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Former Shadow Chancellor and Labour MP John McDonnell approvingly tweets photo containing antisemitic sign at rally that he attended and specifically encourages his “Muslim constituents” to attend rallies in provocative and divisive tweet

Former Shadow Chancellor and Labour Party MP John McDonnell has tweeted a photo of an antisemitic sign which was featured at a rally that he himself attended.

The sign, which features an antisemitic quote falsely attributed to Albert Einstein, reads: “It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism. Many of these rallies have featured antisemitic slogans, chants and banners. Mr McDonnell said that he was “proud” to attend the rally.

Disturbingly, Mr McDonnell also specifically encouraged his Muslim constituents to join the protests, seemingly stoking religious and communal divisions in the UK at a particularly vulnerable time for the Jewish community. He tweeted: “I urge my Muslim constituents to join me on Saturday in the demonstration in London to support the Palestinian people in their call for peace and justice.”

As antisemitism has become rampant on British streets in recent days, some of Mr McDonnell’s Parliamentary colleagues have backtracked on their unadulterated support for these protests and have condemned antisemitism. Mr McDonnell has not.

Last year, Mc McDonnell was accused of sharing a platform with expelled Labour members at the Labour Representation Committee’s Annual General Meeting, namely Jackie Walker and Tony Greenstein, but he claimed that it was “ridiculous” to suggest that as it was an open meeting and that he could not control who spoke. He remains the Honorary President of the controversial group.

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

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

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Following CAA complaint Metropolitan Police investigates multiple officers over participation in antisemitic protests whilst in uniform

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

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

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

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Director of Investigations and Enforcement, Stephen Silverman, wrote to Dame Cressida: “At events as highly charged as those we witnessed over the weekend, the shameless abandonment by these officers of any pretence at impartiality can only serve to embolden those who have caused such fear amongst British Jews. These disgraceful videos have been widely circulated. It would be impossible for any Jewish person to trust these officers to assist them impartially. Our latest Antisemitism Barometer shows that three in five British Jews believe that the authorities are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism, and less than one third are confident that antisemitic hate crimes against them would be prosecuted. The behaviour of these officers can only have caused further damage. It is now vital that a disciplinary hearing into the conduct of the officers concerned is conducted with the utmost urgency, and that a clear message is sent that officers who engage in such behaviour have no place in the Metropolitan Police Service.”

In a statement to journalists he added: “Over the weekend we have seen a car convoy drive through Jewish areas calling for Jewish girls and women to be raped, we have seen a Rabbi hospitalised in an assault, and we have documented numerous antisemitic crimes at demonstrations. For police officers to cheer such a convoy and join in those same demonstrations in uniform is utterly incompatible with the impartiality that is a basic requirement of service. A firm message must be sent that officers who engage in such behaviour will have no place in the Metropolitan Police Service.”

Confirming that an investigation would take place, Chief Superintendent Roy Smith warned: “Whilst we expect officers to engage they must remain impartial.”

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Service said: “While officers are encouraged to positively engage with those attending demonstrations, they know they are not to actively participate or adopt political positions. This is vital to ensuring the public have confidence in our officers. The Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed and are investigating the full circumstances of this incident and to determine what further action is appropriate.”

@the111r

#freepalestine #palestine #🇵🇸 #O2HereComesBrighter #HAIRFOODHYPE

♬ dammi falastini by mohammad assaf – nora
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Antisemitic chants extolling massacre of Jews heard at Vienna protests

Antisemitic chants extolling a historic massacre of Jews have been heard in protests in Vienna.

2,500 protestors against Israel in the Austrian capital heard a man chanting through a loudspeaker in Arabic: “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” Demonstrators reportedly repeated the chant.

The “Khaybar” chant is a classic Arabic battle cry referencing the massacre and expulsion of the Jews of the town of Khaybar in northwestern Arabia, now Saudi Arabia, in the year 628 CE.

Similar chanting has also been heard in rallies in London.

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

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CAA lawyers reviewing evidence as far-right, Islamists and far-left unite to march through London with protesters chanting battle cry: “Jews…the army of Muhammad is returning” and flaunting terrorist emblems

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit has documented far-right, Islamist and far-left extremists uniting to march through London today.

Antisemitic placards, terrorist emblems and genocidal anti-Jewish battle cries went completely unchallenged by the crowd, whose leaders claimed to be avowed anti-racists.

One group of protesters wearing t-shirts showing Saddam Hussein chanted: “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud” translated in English as “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning”. The “Khaybar” chant is a classic Arabic battle cry referencing the massacre and expulsion of the Jews of the town of Khaybar in northwestern Arabia, now Saudi Arabia, in the year 628 CE.

Other protesters were seen flaunting terrorist emblems, including a Hamas scarf with the terrorist group’s logo and the message: “we remain steadfast.” The Hamas charter calls for the genocide of all Jews worldwide. We have issued an appeal for witnesses. Volunteers from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit also photographed a flag of the “Popular Mobilisation Forces” which is an ally of the proscribed genocidal antisemitic terrorist group Hizballah.

Central London was brought to a standstill as demonstrators marched from Marble Arch to the Israeli Embassy under antisemitic placards comparing Israelis to the Nazis. One sign bearing the Palestinian Forum in Britain logo read: “History seems to be repeating itself” with a swastika superimposed over a Star of David.

Another sign had photographs of Israeli Prime Minister and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler side by side and read: “Same mindset different eras.” Other signs read: “End the Palestinian Holocaust”, and “Zionists equal Nazists [sic]”.

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

We also photographed signs that invoked the blood libel, including: “Netanyahu murders babies for political gain” and “Israel murders babies, UK says ok.” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is another example of antisemitism.

Diane Abbott joined former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, in addressing the march. He failed to condemn Hamas in his remarks, having previously described them as his “friends”.

In addition to far-left and Islamist extremists, far-right antisemites were also in attendance, such as Lady Michèle Renouf, who was filmed by a member of the public telling fellow protesters to read up about Jews on an antisemitic website.

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Those marching through London today claimed to be there to champion justice, but clearly they had no qualms marching alongside far-right, Islamist and far-left extremists who were openly calling for the massacre of Jews, waving antisemitic placards and flaunting terrorist emblems. We have been contacted by British Jews who were terrified by today’s events. We are reviewing the evidence with our lawyers and will be speaking with the police where appropriate.”

The “March for Palestine” demonstration was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain. Organisers claimed that 150,000 people attended.

It followed the “Emergency Rally for Palestine – Save Sheikh Jarrah” outside Downing Street on Tuesday where protesters compared Israel to Nazis.

Volunteers from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit gathered evidence which we are now reviewing for possible legal action.

If you witnessed antisemitic acts or have evidence to share with us, please contact [email protected].

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Police detain over a dozen men in Germany after synagogues targeted in widespread antisemitic protests

German police have detained at least sixteen men so far after three recorded antisemitic incidents took place in three separate cities, all in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In the cities of Bonn and Münster, synagogues were targeted late on Tuesday by protestors who set Israeli flags on fire outside.

Delivering a solemn warning of the rising antisemitism, Josef Schuster, President of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, stated: “Israel and Jews as a whole are subjected to hatred and incitement, particularly on social media. The threat to the Jewish community is growing.”

Lamenting the vandalism of the cities’ synagogues, Mr Schuster said that “the protection of Jewish institutions must be raised.” He added: “We expect from the people in Germany solidarity with Israel and the Jewish community.”

Thirteen men were arrested in Münster after a group of men were seen shouting and burning an Israeli flag outside the synagogue. For similar actions, three men in their twenties were arrested in Bonn.

Vandals in Düsseldorf, the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, set alight a garbage bag over a stone which commemorated the city’s Grand Synagogue which was destroyed during Kristallnacht, a night of looting and attacks in Nazi Germany.

In Gelsenkirchen, footage emerged of an angry mob waving Turkish and Palestinian Authority flags while chanting “Scheiße Juden”, which translates to “sh***y Jews.”

Armin Laschet, the state’s Minister-President, stated that there would be enhanced security in the region. He declared: “We will tolerate no antisemitism.”

Meanwhile, a synagogue was vandalised in Spain with antisemitic graffiti.

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

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Protesters compare Israel to Nazis in breach of International Definition of Antisemitism at rally outside Downing Street

A rally was held outside Downing Street yesterday that protested the ongoing events in the Middle East and featured several antisemitic themes.

Around 1,500 people attended Tuesday’s “Emergency Rally for Palestine – Save Sheikh Jarrah.” Volunteers from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit gathered material which we are now reviewing for possible legal action.

We photographed several disturbing banners comparing Israel to the Nazis. One disturbing sign (pictured) read: “Holocaust 1941 (with a swastika), Holocaust 2021 (with a Star of David).”

Another antisemitic sign, referencing both the Holocaust and South African apartheid, read: “It wasn’t ok in South Africa. It wasn’t ok in Nazi Germany. So why is it ok in Palestine (It’s not!)”.

“Israel have no conscience, no honour, no pride. They curse Hitler day & night but they have surpassed Hitler in Barbarism”, read another.

At one point, protesters jumped on top of a double decker London bus and held aloft a banner equating the Israeli flag with the Nazi swastika. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.

Other banners – in Arabic – appeared to incite and glorify violence against Israelis in graphic language, while songs were chanted calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.

The rally was addressed by former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who failed to condemn Hamas in his remarks. The crowd welcomed Mr Corbyn with the familiar refrain of “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn.” In the past, Mr Corbyn has referred to Hamas as his “friends”.

The demonstration was organised by the Friends of Al Aqsa (FOA), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop the War Coalition and Palestine Forum in Britain.

The founder of FOA told a cheering crowd in 2009 during a war between Israel and Hamas: “Hamas is not a terrorist organisation. The reason that they hate Hamas is because they refuse to be subjugated to be occupied by the Israeli state and we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel.”

An investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism in 2017 exposed extensive antisemitic bigotry amongst supporters of the PSC.

Stop The War Coalition has appeared in the past to advocate war against Israel and its marches routinely feature antisemitic tropes.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s 2020 Antisemitism Barometer revealed that an overwhelming majority of British Jews — 91% — want the British Government to proscribe the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas in its entirety.

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Politicians ban “disgusting antisemitic” Al Quds event in Berlin

Politicians in Berlin have banned the annual “Al Quds Day” rally that was scheduled to take place in the German capital this year on 8th May.

The Iranian-sponsored Al Quds Day calls for the destruction of Israel. In 2020, events to mark it were cancelled due to the pandemic, but in 2019 more than 2,000 demonstrators chanted anti-Jewish slogans with one organiser telling a member of a counter-demonstration that “Hitler needs to come back and kill the rest of the Jews.”

Holger Krestel, the Spokesperson on the Protection of the Constitution for the FDP Party in the Berlin Senate, urged senators to “use all legal means to prevent this shameful event.”

This is the first time that Berlin has banned the event since coming to the city in 1996.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has been at the forefront of the campaign against the annual Al Quds Day rally in London.

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

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Anti-vaccination protesters in London wearing yellow stars condemned

Protesters at an anti-vaccination rally held in London this past weekend were pictured wearing the yellow star that was forced upon Jews during the Holocaust.

Comedian David Baddiel took to Twitter to share a photo of a woman wearing the yellow star, accompanying it with the caption: “Take. That. Off.”

The Auschwitz Memorial replied to this photo in support of Mr Baddiel, tweeting: “Instrumentalization of the tragedy of Jews who suffered, were humiliated, marked with a yellow star, and finally isolated in ghettos and murdered during the Holocaust, in order to argue against vaccination that saves human lives is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline.”

This is not the first time that anti-vaccination protesters have used the yellow star during their rallies. Recently, French protesters were seen wearing them at a demonstration in Avignon, and they have also been seen elsewhere in Europe and North America.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David so that the Nazis could easily identify them and massacre them in a systematic genocide that saw six million Jewish men, women and children slaughtered simply for being Jewish.

“Comparisons between the Holocaust and COVID-19 regulations and vaccinations are grossly ignorant and utterly despicable, because to compare vaccination passports, restrictions on who can enter a football area or rules about wearing masks on public transport with the genocide of over a third of the world’s Jewish population in the Holocaust is essentially a form of Holocaust denial.”

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

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

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“Je Suis Sarah Halimi”: CAA holds rally in solidarity with French Jews over Sarah Halimi verdict outside the French Embassy

Campaign Against Antisemitism held a rally in solidarity with French Jews yesterday in opposition to the Court of Cassation’s ruling to let Sarah Halimi’s murderer go free.

In 2017, Ms Halimi, a 65-year-old Jewish woman, was murdered by her 27-year-old Muslim neighbour, Kobili Traoré, after he tortured and hurled her from a window to her death. In December 2019, France’s lower court ruled that Mr Traoré could not be held to stand trial as he was under the influence of cannabis at the time, which was said to have affected his judgment. The lower court’s ruling was upheld by France’s Court of Cassation late last week, sparking outrage across Jewish communities.

The rally took place outside the French Embassy in Knightsbridge, with protesters holding placards bearing the words “J’accuse! Solidarity with French Jews” and “Je Suis Sarah Halimi”. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, attendance was by registration only, with all places taken within 24 hours of our announcing the rally, with a significant waiting-list. A further 10,000 supporters demanding justice for Sarah Halimi watched the event across Campaign Against Antisemitism’s social media channels.

The rally in London was part of a global movement of rallies in Paris, Marseille and other French cities, Tel Aviv, New York City, Miami and Los Angeles.

Beginning with a moment of silence for Sarah Halimi, a variety of speakers were then introduced, including Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, Gideon Falter, actress Dame Maureen Lipman, and Founder of the Hexagon Society, Sophie Weisenfeld. Other speakers included political commentator and YouTuber Raphael Landau, and activist and Trustee for Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS), activist Liz Arif-Fear.

The rally criticised not only the Court’s ruling in the murder case but also the treatment of French Jews in general. Addressing this issue in her speech, Dame Maureen accused France of “putting your knee on the neck of the Jewish race. Under such blind and bigoted injustice, we too cannot breathe. Nous ne pouvons pas respirer.” Dame Maureen and Mr Falter also both observed how there has been worldwide solidarity against some forms of racism over the past year but global silence over antisemitic injustice.

Ms Arif-Fear spoke passionately, stating: “Sarah Halimi’s family deserve justice…the murderer must face justice…I, and my colleagues at MAAS, will always stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters. We believe that we’re stronger together, and we want Jews across Britain, France, wider Europe, and the world to know that you do have allies.”

Mr Falter, detailing his own first-hand experiences of antisemitism in France, revealed harrowing accounts of heightened security in Jewish neighbourhoods and synagogues being firebombed, before adding: “It’s shameful that today in the European Union, in Europe, in the world, we have a leading country, like France, where Jews are in fear.” Mr Landau echoed this sentiment in his remarks.

The speeches can be watched in full on our YouTube channel.

Lawyers for Dr Halimi’s sister have announced that they will be bringing a lawsuit under Israeli law to convict Mr Traoré, and are considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Dr Halimi’s sister, Esther Lekover, is an Israeli citizen and the lawyers stated that they intend to make use of an Israeli law that allows them to take action over the murder even though it was committed outside of Israel.

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University of Connecticut students hold rally against recent acts of antisemitism

Students from the University of Connecticut held a rally on Monday 5th April after their campus was vandalised with swastikas and Nazi ‘SS’ symbols. In addition to this, a visibly Jewish student carrying a kippah and a box of matzah was the victim of an antisemitic verbal assault during the Jewish festival of Passover.

The incident is currently under police investigation, making this the seventh antisemitic incident to take place during the current academic year, according to the University’s Hillel Jewish campus group.

In an Instagram post, Hillel stated that the Nazi symbols were “graffitied on the side of the Chemistry Building directly facing the UConn Hillel building.”   

Hillel also confirmed that a student from the University drove past a Jewish student carrying a kippah and a box of matzah. The perpetrator allegedly rolled down their window and spewed antisemitic hate speech before driving off.

The University’s President, Thomas Katsouleas, said: “It is distressing to me that a letter like this one is necessary, but it is absolutely urgent for us to make clear to all of our students, faculty, and staff members that you are vital, valued members of the UConn community. For those who feel distressed or uncertain in the face of incidents of abhorrent conduct, let us be as clear as we can: Hate has no place here.”

Antisemitic graffiti was also discovered recently at Albion College in Michigan.

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

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Anti-lockdown protestors in Ukraine don concentration camp uniforms

Anti-lockdown protestors in Kyiv have been seen dressed in concentration camp uniforms and donning yellow stars.

The 20th March ‘Rally For Freedom’ in the nation’s capital city was organised by the ‘Stop Fake Pandemic’ group, which claimed that more than 1,000 people participated.

The Ukrainian Jewish Committee called the use of the costumes in the protests “a cynical and shameful desecration of the victims of the Holocaust.”

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

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

Image Credit: Eduard Dolinsky (Facebook)

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French anti-vaccination protestors described as “brainless” for using yellow star at demonstration

Organisers of an anti-vaccine demonstration in the French city of Avignon have been described as “brainless” for using the Nazi yellow star in their protest.

In the demonstration organised by a radical group of “southern citizens”, some 45 protestors marched through the centre of the historic city carrying banners showing yellow stars and comparing COVID-19 restrictions with Nazi persecution of Jews.

In an interview for a French-language website, one of the organisers conceded that France was “certainly not in a genocide” but that “these laws against liberty recall dark moments in our history.”

The Deputy (parliamentarian) for the region, Eric Ciotti, condemned the protestors as “brainless” and “outrageous”, while Fabienne Haloui, a local councillor, said that while protest was legitimate, the restriction of freedoms caused by the pandemic and lockdown can “in no way be compared to the persecution of Jews which ended in genocide.”

Sometimes it was “good to have a sense of proportion,” she added.

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

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

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Spain’s Justice Minister orders investigation over far-right rally in Madrid

Spain’s Justice Minister, Enrique Lopez, has ordered prosecutors to open an investigation into possible antisemitic hate crimes following a rally in central Madrid on 13th February.

Several hundred supporters of the far-right, wearing fascist insignia and displaying flags from the Franco era, took part in the rally to honour Spanish soldiers who fought alongside the Nazis in World War II.

Video footage seen on Twitter showed speeches that contained antisemitic slurs and expressed support for Nazi ideology. It also showed supporters singing a fascist anthem and raising their hands in a Nazi salute.

The investigation follows complaints from human-rights groups.

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

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Far-right activists in Ukraine blame Jews for Soviet oppression

A few dozen far-right protestors gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in Kyiv calling on Israel and Jews to “repent for genocide” on Ukrainians, apologise for Soviet oppression and take responsibility for a 1930s famine.

The demonstration in the capital of the former Soviet republic was a protest against a tweet by Israel’s ambassador, Joel Lion, which criticised a torchlit march held in memory of a Ukrainian World War II leader and alleged Nazi collaborator.

The far-right activists called on Israel and the Jews to assume responsibility for the famine known as Holodomor. The famine, which killed millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s, was a result of the policies of the then-Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

Noted activist Vladislav Goranin claimed that Israel “deliberately spreads antisemitism in Ukraine” and that Jews and Israel must “repent for genocide” on Ukrainians. Ultra-nationalists in Ukraine and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union blame Jews for Communist oppression as well as the famine, citing the “support” of some Jews for Communism.

Jews have historically been accused of promoting Communism by its opponents, just as the Communists accused the Jews of propagating Capitalism. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, examples of antisemitism include “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective”; “Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews”; and “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism to characterise Israel or Israelis.”

Moreover, Jews in the Soviet Union were subjected to horrendous persecution, as were other minorities, just as they were subjected to pogroms by the Czarist regime that preceded the Soviet Union.

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

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Anti-mask protests in Vancouver linked to Holocaust denial and antisemitism

Antisemitism and Holocaust denial has become a regular feature of anti-lockdown protests in the Canadian West Coast city of Vancouver.

An anti-mask Twitter feed recently posted a video of prominent local anti-lockdown activist Marco Pietro denying the use of gas chambers in the Holocaust and claiming that the number of Jews murdered had been inflated, while a speaker at a recent rally referred to the Jews as “Satanic, Talmudic” people. Mr Pietro also organised a previous rally in Vancouver in May.

An earlier video shows Mr Pietro alleging that “a bunch of Zionist Jews” were responsible for “setting up” the Nazi leader and claiming that Mein Kampf did not contain “one racist dictate or anything of the sort”

“Oh, I’m a Holocaust disbeliever,” Mr Pietro boasted on the video. “You’re f**kin’ right I am.”

He then stated that he had done “the research” before claiming that the Holocaust never happened and that there were no gas chambers and accusing Holocaust survivors of having made “millions of dollars” by lying about their ordeal.

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

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Italian demonstrators indicted for racial hatred towards Jews

Four demonstrators who took part in an anti-fascist demonstration in Milan in 2018 have been indicted for racial hatred as a result of abuse and threats allegedly aimed at Jewish demonstrators.

The four were indicted for racial or religious hatred offenses allegedly against members of the Jewish Brigade during April 2018 demonstrations to mark the anniversary of Italy’s Liberation in WWII.

A YouTube video of the demonstration shows police keeping noisy demonstrators apart, with far-left protesters on one side of a barrier and Jews on the other. It became more unpleasant when bottles were thrown at Jewish demonstrators and gestures of throat-slitting and machine-guns fire was directed at Jews.

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

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“Hate takes over the streets of Chile”: swastikas and antisemitic slogans seen in Chile march against a new constitution

Nazi symbols and antisemitic slogans were paraded in the streets of Chile during a march on 10th October in opposition to a new constitution for the South American nation.

The march took place in Las Condes, a municipality in the Santiago province. Some of the marchers protesting against the proposed new constitution wore Nazi symbols, made Hitler salutes and flew flags with swastikas.

Many wore shirts bearing the initials ATP, signifying support for the nationalist ATP movement whose slogan is “Chile for Chileans” and whose acronym stands for Aun Tenemos Patria (“We still have a homeland”). It states that it is “openly anti-globalist” and “against progressivism and its political correctness.”

In a tweet, Marcelo Isaacson, Executive Director of Comunidad Judia de Chile, the country’s umbrella Jewish organisation, asked: “Germany 1930? No, Chile Oct 2020. Hate takes over the streets of Chile.”

Since last year, there have been frequent protests calling for a new constitution to reduce inequality in Chile, but the nationalist ATP opposes a new constitution.

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

Image credit: Simon Wiesenthal Center

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“Heil Hitler” chanted at Dutch protest over coronavirus restrictions

A group protesting about Corona virus restrictions reportedly shouted “Heil Hitler” in the streets of Den Bosch, the capital of the Netherlands province of North Brabant on Saturday.

Local radio station Omroep Brabant reported that video posted to Twitter appeared to show the demonstrators at the 17th October march shouting the antisemitic slogan.

Police are reportedly examining footage for possible criminal acts. Two arrests were made.

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

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Vienna municipality protects statue of antisemitic mayor said to have inspired Hitler

The Vienna municipality has moved to protect the statue of a former mayor who made virulently antisemitic statements and may have inspired Hitler.

The statue of Karl Lueger, located in the heart of the Austrian capital on Ringstrasse Boulevard, was recently fenced in a bid to prevent protesters from spraying graffiti calling for its removal. They also stated that the municipality plans to clean the statue.

Mr Lueger served as mayor of Vienna for thirteen years until his death in 1910 at the age of 65. He was known for antisemitic rhetoric that is claimed to have inspired the young Hitler, who lived in the Austrian capital and spoke in Mein Kampf of his “undisguised admiration” for The Viennese mayor.

For example, in one speech, delivered to members of the Christian-Social Workers’ Association in Vienna in July 1899, Mr Leuger invoked the kind of antisemitic rhetoric that would later be employed by the Nazis, saying: “The influence on the masses is in the hands of the Jews…the largest part of the press is in their hands; the vast majority of capital and especially big business is in the hands of the Jews,” adding “above all, this is about the liberation of the Christian people from the domination of Judaism.”

Artist Simon Nagy, who helped start a vigil in protest at the continued city-centre presence of the statue and at the municipality’s plan to clean it, declared that it belonged “on the manure heap of history” or “in a museum.”

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

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Suspended nurse who led anti-mask protests defends her use of “Auschwitz” and “Nazi” comparisons

A suspended nurse who has led protests against mask-wearing and lockdown restrictions has defended her use of comparisons to Auschwitz and Nazis.

Kate Shemirani has reportedly described the NHS as the “new Auschwitz” and claims that the Government’s policies to control the pandemic are reminiscent of “Nazis”.

In a recent protest in London, however, she defended the comparisons, saying: “When I likened this to Auschwitz and the cattle trucks – you tell me the difference? Because the only time in history I could find where the doctors and nurses were able to end people’s lives was the nurses of the Third Reich. The nurses of the Third Reich are here today. I don’t care if they find it offensive. I find it offensive that our elderly have been murdered in care homes. Stop being a special snowflake and saying you’re offended. They are killing our elderly, our most vulnerable.”

According to the JC, Ms Shemirani has also made frequent reference to the Jewish financier, philanthropist and political activist, George Soros.

She has been suspended as a registered nurse for eighteen months pending an investigation into her past alleged comments on COVID-19 and 5G conspiracy theories.

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Antisemitic hate preacher David Icke joined on stage by conspiracist Piers Corbyn in rally against pandemic rules that included supporters of British Union of Fascists

The conspiracy theorist and antisemitic hate preacher David Icke led a rally in London over the weekend against the lockdown and other pandemic-related rules and restrictions. He was joined on stage by Piers Corbyn, the conspiracist brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Participants at the demonstration displayed the symbol of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, among other controversial material.

Other attendees reportedly displayed placards promoting the antisemitic QAnon conspiracy theory, which believes a powerful cabal runs the world.

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

Recently, Ofcom sanctioned the television channel London Live for airing an interview with Mr Icke on COVID-19 in which he claimed that Israel is using the pandemic to “test its technology” and Facebook and YouTube resolved to remove Mr Icke from their platforms, albeit because of his conspiracies regarding the pandemic rather than because he is a Jew-hater. Waterstones also recently announced that it would remove from sale all of his books.

Piers Corbyn has his own history of controversy in relation to antisemitic conspiracy theories. He has previously retweeted @whiteknight0011, a notorious neo-Nazi who declared that “They will force Trump in to war What do you think happened to Hitler? Bilderberg CIA IMF Banker Gangsters They are the problem” along with four images. The @whiteknight0011 account has since been suspended. One image showed Lord Jacob Rothschild, the Jewish banker and philanthropist, against the background of a Nazi flag, claiming that he controls the world. A second showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a puppeteer controlling ISIS through Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, orchestrating the war in Syria and Paris attacks as Lord Rothschild and the Queen look on approvingly. A third image showed the faces of supposed Jewish conspirators who run the world to society’s detriment, proclaiming: “Know your enemy”. The last image showed a family photo of the Royal Family, claiming that they are in cahoots with these Jewish conspirators in committing “the worst genocides, invasions and theft in all history.”

Piers Corbyn has also claimed that “Zionists” were conspiring against his brother: when Jewish then-MP Louise Ellman complained of antisemitic attacks against her, Piers accused her of using it as a cover for political attack, tweeting: “ABSURD! JC+ All #Corbyns are committed #AntiNazi. #Zionists can’t cope with anyone supporting rights for #Palestine”.

It is ironic that Jeremy Corbyn, agreed with and defended his brother over that statement, citing the fact their mother had been at Cable Street, a 1936 clash between Mr Mosley’s British Union of Fascists and his Jewish and non-Jewish opponents.

Image credit: Joe Mulhall

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CAA sounds alarm over black-shirted paramilitary group in South London led by a man who rails against ‘Zionist bloodlines’

A group of black-shirted activists in South London gathered to march on the first day of August, which marks African Emancipation Day, to call for Britain to pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.

The group, calling itself the Forever Family Force, was formed last month, apparently modelled on the militant Black Panthers, in order to campaign against “racism, inequality and injustice”. The participants appeared in black uniforms with body armour and walkie-talkies and acted out military-style drills.

It is believed that the group is led by Khari McKenzie., a rap artist.

Mr McKenzie has reportedly shared the antisemitic conspiracy theory that Israel was to blame for the racist killing of George Floyd, and recently declared on Instagram that “every Zionist is an Islamophobe” and that “when we’re talking about Zionists, and even talking about if I don’t agree with the people that run the banks, yeah, and by them running the banks the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, if I don’t agree with that, that don’t make me anti-no one. I’m just anti-oppression. If I look in my history book and see there were people with Zionist blood that were heavily involved in the transatlantic slave trade, me pointing that out doesn’t make me antisemitic.”

Mr McKenzie also described as “devils” those like Campaign Against Antisemitism and other Jewish activists who had successfully campaigned for the antisemitic grime artist Wiley to be removed from social media platforms, and he called for Wiley to be reinstated, reportedly using hashtags such as #Rothschildbloodline and #whoownsthebanks.

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “There is no justification for using antisemitic tropes to commemorate the horrors of slavery or protest against ongoing racism in society today.

“Forever Family should appreciate that, for ordinary decent people, and the Jewish community in particular, seeing a paramilitary group wearing black shirts and marching through the streets of London led by a man who rails against ‘Zionist bloodlines’ is frighteningly reminiscent of humanity’s darkest hour and does nothing to further the noble cause of fighting racism.“Prejudice cannot be beaten by more prejudice.”

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Far-right National Defence League highjacks protest in Glasgow

The far-right group, National Defence League (NDL) has been accused of highjacking a protest in Glasgow at the end of last month.

The NDL, which formed following a split with the Scottish Defence League, disrupted a housing policy demonstration in George Square, leading to the arrest of six individuals.

The group promotes far-right tropes and is reportedly connected to an English neo-Nazi figure.

The NDL is believed to have connections to the ‘Blood & Honour’ far-right coalition, which has been active in the UK since the 1980s.

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Best for Britain apologises for tweeting viral picture of man with antisemitism links in anti-racism rally and then issuing offensive response to criticism

Best for Britain, an influential activist group, has apologised for tweeting a viral picture of a man with links to an antisemitic group attending an anti-racism rally and speaking to a young black woman. Best for Britain initially issued an offensive response to the criticism before reversing itself and apologising.

The picture featured Jim Curran with a sign reading “Racism is a virus, we are the vaccine”, but Mr Curran is a regular attendee at a group called Keep Talking, a group of far-right and far-left conspiracy theorists who come together to promote antisemitism.

When the girl in the photograph was made aware of Mr Curran’s identity, she reportedly responded: “He is an activist and a beautiful man. Spoke some real deep truths. His words brought me to tears. He said the genocide the news [sic] went through, was nothing on slavery and what black people endured and are still enduring.” She added: “I…judge him on our convo and from his vibe and his work. The jews [sic] are not innocent, #israelosnotinnocent they deal with mad racism!”

The picture received millions of views online.

At first, Best for Britain responded to the criticism saying: “Some people have identified that the old gentleman in the photo is a holocaust denier. We believe that this fact makes it even more important to share this image. It is worth applauding the fact that these two people from different generations have found common ground, and had a friendly conversation in the middle of a day of violent protests.”

ITV then featured Mr Curran and the woman on television.

Best For Britain finally released a statement apologising: “An apology from us — we got it wrong. Two days ago we published on social media a photograph of a woman and a man talking at a Black Lives Matter rally. When it was pointed out to us that the man had links to organisations accused of antisemitism, we should have removed the post immediately, apologised for our error and reasserted our view that all forms of racism are abhorrent. We did not. Instead, a member of our social media team published a poorly-worded, offensive and unjustifiable response about why they had posted the photograph. Once senior management were made aware of the situation yesterday, the image and associated comments were immediately removed and the staff involved are going through formal disciplinary processes. We are also undertaking a review of all editors of our social media channels. Best for Britain totally and wholly opposes racism in all its forms, including antisemitism, and we deeply regret creating the impression that we were legitimising racist views by publishing this photograph and the follow-up comment. We also apologise unreservedly to everyone we offended. We are taking steps to avoid this happening again, including mandatory training. Thank you to those of you who have contacted us about this issue and who campaign so fiercely and bravely against antisemitism. We are extremely sorry.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomed the apology, saying: “Thank you for taking responsibility, apologising and taking action both to discipline those staff who were behind this and to educate your entire team. We will be happy to offer our free training to your staff.”

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Protest against statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford turned antisemitic, according to college’s Equality and Diversity Officer

The Equality and Diversity Officer at Oriel College, Oxford, has claimed that a protest against the statue of Cecil Rhodes at the college turned antisemitic, according to the JC.

The protest to remove the statue, held by the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign reportedly in solidarity with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, featured a speaker from the University of Leeds who blamed Israel for the racist American police brutality that killed George Floyd. The speaker claimed that “the American police are trained by the Israel oppression army. They are united against us.” He went on to accuse his university “like many others” of “invest[ing] in Israeli apartheid”.

However, the Equality and Diversity Officer of Oriel Middle Common Room told the JC: “A speaker stood up and started bringing up Israel in a context where you wouldn’t really expect Israel to be relevant. He started talking conspiratorially about how Israel was responsible for racism and he used the antisemitic tropes of bringing Israel in where Israel is not relevant”. The officer, in attendance at the protest, raised his concerns to those around him but in return “received threatening stares” and opted to leave the protest after being made to feel “uncomfortable”.

It is understood that numerous Jewish and non-Jewish students subsequently approached the officer in his official capacity about the protest, saying that they were “hurt and concerned” following the remarks by the inflammatory speaker.

The officer called on Oxford branches of the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaigns to “distance themselves from the speaker and the portion of the crowd that cheered” his comments. He also called on Oriel College to condemn the comments.

This is not the first time that activists with their own agendas have tried to co-opt concern for and protests against anti-black racism for their own agendas, including by blaming the Jewish state.

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Thousands rally first in the UK and now in America and France as antisemitic crime surges on both sides of the Atlantic

After 3,200 people attended the #TogetherAgainstAntisemitism rally in Parliament Square on 8th December 2019 to protest antisemitic crime and antisemitism in public life in the UK, now thousands have rallied in the United States and in France to speak out against the rising tide of antisemitic crime in their countries.

On 6th January in the United States, ten thousand people, including the Governor of New York, marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City to protest a series of anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York and New Jersey, including the shooting in Jersey City and the attack at a rabbi’s home in Monsey during a Chanukah party. The march was under the banner: “No Hate, No Fear”.

Meanwhile, on the same day, thousands of French Jews and their supporters rallied in Paris to protest the decision by the French Court of Appeal that the murderer of Sarah Halimi was “not criminally responsible” for his actions. Ms Halimi was brutally beaten in 2017 and thrown out of the window of her apartment in a building she shared with the murderer. Ms Halimi was routinely insulted in their building, the murderer conceded that seeing a Jewish menorah and prayer book in the 65-year-old lady’s flat intensified his mental state and even the court acknowledged that the attack was antisemitic.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has always been clear that there must be zero tolerance for antisemitic crime and perpetrators must be subject to the full force of the law.

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

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What do Al Murray, Pakistani Christians and a Tibetan rights activist have in common?

They all attended the #TogetherAgainstAntisemitism national rally in Parliament Square on Sunday, along with 3,200 others.

The rally called for Jews and non-Jews alike to stand together against antisemitism at a time when the Jewish community has been shaken by antisemitism in public life and mounting antisemitic hate crime.

Speakers included barrister and television personality Robert Rinder, actress and writer Tracy Ann Oberman, and historian, biographer and broadcaster Tom Holland, as well as Trupti Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain and Fiyaz Mughal OBE, founder of Muslims Against Antisemitism.

Attendees were recorded by Nick Richmond at EventCapsule and by Jonny Gould’s Jewish State podcast.

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3,200 turn out in solidarity at star-studded #TogetherAgainstAntisemitism national rally

Campaign Against Antisemitism today held the #TogetherAgainstAntisemitism national rally in Parliament Square. Stewards put the final attendance number at 3,200 people.

The rally called for Jews and non-Jews alike to stand together against antisemitism at a time when the Jewish community has been shaken by antisemitism in public life and mounting hate crime.

Speakers included barrister and television personality Robert Rinder, actress and writer Tracy Ann Oberman, and historian, biographer and broadcaster Tom Holland, as well as Trupti Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain and Fiyaz Mughal OBE, founder of Muslims Against Antisemitism.

The crowd heard powerful messages from the speakers.

Robert Rinder said that attendance at the rally was vital: “The question is not how I could be here, it’s how we could not be here today.” His sentiment was echoed by Fiyaz Mughal OBE, who said: “Britain is not Britain without Jews.”

Tracy Ann Oberman decried the state of antisemitism in Britain, warning: “Rabbis beaten up in the streets, people abused on the Tube, Nazi tropes at Glastonbury, antisemitic murals approved by politicians, Holocaust denial. How did it come to this?…It has never been more important for us all to stand up to racism.”

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Today we here in this square stand before the Mother of Parliaments in the country of the Magna Carta. The country that stood alone as a light in Europe as the hatred of Nazi Germany enveloped the continent. We stand here to say that Britain is better than this. We stand here to ask all of the people of our country to stand with us.”

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Line-up for “People’s Assembly” rally in Parliament Square features speakers with disturbing history as councillor withdraws citing “antisemitic people”

A rally organised by “People’s Assembly” scheduled for this afternoon in Parliament Square in London features speakers who have made antisemitic comments in the past, downplayed the institutional antisemitism of the current Labour Party or claimed that concerns over antisemitism are merely a smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn. In particular:

  • Richard Burgon MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor, asserted that “Zionism is the enemy of peace”, and then lied about having done so;
  • Lindsey German, a founder of the Stop the War Coalition, described concerns over antisemitism in the Labour Party as a “witch-hunt”;
  • Mark Serwotka, the General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, suggested that Israel may have “created” the antisemitism crisis engulfing the Labour Party;
  • Aaron Bastani, the co-founder of Novara Media, was condemned for tweeting that the dozens of UK rabbis who publicly criticised the Labour Party in a cross-denominational letter should have their records examined, claiming that former Chief Rabbi Lord Sachs was a “right wing ultra-nationalist”;
  • Eddie Dempsey, an activist at the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), referred to accusations against Mr Corbyn as “smears”; and
  • Tariq Ali, a veteran activist, described allegations of antisemitism made against Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party as a “vile and grotesque” and “disgusting” campaign, claiming that the Israeli Government had “encouraged” antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism commends Jack Deakin, a Labour and Co-operative councillor from North Warwickshire, who has declined to join the rally — even though he agrees with its political message — out of concern that “antisemitic tropes will be used or antisemitic people will be attending, when you look at the list of speakers.” He also accused other Labour MPs, including Dan Carden, the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, and Laura Pidcock of “ignoring antisemitism”.

Our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit will be in attendance.

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Anti-Trump protest in London takes no issue with placard claiming “They all work for Rothschild”

A placard claiming that “They all work for Rothschild” was held at the anti-Trump protest in central London today, apparently drawing no condemnation from protesters. It was not clear who “all” referred to, but it was underlined for emphasis.

Antisemitic conspiracy myths have long placed the predominantly Jewish Rothschild family of bankers and philanthropists behind the world’s ills, accusing them of leading a global Jewish conspiracy. The myth gained widespread currency when the Nazis recognised its potency for turning Germans against the supposed hidden hand of the Jews, who their propaganda claimed was ruining Germany’s national future.

One of the themes of the protest was supposed to be anti-racism.

The placard featured a cartoon of Charles Montgomery “Monty” Burns from The Simpsons. The character is the notoriously wealthy, greedy and stingy owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. It also featured a graphic of the “Flower Thrower” by English street artist and political activist, Banksy. The graffiti of a masked rioter throwing a bunch of flowers first appeared on a wall in Jerusalem in 2003 and then featured on the front cover of his book “Wall and Piece” in 2005.

After we received a report about the placard, members of Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit were sent to the protest to investigate, but by then the protester had left.

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“Al Quds Day” parade stripped of Hizballah flags, but marchers told “Zios” plot antisemitism “smears” at workshops run by Israeli embassy

Nearly 1,000 people have marched at the “Al Quds Day” parade in central London today. Volunteers from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of the protest to gather evidence.

The march saw open antisemitism from attendees, who marched under banners declaring that it is a “crime” or “racism” to support Zionism, the movement to grant Jews the same right to self-determination as all peoples are granted under Article 1 of the United Nations Charter. Some compared Zionism to Nazism.

Mick Napier the Secretary of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPCC) told protesters that Peter Willsman should not have been suspended for saying that the Israeli embassy was behind allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party. He declared that not only was the Israeli embassy behind “phoney” antisemitism “smears”, but that it also held workshops around the UK where “Zios” (an antisemitic slur word) plotted to orchestrate the “smears”. In 2017, Mr Napier was found guilty of aggravated trespass at a protest outside a cosmetics store in Glasgow during the 2014 Gaza war. The SPCC has previously been exposed over many of its supporters’ extremely antisemitic views.

The entire march was led by a banner calling for “Victory to the resistance”. “The resistance” is the name often used to refer to various terrorist organisations including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hizballah, all of which seek the murder of every Jew worldwide.

Protesters frequently chanted the rhyme: “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, which only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state, and is thus an attempt to uniquely deny Jews the right to self-determination.

The “Al Quds Day” marchers did not have the streets to themselves, however. A group of anti-terrorism activists waving Israeli flags confronted the marchers and engulfed them in a cloud of blue and white smoke.

While in previous years the march has been a pro-Hizballah parade, with marchers festooned in Hizballah flags, no support for Hizballah was visible this year because in February this year Hizballah was completely proscribed by the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, with the support of the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. This followed a gruelling effort over several years by Campaign Against Antisemitism and our allies.

Until then, the British Government had distinguished between Hizballah’s “military wing” and “political wing”, even though Hizballah mocked the Government and said that no such distinction exists. The loophole enabled brazen shows of support for Hizballah, including at previous “Al Quds Day” parades where pro-Hizballah supporters marched through central London waving Hizballah flags and placards with “We Are All Hizballah.” The law has also now been changed to allow police officers to seize flags or clothing bearing the insignia of terrorist organisations, and also arrest anybody who publishes photographs of them.

Prior to today’s parade, Campaign Against Antisemitism and our allies met with the Metropolitan Police Service who vowed to “intervene to enforce the law” if Hizballah flags were flown.

The firm approach of the Metropolitan Police Service ensured that no shows of support for Hizballah were seen this year, and Campaign Against Antisemitism wishes to thank the police for upholding the law and defending the Jewish community.

We understand that at least one person from the “Al Quds Day” parade has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. We have received reports that another person was arrested for allegedly assaulting an anti-terrorism activist.

Volunteers from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstrations and Event Monitoring Unit gathered extensive evidence, which our Regulatory Enforcement Unit is considering, as the self-anointed Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), which runs the event, is a charity. A report released this week by the Henry Jackson Society, found that the IHRC is permeated by “extreme antisemitism”.

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Crowds at Corbyn-supported anti-Israel march attended by National Front leader cheer as speaker says Jewish organisations are “in the gutter” and “part of the problem”

Central London was brought to a chaotic standstill today as thousands marched and rallied against Israel at the “National Demonstration for Palestine: Exist! Resist! Return!”

The march saw open antisemitism from attendees, many of whom cheered as one speaker told adoring crowds that Jewish organisations are “in the gutter” and “part of the problem”. Numerous antisemitic banners and placards were carried through the streets, including one declaring that “Israel provokes antisemitism.” In attendance were senior Labour MPs, known Islamist extremists, and Tony Martin, the leader of the neo-Nazi National Front.

Volunteers from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of the protest to gather evidence which our Crime Unit is already reviewing.

Under a heavy police presence, protesters assembled outside the BBC headquarters and marched to Whitehall, the heart of British democracy, via iconic Regent Street. The BBC is just a short walk from Central Synagogue where many Jews were gathered for the Sabbath.

Various placards and badges on brazen display drew upon antisemitic conspiracy theories. One large placard declared that “Israel provokes antisemitism”. A badge emblazoned with a Star of David with a Nazi swastika in its midst proclaimed “Down with Zionism”. Another placard repeated the rhyme frequently chanted by the marchers; “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, which only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state, and is thus an attempt to uniquely deny Jews the right to self-determination. One marcher held aloft a placard suggesting that the BBC is controlled by the Israeli Prime Minister, whilst others hinted strongly at blood libels, carrying a coffin emblazoned with a claim that “Israelis execute Palestinian children” while another held a placard showing a diamond dripping with blood, stating that Israel exports “blood diamonds”, a phrase normally used to refer to diamonds mined by war criminals, usually using child slave labour.

Known Islamist extremists were also spotted by our volunteers, including one who was wearing the emblem of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Activists from “Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism” or LAZIR, founded by Pete Gregson, who was reportedly expelled from the GMB Union over his claims that Israel “exaggerates” the Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million Jews “for political ends” and who seeks to drive “Zionism out of the Labour Party”, handed out leaflets claiming that Zionism, the movement to grant Jews self-determination, is “racism”.

Marching alongside them was the antisemitism-denial group, the sham Jewish Voice for Labour. Its Secretary, Glyn Secker, made a speech which was rapturously received, claiming that Jews were “in the gutter” and “part of the problem”.

Holding American Rabbis responsible for fuelling the neo-Nazis behind antisemitic terrorism, including the fatal terrorist attack on Poway synagogue, Mr Secker claimed that they were “unleashing the extreme-right to win key votes in marginal states which determine the presidency”.

He then called 119 Labour MPs who are “friends of Israel” a “fifth column in the Labour Party led by [Dame Margaret] Hodge and [Tom] Watson and the Jewish Labour Movement.” Upon hearing the name of the Jewish Labour Movement, the crowd booed loudly.

“What on earth are Jews doing in the gutter with these rats?” Mr Secker asked, after claiming that the “Zionist Federation embraces the [far-right] English Defence League”, which is a fabrication. The crowd responded with calls of “Ban then from the Labour Party”.

Mr Secker then asked when Jews would fight fascism, before building to a crescendo: “Here’s a warning to the [British] Jewish leadership, while you foment your campaign of allegations of antisemitism against Corbyn and the left to silence Israel’s critics, while you cry wolf month after month, year after year in the Labour Party and remain blind to the explosion of the far-right and Islamophobia, you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” The crowd cheered, by Mr Secker continued: “You serve to protect the poison that would destroy both our freedom and yours. Well brothers and sisters, we are on the side of the Palestinians. We are on the side of the freedom marchers of ghetto Gaza.”

Labour leaders previously intervened to stop Mr Secker from being punished under the Party’s disciplinary process.

Ahed Tamimi, who served almost eight months in prison in Israel for assault, was the star attraction and addressed the crowd briefly. She finished her speech by repeating the antisemitic chant: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit saw no attempt by stewards from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) to remonstrate with any of the speakers or marchers.

Jeremy Corbyn, who is patron of the PSC, gave the march his ringing endorsement. A statement from him was read out by Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and videoed by a Twitter user who is well-known to us for sending Jews abuse online. The crowd began cheering at the mere mention of Mr Corbyn’s name and applause and cheering continued as his statement was read. Mr Corbyn has long championed the PSC, attending many of its events, including one of which at which he was filmed applauding antisemitic poetry.

Richard Burgon, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, who previously claimed that “Zionism is the enemy of peace” having told a court under oath that he had said no such thing, also addressed the crowd. The fact that Mr Burgon and Ms Abbott, such senior Labour politicians, attended an event which saw widespread antisemitism should be a cause for considerable concern.

The marchers, however, did not have the streets of central London to themselves. A brave group of anti-terrorism activists waving Israeli flags confronted the marchers.

The protest was organised by the PSC, Stop the War Coalition, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al- Aqsa and the Muslim Association of Britain. It was supported by the pro-Corbyn Momentum faction of the Labour Party as well as trade unions Unite, PCS, Unison, GMB, RMT, ASLEF, UCU, NEU, TSSA, CWU, and other organisations including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Amos Trust charity.

An investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism in 2017 exposed extensive antisemitic bigotry amongst supporters of the PSC. Just this week, an Evening Standard investigation uncovered supporters of the PSC sharing antisemitic posts comparing Israelis to Nazis. The shocking antisemitic posts reportedly included a cartoon comparing Israeli Jews with white power neo-Nazis and an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bathing in Palestinian blood, posing with Adolf Hitler.

The fact that this march saw such brazen displays of antisemitism, with warm support for and from the Labour Party and major trade unions, as well as with the attendance of Islamists and at least one neo-Nazi leader, clearly shows the coalition of antisemitism that British Jews now find themselves the target of. The far-left, the far-right and Islamist extremists clearly all share a common hatred of Jews, and they all attempt to conceal their antisemitism as opposition the world’s only Jewish state.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Crime Unit is now reviewing the evidence gathered today by the volunteers of our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit. Where crimes have been committed, we will pursue prosecutions.

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Following meetings with CAA and our allies, police vow to “intervene to enforce the law” if Hizballah flags are flown at “Al Quds Day” parade

Following meetings between the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and Campaign Against Antisemitism and our allies, police have vowed to “intervene to enforce the law” if Hizballah flags are flown, as they have been at previous “Al Quds Day” demonstrations, which have traditionally been a rally for supporters of the genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation.

In February this year, Hizballah was completely proscribed by the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, with the support of the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. This followed a gruelling effort over several years by Campaign Against Antisemitism and our allies.

Until then, the British Government had distinguished between Hizballah’s “military wing” and “political wing”, even though Hizballah mocked the Government and said that no such distinction exists. 

The loophole enabled brazen shows of support for Hizballah, including the pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” parade which is organised by a registered charity. Hizballah supporters marched through the heart of London, heard from antisemitic speakers and even draped babies in Hizballah flags.

The law has now also been changed to allow police officers to seize flags or clothing bearing the insignia of terrorist organisations, and also arrest anybody who publishes photographs of them.

Writing to Campaign Against Antisemitism and our allies, and also to the organisers of the “Al Quds Day” parade, following a number of meetings, Superintendent Nick Collins noted: “In previous years we have seen support for the group Hizballah, including flags, banners and chanting…The MPS is aware of the significant impact that the support for a terrorist organisation can have on the communities of London. It fully intends to intervene to enforce the law, where possible, should any offences be disclosed.”

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Hizballah seeks the murder of Jews worldwide and it has made good on its threats, slaughtering Jews from Burgas to Buenos Aires. It was outrageous that Hizballah supporters were allowed to march through the streets of our capital and we fought long and hard as a community to stop terrorist supporters from being allowed to brazenly flaunt their hatred. We are pleased that the police have put in place robust plans to enforce the law and our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit will be out in force as well to capture evidence should any crimes relating to supporting banned terrorist organisations be committed.”

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New law grants police stronger powers to stop display of terrorist flags ahead of annual “Al Quds Day” parade

The law has been tightened to grant police stronger powers to stop the display of proscribed organisation’s flags prior to the annual “Al Quds Day” parade, which has traditionally been a pro-Hizballah event at which numerous supporters of the genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation marched through London waving the organisation’s flag, wearing clothing emblazoned with its emblem, and carrying placards stating “We are all Hizballah”.

In February this year, Hizballah was completely proscribed by the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, with the support of the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. This followed a gruelling effort over several years by Campaign Against Antisemitism and our allies.

Until then, the British Government had distinguished between Hizballah’s “military wing” and “political wing”, even though Hizballah mocked the Government and said that no such distinction exists.

The loophole enabled brazen shows of support for Hizballah, including the pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” parade which is organised by a registered charity. Hizballah supporters marched through the heart of London, heard from antisemitic speakers and even draped babies in Hizballah flags.

In addition to the total proscription of Hizballah, the law has now been changed to enable police officers to take much firmer action.

The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 has changed the Terrorism Act 2000’s provision against wearing the uniform of banned terrorist organisations, which also included waving terrorist flags.

Under section 13 of the Terrorism Act, “A person in a public place commits an offence if he wears an item of clothing — or wears, carries or displays an article [including a flag] — in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation.”

The law has now been amended, to allow police officers to seize flags or other articles as evidence, stating: “A constable may seize an item of clothing or any other article if the constable reasonably suspects that it is evidence in relation to an offence under subsection (1), and is satisfied that it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent the evidence being concealed, lost, altered or destroyed.” The law further states that officers may require individuals to remove any terrorist-branded clothing, with certain exceptions, such as underwear.

Additionally, the law has been changed to make it an offence to publish images or videos of clothing or other articles that would “arouse reasonable suspicion that the person is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation”.

These amendments will ensure that Hizballah supporters will no longer be able to display the Hizballah flag and intimidate British Jews with impunity as they have done for years at successive “Al Quds Day” parades.

This year’s parade is scheduled for 2nd June in central London and Campaign Against Antisemitism, along with other Jewish community organisations, have been in discussion with the Metropolitan Police Service to ensure that any shows of support for Hizballah are firmly punished.

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Man who performed Nazi salute and yelled anti-Jewish racist hate at rally against antisemitism jailed for six months

A man who performed a Nazi salute and yelled antisemitic hate at a rally against antisemitism has been jailed for six months.

Joseph Brogan from Gorton shouted “child killers” and “you people should live in Israel,” as well as performing a Nazi salute toward demonstrators, at a rally against antisemitism in Manchester.

Footage of his arrest was captured on video.

Mr Brogan had 52 previous offenses on his record, as well as two previous convictions for racially aggravated offences.

He was given a sentence of six months in prison under Section 4A(1) & (5) of the Public Order Act, 1986 at Manchester Crown Court on 14th November.

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Not a single Labour MP joins hundreds of British Jews demonstrating against racist Labour in Parliament Square

Not a single Labour MP joined the 700 British Jews – and many non-Jews – who gathered this afternoon in Parliament Square to demonstrate against the institutional racism of the Labour Party.

While many Labour MPs were unable to be present due to prior commitments, the crowd was astonished to find that not a single Labour MP had joined them, with numerous speakers remarking that harassment of Labour MPs who attended previous demonstrations and the Labour Party’s disciplinary action against Jewish Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge for calling Jeremy Corbyn an “antisemite”, is chilling dissent in the Party.

The demonstrators called for a new law against discrimination in political parties due to Labour’s attempt to rewrite and butcher the International Definition of Antisemitism, and heard from speakers of all faiths decrying antisemitism in the Labour Party. Their message was clear and consistent: the Labour Party has now stooped so low that it is a racist, institutionally antisemitic organisation.

Addressing the crowd, LBC radio presenter Iain Dale revealed that he had never been to a protest, but felt compelled to stand in solidarity with British Jews, saying: “I have never ever been on a demonstration before. I have never spoken at a demonstration before. I am not a Jew. But you don’t have to be Jewish to recognise what is happening in the Labour Party.”

The demonstrators also heard from renowned libel lawyer Mark Lewis, who said: “I am a libel lawyer, but let me tell you that the words ‘Jeremy Corbyn is a racist’ are not defamatory, they’re true. If he wants to sue about that, he can do, but he is a racist, he leads a racist Party and anyone who supports that Party is supporting racism.”

Ghanem Nuseibeh, Chairman of Muslims Against Antisemitism, was cheered for telling antisemites in the Labour Party: “Do not hide behind pro-Arab, pro-Muslim or pro-Palestinian causes to justify your racism. We as Muslims do not need your support. We do not need the support of antisemites in the Labour Party.”

To applause, Labour Against Antisemitism spokesman Euan Phillips said of the Labour Party’s attempt to redefine antisemitism: “They’re trying to shift the goalposts again and make it easier for antisemites to stay in Labour…It’s the politics of the 1930s.”

Reflecting on Jewish history, Rabbi Andrew Shaw remarked: “It is shocking that I have to think about the modern day Labour Party in the same way as I think about those in our history who have tried to destroy us.”

MPs and peers from other parties were spotted in the crowd and some took the stage to offer words of solidarity, including Theresa Villiers MP and Lord Stuart Pollak. The speeches can be watched on our Facebook Live stream.

Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign  Against Antisemitism, said: “The last time that we gathered in Parliament Square, our message was ‘Enough is enough’. The Jewish community has given the Labour Party every possible opportunity to veer from the path it is on, but in defiance of British Jews and even his own MPs, Jeremy Corbyn has doggedly dragged the once anti-racist Labour Party into the depths of racism. By trying to redefine antisemitism his way, Jeremy Corbyn has left no doubt that he is the leader of an antisemitic institution, and he is perfectly happy with that. The Labour Party should be abandoned by all decent people.”

The demonstration, which was called with only 30 hours’ notice, attracted coverage on BBC, ITV and Sky News.

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CAA calls Parliament Square demonstration as Labour takes “action” against Jewish MP for telling Jeremy Corbyn he is an “antisemite”

A Jewish Labour MP, Dame Margaret Hodge, is to face “action” by the Labour Party for calling her Party’s leader an “antisemite”.

Dame Margaret told Mr Corbyn that he was an “antisemite” in an exchange behind the speaker’s chair in the House of Commons. Dame Margaret said that her outburst was a response to the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee deciding to rewrite and emasculate the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted widely throughout the world and by political parties except for the Labour Party.

The Labour Party has now said it will take “action” and  that Dame Margaret had brought the Party into disrepute.

The Labour Party is still refusing to even investigate a disciplinary complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism and over 1,000 of its supporters against Mr Corbyn for the same offence.

Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband tweeted: “It is the Labour leadership which has brought the party into disrepute – not Margaret Hodge. How dare they preach about ‘respect between colleagues’ when this very code [on antisemitism] legitimises the most appalling disrespect.”

Various antisemites from the far-left and even neo-Nazis have lauded the decision to take action against Dame Margaret.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has called a demonstration on Thursday at 18:30 in Parliament Square after the Labour Party said it wanted to “consult” on its new definition of antisemitism. Rather than leaving them to conduct a disingenuous, drawn out consultation process, we will gather in Parliament Square and tell the Labour Party exactly how we feel.

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This year’s pro-Hizballah parade was more repulsive than ever, with even a baby wrapped in the terrorist organisation’s bloodcurdling flag

The pro-Hizballah parade held today succeeded in being even more repulsive than in past years.

Under a heavy police presence, including a police helicopter, riot police and officers on horseback, supporters of Hizballah gathered in London for the annual “Al Quds Day” pro-Hizballah parade.

As in past years, the volunteers of Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of it to gather evidence which we are already reviewing. Our efforts last year resulted in us bring a private prosecution against the leader of the parade, Nazim Ali, who was in charge again this year. Last year we allege that he blamed “Zionists” for the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

We had expressed grave concerns about violence at the parade, but to their credit, the Metropolitan Police Service managed to avoid bloodshed despite the presence in a small area of Hizballah supporters, the far-right and British Jewish groups opposed to antisemitism.

The organisers of the parade, a registered charity calling itself the Islamic Human Rights Commission, had issued guidance to attendees telling them that “you can bring a Hizballah flag to show support for the political wing of Hizballah.” Whilst the British Government has proscribed the “military wing” of Hizballah under the Terrorism Act 2000, the “political wing” is not proscribed.

The organisers began by distributing placards proclaiming “We are all Hizballah”, and the terrorist organisation’s flag soon began to fly over London. Some of those attending draped themselves in Hizballah flags and others wore Hizballah uniform. Some attached stickers to their flags stating that they were only showing support for the “political wing” of Hizballah, knowing that police have not been given the powers to take action.

One scene that set a new repulsive low for the parade was the sight of a man who had wrapped a baby in the flag of the genocidal terrorist organisation.

The parade soon began to resemble a march in Teheran or Beirut, with marchers carrying aloft portraits of Holocaust-denying theocrat Ali Khomeini and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whilst the leaders of the march attempted to set fire to the flag of the world’s only Jewish state.

Highly-inflammatory speakers addressed the crowd, including the disgraced Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer, who previously claimed that Israel was behind 9/11, and Mick Napier, who has led numerous disorderly demonstrations in his native Scotland and has a conviction for aggravated trespass at an anti-Israel demonstration. Dr Les Levidow, a Senior Research Fellow at the Open University, ended his speech to the pro-Hizballah parade: “Down with the anti-terror laws”.

However when the pro-Hizballah parade tried to move from its starting position, it was ambushed by a group of anti-terrorism protesters who blocked their way. Playing Jewish folk music and chanting “terrorist scum, off our streets”, they were eventually pushed on by police officers, but even then they stayed at the front of the pro-Hizballah parade all of the way to its conclusion at Downing Street, walking slowly and reducing its progress to a crawl.

A large peaceful counterdemonstration was also held by Jewish organisations, led by the Zionist Federation. Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, addressed the counter demonstration, saying: “We are here because the supporters of a terrorist organisation that openly seeks the genocide of the entire Jewish people, are marching through our capital” and demanding that Sajid Javid ban Hizballah in its entirety so that there could be no further pro-Hizballah parades.

Earlier this week, Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to the new Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, to set out the case for proscribing all of Hizballah. We also made representations to the Charity Commission regarding the Islamic Human Rights Commission, as well as holding a meeting with and making representations to the Metropolitan Police Service .

Signatures for our Parliamentary Petition calling for the proscription of the whole of Hizballah have soared past 14,000, with signatures coming in from all but one of the UK’s 650 Parliamentary constituencies. The Government must now formally respond under Parliamentary rules as we have received in excess of 10,000 signatures. The petition can be signed at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/219020.

We hope that following today’s appalling spectacle, Mr Javid will now proscribe all of Hizballah and once and for all prevent the brazen display of support for the Iranian-sponsored genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation on our streets. Today must be the last time that Hizballah supporters are allowed to mount a show of force through the heart of London.

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Hizballah has not been proscribed, so this is what to expect at the pro-Hizballah parade on Sunday, and this is what you and we can do

Over the past weeks, we have submitted a Parliamentary Petition signed by thousands of people from every corner of the UK, and made written representations urging the Home Secretary to immediately proscribe Hizballah in its entirety under the Terrorism Act in order to give police the powers they need to stop the pro-Hizballah parade on Sunday.

Proscription is important because the pro-Hizballah parade is currently only permitted due to a legal loophole. Whilst the British government has proscribed the “military wing” of Hizballah under the Terrorism Act 2000, the “political wing” is not proscribed, something that even Hizballah finds ridiculous. Indeed, its Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, mocked the distinction, saying in 2012: “We don’t have a military wing and a political one; we don’t have Hizballah on one hand and the resistance party on the other…Every element of Hizballah, from commanders to members as well as our various capabilities, are in the service of the resistance, and we have nothing but the resistance as a priority.”

We have also met with the Metropolitan Police Service to warn them about our serious security concerns, and we have made written representations to them as well.

We have also written once again to the Charity Commission about the activities of the charities which organise the parade.

We have written a joint open letter to the Home Secretary along with a prominent Muslim anti-extremism charity, drawing attention to the fact that this pro-Hizballah parade not only endangers Jews, but last year also drew a deadly far-right terrorist attack against Muslims.

We have made numerous interventions in the media and we have issued detailed briefings to journalists.

We have done all that we can, but Hizballah has not been proscribed in its entirety. Sajid Javid alone has that power, but as a new Home Secretary who has only been in office a short while, it was always ambitious to hope that he could proscribe Hizballah fully in time for Sunday’s pro-Hizballah parade.

The parade will be going ahead.

We would now like to tell you in detail what may happen on Sunday, and what you can do to help.

What is happening on Sunday

At 15:00 the parade will begin outside the Embassy of Saudi Arabia on Curzon Street, Mayfair, London W1J 5JG.

That is also where counterdemonstrators are also expected to arrive. We anticipate that most counterdemonstrators will be peaceful, but some may attempt to enter the pro-Hizballah parade or disrupt the speeches. Once the parade begins to move, we also anticipate that counterdemonstrators will attempt to block its path at various points.

There is a serious risk of violent disorder and even acts of terrorism due to the combination of mostly Shia Hizballah supporters protesting outside the embassy of Sunni Saudi Arabia, confronted by a range of far-right groups, all opposed by a peaceful assortment of Jewish protesters, former soldiers and Muslim counter-extremism activists, all on a day that the Metropolitan Police Service is stretched securing a major women’s march celebrating women’s suffrage. The pro-Hizballah parade is a magnet for extremists and we are having to privately prosecute the parade’s leader over comments allegedly made during the event last year. The far-right also feeds off the parade by using it to portray all Muslims as terrorists, and last year it was targeted by the terrorist Darren Osborne before he changed his plan and attacked Finsbury Park Mosque instead.

Pro-Hizballah parade

On Sunday, the annual pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” parade will take place. It was started by Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran in 1979 and in London it is organised by a registered charity calling itself the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

In past years, those marching on the parade, have carried the flag of Hizballah, the Iranian-sponsored terrorist organisation which has perpetrated attacks on Jews from Buenos Aires to Burgas, and which has even been blamed for two bombings on London. There are usually many children on the parade, draped in the flag of Hizballah which depicts a fist brandishing an assault rifle, over the image of a bloodied dagger.

In the past, the march has been associated with antisemitic invective, for example CAA is currently privately prosecuting the leader of the march last year, Nazim Ali, whom we have charged over alleged statements including: “Some of the biggest corporations who are supporting the Conservative Party are Zionists. They are responsible for the murder of the people in Grenfell, in those towers in Grenfell. The Zionist supporters of the Tory Party…It is the Zionists who give money to the Tory Party to kill people in high-rise blocks.”

This year, the parade itself is likely to be more inflammatory because it:

  • Is being held at a time of heightened tensions and direct military engagement between Iran, Hizballah and Israel;
  • Will be addressed by highly-inflammatory speakers, including the disgraced Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer, who claimed that Israel was behind 9/11, and Mick Napier, who has led numerous disorderly demonstrations in his native Scotland and has a conviction for aggravated trespass at an anti-Israel demonstration; and
  • Will start outside the Saudi Arabian embassy instead of the US embassy, which is where it was held in the past, giving rise to the possibility of a clash between the pro-Hizballah Shia marchers and pro-Saudi members of the Sunni community.

Far-right calls to action

The far-right uses the pro-Hizballah parade as a means by which to portray all Muslims as terrorist-sympathisers.

The far-right terrorist Darren Osborne attempted to ram the parade with his vehicle last year but instead opted to attack Finsbury Park Mosque when he ran into difficulties attacking the parade. One person was killed and twelve were injured.

This year, we have seen evidence of far-right groups and factions trying to incite their members to violently confront the pro-Hizballah marchers. It appears that there could be a significant far-right presence.

Members of the Jewish community must not be fooled into believing that our enemy’s enemy is our friend. The far-right is no friend of the Jewish people.

Jewish demonstrators caught in the middle

There will be a large peaceful counterdemonstration organised by the Zionist Federation, with the backing of various Jewish groups. Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, will speak at the counterdemonstration about the anti-Jewish terrorist campaign waged by Hizballah and why it has not yet been fully prosecribed. At present, it is possible that far-right demonstrators will be ‘kettled’ by the police in the same pen as the Jewish community, potentially causing considerable disturbance.

The Jewish community is also due to be joined by Muslim leaders opposing extremism, and retired soldiers who have fought hard to defend our country from terrorists.

Women’s suffrage “Processions” march

The route of the pro-Hizballah parade is said to pass adjacent to the massive Processions march at which tens of thousands of women will march in celebration of 100 years of women’s suffrage, which is already putting considerable strain on the Metropolitan Police Service as the march must be protected against terrorism.

What you can do on Sunday

Send us evidence

Campaign Against Antisemitism is sending a substantial team from its Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit to gather evidence at the pro-Hizballah parade. We intend to take legal action to bring any antisemitic criminals at the parade to justice. If you capture photographs or video that you think show a crime being committed, please send them to [email protected].

Go to the counterdemonstration

You can show your feelings about the pro-Hizballah parade by joining the Jewish community’s counterdemonstration, organised by the Zionist Federation. It is important to show that the supporters of Hizballah, a antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation, are outnumbered by decent people who abhor antisemitism and terrorism.

However, please carefully read our analysis above. If you attend the counterdemonstration, we would advise against bringing children with you. Please be very careful and obey instructions from the police and security officials.

What you can do after Sunday

Stay tuned

We will not be dropping this. Please subscribe to receive our e-mail updates so that we can tell you about our next steps when we are ready.

Whilst you wait, there are two actions you can take.

Keep sharing the petition

Sign and share our Parliamentary Petition to show Sajid Javid that there is strong support for Hizballah being fully designated as a terrorist organisation in the UK. Over 13,000 people from all but one of the UK’s 650 Parliamentary constituencies, from Orkney to St Ives, have signed our Parliamentary Petition.

Write to your MP

Polls show that the public wants the whole of Hizballah to be proscribed. Write to your MP and ask them to write to Sajid Javid on your behalf, urging him to proscribe Hizballah fully. You can easily write to your MP using www.writetothem.com.

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Disgraced Reverend Stephen Sizer, who claimed Israelis were behind 9/11, announced as speaker at pro-Hizballah parade in London

Disgraced conspiracy theorist Rev. Dr Stephen Sizer, who claimed that an Israeli conspiracy was behind 9/11, has been announced as a speaker at the annual pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” parade through central London on 10th June.

In February 2015, the notorious Rev. Dr Sizer was ordered by the Church of England to stop using social media after posting the conspiracy myth that Israel planned 9/11. While the Church said the material Rev. Dr Sizer posted was “clearly antisemitic”, the Daily Mail revealed that Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the Church defending Revd Dr Sizer, saying that he was being victimised because he “dared to speak out against Zionism.”

Mick Napier, the Secretary of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPCC), is another controversial figure announced as a speaker at the parade. Last year, Mr Napier was found guilty of aggressive behavior at a protest outside an Israeli-owned cosmetics store in Glasgow during the 2014 Gaza war. The SPCC has previously been exposed over many of its supporters’ extremely antisemitic views.

The “Al Quds Day” march is nothing more than a celebration of genocidal antisemitic terrorist group Hizballah. It is organised by registered charities, principally the self-annointed Islamic Human Rights Commission, which the Charity Commission has yet to open a statutory inquiry into despite repeated complaints by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has also launched a private prosecution against the leader of the march last year, Nazim Hussain Ali, after the Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute him.

In a joint open letter earlier this month to the new Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, the Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, Gideon Falter, and the founder of anti-Muslim hatred watchdog Faith Matters, Fiyaz Mughal OBE, called on Mr Javid to stop the march and proscribe Hizballah in its entirety.

The joint letter says that the march “makes a mockery of counter-extremism initiatives” and has already provided motivation for a terrorist attack in Britain. The letter concludes: “Please help us to thwart those who seek to portray all Muslims as terrorist sympathisers and those who would walk our streets carrying the flag of an organisation whose sworn mission is the genocide of Jews. Through your Great Office of State, your signature, and yours alone, can stop this.”

Over 10,000 people from 646 of the UK’s 650 Parliamentary constituencies have now signed a Parliamentart Petition calling for Hizballah to be fully proscribed. The Parliamentary Petition, started by Campaign Against Antisemitism, rapidly gained 10,000 signatures after a number of days as the most popular petition on Parliament’s website.

Now, as one of his first acts as Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, will be required to formally and publicly respond to the Parliamentary Petition, as the Government is required to respond to any Parliamentary Petition gaining more than 10,000 signatures. If the number of signatures on the Parliamentary Petition now climbs to 100,000, a debate in the House of Commons will be triggered. The petition can be signed at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/219020.

The parade will be closely monitored by a substantial evidence gathering team from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit and then analysed by our Crime Unit and Regulatory Enforcement Unit. It is our intention to take legal action if possible.

The announcement of such speakers at Rev. Dr Sizer show precisely what the “Al Quds Day” parade is all about. Hizballah should be fully proscribed so that it cannot take place as a brazen show of support for Hizballah.

Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “10,000 decent people from every part of the UK, from Orkey to St Ives, have stood together to say that enough is enough. We want these pro-terrorist parades off our streets. They make a mockery of counter-extremism efforts, are a rallying point for supporters of Islamist terrorism and fuel the far-right, already resulting in a terrorist attack which has killed one British Muslim and injured twelve others. Under Parliamentary rules, the Home Secretary is now required to respond to the petition, and as a decent man who has long stood firm against Islamist extremism, we ask him to respond by fully proscribing Hizballah under the Terrorism Act and thereby closing the legal loophole which allows these revolting and dangerous pro-Hizballah parades to take place.”

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Over 2,000 join CAA demonstration calling on Labour to hold Jeremy Corbyn to account

Today, Jews and non-Jews alike converged from across the UK for a national demonstration outside Labour Party Head Office organised by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Stewards estimated the crowd size at over 2,000 people who braved relentless rain to fill the streets surrounding Labour Party Head Office. At one point, police had to turn protesters away due to lack of space. Groups came from Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, York and other parts of the UK.

In impassioned speeches, actress Maureen Lipman CBE, Holocaust-survivor Agnes Grunwald Spier MBE, and Rabbi Joseph Dweck demanded that the Labour Party accept and enforce Campaign Against Antisemitism’s disciplinary complaint against Jeremy Corbyn for bringing Labour into disrepute, warning that inaction was itself a form of action.

Campaign Against Antisemitism Chairman, Gideon Falter, Director of Investigations and Enforcement, Stephen Silverman, and Head of Political and Government Investigations, Joseph Glasman, read a roll call of incidents shaming the Labour Party as hundreds of those attending signed forms backing Campaign Against Antisemitism’s disciplinary complaint against Mr Corbyn.

When we asked the crowd whether they wished to return if the Labour Party has not progressed the complaint within a month, we were answered with a chorus of “Yes” from the more than 2,000 Jews and non-Jews, many of them former Labour members. The date was set for May 13th.

The demonstration was widely covered in the media which reported that the demonstration marked an escalation of Labour’s antisemitism crisis.

Campaign Against Antisemitism would like to thank everyone who came and made their voices heard, as well as our volunteer team, and teams from CST and the Metropolitan Police Service who mobilised to protect the demonstration.

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See you at Labour Party Head Office on Sunday at 2pm!

Labour must hold Jeremy Corbyn to account, and there is nowhere better to deliver that message than to Labour’s doorstep.

We will hold our demonstration at Labour Party Head Office, 105 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QT.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has always been apolitical: we call out antisemitism in every political party without fear or favour, but what we have seen happen within the Labour Party since Jeremy Corbyn assumed its leadership has made antisemitism within other political parties seem pale by comparison.

Our campaign is about seeking justice, and that is what we demand from the Labour Party. Labour must lead by example and show that Jeremy Corbyn is bound by the same rules as Leader as he was as a backbencher, by investigating the disciplinary complaint we have filed against him for bringing the Party into disrepute. Labour must hold Jeremy Corbyn to account, if it does not, we must hold Labour as a whole to account.

So on Sunday at 2pm, join us as Jews and non-Jews alike converge on London from all over Britain to stand up for our Jewish community and drive home to Labour that it must finally deliver on its broken promise: zero tolerance for antisemitism.

When: Sunday 8th April at 2pm

Where: Labour Party Head Office, 105 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QT. Nearest Underground stations are St James’ Park (5-minute walk away, on the District and Circle lines) and Victoria (7-minute walk away, on the Victoria, Circle and District lines, and national rail).

What: Jews and non-Jews alike will converge on London from all over Britain to stand up for our Jewish community and drive home to Labour that they must finally deliver on their broken promise: zero tolerance for antisemitism.

Bring: Bagels and probably an anorak. And a biro – you will see why on Sunday. Everything else is provided, including placards.

Invite: Your friends and family. Children can come too, but only with their parents. There will be a counterdemonstration, but the police will make sure that they are kept separated from us. “A counter demonstration?” you ask? Indeed, this is the reality for those who stand against antisemitism in 2018.

How to invite friends: Forward this e-mail to them, invite them to our Facebook event (if they are on Facebook) or best of all, ask them to go and sign up at antisemitism.org/demonstration.

How to help: If you want to help with stewarding, go to antisemitism.org/volunteer. If you want to help fund the demonstration, please donate to and share our crowdfunding page, and if you want to help fund us with a monthly amount to help with all of the work we do even when there isn’t a demonstration, go to antisemitism.org/donate.

If you have a question: You can reply to this e-mail, but please bear in mind that we are absolutely swamped with e-mails at the moment, and from sunset on Thursday until Saturday night we will be observing the Jewish festival of Pesach, which is, coincidentally, about standing up to antisemitism.

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Update on the national demonstration at 2pm this Sunday, calling on Labour to hold Jeremy Corbyn to account

What is happening: Under Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party has become a safe haven for racists. He is at home amongst them, having spent his political career seeking out and giving succour to Holocaust deniers, genocidal antisemitic terrorist groups and a litany of Jew-haters.

What is being called for: Labour must lead by example and show that Jeremy Corbyn is bound by the same rules as leader as he was as a backbencher, by investigating the disciplinary complaint we have filed against him for bringing the Party into disrepute. Labour must hold Jeremy Corbyn to account.

When: This Sunday, 8th April, at 2pm, Jews and non-Jews alike will converge on London from all over Britain to stand up for our Jewish community and drive home to Labour that they must finally deliver on their broken promise: zero tolerance for antisemitism. Join us!

Where: We will meet in central London. The exact location will be sent by e-mail to everyone on our mailing list or who has signed up at antisemitism.org/demonstration. If your friends want to come, tell them to sign up so that they get the location too.

What to bring: Bagels and perhaps an anorak. Everything else is provided, including placards.

Who to bring: Your friends and family. Children can come too, but only with their parents. There will be a counterdemonstration, but they don’t yet know where we’re meeting, and the police will make sure that they are kept separated from us. “A counter demonstration?” you ask? Indeed, this is the reality for those who stand against antisemitism in 2018.

How to invite friends: Forward this page to them, invite them to our Facebook event (if they are on Facebook) or best of all, ask them to go and sign up at antisemitism.org/demonstration.

How to help: We need help stewarding on the day, flyering on Thursday, and raising money. If you want to help with stewarding or flyering, go to antisemitism.org/volunteer. If you want to help fund the demonstration, please donate to (and share!) our crowdfunding page, and if you want to support us with a monthly amount to help with all of the work we do even when there isn’t a demonstration, go to antisemitism.org/donate.

If you have a question: You can contact us, but please bear in mind that we are absolutely swamped with e-mails at the moment, and from sunset on Thursday until Saturday night we will be observing the Jewish festival of Pesach, which is, coincidentally, about standing up to antisemitism.

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CAA to send representatives to Parliament Square demonstration this evening

This evening at 17:30, members of the Jewish community and friends who stand with us against racism will meet in Parliament Square, to make our feelings known to the Parliamentary Labour Party which will meet at 18:00 to discuss the recent revelations about Jeremy Corbyn. We will be there as part of a broad show of communal disgust and outrage, and to demand that the Parliamentary Labour Party discusses Campaign Against Antisemitism’s disciplinary complaint against Mr Corbyn.

We encourage those who are able to attend to do so.

Over the weekend, Campaign Against Antisemitism filed a disciplinary complaint against Mr Corbyn which:

  • Restates our previous disciplinary complaint from 2016, which charged him with bringing the Labour Party into disrepute for dismissing antisemitism and endorsing the views of his brother;
  • Denounces Mr Corbyn over his membership of, participation in, and lies about the antisemitic “Palestine Live” Facebook group;
  • Reports Mr Corbyn for his alleged continued membership of the antisemitic “History of Palestine” Facebook group;
  • Calls out Mr Corbyn’s lies about a second inquiry into Ken Livingstone’s comments about Hitler supporting Zionists;
  • Denounces Mr Corbyn’s defence of a mural that even he now admits was antisemitic; and
  • Includes complaints about various other Labour Party figures.

Last night we rejected Mr Corbyn’s attempt to escape responsibility by apologising. Today it has emerged that he signed up to a third antisemitic Facebook group.

On 8th April at 2pm, the British public will take a national stand against antisemitism in London. Join us – please register for updates on the venue and speakers at antisemitism.org/jaccuse and use our Facebook event to invite friends.

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“Victory to the intifada” chanted by protesters blocking anti-racism march in Glasgow

“Victory to the intifada” was chanted by protesters at the annual Stand up to Racism march in Glasgow on Saturday. One of the stated aims of the march was to oppose antisemitism and the Confederation of Friends of Israel in Scotland (COFIS) joined the march to rally against antisemitism holding stating that “Antisemitism is racism” and “Antisemitism is a crime.”

The march quickly descended into an anti-Israel demonstration though, according to the Herald Scotland, which reported that a far-left direct action group took action to block COFIS from participating, by marching in front of them extremely slowly. The direct action group known as Red Front Republic boasted that it was their balaclava-clad members who blocked the COFIS marchers.

Footage, with commentary by Mick Napier, posted on the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign Facebook page shows demonstrators chanting: “Victory to the intifada” 14 minutes into the video, referring to violent Palestinian campaign of terrorism which included suicide bombings at Israeli Jewish civilians. Protesters also reportedly chanted “From Glasgow to Gaza, intifada.”

Two minutes into another video, demonstrators can be heard chanting: “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, a chant that only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the UK Government, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is antisemitic.

Some vicious comments were posted on the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Facebook page regarding the march, including: “Zionists are racists, pure and simple, and their policy regarding the Palestinians consists of ethnic cleansing, genocide and eventual extermination.” Another comment compared the Zionist marchers to the Ku Klux Klan: “We might as well have the Ku Klux Klan taking part in the march. Same thing.”

The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign has previously been exposed over many of its supporters’ extremely antisemitic views. Mick Napier has a conviction for aggravated trespass over his protests against Israel. We commend the brave demonstrators who marched against racism. It is disgraceful that they were blocked at all, and even more so that some of those blocking their path lauded terrorist attacks against Jews.

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“Victory to the intifada” chant protesters outside US Embassy in London

“Victory to the intifada” was chanted by protesters at a “Do not move the US Embassy to Jerusalem Trump!” rally outside the US Embassy in central London this afternoon.

A small crowd of about 40 demonstrators gathered in the snow to oppose US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announce plans to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The event page on Facebook listed Bashar Zeedan as the host.

Volunteers from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit captured alarming footage of demonstrators chanting: “Victory to the intifada”, referring to violent Palestinian campaigns which included suicide bombings targeting Israeli Jewish civilians.

We also took video recordings of demonstrators chanting: “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, a chant that only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the UK Government, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is antisemitic.

Today’s rally follows on from the “Hands off Jerusalem” protest held at the same location on Friday evening where demonstrators chanted: “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud” translated in English as “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.”

 

 

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“Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning” chant protesters outside US Embassy in London

“Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud” translated in English as “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning” was chanted at an “emergency” protest outside the US Embassy in central London on Friday evening where thousands rallied against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The “Hands off Jerusalem” protest was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition and Muslim Association of Britain and supported by Muslim Voices, Stand up to Trump, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, War on Want, Association of Palestinian Communities in the UK, Olive and Europal Forum, some of which have been found to have antisemites amongst their supporters.

The “Khaybar” chant is a classic Arabic battle cry and taunt and reference to the Muslim massacre and expulsion of the Jews of the town of Khaybar in northwestern Arabia, now Saudi Arabia, in the year 628 CE. The political blog, Harry’s Place, captured the disturbing footage of the chant, which was then followed by cries of “Death to America, death to Israel”.

Volunteers from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of the protesters to gather evidence.

Campaign Against Antisemitism took video recordings of demonstrators chanting: “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, a chant that only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state. This chant was heard repeatedly during the protest. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the UK Government, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is antisemitic.

The widespread and blatant antisemitic chanting at the protest is a cause for considerable concern. Other “Hands off Jerusalem” demonstrations were held in Manchester, Nottingham and Cardiff.

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Protester flies flag of Palestinian terrorist organisation outside Royal Albert Hall during Balfour celebration, but police are not allowed to act

A protester has been sighted flying the flag of a Palestinian terrorist organisation outside the Royal Albert Hall during a concert celebrating the Balfour Declaration, which supported the establishment of the State of Israel.

While the concert took place on Tuesday evening, one protester brazenly flew the flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The group has committed numerous terrorist attacks, including the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue massacre in which four Jewish worshipers and a Druze Arab policeman were killed with axes, knives, and a gun, while seven were injured.

The protester was able to stand in full view of police, flying the flag and smiling, because the police officers did not have the powers to arrest him: a faction of the PFLP has been outlawed in Britain, but not the PFLP as a whole.

The fact that a protester can lawfully stand in central London in support of a terrorist organisation that seeks the slaughter of Jews makes an utter mockery of our counter-extremism and terrorism legislation. The PFLP as a whole should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

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CAA team finds antisemitism on display as anti-Israel demonstrators bring central London to a standstill

Central London was brought to a standstill today as thousands marched and rallied against Israel and the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, with antisemitic themes emerging from the protest.

The march was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), Friends of Al Aqsa (FOA), Stop the War Coalition (STW) and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), some of which have been found to have antisemites amongst their supporters. The march started outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, went via iconic Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and finished with a rally in Parliament Square opposite the Houses of Parliament, the seat of British democracy.

Volunteers from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of the protesters to gather evidence.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is pleased that an announcement was made over the loudspeaker by a member of the organising committee at Grosvenor Square stating that “The police have told us that people will commit an offence if you fly the Hizballah flag.” When we asked a police officer about the announcement they replied: “I’m glad he said that.”

Along the route, we photographed a disturbing banner claiming: “Zionist media covers up Palestinian Holocaust.” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” and “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.

We also took multiple video recordings of marchers chanting: “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, a chant that only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is antisemitic.

However, the marchers did not have the streets to themselves. As they continued through the heart of London, their path was blocked by pro-Israel demonstrators waving Israeli flags and singing Israeli songs, bringing the march to a standstill for a time.

At Parliament Square, in the shadow of Big Ben, the protesters heard a series of speeches, including a pre-recorded video message from the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who called for the recognition of Palestine. The crowd responded by singing “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn” to the tune of White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army”.

Two speakers then led the crowd in the antisemitic chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa was a common theme in the many speeches, with speakers calling for the strengthening of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and demanding that the Prime Minister apologise for the Balfour Declaration, which was a milestone on the way to the establishment of the State of Israel.

The march was backed by major trade unions and addressed by politicians including Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott. Their support for an event which saw widespread antisemitic chanting should be a cause for considerable concern.

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Demonstrators outside Israeli embassy in London fly Hizballah flag, snatch and burn Israeli flag, shouting “Allahu akbar”

A demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in London yesterday saw scenes reminiscent of extreme Islamist rallies in parts of the Middle East.

At the demonstration against the use of metal detectors to prevent terrorist attacks at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, supporters of Hizballah brazenly flew the antisemitic terrorist organisation’s flag, just a month after a large pro-Hizballah procession marched down some of London’s most iconic streets.

When a small group of pro-Israel demonstrators arrived, anti-Israel demonstrators grabbed their Israeli flag and set it alight, shouting “Allahu akbar” and stamping on it.

We will be bringing the incident to the attention of the Home Office.

On Wednesday, Campaign Against Antisemitism submitted formal complaints over the pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” march through central London on 18th June. The complaints are based upon our review of evidence gathered by the volunteers of our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit and members of the public.

Whilst the British government has proscribed the “military wing” of Hizballah under the Terrorism Act 2000, the “political wing” is not proscribed, something that even Hizballah finds ridiculous. In October 2012, Hizballah Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, said: “We don’t have a military wing and a political one; we don’t have Hizballah on one hand and the resistance party on the other…Every element of Hizballah, from commanders to members as well as our various capabilities, are in the service of the resistance, and we have nothing but the resistance as a priority.” Hizballah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, who is the leader of any fictitious “wing” of Hizballah that the government may wish to imagine, said: “If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.”

We continue to campaign for Hizballah to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation in its entirety, and we are discussing our proposals with the government.

Last week, our National Antisemitic Crime Audit found that in 2016, antisemitic crime grew by 14.9% compared to 2015 (44.5% compared to 2014), but only half of police forces charged any of the antisemitic crimes reported to them. The failure to enforce is especially alarming due the ferocity of antisemitic crime: 1 in 10 crimes involved violence. The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, responded by promising to review our recommendations and crack down on hate crime.

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CAA submits complaints about Al Quds Day to the Charity Commission and police

Campaign Against Antisemitism has submitted formal complaints over the pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” march through central London on 18th June. The complaints are based upon our review of evidence gathered by the volunteers of our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit and members of the public.

We have asked the Charity Commission to open a statutory inquiry into the involvement of a registered charity in the organisation of the march, including the production of Hizballah flags and placards which stated “We are all Hizballah”.

Additionally, we have reported statements by Nazim Ali, a pharmacist who spoke using a portable public address system throughout the march and led chanting, to the Charity Commission and the Metropolitan Police Service. We allege that Mr Ali announced to the crowd: “It is the Zionists who give money to the Tory Party to kill people in high-rise blocks,” referring to the Grenfell Tower disaster. Other statements by Mr Ali that we have referred to the police included: “We are fed up of the Zionists, we are fed up of their rabbis, we are fed of their synagogues, we are fed up of their supporters” and a claim that “The Israel Intelligence Service is also known as ISIS, they are part of the same organisation…Zionists, ISIS are the same, only difference is the name.”

Whilst the British government has proscribed the “military wing” of Hizballah under the Terrorism Act 2000, the “political wing” is not proscribed, something that even Hizballah finds ridiculous. In October 2012, Hizballah Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, said: “We don’t have a military wing and a political one; we don’t have Hizballah on one hand and the resistance party on the other…Every element of Hizballah, from commanders to members as well as our various capabilities, are in the service of the resistance, and we have nothing but the resistance as a priority.” Hizballah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, who is the leader of any fictitious “wing” of Hizballah that the government may wish to imagine, said: “If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.”

We continue to campaign for Hizballah to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation in its entirety, and we are discussing our proposals with the government.

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After Metropolitan Police claims that it cannot answer CAA’s questions for “national security” reasons, Andrew Dismore lays their excuse bare

After the Metropolitan Police Service refused to answer questions from Campaign Against Antisemitism about the pro-pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” march, their flimsy attempt to hide their record from scrutiny has been laid bare.

The Metropolitan Police Service apparently does not consider allowing hundreds of supporters of terrorist group Hizballah to parade through our capital to be in any way prejudicial to “national security”, but it was for “national security” reasons that the police force declined to answer questions from Campaign Against Antisemitism.

We began work to try to prevent the flying of the genocidal terrorist organisation’s flag months ago. Metropolitan Police Service officers informally gave us conflicting accounts, telling us that nobody had been arrested at previous Al Quds marches, or that officers had gathered evidence at the marches and then made arrests later. We decided to find out exactly what had happened to people flying the flag of Hizballah, on the record.

On 26th April, our Scrutiny Unit filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, asking whether they arrested people at Al Quds Day marches in 2015 and 2016, and whether those arrests were related to terrorism charges

Despite the Freedom of Information Act requiring that the answer be provided within 20 working days, the Metropolitan Police Service waited until two days after the march, nearly a month late, to tell us that they refused to answer on various spurious grounds, including “national security” reasons. The police force also claimed that answering would “be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime [or] the apprehension or prosecution of offenders”.

Whilst we appealed the decision to decline to answer our questions, we also asked London Assembly Member Andrew Dismore to put our questions to the Mayor of London. Whilst the Metropolitan Police Service spared no excuse in trying to avoid answering our questions, which would have meant telling us that in the past two years it has failed to arrest any of the Hizballah supporters marching through London, the Mayor of London was perfectly direct.

In written answers to Mr Dismore, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan revealed that the Metropolitan Police Service made no arrests over flying the Hizballah flag during the “Al Quds Day” marches in 2015 and 2016, as we suspected.

It is extremely worrying that no arrests have been made for showing brazen support for an international terrorist group in the past two years, and it is outrageous that the Metropolitan Police Service has sought to conceal its record.

We continue to work with lawyer on our next steps following the march.

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Metropolitan Police uses “national security” excuse to get out of saying whether it has previously arrested Hizballah supporters at Al Quds Day marches

Every year, at the “Al Quds Day” march through London, supporters of Hizballah, the terrorist organisation which strives for the annihilation of Jews worldwide, fly Hizballah’s flag.

This year was no different. The flag of Hizballah flew over London as police officers refused to even accept complaints.

Campaign Against Antisemitism began work to try to prevent the flying of the genocidal terrorist organisation’s flag months ago. Metropolitan Police Service officers informally gave us conflicting accounts, telling us that nobody had been arrested at previous Al Quds marches, or that officers had gathered evidence at the marches and then made arrests later. We decided to find out exactly what had happened to people flying the flag of Hizballah, on the record.

On 26th April, our Scrutiny Unit filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, asking: “We would like to know about the Al Quds Day march events on 10th July 2015 and 3rd July 2016. In particular we would like to know whether any arrests were made by the Metropolitan Police Service, whether any of those arrests resulted in charges and whether any arrests were related to offences under s.13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 or any other sections of the various Terrorism Acts. We would be grateful if you could please provide us with the following information, for each of the aforementioned Al Quds Day marches, separately: 1) the total number of arrests recorded; 2) the total number of arrests recorded which resulted in charges; 3) the total number of arrests recorded which were made under s.13 of the Terrorism Act 200; and 4) the total number of arrests recorded which were made under any sections of any of the Terrorism Acts.”

Despite the Freedom of Information Act requiring that the answer be provided within 20 working days, the Metropolitan Police Service has waited until two days after the march, nearly a month late, to tell us that they refuse to answer for “national security” reasons. The police force also claimed that answering would “be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime [or] the apprehension or prosecution of offenders”.

Giving its reasons, the Metropolitan Police Service wrote: “Confirmation or denial of whether or not any arrests were made could lead to the assumption that either policing resources deployed to this event was [sic] insufficient in relation to the number who attended these marches or that police were ever [sic] too lenient or strict with the participants. With regards to the latter, any disclosure of information, if held, which results in heightened tension from participants at a march and cause [sic] an adverse effect on officers [sic] safely policing demonstrations/marches cannot be in the public interest…Whilst not questioning the motives of the applicant to confirm or deny that arrest data were held could be harmful if the number of arrests were deemed to be low over the course of a number of years. [sic] This could lead to those who seek to cause disruption to infiltrate this march in order to further their cause. This could indicate relative vulnerabilities of policing provisions at these marches, which would provide those intent on committing criminal acts at the marches with valuable information as to the level of resistance they might expect to encounter. Individuals or groups could therefore gain an understanding of the capabilities of a Force [sic] so that potential vulnerabilities can be more easily identified.”

Essentially, the Metropolitan Police Service is arguing that telling us whether they arrested people at Al Quds Day marches in 2015 and 2016, and whether those arrests were related to terrorism charges, would expose the United Kingdom to national security threats and might lead to increased scrutiny of the policing of the Al Quds Day marches.

Apparently the Metropolitan Police Service does not consider allowing hundreds of supporters of terrorist group Hizballah to parade through our capital to be in any way prejudicial to “national security”.

Our lawyers have already met to discuss the evidence gathered by the brave volunteers of our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit at the Al Quds Day march on Sunday. We will be taking legal action.

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CAA lawyers reviewing evidence after red carpet rolled out for Hizballah supporters in heart of London as police refuse to accept crime reports

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester, just as the government has promised a crackdown on extremism and terrorism, the red carpet has been rolled out for hundreds of supporters of Hizballah in central London today.

The brave volunteers of our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of the pro-Hizballah supporters to capture evidence, whilst police officers looked on inertly.

Marchers draped themselves in Hizballah flags bearing a dagger and a raised fist clenching an assault rifle, and organisers handed out flags for those who had not brought their own. The organising charity even distributed placards emblazoned with the slogan: “We are all Hizballah”. As the marchers claimed that Zionists were responsible for ISIS and even the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, the Metropolitan Police Service refused to make arrests or even accept reports of hate crimes when approached by members of the public, with one Inspector even claiming that Hizballah flags belong to a legitimate “state” instead of a terrorist organisation. Terrifyingly, demonstrators even attached Hizballah flags to children whilst police looked on.

However, supporters of Hizballah did not have the streets to themselves. As they marched down iconic Regent Street, their path was blocked by anti-terrorist protesters chanting “Terrorists” and playing Jewish music (they had come prepared with a saxophonist). The police however suddenly spurred into action, with vans of officers arriving within seconds to start demanding that the anti-terrorist protesters move out of the way, with reports of pushing and shoving.

The brazen display of support for a genocidal antisemitic terrorist group was met with inaction, but opposition by members of the public was swiftly rounded upon.

Outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, marchers were addressed by figures including Mick Napier, Chair of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was convicted in March of aggravated trespass over allegations of intimidating bank staff at a demonstration against investment by Barclays Bank in an Israeli company. Campaign Against Antisemitism will analyse the excitable speeches.

A counterdemonstration was held by Jewish and Zionist organisations in Grosvenor Square.

The procession was mostly the work of a registered charity known as the “Islamic Human Rights Commission”, which issued guidance to participants in the procession telling them that “you can bring a Hizballah flag to show support for the political wing of Hizballah.” They also issued a press release stating that the “carrying of flags of Hizballah and other flags at the demonstration is not antisemitic.”

Whilst the British government has proscribed the “military wing” of Hizballah under the Terrorism Act 2000, the “political wing” is not proscribed, something that even Hizballah finds ridiculous. In October 2012, Hizballah Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, said: “We don’t have a military wing and a political one; we don’t have Hizballah on one hand and the resistance party on the other…Every element of Hizballah, from commanders to members as well as our various capabilities, are in the service of the resistance, and we have nothing but the resistance as a priority.” Hizballah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, who is the leader of any fictitious “wing” of Hizballah that the government may wish to imagine, said: “If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.”

Before the march, lawyers for Campaign Against Antisemitism had challenged the police to use their powers under section 12 of the Public Order Act 1986 to impose a condition on the procession simply so that marchers were in no doubt that they cannot show the emblem of Hizballah. The Metropolitan Police Service refused our request.

Hizballah is clear that it seeks the genocide of Jews worldwide, committing terrorist atrocities from Bangkok to Buenos Aires to Burgas. As Britain mourns those we have so recently lost to Islamist terrorism, the Metropolitan Police Service and Charity Commission permitted Hizballah supporters to mount a show of force through the heart of London. This is the reality of the supposed crackdown on extremism and terrorism. Since the authorities intend to take no action, it now falls to us to ensure that there are consequences for those who organised a pro-terrorist show of strength through the heart of London today. We will also be reviewing our legal options for holding the authorities to account over their utterly despicable failure to act.

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CAA lawyers challenge police refusal to act over Hizballah supporters’ planned show of strength in central London this Sunday

Supporters of genocidal antisemitic terrorist group Hizballah are set to mount a show of strength through London’s main shopping streets on Sunday as part of a procession which police expect to number 1,000 people. Campaign Against Antisemitism has met with the Metropolitan Police Service, but we were told that the march will go ahead and those flying Hizballah flags will be protected by police officers.

The flag of Hizballah distinctively bears the words “Party of Allah” in Arabic, along with a dagger and a raised fist clenching an assault rifle. Last year, marchers draped themselves and their children in the Hizballah flag and also carried professionally-made placards declaring: “We are all Hizballah”. Hizballah is a terrorist organisation which advocates the annihilation of Jews worldwide. It has targeted Jews for murder around the globe from Bangkok to Buenos Aires to Burgas. It has wrought acts of barbaric murder all over the world over the course of decades, leaving a death toll in the thousands through aeroplane hijackings to war crimes in Syria to suicide bombings to launching missiles into towns.

Yet as Britain mourns those so recently slaughtered in terrorist attacks in London and Manchester, instead of confronting the pro-Hizballah marchers, the Metropolitan Police Service is proposing to close parts of Regent Street, Oxford Street, Bond Street and Grosvenor Square, bringing central London to a halt so that Hizballah-supporters may march through the heart of the capital.

Marchers will be addressed by figures including Baroness Tonge, who was suspended by the Liberal Democrats and later resigned amidst accusations of antisemitism, and Mick Napier, chair of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign who was convicted of aggravated trespass over allegations of intimidating bank staff at a demonstration against investment by Barclays Bank in an Israeli company.

The procession is mostly the work of a registered charity known as “Islamic Human Rights Commission”, which has issued guidance to participants in the procession telling them that “you can bring a Hizballah flag to show support for the political wing of Hizballah”. It is hard to see how organising a procession in which support for Hizballah is permitted can be considered to be a charitable activity. Despite receiving a complaint from us about last year’s procession, the Charity Commission has still yet to open a statutory inquiry into Islamic Human Rights Commission which is the only way it can invoke the counter-extremism powers it requested and received from Parliament.

Whilst the British government has proscribed the “military wing” of Hizballah under the Terrorism Act 2000, the “political wing” is not proscribed, something that even Hizballah finds ridiculous. In October 2012, Hizballah Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, said: “We don’t have a military wing and a political one; we don’t have Hizballah on one hand and the resistance party on the other…Every element of Hizballah, from commanders to members as well as our various capabilities, are in the service of the resistance, and we have nothing but the resistance as a priority.” Hizballah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, who is the leader of any fictitious “wing” of Hizballah that the government may wish to imagine, said: “If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.”

Section 13 of the Terrorism Act is clear that “A person in a public place commits an offence if he wears an item of clothing, or wears, carries or displays an article, in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation”. Ignoring the broad scope of the legislation, which is intended precisely to stop public displays of support for terrorists, the Metropolitan Police Service interprets the law such that if someone carries a Hizballah flag, police officers should presume that the person is supporting Hizballah’s political activity and not any of Hizballah’s terrorist atrocities. In doing so, the Metropolitan Police Service is effectively deciding to tolerate the display of a flag of a proscribed terrorist organisation. Police forces have no power to decide not to enforce certain offences. If marchers choose to wave a flag that is shared with a proscribed organisation, then they assume the risk that they will “arouse reasonable suspicion that [they are a] supporter of a proscribed organisation”, which is a criminal offence.

Therefore, when Campaign Against Antisemitism met the Metropolitan Police Service at a meeting facilitated by Sophie Linden, the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, we asked the police to use their powers under section 12 of the Public Order Act 1986 to impose a condition on the procession simply so that marchers are in no doubt that they cannot show the emblem of Hizballah.

The Metropolitan Police Service refused our request. Our able pro bono legal counsel has now submitted representations to the Metropolitan Police Service.

Essentially, Hizballah supporters will be able to brazenly parade through the major streets of our capital unless one of the following happens:

  1. The Metropolitan Police Service overturns its perverse interpretation of the Terrorism Act 2000 and imposes a condition on the procession under the Public Order Act 1986 so that support for Hizballah cannot be shown;
  2. The Charity Commission asks Islamic Human Rights Council to instruct its stewards not to permit participation in the procession by anybody showing support for Hizballah; or
  3. The Home Secretary proscribes Hizballah in its entirety under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has made representations to the Metropolitan Police Service, the Charity Commission and the Home Office.

On Sunday, our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit will attend the procession to gather evidence, which will be reviewed by our Crime Unit and Regulatory Enforcement Unit. If you are free from 14:00 in central London on Sunday and would like to help, please e-mail [email protected] urgently. Alternatively, if you cannot help us this Sunday but would like to help us long-term, please volunteer or donate.

Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Hizballah is clear that it seeks the genocide of Jews worldwide, committing terrorist atrocities from Bangkok to Buenos Aires to Burgas. As Britain mourns those we have so recently lost to Islamist terrorism, the Metropolitan Police Service and Charity Commission intend to permit Hizballah supporters to mount a show of force through the heart of London. This is the reality of the supposed crackdown on extremism and terrorism.”

Finally, we would like to note that despite various calls from within the Jewish community for the Mayor of London to take action against this procession, he has no statutory power to do so and criticism of him for failing to exercise a power he does not possess is misplaced. Both the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime have been very helpful in facilitating contact with the right people within the Metropolitan Police Service, and we are grateful to them for their efforts. We also wish to thank Andrew Dismore, Member of the London Assembly for Barnet and Camden, who has been extremely supportive of our efforts.

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Man who said Holocaust happened because Jews are “cowards” reportedly escorted off Birkbeck campus

An antisemitic demonstrator at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, who was filmed claiming that the Holocaust happened because Jews are “cowards” has reportedly been sighted being escorted off campus by security staff at Birkbeck, University of London. If you think that you know who he is, please contact us confidentially at [email protected].

The man was filmed by students and a member of Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit at a demonstration at SOAS on Thursday. The man, whom we are trying to identify, said that Jews “were led like lambs to the slaughter, naked…because you’re cowards” in the Nazis’ gas chambers.

The man evidently took delight in taunting Jewish people who were seeking to engage with anti-Israel demonstrators outside a lecture by Israeli Ambassador Mark Regev. When asked whether he had heard of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, in which lightly-armed Jewish fighters managed to repel heavily-armed German infantry backed by tanks and artillery for almost a month, the man said that they were cowards too. 13,000 Jews died in the revolt, half from being burned alive or suffocated.

Thursday was not the first time that the man has been spotted at SOAS. In a video from 2011, the same man was filmed making similar comments, adding that “the Jews” were supposedly attacking Arabs because they had supposedly failed to fight back against the Nazis. As he argues with a Jewish man, a part-time lecturer at SOAS allegedly swiped the Jewish man’s camera from his hand and bit his ear (he was later acquitted of charges of common assault and criminal damage). Even after the incident, the same man seen at SOAS on Thursday continues to taunt the injured Jewish man.

In an e-mail to all students at SOAS, Registrar Paula Sanderson wrote: “We condemn unreservedly the comments that were made by the person shown on the video — he on not a student or staff member at SOAS. There is no place for hate speech on the SOAS campus and freedom of speech does not permit the expression of racist or antisemitic views.”

We would like to identify the man in the videos. If you think that you know who he is, please contact us confidentially at [email protected].

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Police make arrests as neo-Nazi “White Pride” marchers perform Nazi salutes on the streets of Edinburgh

Nazi salutes were performed on the streets of central Edinburgh on Saturday during a neo-Nazi “White Pride” march by the far-right National Front.

Ailean Beaton, a student journalist living in Edinburgh, posted a short video showing at least two men raising their right arms in the air to make a Nazi salute outside the Tron Kirk.

According to local media, police estimated that up to 40 far-right activists participated in the march, with approximately 400 counter-protesters following them shouting “Nazi scum, off our streets.”

Police made ten arrests at the demonstrations at Hunters Square and the Royal Mile. Three of the arrests were for religiously-aggravated offences and the remainder for minor public order offences.

Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomes the overwhelming response from the Edinburgh community to counter the march and to send a strong message against racism. We also welcome the intervention by Police Scotland and will follow the matter with interest.

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Palestine Solidarity Campaign speaker calls on Jews to “overcome” suffering of the Holocaust

A speaker at Monday’s demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Downing Street told Palestine Solidarity Campaign supporters that Jews should “overcome” the trauma of the Holocaust. Calling on Jews to abandon Zionism, Bruce Kent, a former priest who is now Honorary Vice President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, told protesters that a “guilt complex” over the Holocaust is something that “inspires people in the wrong direction” when it comes to Israel.

A video captured by a JC reporter showed him saying: “The trouble is that many of us suffer from a guilt complex, certainly at my age. My wife’s great-aunt was cooped up a Berlin suburb in 1942, put in a railway carriage and taken for five days and five nights without any food or water of any sort, then put in a gas chamber. The memory is something that inspires people in the wrong direction. We have all had terrible sufferings in history – all of us. But we actually have to overcome that and start to live like human beings together. I believe it is perfectly possible. And I think there are many many Jewish people — Jews for Justice [for Palestine] for one — who know this perfectly well. To be a Jew is not to be a Zionist. That’s a different qualification.”

We are appalled that Bruce Kent expects Jews or anyone else to “overcome” the trauma of the Holocaust. It cannot be overcome, and one of its principal lessons is that Jews absolutely must have the right to self-determination, as embodied in the state of Israel. Since its establishment it has been the one country that offers persecuted Jews from around the world unconditional safe haven. Israel is the place from which Judaism originates and where half of the world’s Jewish population lives. It is the religious and cultural heart of Judaism. It is prejudiced to expect Jews to renounce all connection to Israel or be judged to be in some way deficient.

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Demonstrators call for destruction of Israel outside Downing Street, one woman equates Israeli Prime Minister with Nazis

Demonstrators protesting a visit by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Downing Street have been caught engaging in antisemitism.

One woman protested against Mr Netanyahu’s visit with a placard calling him a “Nazi yob murderer” and was ordered to take it down after she was pointed out to police by members of Sussex Friends of Israel attending a large rally held by the Zionist Federation of Great Britain at the entrance to Downing Street welcoming Mr Netanyahu. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic. When a reporter from Jewish News, Justin Cohen, asked her to comment and told her which publication he was from, she allegedly told him to “F*** off”.

The protesters could also be heard chanting “From the River [Jordan] to the [Mediterranean] Sea, Palestine will be free,” which only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is antisemitic.

At a similar demonstration against a visit by Mr Netanyahu in 2015 a protester waved pennies at Jews telling them that “[Money] is all you know”, another protester called for a new Holocaust, and at least three men were seen flying the flag of genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation Hizballah.

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UCL investigation into violent antisemitic protest finds faults, now UCL must fix them

University College London (UCL) has today published the report of its investigation into a violent antisemitic protest last October.

The protest against the presence of an Israeli speaker at the university reportedly resulted in three female students being assaulted, whilst protesters surrounded and trapped attendees despite efforts by university security and police to separate them from the protesters. At one point protesters jumped through a window to confront the terrified audience of predominantly Jewish students.

Campaign Against Antisemitism submitted a formal complaint to UCL’s Provost, Professor Michael Arthur, over the protest and the antisemitic tweets of Yahya Abu Seido, President of UCLU Friends of Palestine Society.

Professor Arthur commissioned Professor Geraint Rees, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Life Sciences to investigate, and Campaign Against Antisemitism provided input into the investigation.

The investigation upheld our complaint with the following findings:

  • Those connected with the protest stirred up hatred through the “wide circulation on social media of an inflammatory message”;
  • “Some individuals at UCL and from at least four other institutions…planned to prevent the event taking place; created a hostile, aggressive and intimidatory atmosphere; and conducted their protest noisily and aggressively such that many students, staff and other attendees felt intimidated by their behaviour”;
  • Protesters who jumped through the windows “intentionally disrupted and interfered” with the event;
  • A protester “engaged in physically aggressive behaviour towards attendees that included attempting to block entry…and pushing a female attendee necessitating police intervention”;
  • The chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, and as such is antisemitic under the International Definition of Antisemitism;
  • Students were intimidated by shouts of “Shame!” from the protesters as they left the event;
  • UCL failed to “adequately protect freedom of expression on campus”, including “an initial failure to accurately assess and report risk” and failures on the day of the event including that “a perimeter was not secured around the ultimate venue and the windows were not secured prior to use of the venue”; and
  • Statements by UCL and the Students’ Union stated that the protests were peaceful when this was clearly contrary to the evidence.

In our interactions with Professor Rees, we recommended that he propose various measures, some of which he has adopted.

Five students have been referred for disciplinary action. We have stressed the importance of disciplinary action in this area being firm, swift and transparent, recalling the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee findings. Additionally Professor Rees has proposed new rules for visitors to UCL, which are needed to prevent intimidation by outsiders against whom UCL has limited recourse. He also called for loudspeakers to be banned in protests near contentious events.

Whilst Professor Rees has called for various rule changes, they are not specific and we are now writing to UCL to propose that the International Definition be adopted by for disciplinary purposes, that future contentious events be monitored by members of staff with recording equipment, and that those who engage in intimidation be referred to the police whenever crimes are committed.

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CAA reports antisemitic tweets by ringleader of ‘violent’ UCL protest to police and university

Campaign Against Antisemitism has referred the leader of a ‘violent’ protest at UCL last week to the Metropolitan Police Service and UCL over antisemitic tweets which have come to light.

The protest last Thursday against the presence of an Israeli speaker at the university reportedly resulted in three female students being assaulted, whilst protesters surrounded and trapped attendees despite efforts by university security and police to separate them from the protesters. At one point protesters jumped through a window to confront the terrified audience of predominantly Jewish students.

Now, Campaign Against Antisemitism has contacted the police and the university regarding security at the event, the conduct of the protesters, and in particular their leader, UCLU Friends of Palestine Society President Yahya Abu Seido. Though Abu Seido’s Twitter account is protected, CAA has obtained tweets stating that:

  • “ISIS serves Israel”
  • The media is “Zionist”
  • “Zionists own the economy”
  • Israel should be destroyed
  • Israel is pursuing “Nazism”
  • “Little Israeli girls get brave on Twitter”

Several of the tweets are antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism.

CAA has also seen video footage appearing to show Abu Seido at the protest saying: “I hope you guys will think twice now next time you think about coming here.”

In a letter to UCL’s Provost, Professor Arthur, Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism called on him to take firm disciplinary action, writing: “The nature of the protest was intimidatory from the outset, and there is no question that attendees were terrified by the large mob of protesters seeking to surround and trap them.

“Footage of the protesters shows their leader telling attendees at the event: ‘I hope you guys will think twice now next time you think about coming here.’ Whereas criticism of Israel is not antisemitic, this protest was not criticism but part of a deliberate campaign of harassment and bullying, whose targets are overwhelmingly Jewish students. If reports that three female students were assaulted by the protesters are true, then that is a very serious matter, and the perpetrators must be expelled if they are found to be students.

“Jewish students are currently feeling threatened and isolated, not only at UCL but at universities around the country. UCL has the opportunity and the obligation to show in the firmest possible manner that those who bully, intimidate and harass Jewish students will suffer dire consequences for their actions, and that those who belittle or tolerate antisemitism will similarly be shown no quarter.”

The letter also called on UCL to investigate a statement by UCL Union which appeared to condone the protest.

Earlier this month, the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee released its report into the rise of antisemitism in Britain. In relation to antisemitism at universities, the Committee said that “The unique nature of antisemitism requires a unique response” and that “pro-Palestinian campaigns [must be educated so as to] avoid drawing on antisemitic rhetoric”.

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When campus protests against Israel become violent and overwhelmingly target Jewish students, the motive scarcely matters

This week, students attending an event about Israeli interactions with the Palestinian Authority have reported being surrounded, harassed and even assaulted. The students had to be escorted from the event by police for their own safety. This is the second time that we have received a flood of videos from our supporters of predominantly Jewish students being barricaded inside a room whilst those outside threaten and even attack them.

Campaign Against Antisemitism is concerned with antisemitism, as our name suggests, so when we hear about incidents like this, we look at whether the incident was antisemitic. We use the international definition of antisemitism which states that “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”

The fact is that almost half of the world’s Jews live in Israel, which is the physical centre of the Jewish religion. There are very few strands of Judaism which renounce all connection with Israel, yet universities are quite happy for violent bullies to protest anything short of Jewish students in Britain fully severing their ties with Israel.

Criticism of Israel is not antisemitic, but these protests are not criticism, they are a deliberate campaign of harassment and bullying, and their targets are overwhelmingly Jewish students.

A phenomenon that we have come across on social media in particular, is when antisemitism becomes so disguised, that we find people engaging in antisemitism without even realising that what they are doing is antisemitic. In other cases, we find antisemites very deliberately targeting Jews and pretending that they are simply protesting against Israel. The motive is important to us, but more important than the motive is the antisemitic act itself.

When campus protests against Israel repeatedly become violent and overwhelmingly target Jewish students, the motive scarcely matters. We simply do not care what the protesters say they are protesting against, they have become thugs whose targets are Jews.

The perpetrators who committed crimes or breached university rules must be investigated and punished. Additionally, universities must get their act together and provide proper security on campus, seeking the assistance of police forces when necessary. Whilst enforcing penalties for this kind of behaviour is essential, the problem must also be fought through education, which is the very purpose for which universities exist; the rhetoric which leads to expressions of hatred such as we saw this week must be counteracted, and universities should fill that role.

Campaign Against Antisemitism will be in touch with the university and police to satisfy ourselves that they are doing everything possible to bring to justice those who committed criminal acts or breached university rules. This work will be undertaken by the volunteers of our Regulatory Enforcement Unit and our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit.

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Hundreds of neo-Nazis rally to calls of “Sieg Heil” but police say no “crime committed”

Cambridgeshire Constabulary has failed to object to a neo-Nazi rally for hundreds of fascists from across Europe because they believed the organisers’ claims that they were holding a ‘charity event’. They have also claimed that there was no “crime committed” as hundreds of men performed Nazi salutes in response to antisemitic songs and calls of “Seig Heil”.

Blood and Honour, a neo-Nazi organisation banned in many European countries and Russia, held the event on 23rd and 24th September in Haddenham to commemorate the death of its founder, Ian Stuart Donaldson, in a car crash in 1993.

Hundreds of ‘skinhead’ Nazis from around Europe gathered to camp for two days and held a rave in a marquee, singing about Jews and performing Nazi salutes in response to the call of “Sieg Heil” from the stage.

One song’s chorus laments: “Once a nation, now we’re run by Jews” before declaring: “It’s time we drove out the traitors” — clear criminal incitement to racial hatred.

Blood and Honour organise a event every one or two months in the UK, but this was a major event at which approximately three quarters of attendees came from Europe. A witness told the BBC that there were “a lot of cars, a big bonfire and a lot of music…The one that I heard was a song about white power and this kept going on and on. It was very loud and distinctive.”

The event required a permit from East Cambridgeshire District Council and during the application process Cambridgeshire Constabulary were asked whether they had objections. They said they had none, as the organiser claimed that the event was in aid of Help for Heroes. Help for Heroes, which assists injured soldiers and their families said that the event had nothing to do with them, and that they would not accept donations from extremist organisations.

Now, a Cambridgeshire Constabulary spokesman has told Cambridge News that “We had been in contact with other forces about similar events and were aware of a possible right wing element” but that there was no “crime committed”, despite the brazen antisemitic slogans and Nazi salutes.

From the footage that has emerged, it is very clear that multiple criminal offences have been committed and Cambridgeshire Constabulary must immediately investigate.

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Shocking double standards after CAA evidence team made to leave Hizballah rally in London

A march in support of genocidal antisemitic terrorist group Hizballah went ahead in London on Sunday, after Campaign Against Antisemitism’s talks with the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service failed.

Hundreds of demonstrators festooned themselves and their children with Hizballah flags, and then marched through the streets of the capital in support of the terrorist group which strives for the annihilation of Jews worldwide and has perpetrated terrorist attacks against Jewish targets around the world for decades.

Members of our evidence team were made to leave for asking demonstrators about Hizballah’s policy of murdering Jews, whilst the demonstrators paraded in front of police officers with printed placards reading “We are all Hizbullah [sic]”, as they have done in previous years.

Section 13 of the Terrorism Act makes it a criminal offence for a person to carry an article “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of a proscribed [terrorist] organisation”, but the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service both obtusely argue that only the military wing of Hizballah is proscribed, and someone carrying a Hizballah flag could be supporting the political wing which is not proscribed. There is no such thing as a separate “political wing” of Hizballah which is one single organisation, with one flag.

As though to underline the double standards at play, the day after the Hizballah demonstration, Sophie Linden, the Deputy Mayor of London for Policing and Crime issued a statement saying: “We are concerned by the reported increase in racial hate crimes following the referendum result. City Hall and the Metropolitan Police Service are giving these reports our fullest attention. I am receiving daily briefings on hate crimes and I remain in close contact with the police and partners.”

Measures taken against hate crime are utterly meaningless if supporters for genocidal antisemitic terrorists are allowed to brazenly demonstrate in our capital city. You may wish to e-mail Sophie Linden, e-mail your MP and write to your preferred newspaper.

We are reviewing our options.

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Counter-extremism drive in shambles as terrorist flags set to fly over London this weekend

Talks between Campaign Against Antisemitism and the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service have failed to prevent the flying of terrorist flags over London this weekend.

Every year, “Al Quds Day” is marked in cities around the world at the instigation of Ayatollah Khomenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Iran is principal sponsor of proscribed terrorist organisation Hizballah, the events tend to celebrate Hizballah’s terrorism, and this year’s march in London looks like it will be no different.

This year, as in previous years the march is expected to include a parade of Hizballah flags and antisemitic placards and chants. Whereas the flying of the Hizballah flag has been banned at this year’s march in other European countries, Britain ignominiously stands out for its permissive stance towards Hizballah supporters.

Section 13 of the Terrorism Act clearly states that “A person in a public place commits an offence if he (a) wears an item of clothing, or (b) wears, carries or displays an article, in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation.”

However the British authorities, with flagrant disregard for the broad scope of the offence, consider that flying a Hizballah flag is acceptable because only the “military wing” of the terrorist group is proscribed (banned) under legislation. The concept of separate parts of Hizballah is nonsense; they are inseparable and both ‘wings’ believe that Jews should be sought out wherever they are in the world and murdered.

Post Brexit, we have seen the Mayor of London, the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service adopt stances of zero tolerance to hate crime, yet a procession of those supporting genocidal antisemitic terrorists appears not to concern them.

A monitoring team from Campaign Against Antisemitism will gather evidence at the event, following which we will evaluate our legal options.

Hundreds of people are expected at a counter-demonstration called for 15:00 on Sunday on North Audley Street.

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Neo-Nazis demonstrate against Jews at war memorial in Golders Green

A group of nine neo-Nazis demonstrated for half an hour against Jews during the Jewish Sabbath at the foot of the war memorial in Golders Green.

Last summer, the same group of neo-Nazis, led by Eddie Stampton, attempted to hold a larger demonstration in Golders Green on 4th July. The Metropolitan Police Service used their powers under the Public Order Act to move the demonstration to a kettling pen in Westminster and limited its duration to one hour. The move by the police was seen as a very public defeat by the neo-Nazis and came as a result of the large counter-demonstration planned by Campaign Against Antisemitism and a month of negotiations with the Metropolitan Police Service’s Public Order Branch.

The neo-Nazis were forced to organise any future demonstrations in total secrecy, to avoid giving us the ability to organise against them. They arranged their demonstration on Saturday by inviting only a small group of committed neo-Nazi individuals and we had no advance warning of their presence. The Metropolitan Police Service received notification the day before the demonstration.

The sole speaker on Saturday was Jeremy Bedford-Turner, whom we reported to the police last July for his antisemitic speech in the kettling pen. He delivered a similar speech to his speech last July, accusing Jews of everything from subverting Roman justice resulting in the crucifixion of Jesus, through to subverting many of the world’s governments in modern times.

Three weeks ago, Campaign Against Antisemitism took measures which we hope will significantly impact this particular neo-Nazi group in the weeks to come. Antisemitism must always be met with zero tolerance, whether it comes from the far left, Islamists, or the far right.

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Just before Holocaust Memorial Day, Nazis parade “Hitler was right” banner in centre of Newcastle

A group of neo-Nazis from “National Action” paraded in the centre of Newcastle at the foot of Grey’s Monument with a “Hitler was right” banner on Saturday. Members of the group performed Nazi salutes in the centre of the square. Some local people remonstrated with them but at least one onlooker returned their Nazi salute (see photo below). When a musician in the square attempted to play saxophone music, one of the neo-Nazis violently attacked him. In addition to the assault, the use of the banner and Nazi salutes constitute offences of racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm and distress under section 4A of the Public Order Act, as well as other possible offences.

The group previously attempted to demonstrate in Liverpool in August and September 2015, causing widespread public disorder and the cancellation of their demonstrations, with the group humiliated in August when they were unable to leave Liverpool Central train station. They then returned unannounced in November 2015 and delivered short speeches outside various public buildings and monuments in Liverpool, including speeches against Jews saying that: “Jews don’t care about me. They don’t care about you. They don’t care about any of us. All they care about is money and power.” Their video of the event contained additional antisemitic graphics and quoted from Adolf Hitler’s antisemitic diatribe, Mein Kampf. There have been no arrests.

In June 2015, “National Action” filmed themselves desecrating a menorah in Birmingham’s Cannon Hill Park by spraying graffiti and hanging a Nazi flag from it. There have been no arrests.

National Action’s blog contains 282 references to the word “Jew”, including accusations that Jews:

  • Use the blood of non-Jews in rituals
  • Usurp power through financial and political conspiracies
  • “Terrorise” the non-Jewish population through usury
  • Dilute Aryan races by operating the slave trade, then campaigning for civil rights in order to weaken Aryan races

It is very clear that “National Action” is an antisemitic neo-Nazi organisation which is trying to propagate fascist ideology and sees as its role models some of the most hideous figures in history. The group’s purpose is incitement to racial and religious hatred and its activities range from vandalism to violence. Unfurling a banner proclaiming “Hitler was right” and performing Nazi salutes for less than ten minutes in a public square is cowardly and a deliberate effort to provoke disorder.

This group is not a dying vestige of British neo-Nazism but a new, young movement and we are pleased that Northumbria Police are taking this incident so seriously. Enough is enough and this brazenly criminal group must be brought to justice.

That young British people are openly idolising Adolf Hitler in Britain in the days before Holocaust Memorial Day is a reminder that for us to say “Never again” with any confidence, we must be vigilant and fight antisemitic racism ruthlessly.

A spokesman for Northumbria Police told Campaign Against Antisemitism: “Northumbria Police is carrying out enquiries into the protest that was held at Monument in Newcastle City centre at 1:55pm on Saturday, January 23. We had no prior warning that the protest was due to take place and city centre officers attended immediately after receiving information that it was happening. Upon officers’ arrival the demonstration had ended and we believe it lasted less than 10 minutes. We have received one report of assault and we are in the process of investigating this along with looking into whether any other offences may have taken place. Detectives are checking CCTV footage from the city centre area and material posted on social media and enquiries are ongoing.”

We would like to thank the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria, Vera Baird QC, and Northumbria Police for their efforts to ensure that these criminals are brought to justice. We are following this case with interest.

National Action attack busker in Newcastle, January 2016

National Action corralled in train station in Liverpool, August 2015

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Police charge demonstrators allegedly flying Hizballah flags after discussions with Campaign Against Antisemitism and MP

Following Campaign Against Antisemitism and MP’s discussions with Metropolitan Police Service and Home Office, demonstrators allegedly flying Hizballah flags have been charged. The Metropolitan Police Service has acted to arrest anti-Israel demonstrators who allegedly flew Hizballah flags outside Downing Street on 9th September, following discussions with Campaign Against Antisemitism and also Matthew Offord MP.

On 9th September, anti-Israel protesters and pro-Israel protesters confronted each other outside Downing Street. Several antisemitic incidents took place which CAA is continuing to discuss with the police.

Of major concern, was the failure of the police to take any action against anti-Israel demonstrators flying Hizballah flags. Section 13(1)(b) of the Terrorism Act says that “A person in a public place commits an offence if he wears, carries or displays an article, in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of a proscribed [terrorist] organisation.”

Protesters from the Zionist Federation, Sussex Friends of Israel and Israel Advocacy Movement, were told however that the Hizballah flags were not exactly faithful to the design of the original Hizballah flag and therefore action would not be taken.

CAA raised this with senior police officers, submitted a Freedom of Information request seeking clarity on the Metropolitan Police Service’s stance on flying terrorist flags and also circulated a video. We also raised this with the Home Office whose official guidance confirms the interpretation of section 13 of the Terrorism Act.

We have long been concerned by policing policy on the flying of terrorist flags, with police having failed to take action on other occasions, such as a man parading an ISIS flag outside Parliament and a vehicle emblazoned with the Hizballah logo and a Syrian flag. In both cases the Metropolitan Police Service is quoted as saying: “Wearing, carrying or displaying of an emblem or flag, by itself, is not an offence unless; the way in which, or the circumstance in which, the emblem is worn, carried or displayed is such as to cause reasonable suspicion that the person is a supporter or member of a proscribed organisation.”

We are therefore pleased to confirm that following our discussions and those of Matthew Offord MP, the Metropolitan Police Service has decided to charge two individuals under section 13 of the Terrorism Act.

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Police fail to act as demonstrators protesting Conservative Party Conference tell Jews to “get back to Auschwitz”

Jewish delegates to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester have reportedly been subjected to antisemitic abuse by anti-Conservative protesters. Stephen Woods, Chairman of the Conservative Sale East and Wythenshawe Association, told the Jewish News: “The abuse we had to endure was despicable, with a number of protestors screaming ‘Jewish Tory scum, get back to Auschwitz.’ I have never heard such vile language. The whole incident left us all shaken up.” Woods told the Times: “This was definitely in the earshot of the police but they did nothing. It was disgusting.”

In response, Greater Manchester Police told the Jewish News that it has “not received any reports in relation to this matter…If anyone has been a victim of any such incident, they are encouraged to please report this to the police and we will investigate.” This is akin to the police saying that they witnessed someone being assaulted but did not intervene because nobody came and reported the assault to them.

We continue to see government ministers including the Prime Minister issue strong calls for firm action against antisemitism, but we are increasingly concerned that the expected firm police stance is not materialising.

Another example of antisemitism amongst protesters outside the conference was an antisemitic banner made by a 13-year-old boy. It seems that no action was taken by the police in that case either.

The Prime Minister has publicly identified antisemitism as a major societal problem and a gateway to extremism. Antisemites must be shown no quarter by the police; the law must be enforced.

https://twitter.com/helenpidd/status/650631944292704256

Thanks to Sussex Friends of Israel for pointing out Helen Pidd’s tweet to us.

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Anti-Israel protesters arrested for antisemitic abuse but no action over Hizballah flags

An anti-Israel demonstration outside Downing Street today predictably degenerated as antisemitic slurs were hurled at a mostly Jewish crowd gathered to honour the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit. Police made at least one arrest and took away a man who reportedly made antisemitic comments about Jews “loving money”.

In an increasingly common sight, anti-Israel demonstrators flew the flag of proscribed terrorist group Hizballah. Hizballah is a genocidal terrorist organisation which calls for the murder of Jews everywhere. Inviting support for a proscribed terrorist group is illegal under section 13(1)(b) of the Terrorism Act. The Home Office has made it completely clear that flying terrorist flags is illegal, but no action seems to have been taken by the police.

It does not appear that the law has been enforced with zero tolerance in this case and we will be making enquiries as to the Metropolitan Police Service’s stance on the flying of terrorist flags.

This week the Metropolitan Police Service released figures showing that antisemitic incidents in London have surged by 93% in the past 12 months.

Photo: Mandy Blumenthal

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Neo-Nazis cancel “White Man March” in Liverpool today after being blockaded in the left luggage room in Lime Street Station

A neo-Nazi march organised by fascist group National Action was cancelled today. The neo-Nazis had planned to march through Liverpool but in the end the 20 neo-Nazis who turned up were unable to leave the train station.

Liverpudlians turned out in force to protest the neo-Nazis’ presence, holding their own anti-Nazi marches through the city. When the National Action contingent arrived at Lime Street Station they were pelted with bananas by a crowd chanting “Master race? You’re having a laugh!” Police moved the neo-Nazis to the left luggage room for their own safety. National Action cancelled the march after the crowds in the station laid siege to the room.

A letter bearing the National Action logo addressed to the Mayor of Liverpool had previously threatened that “your city will go up in flames”, but National Action blamed the letter on an “agent provocateur”.

In June National Action vandalised the menorah in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, posting the video on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and WordPress. Despite our requests, none of these companies have removed National Action’s accounts. We understand that there have been no arrests by West Midlands Police, which is investigating.

National Action has reportedly been viewed by Scotland Yard as a potential threat to National Security. Its ‘official strategy’ documents feature photos of a smiling Adolf Hitler and masked activists performing Nazi salutes. The group has previously described itself as “the fascists your nan warned you about.” An investigation by the Daily Mirror reported that National Action was sending its members to paramilitary bootcamps, featuring knife fighting lessons. Earlier in the week, Terence Miles, who runs National Action’s training, reportedly posted a photo on Instagram of his “not entirely legal” pocket knife.

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Nobody attended the neo-Nazi demonstration against Jews in Finchley today

We have been watching for a month as the two dozen neo-Nazis we stopped from demonstrating in Golders Green in July tried to organise another demonstration against Jews in Finchley.

We have been in contact with the police throughout, but this time we did not have to take action to stop the neo-Nazis. They were defeated by lack of support from other neo-Nazis.

After the last demonstration, the neo-Nazis complained about “massive, negative and wholly untrue publicity” and the way that their “truthful opposition” had been “stifled”. Instead of looking like heroes, they looked like fools.

By standing firm instead of heeding calls to ignore the neo-Nazis we showed them that we are not an easy target, and we also showed the police that we will accept nothing less than zero tolerance.

It is possible that the neo-Nazis will try again. We are working with lawyers on means of crippling future attempts and also pursuing police complaints against two of their leaders.

Meanwhile, we continue our work against Islamist and far-left antisemitism as well as far-right antisemitism.

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Neo-Nazis Banned from Golders Green after Campaign Against Antisemitism Rallies Thousands

Over a month ago, neo-Nazis announced their intention to hold a demonstrate against Jews in Golders Green on 4th July. It is no coincidence that they chose to demonstrate on the Jewish sabbath in the neighbourhood with the highest Jewish population in the country.

On April 18th, they demonstrated in Stamford Hill and were ignored. They identified the Jewish community as a ‘soft’ target and announced plans to demonstrate in Golders Green and elsewhere. Ignoring them made them bolder.

In response, Campaign Against Antisemitism rallied thousands of Jews and non-Jews to stand opposite the neo-Nazis in dignified defiance, unity and pride.

The neo-Nazi demonstration in Golders Green has now been cancelled following our discussions with the police and prospect of us countering in our thousands. We are therefore calling off our counter-protest.

The Metropolitan Police Service confirmed that it was our counter-protest which resulted in this success: “After carefully considering all the facts surrounding this protest and counter protest activity, including the impact on the Jewish and wider community of Golders Green, it is the assessment of the Metropolitan Police Service that the presence of these groups in the same area at the same time is likely to result in serious disorder, serious disruption to the life of the community and intimidation of others.”

The Metropolitan Police Service has therefore imposed conditions on the neo-Nazis under s.14 of the Public Order Act that require them to present themselves on a given central London pavement on Saturday where they will be kettled for 60 minutes, before dispersing on pain of arrest.

We have always said that we expected the authorities to exercise their full powers to cripple this threat to our community. The neo-Nazi demonstration has been crippled and as such we will now not be holding a counter-demonstration.

The issue was that of neo-Nazis being free to intimidate Jewish people in the heart of our community and they are no longer able to do so. The neo-Nazis have threatened to hold “flash mob” demonstrations in Golders Green in the future and we are now discussing the use of injunctions to prevent that with the Council and the Metropolitan Police Service.

Since neo-Nazis announced their plans to demonstrate in Golders Green this Saturday, Campaign Against Antisemitism pursued the twin tracks of intensive discussions with the Metropolitan Police Service and rallying thousands of people to stand opposite them on the day in dignified defiance.

Our approach has been vindicated. “Never again” means firmly standing up for our rights, in the streets if necessary, not ignoring aggressors.

For over a month our volunteers have worked tirelessly. We have held countless discussions and meetings with the various branches of the Metropolitan Police Service, Barnet Council and our government contacts. This has meant dozens of days of work and hours of work for our pro bono lawyers.

Our volunteers have simultaneously prepared for a demonstration for thousands of people in the middle of a busy road on Shabbat with huge logistical and security challenges. We have prepared thousands of placards and procured thousands of flags. We have distributed 7,500 flyers. We have contacted tens of thousands of people via social media and e-mail.

We would like to thank the dozens of volunteers who stepped forward to share this burden, allowing individual members of the community to contribute their considerable talents to the fight against antisemitism.

This neo-Nazi demonstration was an attempt to intimidate the largest Jewish community in the UK on the Jewish Sabbath at the heart of Golders Green, on the very memorial to those who lost their lives fighting Nazis.

We believe that “never again” is a call to action from our history, which is why we called thousands of Jews and non-Jews to stand together against this disgrace in dignified defiance, unity and pride.

Today’s decision by the Metropolitan Police Service is a victory for British values and we applaud their firm defence of our community.

Antisemitism is a societal disease and zero tolerance law enforcement and education are fundamental parts of the cure.

We are seeking to recruit a General Counsel a Video and Content Creator to join our London office

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Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.

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