an antisemitic speech by the former Malaysian Prime Minster. In 2006, he was forced to repudiate David Irving, the British Holocaust denier, to whom he had sent £6000, which he claims he did under the belief that he was merely an “anti-Zionist” who had been smeared as something much worse. He also famously accused Mossad of breaking into his house and stealing one of his shoes and claimed that “any Muslim who fights and dies against Israel and dies is a martyr and will be granted paradise”. Despite this, he has been allowed to speak for British Muslims on numerous occasions, both in his capacity as a founder of MPAC and independently, including appearances on BBC News, The James O’Brien Show, LBC, Sky News and The Big Questions.

MPAC is currently running a campaign against the government’s Prevent counter-extremism strategy.

https://twitter.com/mpacuk/status/830079514210365440

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Next CAA volunteer recruitment evening scheduled for 25th January in London

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s next volunteer recruitment evening has been scheduled for 25th January in central London. Our work is undertaken by our growing team of volunteers, who are recruited into one of eight directorates, each with multiple specialised teams. Anybody wanting to volunteer should register at antisemitism.org/volunteer. We are planning to hold a volunteer recruitment event in Manchester next month, the details of which are being finalised.

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Happy new year (and let us suggest a meaningful new year’s resolution)!

All of us at Campaign Against Antisemitism would like to wish all of our supporters, donors and volunteers a very happy, healthy, successful and safe year ahead.

Many will want to get 2017 off to a positive start by setting a new year’s resolution, and we would like to make a suggestion! Why not make 2017 the year you join the fight against antisemitism? By volunteering your time you will be joining a highly-motivated and talented community of volunteers working to turn the tide of antisemitism, and by donating you will be supporting our work, so please do take the opportunity to start the year by volunteering or donating at antisemitism.org/act!

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This year, we would like you to give one more gift: your time or a donation

Chanukah celebrates the triumph of the Jewish people over their persecutors, against the odds. Part of the Chanukah tradition is to place your family’s menorah in the window, for all to see. Campaign Against Antisemitism’s work echoes the spirit of Chanukah: we fight antisemitism so that British Jews can live openly and confidently as Jews.

So this year, we are asking you to give one more gift by volunteering your time or donating to help our work. We are reliant upon you for success. From all of us at Campaign Against Antisemitism, we would like to wish our Jewish supporters a very happy Chanukah, and our Christian supporters a very happy Christmas.

Volunteer

Donate

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Can you help us hire an Operations Manager? Is it you?

Campaign Against Antisemitism is hiring an Operations Manager. Could you help us find the right candidate? Could it be you?

We have reached the point where we need an Operations Manager to coordinate our day-to-day work and help us to scale effectively.

Working closely with our volunteer directors and our various specialised units, the role of the Operationa Manager will be to ensure that antisemitism is punished, and to support our work with the media and the government.

For more details, please take a look at the full job description and application details.

You might also like to join the team as a volunteer, or donate towards our running costs.

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Calling all lawyers and paralegals, we need your help!

Calling all lawyers and paralegals, our Investigations and Enforcement Directorate needs your expertise to help us pursue criminal, professional and regulatory sanctions for antisemitism. We need your legal skills, but you do not need any experience of criminal, employment or regulatory law.

We are holding a special recruitment evening in Central London on 21st November. Please sign up by entering your details at antisemitism.org/volunteer. If you know lawyers or paralegals who might be interested, please send them a link to this page!

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This Rosh Hashanah, we need your help

This year has been a tumultuous one. Antisemitism on the far-left burst into the national consciousness with the Labour antisemitism crisis, which continues at this very moment, reawakening society to the evil threat that antisemitism poses. The far-right continues to regain its foothold without fear of repercussions, with worrying signs of success on campuses. The state’s failure to robustly tackle Islamism has been laid bare by the two-decade wait for the conviction of Anjem Choudary.

Never has the need for our campaign been greater. Our National Antisemitic Crime Audit revealed that antisemitic hate crime is at its highest ever level, having soared by 26% in a year (with a 51% leap in violent attacks on Jews) yet the Crown Prosecution Service is failing to take action.

Yet we have risen to the challenge.

  • We have been at the forefront of the fight to expose antisemitism in political parties, providing a powerful voice against antisemitism in the media. Indeed today, for the third time in a week, a story we instigated will be in the national papers and our volunteers will be fielded for major broadcast interviews.
  • Some of our key recommendations have been adopted as policy by the government, including a review of hate crime handling by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.
  • We have released legal guidance to the Jewish community explaining how to ensure that the police take action against antisemitism.
  • We have used our Everyday Antisemitism service to help journalists shine a spotlight on antisemitic incidents that would otherwise go unnoticed.
  • Our Investigations and Enforcement team has exposed antisemitism amongst people in positions of power, from politicians through to professionals of every variety, working with regulatory bodies to ensure that antisemites pay a high cost for their acts.
  • We have published unused figures from a Channel 4 survey evidencing the extent of antisemitism amongst British Muslims.

In the coming weeks we will release our 2016 Antisemitism Barometer, revealing the level of antisemitic prejudice in society and its effects on British Jews. We will be expanding our Outreach and Education programme. We will continue to hold the authorities to account when they fail to enforce the law (particularly the Crown Prosecution Service).

We do what we do because this is the fight for the future of British Jews and we cannot afford to lose.

We will continue to recruit impressive, talented individuals who give literally thousands of hours of their time to do all of this work, week in, week out.

And we will continue to rely on your donations to cover the costs our work, especially as we take the authorities to court when they fail to defend British Jews, and as we hire a small team of three employees to support and coordinate the work done by our volunteers.

This Rosh Hashanah, if you care about the future of British society, please help us to beat antisemitism back into the shadows by volunteering or donating. We are reliant upon you for success.

We wish all of our Jewish supporters a shana tova.

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Archbishop of Canterbury says antisemitism “is often ignored and dismissed”

In a powerful essay for the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has decried the tendency in society to be dismissive of antisemitism, writing: “Antisemitism is at the heart of racism. Yet, because it is so deeply entrenched in our thought and culture, it is often ignored and dismissed.”

Showing a strong grasp of the potent ability of antisemitism to mutate, he wrote: “It latches onto a variety of different issues: financial inequality, wars and depressions, education, politics and government, grave international issues, such as the rights of Israelis and Palestinians, and interfaith tensions. It twists them to its own ends, with the perverted and absurd argument that a small group runs or plots against our society and manipulates international affairs.”

The Archbishop also had strong words about the role of the Church of England in the spread of antisemitism, writing: “It is a shameful truth that, through its theological teachings, the church, which should have offered an antidote, compounded the spread of this virus.”

As patron of the Council of Christians and Jews, the Archbishop has warm relations with the Jewish community. In his essay he listed some of the accomplishments of British Jews and called on society to act against antisemitism for the good of all of society: “The goal is ambitious but attainable: if we eliminate antisemitism we take a huge step in undermining the whole tradition of racism in our society.”

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Last chance to have your say about antisemitism in our 2016 survey of British Jews

Our 2016 survey of British Jews is about to close. The survey measures the effects of antisemitism on Jews in the UK. If you have not already responded, this is your last chance to take part in our anonymous, three-minute survey at https://antisemitism.org/survey/. Once completed, please do share the link with others so we have a wide and large sample of British Jewry.

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2016 Antisemitism Barometer: have your say on antisemitism in our 3-minute survey

We are conducting a snapshot survey of British Jews to measure the effects of antisemitism in the UK. Please take part in this anonymous, three-minute survey at https://antisemitism.org/survey/ and share the link with others so we have a wide and large sample of British Jewry. The survey will only be live for a short time, so please complete it now.

Go to survey

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Welcome Stephen and Ben, farewell Jonathan and Angela

Since its establishment two years ago, Campaign Against Antisemitism has been dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything we have achieved has been accomplished by our dedicated team of volunteers.

We are proud of what we have achieved without a single member of staff, but the time has come to hire our first part-time employee to run our long-term programmes.

We welcome Ben, our Programme Manager. Binyomin has volunteered with us for over a year and passionately believes that it is possible to turn the rising tide of antisemitism through raising awareness of the problem, education and the firmest possible enforcement of the law. He has quickly established himself as a key member of our team, developing our long-term programmes and working with our volunteer team to greatly improve our capabilities.

We also welcome Stephen Silverman to the Board of Trustees, following his election by our volunteers to the new post of Director of Investigations and Enforcement. Stephen and his team work closely with police forces around the country, the Crown Prosecution Service and regulatory bodies to ensure that antisemitism is detected, investigated and punished with the full force of the law.

We must also say farewell to two of the people who have helped lead Campaign Against Antisemitism and who are now standing down. Jonathan Sacerdoti has acted as Director of Communications since soon after our establishment, building Campaign Against Antisemitism’s strong voice against antisemitism, and for the past year and a half Angela Levin has been our Director of Mobilisation, putting in place an extremely talented and committed team of volunteers.

Lastly, Nathan Hopstein, who has been an integral member of the Campaign Against Antisemitism team since our establishment two years ago, has moved into the new position of Director of Organisation and Finance, ensuring that we put in place the systems and support that our volunteers need, and that our charity complies strictly with regulatory and financial requirements.

Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Campaign Against Antisemitism owes a great deal to Jonathan and Angela. We have accomplished so much together and the Board of Trustees wishes them every success in their professional work. Jonathan has expertly developed our voice in the media, and Angela has established our effective teams of specialist volunteers. They leave our charity stronger than ever, and on that note we are extremely pleased to have secured the talents of Binyomin and Stephen. Binyomin has worked closely with Angela for over a year as a volunteer and in his capacity as Programme Manager we are already witnessing the implementation of ambitious long-term programmes. I also welcome Stephen, one of our longstanding volunteers, to the Board of Trustees, having been elected by the Investigations and Enforcement team to lead their vital work.”

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement said: “I became a volunteer with Campaign Against Antisemitism because I believe passionately that the unprecedented rise of antisemitism in Britain in recent years is a threat not only to Britain’s Jews but also to the very values of the country itself. We have reached a dangerous tipping point where antisemitic opinions — sometimes disguised as political discourse but often not — are on the the verge of becoming normalised on social media, in public life and on university campuses. Last year’s 51% increase in violent attacks on Jews shows the extent to which antisemites have become emboldened. Our Investigations and Enforcement team will continue work with the the police, regulators and employers to secure justice against antisemites, and where necessary we will hold the authorities to account.”

Jonathan Sacerdoti said: ”After two years heading up the media strategy for Campaign Against Antisemitism, it is with some sadness that I announce my resignation. Campaign Against Antisemitism was born out of a need for a strong voice opposing antisemitism in the UK and beyond, at a time when levels of antisemitism and attacks on Jewish people have been increasing across Europe. I feel that I and our team of volunteers have exceeded all expectations in getting antisemitism recognised more widely on the national agenda, and while there is still much to be done, I feel it is time for me to move on and concentrate on my full time journalistic career. Having established the voice of the Campaign Against Antisemitism across national and international media outlets, I know that media and political discussion of this important issue will continue, and I wish the rest of the team success in their continued work.”

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CAA responds to claim in The Guardian that CAA is a pawn of the Israeli government

Campaign Against Antisemitism has responded to a claim in The Guardian for the second time claiming that we are a pawn of the Israeli government.

The claim was first made in 2015, when The Guardian printed a letter alleging that antisemitism in Britain was being exaggerated and that “the CAA was set up last summer, not to fight antisemitism but to counter rising criticism of Israel’s murderous assault on Gaza.” At the time, CAA Chairman Gideon Falter responded with a letter setting out the facts of rising antisemitism, and asking: “Why can some of your readers not accept the facts for what they are and address the very real problem of antisemitism, rather than supposing in spite of the evidence that it is a fiction, or that it does exist but would cease to if Jews supported Israel less? Jewish concerns must not be silenced by conspiracy theorists railing about Israel.”

On Tuesday, we were accused of being “pro-Israel lobbyists” in The Guardian again, this time because we have dared to condemn Jeremy Corbyn’s peerage for Shami Chakrabarti in return for her whitewash report clearing him and the party of rampant antisemitism.

Both claims were made in letters to The Guardian signed by a fringe assortment of British Jews.

CAA Chairman Gideon Falter has again responded with a letter:

A letter (9 August), signed by a fringe assortment of British Jews, accused Campaign Against Antisemitism of being “pro-Israel lobbyists” because we believe that Jeremy Corbyn has allied himself with and granted impunity to antisemites on the left, the latest example of which being his peerage for Shami Chakrabarti in return for her report clearing him and the party of rampant antisemitism. How shameful that in 2016, as a Jew who opposes antisemitism, I have to write to a British newspaper for the second time in a year to refute the allegation that our charity, set up exclusively to fight antisemitism, is actually a pawn employed by a foreign government to smear its enemies.

Antisemitism in the Labour party is real and recognised by the full cross-denominational spectrum of British Jews. Had that antisemitic slur against Campaign Against Antisemitism been signed by anything other than a tiny collection of Jews whose views are abhorred by the mainstream Jewish community, you would not have dared to publish it.

CAA’s Regulatory Enforcement Unit is complaining to the Independent Press Standards Organisation.

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Guardian again publishes claim that CAA is a pawn of the Israeli government

The Guardian has yet again published a claim that Campaign Against Antisemitism is a pawn of the Israeli government. The claim was first made in 2015, when The Guardian printed a letter alleging that “the CAA was set up last summer, not to fight antisemitism but to counter rising criticism of Israel’s murderous assault on Gaza.” Today, we have been accused of being “pro-Israel lobbyists” because we have dared to condemn Jeremy Corbyn’s peerage for Shami Chakrabarti in return for her whitewash report clearing him and the party of rampant antisemitism.

Both claims were made in letters signed by a fringe assortment of British Jews. There is an overwhelming, cross-denominational consensus amongst British Jews that Jeremy Corbyn has allied himself with and granted impunity to antisemites on the left. Yet for the second time, The Guardian has published a letter from a tiny fringe group of Jews who are wilfully blind to antisemitism and prefer to accuse those fighting antisemitism of dual loyalties and ulterior motives.

Accusing Jews who oppose antisemitism of dissembling, and promoting the interests of a foreign government is an antisemitic trope that should be considered unacceptable for publication in a British newspaper. In this case it seems The Guardian’s justification is that the letter is signed by some Jewish people; no matter that they resort to incorrectly trying to undermine a charity fighting antisemitism.

That this has now happened twice shows how willingly The Guardian will assist those who smear British Jews who speak out against antisemitism, using as cover the fact that the libels are spread by a tiny group of Jews, even though their views are abhorred by the Jewish community.

Letters to The Guardian can be sent to [email protected].

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CAA releases ‘beginners’ guide’ to recognising antisemitism

Campaign Against Antisemitism has today released a new guide to recognising antisemitism. Originally developed by our Investigations and Enforcement team to help police forces recognise antisemitic hate crime on social media, we have now adapted the guide for use by members of the public who want to better understand the language, themes and imagery of ‘the oldest hatred’.

The guide can be found on our website. Please do distribute it to anybody you believe may find it useful, and if you can see ways to improve the guide please send us your feedback.

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Campaign Against Antisemitism is about to hire its first employee and we need your help!

We are looking for office space, furniture and computer equipment. Can you help? We urgently need three desks in an office in North West London from which we can operate (for which we can pay a modest rent), as well as any office furniture or computer equipment you can donate.

Since we were established almost two years ago, we have campaigned as volunteers to turn the rising tide of antisemitism in Britain. Our work has expanded enormously, and we now have eight departments manned by a large team of volunteers. We are proud of what we have achieved without a single member of staff, but the time has come to hire our first part-time employee to run our long-term programmes, funded by a generous grant.

Please send suggestions, contacts or information (including photographs where possible) to [email protected].

Thank you for your support!

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“In each generation they rise up to destroy us”

This evening, Jewish families around the world will read those words as we celebrate the festival of Pesach. We recall the passage of our ancestors from darkness to light as they escaped slavery under the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Tonight, we pause to celebrate our freedom, but also to remember that those who seek our annihilation will never rest.

Sadly, the message of Pesach has not lost its relevance for Jews over the millennia.

From the all-volunteer team at Campaign Against Antisemitism, we wish our Jewish supporters a happy and meaningful Pesach, and we invite our non-Jewish supporters to pause with us to reflect upon our freedom, and those who strive to destroy us.

Those who seek our destruction hate not only Jews, but all of society. Ours is the fight for civilisation itself. Join our fight by volunteering or donating.

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CAA reports Islamic Research Foundation International to the Charity Commission over “cursed race” antisemitic diatribe

Following a litany of antisemitic statements made on Peace TV Urdu, which draws its funding from a charity, Campaign Against Antisemitism has complained to the Charity Commission, calling for a statutory inquiry.

During routine monitoring of the channel, Ofcom reported that Jews were described as “being ‘this cursed people…this cursed race’; possessing ‘evil genius’…filling Europe during history ‘with their poison’…‘hatching conspiracies’…considering ‘non-Jews’ to be ‘not human’…considering it acceptable to ‘cheat non-Jews, to rob them and to deceive them’…that during the twentieth century ‘Jewish bankers…lay down their roots like a cancer… [to take] the whole of Europe in their grip’, and in the present day that Jewish people ‘want to bring the world to heel through the global banking network’…and presented [the Protocols of the Elders of Zion] as a factual document containing ‘in great detail’ the plans of ‘some very powerful Jews’.”

Islamic Research Foundation International (IRFI) is a registered charity which exists to “Operate Peace TV successfully and broadcast a variety of programmes for the public benefit”, but Peace TV has repeatedly been caught out by Ofcom for broadcasting programmes which breach the Broadcasting Code and the latest incident may amount to criminal conduct. CAA has discovered that IRFI’s President, Dr Zakir Naik, is also Chairman of the company whose subsidiaries own the broadcasting licences for Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu.

Previously, Peace TV was caught airing a programme which advocated that Muslim men should beat their wives, and gave specific guidance as to how they should do so, and in 2012, Ofcom found Dr Naik himself repeating in two separate broadcasts that non-Muslims should be put to death.

These breaches were all detected during routine monitoring by Ofcom and it would be an almost impossible coincidence if the only occasions on which Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu broadcast such content were on the occasions that Ofcom happened to be monitoring those channels.

Since the activities of IRFI, Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu are inseparable, and Ofcom has repeatedly caught Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu broadcasting programmes which breach the Broadcasting Code and are not for the public benefit, it follows that some, if not most, of IRFI’s funds are not being used for charitable purposes.

Due to the gravity of the breaches identified by Ofcom and the complicity of IRFI’s President in at least two such breaches, we have called for a full statutory inquiry so that the Charity Commission may avail itself of the full range of statutory sanctions set out in the Charities Act 2011.

We are also referring the broadcaster to the police as it is a criminal offence to broadcast programmes which constitute incitement to racial or religious hatred.

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Hope Not Hate condemns those who fight Islamist extremism

A report by the left-wing anti-racism campaigning organisation Hope Not Hate has caused consternation for listing prominent critics of Islamic extremism and decrying them as anti-Muslim.

Entitled “The Counter-Jihad Movement: Anti-Muslim hatred from the margins to the mainstream”, the 180-page report listed over 900 people and organisations which Hope Not Hate considers to be “dedicated to anti-Muslim hatred and prejudice,” claiming that they represented the “new face of the far-right.”

Some of those included in the report are not “anti-Muslim” at all, but are in fact simply critics of Islamic extremism. For example, Melanie Phillips, a prominent Jewish journalist, has apparently been listed due to her continued calls for a firmer stance against Islamists. Raquel Saraswati, a headscarf-wearing, devout female Muslim was even included, because she campaigns against so-called honour-based violence within her religion.

Last summer, as neo-Nazis announced their plan to demonstrate against the presence of Jews in Golders Green, we decided to firmly oppose them, simultaneously preparing a demonstration which gained the support of thousands of you who planned to attend, whilst also negotiating with the police. Our counter-demonstration strengthened our hand in negotiations with the police, and the police took the action we called for and excluded the neo-Nazis from Golders Green on pain of arrest. There have been no neo-Nazi demonstrations against Jews since. By contrast, Hope Not Hate had called for the neo-Nazis to be left alone to hold an anti-Jewish rally with dangerous and potentially violent members of far-right groups in an area full of Jewish people, on Shabbat.

As campaigners against antisemitism, we know all too well that some “anti-racist” organisations have in fact allowed themselves to become facilitators for extremism. They advocate ignoring extremists to avoid “drawing attention” to them, and they berate critics of religious extremism as racists.

It is necessary to confront Islamism and Hope Not Hate discredit themselves by standing against those who take a firm stand, lumping them together with those who may indeed have anti-Muslim views. Hatred of Muslims has no place in our society and we will always stand against it, but fierce opposition to Islamism, violent extremism, and the pathways towards that violence are necessary for the survival of our society.

We commend the Jewish Chronicle for its reaction to Hope not Hate’s report, and hope that other Jewish organisations who previously partnered with Hope Not Hate will follow suit.

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Charity trustee who made a video claiming “f***ing Jews” track Samsung smartphones and posted it on charity’s Facebook page allowed to stay on

A trustee of the Ghulam Mustafa Trust has been allowed to continue to run the charity by the Charity Commission, despite having made a home video with instructions to stop the “f***ing Jews” from “tracking every photo” on Samsung smartphones, which he posted on the charity’s Facebook page.

Following Campaign Against Antisemitism’s complaint to the Charity Commission, the Commission visited the Ghulam Mustafa Trust and established that it was indeed a trustee who had made and posted the video. In spite of the vile antisemitic myth proposed in the video, that Jews use secret microchips in Samsung smartphones to track users’ photographs, the Charity Commission merely demanded that the video be removed from Facebook and that the charity improve its bureaucracy by:

  • Adopting a social media policy;
  • Reviewing and removing any other offensive social media postings; and
  • Adopting a code of conduct for the charity’s trustees.

In an e-mail to Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Chairman, the Charity Commission, said: “The Commission did establish that the video had been made by one of the trustees of the Charity… The Commission assessed the content of the video as ‘wholly unacceptable’”. Yet the Commission did not remove the trustee from his position on the charity, instead opting only to impose “remedial regulatory action”.

The Charity Commission will be amongst the beneficiaries of tough new counter-extremism powers proposed by the Prime Minister and Home Secretary. But these new powers will be of no use whatsoever unless the bodies responsible for enforcing the law use the powers they are granted.

David Cameron has spoken about how “ideas based on conspiracy that Jews exercise malevolent power” contribute towards dangerous extremism, yet here we see the Charity Commission leaving a trustee in place running a charity, when he has personally made and spread exactly such a conspiracy theory via online video and social media. We also know that more and more extremists are influenced by social media videos and other content. Regulatory bodies like the Charity Commission have to use the powers they have to show this behaviour is totally unacceptable, rather than feebly giving actively antisemitic trustees a free pass.

We are referring the Charity Commission’s decision on this matter to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, which has jurisdiction in this matter.

We also understand that the Charity Commission was advised by the police that the video did not constitute a crime, which is contrary to advice that we have received. We will be discussing this further with the police.

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Pope reaffirms that calls for the destruction of Israel are antisemitic

On the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Vatican declaration which put an end to the centuries-old official antisemitic theology of the Catholic church, the Pope has condemned antisemitism, including that which masquerades as political discourse about Israel.

Pope Francis said: “To attack Jews is antisemitism, but an outright attack on the State of Israel is also antisemitism. There may be political disagreements between governments and on political issues, but the State of Israel has every right to exist in safety and prosperity.”

The statement echoes the globally-recognised EUMC definition of antisemitism which states that “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” is antisemitic.

Our Antisemitism Barometer survey earlier this year found that 77% of British Jews “have witnessed antisemitism that was disguised as a political comment about Israel”.

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Campaign Against Antisemitism is now a charity

We are very pleased to announce that Campaign Against Antisemitism is now registered as a charity. The Charity Commission has granted CAA charitable status in recognition of our mission to expose and counter antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law.

Our transition to operating as a charity firmly establishes CAA as an ongoing and serious force in the arena of combatting antisemitism. Thanks to the work of our volunteers, in just one year we have grown into a well-organised high-profile grassroots campaign with a rapidly-growing team of volunteers, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

At our rally at the Royal Courts of Justice we called for ‘zero tolerance law enforcement’ and these words now feature in every politician’s speech on antisemitism. Our Antisemitism Barometer survey showed how British Jews were feeling and highlighted antisemitism as a national challenge in the wake of the Paris attacks.

We are now working closely with the police, CPS and government after launching our five-point plan to strengthen enforcement against antisemites at a meeting with the Home Secretary, Director of Public Prosecutions and Chief Executive of the College of Policing. We have intervened in numerous matters, without seeking publicity, to ensure that justice is done.

All this is being achieved without a single paid employee and comparatively little funding. We are empowering individual members of the community to contribute their considerable talents to the fight against antisemitism.

We have exciting projects that cover education, outreach, awareness, training and public affairs. Our goal is to tackle antisemitism through education and enforcement, with the agility of a start-up, the expertise of established professionals in various fields and where needed, a dash of chutzpah. Our newly-confirmed charitable status will help people to support our work.

As a charity, we are staying true to our grassroots mission. Our work is powered by our committed and talented team of volunteers, and donations by ordinary people like you. Please do volunteer and offer your skills, or donate to help cover our costs. By completing a Gift Aid declaration, your donations will now go even further towards the fight against racist Jew-hatred.

We would particularly like to take this opportunity to thank Adam Levin and James Stonehill, our lawyers from Dechert LLP, who have worked pro-bono for several months to expertly steward us through the complex charity application process.

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Our first birthday

It’s our first birthday. We don’t get too excited about birthdays, but to mark the occasion we have put together an updated website and also improved the way we keep in touch with you. Facebook and Twitter charge us to reach our supporters, and some of our supporters don’t have Facebook or Twitter, so now we can e-mail our updates to you. Please just click here and let us know which kinds of update you’re interested in, and how often you would like to hear from us. For those who have ‘liked’ our Facebook page, please go to our page, click on the arrow next to “Liked” and choose “Get Notifications” to make sure that we don’t have to pay Facebook to show you our posts.

In our first year, we have gone from a spontaneous protest outside the Tricycle to becoming a well-organised high-profile grassroots campaign with a rapidly-growing team of volunteers, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

At our rally at the Royal Courts of Justice we called for ‘zero tolerance law enforcement’ and these words now feature in every politician’s speech on antisemitism. Our Antisemitism Barometer survey showed how British Jews were feeling and highlighted antisemitism as a national challenge in the wake of the Paris attacks.

After launching our five-point plan to strengthen enforcement against antisemites at a meeting with the Home Secretary, Director of Public Prosecutions and Chief Executive of the College of Policing, we are now working closely with the police, CPS and the Government. We have intervened in numerous matters, without seeking publicity, to ensure that justice is done.

We have developed close links with senior journalists, helping them to better understand antisemitism in the UK and beyond through interviews, research and introductions to experts and victims. If you are a journalist or a victim willing to speak about your experiences, please do get in touch.

All this is being achieved without a single paid employee and practically no funding. We are providing a way for individuals to contribute their considerable talents to the fight against antisemitism.

We have exciting projects that cover education, outreach, awareness, training and public affairs. Our goal is to tackle antisemitism through education and enforcement, with the agility of a start-up, the expertise of established professionals in various fields and where needed, a dash of chutzpah.

Our success has been due to people like you who volunteer with us, donate to help cover our costs and respond when we ask the community to take action. Campaign Against Antisemitism was founded by members of the public who believe in the power of ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Together we can turn the tide against antisemitism in Britain.

Thank you for being part of it.

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.