The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has responded to complaints by Campaign Against Antisemitism and other Jewish communal groups over its coverage of the antisemitic Oxford Street incident late last year.
On the first night of the Jewish festival of Chanukah, Jewish teenagers who were celebrating on Oxford Street were attacked by a group of men who hurled antisemitic abuse at them, forcing them to retreat to their bus. The men, who appeared to be of Middle Eastern heritage, proceeded to hit the vehicle with their hands and then their shoes, spitting on it, trying to break windows and performing Hitler salutes. The victims filmed part of the attack.
In its coverage of the incident, the BBC reported that the explicit expressions of antisemitism evident in the footage were merely “allegations”, and simultaneously claimed — alone among all media outlets — that “some racial slurs about Muslims can also be heard from inside the bus,” an assertion made with no evidence to support it and which was even contradicted in the article by a witness from the bus who said that she heard no such slurs. It was also subsequently contradicted by independent audio analysis.
On its BBC London Evening News, the BBC even suggested that “it’s not clear what role [the supposed slurs] may have had in the incident.” After public fury, the BBC amended the article to refer to an “anti-Muslim slur” in the singular, but failed to show any evidence why a supposed slur that nobody could hear with certainty was described as “clearly heard” and reported as fact — and even implied to have been a cause of the antisemitic harassment — while the harassment itself remained mere “allegation”.
Campaign Against Antisemitism and others submitted complaints to the BBC, and we held a rally outside Broadcasting House in London, attended by hundreds of protestors, to deliver the message: “BBC News: Stop Blaming Jews!” Lord Grade, a former Chairman of the BBC, told Podcast Against Antisemitism that the BBC’s reportage was “shoddy journalism” and called for answers in a video supporting the rally, which was endorsed also by Dame Maureen Lipman.
In its report, the ECU, which is a unit within the BBC but independent of its editors, considered whether the BBC’s coverage lacked impartiality, whether it was reasonable to include an unqualified reference to a supposed anti-Muslim slur (while describing the evident antisemitism as merely “alleged”), and whether the BBC was right to continue to defend its coverage in the face of universal outrage from the Jewish community.
In its four-page report, the ECU expressed satisfaction with the BBC’s correction of the website article’s description of “slurs” to “slur”, but upheld the complaint in respect of the television report, where there was no like correction for the misleading reportage. More significantly, the BBC defended the inclusion of the slur and its portrayal as fact, as well as the minimisation of the antisemitism as merely alleged. Finally, the ECU issued a mild rebuke over the BBC’s slowness in accepting that there was doubt over its coverage, but ultimately stood by the broadcaster’s reporting as a whole.
Over the course of rationalising its conclusions, the ECU effectively and disgracefully threw the CST under the bus. It also explained the fact that BBC staffers heard Jews spouting an anti-Muslim slur as an example of the “Apollonian tendency” whereby people hear what they imagine they are likely to be hearing. In so doing, however, the ECU thereby betrayed the very prejudices at the BBC that the ECU insists were not at play.
The full report by the ECU is reproduced below.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It took the BBC two months and four pages to deliver a whitewash non-apology that stands by its spurious reporting of an anti-Muslim slur and dismisses the monumental offence generated by its coverage.
“It is a travesty that the BBC thinks that it can toss the Jewish community a bone by upholding minor elements of our complaint while defending almost the entirety of its reportage and conduct over the course of this abominable saga. Sadly, this sort of stonewalling is exactly what British Jews have come to expect from our public broadcaster.
“Ironically, the ECU’s claim that its staffers hearing Jews spout an anti-Muslim slur is an example of the ‘Apollonian tendency’ betrays the very prejudices that the ECU insists were not at play.
“The BBC’s insistence that ‘we will always welcome feedback on – and constructive scrutiny of – our reporting’ has always been laughable. Today, it is nothing short of insulting. If the BBC thinks that it has settled this matter and appeased the Jewish community, it is deeply mistaken.
“We welcome Ofcom’s reaction to the ECU’s pitiful report by announcing its own investigation, which will hopefully deliver the justice to the Jewish community that the BBC has once more denied.”
Polling that we conducted last year for our Antisemitism Barometer revealed that two thirds of British Jews are deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints. These figures reflect years of eroding confidence in the BBC on the part of the Jewish community.
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].
Oxford Street: Men filmed spitting at Jewish people on bus, BBC News Online (England) & BBC London News, BBC One (London), 2 December 2021
Finding by the BBC Executive Complaints Unit
Complaint
On 2 December 2021 the BBC published an article, headlined as above, about an incident in which abuse was directed at a group of Jewish students on a bus in London’s Oxford Street. That evening BBC One (London) broadcast a report on the same story in its main news bulletin at 6.30pm. Subsequent to both, the BBC received representations from a significant number of groups and individuals, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Chief Rabbi critical of the accuracy and impartiality of the BBC’s coverage of the events described, particularly in relation to the claim that an anti-Muslim slur had been heard from inside the bus. In the light of the deeply-felt concerns expressed by senior leaders in the Jewish community and others, the Director-General in his role as Editor-in Chief instructed the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit to investigate the complaints as a matter of urgency.
Outcome
The ECU, though part of the BBC, is independent of programme-makers, and is tasked with judging complaints about BBC output against the requirements of the BBC’s editorial standards, as expressed in the Editorial Guidelines. If we conclude that a complaint has identified a breach of those standards, we will uphold it in that respect – or, if it seems to us that the breach had already been recognised and appropriate action taken to remedy it, our finding will be that the complaint has been resolved. In reaching our finding we have watched and read the relevant output, watched and listened to an enhanced audio version of the disputed recording, examined the editorial processes which led to the inclusion of the claim about an anti-Muslim slur in both the online and broadcast items, and considered the BBC’s subsequent decision to stand by its reporting. We have also considered the two reports commissioned by the Board of Deputies, along with the result of a separate check carried out on behalf of the BBC.
Three main questions, which emerged from the complaints, provide a focus for our finding. First, did the overall coverage lack impartiality, both in its choice of language and its focus – in effect, as some have suggested, “victim-shaming” the Jewish passengers on the bus, implying they bore a share of responsibility for the incident, or otherwise creating a false equivalence? Second, was the BBC justified, on the basis of the evidence available to it at the time, to include a line saying an insult of some kind had been heard coming from the bus (in addition to those already reported as having come from the pavement)? And finally, in the light of new analysis of the recording, was the BBC right to continue to defend all the statements included in its reports as accurate and not requiring amendment?
Taking these in turn, the first BBC report on this story was published on the afternoon of 2 December. The BBC became aware of the story via social media the previous day but considerable effort had gone in to verifying the footage and establishing the facts. The headline Oxford Street: Men filmed spitting at Jewish people on bus was placed above the following introduction which gave a flavour of the article’s tone and content:
An alleged antisemitic incident involving passengers on a bus in central London is being treated as a hate crime, the Met Police has said. It happened on Monday night in Oxford Street during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, the force said. Footage appears to show men spitting at and abusing people on the bus. Boris Johnson said the clip was “disturbing”.
A number of complainants have cited the use of the word “alleged” and phrases like “appears to show” as evidence of a lack of impartiality, in contrast with the lack of qualification in the phrase “some racial slurs about Muslims can also be heard from inside the bus” (a form of words to which the finding will return, in a different context). Others also highlighted the reporter’s reference in the television item to any role the words from the bus might have played. As to “alleged” and the like, the terminology was used on the basis of legal advice taken by the programme-makers, and was by no means unusual in reporting matters under police investigation which may fall to be decided by the courts, and where not all the facts have been established. We saw no evidence to suggest it was intended to contrast with the treatment of the anti-Muslim slur claim – which was contextualised in the online item in a way the statements about the behaviour of those outside the bus were not, by the inclusion of a quote from one of the students on the bus, in which she denied hearing any such insults from her fellow-passengers. In relation to the second point, the reporter in the television item said (in connection with the words supposedly spoken from the bus) “It’s not clear at the moment for the person which said that what role this may have played in the incident” . As is sometimes the case in unscripted broadcasting, it is apparent that the reporter’s intended meaning was not expressed with complete clarity, but what can be said is that he did not assert that the slur had played a role, and that, at that point in time, there were elements of uncertainty about what had happened which it was appropriate for the report to reflect. In any event, the reference came towards the end of a piece in which the overriding focus had been on the behaviour of those outside the bus, which was hardly conducive to the view that the passengers shared responsibility for the incident.
For these reasons, and judged against the evidence available at the time, the ECU did not accept that either item lacked impartiality in the senses complained of, or that the charges of victim-blaming or false equivalence are warranted. In two significant respects however both items were inaccurate. The original online copy spoke of “some racial slurs about Muslims” whilst the TV reportexplained “you can hear some racial slurs about Muslim people”.In later versions the online copy was changed to “a slur about Muslims” reflecting thatthe original iterations had mischaracterised the nature of the insult and there was insufficient evidence that it had happened on more than one occasion. In the ECU’s judgement the original versions did not meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy but, on the basis set out above, the ECU regarded the correction of the online item as resolving the complaint in that respect. As there was no equivalent correction in the case of the TV report, and as the inaccuracies in it were no less significant than those in the online item, the ECU upheld this aspect of the complaint.
In connection with the second of the questions set out above – about whether reporting that an insult of some kind had been heard coming from the bus was justified on the basis of the evidence available at the time – it is important to note that, at the time the BBC ran the story, the principal primary source material consisted of a mobile phone recording lasting 58”[Other material has since emerged but has no direct relevance to our finding.], which we understand had been provided to the Community Security Trust (CST) when the incident was reported to them and subsequently began to circulate on social media. The CST became a point of contact about the incident for the media, and it was to the CST that BBC London applied on the morning of 2 December for clearance to use the recording. In the somewhat unusual circumstances which obtained here, it was inevitable that reporting of the incident would reflect such information as could be gleaned from the recording; and, in the light of the CST’s leading role in relation to antisemitic incidents as well as their involvement in the incident in question, it was natural and appropriate that the BBC should turn primarily to the CST for verification (as many other media outlets did). The ECU has been shown a detailed timeline of events from the moment the BBC became aware of the story on 1 December, and it shows an unusually high level of consultation among colleagues about the content of the recording. It was on the afternoon of 1 December that it was first identified as containing an anti-Muslim slur (in the form of “Dirty Muslims”), and the recording was subsequently assessed by at least seven members of BBC London news staff and a senior editor in network news, all of whom agreed that the phrase “Dirty Muslims” could be heard, before a decision to include a statement to that effect in BBC output was made. Properly, however, the BBC did not rely on its own assessment alone. The claim was put by the reporter in the television item to the representative of the CST with whom he had been dealing, who replied (in a WhatsApp exchange which the ECU has seen) in terms which the BBC took as confirmation that the phrase in question had been spoken and, in the ECU’s judgement, it was entirely reasonable to take them in that sense. We should make clear, however, that we do not say the CST’s response determined the BBC’s decision to include the claim in its output – it was only one part of the decision-making process, but it does have some significance for the ECU’s view on the outcome of that process. With hindsight, and in the light of subsequent evidence that the recording was open to another interpretation, it might be argued that even further verification should have been sought, but the situation at the time was that no alternative interpretation had been proposed, and in our view the elements of internal scrutiny taken together with the CST’s response amounted to an editorial process which we would regard as more than sufficient in any but the most extraordinary circumstances. We therefore do not believe we can fairly find that the decision to broadcast the claim in question constituted a breach of editorial standards, even if it were accepted in the light of later evidence that the claim itself was questionable. And, in view of allegations of latent or even active antisemitism which have been made, the ECU considers it important to say it was manifest from the evidence we have seen that the decision, whether or not mistaken, was made entirely in good faith.
We now turn to the third question, about whether the BBC has been right to continue to defend the statements in its reports about an anti-Muslim slur as accurate and not requiring amendment. Since 2 December the matter has been the subject of (to our knowledge) three outside assessments, two commissioned by the Board of Deputies from a Professor of Linguistics and a team of digital forensic and data security specialists, and one commissioned by the BBC from a firm of translators; and in the course of assessing the evidence offered by the Board of Deputies and preparing a response to complaints, the mobile phone recording has been listened to by a number of senior members of BBC News management (and a member of staff with a working knowledge of Hebrew), and discussed with the BBC’s Jerusalem Bureau with input from native Hebrew-speakers there (though with inconclusive results, which led to the commissioning of the firm of translators). In response to the Director-General’s instruction to the ECU we have viewed and listened to a version of the material with enhanced audio (as set out above), and the Head of the ECU has listened to the material in studio conditions with the help of a BBC sound engineer who was able to apply a number of further enhancements.
In this connection, the ECU notes the suggestion, in a report commissioned by the Board of Deputies from a Professor of Linguistics that BBC staff may have misheard the phrase as a result of the “Apollonian tendency”, which he describes as the mind’s inclination to create order or meaningfulness, especially when encountering unfamiliar information. Although it might be observed that such a tendency might apply as much to those undertaking investigations on behalf of others as to BBC staff, it corresponded with the experience of members of the ECU, both as investigators of complaints and in their previous roles as programme-makers, in which they had encountered cases where the same audio material can genuinely be construed in entirely different senses by different listeners. The interpretation arrived at may well depend on cues which the listener is unaware of having received and, once arrived at, may be very difficult to controvert. In the ECU’s view, the contesting interpretations of the material under consideration were a case in point, and it might not be possible to determine with certainty which of them is correct on the basis of the recording alone. The question we therefore addressed was whether the BBC’s response should have acknowledged an element of doubt about the anti-Muslim slur claim. In this connection, we noted that the report commissioned by the BBC did not result in unanimity, with three of the four translators involved construing the phrase as “Dirty Muslims” and one as the Hebrew for “Call someone, it’s urgent”. While the majority finding gives support to the view that “Dirty Muslims” is a sustainable interpretation, the more significant point for the ECU is that the sole exception indicates that it was not the only possible interpretation. In the ECU’s judgement this, taken together with the evidence put forward by the Board of Deputies, should have led the BBC to recognise at an earlier stage that there was genuine doubt about the accuracy of what it had reported.
It follows that the online article as it stands must now be regarded as no longer meeting the BBC’s standards of due accuracy and, to the extent that the anti-Muslim slur claim has itself become controversial, it also lacks due impartiality in failing to reflect alternative views. The same applies, mutatis mutandis, to the television item, though that could not have been updated as an online item can.
The complaints were therefore partly upheld in relation to accuracy and impartiality.
Partly upheld
Further action
The online item will be revised in the light of the finding and a posting will be made on the Corrections and Clarifications page about the television item (which will also acknowledge the original element of inaccuracy in the phrase “some racial slurs about Moslems”).
Image credit: Nathan Lilienfeld
Neo-Nazi student who disguised terrorism manual as Minecraft handbook jailed for three and a half years
A neo-Nazi student who disseminated a terrorism manual disguised as a handbook for Minecraft, an adventure game where users can build and create new environments, was jailed on Friday for three and a half years.
Connor Burke, 19, shared the 27-page bomb-making manual in a channel on the social media platform Telegram under the file name Minecraft_Bow_Ammo_Types.pdf. Other terrorism-related documents, including the Anarchy Cookbook Version 2000, were also disguised as Minecraft handbooks. The Anarchy Cookbook Version 2000 is an updated version of the Anarchist Cookbook, which is a guide to making bombs and illegal drugs at home, written during the 1970s. The author of the book has since stated that he was motivated by anger at the time of writing and said that the “basic premise behind the Cookbook is profoundly flawed”.
Concerns have previously been raised over the alleged increase in neo-Nazi content on Telegram. Last year, a teenage neo-Nazi was jailed for eleven years after using the social media platform Telegram to plot terrorist acts. The far-right group Patriotic Alternative was also found to have created neo-Nazi channels dedicated to sharing vile messages, antisemitic conspiracy theories, and images glorifying Hitler.
In a raid of Mr Burke’s family home in Bexleyheath in February 2021, anti-terrorism police found a copy of Mein Kampf, an SS-dagger, and racist and antisemitic propaganda on his computer. They also discovered a video about the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand.
Commander Richard Smith, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Burke had an unhealthy interest in extreme right wing terrorist ideology, and this led to him sharing extremely dangerous material with others online.
“Increasingly, we’re seeing young people being drawn into extremist ideologies, some of whom – like Burke – then go on to commit serious terrorism offences.”
Naeem Mian QC, defending, said that “It is every parent’s worst nightmare. Through a toxic combination coming together, a young man who is from a very loving background but socially isolated found he was having to stay at home as many people were during lockdown. So the isolation was even greater.
“He was therefore spending too much time on his computer and on the internet, in his room by himself…He is a young man who has disappeared down something one would term as a rabbit hole. A very dark rabbit hole which became something of an echo chamber.”
Judge Christopher Kinch QC said: “You got yourself caught up in some very dangerous activity and you waded in deep”, but noted that the teenager’s parents called him a “loving, respectful, gentle young man” who they believe had been motivated to “make an impression” with people he met online. Judge Kinch said that he felt that Mr Burke had a good chance of rehabilitation.
Mr Burke pleaded guilty to disseminating a terrorist publication and four counts of possession of a document likely to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism and was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday to a total of 42 months’ imprisonment and an additional 12 months on licence.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has been monitoring and acting against the threat from the far-right for years and continues to support the authorities following suit.
Image credit: Metropolitan Police
‘Merchant of Venice’ cancelled in New York City school amid fears it is “inappropriate”
A New York City school cancelled its production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice amid parental concerns about the antisemitic themes in the play.
According to a report in the New York Post, Jewish parents expressed concerns that the play may not be appropriate for the teenage drama students at Morton Middle School in Manhattan.
The Shakespearean tragedy tells the story of the Jewish moneylender Shylock, depicted as the stereotype of “a greedy Jew”, who is insulted by his Christian enemies. A Smithsonian Magazine analysis has observed that there were more than 50 productions of the play in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1939, lending “credence to the charge of antisemitism,” according to the magazine.
Theatre for a New Audience (TFNA), the Manhattan-based organisation collaborating with the students on the play, told the New York Post that they had taken into consideration the “polarising elements of the play” when developing the project and had worked with input from the ADL to ensure that the “challenging themes” would be treated with the “proper critical analysis, sensitivity, and thoughtfulness.”
Nevertheless, the school decided to abandon the production, saying its decision was not taken “lightly,” that they had “worked diligently” with TFNA and had “listened to the members of our community to resolve concerns.”
According to school sources, opinion was divided. One member of the school community said that you needed “knowledge and context” to understand how “bad and dangerous the antisemitism” in this play was. But other parents were “opposed” to scrapping the production, while yet others calling for a dialogue, with one parent noting that, while he had “reservations,” by cancelling the play, the school was missing “a teachable moment.”
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.
Tennessee Bible class reportedly taught pupils how to “torture a Jew”
The parent of a Jewish student in a Tennessee school has expressed outrage after the teacher in a Bible class allegedly pushed Christian ideology and told students how to “torture a Jew”.
In a Facebook post, Juniper Russo wrote that although the class at East Hamilton Middle School, in Hamilton County, Chattanooga, was meant to teach the Bible from “an unbiased and non-sectarian viewpoint,” the class was, she claimed, used for “blatant Christian proselytising.”
Ms Russo wrote that she had been hesitant to enrol her daughter in the class, run by the Bible in the Schools programme, but had done so as her daughter had disabilities that made other classes inaccessible.
According to Ms Russo, assignments given to students included questions about whether they read the Bible at home and which books of the Bible they read. She said that students were told about an atheist student who took the class and became a Christian believer and were shown a video which, according to Ms Russo, portrayed Christianity as “light, sunshine and colour” and “all other global religions as storms, darkness and shadows.”
While Ms Russo was already uncomfortable with the teaching, she decided to take her daughter out of the class after, she claimed, it “turned hostile” when the teacher allegedly “wrote an English transliteration of the Hebrew name of God on the whiteboard.” Telling the class that this name was “traditionally not spoken out loud” she allegedly added: “If you want to know how to torture a Jew, make them say this out loud.”
Ms Russo said that her daughter “felt extremely uncomfortable” hearing this comment and that she no longer felt “safe in the class.”
Ms Russo reported that when she tried to arrange a meeting with the teacher, the school administration and the director of the local Jewish Federation, she was told by the principal that her concerns were being taken seriously but that the teacher refused to meet her, claiming that it was against the policy of the Bible in the Schools programme.
Ms Russo also noted that the incident followed the recent ban by nearby McMinn County of Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust.
The Bible in the Schools programme has been operating in the area’s public schools since 1922. According to the programme’s website, it allows students to study the Bible from a “literary or historical perspective” and from a “viewpoint-neutral, court-approved curriculum.” It claims to be “inclusive to students from all walks of life.”
A spokesperson for Hamilton County Schools (HSC) said that it was investigating the “parent complaint” concerning the course. When completed, and “in accordance with school board policy,” HCS would “take appropriate steps.”
In a statement, the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga said that it was aware of the issues concerning the Bible class and noted that both the school and HCS were “investigating the claims and taking them seriously.” The group said that it looked forward to “a healthy dialogue with the Bible in the Schools organisation.”
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: Google
Snowplow driver fired after posting video of himself spraying Jewish people with snow in New Jersey
A snowplow driver has been fired after he posted a video of himself spraying Jewish people with snow in New Jersey.
The video, shot from inside of the snowplow, shows the driver approaching two visibly Jewish people on his left. He then sprays the Jewish people before breaking into laughter.
Danny Klarmann, an employee of New Jersey Waste Management, posted the now-removed video to his Facebook profile alongside the caption: “This one’s for you JC.”
An investigation is being carried out by Lakewood police and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office.
Waste Management released a statement in which they said: The hateful conduct depicted in the video is unacceptable and does not reflect the values of inclusion and diversity we hold as a company.”
Lakewood Mayor Raymond Coles also called the stunt “incredibly stupid and dangerous”, adding: “The plow could easily have thrown chunks of ice or rock and seriously injured or killed either of the victims. I am glad to know our police department is investigating all aspects of this incident.”
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.
UN panel reports only seven Jews remain in Yemen due to persecution from Houthi rebels and Government
A United Nations (UN) panel has stated that persecution from Houthi rebels, the Iranian proxy whose organisation is known as Ansar Allah, and a previous Government have forced Yemeni Jews out.
The findings were included as a part of the UN’s report on how civil war has affected Yemen, and stated that a Jewish population of 50,000 has now been dwindled down to just seven, one of whom is imprisoned.
The report said: “The panel documented the systematic persecution of Jews in Houthi-controlled areas.
“Most of [the] Jewish population left Yemen after several years of persecution, which started under former President Ali Abdullah Saleh but intensified under the Houthis. The panel knows of seven Jewish individuals still in Yemen, including one who remains detained despite an order to release him issued in July 2019.”
The report also detailed the ongoings on a Houthi summer camp where children were expected to “regularly shout the Houthi slogan ‘Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory to Islam’.”
Earlier this month, we reported that the Health Minister for the areas of Yemen controlled by the rebel Houthis embarked on a rant about Jewish people in which, among other statements, he accused Jews of controlling the global economy.
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.
Sheffield Hallam University reportedly drops investigation into UCU-backed academic who believes “Zionist lobbies…buy presidents” and has repeatedly breached International Definition of Antisemitism
Sheffield Hallam University has reportedly dropped an investigation into an academic who believes that “Zionist lobbies…buy presidents”, defended the phrase “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust” and shared a video called “Truth About Zionist Jews Talmud”.
Shahd Abusalama, who has been studying for a PhD in cinema at the University, reportedly shared tweets defending a first-year student who had made a poster that said “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust” and who was accused by a Jewish student of antisemitism.
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, which Sheffield Hallam has adopted, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.
On social media, Ms Abusalama defended the student by citing Jewish individuals who have made the same analogy, and also wrote: “I understand why a first-year university student used #Holocaust when thinking of Israel’s repeated bombardment of Gaza”, adding: “Maybe she thought she’d garner European sympathy for Palestine by evoking ‘Never Again’ slogan.”
She noted of the term “Holocaust” that she herself would not “use such a politicised word often used to justify the racist state of Israel” because it “distracts attention from the Zionist practices of settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians.” However, she proceeded to use other inflammatory terms and claimed that the suggestion that the University’s Palestine Society should undertake antisemitism training in light of the incident was indicative of a “hierarchy of racisms” asking: “Are Islamophobia & Xenophobia insignificant? Prioritising one form of racism over others is itself racist and divisive.”
This was not the first time that Ms Abusalama has courted controversy. She is active in the BDS movement to boycott Israel, the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of British Jews find intimidating, and in the past she reportedly urged people to watch a video on YouTube called “Truth About Zionist Jews Talmud”, which presented numerous antisemitic myths about the Talmud. The video’s description asked “Why the Zionist don’t want us to know what’s in Talmud? [sic],” adding: “Why they want the teaching of the Talmud to be known only to Jews.” Ms Abusalama wrote on Twitter: “Must watch this video that tells you the truth about #zionist #Jews. They take their legitimacy from #Talmud.” In another post, she reportedly wrote that the “Zionist lobbies control all this for their interest,” adding: “They buy presidents/slaves.” The video and tweets have since been deleted.
Ms Abusalama has also asserted that “Zionism is one of the worst forms of antisemitism,” described the BBC as part of the “Zionist propaganda machine”, claimed that the Jewish Chronicle newspaper is so named in order to “cement the analogy between anti-Zionism and antisemitism” and has further claimed that “Germany was always one of the greatest supporters and Zionists managed to mobilise German guilt for Nazism to normalise and enable their oppression and dispossession of the Palestinians.” She has also reportedly posted: “Barak Hussein Obama is b*stard! Those racists should be happy now & re-elect him as he’s anti-Arabs and anti-Muslims & #Zionists’ puppet [sic].”
In 2013, Ms Abusalama reportedly appeared at the 46th anniversary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation. The event was addressed via video by the convicted terrorist, Leila Khaled, with Ms Abusalama reportedly singing in front of a PFLP banner. In a blog post, Ms Abusalama has also reportedly described Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese Red Army terrorist who participated in the PFLP’s 1971 Lod Airport massacre, as a “freedom fighter”, and described six terrorists who escaped from an Israeli jail last year as “heroes”. She has previously referred to Akram Rikhawi, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for transporting suicide bombers, as “legendary”.
Last month, during the University’s short-lived investigation, Ms Abusalama claimed that “Zionist racist publications/trolls have renewed online #bullying to discredit my academic reputation,” and she was suspended by the University. She declared: “Family, friends, and followers, I am under renewed attack by Zionist publications protesting my recent appointment as an Associate Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, where I also recently submitted a PhD dissertation on the historical representation of Palestinian refugees in colonial, humanitarian and Palestinian documentary films, from 1917 and 1993. The Zionist defamation campaign by Jewish News, Campaign Against Antisemitism and Jewish Chronicle joins a historical pattern where the Zionist colonial narrative is consistently privileged over the narratives of the oppressed.” She also claimed that “Zionists are still targeting me.”
She was then reinstated to her teaching duties, and it is understood that the investigation by the University was then dropped entirely and she was given a full-time position at Sheffield Hallam.
Celebrating the University’s capitulation, Ms Abusalama has once again turned her sights to the International Definition of Antisemitism, and is seeking to sustain the pressure on the University that appears to have enabled her return.
Ms Abusalama was assisted in her negotiations with the University by a representative from the University and College Union (UCU). On 2nd February, the UCU branch at Sheffield Hallam also passed an emergency motion supporting Ms Abusalama. Ms Absulama’s Director of Studies reportedly told the meeting that “black and brown people have had to justify what they have said for many centuries” and that “it is not by chance that the IHRA [International] definition has been used against a young Palestinian scholar.” Last year, the branch was condemned for passing a motion of solidarity with the disgraced Bristol University professor, David Miller.
Among Ms Abusalama’s supporters was the controversial former President of the National Union of Students, Malia Bouattia, who was found by her own institution to have made antisemitic comments.
A spokesperson for Sheffield Hallam University said: “After some specific concerns were raised in relation to an individual’s proposed appointment as an Associate Lecturer, we had a duty to fully consider the matters brought to our attention. An appointment has now been made following the conclusion of a robust HR process. As a university we uphold the principles of free speech and academic freedom. We are proud that our staff and students come from a diverse range of backgrounds, with a wide range of views and beliefs. We do not tolerate discrimination or hate speech, and are committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive culture for all our students and staff.”
Binyomin Gilbert, Programme Manager at Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is just the latest example of a university that has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism and failed properly to apply it in the case of an academic who has repeatedly and unrepentantly breached it, with the academic overcoming an investigation that apparently imposed no sanction and even getting a promotion. It is clear that Sheffield Hallam University has little interest in the welfare of its Jewish students and staff, but at the very least one might have hoped that, as a university, the institution would not wish to tar its reputation by hiring a conspiracist who believes dangerous nonsense such as that ‘Zionist lobbies buy presidents’ and writes from prejudiced ignorance about the Talmud.
“As usual, the University and Colleges Union has run to the defence of anyone who breaches the Definition, proving itself once again to be a very unsafe place for its Jewish members.
“We shall be writing to the University to make our views known and shall be reviewing options for further action.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities.
If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].
Swastika found drawn on glass in Ithaca College
It has been reported that on 3rd February, a swastika was found drawn into the condensation on a window in Ithaca College.
Ithaca College Interim President La Jerne Cornish e-mailed the campus community on 4th February, writing: “The vision of this institution is to build thriving communities, rooted in the values of equity, accountability, and respect, among others. We cannot achieve this goal in an environment that tolerates antisemitic, racist, or other threatening symbols, words, behaviors, or ideologies.”
In the statement, it was also confirmed that an investigation was underway after an incident report had been filed with the Office of Public Safety.
Ithaca’s Hillel house released a statement of its own in which it said that “The swastika is often used to incite violence against Jews and can threaten Jewish students’ sense of safety,” adding: “We are grateful to Ithaca College’s leadership for the seriousness of their response.”
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.
London Underground train carriage reportedly taken out of service after “YIDS” vandalism
A London Underground train carriage has reportedly been taken out of service after the British Transport Police were alerted to the carriage being vandalised.
The vandalism appears to show the word “YIDS” and a Star of David etched into the panel of the carriage
The person who alerted BTP was travelling eastbound on the Central line at 16:40 on 3rd February. After reporting the vandalism by text to BTP, she was then contacted by phone where she was then advised that Transport for London had been informed.
The informant, who works for TfL, was able to check on an internal system and discovered that the carriage appeared to have been taken out of service.
Unite suspends official who accused veteran Jewish MP of “weaponising the Holocaust” to push her “Zionist aims”
Unite, one of Britain’s biggest unions, has suspended an official who accused a veteran Jewish MP of “weaponising the Holocaust” to push her “Zionist agenda”.
Communications Officer Nick West reportedly wrote online of the Labour MP, Dame Margaret Hodge, that she “makes millions of us sick to our stomachs. A woman who has weaponises both her faith and the Holocaust to forward her own petty and Zionist aims. While memorialising the awful stain on humanity that was the slaughter of millions of Jews, Romany and gays, those like Hodge who wield the bloodshed as a political weapon are beyond redemption. Humanity would not miss her.”
A fellow Unite member reacted to the post by saying: “Your comment is absolutely vile and if anyone is weaponising the Holocaust, it is you.”
According to reports, this is not Mr West’s first brush with controversy in relation to antisemitism, having previously appeared to compare Israel to the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism. He wrote: “Criticism of the state of Israel isn’t antisemitism. The Jews suffered great tragedy and now inflict it on others.”
He also played down antisemitism allegations in the Labour Party, writing in 2018: “As we know it’s all cobblers orchestrated by the power of the state of Israel’s lobbying and right-wing MPs’ objections to Corbyn. Labour needs to stand up and say this and stop apologising.”
A spokesperson for Unite said: “Unite takes this matter extremely seriously. The employee in question has been suspended and an investigation is under way.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Image credit: JC
NYPD hate crime unit investigating after spree of alleged antisemitic attacks in Brooklyn
The New York Police Department (NYPD)’s hate crime unit is investigating a spree of alleged antisemitic attacks which were reported to have taken place over the weekend.
The incidents reportedly all took place in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn during the Jewish Sabbath.
At 22:26 on Friday, a 24-year-old visibly Jewish man was punched in the face. CCTV footage shows a man running up behind the Jewish man before striking him.
A second alleged antisemitic was also reported to have taken place on Friday.
A third incident saw multiple Yeshiva school buses being vandalised with swastikas.
Last month, New York police arrested a woman who was suspected of making antisemitic comments to three Jewish children aged seven, two and eight, in Brooklyn. The suspect reportedly walked away after telling the three siblings that “Hitler should have killed you all. I’ll kill you and know where you live,” and spitting on the eight-year-old boy.
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.
Antisemitic graffiti found in elementary school in Marblehead, MA three times in one month
A police investigation is being conducted in Marblehead, near Boston, after antisemitic graffiti was discovered in bathrooms at an elementary school three times in January 2022.
The first two were swastikas, etched into bathroom stools. The third included “profane language targeted at Jewish people”, and was reported on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The other incidents at the Massachusetts school were reported on 18th January and 26th January.
Superintendent John Buckley wrote an e-mail to the school community, stating: “To say I am disheartened and angry would be an understatement. We have been working with Marblehead Police since the first incident. Destroying school property by scratching swastikas or any other form of hate will be fully investigated by the Marblehead Police Department and any students who engage in such acts face consequences accordingly.”
Around 80 “Team Harmony” students from the high school gave a talk to the elementary school about hate and bias.
Nearby, Curry College in Milton reported five cases of vandalism. These incidents all included hate speech and antisemitic graffiti, such as a swastika.
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.
GoFundMe called to Canadian parliament after accusations that cash was used to fund antisemitism seen at Ottawa protests
A Canadian parliamentary committee is asking representatives of the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe to testify about how the company ensures that money raised is not used to promote antisemitism, white supremacy and other forms of hate. The demand was issued after it emerged that GoFundMe was used to raise more than C$10 million to support anti-vaccination protests that featured antisemitic tropes and white supremacy and which brought the Canadian capital, Ottawa, to a standstill.
Urged by British Columbia New Democrat MP Alistair MacGregor, the Public Safety Committee (PSC) is asking representatives of the crowd-funding website to answer questions about how its funds were allegedly used to promote hate. GoFundMe announced that it was “reviewing” the anti-vaccination fundraising campaign to ensure that it complied with its terms of service and is understood to have frozen funds to protestors in the meantime.
Mr MacGregor said that he was concerned about “the anonymity of some donors” and what controls GoFundMe had to ensure that the money was not funding “extremist views like antisemitism, white supremacy and other forms of hate” that were “prominently” seen in the Ottawa protests.
The MP said that Canada must subject GoFundMe to “a closer examination,” as the “prime motivation” and “endgame” of its “anonymous donors” were not known. Their aims were unknown “and that’s a very real, big problem,” said Mr MacGregor.
In its statement, GoFundMe said that it had requested more information from the organiser regarding the use of funds. Tamara Lich, one of the protest organisers, said that the crowd-funding company had been given all the information that it sought and was confident that the suspension would be lifted. In the meantime, the controversial social media platform Gab, which is popular with the far-right, has provided links to cryptocurrency websites as a way to keep donations flowing during GoFundMe’s suspension of fundraising.
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.
Plank of wood thrown through synagogue window in North London
A plank of wood has been thrown through a synagogue window in Stamford Hill, North London.
Haringey Police are treating the incident as a hate crime.
The incident is believed to have occurred yesterday at 19:00 on Franklin Street and was reported today by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 2810 04/02/22
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
Investigation underway after swastika painted on army barracks
An investigation is currently underway after a swastika was found painted on Rock Barracks in Suffolk last week.
The black swastika was reportedly scrawled onto the lower level of a barracks housing troops that was connected to the 16 Air Assault Brigade.
The Royal Military Police, who is leading the investigation, has said that multiple soldiers from the 23 Parachute Engineers reported the vandalism. It is understood that the Royal Military Police were made aware of the swastika graffiti as of 28th January, the day after Holocaust Memorial Day.
An army spokesman said: “We utterly condemn any form of antisemitism and are extremely proud of our service personnel from the Jewish community. We are aware of an incident at Rock Barracks, Woodbridge, on 28th January, 2022. This is being investigated by the Royal Military Police.”
Concerns raised that Texas synagogue hostage-taker may have been influenced by antisemitic Urdu sermons that YouTube has failed to remove
Concerns have been raised that the Texas synagogue hostage-taker may have been influenced by antisemitic Urdu sermons that YouTube has failed to remove from its platform.
Malik Faisal Akram, 44, a Briton who took four hostages at the Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville before being shot dead by the FBI, was reportedly obsessed with two hardline Pakistani clerics popular on YouTube.
Israr Ahmed has 2.7 million subscribers on the social media network and was particularly popular with Akram, according to the JC. On his videos, he reportedly called Jews “the ultimate source of evil [and] the biggest agents of Satan”, adding that they “control the banking system of the world.” In another video, entitled “History of the Jews”, Dr Ahmed claimed that Jews had been acting against humanity for over 2,000 years. “The name of Jews became an expletive,” he said. “They became akin to pigs.”
Interestingly, one YouTube user reportedly asked why English subtitles for the sermons were not provided, prompting another to reply: “I’m happy that there are no subtitles. If these are available with subtitles, this’ll be removed from here.”
Meanwhile, the cleric Tariq Jamil has claimed in a video to his nearly six million subscribers that Jews “distorted” the holy books, among other inflammatory remarks. Akram reportedly organised a “rock star” welcome to Mr Jamil, who leads the hardline Islamic movement Tablighi Jamaat, when he visited Akram’s hometown of Blackburn in 2017. The local Tablighi mosque, Makki Masjid, had loudspeakers installed on the roof so that a crowd overflowing outside could hear his sermons.
According to Akram’s family, he joined Tablighi Jamaat and became a dedicated follower of is leader, Mr Jamil, in 2003. Within a year, he began adopting the harsh strictures of the sect, including growing a long beard and forcing his wife to wear a veil, against her wishes, according to reports. He also apparently began disappearing for months at a time in Pakistan and Britain. It is understood that Akram also raised funds for the group in Britain, a campaign of which Mr Jamil’s visit to Blackburn was part.
Akram was reportedly later banned from the Tablighi mosque after calling for jihad against Israel and the United States inside the mosque, as well as insulting the Gulf states who were warming ties with Israel. It is not believed that Akram had further engagement with Tablighi Jamaat after the ban.
A spokesperson for Google, which owns YouTube, said that the company was reviewing the videos and subscription channels highlighted by the JC. In 2019, YouTube updated its hate speech policy, leading to a significant increase in videos being removed from the platform. The guidelines state that antisemitism and hate speech are prohibited and that videos that breach the policy will be removed.
Previously, YouTube removed Urdu sermons by other figures after the JC reported them, but allowed the creators to continue to upload videos. The videos referenced the “Jewish lobby” and described Hitler as “an angel”. It is not known whether Akram watched those videos, but YouTube failed to remove the channels and continues to profit from them.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Scenarios like this make you wonder what exactly it takes for social media companies like YouTube to forgo a fraction of their profits by removing antisemites from their platforms. The substance of these racist sermons was apparently not enough for YouTube. Perhaps now, this evidence that the sermons may have incited Malik Faisal Akram to take Jews hostage in a synagogue will move the company to act. Or does it take actual dead Jews to persuade social media networks not to take the blood money that comes from broadcasting videos such as these? Government regulation of social media cannot come fast enough for the next victims of a social media user incited by those they watch or read online.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has long called for tougher regulations on social media sites and that social networks proactively search for and remove hate speech from their platforms.
“People were getting my picture and making versions of me in concentration camps”: Pink News’ Benjamin Cohen on experiencing antisemitism and homophobia
On the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism, Benjamin Cohen, the founder and CEO of Pink News, spoke on his experiences antisemitism and homophobia, as well as his feelings about the BBC.
Mr Cohen spoke candidly on his experiences of online antisemitism and homophobia. “People were getting my picture and making versions of me in concentration camps, things like that…essentially calling for me to be killed.” Mr Cohen revealed that this led to him needing to get the police involved.
He went on to say that his experiences made it “crystal clear” to him that “there is this meeting of the hatreds and that they are fundamentally the same people that hate everyone.”
When asked about the advice he would give to those experiencing antisemitism or homophobia, Mr Cohen recommended using Twitter’s quality filter and its reporting functions, which he believes has markedly improved.
Speaking on the BBC, Mr Cohen said that he was not surprised that two thirds of the Jewish community were unhappy with the Corporation’s coverage of Jewish matters, stating: “Look, I’m not a big fan of the BBC. I think the BBC has a lot to answer for on a lot of different issues.”
“I think if you did a poll of LGBT+ people, you’d find a similar percentage of people say that they don’t believe the BBC reports fairly. Maybe even higher,” he added. “To me, the problem is the BBC has this view of impartiality which means that it goes out of its way to represent contrary views in a way that I don’t believe should be platformed.
“If you’re going very strongly on the fact that you’re impartial, and then as a Jew, or as an LGBT+ person, or as another minority group, I’m hearing that they’re supposedly impartial and then I see something which clearly isn’t, you kind of make a rod for your own back because you’re saying “I am the most impartial news organisation out there,” or “I will report everything fairly,” but we can all find examples where the BBC doesn’t report it fairly and they’re making it so much worse for themselves because they are stating to be impartial.”
The full podcast with Mr Cohen can be listened to here, or watched here.
Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox. Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, The Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and actor Eddie Marsan.
Encyclopedia Britannica says Arab people and other “Semites” cannot be racist against Jews
The entry on antisemitism in the highly-respected Encyclopedia Britannica asserts that Arab people and other “Semites” cannot be racist against Jews.
The encyclopaedia explains that “anti-Semitism” is “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group,” and explains the history of term.
It goes on to explain that “Although the term now has wide currency, it is a misnomer, since it implies a discrimination against all Semites. Arabs and other peoples are also Semites, and yet they are not the targets of anti-Semitism as it is usually understood.” This is true to a point, albeit that the appellation “Semite” is today generally only applied to languages rather than ethnic groups.
To avoid any misunderstanding that antisemitism applies to any community other than Jews, the term is increasingly spelled “antisemitism”.
But the problems – to which spelling the term as “anti-Semitism”, with a hyphen, opens the door – is that one might begin to think either that “anti-Semitism” applies to all “Semitic” peoples, as explained above, or that “Semites” cannot be antisemitic. These problems arise from an etymological fallacy, by which the roots or etymology of a term is used to make an argument about its current accepted meaning or usage. Thus the entry erroneously proceeds to say: “The term [“anti-Semitism”] is especially inappropriate as a label for the anti-Jewish prejudices, statements, or actions of Arabs or other Semites,” which is dangerous nonsense. Of course Arab people can be antisemitic, as indeed can any other Middle Eastern people or group that speaks a Semitic language, including Jewish people themselves.
We shall be writing to Encyclopedia Britannica to correct the entry.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “By insisting on spelling antisemitism as ‘anti-Semitism’, Encyclopedia Britannica ends up committing an etymological fallacy. The result is the antisemitic trope that ‘Semites’ cannot hate Jews. This is ignorant and dangerous, and we shall be writing to Encyclopedia Britannica to correct this error urgently.”
CAA visits Broadcasting House to tell BBC to switch off the Jew-hate
On Wednesday night, Campaign Against Antisemitism visited Broadcasting House, the BBC’s headquarters in London, to tell the Corporation to “switch off the Jew-hate”. The video can be viewed below.
We projected selected instances from just the past eighteen months of the BBC’s bias against Jews or antisemitism onto the broadcaster’s iconic building.
The intervention comes as the BBC is rocked with controversy over antisemitism, triggered by its abominable coverage of an antisemitic incident on Oxford Street, which its own Executive Complaints Unit has largely defended (and even that defence has had to be further clarified). In December, we held a rally outside Broadcasting House, attended by hundreds of protestors, to deliver the message: “BBC News: Stop Blaming Jews!” Lord Grade, a former Chairman of the BBC, told Podcast Against Antisemitism that the BBC’s reportage was “shoddy journalism” and called for answers in a video supporting the rally, which was endorsed also by Dame Maureen Lipman.
Ofcom is now investigating the coverage, which, as our projections onto the Broadcasting House showed, is only one example of many in which the BBC has exhibited bias against Jews or even indulged in antisemitism. The result has been the gradual erosion of the Jewish community’s confidence in the BBC. Polling that we conducted in 2020 for our Antisemitism Barometer already revealed that two thirds of British Jews were deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints. It is likely that these figures would be even higher if polled today.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The BBC seems to be completely comfortable showing contempt for the Jewish community. Its claim to represent all communities was always laughable, but in the wake of recent controversies it is insulting. The broadcaster is making every effort to deflect criticism of its reportage and editorial practices, despite overwhelming evidence that they are not fit for purpose. Neither universal condemnation, nor demonstrations, nor interventions by the Prime Minister and Culture Secretary, nor even the high-profile resignation of a rabbi have moved the BBC to reflect on its failings. It is probably the single most unaccountable organisation in British public life. The BBC’s credibility has worn very thin indeed.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].
“Jewish Nazi pigs” graffiti found in East London
Graffiti that reads “Jewish Nazi pigs” has been scrawled on a wall in Hackney Wick, East London.
The vandalism appears to have been written in black marker. A photograph of the vandalism was uploaded to Twitter.
Earlier this week, graffiti of a swastika was found scrawled on the glass casing surrounding a Borough High Street billboard.
The words “No to”, followed by a Star of David, were written in pink marker on the glass. A swastika was scrawled directly below.
Image credit: StopAntisemitism.org
Whoopi Goldberg suspended by ABC for two weeks after claiming Holocaust was not about race but instead about “man’s inhumanity to man” and “white people fighting each other”
Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended by the ABC network for two weeks after claiming that that the Holocaust was not about race but instead about “man’s inhumanity to man” and “white people fighting each other”.
She made the comments on Monday on The View, a programme that she co-hosts, eliciting outrage from Jewish groups around the world, including Campaign Against Antisemitism. She then published a statement apologising, and on Monday evening, she went on a late-night television show to apologise again (the interview was recorded before she published her statement but broadcast after), but appeared at the same time to double down on the comments, saying that the Nazis had lied and actually were concerned with ethnicity rather than race.
On Tuesday, the Oscar-winning actress opened her programme by saying: “Yesterday on the show I misspoke. [The Holocaust] is indeed about race, because Hitler and the Nazis considered the Jews to be an inferior race. Now, words matter, and mine are no exception. I regret my comments and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people.”
In a memo to staff last night, ABC News President Kim Godwin wrote: “Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments. While Whoopi has apologised, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.” She added: “These decisions are never easy, but necessary. Just last week I noted that the culture at ABC News is one that is driven, kind, inclusive, respectful, and transparent. Whoopi’s comments do not align with those values.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Holocaust revisionists are not all white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Some are people like Whoopi Goldberg saying things like this. Despite her subsequent television appearance in which she claimed to be ‘torn up’ that people accused her of being antisemitic, she then doubled down by insisting that the Nazis took issue only with ethnicity, not race. Ms Goldberg would do well to listen to Jewish voices and undertake a course in Holocaust education.”
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.
Note by Burnley Marks and Spencer attacker read: “O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks Spencer helping you financially”
A note alleged to have been written by a knifeman who stabbed staff and shoppers at a branch of Marks and Spencer in Burnley read: “O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks Spencer helping you financially.”
Munawar Hussain, 58, has denied a charge of attempted murder and two alternative counts of wounding with intent at Manchester Crown Court in connection with the incident, in which he used a knife to wound the shop manager in the neck before chasing her through the store on 2nd December 2020. He then stabbed a customer in the arm before the blade snapped, having become stuck in the customer’s handbag strap.
It was reported at the time that antisemitic rhetoric was also heard during the incident.
Following the attack, Mr Hussain reportedly tried to flee the scene but was detained outside by the shop’s security guard and members of the public before police arrived.
The court heard that, following his arrest, a note in Urdu was found on his person that read: “O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks Spencer helping you financially.”
It is understood that he was discovered to have had a history of mental health problems but was considered fit to answer questions and stand trial.
According to the prosecution, “he told the police that he had targeted Marks and Spencer deliberately because he believed Marks and Spencer funded Israel in what he described as its persecution of Palestine. He said that had his knife not broken he would have gone on to kill others. He said that he expected that the police might kill him and he intended to be a martyr.”
The store manager, who suffered a collapsed lung and nerve damage, told police that her assailant was wearing a COVID mask and that his eyes “looked pure evil”. She added: “If I had fallen he would have killed me. I just thought he is not taking me away from my kids.”
Jurors have been told that the accused does not dispute stabbing her or the customer, and that the issue for the jury is to determine his intention at the time. Judge Nicholas Dean QC, the Honorary Recorder of Manchester, told the jury: “The prosecution say that Mr Hussain had a terrorist motive for his actions. Even if you are sure he had such motivation it does not necessarily follow he had an intent to kill.”
The trial continues.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
“The Jews always work in the shadows”: Houthi Health Minister claims Jews control global economy in televised rant about “Jewish hatefulness”
The Health Minister for the areas of Yemen controlled by the rebel Houthis, the Iranian proxy whose organisation is known as Ansar Allah, embarked on a rant about Jewish people in which, among other statements, he accused Jews of controlling the global economy.
Taha Al-Motawakel’s rant was made on 21st January in Sanaa, the largest city in Yemen, and was televised on Al-Eman TV.
During the four-minute-long excerpt uploaded to YouTube, Mr Al-Motawakel can be seen saying that Jewish people “control the global economy” and invested their money in the United Arab Emirates because they were too “cowardly and miserly” to invest in Tel Aviv, owing to the supposed fact that Jewish people know that Tel Aviv is “in the midst of a conflict with the Arabs and the Muslims.”
He then went on to say that “Jewish billionaires” began to “conspire against the Islamic nation from Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” before going on to call the two cities “Jewish colonies” that are “managed, controlled and supervised by the Jews.”
He continued, stating: “As you know, the Jews always work in the shadows.”
“It is America and Israel who are killing us today,” he added. “The horrific massacres committed today are not designed by human minds. They are the result of Jewish hatefulness.”
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is an example of antisemitism.
The video concludes with Mr Al-Motawakel emphatically stating: “We are in a real confrontation with the Jews.”
Also in January, a Houthi scholar stated that the “Jewish regime” of the Saud clan must be “uprooted”.
In April, explicitly hostile attitudes to Jewish people and Israel, including repeated use of the slogan “curse on the Jews”, were found in educational materials in Yemen.
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.
Publisher apologises over book claiming Jewish person betrayed Anne Frank
The Dutch publisher Ambo Anthos has apologised for releasing a book that claimed a Jewish person betrayed Anne Frank, stating that not enough research was put into the book in order to make this claim.
The Betrayal of Anne Frank, the book which made international headlines after it was released last month, will no longer be printed until more work can be done to verify claims made.
The disputed claim alleged that Arnold van den Bergh, who was a member of the Jewish council in Amsterdam, which was an administrative body the German authorities forced Jews to establish, led the police to Frank’s address. However, critics argue that Mr van den Bergh would not have had access to that information.
The publishing house said in a statement that it should have taken a more “critical” stance.
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.
Brooklyn towing company fires driver for making antisemitic remarks
A Brooklyn towing company has fired one of its drivers after he was filmed making antisemitic remarks.
The incident reportedly took place on Sunday at 10:30 in the Borough Park area.
JETS Towing Company reportedly fired the driver after he yelled at a Jewish man for allegedly blocking traffic on 50th street, shouting: “Go back to your [***] country, let Hitler kill your [***], [****]. How about that?!”
The company’s dispatcher later said: “We do not condone any type of antisemitism or racism at our company.”
In January, a suspect was arrested in connection with an antisemitic incident in which a Jewish victim was called a “dirty Jew” before being punched in the face.
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.
Turkish media tries to link Jews with Armenian genocide
Turkish pro-government media published an article that appears to try to link Jews with the Armenian genocide which took place in 1915, during WWI, under the Ottoman regime.
The article, alleging that “Jewish influence behind the scenes” had been involved in the “Armenian deportation,” was a long and rambling conspiracy theory, stretching from fourteenth-century Venice to 1970s London, referencing WWI and Nazi ideology. Its thesis supports the position of the Government of Turkey, which denies responsibility for the Armenian genocide.
The pro-Government media which supports the ruling AK Party has frequently published articles containing antisemitic content. This latest essay, headlined “Young Turks, Jews, Freemasons and the Armenian deportation,” was published by Daily Sabah. The outlet is known for its pro-Government line, undermining claims that the Turkish Government has instructed Turkish media to reduce the inclusion of antisemitic tropes in output as the country seeks reconciliation with Israel.
The article was tweeted by the newspaper with the claims of “Jewish influence” highlighted.
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.
Piers Corbyn posts swastika on Facebook days after speaking at anti-vaccination event where Holocaust comparisons were made
Piers Corbyn has posted a swastika to his Facebook profile days after speaking at an anti-vaccination event where Holocaust comparisons were made.
The image, posted to both his Facebook and Instagram, displays a swastika above a photograph of the Royal Albert Hall, accompanied by the words: “The Royal Albert Hall is forcing medical apartheid.”
A video recently emerged of Mr Corbyn claiming that allegations of antisemitism against him and his brother, the antisemitic former Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, are a “pack of lies”, and in August, Mr Corbyn suggested that “troublemakers” in Jewish areas posted leaflets created and distributed by Mr Corbyn, which compared the COVID-19 vaccines to the Auschwitz death camp, through their own doors in a “plot” to portray him as antisemitic. Mr Corbyn has compared vaccinations to Nazi policy on more than one occasion.
This post comes days after Mr Corbyn spoke at an anti-vaccination event where former UKIP candidate Jeff Wyatt also spoke and made a comparison between vaccination mandates and the Holocaust.
Mr Wyatt said: “As a little boy, I was amazed that the Jews were brought into the concentration camps. I was amazed that the German people in 1930s allowed the Nazis to do what they did. But here we are. Here we are in 2021, 2022, our fellow countrymen are allowing this fascism to take place.”
At other times during the conference, references were made, from another speaker, to “globalist cartels” behind an “anti-human agenda.”
Mr Wyatt is the former Deputy Leader of the For Britain Movement who stood as a UKIP candidate in Milton Keynes. The For Britain Movement has been described as a “far-right UKIP splinter group” and has been accused of antisemitism and racism.
This is not the first time that Mr Wyatt has made such comparisons. Mr Wyatt spoke at an anti-vaccination rally in November, hosted by Piers Corbyn, where he also made comparisons to the Holocaust whilst wearing the yellow star that was forced upon Jews during the Holocaust.
On a video uploaded to the official YouTube account for UKIP Cambridge & SE Cambs, Mr Wyatt can be seen talking to the camera at an anti-lockdown rally from last year whilst holding a sign that reads “No Gestapo Policing”.
Metropolitan Police apologise after watchdog investigation found officers joking about Auschwitz
The Metropolitan Police has apologised after an investigation from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) discovered that officers had been sharing jokes about Auschwitz concentration camp.
It was also reported that there was an antisemitic joke made with reference to “killing flies”.
The investigation also uncovered evidence of bullying, misogyny and racist abuse amongst the officers. Police were also found to have made homophobic jokes, islamophobic jokes, and jokes about rape.
Fourteen officers were investigated with two being dismissed on grounds of gross misconduct.
A statement from the Met said: “The conduct of a team of officers at Charing Cross police station in central London does not represent the values of the Metropolitan Police Service.
“We are deeply sorry to Londoners and everyone they have failed with their appalling conduct and acknowledge how this will damage the trust and confidence of many in the Met.”
The statement continued: “Since this reprehensible behaviour was uncovered in 2017 we have taken a series of measures to hold those responsible to account and stamp out unacceptable behaviour.”
IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem said that “While these officers predominantly worked in teams in Westminster, which have since been disbanded, we know from other recent cases that these issues are not isolated or historic.
“Our recommendations focus on the identified cultural issues and aim to ensure that those who work for the force feel safe with their colleagues and that communities feel safe with those whose job is to protect them. The MPS has to enjoy the trust and confidence of its own officers from diverse communities before it can hope to bridge the gap in trust and confidence with the communities it serves.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called the officers’ conduct “totally unacceptable” and said that “It is right that the team concerned has been disbanded and the police officers found to be involved have been dismissed, disciplined or have left the police. Anyone found to be responsible for sexism, racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, antisemitism, bullying or harassment does not deserve to wear the Met uniform and must be rooted out.
“While I welcome the IOPC’s recommendations, more is required and I’ve been clear with the commissioner about the scale of change that’s needed to rebuild trust with Londoners.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is deeply disturbing that those who are supposed to be protecting British Jews and other communities could be the very ones discriminating against us. The Met’s statement that it has taken action against those responsible cannot be mere words to make the problem go away, but rather must represent the start of a fundamental change in workplace culture.”
Antisemitic incidents in France skyrocket by 75% in 2021
Antisemitic incidents in France have skyrocketed by 75% in 2021.
According to the French Jewish community’s main watchdog, the Jewish Community Security Service (SPCJ), 589 antisemitic hate crimes were recorded in 2020, including an increase of 36% in physical assaults.
The use of knives and guns was also noticeably higher than in previous years, and the SPCJ further noted that there was an increasing phenomenon of attacks happening inside or just outside of the victims’ homes.
In almost a third of incidents, attackers argued that they had “anti-Israel” motivations. During the height of the flare-up in May 2021 between Israel and Hamas, the SPCJ documented an average of five antisemitic incidents a day.
Last year, the murderer of French Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll was sentenced to life in prison.
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.
Neo-Nazis scream “The Jew is the Devil!” at rally in Florida
“The Jew is the devil!” “Jews rape children and drink their blood” and “Jews brought slaves here” were among some of the slogans chanted by the National Socialist Movement (NSM) at a rally on Saturday in Florida.
The NSM is an explicitly neo-Nazi group, which calls for an all-white “greater America”, which would remove citizenship from non-whites, Jews and the LGBT community.
Videos of their march were released on Twitter. They appeared to show a driver being assaulted, monkey noises being made at a black woman, and other racist and antisemitic slurs. Reports further suggested that the group was wearing clothes with Nazi insignia.
Some local leaders spoke out to condemn the antisemitic slurs and the protest.
No arrests were made at the time, as the Orange County Sheriff’s Office argued that people have a First Amendment (free speech) right to demonstrate. The sheriff did say that “hatred has no place in our society” and that “any reports of criminal activity will be thoroughly investigated.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said that “Antisemitism and hatred are not welcome in this community. Despite displays of hate in Central Florida this weekend, our collective commitment to building an inclusive, compassionate community for all is stronger than ever.”
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: Stop Antisemitism
Borough High Street defaced with swastika graffiti
Graffiti of a swastika was found scrawled on the glass casing surrounding a Borough High Street billboard today.
The words “No to”, followed by a Star of David, were written in pink marker on the glass. A swastika was scrawled directly below.
Images of the graffiti were reported to Campaign Against Antisemitism by a concerned member of the public, who told one of our members that they spotted the graffiti at 9:15 this morning.
Campaign Against Antisemitism is now in contact with the individual.
Czech Republic announces national strategy to combat antisemitism
Jan Lipavský, the Czech Foreign Minister and member of the progressive Czech Pirate Party, has announced that the Czech Republic will adopt a national strategy to combat antisemitism.
The Czech Foreign Affairs Ministry is reportedly preparing the strategy in tandem with the Czech Interior Ministry, other ministries and Jewish organisations.
Mr Lipavský noted that the Czech Republic could be proud of the fact that the country has a relatively low number of antisemitic incidents, but added that “even here the amount of speech and other forms of racial intolerance on the Internet is rising. This also applies to the Romani minority.”
The move comes after the Federation of the Jewish Communities of the Czech Republic reported a rise in antisemitism, though still believed that antisemitism was at a relatively low level compared with other European countries and remained safe for Jews.
Mr Lipavský also added that the country would be hosting an international forum on the Holocaust in November.
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.
Suspect arrested in Chicago after Jewish businesses and synagogues vandalised
A suspect has been arrested in Chicago after Jewish businesses were vandalised and a swastika was drawn on a synagogue.
The incidents took place over the weekend on the Northwest Side.
At 7:00 on Sunday, Police officers were reportedly called to a synagogue at 3635 West Devon Avenue where a man was kicking the side of the building and trying to break a window.
Then at 17:00, an individual reportedly vandalised a synagogue and cargo container.
Rabbi Levi Notik said that residents were preparing meals for Holocaust survivors at the time that they discovered the graffiti on the F.R.E.E. synagogue. Rabbi Notik also noted that the individual responsible for the graffiti then became physical and used racial slurs.
“Someone comes into the synagogue and says on his way to services he was jumped outside, it turns out it was connected.
“It’s difficult, but we’ll overcome this. We’ll get through it as a community. The way that we’ll overcome this darkness, this hate, is through love and kindness and positivity.”
He also thanked the police officers who investigated the matter, saying that “they did a tremendous job” before adding: “They were here very quick, had detectives here in minutes. Police already have one person in custody. It was incredible.”
Other incidents in the area include the windows of two Jewish businesses, Tol Kuv Kosher Foods at 2938 West Devon and the Tel Aviv Bakery at 2944 West Devon, being smashed on Saturday morning, the day of the Jewish Sabbath.
Other reports stated that synagogue windows were also broken in the areas of Devon and Monticello, also on Saturday.
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.
Union Station in Washington D.C. vandalised with swastikas
Washington Union Station was vandalised with swastikas, it was reported on Friday.
Photographs uploaded to Twitter show the Nazi symbol scrawled across the train station’s columns in black marker.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington said on Twitter that it was “disturbed by this video of a swastika taken this morning just outside @wmata at DC’s Union Station,” adding: “This antisemitic and hateful symbol has no place in our society, and to find it in our city the week of International Holocaust Remembrance Day is particularly offensive.”
Amtrak confirmed in a statement that they would be investigating the matter alongside the Metropolitan Police Department.
The railroad service added: “Amtrak strongly condemns this act of hatred and will work with our landlord, USRC and their lessor to remove these symbols as quickly as possible.”
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.
Swastikas displayed at anti-vaccination rally in Canada
Swastikas were seen on display at an anti-vaccination rally, dubbed the “Freedom Convoy”, over the weekend in Canada.
The rally was organised in opposition to mandates concerning the vaccination status of truckers returning to the United States from Canada.
However, among other signs and flags at the rally, the Nazi symbol was also on display throughout.
At one point during the demonstration, Conservative MP Michael Cooper delivered a televised interview whilst a flag bearing a swastika was visible in the background.
Mr Cooper later tweeted a statement condemning the symbol, writing: “Naziism [sic] is the purest form of evil and I have always condemned it completely.”
The inflammatory and misleading comparison has been used among other international anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown circles.
Earlier this year, Joseph Szwarc, a Holocaust survivor, spoke out against wearing the yellow star in protests, saying: “You can’t imagine how much that upset me. This comparison is hateful. We must all rise up against this ignominy.” With tears in his eyes, Mr Szwarc added: “I wore the star, I know what that is, I still have it in my flesh. It is everyone’s duty to not allow this outrageous, antisemitic, racist wave to pass over us.”
The comparison has been made across the world, including in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ukraine and elsewhere.
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.
Disappointment as UN acknowledges but fails to adopt International Definition of Antisemitism
A speech by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has disappointed mainstream Jewish groups for merely “acknowledging” the International Definition of Antisemitism but failing to adopt it.
However, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, has welcomed the Secretary-General’s commitment to combatting antisemitism.
Speaking at a UN event marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Mr Guterres said that “a shared understanding” of antisemitism could serve the work of the UN, as well as “all global efforts to uphold human rights.”
Mr Guterres then read aloud the Definition, but without mentioning all of the examples, which are integral to the Definition and its application. The Secretary-General also acknowledged “the efforts of countries that have agreed on the common definition of antisemitism.”
Mr Erdan had raised expectations over the speech when he told a news outlet that Mr Guterres would use his remarks to announce the UN’s adoption of the Definition along with its application at all UN bodies, hence there was some disappointment that the Secretary-General fell short of these expectations. The UN has thus not gone as far in signalling its readiness to combat antisemitism as numerous countries which have adopted the Definition.
Nevertheless, Mr Erdan interpreted the speech as effectively “adopting” the Definition and “applying it in the UN bodies,” adding that he had raised the issue in several meetings over the past year with Mr Guterres, who had now “effectively recognised” the Definition. In a statement, the Israeli Mission to the UN said that the speech meant that the Definition could be used to “fight antisemitism within various UN bodies.”
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.
US Vice President criticised for “disgusting” Holocaust Memorial Day trip to Honduras for inauguration of President beset by antisemitism allegations
Vice President Kamala Harris has been criticised for a trip to Honduras on Holocaust Memorial Day to meet the country’s new President whose husband and running-mate have been beset by allegations of antisemitism.
On her arrival in Honduras, Vice President Harris tweeted a tribute to the six million Jews who perished in the Shoah, writing: “Today, we honour the six million Jews and other victims murdered by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust.” She continued: “We must teach our children the truth about the atrocities…so that together we give meaning to that timeless pledge, ‘never again’.”
Ms Harris was in Honduras to attend the inauguration of the new socialist President Xiomara Castro, in a bid to get her help to stem the crisis on America’s southern border. The leaders also held a meeting at which Ms Harris announced that the US would be sending more aid, including more Covid vaccine doses, to the Central American nation. The Biden administration sees cooperation and investment in the Northern Triangle countries – Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador – as the way to ease the crisis on its border.
Ms Castro’s husband Manuel Zelaya, a former President, claimed after the country’s 2009 coup that “Israeli mercenaries” were torturing him “with high-frequency radiation,” while Ms Castro’s running mate, Salvador Nasralla, has reportedly said that Jews control the global money supply. Mr Nasralla also stated in 2020 that “the boss” of the country’s outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernández, was “the Government of Israel.”
‘It’s totally disgusting and unacceptable that the US Vice President would attend this inauguration and give legitimacy to this vile behaviour, especially on the day we honour and remember the six million Jews and millions of others killed in the Holocaust,” said Lee Zeldin, a Jewish Republican Congressman.
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.
Youths reportedly smash windows in Jewish homes in North London
Youths have reportedly smashed windows belonging to Jewish homes in North London.
The incident is believed to have occurred on Gladesmore Road on Saturday and was reported yesterday by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 6556 29/01/22
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
Gang members reportedly spit in five-year-old Jewish boy’s face in Clapton Common
Gang members spat in the face of a five-year-old Jewish boy in Clapton Common, North London, it was reported today.
The gang is believed to be associated with the nearby Webb Estate and is accused of harassing Jewish residents for years.
The incident is believed to have occurred yesterday and was reported earlier today by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 4791 30/01/2022
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
Bus reportedly drove through Stamford Hill with speakers blaring “go home Yiddos” on Jewish Sabbath
It has been reported that a bus drove through Stamford Hill while onboard speakers blared “go home Yiddos”.
The incident reportedly took place on Saturday afternoon, the day of the Jewish Sabbath, whilst Jewish people were leaving the synagogues.
It was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
In response to the news, the bus company, Ensignbus, tweeted that it hired out the bus to who they believed was a church group, adding: “We had absolutely no idea that this would happen or was planned and we are now investigating the matter and will be speaking to the client. We are happy to assist the Police with any investigation.”
Ensignbus later tweeted: “Our driver unfortunately did not hear anything due to the general amount of noise from the number of people upstairs.
“If anyone has audio (or video with audio) of what was said, we would like to hear it to help with our own investigation”
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: 4602717/22
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
“Justice denied” as BBC defends its abominable reportage of antisemitic Oxford Street incident, prompting Ofcom to announce its own investigation
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has responded to complaints by Campaign Against Antisemitism and other Jewish communal groups over its coverage of the antisemitic Oxford Street incident late last year.
On the first night of the Jewish festival of Chanukah, Jewish teenagers who were celebrating on Oxford Street were attacked by a group of men who hurled antisemitic abuse at them, forcing them to retreat to their bus. The men, who appeared to be of Middle Eastern heritage, proceeded to hit the vehicle with their hands and then their shoes, spitting on it, trying to break windows and performing Hitler salutes. The victims filmed part of the attack.
In its coverage of the incident, the BBC reported that the explicit expressions of antisemitism evident in the footage were merely “allegations”, and simultaneously claimed — alone among all media outlets — that “some racial slurs about Muslims can also be heard from inside the bus,” an assertion made with no evidence to support it and which was even contradicted in the article by a witness from the bus who said that she heard no such slurs. It was also subsequently contradicted by independent audio analysis.
On its BBC London Evening News, the BBC even suggested that “it’s not clear what role [the supposed slurs] may have had in the incident.” After public fury, the BBC amended the article to refer to an “anti-Muslim slur” in the singular, but failed to show any evidence why a supposed slur that nobody could hear with certainty was described as “clearly heard” and reported as fact — and even implied to have been a cause of the antisemitic harassment — while the harassment itself remained mere “allegation”.
Campaign Against Antisemitism and others submitted complaints to the BBC, and we held a rally outside Broadcasting House in London, attended by hundreds of protestors, to deliver the message: “BBC News: Stop Blaming Jews!” Lord Grade, a former Chairman of the BBC, told Podcast Against Antisemitism that the BBC’s reportage was “shoddy journalism” and called for answers in a video supporting the rally, which was endorsed also by Dame Maureen Lipman.
In its report, the ECU, which is a unit within the BBC but independent of its editors, considered whether the BBC’s coverage lacked impartiality, whether it was reasonable to include an unqualified reference to a supposed anti-Muslim slur (while describing the evident antisemitism as merely “alleged”), and whether the BBC was right to continue to defend its coverage in the face of universal outrage from the Jewish community.
In its four-page report, the ECU expressed satisfaction with the BBC’s correction of the website article’s description of “slurs” to “slur”, but upheld the complaint in respect of the television report, where there was no like correction for the misleading reportage. More significantly, the BBC defended the inclusion of the slur and its portrayal as fact, as well as the minimisation of the antisemitism as merely alleged. Finally, the ECU issued a mild rebuke over the BBC’s slowness in accepting that there was doubt over its coverage, but ultimately stood by the broadcaster’s reporting as a whole.
Over the course of rationalising its conclusions, the ECU effectively and disgracefully threw the CST under the bus. It also explained the fact that BBC staffers heard Jews spouting an anti-Muslim slur as an example of the “Apollonian tendency” whereby people hear what they imagine they are likely to be hearing. In so doing, however, the ECU thereby betrayed the very prejudices at the BBC that the ECU insists were not at play.
The full report by the ECU is reproduced below.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It took the BBC two months and four pages to deliver a whitewash non-apology that stands by its spurious reporting of an anti-Muslim slur and dismisses the monumental offence generated by its coverage.
“It is a travesty that the BBC thinks that it can toss the Jewish community a bone by upholding minor elements of our complaint while defending almost the entirety of its reportage and conduct over the course of this abominable saga. Sadly, this sort of stonewalling is exactly what British Jews have come to expect from our public broadcaster.
“Ironically, the ECU’s claim that its staffers hearing Jews spout an anti-Muslim slur is an example of the ‘Apollonian tendency’ betrays the very prejudices that the ECU insists were not at play.
“The BBC’s insistence that ‘we will always welcome feedback on – and constructive scrutiny of – our reporting’ has always been laughable. Today, it is nothing short of insulting. If the BBC thinks that it has settled this matter and appeased the Jewish community, it is deeply mistaken.
“We welcome Ofcom’s reaction to the ECU’s pitiful report by announcing its own investigation, which will hopefully deliver the justice to the Jewish community that the BBC has once more denied.”
Polling that we conducted last year for our Antisemitism Barometer revealed that two thirds of British Jews are deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints. These figures reflect years of eroding confidence in the BBC on the part of the Jewish community.
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].
Oxford Street: Men filmed spitting at Jewish people on bus, BBC News Online (England) & BBC London News, BBC One (London), 2 December 2021
Finding by the BBC Executive Complaints Unit
Complaint
On 2 December 2021 the BBC published an article, headlined as above, about an incident in which abuse was directed at a group of Jewish students on a bus in London’s Oxford Street. That evening BBC One (London) broadcast a report on the same story in its main news bulletin at 6.30pm. Subsequent to both, the BBC received representations from a significant number of groups and individuals, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Chief Rabbi critical of the accuracy and impartiality of the BBC’s coverage of the events described, particularly in relation to the claim that an anti-Muslim slur had been heard from inside the bus. In the light of the deeply-felt concerns expressed by senior leaders in the Jewish community and others, the Director-General in his role as Editor-in Chief instructed the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit to investigate the complaints as a matter of urgency.
Outcome
The ECU, though part of the BBC, is independent of programme-makers, and is tasked with judging complaints about BBC output against the requirements of the BBC’s editorial standards, as expressed in the Editorial Guidelines. If we conclude that a complaint has identified a breach of those standards, we will uphold it in that respect – or, if it seems to us that the breach had already been recognised and appropriate action taken to remedy it, our finding will be that the complaint has been resolved. In reaching our finding we have watched and read the relevant output, watched and listened to an enhanced audio version of the disputed recording, examined the editorial processes which led to the inclusion of the claim about an anti-Muslim slur in both the online and broadcast items, and considered the BBC’s subsequent decision to stand by its reporting. We have also considered the two reports commissioned by the Board of Deputies, along with the result of a separate check carried out on behalf of the BBC.
Three main questions, which emerged from the complaints, provide a focus for our finding. First, did the overall coverage lack impartiality, both in its choice of language and its focus – in effect, as some have suggested, “victim-shaming” the Jewish passengers on the bus, implying they bore a share of responsibility for the incident, or otherwise creating a false equivalence? Second, was the BBC justified, on the basis of the evidence available to it at the time, to include a line saying an insult of some kind had been heard coming from the bus (in addition to those already reported as having come from the pavement)? And finally, in the light of new analysis of the recording, was the BBC right to continue to defend all the statements included in its reports as accurate and not requiring amendment?
Taking these in turn, the first BBC report on this story was published on the afternoon of 2 December. The BBC became aware of the story via social media the previous day but considerable effort had gone in to verifying the footage and establishing the facts. The headline Oxford Street: Men filmed spitting at Jewish people on bus was placed above the following introduction which gave a flavour of the article’s tone and content:
An alleged antisemitic incident involving passengers on a bus in central London is being treated as a hate crime, the Met Police has said. It happened on Monday night in Oxford Street during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, the force said. Footage appears to show men spitting at and abusing people on the bus. Boris Johnson said the clip was “disturbing”.
A number of complainants have cited the use of the word “alleged” and phrases like “appears to show” as evidence of a lack of impartiality, in contrast with the lack of qualification in the phrase “some racial slurs about Muslims can also be heard from inside the bus” (a form of words to which the finding will return, in a different context). Others also highlighted the reporter’s reference in the television item to any role the words from the bus might have played. As to “alleged” and the like, the terminology was used on the basis of legal advice taken by the programme-makers, and was by no means unusual in reporting matters under police investigation which may fall to be decided by the courts, and where not all the facts have been established. We saw no evidence to suggest it was intended to contrast with the treatment of the anti-Muslim slur claim – which was contextualised in the online item in a way the statements about the behaviour of those outside the bus were not, by the inclusion of a quote from one of the students on the bus, in which she denied hearing any such insults from her fellow-passengers. In relation to the second point, the reporter in the television item said (in connection with the words supposedly spoken from the bus) “It’s not clear at the moment for the person which said that what role this may have played in the incident” . As is sometimes the case in unscripted broadcasting, it is apparent that the reporter’s intended meaning was not expressed with complete clarity, but what can be said is that he did not assert that the slur had played a role, and that, at that point in time, there were elements of uncertainty about what had happened which it was appropriate for the report to reflect. In any event, the reference came towards the end of a piece in which the overriding focus had been on the behaviour of those outside the bus, which was hardly conducive to the view that the passengers shared responsibility for the incident.
For these reasons, and judged against the evidence available at the time, the ECU did not accept that either item lacked impartiality in the senses complained of, or that the charges of victim-blaming or false equivalence are warranted. In two significant respects however both items were inaccurate. The original online copy spoke of “some racial slurs about Muslims” whilst the TV reportexplained “you can hear some racial slurs about Muslim people”.In later versions the online copy was changed to “a slur about Muslims” reflecting thatthe original iterations had mischaracterised the nature of the insult and there was insufficient evidence that it had happened on more than one occasion. In the ECU’s judgement the original versions did not meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy but, on the basis set out above, the ECU regarded the correction of the online item as resolving the complaint in that respect. As there was no equivalent correction in the case of the TV report, and as the inaccuracies in it were no less significant than those in the online item, the ECU upheld this aspect of the complaint.
In connection with the second of the questions set out above – about whether reporting that an insult of some kind had been heard coming from the bus was justified on the basis of the evidence available at the time – it is important to note that, at the time the BBC ran the story, the principal primary source material consisted of a mobile phone recording lasting 58”[Other material has since emerged but has no direct relevance to our finding.], which we understand had been provided to the Community Security Trust (CST) when the incident was reported to them and subsequently began to circulate on social media. The CST became a point of contact about the incident for the media, and it was to the CST that BBC London applied on the morning of 2 December for clearance to use the recording. In the somewhat unusual circumstances which obtained here, it was inevitable that reporting of the incident would reflect such information as could be gleaned from the recording; and, in the light of the CST’s leading role in relation to antisemitic incidents as well as their involvement in the incident in question, it was natural and appropriate that the BBC should turn primarily to the CST for verification (as many other media outlets did). The ECU has been shown a detailed timeline of events from the moment the BBC became aware of the story on 1 December, and it shows an unusually high level of consultation among colleagues about the content of the recording. It was on the afternoon of 1 December that it was first identified as containing an anti-Muslim slur (in the form of “Dirty Muslims”), and the recording was subsequently assessed by at least seven members of BBC London news staff and a senior editor in network news, all of whom agreed that the phrase “Dirty Muslims” could be heard, before a decision to include a statement to that effect in BBC output was made. Properly, however, the BBC did not rely on its own assessment alone. The claim was put by the reporter in the television item to the representative of the CST with whom he had been dealing, who replied (in a WhatsApp exchange which the ECU has seen) in terms which the BBC took as confirmation that the phrase in question had been spoken and, in the ECU’s judgement, it was entirely reasonable to take them in that sense. We should make clear, however, that we do not say the CST’s response determined the BBC’s decision to include the claim in its output – it was only one part of the decision-making process, but it does have some significance for the ECU’s view on the outcome of that process. With hindsight, and in the light of subsequent evidence that the recording was open to another interpretation, it might be argued that even further verification should have been sought, but the situation at the time was that no alternative interpretation had been proposed, and in our view the elements of internal scrutiny taken together with the CST’s response amounted to an editorial process which we would regard as more than sufficient in any but the most extraordinary circumstances. We therefore do not believe we can fairly find that the decision to broadcast the claim in question constituted a breach of editorial standards, even if it were accepted in the light of later evidence that the claim itself was questionable. And, in view of allegations of latent or even active antisemitism which have been made, the ECU considers it important to say it was manifest from the evidence we have seen that the decision, whether or not mistaken, was made entirely in good faith.
We now turn to the third question, about whether the BBC has been right to continue to defend the statements in its reports about an anti-Muslim slur as accurate and not requiring amendment. Since 2 December the matter has been the subject of (to our knowledge) three outside assessments, two commissioned by the Board of Deputies from a Professor of Linguistics and a team of digital forensic and data security specialists, and one commissioned by the BBC from a firm of translators; and in the course of assessing the evidence offered by the Board of Deputies and preparing a response to complaints, the mobile phone recording has been listened to by a number of senior members of BBC News management (and a member of staff with a working knowledge of Hebrew), and discussed with the BBC’s Jerusalem Bureau with input from native Hebrew-speakers there (though with inconclusive results, which led to the commissioning of the firm of translators). In response to the Director-General’s instruction to the ECU we have viewed and listened to a version of the material with enhanced audio (as set out above), and the Head of the ECU has listened to the material in studio conditions with the help of a BBC sound engineer who was able to apply a number of further enhancements.
In this connection, the ECU notes the suggestion, in a report commissioned by the Board of Deputies from a Professor of Linguistics that BBC staff may have misheard the phrase as a result of the “Apollonian tendency”, which he describes as the mind’s inclination to create order or meaningfulness, especially when encountering unfamiliar information. Although it might be observed that such a tendency might apply as much to those undertaking investigations on behalf of others as to BBC staff, it corresponded with the experience of members of the ECU, both as investigators of complaints and in their previous roles as programme-makers, in which they had encountered cases where the same audio material can genuinely be construed in entirely different senses by different listeners. The interpretation arrived at may well depend on cues which the listener is unaware of having received and, once arrived at, may be very difficult to controvert. In the ECU’s view, the contesting interpretations of the material under consideration were a case in point, and it might not be possible to determine with certainty which of them is correct on the basis of the recording alone. The question we therefore addressed was whether the BBC’s response should have acknowledged an element of doubt about the anti-Muslim slur claim. In this connection, we noted that the report commissioned by the BBC did not result in unanimity, with three of the four translators involved construing the phrase as “Dirty Muslims” and one as the Hebrew for “Call someone, it’s urgent”. While the majority finding gives support to the view that “Dirty Muslims” is a sustainable interpretation, the more significant point for the ECU is that the sole exception indicates that it was not the only possible interpretation. In the ECU’s judgement this, taken together with the evidence put forward by the Board of Deputies, should have led the BBC to recognise at an earlier stage that there was genuine doubt about the accuracy of what it had reported.
It follows that the online article as it stands must now be regarded as no longer meeting the BBC’s standards of due accuracy and, to the extent that the anti-Muslim slur claim has itself become controversial, it also lacks due impartiality in failing to reflect alternative views. The same applies, mutatis mutandis, to the television item, though that could not have been updated as an online item can.
The complaints were therefore partly upheld in relation to accuracy and impartiality.
Partly upheld
Further action
The online item will be revised in the light of the finding and a posting will be made on the Corrections and Clarifications page about the television item (which will also acknowledge the original element of inaccuracy in the phrase “some racial slurs about Moslems”).
Image credit: Nathan Lilienfeld
Tennessee school board bans Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Holocaust written by the son of a survivor
A Tennessee school board has banned a Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Holocaust.
Maus: a Survivor’s Tale, a graphic novel that depicts the experiences of the author’s parents during the Holocaust, was reportedly banned owing to “rough, objectionable language” and nudity.
Tony Allman, a board member on the McMinn County Board of Education, said: “It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff? It is not wise or healthy.”
Board minutes show that in response, Instructional Supervisor Julie Goodin countered, “I was a history teacher, and there is nothing pretty about the Holocaust, and, for me, this was a great way to depict a horrific time in history.”
The Board voted to ban the book and replace it with one that it deemed less controversial.
The book’s author, Art Spiegelman, said that the decision had “the breath of autocracy and fascism about it. I think of it as a harbinger of things to come,” and clarified that the Board’s concern with nudity referred to a small image of his mother in the bath after cutting her wrists. “You have to really, like, want to get your sexual kicks by projecting on it,” Mr Spiegelman added.
In response to an online backlash to the news of the ban, the Board said that its members “do not diminish the value of Maus as an impactful and meaningful piece of literature, nor do we dispute the importance of teaching our children the historical and moral lessons and realities of the Holocaust.”
They added: “We all have an obligation to ensure that younger generations learn of its horrors to ensure that such an event is never repeated. We simply do not believe that this work is an appropriate text for our students to study.”
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.
Man who allegedly punched Jewish men to the ground to stand trial in March
A man who was arrested after visibly Jewish men were punched to the ground in North London earlier this week appeared in court today.
On Wednesday, Police in Haringey arrested a man after two visibly Jewish men were viciously punched to the ground in Stamford Hill. CCTV footage shows a man striking blows to the two Jewish men’s faces and bodies.
The victims, Israel Grossman and Erwin Ginsberg, were promptly treated by Hatzola, a volunteer-run emergency medical service, and were hospitalised. It is understood that one victim sustained severe bruising, a broken nose and a fractured wrist, while the other also suffered bruising and injuries to his wrist and eye.
The incident reportedly took place on Cadoxton Avenue and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
Malaki Thorpe, 18, of Fairview Road N15, appeared in Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court this morning and was charged with two counts of racially aggravated ABH and one count of possession of an offensive weapon.
He was remanded in custody by District judge Michael Oliver until 3rd March when he is due to stand trial at Wood Green Crown Court.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
UK Government to make Holocaust records open to public for first time
The Government is set to make all records related to the Holocaust open to the public for the first time.
Guernsey and Jersey Governments have also agreed to make their records on the Holocaust publicly available.
The announcement came yesterday, on Holocaust Memorial Day, and the move will provide the public with a far greater resource for research and study purposes. The records, which include 787 books in the St. Lambrecht collection, will be transferred to London’s Wiener Holocaust Library by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
The Rt Hon Lord Pickles, Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues, said: “I am grateful for the full and friendly cooperation of the governments of Guernsey and Jersey. I also thank the diligence of the FCDO staff for their recent work on the St. Lambrecht historic book collection.”
“There can be no better place to keep the collection than the Wiener Holocaust Library,” he added.
Lord Pickles, an Honorary Patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism, has devoted himself to fighting antisemitism throughout his political career. He has been instrumental in securing the widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Director of the Wiener Holocaust Library, Dr Toby Simpson, said: “The Wiener Library is proud of its long history of throwing light on the darkest chapters of history, and on the Holocaust in particular. It is crucial to ensure that the past is not ignored or locked away, but confronted and used as a tool for building a better future.
“We applaud the British government’s recent efforts to improve access to vital records, and look forward to future cooperation.”
Image credit: Google
“Remembrance is not a key for the past, it is a key for the future”: Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the lessons of the Holocaust
On the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism, Piotr Cywiński, the Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, touched on why the Museum is so important in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and the lessons that we must take away from it.
On the importance of the Museum, Mr Cywiński said: “To see the remains is certainly to understand more, especially for those people who are from the younger generation, even their grandparents were born after the war so it’s not really their own history,” Mr Cywiński said. He also explained how by visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, “to enter in some barracks, to approach the ruins of crematoriums and gas chambers,” one leaves with a “personal, individual experience” that he believes cannot be obtained from films or documentaries.
Speaking on why Mr Cywiński believes it is crucial to have a thorough knowledge of the history of the Auschwitz concentration camp in order to have an understanding of the modern world, the Museum’s Director said that the Nazi’s persecution of Jews was not merely about history but “part of our heritage, part of our identity, part of our understanding of what humans are…what they’re able to do.”
When asked about his thoughts on antisemitism in the post-Holocaust era, the Director said that “It is the same attack with the same arguments…the same words, the same symbols, same cartoons that are published in some newspapers. So, the main difference in antisemitism today, than, let’s say 100 years ago, is that now we know where is the end of this road.”
Mr Cywiński also spoke on how crucial it is to remember the lessons of the Holocaust and not make the same mistakes. “Remembrance is not a key for the past, it is a key for the future. And we are still full of bystanders…we do not feel concerned by what is in the world. We see a growing impression, maybe also for pandemic reasons, we are more closed in on ourselves now, but we are seeing some growing indifference, passivity all around the world. ‘It’s not my history, it’s Africa. It’s not my history, it’s the Middle East, it’s not my history, it’s…I don’t know…somewhere in the United States.’ It’s very easy to say that…very, very easy. But this was the biggest problem for the victims of all the genocides, that the rest of the world was falling in, more or less, total indifference.”
Mr Cywiński concluded by revealing the damaging impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Museum, acknowledging that it would need to adapt so that hopeful visitors who might not be able to visit in person could still experience the Museum. He also expressed his excitement for planned additions to the Museum. These included online tours with a real guide where visitors could ask questions, the development of virtual reality technology and the creations of new exhibitions.
He added that the Museum staff’s “most important moral obligation” was to maintain the preservation of the site and the “hundreds and thousands of documents and objects.”
The full podcast with Mr Cywiński can be listened to here, or watched here.
Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox. Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, The Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and actor Eddie Marsan.
Marcus Rashford condemns Wiley’s antisemitic remarks following photograph together, provoking the rapper into yet another tantrum
Following the online backlash to a recent photograph of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and the antisemite rapper Wiley spending time at a Dubai club together, which went viral earlier this week, Mr Rashford has distanced himself from the musician and has condemned Wiley’s antisemitic remarks, which provoked Wiley into yet another tantrum
In his tirade in 2020, Wiley likened Jews to the Ku Klux Klan and claimed that Jews had cheated him and were “snakes”, tweeted that Jews should “hold some corn” – a slang expression meaning that they should be shot – and added: “Jewish community you deserve it”. He also called on “black people” to go to “war” with Jews and repeatedly evoked conspiracy theories that Jews were responsible for the slave trade and were imposters who usurped black people — a conspiracy theory that has incited acts of terrorism against Jews in the United States.
In the days that followed, Wiley continued to rail against Jews on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Following discussions with Campaign Against Antisemitism, a major 48-hour boycott of Twitter and Instagram in which we participated, and our projection of antisemitic tweets onto Twitter’s London headquarters, which then went viral, Twitter, Facebook (which owns Instagram), Google (which owns YouTube) and TikTok agreed to remove Wiley from their platforms, depriving him of access to his nearly one million social media followers.
The image of the footballers was reportedly taken at Dubai’s V Hotel where Wiley was performing.
Mr Rashford released an initial response on Twitter in which he said: “This picture has been brought to my attention which I understand now, given context, could easily be misconstrued. I would like to reinforce that I do not and will not condone discriminative language or behaviour of any kind aimed at the Jewish community or any other community.”
However, after disappointment at the mildness of his statement, he later clarified his comments by adding: “I wasn’t aware of comments that had been made when I got pulled into a photo opportunity. Comments that I absolutely condemn. I apologise for any upset caused. We just all happened to be in the same place at the same time.”
Mr Linguard also tweeted a response, writing: “I’ve been made aware of a photo circulating currently, that can easily be misconstrued. I want to make it clear that I do not condone any form of racism whatsoever!”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We applaud Marcus Rashford for doing so much to fight racism, hence it was so disappointing to see him and Jesse Lingard hanging out with Wiley, who has called for Jews to ‘hold some corn’, which is a slang expression meaning that they should be shot. Mr Rashford, after an initial disappointing explanation, went on to condemn Wiley’s record of antisemitism, demonstrating his commitment to opposing all racism, for which we commend him.”
Wiley, despite promises of permanent suspensions from Twitter to Campaign Against Antisemitism, has repeatedly been able to create new accounts and spout racist hate towards Jews, even directly attacking Campaign Against Antisemitism.
One such incident occurred in December when Wiley targeted a senior figure in Campaign Against Antisemitism directly, changing his profile picture to an image of this member of our team and tweeting a further picture of him. He then proceeded to taunt him in a series of tweets, including calling him a “coward” and then posting a video on Instagram taunting him.
The rapper, who recently released an album unsubtly titled “Anti-Systemic”, told our member on Instagram this morning: “Don’t hide” and “come outside”. Wiley has recently been charged with assault and robbery. We are in touch with the police over the taunts and are examining legal options.
In the days that followed, Campaign Against Antisemitism unearthed footage from the rapper’s Instagram Live in which he shouts to his audience: “Why did Hitler hate you? For nothing?”
Wiley’s most recent tirade, and subsequent suspension following action from Campaign Against Antisemitism, unfolded last night when he tweeted a series of YouTube videos that included the titles: “15 Reasons Why JEWISH People Are RICHER”, “Why did Hitler hate the Jews? Dr. Geoff Waddington” and “‘I’m here to separate the ‘good Jews’ from the ‘Satanic Jews’” – Louis Farrakhan”.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has long called for tougher regulations on social media sites and that social networks proactively search for and remove hate speech from their platforms. We also continue to make representations to the Government on this matter.
“Vile scumbags” daub swastika on Melton’s historic St Mary’s Church
A prominent member of Melton’s St Mary’s Church has described vandals who daubed a swastika on the historic church “vile scumbags”.
Parts of the Leicestershire church date back to 1170, with the member writing on social media: “To desecrate a House of G-d seems pretty low. Thank you so much for doing this, you vile scumbags.”
Others were also disgusted, with several members calling the vandalism “absolutely horrendous”, “shocking” and “disgusting”, and another saying that the incident should be treated as a “hate crime”.
It is understood that there are plans to remove the graffiti as soon as possible.
Laura Pidcock quits Labour’s ruling NEC after motion to restore whip to antisemite Jeremy Corbyn fails
Laura Pidcock, the former Labour MP, has resigned from the Labour Party’s ruling National Executive Committee after a motion calling for the restoration of the whip to the antisemite Jeremy Corbyn failed to pass.
Ms Pidcock, a staunch ally of Mr Corbyn’s who sat on his front bench, previously voted last year against the NEC’s proscription of the antisemitism-denial group, Labour Against the Witchhunt, and later challenged the practice of expelling Party members based on apparent involvement with the group.
The motion to restore the whip to Mr Corbyn – which, even if passed, would not have effected a restoration in itself – was defeated by 23 votes to fourteen, with one abstention. The margin reflects the divide on the NEC between pro-Corbyn elements and those less sympathetic to the former leader.
Mr Corbyn reacted to the vote by tweeting: “Today’s NEC vote and Keir Starmer’s ongoing decision to bar me from sitting as a Labour MP is disappointing. I am grateful for and humbled by the support I’ve received, especially from my Islington North constituents. The struggle for peace, justice and sustainability goes on.”
In her resignation statement, Ms Pidcock said that “I am resigning because of what I see as an irreconcilable difference between the actions of the Labour Party as it stands and the principles that underpin the way I have been taught to treat people and my idea of what a political organisation should be for.” She described Sir Keir Starmer’s tenure as leader so far as leading to “a barrage of top-down changes which is making it hostile territory for socialists, from those of us on the NEC, to those in CLPs [Constituency Labour Parties] across the country.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We welcome the NEC’s decision not to call for a restoration of the whip to the antisemite Jeremy Corbyn. The next step for the Party is to investigate our complaints against him and expel him from the Labour Party, to which he was disgracefully readmitted after an embarrassingly short suspension. The NEC vote reflects a Party that remains divided over what kind of party it wishes to be. It is yet further evidence that the fight to make Labour a safe place for Jews still has a long way to go.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has lodged a complaint against Mr Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day of the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by an independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has demanded and Sir Keir has promised but has yet to introduce.
The Labour Party was found by the EHRC to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
Blackwell’s removes antisemitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion after implying in the book’s synopsis that it may not be a fiction
The leading booksellers, Blackwell’s, has removed an edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion from sale after outrage arising not only from the sale of the antisemitic tract but the synopsis on the website that suggested that the fraudulent work might not be fictional.
The synopsis suggested that the book – which purports to be the minutes of a meeting of Jewish leaders, at which they discussed their plans for global domination – might be genuine, and that the website “neither supports nor denies the message” of the book.
The synopsis questioned whether “the issue has already been settled conclusively — that it is clearly a forgery. Although there may be final evidence to this effect, we have not seen a clear and convincing version of it produced by those making the claim. Others maintain that it was and is absolutely genuine.” It continued: “If The Protocols are a forgery, they still form an interesting book which deserves to be studied. If, however. The Protocols are genuine (which can never be proven conclusively), it might cause some of us to keep a wary eye on world affairs. We neither support nor deny its message, we simply make it available for those who wish a copy.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism reacted to the listing, saying: “It is bad enough that Blackwell’s is selling the notorious fraudulent Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Worse, the reputable bookseller has demonstrated grotesque ignorance in providing a synopsis that implies that the forgery may in fact be genuine. Blackwell’s must not only remove this antisemitic tract from sale but must apologise for publishing such a dangerous description and explain how on earth it came to appear online.”
After hundreds of complaints online and outrage from Campaign Against Antisemitism and other groups, Blackwell’s published a statement saying: “We have refrained from commenting publicly because we did not wish to give the oxygen of publicity to this title, but given the volume of comments on this situation, we feel that we must now comment.” The statement added that “the description that appeared for this book was an automatic feed from the publisher. It was neither written nor endorsed by us.”
The bookseller explained that it is standard practice in online bookselling to use synopses provided by publishers, and that, given that there are eighteen million books on the website, it is not possible to review each entry manually. “However, as soon as this was brought to our attention, we replaced the description with one which expressed our complete and utter condemnation of the contents.”
Suspect arrested after visibly Jewish men punched to the ground in North London
Haringey Police has arrested a man after two visibly Jewish men were viciously punched to the ground in Stamford Hill, North London.
CCTV footage shows a man striking blows to the two Jewish men’s faces and bodies.
The victims were promptly treated by Hatzola, a volunteer-run emergency medical service, and were hospitalised. It is understood that one victim sustained severe bruising, a broken nose and a fractured wrist, while the other also suffered bruising and injuries to his wrist and eye.
The incident reportedly took place last night on Cadoxton Avenue and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 7284 26/01
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
Mexican teacher dressed as Hitler while another tells her pupils a “What is the difference between a pizza and a Jew?” joke
Two Mexican schools have been rocked by antisemitism controversies in recent days.
In one secondary school, a history teacher allegedly dressed up as Hitler and instructed pupils to perform Nazi salutes. She also allegedly produced a doll of the Nazi leader, according to a pupil. It is understood that Jewish pupils complained to the teacher and school administration but were ignored.
Elsewhere, at Mexico City’s Centre for Higher Studies of San Angel University (CESSA), a teacher joked to her class: “What is the difference between a pizza and a Jew? A pizza doesn’t scream when it’s put into the oven.”
In a recording of the Zoom class, several students can reportedly be seen laughing at Irene García Méndez’s joke. The only pupil to protest was a Jewish pupil, who reportedly said: “Your joke is in too bad taste. Yes, and I’m telling you the truth as a Jew, I find your joke in too bad taste.”
The teacher has been dismissed by CESSA, which said in a statement: “Her offensive statements should be regarded as her personal views and do not reflect our institutional values. We offer an apology to our students, alumni, professors, and collaborators, as well as to the Jewish community and to all the people offended by these out of place comments.”
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.
Manchester police arrest total of six so far in connection with Texas synagogue terrorist
Six arrests have been made so far in Manchester in connection with Texas synagogue terrorist, it has been reported.
On 15th January, 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram from Blackburn entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas during Sabbath services, making threats against the congregation and holding them hostage, demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in Texas.
In comments that could be heard on a live stream of the synagogue service that was cut off during the incident, Mr Akram could be heard speaking in a northern English accent and claiming that he had a bomb and that he would not leave the synagogue alive.
In a statement released earlier today, Counter Terrorism Policing North West said: “Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West are continuing with their investigation following the events in Texas, they are working closely with and are supporting US law enforcement.
“As part of the local investigation, two men have been arrested this morning in Manchester. They remain in custody for questioning. We continue to work closely with colleagues from other forces.
“Communities defeat terrorism, and the help and support we get from the public is a vital part of that.”
Over 100 Buddhist leaders sign letter condemning antisemitism in United States
Over 100 Buddhist leaders have signed a letter condemning antisemitism in the United States.
The letter begins by addressing the recent Texas synagogue attack where terrorist and British national Malik Faisal Akram held four Jewish people hostage for eleven hours, before going on to acknowledge “the long standing, systemic antisemitism that is a poison to our lives in the United States of America and globally.”
“We vow to include antisemitism in our continuous work we are currently engaged in and call for a fresh and coordinated effort to dismantle racism and hatred of peoples at every level of our culture, society, government, our communities, and our own hearts,” the letter continues. “Everyone of us, what ever our faith is, should be able to practice without the fear of being bombed, set on fire, held hostage, or our places of practice vandalized with hate messages. We stand together.”
The signatories stated that they “strongly condemn acts of violence, hatred and bigotry of any kind,” adding: “We continue to see a disturbing rise of anti-Jewish hate erupt in communities around the world. These attacks are rooted in antisemitism, and we denounce antisemitism in any form, and in any context. As Buddhist practictioners, we must stand and safeguard the rights of all spiritual centers, especially attacks rooted in antisemitism and racism.”
The letter concluded with the signatories acknowledging that they “have not always been a refuge for Jewish people” before stating: “We renew our vows to untangle antisemitism’s roots and cultivate a tender, loving and respectful world. Antisemitism is painfully on the rise and we vow to be part of the healing. We will practice the humility that is essential to listening deeply, cultivating and acting with compassion as we build a truly beloved community.”
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.
Israeli resolution combatting Holocaust denial gets overwhelming support at United Nations
For only the second time ever, an Israeli resolution has been passed by the United Nations’ General Assembly, in this instance about preserving the memory of the Holocaust and combatting denial.
The resolution, which passed last week, called for a clear definition of Holocaust denial and concrete steps to fight it.
With 114 countries listed as co-sponsors – including many that joined minutes before it was carried – the resolution was passed by consensus.
The resolution also calls for the adoption of the International Definition of Holocaust, some of the examples of which deal with Holocaust denial, and resolves for UN member states and agencies to promote Holocaust education and awareness.
The only country that publicly opposed the resolution was Iran, whose ambassador claimed that Israel exploits “the suffering of Jewish people in the past as cover for the crimes it has perpetrated over the past seven decades against regional countries.” Iran is unable to vote at the UN, however, because it has not paid its due for the past two years, therefore it could not request a full roll-call vote.
Israel’s previous successful UN resolution, passed by the UN General Assembly in 2005, established 27th January as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
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.
Ryerson University apologises for appearing to omit Jews and antisemitism, alone among minorities and forms of discrimination, from a programme about inclusion
Ryerson University has apologised for appearing to omit Jews and antisemitism, alone among minorities and forms of discrimination, from a programme about the intersection of charitable giving and inclusion.
The Winter 2022 issue of Ryerson University Magazine, distributed to alumni and friends of the Canadian university, featured an advertisement for a webinar seminar programme run jointly between the University and TD Bank, called “Generous Futures: Power and Politics in Charitable Giving”.
The webinar series has featured discussions about combatting anti-Muslim hatred, anti-Asian racism and ageism, as well as panels on promoting the LGBT and black communities. The only seminar yet to take place is on advancing disability rights.
There was a conspicuous lack in the agenda, however, of any reference to antisemitism or promoting Jewish voices, despite the otherwise apparently comprehensive attempt to include minority groups. This is despite skyrocketing antisemitic incidents in Canada.
HonestReporting reports that it commended the inclusion of all of these minority groups in the series, but urged the inclusion of Jewish voices and combatting antisemitism as part of the programme.
Within hours of the HonestReporting report, the University wrote to the advocacy group, saying: “The University had planned to include antisemitism as a topic in the fall [autumn] of 2021 and had invited both moderator and panellists. Unfortunately, these plans fell through. We are currently in the process of developing an alternative opportunity to address this topic. Ryerson University recognises the importance of addressing antisemitism, particularly in the context of rising rates of antisemitic hate crimes. And we sincerely apologise for the implication of the ad, and the upset and disappointment it has caused. We remain committed to covering this important topic.
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.
Nearly half of US Jews say they have experienced antisemitism in the last five years or know someone who has
A new poll shows that nearly half of all American Jews say that they have experienced antisemitism in the last five years or know someone who has.
The survey, funded by the Ruderman Family Foundation, showed that 93% of American Jews are concerned about the current levels of antisemitism in the United States, and 42% had directly experienced it in the past five years or knew a family member or friend who had.
75% of American Jews also believe that there is more antisemitism today in the United States than there was five years ago, with one in three younger Jews (aged 18-39) saying that they have personally experienced antisemitism. Older Jews (over 60 years old) are even more likely to have seen “a lot” of antisemitism, with 62% reporting that they have.
Jay Ruderman, the President of the Ruderman Family Foundation, said: “Our survey reinforces the urgent need for American leadership to formulate new strategies to confront the surge of antisemitism and increasing hate crimes against the Jewish community. Accordingly, we hope that these findings spur local and national leaders into action on this critical issue. Antisemitism is a threat to American society as a whole and only in tackling this issue as one unified nation will it ever be truly addressed.”
The poll was carried out by the Mellman Group and examined 2,500 Jewish adults in December 2019 and a further 1,000 in October-November 2021. The surveys were undertaken, therefore, prior to the recent antisemitic attack on a synagogue in Texas.
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.
“Universities must not only adopt but apply the International Definition of Antisemitism” says CAA in meeting with Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and other Jewish communal groups and University administrators
Campaign Against Antisemitism joined several Jewish communal organisations and University Vice Chancellors in a meeting today with the Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi.
At the meeting, which comes two days before Holocaust Memorial Day, Mr Zahawi spoke of his experience visiting the Nazi death camps and expressed his horror at recently receiving a letter from a student at the University of Edinburgh relating how she was given a set of striped pyjamas as an anonymous ‘secret Santa’ gift. “It makes my blood boil,” he said. “After all this time, the same vile behaviour is taking place.” He pledged to take up the issue with the University’s administration and his Scottish counterparts.
Gideon Falter, the Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, expressed concern at the meeting about the promotion of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, a wrecking document designed to undermine the International Definition of Antisemitism. He also echoed remarks by Lord Pickles, an honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism, emphasising the need for Universities not only to adopt the Definition but to apply it in cases of antisemitism.
It was agreed at the summit to share case studies and best practice, and universities were urged to engage with Jewish communal groups.
Just in the past week, controversies relating to academics have arisen at the University of Cambridge and the University of Glasgow, and in relation to a student at UCL. All three universities have adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “I would like to thank Nadhim Zahawi for leading this summit and for his steadfast support for Jewish students and our community. It was clear from the contributions of all participants that much more work needs to be done.
“Several Vice Chancellors spoke of the efforts made by their universities to combat antisemitism, but we are aware of antisemitic incidents on some of their own campuses that have remained unresolved for some time now. We continue to work with and support Jewish students and staff who feel that their institutions’ administrations are not living up to their commitments to keep Jewish people on campus safe, and that remains a very serious concern for all of us who are fighting to clean up antisemitism on campuses.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities.
If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].
Canadian academic to stand trial in connection with 1980 terrorist bombing outside Paris synagogue
A Canadian academic accused of involvement in a terrorist bombing outside a Parisian synagogue in 1980 is to stand trial.
Hassan Diab, 67, a Lebanese-born sociologist at Carleton University in Ottawa, is to stand trial in France in 2023 over the attack on the rue Copernic synagogue in Paris that killed four people and wounded 46. The bombing took place on Friday evening on 3rd October 1980, near the beginning of Shabbat and during the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah.
The bombing was the first deadly attack against Jewish people in France since the end of WWII.
The neo-Nazi Federation of National and European Action took responsibility, but investigators concluded that Arab terrorists were in fact behind the attack, and eventually sought the extradition of Prof. Diab, which was granted in 2011. He spent over three years in prison in France while the investigation continued, only for the charges to be dismissed in 2018, with Prof. Diab able to return to Canada. Appeals courts in France reversed the dismissal, however, and the trial is now set to go ahead in April 2023.
Prof. Diab claims that he was in Lebanon at the time of the bombing, and it remains unclear whether prosecutors have sufficient evidence to make out a case against him. It is believed that the prosecution is relying in part on evidence that allegedly links Prof. Diab’s handwriting to that of the suspected bomber.
The Hassan Diab Support Committee, which includes the former Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, condemned the prosecution, describing it as “surreal and disgraceful”. The committee also called for changes to Canada’s extradition treaty with France to prevent Prof. Diab from being extradited again.
prof. Diab has asserted: “My life has been turned upside down because of unfounded allegations and suspicions. I am innocent of the accusations against me. I have never engaged in terrorism. I have never participated in any terrorist attacks. I am not an anti-Semite.”
For now, French authorities have not yet made an extradition request to Canada, and Prof. Diab’s lawyers have reportedly told Canadian media that he may be tried in absentia.
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: Justice for Hassan Diab
“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did”: Robert F Kennedy Jr apologises for Holocaust comparison at anti-vaccine rally
Robert F Kennedy Jr has apologised for invoking Anne Frank’s name in comparing current COVID-19 mandates to laws in Nazi Germany.
During his speech at an anti-vaccination rally in Washington on Sunday, Mr Kennedy said: “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.”
Responding to this excerpt of his speech on Twitter, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum wrote: “Exploiting of the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured & murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany – including children like Anne Frank – in a debate about vaccines & limitations during global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral & intellectual decay.”
Mr Kennedy took to Twitter on Tuesday to apologise, writing: “I apologise for my reference to Anne Frank, especially to families that suffered the Holocaust horrors. My intention was to use examples of past barbarism to show the perils from new technologies of control. To the extent my remarks caused hurt, I am truly and deeply sorry.”
This is not the first time that comparisons to the Nazis have been used by anti-vaccination demonstrators.
In April, protesters at an anti-vaccination rally held in London were pictured wearing the yellow star. 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.”
Footage taken on 13th July showed Piers Corbyn comparing vaccinations to Nazi policy outside the Houses of Parliament, despite being arrested after a similar incident in February. The video shows Mr Corbyn and another man standing in front of a sign which reads “No Nazi forced jab” and yelling “arrest Matt Hancock” through a megaphone.
Earlier this year, Joseph Szwarc, a Holocaust survivor, spoke out against wearing the yellow star in protests, saying: “You can’t imagine how much that upset me. This comparison is hateful. We must all rise up against this ignominy.” With tears in his eyes, Mr Szwarc added: “I wore the star, I know what that is, I still have it in my flesh. It is everyone’s duty to not allow this outrageous, antisemitic, racist wave to pass over us.”
The comparison has been made across the world, including in Italy, Canada, Ukraine and elsewhere.
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.
Everton fan banned from games for three years after antisemitic chants at Spurs fans
An Everton fan has been banned from attending football matches for three years after he took part in antisemitic chants that were aimed at Spurs fans.
Michael Campbell, of Aigburth Road, Liverpool, was reported to stewards and police following his actions at the match held at Goodison Park on 7th November.
This led to an investigation being conducted by Merseyside Police and Everton which then resulted in Mr Campbell’s arrest and subsequent charges. He then received the Football Banning Order for three years at South Sefton Magistrates Court in Bootle and was told to pay a fine and court costs at the hearing on 20th January.
Detective Inspector Steven O’Neill, of Merseyside Police, said: “Hate crime in all its forms simply will not be tolerated and I hope this result sends a clear message that anyone found to commit hate crime offences anywhere on Merseyside will be brought to justice.
“Campbell will now have a criminal record and the consequences of this in the future could prove to be significant. The professional response of Everton Football Club stewards meant that he was quickly identified and arrested.”
He added: “We know that the overwhelming majority of supporters attending matches are well behaved and would share our revulsion at these appalling chants. However, when the behaviour of fans is unacceptable we will always work with clubs to identify those people and put them before the courts.”
An Everton spokesperson added: “Club officials and security staff have worked alongside Merseyside Police in their investigation which has concluded with an arrest and subsequent conviction.
“The Club strongly condemns any form of hate crime and has a zero-tolerance policy on all forms of discrimination. Any such behaviour has no place within our stadiums, our community or our game and we will act swiftly to deal with any reported instances of discrimination.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We commend Everton and Merseyside Police for taking swift action in prosecuting Mr Campbell, a man who reportedly deemed it acceptable to shout antisemitic chants at what ought to be an enjoyable sporting event. Banning fans who engage in anti-Jewish racism demonstrates that this kind of rhetoric will not be tolerated. Other clubs should heed Everton’s example.”
In December 2020, the Premier League adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Ken Livingstone declares intention to apply to join Green Party
The controversial former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has declared his intention to apply to join the Green Party.
Mr Livingstone quit the Labour Party after being suspended over comments that he made about Hitler supporting Zionism.
The former mayor has an exceptionally poor record on antisemitism and relations with the Jewish community, which predated his terms as mayor and has endured since. Among many other entries, that record includes welcoming, during his first term as mayor, a radical, antisemitic cleric to City Hall, and during his second term comparing a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard, a comment that got him briefly suspended as mayor before the suspension was overturned.
More recently, Mr Livingstone contended that Adolf Hitler “was supporting Zionism”, an assertion that prompted 107 MPs to sign a statement describing his words as “insidious racism” and eventually led to his resignation from the Labour Party.
Indeed, Mr Livingstone is infamous in the Jewish community for inspiring the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by which Jews who cite evidence of antisemitism are accused of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so.
Last week, Mr Livingstone said: “I genuinely think we’re heading toward extinction before the end of the century because no government anywhere is doing enough to tackle the impact of climate change. At Cop26 they all said the right things but…you’ve got to get people to completely change the way we live and no government around the world seems to have the courage to do that.”
Mr Livingstone has claimed that he made contact with the Green Party in the past about joining, but that “they never got back to me.” He suspected that they “thought that if they brought me in they’d be accused of being antisemitic.”
A member of the London Assembly, Zack Polanski, said: “The rules are very clear that there’s no space in the party for antisemitism, transphobia, racism, sexism or any other form of discrimination and while it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on any individual application, I’d expect any new member – whoever they are – to follow our code of conduct.”
It is understood that membership applications from high-profile political defectors are reviewed by a Green Party regional council for consultation.
A spokesperson for the Green Party said: “We welcome everybody who shares our political aims and values to join the Green party.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has extensively documented alleged antisemitism among officers of the Green Party of England and Wales, including the Party’s former Equalities and Diversity Coordinator who now holds the International Coordinator portfolio, on which the Green Party has failed to act.
Our Antisemitism Barometer survey of British Jews in 2020 found that the Greens were second only to Labour in how many respondents felt that the Party was too tolerant of antisemitism (43%), while our 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.
Robert Rinder writes about “the tragic reality of being Jewish in London in 2022”
Robert Rinder has written about “the tragic reality of being Jewish in London in 2022” in a new article, published yesterday.
In the article for the Evening Standard, the barrister and television personality has written about how antisemitic insults were hurled at his friend’s children whilst they were at a falafel restaurant in Golders Green, despite them not being Jewish.
Mr Rinder wrote: “But as she told me this awful story, I realised — with a profound sadness — that I was completely unsurprised. Because it’s happening to Jews all the time.”
“It’s completely shattering to think how the grimy tendrils of anti-Jewish hatred have spread over so many aspects of life in the UK, whether it’s being spat at or accosted in the street or any of the countless other acts of abuse,” he continued. “For example, many in the Jewish community send their children to Jewish schools, and I think it’d break your hearts to see the precautions they have to take.”
Mr Rinder went on to state that he believes that the vast majority of the people in the United Kingdom are appalled by anti-Jewish racism, “but this is the tragic reality of being Jewish in London in 2022. Not in some far off time or place, but right now and right here; in the greatest, most cosmopolitan city in the world.”
Mr Rinder called on people to “stand up to every instance of cruelty, big or small, because the descent into human depravity never begins with grand acts of violence, it starts with murmured insults and grows from there,” and added that “It’s the subtle way horror gets going — not with a bang or people screaming hate in broad daylight, with whispered comments everybody else tolerates.”
Robert Rinder has said in the past that he believes that there is an existential threat to Jews in Britain, but that he has “an enduring belief in the British public. That ultimately, for every one loud antisemite, there are hundreds, no, thousands of people that have the courage to stand up to it.”
In 2019, Mr Rinder spoke at the #TogetherAgainstAntisemitism rally in Parliament Square.
Evan Rachel Wood accuses musician Marilyn Manson of writing “kill all the Jews” above her side of the bed
Evan Rachel Wood has accused the musician Marilyn Manson of writing “kill all the Jews” above her side of the bed during their relationship.
The actress has claimed that her controversial former boyfriend also compelled her to carve an “M” near her private parts and also sexually assaulted her “on camera” during the filming of a music video when she was nineteen.
The allegations of abuse came in a new documentary, “Phoenix Rising – Part 1: Don’t Fall”, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and will be broadcasted on HBO in March.
According to Ms Wood, in addition to demanding loyalty from her, Brian Warner – Marilyn Manson’s real name – decorated their home with Nazi propaganda and told her that Hitler was a “rock star”, knowing that she is Jewish. Mr Warner is accused of bombarding her with antisemitic symbols and messages as part of a campaign of sexual and emotional abuse, which he denies.
The claim is one of numerous allegations of abuse that have recently surfaced against Marilyn Manson by former partners and associates, resulting in his record label dropping him.
Mr Warner’s lawyer responded to the film in November, saying that he “vehemently denies any and all claims of sexual assault or abuse of anyone,” adding: “These lurid claims against my client have three things in common — they are all false, alleged to have taken place more than a decade ago and part of a coordinated attack by former partners and associates of Mr. Warner who have weaponised the otherwise mundane details of his personal life and their consensual relationships into fabricated horror stories.”
Warwick University society apologises for inviting climate activist who called Holocaust “just another f***ery in human history”
A student society at the University of Warwick has apologised after inviting a climate activist who called the Holocaust “just another f***ery in human history”.
The event with Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam, titled “Our Responsibilities at This Time”, was due to take place today, but was cancelled by the University after an outcry from Jewish students, who said that the society failed to “recognise the concerns with inviting Roger Hallam, founder of XR [Extinction Rebellion], who has a history of Holocaust minimisation and trivialisation.”
Mr Hallam made the inflammatory comment in an interview to the German newspaper, Die Zeit. He told the paper, “the extremity of a trauma can create a paralysis in actually learning the lessons from it. The fact of the matter is, millions of people have been killed in vicious circumstances on a regular basis throughout history, ” adding: “They went to the Congo in the late 19th century and decimated it,” before adding that contextually, the Holocaust was “almost a normal event … just another f***ery in human history.”
Mr Hallam claimed that his comments, which appeared to minimise and downplay the Nazis’ systematic murder of six millions Jews, were taken out of context: “I want to fully acknowledge the unimaginable suffering caused by the Nazi Holocaust that led to all of Europe saying ‘never again’. But it is happening again, on a far greater scale and in plain sight. The ‘global north’ is pumping lethal levels of CO2 into the atmosphere and simultaneously erecting ever greater barriers to immigration, turning whole regions of the world into death zones. That is the grim reality. We are allowing our governments to willingly, and in full knowledge of the science, engage in genocide of our young people and those in the ‘global south’ by refusing to take emergency action to reduce carbon emissions.”
Yesterday, Climate Reality Warwick, which organised the event, said: “We have made the decision as a society to cancel the talk tomorrow. When we were approached about the guest speaker, we were not aware who he was until after confirming the event, and of course this is a mistake on our part for not checking. As a society we strongly condemn some of Roger’s statements in the past, especially regarding the Holocaust, and we don’t feel that he represents us as a society. We apologise for any potential harm caused.”
The University of Warwick has a history of incidents in relation to Jewish students and antisemitism. Last year, academic staff passed a motion challenging the International Definition of Antisemitism, which the University had reluctantly adopted. Previously, dubious disciplinary charges against a Jewish student who complained about antisemitism were dropped by the University; the University’s official Twitter account ‘liked’ a tweet endorsing inflammatory comments by the disgraced academic David Miller, with the University subsequently deleting the ‘like’ and blaming “unauthorised access” to the account; and a controversial Warwick lecturer reportedly claimed that the Definition is part of a Conservative plot to “legitimate racist speech and de-legitimate anti-racist and anti-colonial research, teaching and activism”.
In the past, other concerns have been raised over the University’s failure to address a scandal over a group chat which gained national attention, in which antisemitic, misogynistic, abusive and threatening messages, including rape threats, were uncovered.
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities.
If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].
Grandson of Holocaust survivors discovers Nazi memorabilia being sold in New South Wales, Australia
The grandson of two Holocaust survivors has discovered a trove of Nazi memorabilia being sold in the Australian state of New South Wales.
Dr. Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, called for the ban of Nazi memorabilia in Australia and said that “If Hitler were alive today, he would be applauding them for glorifying his barbaric crimes and keeping his monstrous legacy alive.”
“This lurid trade has to stop, and I call on all governments to honour the sacrifices of the brave Australian diggers made in defeating Hitler, and to follow the state of Victoria’s lead by planning to legislate and ban the public display of Third Reich symbols,” he added.
In September, Victoria announced that it would become the first Australian state to ban the display of Nazi symbols.
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: Anti-Defamation Commission
“Game-changing precedent” as defendant in criminal case, resulting from first-of-its-kind litigation by CAA, pleads guilty to antisemitic harassment
The defendant in a criminal case that has resulted from first-of-its-kind litigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism has pleaded guilty at Peterborough Crown Court today.
Nicholas Nelson, 32, was charged with racially aggravated harassment under section 31(1)(b) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and with sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety under 1(1)(a) of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, after repeatedly sending abusive antisemitic e-mails and messages to Oscar-nominated Jewish writer Lee Kern and hateful messages to communications strategist Joanne Bell, and harassing a staff member at a Jewish charity over the telephone.
Mr Kern contacted Campaign Against Antisemitism, which funded a case on his behalf led by Mark Lewis, the esteemed lawyer who is also an Honorary Patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The abusive communications came from accounts that Mr Nelson had worked very hard to make anonymous. Victims of abuse from anonymous accounts usually have nowhere to go, because only rarely will the police track down the sender, and the cost of private action is usually beyond victims’ means.
However, a new legal initiative devised by Campaign Against Antisemitism together with counsel breaks through that barrier. It has enabled us to identify the anonymous troll by obtaining a special kind of court order which has its origins in the pharmaceutical industry and has never before been used to unmask an anonymous abuser sending antisemitic messages. The court order requires an internet service provider to disclose details of the owner of an online account so that legal proceedings can be issued.
We used this legal device to identify Mr Nelson and criminal proceedings were commenced, leading to the plea at today’s hearing, held in Peterborough Cathedral.
Mr Nelson, who lives in Cambridgeshire and is a vigorous supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, also previously sent abusive messages to two Jewish women Labour MPs, branding one a “vile useless c***” and the other a “traitor” who should “end yourself”. At the end of 2018 he pleaded guilty to the same charge and was given a twenty-week suspended sentence for twelve months and ordered to complete 160 hours unpaid work. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to three charges of sending communications of an offensive nature to two other Labour MPs, one of whom is Jewish and the other is an active campaigner against antisemitism. In addition to the charges that Mr Nelson pleaded guilty to today in relation to Mr Kern and Ms Bell, Mr Nelson also pleaded guilty to harassing a member of staff at the Board of Deputies over the telephone.
The new offences to which Mr Nelson today pleaded guilty were committed during the period of the suspended sentence, which accordingly may impact sentencing.
Sentencing is expected on 25th March. The offence carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine.
Mr Kern said: “Nicholas Nelson is a malevolent racist motivated by his love of Jeremy Corbyn, and has engaged in an antisemitic campaign of harassment against me for several years. During this time he called for another Holocaust, called me Shylock, spoke of Jews being used for gun practise, called Jewish women whores, shared perverted sexual fantasies involving Hitler and glorified the antisemitic terror organisation, Hamas. He believed he was able to make these attacks on Jews with anonymity and impunity. He was mistaken.
“Justice will now be served. All those who think they can attack Jews anonymously and get away with it should pay heed. We have the motivation and commitment to come after you hard. And we succeed. I’d like to thank Campaign Against Antisemitism and Mark Lewis, and I doff my cap to all those who fight antisemitism with little reward other than doing the right thing.”
Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Our new legal device to unmask internet trolls who hide behind anonymous e-mail addresses in order to abuse Jewish victims has borne fruit with today’s guilty plea. This game-changing precedent is the most significant development in the legal fight against online hate in years. We are grateful for the cooperation of the police and prosecutors in helping us to send a message of deterrence to would-be online abusers. We will continue to devise innovative legal mechanisms to protect the Jewish community and deliver justice to victims of antisemitism, including in ways previously thought impossible.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews almost four times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
Image credit: JC
PhD student who defended the phrase “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust” has reportedly been suspended from teaching by Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University has reportedly suspended a PhD student who defended the phrase “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust”.
Shahd Abusalama, who is studying for a PhD in cinema at the University, reportedly shared tweets defending a first-year student who had made a poster that said “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust” and who was accused by a Jewish student of antisemitism.
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, which Sheffield Hallam has adopted, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.
On social media, Ms Abusalama defended the student by citing Jewish individuals who have made the same analogy, and also wrote: “I understand why a first-year university student used #Holocaust when thinking of Israel’s repeated bombardment of Gaza”, adding: “Maybe she thought she’d garner European sympathy for Palestine by evoking ‘Never Again’ slogan.”
She noted of the term “Holocaust” that she herself would not “use such a politicised word often used to justify the racist state of Israel” because it “distracts attention from the Zionist practices of settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians.” However, she proceeded to use other inflammatory terms and claimed that the suggestion that the University’s Palestine Society should undertake antisemitism training in light of the incident was indicative of a “hierarchy of racisms” asking: “Are Islamophobia & Xenophobia insignificant? Prioritising one form of racism over others is itself racist and divisive.”
This was not the first time that Ms Abusalama has courted controversy. She is active in the BDS movement to boycott Israel, the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of British Jews find intimidating, and in the past she reportedly urged people to watch a video on YouTube called “Truth About Zionist Jews Talmud”, which presented numerous antisemitic myths about the Talmud. The video’s description asked “Why the Zionist don’t want us to know what’s in Talmud? [sic],” adding: “Why they want the teaching of the Talmud to be known only to Jews.”
Ms Abusalama wrote on Twitter: “Must watch this video that tells you the truth about #zionist #Jews. They take their legitimacy from #Talmud.” In another post, she reportedly wrote that the “Zionist lobbies control all this for their interest,” adding: “They buy presidents/slaves.”
The video and tweets have since been deleted.
Last week, Ms Abusalama claimed that “Zionist racist publications/trolls have renewed online #bullying to discredit my academic reputation,” and over the weekend, it was reported that she had been suspended by the University from her teaching duties.
She declared: “Family, friends, and followers, I am under renewed attack by Zionist publications protesting my recent appointment as an Associate Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, where I also recently submitted a PhD dissertation on the historical representation of Palestinian refugees in colonial, humanitarian and Palestinian documentary films, from 1917 and 1993. The Zionist defamation campaign by Jewish News, Campaign Against Antisemitism and Jewish Chronicle joins a historical pattern where the Zionist colonial narrative is consistently privileged over the narratives of the oppressed.”
She added: “I’m shocked that my academic community seems more interested in protecting its reputation than my academic freedom & wellbeing.”
Recently, the University and College Union (UCU) branch at Sheffield Hallam University was condemned for passing a motion of solidarity with the disgraced professor, David Miller.
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities.
If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].
“Hitler should have killed you all”: Woman suspected of spitting on eight-year-old Jewish boy and making antisemitic comments is arrested
New York police have arrested a woman who is suspected of making antisemitic comments to three Jewish children aged seven, two and eight, in Brooklyn, New York on 14th January.
The suspect, Christina Darling, is a psychology student at St. Francis College. She reportedly walked away after telling the three siblings that “Hitler should have killed you all. I’ll kill you and know where you live.”
According to the children’s father, Aryeh Fried, the boy told Ms Darling that he would save his little sister. “I have to teach him not to engage,” Ms Fried said. “But he engaged. And she came running back. Spat in his face. And told him, ‘We will kill you all. I know where you live. And we’ll make sure to get you all, next time.’”
“I would hope that she understands the severity of what she did,” Mr Fried added. “To do it to anybody is obviously problematic, but for an adult to do it to a child is just beyond crazy.”
Ms Darling, 21, has reportedly been charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime, menacing, and three counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child.
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: NYPD Crime Stoppers
Kosher restaurant in New Jersey bombarded with anti-Israel comments and coordinated negative reviews
A kosher eatery in Teaneck, New Jersey has attracted a barrage of anti-Israel comments and negative online reviews, including claims that its cuisine was “stolen”.
The culinary battleground emerged after Yalla, a kosher eatery located on a quiet street in Teaneck NJ, was targeted. Yalla seems to have provoked particular anger due to its name as Yalla is an Arabic word but widely used in Israel to mean “let’s go.”
According to Israeli owner Jacob Goldberg, Yalla had received a number of politically-motivated negative reviews in recent years from people who claimed that he “stole” the name, “stole” their land or “stole” the food.
Most of the time, said Mr Goldberg, he simply alerted Google and asked for reviews to be removed. He explained that “where it’s very obviously hate-speech,” the reviews come down but “if it’s food-related, such as ‘I found a hair in my food,’” even though it was posted by “someone from Damascus” who had “obviously never been to my restaurant,” the review stays. Mr Goldberg decided, therefore, on a new tactic. He responded to a review that led the “critic” to use social media to call on anti-Israel users to pile on and place negative reviews.
Mr Goldberg believes there were at least 300 negative reviews posted in one evening, some of which also included Palestinian flags and the words “Free Palestine.” As well as claiming that Yalla served “stolen Palestinian food” and that the menu was “cultural appropriation at it’s [sic] finest,” “reviews” claimed that it was “absolutely trash,” that food was “overpriced” and that it “steals the thoughts and the lands and serve you sh*t on a plate.”
One review wrote in capital letters: “DON’T GO THERE AND WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!”
There was also a TikTok video in which a woman claimed that Yalla was “falsely advertising Palestinian, Middle Eastern food” adding: “They messed with the wrong people.… Free Palestine.”
Within hours of the campaign, Yalla’s rating had dropped from 4.6 stars out of a maximum of five stars to 3.85. It then dipped to below 3 stars.
“In real life, if you get attacked, you call 911 and the police respond,” said Mr Goldberg. “But if you get attacked online, nothing, nothing, nothing happens.” He added that “a five-year-old” could look at the reviews and recognise they were fake, but “Google, a multibillion-dollar company can’t flag something like this as fake” was, he said, “just pretty astonishing.”
According to Mr Goldberg, since news of the cyber attack broke, he had had a lot of support “from Jews who felt they had to come out and fight hate.” People had been dropping into Yalla to show support which felt “amazing.” But, in the “long term” he did not think that there would be much impact. “Many people think Google reviews are mostly fake anyway,” he noted, “especially” if the reviews were anti-Israel. “They trust the old-fashioned way” – reviews from friends and family.”
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: JNS via Google Images
Fourteen-year-old from Darlington pleads guilty to terror charges
A fourteen-year-old from Darlington has pleaded guilty to terror charges, making him the youngest person to be convicted on terror offences.
The schoolboy admitted three counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist, specifically manuals for making explosives, last week at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He was also reportedly active on racist online forums.
The boy, who cannot be named, was arrested last July when he was thirteen in an investigation into extreme right-wing terrorism. He was released on bail until 1st April when he will be sentenced at Newton Aycliffe Youth Court.
Recently, a neo-Nazi who was sentenced by a judge to read classic works of English literature has now been jailed for two years by the Court of Appeal, after his sentence was deemed “unduly lenient”.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has been monitoring and acting against the threat from the far-right for years and continues to support the authorities following suit.
Mayor leads condemnation of “vile” and “hateful” antisemitism at health board meeting in Massachusetts town
The Mayor of a Massachusetts town has led local and state-level condemnation of antisemitism describing it as “vile,” “hateful” and “unwelcome.”
The comments from Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra follow a Board of Health meeting in late December when several participants made anti-Jewish remarks or displayed swastikas on Zoom screens. The Mayor also pointed to flyers seen in the city that had antisemitic messages.
The “actions are vile, hateful, and are unwelcome in the city of Northampton” and were “profoundly hurtful to our Jewish neighbours,” declared Mayor Sciarra.
At the meeting to discuss a vaccine mandate for Northampton, a man on Zoom, claiming to be called David Rosenberg, described board members as “unelected, rich Jewish doctors.” The same man said: “We are tired of you attacking our way of life and attacking our children.” He added: “We will resist.”
Another man, who claimed to be called “Justin Goldberg” asked on Zoom if the Board were “willing to put people in camps,” stating “frankly, I think that is where this is heading.”
A third person used the screen name “Jews will not replace us” and displayed three swastikas as their Zoom photo.
In her statement, Mayor Sciarra said that while the city officials “acknowledge constitutionally protected free speech” at public meetings “that does not mean that we do not denounce hateful and derogatory comments or images.”
She added: “We must speak up against the words and actions of those who sow hatred…They are a threat to the safety and peace of our community.”
At a City Council meeting following the incident, one Northampton councillor said: “The antisemitism that was expressed was unconscionable and shocking.” Councillor Stanley Moulton said that while he was “an ardent supporter” of free speech, “hate speech cannot be tolerated.”
Senator Jo Comerford, who represents Northampton, said legitimate criticism of official measures had “crossed a bright line” and had been “marred” by “violent rhetoric and antisemitic slurs,” adding: “We must join together to reject such dangerous bigotry.”
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.
President of UCL Palestine Society leads hundreds in “From the river to the sea” chant and warns of “Zionist plotting” at rally
During an anti-Israel demonstration held on Friday night, the President of the University College London (UCL) Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Society, Saleem Nusseibeh, led the notorious “From the river to the sea” chant and warned the crowd of hundreds about “Zionist plotting”.
The chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state — and its replacement with a State of Palestine — and is thus an attempt to deny Jews, uniquely, the right to self-determination, which is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Mr Nusseibeh, addressing the crowd, also spoke of “Zionist manoeuvring and plotting” and claimed that “these Zionists will be removed, their presence will be gone.” He then finished his speech by leading the “From the river to the sea” chant that was heard at different points throughout the night.
In addition to this, recent online footage shows the UCL SJP President speaking on a discussion panel in December where, on a video uploaded to the “Palestinian Return Centre” YouTube channel, he said: “If the UN accepts that Zionism is racism and Israel is the manifestation of Zionism, that means Israel is a racist state.” He added: “You have to pick between principle or the law that is enacted by some of the most bloodthirsty powers that existed and still, unfortunately, preside over much of the world.”
Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is antisemitic.
Friday night’s rally was reportedly organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). This is not the first time that a PSC rally has featured antisemitism. An investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism in 2017 exposed extensive antisemitic bigotry amongst supporters of the PSC.
Numerous signs bearing the slogan “Stop Judaisation of Jerusalem” were spotted at last night’s demonstration. One of the banners spotted at the rally was that of Jewish Voice for Labour, an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation.
An evidence gathering team from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit was present at the rally held outside the Israeli Embassy in West London. The event featured numerous speakers, including Tony Burke, General Secretary at Unite and Vice President of IndustriALL Europe, Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and Former Shadow Chancellor and Labour Party MP John McDonnell.
Other speakers featured were Jo Grady, General Secretary of the University and College Union, PSC Chair Kamel Hawwash and rapper Kareem Dennis, known as Lowkey.
Mr Dennis has previously described Israel as a “racist endeavour” in direct and deliberate contravention of the Definition, described Zionism as “antisemitic”, spoken of the “Zionist lobby” in the context of global capitalism, has reportedly backed the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson and has repeatedly supported the antisemite Jeremy Corbyn.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Another week, another rally on British streets infested with antisemitic tropes. Yet again, a prominent Labour MP addressed the crowd, and a leading student activist led an antisemitic chant and denounced ‘Zionist plotting’. UCL and its Students’ Union must investigate.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews almost four times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
“Maybe they’ll have compassion for f***ing Jews:” Chilling final audio of Texas synagogue terrorist reveals he wanted to “go down as a martyr”
A chilling excerpt of the final phone call between Malik Faisal Akram, the terrorist who held four Jewish people hostage for eleven hours at a synagogue in Texas, and his brother reveals he wanted to “go down as a martyr”.
On 15th January, 44-year-old Mr Akram from Blackburn in Lancashire, UK entered Congregation Beth Israel during Sabbath services, making threats against the congregation and holding them hostage, demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in Texas.
In comments that could be heard on a live stream of the synagogue service that was cut off during the incident, Mr Akram could be heard speaking in a northern English accent and claiming that he had a bomb and that he would not leave the synagogue alive.
Now, in audio that has been obtained by the JC, Mr Akram can be heard telling his brother, Gulbar, that he has “come to die”, and that he promised his younger brother, who reportedly died three months ago, that he would “go down a martyr.”
“I’m bombed up, I’ve got f***ing every ammunition,” he continued. “I’ve told my kids to man up and don’t f***king cry at my funeral.”
Mr Akram said: “I’ve asked Allah for this death, Allah is with me, I’m not worried in the slightest.” Ignoring his brother’s pleas for Mr Akram to end the siege, he yelled: “Maybe they’ll have compassion for f***ing Jews.”
Shortly after the attack, the “Blackburn Muslim Community” Facebook page reportedly prayed for “the Almighty” to “bless him with the highest ranks of Paradise” in a now-deleted post. It was reported today, however, that Chairman of Blackburn’s Masjid E Sajedeen Mosque, Councillor Salim Sidat, stated that “We, as a community, understand that this shouldn’t happen to any community, whether Jewish, Muslim, or anything else. The atrocities he carried out were disgusting and we also believe there is no room for antisemitism.”
In a statement that sparked fury in Jewish communities around the world, the FBI made a claim, which was blindly repeated by the world’s media, that the incident was “not specifically related to the Jewish community.” However, this claim was refuted by the hostages of the attack. Jeffrey Cohen recounted that Mr Akram had imbibed antisemitic conspiracy theories to the extent that he believed Jews to be so powerful that if he wanted a criminal to be released from prison, all he had to do was to enter a synagogue and demand that local Jews exercise their political might to fulfil his request.
At one point Mr Cohen told how the terrorist, who was killed by the FBI, demanded to speak to the “Chief Rabbi”, however no such office exists in the United States, so they simply called a rabbi from another synagogue. Mr Akram was apparently utterly convinced that Jews and their rabbis wielded such immense power that they could overturn prison sentences by decree.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has since said that “The FBI is and has been treating Saturday’s events as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community,” adding: “It was intentional, it was symbolic, and we’re not going to tolerate antisemitism in this country. We recognise that the Jewish community in particular has suffered violence and faces very real threats from across the hate spectrum.”
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.
Over one in four religious hate crimes in Sweden target Jews, despite only being 0.1% of population
A new study has reported that in 2020, Jewish people in Sweden were on the receiving end of 27% of religious hate crimes, despite them only making up 0.1% of the population.
The report noted 170 antisemitic hate crimes occurred in 2020. Sweden has a population of 10 million, of which Jews make up approximately 14,900.
The report from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention also says that the figure is lower than that of the 280 antisemitic hate crimes documented in the 2018 report. However, it added that the 2020 numbers may be skewed due to structural changes in its most recent report.
In October, world leaders called for further measures to tackle antisemitism and Holocaust denial at Sweden’s Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism.
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.
“They would wait for us as we got off the bus”: Love Island’s Eyal Booker opens up about his personal experiences of antisemitism
On the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism, Eyal Booker, a contestant on season four of the hit show Love Island, opened up about his personal experiences of antisemitism growing up.
Mr Booker said: “The start of my secondary school life was when I realised that antisemitism is very real and that because we wore a school uniform that identified us as going to a Jewish school, it sounds dramatic but we had a target on our back.
“It was very obvious, and…and there were other kids from other schools that didn’t like that we were Jewish, didn’t like that we went to a Jewish school and would try and intimidate us…would, as you said, throw rocks and stones at our school bus.”
He went on to say: “They would wait for us as we got off the bus because we would get off in small groups and intimidate us and chase us home and that’s when…that’s when it got quite real because I can vividly remember, you know, running up that hill like my life depended on it because I didn’t know who was behind me or what was coming for me, and that was at a point that I realised that antisemitism is real and it exists and it is dangerous.”
The Love Island star went on to say that he had trauma from what he had experienced, revealing that it took time to recover: “Slowly but surely I realised that, ‘okay, not everyone wants to attack me and hates me’.”
Mr Booker also disclosed his thoughts on antisemitism today, saying: “I’m shocked that we still live in a world where hatred is fuelled by more hatred, and that, you know, we have to continuously ask people to stand in alliance with us and say ‘please, can you not see that this is wrong?’ We’re people like anyone else, why would you not just call out wrong and hatred behaviour when you see it?
“Because we know wrong from right, we all do. We’re humans, we have morals, we have values. We can see when somebody is feeling uncomfortable, when there is aggressive body language or behaviour towards them. We can see when there is someone vulnerable, on their own or in a small group of young kids or girls or women that are being attacked, and it makes me feel sick that people would stand by and let that happen because they think, for some unknown reason, that we’re bad people or we’ve done something wrong, because we were born into a religion and a society and we’ve decided to grow up in that way.”
The full podcast with Mr Booker can be listened to here, or watched here.
Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox. Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, The Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and actor Eddie Marsan.
Two acts of antisemitic vandalism reported in one week in South Tampa, Florida
Two acts of antisemitic vandalism have been reported within the same week of each other in South Tampa, Florida.
The incidents both occurred in the first week of 2022, leading Tampa JCCs and Federation to state that it was “deeply disappointed”, adding: “As an organisation and a community, we find hateful acts like this disturbing and unacceptable.”
In one incident, graffiti depicting a Star of David with a line crossed through it was scrawled on a portable toilet at a residential construction site. Neither the residents nor the owner of the site are said to be Jewish and the graffiti has since been painted over. The incident was reported by a Jewish resident and the matter is currently being investigated by police.
In a second incident, Jewish students at Coleman Middle School in South Tampa reportedly created and distributed flyers with the intention of forming a club for Jewish students. However, one of the flyers that was posted on a wall was found defaced. The matter is understood to have been handled internally, with assistance from former JCCs and Federation president Joe Probasco.
The school has previously seen antisemitic vandalism when it was defaced with swastikas.
In a statement, Tampa JCCs and Federation said that “We’re fortunate and grateful we have the full support of the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County, the Tampa Police Department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to help try to ensure our safety and see that those responsible are held accountable. Battling all acts of hate and antisemitism continues to be one of our highest priorities.”
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: Google
CAA and others vindicated as neo-Nazi originally ordered to read classic literature is finally jailed after review of “unduly lenient” sentence
A neo-Nazi who was sentenced by a judge to read classic works of English literature has now been jailed for two years by the Court of Appeal, after his sentence was deemed “unduly lenient”.
Ben John, 21, was convicted by a jury at Leicester Crown Court on 11th August 2021 of possessing information likely to be useful for preparing an act of terror — a charge that carries a maximum jail sentence of fifteen years. The prosecution told the court that the former De Montfort University student, who had collated 67,788 documents which contained a large quantity of National Socialist, white supremacist and antisemitic material, as well as information relating to a Satanic organisation, had previously failed to heed warnings by counter-terrorism officers. Lincolnshire Police had also said that Mr John “had become part of the Extreme Right Wing (XRW) online, and was studying Criminology with Psychology in Leicester when he was arrested”.
Nevertheless, Judge Timothy Spencer QC said that he believed that Mr John’s crime was likely to be an isolated incident and “an act of teenage folly”. He labelled Mr John as a “lonely individual with few if any true friends” who was “highly susceptible” to recruitment by others more prone to action. Judge Spencer went on to say that he was “not of the view that harm was likely to have been caused.”
Instead of jail, Judge Spencer instructed Mr John to return to him every four months in order to be tested on his reading of classic literature, urging him to read Dickens, Shakespeare, Austen, Trollope and Hardy. Mr John was also handed a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years plus a further year on licence, monitored by the probation service. Mr John was also given a five-year Serious Crime Prevention Order requiring him to stay in touch with the police and let them monitor his online activity and up to 30 days on a Healthy Identity Intervention programme.
Campaign Against Antisemitism and other groups condemned the sentence as a dangerous joke, and the Attorney General asked the Court of Appeal to review the “unduly lenient” sentence.
Earlier this month, Mr John appeared before the same judge to be tested on his reading. This was after an interview with Scout News in December, in which Mr John reportedly indicated that he had not even begun the reading. The Court of Appeal heard that Mr John had resumed his interest in far-right extremism within days of the original sentence last year. The Solicitor General, Alex Chalk QC, told the court: “We now know that within a week of giving an apparently sincere promise to the judge, he resumed his interest in the far-right. He began liking Nazi posts online and other extremist activity five days after promising the judge he had put it behind him.” He added that “some of the material accessed as recently as this month is very troubling.”
In handing down judgement today, Lord Justice Holroyde said that the original judge’s intention to avoid having to jail Mr John was “understandable”, but concluded that “we are satisfied there must be a sentence of immediate imprisonment.”
Mr John was today therefore jailed for two years with a one-year extended licence. He will be eligible for release after spending two thirds of his prison sentence.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We know from hard experience that sometimes it takes time to get justice, but Ben John has today finally received an appropriate custodial sentence. The Attorney General was absolutely right to ask the Court of Appeal to review the pathetic original sentence. It was inexplicable that a man who collected nearly 70,000 neo-Nazi and terror-related documents could entirely avoid prison for crimes that carry a maximum jail term of fifteen years. Instead, Ben John left court with a mere suspended sentence and some English homework.
“The British public can sleep safer tonight knowing that the Court of Appeal has shown sense, rectified the alarming joke of a sentence originally handed down to Mr John, and jailed a dangerous individual.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has been monitoring and acting against the threat from the far-right for years and continues to support the authorities following suit.
Image credit: Lincolnshire Police
New York police search for woman suspected of spitting on eight-year-old Jewish boy and making antisemitic comments
New York police are searching for a woman who is suspected of making antisemitic comments to three children in Brooklyn, New York on Friday.
She reportedly walked away after making the comments before returning to spit on one of the children, an eight-year-old Jewish boy.
A photograph released by NYPD Crime Stoppers shows a woman in an orange jumper carrying a blue bag.
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: NYPD Crime Stoppers
Guilty verdict for mosque leader who called for violent Jihad while wearing “Free Palestine, resistance is existence” jumper, and explosive details of family’s Islamist ties can now be published
A mosque leader who called for “Jihad by sword” while making a stabbing gesture and wearing a black top emblazoned with the words “Free Palestine, resistance is existence” has been found guilty of intending to encourage terrorism.
Abu Bakr Deghayes’ twenty-minute sermon a congregation of around 50 at Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre last November was caught on CCTV. The audience reportedly included teenagers and young men in their twenties, as well as older members, and it is understood that several in the audience began to fidget as the speech went on, with some walking out.
The Old Bailey heard that Mr Deghayes, 53, from Saltdean, Sussex and originally from Libya, spoke in English and Arabic, urging the congregation to ignore the British Government and its Prevent programme. He is claimed to have said: “Allah is more powerful than you. You, idiots. You non-believers, idiots. Allah is more powerful than you. The non-believer…is an idiot; he’s stupid. Jihad is compulsory upon you, you, you and you until the Day of Resurrection, whatever the British Government thinks, whatever Prevent thinks, whatever Israel thinks.
“Send to the sea. They can go and drink from the sea, Allah curse their fathers, OK? Jihad, jihad, jihad! Jihad is compulsory. Jihad by fighting by sword that means this jihad is compulsory upon you, not jihad is the word of mouth but jihad will remain compulsory until the Day of Resurrection. And my livelihood is under the shadow of my spear.”
He added that anyone who did not like what he said was an enemy of Allah, declaring: “Go fight Allah! Go Fight Allah!”
Mr Deghayes, who denied wrongdoing, had claimed in his defence that his words referred to self-defence, and that the stabbing gesture was a “dance of the blade”.
Now that the case is over, with Mr Deghayes inexplicably released on continued bail until he is sentenced at the same court on 25th February, details of his family’s ties to Islamists can be published. Two of Mr Deghayes’ sons were killed fighting in Syria (a third died in a stabbing incident in Sussex). Abdul, who was reportedly involved with drugs and was murdered by a dealer in 2019 aged 22, was the twin brother of Abdullah, who was killed in 2016 fighting in Syria. Their brother Jaffar was killed in 2014 aged seventeen while fighting to overthrow the Syrian dictator, Bashas Al-Assad. Both were apparently fighting for the al Qaida-affiliated Al-Nusra Front. Yet another son, Amer, is believed still to be fighting in Syria.
In 2017, a serious case review reportedly identified missed opportunities to prevent the sons from being radicalised, as well as noting failures to understand the role of religion in their lives. The report also alleged that Mr Deghayes would wake the boys up at 04:30 in the morning to study the Koran and would whip them with electrical wire.
The boys’ uncle, Omar Deghayes, was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and spent five years in Guantanamo Bay.
The jury was not told about Mr Deghayes’s family background and ties.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2020 showed that over eight in ten British Jews consider the threat from Islamists to be very serious.
Image credit: Google and Sussex Police
Glasgow University academic whose tweets breached International Definition of Antisemitism dismisses Jewish student who challenged him as being part of “the Lobby”
An academic at the University of Glasgow whose tweets breached the International Definition of Antisemitism has dismissed a Jewish student who challenged him as being part of “the Lobby”, according to the JC.
Dr Muir Houston, a senior education lecturer, reportedly claimed that the Jewish former Labour Party MP, Dame Louise Ellman, was “a liar and a fraud – and responsible for vexatious attacks on Corbyn at the behest of a foreign power.”
After he signed a letter of support for the disgraced academic David Miller last year, a Jewish politics student asked Dr Houston why he did so, for an article for a student newspaper.
According to the JC, less than an hour after the student sent the e-mail request, a Twitter account believed to belong to the academic posted “email received from the Lobby” and quoted directly from her message. Later in the day, the account posted: “After signing letter in support of David Miller – a member of the student lobby asked me for statement – given their previous reporting I will decline.”
The student submitted a complaint to the University’s Complaints Resolution Office. In April 2021, the University reportedly upheld the complaint, writing that University officials could “understand why the statements made by Dr Houston have caused offence to you and other members of the Jewish community” and adding: “We are deeply sorry about this. We would like to assure you that, as a result of your complaint, the School is actively pursuing this issue.” However, the letter did not commit to disciplinary action against Dr Houston.
Since then, the student has uncovered multiple social media posts, allegedly from Dr Houston, that breach the International Definition of Antisemitism, and still the University has apparently taken no formal action. The University of Glasgow has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Dr Houston is alleged to have replied to a tweet by European Council President Charles Michel that the lesson of the Holocaust was that “silence is the first step to acceptance”, saying: “#FreePalestine”.
Meanwhile, when another Twitter user asked, “Why have the Scottish government, Nicola Sturgeon, or the SNP not uttered a single word condemning Israeli murder. Have they been captured?” Dr Houston’s handle replied, “Yes”, and posted a link to a public policy document issued by a Scottish Jewish representative group.
The student met with the University of Glasgow Chief Operating Officer David Duncan in October to discuss her concerns. In an e-mail sent later that day, he replied: “the matter was dealt with informally; Dr Houston has not been the subject of formal disciplinary action.” When the student sent further tweets in November, he replied the following week: “Following further investigation of the twitter feed you complained about, I have concluded that some of the contents are problematic.” He said that the matter had been referred to the Head of School.
The student apparently asked Mr Duncan which tweets he considered “problematic”, and Mr Duncan pointed to one that reacted to news that the former Labour MP Mary Creagh had received an MBE, despite attacking Jeremy Corbyn, saying: “She got her 30 pieces of silver then?” He also pointed to another tweet that called “Modern Hebrew” a “synthetic language”.
Mr Duncan mused that some of the tweets “simply take a political perspective on developments in the Middle East – that to my mind is not problematic.” But the student was outraged, citing the claim that Dame Louise operated “at the behest of a foreign power” and writing: “I am in disbelief as to how you cannot see how these are problematic? The impunity granted to Muir is disgusting.”
According to the JC, the e-mail trail suggests numerous delays on the part of the University.
A spokesperson for the University of Glasgow said: “The complaint has been upheld and action is ongoing. We are unable to comment further at this time.” In a separate statement, the University reportedly added: “In no way does the University of Glasgow or Dr Duncan find racism or racial discrimination acceptable.”
Mr Duncan reportedly insisted that he was confident he had handled the complaint “appropriately and fairly”, saying: “I examined all the social media comments made by the subject of the complaint since the previous action by his School. I also drew on informal advice from Jewish colleagues.”
Dr Houston reportedly told the JC: “The Israel lobby is an actually existing phenomenon composed of witting and unwitting assets of a hostile and illegitimate foreign state. That state, Israel, can only continue to exist because of a slow genocide being committed against the Palestinian people. Britons should be deeply concerned that the Jewish Chronicle, whose funders remain secret, is seeking to lead the largest political witch-hunt in British history. We should all ask on whose behalf this onslaught of censorship and intimidation is being conducted.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Several of these social media posts appear to breach the International Definition of Antisemitism, including claiming that antisemitism allegations against Labour were vexatious or at the behest of a foreign power. The posts warrant urgent action by the University, as does Dr Houston’s reported reaction to complaints, which appear to have invoked yet another trope. Universities have a duty of care towards Jewish students and an obligation to students to present lecturers who are grounded in reality rather than conspiracy. If the University continues to fail to take action or obfuscate, we shall be reporting it to the Office for Students.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities.
If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].
Cambridge professor accused of conspiratorial attacks by both Jewish society and fellow academic
A professor at the University of Cambridge has been accused of conspiratorial attacks by both the University’s Jewish society and a fellow academic.
Priyamvada Gopal, a professor of Postcolonial Studies at the University, reportedly accused Samuel Rubinstein, a Jewish student at Cambridge who wrote an article criticising her tweets of fellow academic David Abulafia, of being motivated by her stance on the International Definition of Antisemitism, despite Mr Rubinstein’s article not mentioning the Definition.
Ms Gopal stated that she was “the subject of a concocted story eagerly picked up by tabloids and Murdoch press”, adding: “They make the news, they write it up, they target, they assault, they win.”
She also accused Mr Rubinstein of having “quite powerful familial connections to the liberal media.”
In response, the University’s Jewish society released a statement in which it said that the society “Stands in solidarity with our members who have been subject to unfounded conspiracy theories and online intimidation.
“In an inflammatory Twitter thread [Ms Gopal] echoes historic tropes about media control, and goes on to insinuate that the Jewish journalists are acting out of fidelity to the IHRA [International] Definition of Antisemitism.”
Mr Rubinstein told the JC: “Prof. Gopal had every right to respond to my piece, and could have done so by taking issue with the substance of my argument, but it is regrettable that her response – a tissue of falsehoods and rancid conspiracy theories, getting progressively unhinged as the day progressed – vindicated every single claim I made in my original article.”
Professor Abulafia, the academic originally criticised by Ms Gopal, said: “I’m not trying to get Gopal sacked but she’s clearly completely out of control. In a series of tweets she claimed that the student newspaper journalist I spoke to was part of a conspiracy. Both he and I are Jewish and we are all familiar with the antisemitic Jewish conspiracy trope — she even referenced guidelines designed to stop hate speech around the Holocaust.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities.
If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].
BBC did record “anti-Zionism” debate even as broadcaster promised it was not planning to air one
It has been revealed that the BBC did record a controversial debate about anti-Zionism even as the broadcaster assured the Jewish community that it was not planning to air one.
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, who was the first religious leader to speak out against Jeremy Corbyn after the 2019 General Election was called, has revealed that BBC Radio 4 recorded an inflammatory debate between him and the controversial blogger Robert Cohen over whether anti-Zionism should be a “protected characteristic”.
The debate was reportedly recorded on 7th January and was due to be broadcasted on 13th January. Although the BBC insisted, after outrage from the Jewish community, that “We are always exploring a range of possible topics but there’s no planned item about anti-Zionism on the Sunday programme,” Rabbi Romain revealed that, after the segment was recorded, producers told him that it would be broadcast as planned. It was later pulled.
Rabbi Romain said: “I was approached by the BBC on Friday morning to do an interview on the move to make anti-Zionism a protected philosophical belief.” He described the debate as “robust” and lasting “between seven and eight minutes,” during which he “forcefully made the point that Zionism originally meant the establishment of a Jewish homeland and ever since 1948 has meant the maintenance of a Jewish homeland, but it does not refer to particular borders. It is perfectly permissible to criticise particular Israeli policies, and half of all Israelis do, but if [Mr Cohen] and others are anti-Zionist, they are denying Israel’s very right to exist. What is more, given that every other people have that right, and he wishes Palestinians to have it too, then denying it just to Jews is exceptionalism and antisemitic.”
Rabbi Romain revealed: “Later that afternoon, I was phoned by the producer and told, very regretfully, that ‘someone higher up the chain’ had decided that as the application to make anti-Zionism protected was only a proposal and had not been initiated yet, the BBC would postpone the item until it was made.”
Prior to asking Mr Cohen to participate, the BBC intended to invite Diana Neslen, a member of the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour.
On Sunday the BBC issued a second statement saying: “We are always exploring a range of possible topics but there was no item about anti-Zionism on the Sunday programme this weekend.”
The BBC has lately been embroiled in a host of controversies relating to antisemitism.
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].
Jeremy Corbyn reportedly considering launching new party while allies seek to restore Labour whip to him
Jeremy Corbyn, the antisemitic former leader of the Labour Party, is reportedly considering launching a new political party.
Mr Corbyn is apparently being urged by his allies to register his organisation, the Peace and Justice Project, as a political party. Mr Corbyn set up the Project following his suspension from the Labour Party in order to coordinate his activism.
However, Mr Corbyn has also recently observed that he could stand as an independent at the next election. He reportedly said: “Let’s not go into too much speculation about this…my wish is to stand as a Labour candidate…I do feel I’ve been very badly treated, but let’s take it one step at a time.”
Although Mr Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party, he was rapidly and disgracefully readmitted. However, the whip has not been restored to him, so he is in the absurd position of being a member of the Labour Party who sits as an independent MP.
Now, Nadia Jama and Ian Murray, both allies of Mr Corbyn on Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), have submitted a motion to the NEC calling for the whip to be restored to the former leader. Even if successful, the motion cannot require the whip to be restored to Mr Corbyn.
Late last year, Ms Jama seconded a motion challenging the practice of expelling Party members based on apparent involvement with groups that were proscribed after the time of alleged involvement, and earlier last year Ms Jama voted against the proscription of Labour Against the Witchhunt by the NEC.
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
Mosque leader on trial after allegedly calling for “Jihad by sword” while wearing black top emblazoned with words “Free Palestine, resistance is existence”
A mosque leader is on trial after allegedly calling for “Jihad by sword” while wearing a black top emblazoned with the words “Free Palestine, resistance is existence”.
Abu Bakr Deghayes’ twenty-minute sermon at Brighton Mosque and Muslim Community Centre last November was caught on CCTV.
The Old Bailey heard that, while calling for “Jihad by sword”, he gestured with a stabbing motion.
The congregation reportedly included teenagers and young men in their twenties, as well as older members, and it is understood that several in the audience began to fidget as the speech went on, with some walking out.
Ben Lloyd, prosecuting, told the court that the speech on 1st November 2021 “demonstrates the defendant to be an Islamic extremist. He is someone who believes in the use of violence in the cause of Islam, or at the very least, he was reckless as to whether people would be encouraged. It is not a speech given innocently or naively by the defendant.”
He added: “The defendant was quite clear, he said jihad was compulsory or an obligation. He said, ‘jihad by fighting by sword’. The prosecution case is clear and straightforward – by standing up at the front of a busy mosque, and by quite deliberately saying ‘jihad by fighting by sword’, the defendant was encouraging terrorism, encouraging violence in the name of Islam. If the defendant’s own words were not clear enough, he also made a stabbing gesture with his hands.”
Mr Deghayes, from Saltdean, Sussex, is originally from Libya, and spoke in English and Arabic, allegedly urging the congregation to ignore the British Government and its Prevent programme. He is claimed to have said: “Allah is more powerful than you. You, idiots. You non-believers, idiots. Allah is more powerful than you. The non-believer…is an idiot; he’s stupid. Jihad is compulsory upon you, you, you and you until the Day of Resurrection, whatever the British Government thinks, whatever Prevent thinks, whatever Israel thinks.
“Send to the sea. They can go and drink from the sea, Allah curse their fathers, OK? Jihad, jihad, jihad! Jihad is compulsory. Jihad by fighting by sword that means this jihad is compulsory upon you, not jihad is the word of mouth but jihad will remain compulsory until the Day of Resurrection. And my livelihood is under the shadow of my spear.”
He allegedly added that anyone who did not like what he said was an enemy of Allah, declaring: “Go fight Allah! Go Fight Allah!” Mr Deghayes denies encouraging terrorism. The trial continues.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2020 showed that over eight in ten British Jews consider the threat from Islamists to be very serious.
Image credit: Google
Despite media and FBI claims, Texas synagogue hostages confirm attack was absolutely antisemitic as two are arrested in the UK
Despite media and FBI claims that the attack on Congregation Beth Israel in Texas was “not specifically related to the Jewish community,” the hostages taken by terrorist Malik Faisal Akram have confirmed that his motivation was in fact antisemitic.
The FBI’s claim, blindly repeated by the world’s media, had sparked fury in Jewish communities around the world. For example, the BBC led with the headline: “Texas synagogue hostage stand-off not related to Jewish community – FBI”
Speaking to CNN, Beth Israel community member Jeffrey Cohen recounted that 44-year-old Mr Akram, from Blackburn in Lancashire, UK, had imbibed antisemitic conspiracy theories to the extent that he believed Jews to be so powerful that if he wanted a criminal to be released from prison, all he had to do was to enter a synagogue and demand that local Jews exercise their political might to fulfil his request.
At one point Mr Cohen told how the terrorist, who was killed by the FBI, demanded to speak to the “Chief Rabbi”, however no such office exists in the United States, so they simply called a rabbi from another synagogue. Mr Akram was apparently utterly convinced that Jews and their rabbis wielded such immense power that they could overturn prison sentences by decree.
The account has been corroborated by others, forcing the FBI to backtrack and admit that far from being “not specifically related to the Jewish community,” the attack was in fact “a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted”.
Mr Akram entered the synagogue during Sabbath services, making threats against the congregation and holding them hostage, demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in Texas.
In comments that could be heard on a live stream of the synagogue service that was cut off during the incident, Mr Akram could be heard speaking in a northern English accent and claiming that he had a bomb and that he would not leave the synagogue alive.
In additional comments that suggest that the FBI did little of use during the attack, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker told CBS Mornings that he and the two other hostages had escaped by hurling a chair at the attacker and running out of the building. Only once the hostages were free did the FBI enter the building and shoot Mr Akram dead. The account was corroborated in Mr Cohen’s CNN interview.
Previous reports had suggested that the FBI freed the hostages.
Two teenagers have now been arrested by the UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing North West.
The person who Mr Akram wanted freed in return for the safety of the hostages was being held in a Texan prison. Dr Siddiqui is convicted of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and three counts of assault on US officers and employees. Upon her conviction, raising her middle finger in court she shouted: “This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America. That’s where the anger belongs.” Dr Siddiqui had refused to work with a legal team provided to her by the Pakistani embassy on account of them being Jewish, and she had also demanded that jurors be subject to some sort of genetic testing to assess whether they were Jewish.
In a letter to former US President Obama, Dr Siddiqui wrote: “Study the history of the Jews. They have always back-stabbed everyone who has taken pity on them and made the ‘fatal’ error of giving them shelter…and it is this cruel, ungrateful back-stabbing of the Jews that has caused them to be mercilessly expelled from wherever they gain strength. This why ‘holocausts’ keep happening to them repeatedly! If they would only learn to be grateful and change their behaviour!”
A statement purportedly from Mr Akram’s brother claimed that Mr Akram had in fact released all of the hostages voluntarily before the authorities conducted their raid and killed him.
The statement added: “We would also like to add that any attack on any human being be it a Jew, Christian or Muslim etc is wrong and should always be condemned. It is absolutely inexcusable for a Muslim to attack a Jew or for any Jew to attack a Muslim, Christian, Hindu vice versa etc.”
The statement was published on a Facebook the “Blackburn Muslim Community” Facebook page which had to apologise for a post about Mr Akram’s death praying for “the Almighty” to “bless him with the highest ranks of Paradise”. The apology absurdly claimed that they had not been aware of the circumstances of Mr Akram’s death when posting the message, before the entire Facebook page was taken offline. Campaign Against Antisemitism is investigating who operates the “Blackburn Muslim Community” Facebook page and has alerted the authorities.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We join Jewish communities around the world in relief that Malik Faisal Akram’s attack on Congregation Beth Israel in Texas ended without physical injury to worshippers at the synagogue.
“The FBI’s claim during the attack that it ‘was not specifically related to the Jewish community’ has now been shown to be the opposite of reality. The FBI’s grasp of the nature of the attack and its role, if any, in securing the safety of the hostages will now be under considerable scrutiny. It is appalling how the FBI’s patently absurd analysis was blindly parroted by the world’s media.
“That the perpetrator came from the United Kingdom raises very serious questions for British authorities, including whether Mr Akram was encouraged or supported by local elements who may pose a continuing threat to the Jewish community or the wider public. This would appear to be supported by the fact that two teenagers have already been arrested by Counter Terrorism Policing North West. That a ‘Blackburn Muslim Community’ Facebook page purporting to represent the local Muslim community published a now-deleted post calling for ‘the Almighty’ to ‘bless him with the highest ranks of Paradise’ demands an urgent investigation. We are looking into who operates the page and have alerted local law enforcement.”
Seattle Jewish Federation fury at “inadequate” response to alleged antisemitism by senior policeman
A Seattle Jewish organisation has described the official reaction to antisemitic acts allegedly perpetrated by a senior police officer as “completely inadequate” and “an affront” to the Jewish community.
The criticism from the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle (JFGS) follows the response by city officials in the Kent area of Seattle, Washington, to offences in the summer of 2021 when Assistant Police Chief Derek Kammerzell allegedly posted a Nazi military insignia on his office door and made jokes about the Holocaust.
Mr Kammerzell was suspended for two weeks and ordered to attend cultural-sensitivity training. His claim that he did not know the symbol was of Nazi origin was accepted. In a statement released at the end of the year, Kent officials said that, based on labour law and on advice from two law firms that had reviewed the case, they believed a two-week suspension was “an appropriate and defensible response.”
JFGS described the response as “inexcusable” and said that it demonstrated “a complete lack of understanding of the impact” on the local Jewish community.
The group described the two-week suspension and sensitivity-training as “completely inadequate, especially at a time when incidents of hate against the Jewish people are higher than they’ve been in almost 45 years.”
JFGS called on the City of Kent to “publicly recognise the harm and hurt” caused to the Jewish community, adding that the “absence of true accountability” and “the sheer lack of consequences” were “shocking.”
This was an affront to the entire Puget Sound Jewish community, the group said said, adding: “Synagogues, Jewish community centres, and Jewish organisations rely on lawenforcement to help protect them from violent, antisemitic attacks.”
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.
Labour MPs Grahame Morris, Nadia Whittome, John McDonnell and Lucy Powell all under pressure in relation to antisemitism
Four Labour Party MPs – Grahame Morris, Nadia Whittome, John McDonnell and Lucy Powell – are now under pressure in relation to antisemitism.
The Mail on Sunday revealed that the Labour MP Grahame Morris is the director of the controversial “Palestine Deep Dive” company. Research by Labour Against Antisemitism uncovered Mr Morris’ association with the company, of which he is the founding director. The MP reportedly admitted being a director of the purportedly educational organisation and that he had failed to declare this directorship to Parliament.
The company’s website has previously published an article claiming that “Israel’s racism” has “let loose the pogroms so reminiscent of Czarist times and Kristallnacht in Germany, 1938.” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.
The website has also attacked BBC’s Panorama for contributing to a “smear campaign” against Labour, due to its investigation into antisemitism in the Party. The website reportedly apologised for this latter article by the controversial musician and activist, Roger Waters, last month. Mr Waters has made other outrageous claims on the website as well.
The website has interviewed the activist and comedian, Alexei Sayle, who has claimed that allegations of antisemitism “amongst supporters of Jeremy Corbyn are a complete fabrication.” Palestine Deep Dive has also reportedly platformed the controversial figure Tariq Ali, who has previously tried to link Israel to the racist killing of George Floyd – a trope for which Rebecca Long Bailey was fired from the Shadow Cabinet – among other inflammatory claims.
Grahame Morris is believed to be the only sitting MP in the entire House of Commons not to have endorsed the International Definition of Antisemitism. In 2012, he himself apparently tweeted: “World’s richest Jacob Rothschild, John Paulson & George Soros Are All Betting That Financial Disaster is Coming.”
Mr Morris reportedly said that, although he is a director of the company, he has “no involvement in the editorial decisions” of the website, and he issued an apology for failing to register his directorship with the House of Commons.
A spokesperson for the company reportedly said that the website “has not knowingly published material that may be considered antisemitic, nor has it been challenged as such. If this would ever be the case, it would be removed.”
Meanwhile, former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP and fellow Socialist Campaign Group member Nadia Whittome MP both reportedly shared a platform with expelled Labour member and outspoken filmmaker Ken Loach. Sir Keir Starmer pledged during his leadership campaign that any Labour member who shares a platform with a member expelled in relation to antisemitism would be disciplined, but he has consistently failed to fulfil this promise.
Reports have also emerged that Lucy Powell MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has been campaigning with Cllr. Majid Dar, a Labour councillor in Manchester who was suspended following allegations of antisemitism. Cllr Dar’s sister, Yasmine Dar, is an ally of Jeremy Corbyn and served as the head of Labour’s disputes panel. She is infamous for claiming that the Party did not have a problem of institutional antisemitism even as her brother was suspended over antisemitism allegations.
Scandals relating to antisemitism continue to rock the Labour Party at other levels as well. For example, a Labour councillor in West Lancashire, Ron Cooper, has tweeted: “If Corbyn was Labour Leader again then hundreds of thousands of members would rejoin the Party. @Keir_Starmer Stands for nothing #Purge of socialists and following commands from Israel.” Cllr. Cooper was swiftly suspended from the Party pending an investigation, and currently sits as an independent councillor, the whip having been withdrawn.
There are also unverified reports that Maureen Madden, the Chair of the North Tyneside Constituency Labour Party, has been expelled from the Labour Party. She has reportedly shared Rothschild conspiracy theories in the past.
Furthermore, Jewish Voice for Labour, the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, has tweeted in response to verified reports of Chinese espionage in Parliament: “Chinese interference in Parliament is unacceptsble [sic] and the security services were correct to draw attention to it. When are they going to turn their attention to the widespread Israeli Parliamentary interference #LFI #CFI #LDFI.” Claims that the Jewish state or lobbyists on its behalf wield excessive power in foreign nations is a common trope.
Joe Glasman, Head of Political and Government Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Sir Keir Starmer’s failure to fulfil his pledge to discipline MPs and others who share platforms with expelled members continues to haunt him. He tells non-Jewish audiences that he has closed the door on antisemitism in his Party – while whispering to Jewish audiences that there is still more to do – but his own MPs and officeholders continue to push the door wide open. With the new disciplinary system yet to be tested, Labour cannot be said to have gotten to grip with its scandal of institutional racism against Jews.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has lodged a complaint against Jeremy Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the EHRC’s shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day of the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by an independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has demanded and Sir Keir has promised but has yet to introduce.
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
Coffin draped in Nazi flag while mourners give Nazi salutes at funeral in Rome
At a recent funeral in Rome, a coffin was draped in a Nazi flag while mourners gave Nazi salutes, sparking outrage among Italian clergy.
The funeral was reportedly for neo-Fascist Forza Nuova Party member Alessia Augello.
In a statement, the Vicariate of Rome dubbed the incident as “serious, offensive, and unacceptable.”
A Roman Jewish community organisation reportedly said that the incident was “even more outrageous because it took place in front of a church,” adding: “It is unacceptable that a flag with a swastika can still be shown in public in this day and age, especially in a city that saw the deportation of its Jews by the Nazis and their fascist collaborators.”
Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
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.
“Blackburn Muslim Community” Facebook page reportedly calls for Allah to “bless” dead Texas synagogue attacker “with the highest ranks of Paradise”
Following the confirmation that the dead British man who attacked Congregation Beth Israel in Texas was 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram, the “Blackburn Muslim Community” Facebook page has reportedly prayed for “the Almighty” to “bless him with the highest ranks of Paradise” in a now-deleted post.
Mr Akram entered the synagogue during Sabbath services, making threats against the congregation and holding them hostage, demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in Texas.
In comments that could be heard on a live stream of the synagogue service that was cut off during the incident, Mr Akram could be heard speaking in a northern English accent and claiming that he had a bomb and that he would not leave the synagogue alive.
Following a standoff, the authorities raided the synagogue, killing Mr Akram and freeing the hostages.
A statement purportedly from Mr Akram’s brother published by the same Facebook page claimed that Mr Akram had in fact released all of the hostages before the authorities conducted their raid and killed him. The statement added: “We would also like to add that any attack on any human being be it a Jew, Christian or Muslim etc is wrong and should always be condemned. It is absolutely inexcusable for a Muslim to attack a Jew or for any Jew to attack a Muslim, Christian, Hindu vice versa etc.”
Dr Siddiqui is convicted of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and three counts of assault on US officers and employees. Upon her conviction, raising her middle finger in court she shouted: “This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America. That’s where the anger belongs.” Dr Siddiqui had refused to work with a legal team provided to her by the Pakistani embassy on account of them being Jewish, and she had also demanded that jurors be subject to some sort of genetic testing to assess whether they were Jewish.
In a letter to former US President Obama, Dr Siddiqui wrote: “Study the history of the Jews. They have always back-stabbed everyone who has taken pity on them and made the ‘fatal’ error of giving them shelter…and it is this cruel, ungrateful back-stabbing of the Jews that has caused them to be mercilessly expelled from wherever they gain strength. This why ‘holocausts’ keep happening to them repeatedly! If they would only learn to be grateful and change their behaviour!”
Campaign Against Antisemitism is investigating who operates the “Blackburn Muslim Community” Facebook page and alerting the authorities.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We join Jewish communities around the world in relief that Malik Faisal Akram’s attack on Congregation Beth Israel in Texas ended without physical injury to worshippers at the synagogue, and in giving thanks to the courageous law enforcement officers who secured their safety.”
“That the perpetrator came from the United Kingdom raises very serious questions for British authorities, including whether Mr Akram was encouraged or supported by local elements who may pose a continuing threat to the Jewish community or the wider public. That a ‘Blackburn Muslim Community’ Facebook page purporting to represent the local Muslim community published a now-deleted post calling for ‘the Almighty’ to ‘bless him with the highest ranks of Paradise’ demands an urgent investigation. We are looking into who operates the page and alerting local law enforcement.”
Prominent Grenfell Tower volunteer aid worker Tahra Ahmed found guilty of publishing written material in order to stir up racial hatred, after being reported to police by CAA
Tahra Ahmed, a prominent Grenfell Tower volunteer aid worker who was reported to the police by Campaign Against Antisemitism, has today been found guilty of publishing written material in order to stir up racial hatred.
Ms Ahmed, 51, was exposed in The Times as having claimed that the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire were “burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice.” After the tragic fire that left 71 dead, Ms Ahmed said that she had been coordinating the work of volunteers, coaching them and running workshops with the aim of empowering them. She reportedly discussed her beliefs with some of the people she has helped.
Ms Ahmed, who described herself during her testimony as “very very bright”, was found guilty of two counts of incitement to racial hatred, following the trial instigated by Campaign Against Antisemitism. The offence carries a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment. She will be sentenced on 11th February.
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Tahra Ahmed sought to twist the Grenfell Tower tragedy to fit her venomous world view in which it seems that any evil can be attributed to Jews. She used people’s suffering and anger in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy and tried to wield it as a weapon against Jews before an audience of tens of thousands on social media. We are pleased that the jury has convicted her over her wicked fabrications. As we have seen, her hatred has not only enabled her to abuse the Grenfell tragedy, but also to accuse Jews of being responsible for 9/11 and of supposedly exaggerating the Holocaust. As the prosecution observed, she used her position as an aid volunteer in the aftermath of Grenfell to ‘bait the mob’ against Jewish people, making her conduct particularly repulsive.”
In her social media posts, Ms Ahmed had written: “Watch the live footage of people trapped in the inferno with flames behind them. They were burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice. Grenfell is owned by a private Jewish property developer just like the twin towers. I wonder how much Goldman [Goldman Sachs, a bank often targeted by antisemites] is standing to make in the world’s most expensive real estate location [Kensington].”
She has also described the Holocaust as the “holohoax” and posted on Facebook that “Hitler and the Germans were the victims of the Jewish conspiracy to destroy Germany.” She is also a proponent of the antisemitic conspiracy theory that the 9/11 terror attacks were faked by Jews. In one Facebook comment found by Campaign Against Antisemitism after The Times published its article, she wrote: “All the leadership of ISIS is directly recruited by CIA and the leadership are all Arab Jews, trained by Mossad.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism also uncovered posts by Ms Ahmed claiming that “Jews have always been the ones behind ritual torture, crucifixion and murder of children,” a comment redolent of the blood libel. Other posts described the antisemite Gilad Atzmon as her “good friend” and complained about the “hold of Jewish power over our so-called free and democratic society”, claimed that “Zioborg overlords are engineering a civil war”, and referenced a supposed “Zioborg Banking cartel”, among other inflammatory comments. She has also promoted the far-right, antisemitic “Kalergi Plan” conspiracy theory, which claimed that there is a plot to mix white Europeans with other races through immigration.
Following The Times’ exposé and the further research by Campaign Against Antisemitism, we reported Ms Ahmed to the police and called for her to be prosecuted. The five-day trial, held at the Old Bailey after Westminster Magistrates’ Court declined jurisdiction, ended today with a guilty verdict from a jury.
Ms Ahmed, who denied two counts of stirring up racial hatred by publishing written material, was described by prosecutor Hugh French as having “published two posts that were virulently antisemitic and crossed the line as to what is acceptable in a liberal society.”
During the trial, the prosecution read a statement by Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Chief Executive, Gideon Falter.
Giving evidence, Ms Ahmed said that she campaigns against the arms trade, with her lawyer describing her work as being part of the “social justice movement.”
She claimed to have a problem with “Zionist Jews, not all Jews,” and that when she talks about “Zionist Jews” or “Talmudic Jews” or “Satantic Jews” people know whom she is referring to, conceding that there were times when she wrote something and failed to make a distinction between the particular Jews whom she was talking about and Jews in general. She claimed that she detests publicity and that The Times, by publishing her posts, is guilty of inciting racial hatred, rather than her.
As her evidence turned to Grenfell, she explained that in 2014 she began working as a life coach, confirming, however, that she had no training in this field. She set out to provide support for the volunteers who were supporting the victims. When asked about her description of the Grenfell fire as a “Jewish sacrifice”, she answered that “the Talmud talks about sacrificing children, Satanic ritual abuse, a lot of it coming from the Jewish circles…the Ba’al Jews, Talmudic Jews, Zionist Jews they’re a small number of the Jewish community but they are criminals.” Asked whether the fire was started deliberately, she claimed that many people believe so. Pressed on whether the Jews were to blame, she said that at the time she did think that, “just like they bombed Gaza every couple of years.”
Asked by her lawyer whether she accepts that the post was insulting, she agreed, but she denied that it amounted to racial hatred, saying: “Absolutely not, no way. No racial hatred except to the criminals. I’ll be bold to the criminals and I’m entitled to be.” The prosecution noted, however, that with passions running high in the immediate aftermath of the fire, people would be looking for someone to blame, and Ms Ahmed’s posts were an attempt to “bait the mob”, which she denied.
When Ms Ahmed was asked about her claim that “Jews are always the ones behind ritual murder, especially young boys, to atone and be let back in Palestine,” she insisted that “there are millions of Jewish people who are anti-Zionist and many are Facebook friends, so if any of them were offended they would have pointed it out,” adding that “If it [the comment] stirred up racial hatred, it would have happened by now.”
Regarding her posts about the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, Ms Ahmed told the court about “Satanic ritual abuse practiced by secret societies in order to control people…horrific torture of children, raping them, et cetera…Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul, my suggestion was he was not involved in SRA [Satanic Ritual Abuse] or the upper echelons of the cult and was therefore dispensible.”
The defence asked Ms Ahmed who the “Satanic ruling Jews” are, to which she responded that they are “the bankers, owners of media and corporations, they manipulate and control a lot of evil in the world and I want it to end and so I expose who they are. Unfortunately, sometimes I don’t qualify by saying ‘Satanic’ and some racists would comment and I’d delete the comment or tell them off. People would share racist or inflammatory memes and I’d delete them, even though I’m passionate about freedom of speech. My intention is to educate them.” When pressed by the prosecution on whether she could provide any examples of her calling out racism or removing posts as she claimed to have done, she could not.
On the Holocaust, Ms Ahmed told the court, “I’m not a Holocaust denier…unfortunately, six million Jews is a number that has been perpetuated and the actual number has been revised down by experts.” She affirmed using the term “Holohoax”, arguing that “it [the figures] was manipulated and exaggerated at the time” and that, regarding the actual number of deaths in the Holocaust, “The Jewish council [sic] says 3.5 million…the Red Cross says 283,000.” She also baselessly asserted that “Hitler had an agreement with Rothschild to put Jews in concentration camps so Rothschild could transfer Jews to Palestine” and approvingly quoted a known Holocaust denier. She was also pressed on why she described the expulsion of the Jews from England in the Middle Ages as a “final solution to the Jewish problem.”
The judge asked Ms Ahmed about 9/11: “It’s a yes or no question. Do you believe Jews were responsible for 9/11?” Ms Ahmed replied that “It’s not fair to answer that without context,” also variously describing the terrorist attack as a “false flag” operation and a “Mossad” operation. She further claimed that “Before US Presidents are elected, they show their allegiance to Israel to pay homage to say ‘we’re here to serve you’.”
During her testimony, Ms Ahmed also invoked far-right conspiracy theories, for example asserting that “Kabbalistic Jews don’t want Europe to remain white. Personally, I’m multicultural and love diversity. This plan is to bring other people into the land to deliberately destroy cultures,” a claim akin to the replacement theory antisemitic conspiracy theory popular with white nationalists. Her testimony also featured further comments about “Rothschild” control of the banking system; “ZioNazis”; “real Ashkenazis” and “Satanic Ashkenazis”; the “Bilderberg group” (which often features in conspiracy theories); “powerful people behind world governments”; a “cabal” akin to the “deep state” and “the most powerful ones at the top are Jewish”; the Khazar myth, which holds that contemporary Jews are actually a converted Central Asian people with no claim to the Land of Israel, and other conspiracy theories, including about the CIA and the COVID-19 “scamdemic”.
The prosecution accused Ms Ahmed of “using the witness box as a pulpit for your views” and of knowingly and deliberately “whipping up the mob with her social media posts.”
In her defence, over the course of her extended and rambling testimony Ms Ahmed insisted that “I’m not racist or antisemitic but passionate which sometimes looks like anger. They don’t care I write about Muslim terrorist organisations, I’m not accused of being islamophobic or anti-white or anti-British.” She described the trial as a “witchhunt” and claimed that, during case management and her plea hearing last year, she was “unlawfully arrested, incarcerated and tortured for six days” and suffered from “post-traumatic stress disorder” as a result, inhibiting her from mounting a strong defence. At more than one point, she was rebuked by the judge for misleading the jury about the case management process.
Earlier in the case, her defence counsel was the same barrister who defended notorious antisemite Alison Chabloz and the neo-Nazi activist Jeremy Bedford-Turner, both of whom were sent to prison following prosecutions initiated by Campaign Against Antisemitism. Ms Ahmed later replaced her counsel.
Ms Ahmed had supporters at court, one of whom was seen wearing a yellow star, seemingly in an effort to liken vaccinations to the Holocaust, in a form of softcore Holocaust denial that has become widespread amongst conspiracy theorists during the pandemic. The supporters were warned by a clerk to stop attempting to communicate with her during the trial after they were observed trying to signal to her.
Today, Ms Ahmed was found guilty by eleven of the twelve jurors, who agreed on both counts, following the trial before His Honour Judge Mark Dennis QC. We are grateful to the CST for once again providing security for CAA personnel at the trial.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
Ridley Road star Agnes O’Casey reveals what it’s like playing a Jewish woman infiltrating a neo-Nazi group in first ever TV role
The actress Agnes O’Casey joins Podcast Against Antisemitism this week, revealing what it is like to play a Jewish woman who infiltrates a neo-Nazi group.
Ms O’Casey tells us about how starring in Ridley Road in her first ever television role gave her the opportunity to learn more about her Jewish roots.
The interview comes after her co-stars, Eddie Marsan and Tracy-Ann Oberman, revealed that they were subjected to online antisemitic abuse.
The episode can be listened to here, or watched here.
Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.
Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel and actor Eddie Marsan.
Leader of neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division handed seven-year jail sentence for plot to target journalists and activists
A leader of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division has been handed a seven-year jail sentence in connection with a plot to target journalists and activists.
Kaleb Cole, 25, was convicted by a federal jury in the Western District of Washington of one count of interfering with a federally protected activity because of religion, three counts of mailing threatening communications, and one count of conspiring with other Atomwaffen Division members to commit three offenses against the United States – interference with federally-protected activities because of religion, mailing threatening communications, and cyberstalking.
U.S. Attorney Nick Brown for the Western District of Washington said: “Kaleb Cole helped lead a violent, nationwide neo-Nazi group. He repeatedly promoted violence, stockpiled weapons, and organized ‘hate camps’. Today the community and those Mr. Cole and his co-conspirators targeted, stand-up to say hate has no place here. He tried to intimidate journalists and advocates with hate-filled and threatening posters, tried to amplify their fear. Instead they faced him in court and their courage has resulted in the federal prison sentence imposed today.”
According to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Mr Cole “led a multi-state plot by a neo-Nazi group to threaten and intimidate journalists and advocates who were doing important work to expose antisemitism around the country. The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute these hateful acts.”
At the trial, it was shown that Mr Cole and his peers plotted to intimidate journalists and others by mailing threatening posters or gluing posters to victims’ homes, focusing primarily on those who are Jewish or black. Mr Cole designed the posters, which warned the recipients that “you have been visited by your local Nazis.” Some victims temporarily moved home as a result, installed security systems or purchased firearms. Another began opening her mailbox with a stick as a precaution against what may be insider, while yet another left her job as a journalist.
Last year, another of the group’s leaders, Cameron Shea, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit three offenses against the United States and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for threatening journalists and advocates against antisemitism.
Other co-conspirators, Johnny Roman Garza and Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, also pleaded guilty and were sentenced.
Atomwaffen Division is a paramilitary neo-Nazi group that trains its members in the use of firearms and reportedly seeks to ignite a race war in the United States.
Last year, the UK proscribed Atomwaffen Division as a terrorist organisation.
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.
Alliance for the Union of Romanians Party criticised for dismissing Holocaust education as “minor topic”
A Romanian political party has been criticised for referring to Holocaust education as a “minor topic”.
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians party, or AUR, which holds 43 seats in Romania’s Parliament, issued a statement accusing the Government of relegating “fundamental subjects” such as “exact sciences, Romanian language and literature and national history” in favour of “minor topics” such as “sexual education” and “history of the Holocaust.”
The Government, the statement said, is trying “to undermine the quality of the education system in Romania.”
The Government’s Special Representative for Combating Antisemitism, Alexandru Muraru, reportedly hinted at the possibility of outlawing AUR, calling the Party “a threat to Romania’s constitutional order.”
In his Party’s defence, AUR’s co-leader, Claudiu Tarziu said: “We are Christians, so we can’t be antisemites.” He denied calling the Holocaust a “minor topic” and referenced the “sinister horrors” visited upon on Jews by “the Nazi regime”.
The AUR has drawn controversy since its surprising election result in 2020, when it won 9% of the vote and entered Parliament for the first time, as its leaders have reportedly defended historical figures who served in Ion Antonescu’s wartime regime, which was allied with the Nazis.
According to official Romanian statistics, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were murdered or died in territories under Romanian administration during WWII.
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.
Outrage after Iranian official wanted in connection with deadly AMIA bombing is invited to inauguration of Nicaraguan President
Nicaragua is facing outrage after an Iranian official wanted in connection with the deadly AMIA bombing attended the swearing-in of controversial President Daniel Ortega for a fourth term following an election widely viewed as rigged.
Mohsen Rezaee, a Vice President of Iran and two-time former Presidential candidate, attended the ceremony this week despite being wanted by Interpol for his role in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994.
Mr Rezaee was the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps at the time of the AMIA bombing, which he is believed to have masterminded and which killed 86 people and injured hundreds. The United States has designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
Mr Rezaee has been wanted by Interpol since 2007.
The Organisation of American States’ antisemitism envoy, the Brazilian lawyer Fernando Lottenberg, called for Nicaragua to abide by its duties as a member of Interpol, saying: “I repudiate the presence of the Vice President of Iran at the inauguration of Daniel Ortega in Managua. Mohsen Rezaee is under a red alert from Interpol. Nicaragua, as a member of Interpol, should soon comply with it.”
Argentina has its own arrest warrant out for Mr Rezaee, and the country’s Foreign Ministry said that “his presence in Managua constitutes an affront to Argentine justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack against the AMIA.”
During his visit, Mr Rezaee also met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
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.
French mosque is second to be shut by authorities in two weeks over inciting hatred, support for Islamism and dissemination of antisemitism
A French mosque has been shuttered over support for Islamist groups and dissemination of antisemitism, just two weeks after another was ordered to close for inciting hatred.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed that he had ordered a mosque in the southern city of Cannes to close due to antisemitic remarks heard there and its alleged support for two Islamist groups, CCIF and BarakaCity, which the Government dissolved last year because they were spreading Islamist propaganda.
The closure of the mosque came just two weeks after the closing of another mosque in Beauvais in northern France due the content of its imam’s sermons, which reportedly included hatred, violence and Jihad “targeting Christians, homosexuals and Jews.”
Late last year, yet another mosque – in Allonnes, 200km west of Paris – was closed for six months after sermons were delivered apparently defending armed jihad and “terrorism”.
In an interview, Mr Darmanin said that 70 mosques in France were considered to be “radicalised”.
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.
Belgian-Israeli receives undelivered letter to Belgium after several months, with address rendered illegible by swastika and antisemitic insults
A Belgian-Israeli has, after several months, received back an undelivered letter originally sent to Belgium, with the address now rendered illegible by swastika and antisemitic insults.
The letter, addressed to the sender’s notary in Anderlecht in August 2021, arrived in Belgium a few days after being posted in Israel, but has been sent back to Israel almost three-and-a-half months after arriving in Belgium due to an “insufficient/incorrect address”. However, the envelope had clearly been altered with a swastika and the phrase “J F***”.
The sender has reportedly asked the Israeli post office to file a complaint against its counterpart, BPost, and has contacted the Israeli Embassy in Brussels and communal Jewish groups.
A spokesperson for BPost said that an internal investigation was under consideration but that the company “does not have sufficient elements for the moment.” The spokesperson added: “It goes without saying that we will do everything possible to shed light on this matter and that we are ready to take the appropriate measures to defend the values that we hold dear and that make up our identity. This kind of behaviour is not aligned with our values of diversity and inclusion, as well as our work rules, and we strongly condemn it.”
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: EJP
Suspect arrested in connection with violent antisemitic attack on Jewish man in Brooklyn
A suspect has been arrested in connection with an antisemitic incident in which a Jewish victim was called a “dirty Jew” before being punched in the face.
Suleiman Othman, 27, is charged with assault as a hate crime and aggravated assault, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Blake Zavadsky, 21, and his friend were waiting for a shop to open in Brooklyn before being approached by two men who called them “dirty Jews” and demanded that Mr Zavadsky remove his sweater bearing the emblem of the Israel Defence Forces. One of the men then punched him several times and poured coffee on the sweater.
Social media users then began posting photographs of themselves wearing a similar sweater in solidarity with the victim.
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.
Scottish Labour leader under pressure to discipline Mercedes Villalba MSP who called for Party whip to be returned to antisemitic former leader Jeremy Corbyn
The Leader of Scottish Labour is under pressure to discipline one of his MSPs who called for the Labour Party whip to be returned to the antisemitic former leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
North East Scotland MSP Mercedes Villalba tweeted last week: “Jeremy Corbyn is a Labour Party member and should have the whip restored to him immediately.”
Mr Corbyn was suspended by the Labour Party but shambolically readmitted, but the whip was not restored to him, leaving him in the absurd position of being a member of the Labour Party but an independent MP.
Ms Mercedes has previously spoken out in the support of the disgraced former leader.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour Leader, tried to distance himself from the Ms Villalba’s remarks but fell short of disciplining her. Asked if Mr Corbyn should apologise for his role in the Party’s antisemitism scandal, Mr Sarwar said: “Yes, I think that’s the least that anyone who has caused pain or hurt should do in that situation. The reality is that that is an internal disciplinary process and we have got to reflect on the impact that the antisemitism row – it was more than a row – had on communities across the country. I have been spending a lot of time speaking to the Jewish community here in Scotland and I have heard directly about the pain and the anguish that that whole episode caused and I am working to rebuild our relationship with all our communities across Scotland, including the Jewish community.
“As someone who has campaigned on Islamophobia and antisemitism and other forms of prejudice and hate, I know we can’t afford to be complacent. I would much prefer that those responsible for the pain apologised directly, reflected on their position. But I want us to focus on the future, not the past. I am not interested in past leaders or past problems or past issues. I am interested in the future and I expect every Labour MP, MSP and councillor to be focused on the future as well.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Jeremy Corbyn’s absurd status as a Labour member who sits as an independent MP, when in fact he should not be in the Party at all, has left Labour and the public in confusion over Labour\s position on racism against Jews. If Anas Sarwar is serious when he says that the Party cannot be complacent in fighting antisemitism, then he must discipline Mercedes Villalba MSP for supporting the restoration of the whip to Mr Corbyn. Scottish Labour must decide whether it is a party of people who support the antisemite Jeremy Corbyn or not.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has lodged a complaint against Mr Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the EHRC’s shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day of the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs.
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
Prime Minister calls for “swift” action by BBC over its biased coverage of antisemitic Oxford Street incident
The Prime Minister has called for “swift” action by the BBC over its biased coverage of antisemitic Oxford Street incident.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister confirmed that Boris Johnson agrees with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries’ letter to BBC Director General Tim Davie urging the BBC urgently to get a grip on the issue.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, the spokesperson said that the Prime Minister “agrees with the Culture Secretary that the BBC should move forward swiftly to set out what action they plan to take. We look forward to that happening in good time.”
Ms Dorries wrote to Mr Davie explaining that the BBC’s outrageous coverage of the Oxford Street incident was “not only distressing for those involved but also the wider Jewish community.” Although she has no control over the BBC’s editorial decisions, she expressed dismay that the row had been allowed to “drag on for so long” and urged the BBC to “resolve the issue” as quickly as possible, otherwise Ofcom, the broadcaster regulator, should intervene.
Her intervention comes after Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to Ms Dorries and the BBC over the Corporation’s coverage of the antisemitic incident on Oxford Street, in which the BBC baselessly defamed the Jewish victims and suggested that they may have brought the attack upon themselves. The coverage prompted condemnation from Campaign Against Antisemitism and other communal groups, a rally outside Broadcasting House held by Campaign Against Antisemitism and attended by hundreds, and the resignation of a rabbi and long-time BBC broadcaster.
Ms Dorries wrote: “Whilst it would obviously be inappropriate for the Government to take a view on the details of the case, as the BBC is editorially and operationally independent, and responsibility for regulation sits with Ofcom, I would like to understand the actions the BBC has taken so far in response to the concerns raised by the Board of Deputies and how you intend to resolve the issue in a suitably timely manner. You will know my concerns about the speed of the process which I asked officials to communicate to the BBC.
“It is crucial that the BBC can be properly held to account for the fulfilment of its Mission and Public Purposes as set out in the Charter, including through a fair and effective complaints process. I expect the mid-term Charter to consider whether this is currently the case.”
The interventions come as the BBC has become embroiled in multiple other controversies relating to antisemitism. First, BBC Radio 4 was forced to pull a debate on whether anti-Zionism should be a protected characteristic, which was due to feature a member of the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour.
Meanwhile, on its website, the BBC reported that a Labour Party councillor had been “suspended from the party over an offensive tweet about leader Keir Starmer” but studiously avoided mentioning that the tweet in question claimed that Sir Keir was following “commands from Israel”. After outrage, the BBC article was updated to incorporate the inflammatory language.
Then, yesterday, a presenter claimed on BBC 5 Live Breakfast that there is “absolutely no evidence” that Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic, and belittled antisemitism in the Labour Party as mere “allegation”. Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to the BBC on this issue.
These are just the latest scandals relating to antisemitism in which the BBC has become embroiled in just the past few weeks, and follow years of eroding confidence in the BBC on the part of the Jewish community.
Our Antisemitism Barometer last year revealed that two thirds of British Jews are deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints.
The BBC’s coverage of the Oxford Street incident and our rally, which was endorsed by former BBC Chairman Lord Grade and actress Dame Maureen Lipman, has been discussed on previous episodes of our weekly podcast, Podcast Against Antisemitism. Episodes are available every Thursday and can be streamed here or downloaded wherever you get your podcasts.
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].
Chairman divests from start-up he founded after sending antisemitic e-mail, as company apologises, takes swift action and pledges “game-changing” support to local synagogue in masterclass in making amends
The chairman of a Utah-based technology start-up has divested his holdings after stepping down from the company he founded amid controversy over an antisemitic e-mail that he sent.
David Bateman, the founder, former CEO and, until recently, chairman of Entrata, a property management software company, reportedly wrote in an e-mail that Jews were behind the pandemic in a plot to exterminate billions of people. He subsequently doubled down on his comments.
His company asked him to resign and its CEO apologised for Mr Bateman’s remarks. Mr Bateman has also reportedly now divested from the company as well. In addition, the company met with the local rabbi to make amends.
Rabbi Sam Spector reported that he was met with genuine contrition from the company and received a six-figure pledge from Entrata to complete his synagogue’s fundraising campaign, which will enable the institution to purchase a new boiler and repair damaged Torah scrolls.
Rabbi Spector said: “My synagogue is falling apart, basically. The building is 50 years old. The bathrooms, seating and even the prayer books haven’t been replaced in decades. The total for the boiler alone, crucial during Utah winters, came to $150,000. They said, ‘We’re going to take care of all that for you,’ and they made the largest donation we’ve ever seen.”
In his e-mail, Mr Bateman reportedly wrote: “I believe the Jews are behind this. For 300 years the Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top. It happened in 2013 with Pope Francis. I believe the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule. I know, it sounds bonkers. No one is reporting on it, but the Hasidic Jews in the US instituted a law for their people that they are not to be vaccinated for any reason. I pray that I’m wrong on this. Utah has got to stop the vaccination drive. Warn your employees. Warn your friends. Prepare. Stay safe.”
In a comment to a radio station sent by text message, Mr Bateman apparently echoed the assertions made in his e-mail, writing: “Yes. I sent it. I have nothing but love for the Jewish people. Some of my closest friends are Jews. My heart breaks for their 2500 years they’ve been mistreated by nearly every country on earth. But I do believe Scottish Rite Freemasons are behind the pandemic (overwhelmingly Jewish).” He added: “And I fear billions of people around the globe right now are being exterminated.”
He insisted that the e-mail reflected his personal opinion and was intended for a few friends only, even though the recipients included high-profile individuals in the state.
Entrata’s CEO, Adam Edmunds, tweeted: “Entrata’s board of directors today asked Dave Bateman to resign from the company’s board of directors, including his position as chairman. Dave agreed and is no longer a member of the Entrata board, effective immediately.” He also said that Mr Bateman’s opinions are “his alone and do not reflect the views or values of Entrata,” adding: “To be absolutely clear, we at Entrata firmly condemn antisemitism in any and all forms.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “No self-respecting company can tolerate a chairman who believes that the pandemic is a global plot orchestrated by ‘the Jews’ to exterminate billions of people and enslave the world. If reports about David Bateman’s comments and lack of remorse are accurate, Entrata is right to remove him from its board. It is rarely easy to sever ties with a founder, but sometimes it is.
“Entrata’s efforts to make amends are a masterclass in how to deal with a scenario such as this. If only all technology companies and other institutions were so sincere and proactive.”
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.
CAA to write to BBC after Rachel Burden insists on BBC 5 Live there is “absolutely no evidence” that Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic
Campaign Against Antisemitism shall be writing to the BBC after a presenter claimed on BBC 5 Live Breakfast this morning that there is “absolutely no evidence” that Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic.
Rachel Burden said towards the end of the programme, referring to her interview earlier with the businessman John Caudwell, who described the former Labour Party leader as “a Marxist and antisemite”, that she redirected him back to the topic under discussion but “I should have challenged him on the particular allegation of antisemite [sic] because there is absolutely no evidence that the leader of the Labour Party at that time, Jeremy Corbyn, was or is antisemitic. He had to deal with allegations of that within his party but there is nothing to suggest that he himself as an individual was. So I apologise for not challenging more directly, I should have done, and I want to emphasise there is no evidence for that at all.”
It would be understandable for Ms Burden to say that Mr Corbyn would dispute the characterisation, but it is unacceptable for her to editorialise and dismiss publicly-available evidence that has been reported in the national media for years.
Over two years ago, for example, Campaign Against Antisemitism published data, using a peer-reviewed research method, showing that Mr Corbyn was personally responsible for 24 incidents relating to antisemitism, which was equal to fifteen percent of all recorded incidents involving parliamentary candidates and party leaders in the lead-up to the 2019 General Election. That meant that, if Jeremy Corbyn were a political party, the ‘Jeremy Corbyn party’ would be responsible for almost four times more incidents than all the other major parties combined.
For Ms Burden to dismiss this evidence without basis represents both offence and inaccuracy under the BBC’s code.
Moreover, it is remarkable that Ms Burden would refer to the antisemitism in the Labour Party as mere “allegation” even though the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) reported that the allegations of racism against Jews in the Party were not only made out but were so bad as to have broken the law. Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant in the EHRC’s investigation.
The BBC is currently mired in scandal in connection with having referred to evident antisemitism in an antisemitic incident on Oxford Street also as mere “allegation”. The Culture Secretary has written to the Director General of the BBC over its coverage of the incident and the ensuing controversy, which remains live. Ms Dorries’ intervention came after Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to her and the BBC over the Corporation’s coverage, in which the BBC also baselessly defamed the Jewish victims and suggested that they may have brought the attack upon themselves. The coverage prompted condemnation from Campaign Against Antisemitism and other communal groups, a rally outside Broadcasting House held by Campaign Against Antisemitism and attended by hundreds, and the resignation of a rabbi and long-time BBC broadcaster.
Just in the past week, the BBC has also become embroiled in two further controversies relating to antisemitism. In one case, BBC Radio 4 was forced to pull a debate on whether anti-Zionism should be a protected characteristic, which was due to feature a member of the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour.
Meanwhile, on its website, the BBC reported that a Labour Party councillor had been “suspended from the party over an offensive tweet about leader Keir Starmer” but studiously avoided mentioning that the tweet in question claimed that Sir Keir was following “commands from Israel”. After outrage, the BBC article was updated to incorporate the inflammatory language.
These are just the latest scandals relating to antisemitism in which the BBC has become embroiled in just the past few weeks, and follow years of eroding confidence in the BBC on the part of the Jewish community.
Our Antisemitism Barometer last year revealed that two thirds of British Jews are deeply concerned by the BBC’s coverage of matters of Jewish concern, and 55% by its handling of antisemitism complaints.
The BBC’s coverage of the Oxford Street incident and our rally, which was endorsed by former BBC Chairman Lord Grade and actress Dame Maureen Lipman, has been discussed on previous episodes of our weekly podcast, Podcast Against Antisemitism. Episodes are available every Thursday and can be streamed here or downloaded wherever you get your podcasts.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Over two years ago, we published data, using a peer-reviewed research method, showing that Jeremy Corbyn was personally responsible for 24 incidents relating to antisemitism. For Rachel Burden to editorialise and dismiss this evidence without basis represents both offence and inaccuracy under the BBC’s code. Moreover, it is obscene for her to belittle Labour’s antisemitism as mere ‘allegation’, even though the EHRC, following an investigation in which we were the complainant, found those allegations to be made out to such an extent that the Party was deemed to have broken the law. This is not the first time in the past few weeks that the BBC has reduced evident antisemitism to mere ‘allegation’, as it has done with the Oxford Street incident. As these controversies relating to antisemitism and the BBC grow in number, it is no wonder that the Jewish community has lost confidence in our public broadcaster.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors traditional media and regularly holds outlets to account. If members of the public are concerned about reportage in the media, they should contact us at [email protected].