Today, during party conference season, Campaign Against Antisemitism releases its review of the state of Britain’s major political parties vis-a-vis antisemitism, with particular focus on relevant developments over the past twelve months.
This review of the parties (ordered alphabetically) supplements our ongoing Antisemitism in Political Parties monitoring project, which documents specific cases of antisemitic conduct and how the parties have addressed them.
These findings are based not only on publicly available information but also on our own investigations and dealings with the parties (where those dealings have not been on a confidential basis), except in the case of the Labour Party, which is the only party that refuses to engage with us.
To download a PDF copy of this report, please click here.
Conservative and Unionist Party
There have been a number of cases over the past year where the Conservatives have sought to kick allegations of antisemitism into the long grass, promising investigations and then conducting them in secret, if at all, over long periods, seemingly in the hope that the problem is forgotten and enabling the Party to issue a mere slap on the wrist to the parliamentarians or councillors in question. We at Campaign Against Antisemitism do not forget, however, and we continue to call out the Conservatives over these failures.
Beyond the disciplinary processes themselves, concerns have been raised over the past year in relation to the use of certain tropes about ‘elites’ which, while not inherently antisemitic, have been used to stoke anti-Jewish sentiment within far-right circles in Britain, Europe and the United States. We continue to urge Conservative politicians to employ responsible language and make the context of their views clear to listeners, so that their remarks cannot be construed or misunderstood as endorsements of far-right positions.
At times, there can also be a mismatch between the national Party and local branches, with, for example, ministers repeatedly calling for local authorities to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism but Conservative-led local councils falling behind in doing so.
Shortcomings notwithstanding, the Conservatives – both in their capacity as the party of Government and among backbenchers in Parliament – have been at the forefront of the fight against antisemitism in Britain and abroad, including being the first national government in the world to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism and threatening the funding of local authorities and universities that do not adopt it, as well as proscribing the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action and the antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation Hizballah, both following urging by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.
We continue to work with the Government to advance the security of the Jewish community and to call out shortcomings in the Conservative Party.
Green Party of England and Wales and Scottish Greens
The Green Party is the only major political party in England and Wales not to have adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism, and its sister branch in Scotland, the Scottish Greens, is likewise the only political party not to have done so north of the border. While the Green Party’s outgoing leaders have supported its adoption, both in private conservations with Campaign Against Antisemitism and in their capacity as local councillors in London (where both their councils have adopted the Definition), the membership as a whole has failed to endorse the measure at a Party conference, as is required under Party rules.
While we continue to hold discussions with the Party’s leadership, its disciplinary structures are amateurish and utterly deficient. It has minimal professional infrastructure and, unlike in other major parties, its members retain considerable control over policy. Its constitution has failed to keep up with the Party’s electoral rise. One symptom is the failure to adopt the Definition; another is the Party’s woeful disciplinary process, which we have experienced firsthand. We have submitted numerous complaints to the Party over officeholders and candidates, only to find that the complaints are ignored for long periods of time and then adjudicated against arbitrary standards or dismissed for novel constitutional reasons. The effect is that the Party has failed to take any real action against prominent members who have expressed antisemitic sentiments, including the Party’s recent Equalities and Diversity Coordinator who now holds the International Coordinator portfolio. Finding redress for racism against Jews in the Green Party is thus extremely difficult, and all the more worrying as the Party is also particularly vulnerable as a possible destination for far-left Labour members expelled over antisemitism.
These shortcomings do not go unnoticed by the Jewish community. Our Antisemitism Barometer survey of British Jews late last year found that the Greens were second only to Labour in how many respondents felt that the Party was too tolerant of antisemitism (43%).
The Greens are currently holding a leadership election, with candidates taking different positions on whether and how to fight antisemitism in the Party. We continue to monitor this primary with interest, but we are mindful that unless the Party’s internal procedures change, it may have a problem ever winning the trust of the Jewish community.
In Scotland, the Scottish Greens hold more expressly virulent positions which we have publicised. In 2015, the Party adopted a motion, which has never been rescinded, condemning “Israel’s claim to be ‘the Jewish State’” and “Zionism as a racist ideology.” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is an example of antisemitism.
The motion also committed the Party to opposing “Aliyah” (Jewish immigration to Israel, including by British Jews) and Israel’s Law of Return, the Jewish state’s answer to centuries of persecution of diaspora Jewry. The motion further called for the removal of Hamas, an antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation, from its designation by the British Government as a terrorist organisation, and supported the BDS movement — the campaign to boycott the Jewish state — the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of British Jews find intimidating.
The debate on this motion was held on a Saturday, when observant Jews would be unable to participate, and it passed easily. It became Party policy and remains so even as the Scottish Greens recently joined the Scottish devolved Government for the first time. Indeed, it is the first time that a Green Party has joined any Government in the United Kingdom. We remain deeply concerned about these policies of the Scottish Greens and call for the Party to rescind them immediately in order to reassure the Jewish community of its good faith.
Labour Party
The Labour Party is the only political party to have been found to be institutionally racist against Jewish people by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), following a statutory investigation in which we were the complainant. It is thus in a category of its own when it comes to assessing its record on racism against Jews over the past year.
The Parliamentary Labour Party and Shadow Cabinet comprise politicians who either actively supported an antisemitic leader — and Sir Keir Starmer himself is on record as having given his “100% backing” to Jeremy Corbyn — and those who did nothing as their principled and courageous colleagues quit the Party or, in the case of several Jewish MPs, were hounded out of it. Winning back the trust of the Jewish community — which, historically, has been very supportive of the Party that recently betrayed it — was always therefore going to take real and compelling action.
There have been examples of such action over the past year, including Mr Corbyn’s ongoing suspension from the Parliamentary Labour Party (even as his suspension from the Labour Party was disgracefully short-lived and he is now eligible to attend the Party’s annual conference); proclamations by Labour’s General-Secretary to Constituency Labour Parties to avoid discussing antisemitism; the proscription of the antisemitism-denial group Labour Against the Witchhunt and the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson’s so-called “Resist” faction, with all of their members threatened with automatic expulsion from the Party; the expulsion of Ken Loach; the ruling National Executive Committee’s (NEC) resolution to introduce (subject to approval at Labour’s annual conference) a semi-independent disciplinary process; and, at the local level, the good record of Labour-controlled local authorities of adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Nevertheless, positive steps have been slow, incremental and at times undermined by contradictory maneuvers. For example, Mr Corbyn’s suspension from the Labour Party was inexplicably lifted using precisely the disciplinary process that the EHRC had just ruled was unfit for purpose; numerous MPs and officeholders have not been sanctioned for sharing platforms with members suspended or expelled over antisemitism, despite Sir Keir’s leadership election pledge to do so; and disciplinary actions in other high-profile cases have been reversed, the disciplinary process remains a mess and, when first published, Labour’s proposed complaints handbook was a joke. Furthermore, the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour, has not yet been proscribed. Neither, for that matter has the pro-Corbyn Momentum faction, whose co-Chair denied that a Jewish MP was hounded out of the Party, while Young Labour’s controversies are ignored and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which a past investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism found was riddled with bigotry, has been positively welcomed by the Party.
Moreover, the goodwill and trust between Labour and the Jewish community that did build up in the months since Sir Keir won the leadership of the Party was wasted during the conflict between Hamas and Israel, when Labour MPs and councillors, though not alone, were too often involved in stoking communal division, ignoring displays of antisemitism at rallies and on some occasions even joining in with them.
We have also 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 our 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, including Deputy Leader Angela Rayner. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and indeed there have been reports that our complaint against Ms Rayner has been dismissed without so much as an acknowledgement (contrary to the Party’s new complaints handling policy), let alone an investigation.
Not only have our complaints not been acknowledged almost one year since they were submitted, but Sir Keir has also repeatedly refused to engage with us, despite our being the complainant in the EHRC’s investigation into antisemitism in his Party. Indeed, Labour is the only major political party that has not been willing to work with us when approached.
All of this has been noted by the Jewish community. Our latest Antisemitism Barometer, published at the start of the year (with polling conducted after Mr Corbyn’s suspension and well before the conflict between Hamas and Israel), showed that British Jews feel that the Labour Party is more than twice as tolerant of antisemitism than any other political party. Remarkably, compared to the previous year’s figures (polled while Mr Corbyn was still leader of the Party), Labour performed worse, with 88 percent of respondents considering that the Party was too tolerant of antisemitism under Sir Keir compared with 86 percent the year before under Mr Corbyn, perhaps due to disappointment caused by the evaporation of Sir Keir’s bold promises. At times, this sentiment has spilled into the open.
The Party now faces its next test at its annual conference. The contours of the Party’s internal struggle are clear, with Jewish Voice for Labour due to hold a fringe event; Labour Against the Witchhunt to hold parallel events; Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford scheduled to speak at a concurrent conference alongside Mr Corbyn and Mr Loach; pro-Corbyn members intending to push a motion to restore the whip to the former leader; and attendees due to be asked to approve mandatory changes to the Party’s disciplinary committee that almost one third of the Party’s ruling National Executive Committee nevertheless still thought fit to oppose.
Even if the leadership succeeds in redirecting the Party and recasting its rules, in the background is Labour’s vast membership, over two thirds of which believe that the problem of antisemitism in the Party has been “exaggerated” or that there is not a serious problem (findings similar to those in a poll conducted shortly after the 2019 General Election), and the Parliamentary Labour Party, too much of which remains populated by Mr Corbyn’s allies and acolytes, who hold similar views to him in relation to the Jewish community. The real challenge — to which our complaints speak — will be applying the new direction and rules to those in the Labour Party who supported or enabled the unlawful victimisation of Jewish people.
We continue to encourage the Labour Party in its positive steps and fulfilment of the Action Plan agreed with the EHRC, but we will also continue to pressure the Party on its failures and inconsistencies, and ultimately expect to see our complaints investigated and upheld so that the Jewish community gets justice.
Liberal Democrats
Whether as a result of their reduced size, lack of media interest or a genuine willingness to tackle antisemitism when it arises — and there is evidence of the latter — the Liberal Democrats appear to have performed rather well over the past year in relation to antisemitism in Britain. The Party has improved markedly since the days of David Ward and Jenny Tonge (who mercifully retired from the House of Lords, where she sat as an independent, earlier this year).
The Party has generally moved quickly to investigate allegations when they have arisen, and even dropped a prospective London mayoral candidate after her past comments emerged — although as the Party’s own leader admitted, questions remain about how she was permitted to stand in the first place.
However, the Party still has something of a blind spot regarding antisemitism abroad. For example, in a debate earlier this year on antisemitism in Palestinian Authority textbooks, one of the Party’s veteran MPs appeared to imply that the issue does not really matter. Meanwhile, at its recent annual conference, the Party adopted a motion about the Middle East that made explicit reference to the Palestinian Authority’s and Hamas’s persecution of the “LGBT+ community and women” but, disappointingly, made no mention of their antisemitism. This was particularly concerning given the surge in antisemitism in Britain during the conflict between Hamas — which is an antisemitic genocidal terrorist group — and Israel earlier this year. The Party did condemn that antisemitism at the time.
We look forward to continuing to work with the Liberal Democrats over the coming year, both to build upon their improvements in dealing with domestic antisemitism and to engage them on the issue of anti-Jewish racism abroad.
Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, made a great deal of its internal review into antisemitism, to which we made submissions. The review came following the devastating report into antisemitism in the Labour Party by the EHRC. However, for all the Plaid Cymru report’s worthy conclusions — including that the Party should update its definition of antisemitism to conform precisely to the International Definition of Antisemitism — the Party has taken no real steps at all to deal with its rather public antisemitism problem.
The report made recommendations to improve the Party’s disciplinary process, but these have yet to be implemented. Moreover, the Party showed no willingness to prevent a candidate from standing for election despite her disgraceful record. The Party has also repeatedly failed to update us on the states of complaints that we have submitted. The report and its recommendations are only as useful as the Party’s willingness to tackle the problem of anti-Jewish racism, and the Party’s actions in the months since the review was announced and published give cause for concern.
There is a conflict within the Party as to whether and how to tackle antisemitism. For example, former leader Leanne Wood appeared on Twitter to endorse the claim that antisemitism has been “exploited” to “smear” Jeremy Corbyn and to defend Rebecca Long-Bailey, who was sacked from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet after she promoted an article containing an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Meanwhile, another former leader of Plaid Cymru, Lord Wigley, asserted that “it’s absolutely clear that Plaid Cymru cannot tolerate antisemitism or any other form or racism.”
Late last year, our Antisemitism Barometer surveyed whether British Jews felt that any political parties were too tolerant of antisemitism. Plaid Cymru saw the largest increase compared to the previous year, with a rise from 9% to 23%. Although this year’s figure is still lower than that for other major parties, given Plaid Cymru’s limited geographical focus compared to national parties and its lesser media exposure, the Party should take no comfort from this statistic.
We continue to work with allies within Plaid Cymru to improve the Party’s position on racism against Jews.
Scottish National Party (SNP)
Numerous SNP politicians have been revealed over the past year to have irresponsibly compared their political opponents to Nazis, which we have repeatedly called out, usually leading to apologies. Another MP has also made regrettable comments about antisemitism in Palestinian Authority textbooks. Also this year, an SNP MP previously suspended from the Party over allegations of antisemitism and subsequently readmitted was selected to sit on the Party’s internal conduct committee (the MP has since left the Party for unrelated reasons).
The leader of the SNP and First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, recently sought to reassure the Jewish community that she “understood the community’s anxieties” and is “committed to tackling” antisemitism. It was therefore disappointing that she struck a deal with the Scottish Greens, despite their policies on certain sensitive issues for the Jewish community. Ms Sturgeon now finds herself under pressure over the arrangement.
However, there are also bright spots. The first local authority in Scotland to have adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism is the body controlled by the SNP, namely the Scottish Government. It is important, however, that Ms Sturgeon and the SNP — and indeed all parties — recognise that adoption of the Definition must be followed by its application in disciplinary cases, and that reassuring words must be accompanied by principled action against anti-Jewish racism.
We continue to monitor and cooperate with the SNP in tackling antisemitism in its ranks and within Scotland, where the SNP is the party of Government.
Summary
Joe Glasman, Head of Political Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “There is antisemitism in all political parties, be it expressed, enabled or ignored. But not all parties are equal offenders, with some improving over the years and others moving in the wrong direction. Others still try to tick boxes and say the right things but fail at times to take real action.
“Growing concerns about the Green Party notwithstanding, Labour remains the only major party with a problem of institutional racism, as confirmed by the EHRC following our referral. It is astonishing that, despite being the complainant in the EHRC’s investigation, the Labour Party is alone among national political parties in refusing to engage with us. Under its current leadership, Labour has taken welcome steps to tackle the Party’s racism, but progress has been slow and unsteady. This year’s annual conference could be make-or-break for the Party, with the Jewish community and all decent Britons watching to see what kind of party Labour wants to be.
“We will continue to monitor, expose and cooperate with all parties to educate on and stamp out antisemitism from our public life.”
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.
To download a PDF copy of this report, please click here.
Nazim Ali case to be sent back to the General Pharmaceutical Council to reconsider as Court of Appeal refuses to hear an appeal
The Court of Appeal has refused ‘Al Quds Day’ march leader Nazim Ali’s request for permission to appeal the High Court’s ruling quashing a decision by the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) Fitness to Practice Committee.
The High Court ruling came after an appeal by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) against the original ruling by the Committee at the request of Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Mr Ali is the leader of the annual pro-Hizballah ‘Al Quds Day’ march in London who made antisemitic statements during the 2017 march. Since Mr Ali is a pharmacist Campaign Against Antisemitism brought a complaint to his professional regulator, the GPhC.
Last year, the GPhC’s Fitness to Practise Committee found that Mr Ali had brought the pharmaceutical profession into disrepute, following a two-week hearing that culminated on 5th November. Although the Fitness to Practise Committee had found that Mr Ali’s words were offensive, it did not find that the words had been antisemitic, and the panel let him off with only a formal warning.
Following the GPhC’s ruling, Campaign Against Antisemitism made representations to the PSA, which oversees disciplinary decisions made by the GPhC. We asked the PSA to use its statutory power to appeal the GPhC’s decision to the High Court under the National Health Service Reform and Healthcare Professionals Act 2002, on the grounds that the decision made by the GPhC panel was insufficient to protect the public because it was “irrational and perverse”.
In particular, we asked the PSA to review the GPhC’s ruling that Mr Ali’s statements were not antisemitic, including by attempting to distinguish between “antisemitism” and “antisemitic”. We have asked the PSA to consider the International Definition of Antisemitism, which has been adopted by the British Government, and the Guidance to all Judiciary in England and Wales produced by the Judicial College that makes clear that the word “Zionist” or “Zio” as a term of abuse has no place in a civilised society.
Furthermore, we argued that the ruling misapplied the law when asking whether a “reasonable person” would have considered the comments made by Mr Ali as being antisemitic. The GPhC’s Fitness to Practise Committee ruled that Jewish bystanders who saw the demonstration or watched the recording of it posted online could not be considered to be “reasonable persons” in the legal sense because of their “selective view of events”.
The PSA made the referral that we requested, opening the way for the High Court to decide whether to quash the GPhC panel’s decision. Subsequently, the GPhC itself also agreed with Campaign Against Antisemitism and declared that it would not oppose the appeal at the High Court, leaving Mr Ali to do so himself.
In June, the High Court allowed the PSA’s appeal, ruling that the case is to be remitted to the Fitness to Practice Committee to redetermine whether Mr Ali’s comments had been antisemitic.
Mr Ali subsequently sought leave to appeal the High Court’s ruling in the Court of the Appeal, but permission to appeal has been refused, leaving no further avenues before the Fitness to Practice Committee rehears the case.
At the time of the High Court’s ruling, Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The High Court has agreed with us that the decision on whether Nazim Ali’s remarks at the pro-Hizballah ‘Al Quds Day’ march in 2017 were antisemitic was woefully inept. As we hoped, the High Court has now quashed the original decision of the Fitness to Practise Committee of the General Pharmaceutical Council in relation to Mr Ali’s antisemitism and ordered it to reach a new decision. This is exactly why we referred the matter to the Professional Standards Authority.
“We commend the Professional Standards Authority and the General Pharmaceutical Council itself for recognising the injustice of the earlier decision.
“We hope that the Fitness to Practise Committee will arrive at a new decision that accepts that Mr Ali’s comments were antisemitic and that on that basis the previous sanction was inadequate and wrong. The road to justice in this case has proved long and winding, but we are again heading in the right direction.
“We said that we would not allow this injustice to stand and we are delighted by this new judgement. Campaign Against Antisemitism will always be unrelenting in pursuit of justice.”
We are extremely grateful to Simon Braun, a partner at Perrin Myddelton solicitors, and barrister Thomas Daniel of 2 Bedford Row Chambers, who have acted for and assisted Campaign Against Antisemitism in this matter.
We additionally commend all those who also contacted the GPhC and PSA to protest against the initial unjust decision.
Joey Barton issues apology after describing bad football performance as ‘a Holocaust’
Joey Barton, the former football player and current manager of Bristol Rovers Football Club, has issued an apology after he described bad football performance as “a Holocaust” on Saturday.
Reacting to Bristol Rovers’ loss to Newport County, Mr Barton said: “I said to the lads during the week, you know, the team’s almost like musical chairs, you know. Someone gets in and does well, but then gets suspended. Someone gets in and does well, gets injured. Someone gets in, does well for a game and then has a Holocaust, a nightmare, you know, an absolute disaster.”
Mr Barton has now issued an apology, stating: “Clearly no offence was meant, but some people have rightly pointed out to me the use of the analogy was not correct. So if anybody was offended by that, I would like to apologise for that. I think the FA were right to write to me and remind me of that. You hope to use better analogies in future, but it was certainly with no malice or offence intended to anybody.”
He added: “It’s our duty to be word perfect and not create controversy. I get that everything we say, even this I’m saying now will no doubt be pieced together in such a way that it will be there to grab and capture the attention of people that use social media, the internet. For me, it was a poor analogy to use in the context of the modern-day world we live in, and it won’t happen again.”
This is not the first time a Holocaust reference has been made in the context of describing a poor performance.
In 2019, football pundit and former footballer, Perry Groves, apologised after reportedly describing a player as having “a Holocaust of a game” on a live radio show. One year earlier, Phil Brown, the football player turned manager, apologised for using the same phrase.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Trivial comparisons to the Holocaust, the systematic murder of six million Jewish men, women and children, are never acceptable. Joey Barton is right to apologise, but it remains remarkable that he and others too often feel it appropriate to make such thoughtless comments in the first place. Mr Barton would do well to consider undertaking Holocaust education and using his platform to encourage others to do so to better understand the impact of his words.”
Far-right group Patriotic Alternative flyer Jewish homes in Borehamwood calling to ban kosher meat
It has been reported that the far-right group Patriotic Alternative has posted flyers through Jewish homes in Borehamwood calling for the ban of kosher and halal meat.
Patriotic Alternative is known for its efforts to recruit youth to its white nationalist ideology. Previously, the far-right group published an online “alternative” home school curriculum condemned as “poison” and “hateful” and attempted to recruit children as young as twelve through livestreaming events on YouTube, according to The Times.
It is led by the former head of the youth wing of the BNP, Mark Collett, who is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, collaborated with the infamous American antisemite David Duke, and espoused antisemitic and racist views.
Police have reportedly increased patrols in the area. A Hertfordshire Constabulary spokesperson said: “We are aware a number of residents in Borehamwood have received leaflets through their doors that have caused distress and offence,” said a force spokesperson. While no crimes have been committed, this has been recorded as a hate incident and we would like to reassure you that we take such matters very seriously. As a result, you will be seeing additional police patrols in the area.”
Leader of the Hertsmere Labour group, councillor Jeremy Newmark, said: “[The leaders of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups] share my view that there is no room for Patriotic Alternative in Hertsmere. They will not be allowed to get a foodhold round here.”
Earlier this year, the far-right group was found to be using the social media platform Telegram to create neo-Nazi channels dedicated to sharing vile messages, antisemitic conspiracy theories and images glorifying Hitler. A report into Patriotic Alternative published last summer found that several members of the group engaged in Holocaust denial.
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.
Far-right leader Mark Collett interviews Piers Corbyn where they discuss the “Jewish Question”
Mark Collett, the leader of the far-right group Patriotic Alternative, interviewed Piers Corbyn last night where he asked Mr Corbyn about the “Jewish Question”.
Mark Collett is the former head of the BNP’s youth wing who is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, collaborated with the infamous American antisemite David Duke, and espoused antisemitic and racist views. He currently leads Patriotic Alternative, a group known for its efforts to recruit youth to its white nationalist ideology. Previously, the far-right group published an online “alternative” home school curriculum condemned as “poison” and “hateful” and attempted to recruit children as young as twelve through livestreaming events on YouTube, according to The Times.
The interview, which ran for almost one hour and culminated with Mr Collett asking Mr Corbyn, the brother of the antisemitic former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, if he wanted “an easy question or a spicy question”. Mr Collett, asking on behalf of one of his listeners who donated money in order to have their question read out, then asked Mr Corbyn: “Is Piers aware of the Jewish question?”
The “Jewish Question” is an antisemitic phrase that arose in nineteenth-century Europe which asserted that Jewish people’s presence in society was a problem that needed to be solved. The “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was the name given by the Nazis to their programme to exterminate six million Jews during the Holocaust. It has been reported that this term has been reclaimed by neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right, often using “JQ” as a shorthand for the phrase.
Mr Corbyn replied to Mr Collett’s question by saying: “Well I’m not quite sure what that means. I mean…I’m not a Holocaust denier in case it’s leading up to that, because certain things you say, we’re told we’re Holocaust deniers. Well, you know, the Holocaust happened and that was horrific. But that’s all I can say on that.”
Continuing his answer, Mr Corbyn claimed that he didn’t have the time to answer the question at that moment but showed interest in discussing it at a different time. “I mean, there’s lots of ways of defining the Jewish Question but the difficulty is in answering these can lead you up into certain dangers because you’ll say things…so, I’m not trying to get out of that but I’m not convinced we’ve got the time to elaborate on that at this point in time. But if you come and see me under different circumstances we could discuss that if you want more fully if the meaning of the question could be verified a bit more,” Mr Corbyn said.
A video recently emerged of Mr Corbyn claiming that allegations of antisemitism against him and his brother 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.
Mr Collett’s interview with Mr Corbyn was co-hosted by Jason Köhne, an accused white nationalist and self-proclaimed “advocate for white wellbeing” who promotes a website claiming that western civilisation is threatening white people.
Earlier this month, Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to Amazon after it was reported that the online marketplace had cut a book deal with Mr Collett, in which it was reportedly receiving profit off of his book that was found to be promoting Holocaust denial. Amazon has also been found selling Mr Köhne books.
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.
Green Party chaotically adopts five definitions of antisemitism in apparent attempt to dilute International Definition of Antisemitism used by all other parties
The Green Party has adopted five distinct definitions of antisemitism in an apparent attempt to dilute the International Definition of Antisemitism used by all other parties.
In addition to adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism, the Green Party has also chosen to adopt the Jerusalem Declaration, a wrecking document intended to undermine the globally recognised International Definition.
Joshua Alston – the motion’s lead proposer – said: “This motion would put us at the vanguard of the fight against antisemitism, and at the vanguard of the fight against the global far-right while protecting our pro-Palestinian policy.”
However, many have pointed out that the International Definition and the Jerusalem Declaration are not mutually compatible. The contradictory decision has sparked a backlash from many British Jews over the Party’s apparent unwillingness to accept the Definition alone.
For contrasting reasons, the decision was also criticised by the Greens’ Policing and Domestic Safety spokesperson and former Deputy Leader, Shahrar Ali, a vocal opponent of the International Definition and proponent of the Jerusalem Declaration, who labelled the adoption of both a “fudge” and the “worst of all worlds”. Mr Ali speciously described the International Definition last month as “a bad definition of antisemitism [which] could disproportionately affect Palestinians, or their allies, as well as Jews – precisely because it would be counterproductive on its own terms and not help to tackle genuine antisemitism by conflating legitimate political criticism,” and supports the adoption by the Green Party of the Jerusalem Declaration, which he describes as a “good definition”.
Our Antisemitism Barometer survey of British Jews late last year found that the Greens were second only to Labour in how many respondents felt that the Party was too tolerant of antisemitism (43%).
Campaign Against Antisemitism has extensively documented alleged antisemitism among officers of the Green Party of England and Wales, including the Party’s former Equalities and Diversity Coordinator who now holds the International Coordinator portfolio, on which the Green Party has failed to act.
Recently, we revealed how certain policies of the Scottish Greens (the Green Party’s counterpart in Scotland) are cause for concern for the Jewish community, with one particularly controversial position, among others, being the Party’s opposition to the International Definition of Antisemitism. Consequently, Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is under growing pressure over the SNP’s recent deal with the Scottish Greens.
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.
Trial of two men accused of stabbing Holocaust survivor to death begins in France
The trial over the 2018 murder of a Holocaust survivor began yesterday in Paris’ Court of Assizes.
Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, fled Paris in 1942 at nine years old with her mother, escaping to Portugal. They narrowly avoided the Vélodrome d’Hiver, or “Vél d’Hiv”, the largest roundup of French Jews during the Holocaust where over 13,000 men, women, and children were arrested with the majority being deported to Auschwitz. Less than 100 people returned.
On 23rd March, 2018, Ms Knoll was killed after being stabbed eleven times in her Paris apartment. Her body was found partially burned after those responsible for her murder then attempted to set her apartment on fire. The murder was deemed an antisemitic incident with President Emanuel Macron stating that her killer “assassinated an innocent and vulnerable woman because she was Jewish.”
The two accused of her murder are 32-year-old Yacine Mihoub and 25-year-old Alex Carrimbacus. It has been reported that Ms Knoll lived in the same building as Mr Mihoub and his family and knew the defendant since he was a child. Mr Mihoub, who reportedly made unannounced visits regularly to Ms Knoll, was said to have arrived with Mr Carrimbacus at Ms Knoll’s apartment where the two accused began drinking her port wine. It was during this visit that Ms Knoll was stabbed eleven times. The pair, who reportedly met in prison, have contrasting accounts of what occurred, though neither deny that they were both present at the scene of the murder.
Mr Carrimbacus told investigators that Mr Mihoub approached him about a “money scheme” and “talked about Jews’ money” and “their wealth”, prompting magistrates to treat the killing as an antisemitic hate crime. Mr Carrimbacus alleges that Mr Mihoub angrily accused Ms Knoll of providing information to the police which resulted in his last prison sentence before slitting her throat and yelling “Allahu Akhbar,” the Islamic cry for “God is great.” However, Mr Mihoub claims that it was Mr Carrimbacus who killed Ms Knoll before robbing the apartment. Both men claim that the other started the fire after the killing. Investigators told media outlets on Tuesday that the men had a propensity “to lie” and “to manipulate”, rendering neither account particularly credible.
In November 2020, an appeal made by the accused to the Paris Court of Appeal to drop the charge of antisemitism was rejected after the court believed that Mr Carrimbacus’s claim that he overheard Mr Mihoub lecturing Ms Knoll about “the financial means of the Jews, their good situation,” with Ms Knoll answering that “not all Jews have a good situation,” to be “plausible”. Court documents described the incident as the culpable homicide of someone “they knew to be vulnerable owing to her physical condition, and which in addition was carried out because of her Jewish faith.”
The court also acknowledged Mr Mihoub’s “ambivalence vis-à-vis Islamist terrorism which notably advocates antisemitism.” Following the murder, a police investigation found that Mr Mihoub regularly visited websites featuring content that promoted Islamism and antisemitism, and was already known to authorities for praising Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, the brothers behind the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting.
Mr Mihoub’s mother, Zoulikha Khellaf, is also on trial after she was charged with cleaning the knife used to murder Ms Knoll.
Mr Carrimbacus’ lawyer, Karim Laouafi, argued that the charge of antisemitism should only be brought against Mr Mihoub, stating that “these elements are not present in Alex Carrimbacus. If the crime is antisemitic, that cannot be blamed on him.”
Charles Consigny, Mr Mihoub’s defence, responded by asserting that Mr Carrimbacus’ accusations of antisemitism against Mr Mihoub were lies. “It only exists because Carrimbacus invented a motive, and the prosecutors weren’t brave enough to drop it in the face of public pressure,” Mr Consigny said yesterday.
The Knoll family’s lawyer, Gilles-William Goldnadel, said yesterday that both of the accused should face “severe punishment for this horrible crime.” Speaking to reports as he entered the court, Mr Goldnadel said “We will need a miracle for the truth to come out of their mouths,” adding that Ms Knoll’s murder was a clear case of “antisemitism motivated by financial gain.”
In an interview, Ms Knoll’s son Alain said “I haven’t cried since my mother died, and I hope that when the murderers have been convicted, I will finally be able to cry…I want to know who stabbed my mother’s body eleven times. You must really hate in order to be able to do that, and this hatred can only be antisemitism.”
His brother Daniel added: “These people are not part of the community of humankind. They are monsters, they must be considered as monsters. Can we talk to monsters? I think it’s going to be next to impossible to talk to them.”
The killing of Ms Knoll took place only one year after the murder of Sarah Halimi, also occuring in Paris. Ms Halimi was a 65-year-old Jewish woman who was murdered by her 27-year-old Muslim neighbour, Kobili Traoré, after he tortured her before pushing her out of a window to her death. The Jewish community in France is said to be carefully watching the trial of Ms Knoll’s murder after France’s Court of Cassation ruled earlier this year that Sarah Halimi’s killer could not be held to stand trial due to being high on cannabis whilst committing the murder.
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: Facebook
National Gallery removes “antisemitic” artwork from online exhibition
The National Gallery has removed a picture that it has deemed antisemitic from its upcoming online exhibition.
Albrecht Dürer’s Christ Among the Doctors tells the story of Jesus as a twelve-year-old debating with Jewish doctors in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. While many artists have painted the biblical scene, some feel that Dürer’s painting from 1506 uses antisemitic overtones to depict the Jewish characters.
A National Gallery spokesperson said: “We are aware that the representation of the Doctors may cause offence and both the wall texts and the audio guide in the exhibition will acknowledge and address caricature and antisemitic portrayal in the painting.
“We have removed the image and accompanying text from our online gallery of selected exhibited works as we felt that in this format there was not adequate space for the interpretation required for this work.”
The exhibition is set to launch next month and will focus on the work of Dürer.
New report states Harrow Council ignored staff’s claims of antisemitism
A newly published independent race report has stated that Harrow Council ignored several claims of antisemitism that were flagged up by members of staff.
In addition to antisemitism, several cases of sexism and racism were allegedly witnessed by some members of council staff, though no action had been taken.
One participant in the report said: “A colleague reported several instances of antisemitism and racism and nothing has been done about it for years. It is no good at all to talk about combating racism, then do nothing about it when reported. We are so fed up of this and this is the reason why nothing will change.”
Other staff members reportedly said that they did not feel comfortable reporting incidents of “casual racism” for fear of losing their jobs.
The report recommended that the council issue a “formal apology”. Harrow Council has reportedly been contacted for comment.
Harrow Council adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism in 2017.
Image credit: Google
Target removes books promoting antisemitic tropes and Holocaust denial after media watchdog campaign
One of the United States’ largest retailers has pledged to remove from sale books promoting Holocaust denial and antisemitism.
An exposé by media watchdog CAMERA revealed that Target, the eighth-largest retailer in the United States, had books for sale on Holocaust denial. After CAMERA flagged this to the retailer, the group was contacted by a Target representative to “apologise” for its “error in having these books available on Target.com.”
The representative said that Target had “removed the books” flagged by CAMERA and was “actively working” to ensure that such content was “not for sale” on the Target site in future.
The representative also stated that Target was “committed to diversity, equity and inclusion” and was “sorry for the disappointment and pain” that such material may have caused.
The business had “guidelines in place” for the books that it sells and had been made aware that several books had been “listed in error on Target.com” that “don’t meet” their content guidelines. These titles, said the representative, had been removed “immediately” and Target was working “to ensure all future content meets” its guidelines.
Although CAMERA expressed satisfaction on Twitter at Target’s speedy response, it claimed that some antisemitic material was still available on Target.com, including a French translation of the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion and The Turner Diaries, as well at least one Holocaust denial book in German.
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.
“Vax the Jews” banner hung over bridge in Austin, Texas
A banner that read “Vax the Jews” was hung from a bridge in Austin, Texas over the weekend.
Also written on the banner was the domain “goyim.tv”, a website affiliated with the “Goyim Defence League”, a group whose membership reportedly contains several neo-Nazis and is understood to be led by Jon Minadeo II. The group is responsible for stunts such as visiting a Chabad centre to claim that “these Jewish terrorists” were behind 9/11, and hanging a banner on a Los Angeles overpass reading “Honk if you know the Jews want a race war.” Earlier this year, Mr Minadeo II created t-shirts carrying antisemitic slogans such as the Holocaust was “a hoax”.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who is himself Jewish, condemned the incident, tweeting. “I am heartbroken to see antisemitic hatred in Austin, a welcoming and respectful place. Hatred of any kind has no place in our city.”
The incident occurred close to the Shalom Austin Jewish Cultural Centre, the self-described “hub of Jewish life in Central Texas”. Shalom Austin called the incident “extremely upsetting and unsettling” and confirmed that the Austin Police Department had been incredibly supportive, adding that it was “carefully monitoring and observing the situation”.
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: Image credit: StopAntisemitism.org
C&T Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd tells CAA that auctioning Nazi daggers “keeps the memory of what happened alive” and alarmingly gives no indication of stopping
Earlier this month, Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to the Kent-based C&T Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd to express our dismay over their auctioning of Nazi memorabilia, including an assortment of Third Reich daggers and busts and pictures of Hitler and his senior ministers.
Their two-day militaria online auction also featured plaques and medals, clothing, shoes, goggles, medical pouches, china, posters, toys and books, all from the Nazi era.
The auction house has since responded to our letter, and as well as giving us no indication that it intends to halt their selling of Nazi memorabilia, they have told us that the auctioning of the grotesque items “keeps the memory of what happened alive”.
Despite Campaign Against Antisemitism outlining our belief that such items belong in a museum instead of in the hands of collectors whose motivation for acquiring cannot be known, the auction house insisted that auctioning to private collectors can educate them in “the horrors of history”.
In an absurd justification, the auction house further stated that if the private auctioning of Nazi memorabilia were to cease, so too would society have to ban anything that ever related to the Second World War, including books, films and television programmes, adding that one would “need to never show another movie or anything set during this time period.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “C&T Auctioneers and Valuers are putting profit before ethics by participating in the trade of Nazi memorabilia. Respectable auction houses only sell such objects to museums and for academic purposes, whereas at C&T Auctioneers and Valuers anybody could buy them, even neo-Nazis. The ultimate shame is trying to convince Jews that selling Nazi daggers and portraits of murderers helps ‘keeps the memory of what happened alive’, a claim that would be laughable were it not so obviously laced with contempt and condescension. We condemn C&T Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd’s decision to carry on auctioning these items.”
While C&T Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd show no signs of ceasing the sale of Nazi memorabilia, Tennants auctioneers recently assured us that they will not put Nazi items up for auction again in future, after we contacted the auction house in connection with an auction of Third Reich items.
However, auctions of Third Reich items persist, including those recently hosted by Easy Live Auction.
Last month, a BBC Bargain Hunt expert apologised after it was revealed that Nazi memorabilia was due to be sold at his auction house. 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.
Jewish residents in Paris receive “Dirty Jews Out” hate mail
Jewish residents in Paris have received hate mail that said “Dirty Jews Out”.
The incident reportedly took place last week in the French capital’s suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis where two Jewish neighbours in the same apartment block received the same letter.
The National Vigilance Bureau for Countering Antisemitism (BNCVA), an organisation in Paris that assists the victims of antisemitic attacks, released a statement in which they implored local police to “arrest the antisemitic delinquents who want to eject the Jewish citizens of France.”
It continued: “[The Jewish residents of Seine-Saint-Denis are the] victims of fire bombings of synagogues and Jewish schools, of attacks on Jews in stadiums or in the street, in schools and universities, often in cities with a leftist or Communist leadership that ostentatiously supports the boycott of Israel, or even Islamist terrorists.” It added that many Jewish people in the area had left in recent years.
Just days before this incident, Jewish residents of Seine-Saint-Denis were subjected to having newspaper articles covered with antisemitic scrawlings posted through their letterboxes. These included racist tropes of “Jewish power” and the allegation that Jewish people use the memory of the Holocaust to further their own agenda.
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: BNCVA via The Algemeiner
Essex students inexplicably protest speech on Afghanistan by calling for destruction of Israel, two years after 200 voted against creation of Jewish society on their campus
Students at the University of Essex reportedly protested against a speech on Afghanistan by calling for the destruction of Israel.
Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, spoke to the University’s Conservative Society while protestors outside chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a chant that only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state – and its replacement with a State of Palestine – and is thus an attempt to deny Jews, uniquely, the right to self-determination, which is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.
The talk was about Britain’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and had nothing to do with Israel.
The student body at the University of Essex has a history of controversy relating to antisemitism. Two years ago, more than 200 students at the University voted against the creation of a Jewish society, which are commonplace on British campuses as a home for Jewish students, facilitating their religious observance and cultural and social life as well as representing them to university authorities.
The vote came amidst a row over antisemitism, with one academic dismissed from the University after asserting on social media that “the Zionists next want to create a society here at our university.” The motion did ultimately pass.
Campaign Against Antisemitism monitors the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by universities. The University of Essex has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.
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].
Bristol Rovers manager and former footballer Joey Barton describes bad football performance as ‘a Holocaust’
In an interview on Saturday, Joey Barton, the former football player and current manager of Bristol Rovers Football Club, used the word ‘Holocaust’ to describe a bad performance during a football match.
Reacting to Bristol Rovers’ loss to Newport County, Mr Barton said: “I said to the lads during the week, you know, the team’s almost like musical chairs, you know. Someone gets in and does well, but then gets suspended. Someone gets in and does well, gets injured. Someone gets in, does well for a game and then has a Holocaust, a nightmare, you know, an absolute disaster.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Mr Barton’s comparison of the Holocaust — the systematic murder of six million Jewish men, women and children — to describe a poor performance on the pitch is at best, a shocking act of ignorance and at worst a disgusting gesture of disrespect to those who were murdered by the Nazis and survivors. Mr Barton should at the very least apologise to Holocaust survivors and undertake a course in Holocaust education.”
This is not the first time a Holocaust reference has been made in the context of describing a poor performance.
In 2019, football pundit and former footballer, Perry Groves, apologised after reportedly describing a player as having “a Holocaust of a game” on a live radio show. One year earlier, Phil Brown, the football player turned manager, apologised for using the same phrase.
Manchester synagogue service zoombombed with Nazi imagery
An online Sabbath service held by Manchester Reform Synagogue was zoombombed with Nazi imagery on Friday night.
Zoombombing is when people join a Zoom video call with the intention of derailing it. This usually involves spewing antisemitic, racist, or otherwise hateful rhetoric.
The synagogue’s rabbi, Robyn Ashworth-Steen, said that “Halfway through the service, during some prayers, [the offenders] unmuted, started to shout, and put on the screen a swastika and some other awful racist images. They were kicked out straight away but it was clear through the service that they were trying to get in.”
Rabbi Ashworth-Steen added on social media that while the community was shaken, they took comfort in its strength, writing: “We realise our collective strength. Then we get to the aleynu [sic] prayer and understand it is on us to fight racism and fascism within us and on our streets – for all minorities and persecuted people. Then we return to the Shabbat bride, the gift of rest and know we will emerge renewed. Shabbat shalom all.”
An anonymous attendee at the service told Campaign Against Antisemitism that they found the incident “very unsettling”.
“The service was like any other and when singing along to ‘Yom Zeh l’Yisrael’, a particularly upbeat, joyous tune, a German flag with a large swastika in the middle suddenly appeared on screen,” she said, and went on to say that while the act of antisemitism was dealt with extremely quickly, lasting approximately three seconds, it meant that the rest of the service, as well as the morning service the next day, felt uncomfortable.
It is notable that Manchester Reform Synagogue was featured in the television series Ridley Road, a programme that tells the story of Jewish activists fighting against fascism in 1960s Britain. The attendee said that the fact that the zoombombers chose that synagogue in particular to target made the incident “feel a little too close to home.”
She added: “The only positive I can take is that the service was online so no one was physically hurt.”
Greater Manchester Police reportedly confirmed that while there have not been any arrests yet, inquiries were still being conducted.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has previously reported on the phenomenon of ‘Zoom bombing’ and has urged communal institutions to take precautions to safeguard against antisemitic disruption of online events.
Concern raised after Chinese state-run news outlet proposes “final solution of the Taiwan question”
Concern has been raised after a Chinese state-run news outlet proposed a “final solution to the Taiwan question”.
The term was used on Twitter by Global News, which is self-described as “China’s national English language newspaper”. It said: “The CPC’s warning against secessionism is not just talking the talk, and whether the final solution of Taiwan question will be peaceful or not, the secessionists will be judged, condemned and punished.”
Frank Müller-Rosentritt, a member of the German Parliament and its Committee on Foreign Affairs, compared the terminology to Nazi propaganda. The Final Solution (Die Endloesung), or the Final Solution of the Jewish Problem, is the name given by the Nazis to their programme to exterminate six million Jews during the Holocaust.
Mr Müller-Rosentritt said: “If a Chinese propaganda medium operates with historically loaded terms, then all alarm bells should ring for us against the background of our history.”
One Twitter user replied to the article by saying: “As a German living in Taiwan I never ever want to hear anyone talking about a ‘final solution’. This is disgraceful.”
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.
“You said you’re an honourable British gentleman. You’re anything but,” judge tells aristocrat Piers Portman before sentencing him to 4 months in prison and ordering him to pay over £20,000 for calling CAA Chief Executive “Jewish scum”
The Hon. Piers Portman, the youngest living son of the 9th Viscount Portman and heir to 110 acres of West End real estate, has today been sentenced to four months in prison and ordered to pay over £20,000 after being found guilty last month of calling Gideon Falter, Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Chief Executive, “Jewish scum” in a confrontation at a courthouse in 2018.
Passing sentence at Southwark Crown Court, His Honour Judge Gregory Perrins said that Mr Portman has “strongly-held antisemitic beliefs”, and that he had “deliberately targeted Mr Falter because of his role in prosecuting Alison Chabloz.” Ms Chabloz is an antisemite who has been repeatedly imprisoned following work by Campaign Against Antisemitism.
In scathing sentencing remarks, HHJ Perrins told Mr Portman: “You said you’re an honourable British gentleman. You’re anything but.”
HHJ Perrins then imprisoned him for four months, with the possibility of release on licence after two months, and ordered him to pay a £10,000 fine, make an additional £10,000 compensatory payment to the victim, Mr Falter, and pay court costs. Mr Falter is donating the entire £10,000 to Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Mr Portman, 50, was prosecuted after approaching Mr Falter, Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Chief Executive, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 14th June 2018 following the sentencing of Alison Chabloz, a notorious Holocaust denier and antisemite. Campaign Against Antisemitism had brought a private prosecution against Ms Chabloz which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) took over, and which ultimately led to a conviction and landmark legal precedent. Mr Falter had testified against Ms Chabloz, who has since been repeatedly sent to prison over her antisemitic statements, including denying the Holocaust and claiming that Holocaust survivors had invented their suffering for financial gain.
Mr Portman followed Mr Falter out of the courtroom and confronted him in the lobby of the court building, where an enraged Mr Portman came close to Mr Falter and said: “I’m Piers Portman. I have written to you before. Come after me, you Jewish scum. Come and persecute me. Come and get me.”
Mr Portman was referring to a 1,527-word e-mailed screed previously sent to Campaign Against Antisemitism in which he denounced his former wife and her divorce lawyer, Baroness Fiona Shackleton each as a “greedy, grasping and lying manipulator of the system that happens to be Jewish.” He accused his former wife of “playing the Talmud inspired ‘Tyrant posing as a victim.’” Noting in the e-mail that he had a “Harrow Public School education”, Mr Portman defended the term “Holohoax”, writing that “I fail to see how the fabricated word has anything to do with hating anyone. Surely it is merely an expression created by people that believe they have been lied to,” and questioning how the terms “Jew” and “Jewboy” could be antisemitic.
He concluded his e-mail by taunting Campaign Against Antisemitism to “Come and pick on me…come and have a do with me…come and perform your charity on me.”
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “I am extremely reassured by this sentence, which sends a very clear message to antisemites that even the wealthiest and most privileged cannot escape British justice. I have been awarded £10,000 in compensation which I am donating to Campaign Against Antisemitism to help us ensure that anti-Jewish racists like Mr Portman face the consequences of their actions.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism wishes again to thank the Community Security Trust (CST) for providing specialist protection officers to keep our personnel safe 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.
Image: Piers Portman, right, leaves Southwark Crown Court with conspiracy theorist Matthew Delooze
Man who physically assaulted Jewish woman let off with conditional discharge
A man convicted of physically assaulting a Jewish woman has today been let off with a conditional discharge.
On 18th March, Keith Gowers, 59, of Tottenham, followed Beilla Reis down Manor Road in Stamford Hill at approximately 18:30 before placing a black pillowcase over her head and punching her several times in the face and torso. Ms Reis, 20, was 27 weeks’ pregnant at the time. She had her glasses broken and suffered a cut lip and thumb. Mr Gowers then fled the scene, leaving behind the pillowcase, while Ms Reis was taken to hospital.
The attack was initially reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, and Mr Gowers was arrested on 22nd March.
Mr Gowers appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court on 10th September 2021 where he admitted one count of assault by beating.
District Crown Prosecutor Varinder Hayre, from the north London Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was an unprovoked and shocking attack on a woman who was six months pregnant at the time. It is fortunate that her unborn child suffered no serious harm. The victim had never encountered Keith Gowers before and was left incredibly shaken.”
Speaking outside the court, Mr Gowers’ solicitor Jose Grayson said: “Although people at the time thought it was an antisemitic attack, it has been accepted by the Crown it was not racially motivated.”
Deputy Judge Richard Hawgood said: “It is obviously a very deeply unpleasant and serious matter. It is about as serious as a common assault allegation can be. All options will be considered by the court, including a custodial sentence.”
Mr Gowers was sentenced today at Thames Magistrates’ Court to two years’ conditional discharge and an indefinite restraining order not to contact the victim by any means and not to go within 200 metres of the victim at any location. He was also ordered to pay a £22 victim surcharge.
Former secretary at Nazi concentration camp goes on trial for murder
The former secretary who worked at Stutthof concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland has gone on trial for murder.
Irmgard Furchner, 96, is accused of contributing to the deaths of 11,412 people between the years 1943 and 1945, during which time she worked as a secretary at the camp. Due to the fact that she started working there as an 18-year-old, Ms Furchner is being tried in a juvenile court.
The court in Itzehoe, a town in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, was read the indictment which accused Ms Furchner of working as the Chief Secretary to Paul Werner-Hoppe, a high-ranking Nazi official and the camp’s Commander, and “was contributory to the entire killing operation” at the camp.
The prosecution also stated that Ms Furchner would have assisted with the transport lists of detainees who would have been sent to Auschwitz concentration camp to be murdered, as well as radio messages and the dictation of Mr Hoppe’s orders and correspondence. Due to the compact layout of Stutthof, Ms Furchner’s key administrative position, and the unavoidable noises and smells caused by the murder of the victims in gas chambers, the defendant would have “been aware of all happenings”, the court heard.
Wolfgang Molkentin, defending, stated that Ms Furchner “does not deny the crimes of the Shoah…neither does she deny the terrible acts that took place as has once again been made clear to us all in the indictment. She simply rejects the charge around which this trial ultimately revolves, that she was personally guilty of a crime.”
Judge Dominik Groß has permitted the filming of the trial for historical reasons, a request that ordinarily might not have been granted, but has chosen to do so on the basis that it is “one of the worldwide last criminal trials related to crimes of the Nazi era”.
In September, Ms Furchner attempted to escape before the beginning of her trial. After missing the start of her trial, court spokesperson Frederike Milhoffer stated that an arrest warrant had been issued, stating: “She left her home early in the morning in a taxi in the direction of a metro station.” Mr Milhoffer announced hours later that she had been found and detained.
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.
Gab’s Twitter account deactivated after CEO reportedly uses Nazi term and dismisses antisemitism accusations as “Biblical truth”
Gab’s Twitter account has been deactivated after its CEO reportedly tweeted about “Judeo-Bolshevik” societies and dismissed accusations of antisemitism levelled against him as “Biblical truth”.
Gab is a social-media platform that was founded in 2016 with a claim to “champion free speech,” and has become a haven for supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory and other far-right groups and individuals banned from mainstream platforms.
Gab’s founder, Andrew Torba, was accused of antisemitism yesterday after he reportedly posted a string of tweets containing inflammatory remarks about Jewish people, including one which said that Gab was building a “parallel Christian society” after being “fed up and done with the Judeo-Bolshevik one”.
The term “Judeo-Bolshevism” is an antisemitic trope that was used in Nazi propaganda and states that communism is a Jewish plot.
Responding to the backlash to his tweet, Mr Torba appeared to double-down and continued tweeting. “Sadly many Christians today are so afraid of being called a silly meaningless name by the world (bigot, antisemite, homophobe) that they refuse to even remotely share or discuss the Gospel in their daily lives, let alone live it,” one post read.
Another tweet said: “Can’t even post basic Christian orthodoxy held for 2,000 years on Twitter dot com without being called ‘antisemitic’ by both the left and right.”
“You reveal your anti-Christian hatred when you refer to Biblical truth as ‘antisemitism’,” another post said in response to an accusation of antisemitism.
Mr Torba reportedly also posted two graphics. One, which was reported to have originated from an antisemitic cartoonist, depicts the nail in the hand of Christ, with the nail being labelled “Judeo” and the hand being labelled “Christian”. Another showed a man slaying a serpent with many heads, with one of those heads being labelled “Judaism”.
Responding to a tweet in which a user stated that Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was “one of the most antisemitic films in history”, portrayed Jews as “grotesque and eternally cursed with bloodlust for money”, and refused to consult any Jewish scholars, the Gab account wrote: “What a king”
There has been some speculation as to whether Mr Torba’s account was deleted or whether he deactivated it himself in order to avoid a suspension, which he has reportedly done before. When one user allegedly notified Twitter of the posts, he was reportedly told by the social media platform that they were not in violation of the Twitter rules.
This is not the first time that Gab has tweeted incendiary remarks about Jewish people. In July, Gab’s Twitter account was suspended after tweeting that antisemitism is “anything Jews don’t like.”
While Gab proclaims to be “pro-free speech,” others have described the network as racist and alleges that it promotes several conspiracy theories. Earlier this year, Andrew Torba was accused of wooing far-right figures to his platform with promises of greater visibility.
Far-right figures have turned to sites such as Gab to avoid restrictions on hate-content on more mainstream platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Mr Torba has tried to distance Gab from the far-right groups that have made it their home. In 2018, on a podcast, he said: “Do we have alt-right users? Certainly. Alt-right users also exist on Facebook, on Twitter, on Reddit, and everywhere else on the Internet.” He went on to insist that Gab had “good people” who “believe in individual liberty…and free expression.”
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.
Appeal for witnesses after swastika gouged out of tree outside office of Orthodox Jew in Southend
A swastika has been found carved into a tree outside the office of an Orthodox Jew in Southend in Essex.
The Nazi symbol was cut into the bark overnight on 19th/20th October on a tree on Station Road.
Police are investigating. If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Campaign Against Antisemitism at [email protected] or on 0330 822 0321, quoting reference number: Ref 483 20/10/21.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2020 showed that three in five British Jews believe that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.
Jewish man sentenced to death by alleged antisemitic judge wins new trial in Texas
A Jewish man in the State of Texas who was sentenced to death by a judge who he believes to be antisemitic has won a new trial.
Randy Halprin, 44, was serving a 30-year prison sentence for child abuse and on 13th December 2000, along with six other inmates, escaped a maximum-security prison in South Texas, prompting a six-week manhunt. During this time, the men killed a police officer, and six of the seven surviving convicts were sentenced to death by Judge Vickers “Vic” Cunningham. Mr Halprin was sentenced in 2003 and was set to be executed on 10th October 2019.
However, Mr Halprin argued that he did not shoot his gun at the police officer and was given an unfair trial due to Judge Cunningham’s alleged racism, and claimed that Judge Cunningham called him a “f**kin’ Jew” and “k*ke.”
Mr Halprin won a stay in Dallas County from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals where in June, Judge Lela Lawrence Mays heard out Mr Halprin’s argument and this week, granted Mr Halprin a new trial. She wrote: “Judge Vickers Cunningham possessed antisemitic prejudice against Halprin which violated Halprin’s constitutional right to a trial in a fair tribunal equal protection, and free exercise of religion.”
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 C&T Auctioneers and Valuers over auction glorifying Nazi memorabilia
Kent-based C&T Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd is hosting an auction with an array of Nazi memorabilia, including an assortment of Third Reich daggers and busts and pictures of Hitler and his senior ministers.
The two-day militaria online auction also features plaques and medals, clothing, shoes, goggles, medical pouches, china, posters, toys and books, all from the Nazi era.
We will be writing to C&T Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd regarding the grotesque auction.
Recently, Tennants auctioneers assured us that they will not put Nazi items up for auction again in future, after we contacted the auction house in connection with an auction of Third Reich items.
However, auctions of Third Reich items persist, including those recently hosted by Easy Live Auction.
Last month, a BBC Bargain Hunt expert apologised after it was revealed that Nazi memorabilia was due to be sold at his auction house. 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.
“Can you racially abuse Jewish people?” former footballer John Barnes, wonders in new book
Former Liverpool and England footballer John Barnes reportedly wonders in his new book whether one can racially abuse Jewish people.
“Can you racially abuse Jewish people?” he asks, explaining that “if the Jewish people are a race, what race does a black Jewish person belong to?”
Mr Barnes’ particular conceptualisation of racism becomes a little clearer when he argues that “The only way to truly destroy racism is to destroy capitalism,” and the “only way to achieve true equality for all is by creating a socialist society, and that’s not about to happen whether we think it should or not.”
In recent years, Mr Barnes has been politically outspoken. In 2019, he appeared on BBC Question Time, and, whilst commending the Labour MPs who left the Labour Party in the previous week over “what they believe,” and recognising “it’s about antisemitism in the Labour Party,” he also took it upon himself to decide on behalf of Jewish people what is and what is not antisemitism.
On the issue of antisemitism, Mr Barnes asserted that “there is a difference between that and anti-Zionism…getting mixed up” and correctly pointed out that “you can criticise the state of Israel without being antisemitic.“ But he then turned against the view of the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community in saying that he thought that “from the Labour Party’s point of view, as much as Zionists may want to say it’s one and the same I don’t think it is. It’s a bit like saying all racism is the same, because it isn’t, for example the Jews, in my opinion, whilst it is a religion they aren’t necessarily a separate race of people. I think they get mixed up in that respect.”
Mr Barnes is welcome to write about his own experiences but should think twice before propagating misperceptions of Judaism and the Jewish people, on which matters he has proven repeatedly that he is no expert.
Ridley Road actors Eddie Marsan and Tracy-Ann Oberman receive antisemitic abuse on Twitter
Actors Eddie Marsan and Tracy-Ann Oberman, the stars of BBC’s television series Ridley Road, have revealed that they have both received abuse on Twitter.
In Ridley Road, Mr Marsan and Ms Oberman play integral members of the 62 Group, a coalition of Jewish activists who fought against fascism during 1960s Britain.
While Mr Marsan is himself not Jewish, he has received a considerable amount of online abuse for playing a Jewish character. Posting screenshots of some of the comments he has received, Mr Marsan tweeted: “F**k me, this is relentless, all I did was play a Jew, I dread to think what would’ve happened if I was actually Jewish.”
He later tweeted: “If you do a show about racists, you’re going to p**s racists off. It means we’re doing something right.”
Speaking on the abuse, Mr Marsan said: “This is my culture. I’m not Jewish, I’m not religious in any sense. But what I am, the thing that made me curious and open minded, comes from the diversity I was raised in. So I am sticking up for my culture, because my culture is diversity. It’s unacceptable that friends of mine who are Jewish if they become actors, they’re going to suffer this abuse.”
Ms Oberman, who is Jewish, also took to Twitter to highlight some of the abuse that she has received, writing: “Im posting this to show antisemitism isn’t just a Hard Right Problem. Fascism takes on many guises.”
One of the comments referred to people “exploiting the Holocaust to gain support/sympathy for their colonialist-settler aims,” while another said: “You’ve turned millions against you & exposed the duplicitous tactics that have stereotyped you as rats for millenia, and why it always ends up in either expulsion or ovens”
Ms Oberman also called upon the actors’ union Equity earlier this year to provide a safe space for Jewish performers.
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.
Teenage neo-Nazi jailed for eleven years after using Telegram to plot terrorist acts
A teenage neo-Nazi has been jailed for eleven years after using the social media platform Telegram to plot terrorist acts.
Matthew Cronjager, 18, was found guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications on Telegram after it emerged that he had planned to kill his former friend, who is Asian, for allegedly sleeping with white women.
The Old Bailey heard that Mr Cronjager had attempted to obtain a 3D-printed gun or a sawn-off shotgun to commit the murder. The court also heard that Mr Cronjager had joined a right-wing terror cell, positioning himself as the “boss”, and created an online library to disseminate right-wing propaganda and explosives-making manuals. Mr Cronjager posted messages on a Telegram group called “The British Hand”, where he was unknowingly talking with an undercover policeman.
Last year, we reported that teenage members of The British Hand were using Telegram to recruit and promote propaganda. The group uses a skull and crossbones logo combined with rifles over a Union Jack as its logo and launched in July 2020 on the popular social media platform, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. The official account has been shut down multiple times, but members continue to use their personal accounts to disseminate the group’s message. Once recruited, the members join an encrypted Telegram chat room where, as of last year, it was believed that there were fifteen core members in their teenage years or early twenties.
It was said that Mr Cronjager wanted a “revolution” to carry out fascist beliefs, and wanted to become the leader of the UK division of an extreme right-wing group. During his arrest on 29th December 2020, police discovered a large amount of material that indicated his dedication to an “extreme right-wing cause”.
During his trial, Mr Cronjager initially tried to deny that he ever harboured far-right views by claiming that he was an undercover member of the anti-fascist group Antifa, but later admitted that he did at one point hold the views of which he was accused, for which he claimed to be “ashamed and disgusted”.
Judge Mark Lucraft noted that Mr Cronjager was “bright and intelligent”, which made the messages that he sent “all the more troubling”. Judge Lucraft sentenced the teenager to a total of eleven years and four months in youth detention, adding: “In my view you are someone who played a leading role in terrorist activity where the preparations were not far advanced.”
Concerns have previously been raised over the alleged increase in neo-Nazi content on Telegram. Earlier this year, the far-right group Patriotic Alternative was found to have created neo-Nazi channels dedicated to sharing vile messages, antisemitic conspiracy theories, and images glorifying Hitler.
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: Counter Terrorism Policing North East
Newcastle United launch investigation after alleged racist gesture made towards Tottenham fans during match
Newcastle United Football Club has launched an investigation after an individual allegedly made a racist gesture towards Tottenham supporters during a Premier League match.
Police have also been made aware of the incident which occurred at St James’ Park this past Sunday.
Though the club has not specified what the gesture entailed, a photograph that circulated on Twitter yesterday appeared to show a man performing a Nazi salute at the club’s stadium.
On its website, the football club released a statement yesterday in which they wrote: “Our message is clear – football is for everyone. Discrimination has absolutely no place in football, in the street, online or in wider society and we will not tolerate it under any circumstances.
“Newcastle United will pursue the strongest possible action against anyone involved in discriminatory behaviour and will support any efforts by the authorities to secure a criminal conviction. The club is adhering to the Premier League commitment regarding Abusive and Discriminatory conduct, which facilitates the banning of any fan found to have been involved in abusive and/or discriminatory conduct from all Premier League stadia.”
It continued: “For this alleged incident to take place at a time when all Premier League clubs are visibly supporting the No Room For Racism campaign shows the work we all have ahead of us, to which we remain absolutely committed.”
Urging fans to report discriminatory behaviour at St James’ Park, they asked people to “please text HELP followed by your seat location and details of the incident to 60070”.
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “We can confirm we are investigating an alleged racist incident during Newcastle United’s home fixture with Tottenham at St James’ Park on Sunday. Enquiries are ongoing with the club to identify anyone involved and ascertain whether criminal offences have been committed.
“As a force, we do not tolerate hate crime of any kind within our communities and are committed to taking swift and robust action against perpetrators.”
Last week, a poster with the words “Achtung Juden”, which is German for “Attention Jews”, put up by the Millwall Berserkers hooligan group was found near Millwall Football Club stadium. The poster also featured the cockerel from Tottenham Hotspur Football Club’s logo with its head detached from its body and lying in blood.
The Premier League adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism last December.
Two attacks on Jewish children in Stamford Hill in just the past few days
There have been at least two attacks on Jewish children in Stamford Hill in just the past few days.
In the evening of 16th October, a sixteen-year-old Jewish child was chased down the road by a woman who then assaulted him with a beer glass while laughing. The incident took place on Egerton Road in the heavily-Jewish neighbourhood (CAD8103 18/10/21).
Then, in the evening of 18th October, a Jewish child had an egg thrown at him on a number 67 bus before the two adult assailants threatened him, saying, “We will still get you.” They then chased him off the bus until he reached a local shop for refuge (CAD8270 19/10/21).
Both incidents were reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting the relevant reference number.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Perhaps the most egregious part of the surge in antisemitic crime in Britain is that children are not being spared. The cowards who targeted these young people must be identified and prosecuted to the full. If zero tolerance means anything, it must mean that attacks on children are met with the full force of the law.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
Cllr Tasleem Fazal reportedly readmitted to Labour group at Blackburn with Darwen Council despite suggesting that ISIS is a Jewish plot
There are reports that Cllr Tasleem Fazal has been readmitted to the Labour Party group at Blackburn with Darwen Council despite previously suggesting that ISIS is a Jewish plot. According the Council’s website, Cllr Fazal continues to sit as an independent.
Cllr Fazal was suspended from Labour after it was revealed that he had made a video during an anti-Israel protest in 2014 when he called peace protestors “murderers” and during which he was asked by a demonstrator wearing a skullcap: “ISIS – is ISIS Jewish?” From behind the camera, he responded: “Who’s created it? Who’s created it? Do your homework.” The notion that Jews or Israel created the ISIS terrorist organisation is a popular antisemitic trope.
After being suspended, Cllr Fazal sat as an independent, but he also continued to sit on the Council’s select Licencing Committee. Cllr Andy Kay was also suspended from Labour but retained his committee portfolios as an independent.
Blackburn with Darwen Council had as many councillors suspended from the Labour Party over antisemitism claims on its committees as Liberal Democrats.
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.
Saudi children’s cartoon animates story where Allah turns Jews into apes due to their “trickery and deception”
A Saudi YouTube channel has reportedly uploaded a cartoon aimed at children where Allah turns Jews into apes due to their “trickery and deception”.
The story is reportedly from the Quran and seemingly depicts three groups of Jewish people; a group who sinned, a righteous group, and a group opposing the righteous group.
The video uploaded to the Ibtikar Media channel says that in a test of the Jews’ faith, Allah would send a surplus of fish on the Sabbath, but would forbid them from fishing so that they can focus on prayer.
The story goes on to say that the group of Jewish “sinners” then “employed a trick” where they would cast their fishing nets on Friday so that the fish would get caught in the net on Saturday, to then be collected on Sunday. According to the video, this group would fish on the Sabbath by “employing trickery and deception”.
The righteous Jews “would warn the people about Allah’s wrath and His punishment, and would forbid them from doing what they were doing,” and the third group would “oppose the people who forbade these acts.”
The narrator of the animation continues: “When the sinners did not heed the words of advice, Allah’s punishment came upon them at night. The group that commanded good were spared the punishment. The fate of the third group was not mentioned. The punishment of the sinners was that they were transformed into apes.”
The video concludes by saying that the Jews who were transformed into apes were able to recognise their relatives, however, their relatives were not able to recognise them. The narrator states that shortly after that, the Jews who were turned into apes died, “leaving no descendants”.
Campaign Against Antisemitism continues its robust engagement with social media companies over the content that they enable to be published, and we continue to make representations to the Government in this connection.
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 shouts “Jesus killer” at Jewish driver parking his car in Golders Green
A man shouted “Jesus killer” at a Jewish driver parking his car in Golders Green.
The victim, who wears a kippah, was parking his car near Sainsbury’s in Golders Green. He unknowingly parked with his wheels slightly crossing into the disabled parking bay and began crossing the road. As he was crossing, he heard a man shouting, “Look where he’s parked” and “Book him” to a nearby traffic warden. The victim turned to walk back towards his car, realising his error, and said, “I’ll move it.”
The man, however, continued shouting at him. The victim asked: “What’s it got to do with you?”. At that point, the man shouted “Jesus killer” at him and continued ranting and swearing, even after the victim threatened to call the police.
The victim moved his car to another spot over the road and continued with his shopping. Although not intimidated himself, the victim later reported the incident, which took place at 11:30 on 17th October, to Shomrim North West London, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
The assailant was described as white and in his twenties or early thirties and about 185cm in height. He reportedly looked homeless and was later seen begging.
If you have any more information, please contact Campaign Against Antisemitism at [email protected].
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Traffic disputes are unpleasant at the best of times, but there is no place for racist insults like ‘Jesus killer’. For all the appropriate emphasis on contemporary manifestations of antisemitism, age-old tropes like Jewish deicide also still retain currency. It is regrettable that the traffic warden took no action during the incident.”
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.
Concerns raised over Slovenian Prime Minister’s “Soros puppets” tweet
Concerns have been raised over the Slovenian Prime Minister’s reported tweet in which he referred to “Soros puppets” in the EU Parliament.
In his tweet, the Prime Minister posted a graphic in which an image of George Soros is seemingly surrounded by arrows and images of Members of Parliament. Prime Minister Janez Janša wrote alongside the image: “13 of the 226 known Soros puppets in the EU parlement [sic]”
Prime Minister Janša appeared to double down on his comments in response to online criticism, tweeting that “there is no conspiracy theory”.
George Soros is a Jewish financier who is often the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories. It is indisputable that George Soros has, in recent years, been subjected to antisemitic campaigns around the world, painting him as a shadowy Jewish bogeyman. Mr Soros has been frequently targeted by, amongst others, the Hungarian government and several Eastern European advertising campaigns, which have been described as worryingly antisemitic.
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.
“Holocaust was a scam” projected onto Swedish synagogue, neo-Nazi group take credit
A neo-Nazi group has reportedly taken credit for projecting the phrase “the Holocaust was a scam” onto a Swedish synagogue last week.
According to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the neo-Nazi group Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) has taken credit for projecting the incident onto the synagogue in Malmö at the same time that the city was holding its International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism.
At the conference last week, world leaders called for further measures to tackle antisemitism and Holocaust denial at the conference. Some of the speakers included the Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
According to the NRM’s own website, the phrase was also projected onto other buildings which reportedly included Södervärn’s water tower and the building belonging to the Sydsvenskan newspaper. It appears as though the website domain belonging to the NRM was also projected onto the buildings.
The NRM uploaded several photos of the vandalised buildings to its website, stating that the projection was caused by a “National Socialist laser”, and wrote: “The fictional Holocaust is the global weapon of the globalists, which they use to disgrace, oppress and truly destroy our people. The Nordic resistance movement has been fighting the globalists since our founding in 1997 and therefore it is a matter of course that we protest against the Holocaust.”
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust)” is an example of antisemitism.
Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
In April, NRM flyers were found at a Jewish cemetery in Aalborg, Denmark that was vandalised during the Jewish festival of Passover. Last year, the NRM launched a series of focused campaigns against Jewish communities in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland throughout the week leading up to Yom Kippur.
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: NRM
Ireland to criminalise Holocaust denial
Ireland is set to criminalise Holocaust denial, it was reported last week.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is introducing the new hate crime bill which has the power to impose a “Class C fine”, “imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months”, or both to anyone who “publicly condones, denies or grossly trivialises any act falling within the definition of a ‘genocide’ in Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention).”
In January, Mr Martin said that education is an “important tool” in strengthening and deepening the collective understanding of the events of the Holocaust, and maintained that the country is continually committed to combating antisemitism.
While the new ban against Holocaust denial will come as welcome news to many, it is notable that Ireland remained neutral during the Second World War, and a recent report has indicated that Ireland has a problem with antisemitism. It was also reported last week that a politician in Ireland had claimed that Israel was trying to accomplish “Jewish supremacy”.
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.
Texas teachers told to offer “opposing” perspectives about the Holocaust
Teachers in Southlake, Texas were told that if they have a book about the Holocaust, they also need to have one that offers “opposing” perspectives, it was reported yesterday.
Gina Peddy, the Carroll school district’s Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, allegedly made the remarks last week, a few days after a fourth-grade teacher received a complaint from a parent for having an anti-racist book.
In audio from a meeting that was secretly recorded by one of the staff members, Ms Peddy can reportedly be heard telling teachers to “remember the concepts of [House Bill] 3979.” The bill refers to a new Texas law that requires teachers to offer differing views when discussing “widely debated and currently controversial” issues.
Ms Peddy reportedly added: “Make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one that has an opposing…that has other perspectives.”
One woman can be heard replying: “How do you oppose the Holocaust?” “Believe me,” Peddy appeared to respond. “That’s come up.”
Carroll spokesperson Karen Fitzgerald wrote that the school district “recognises that all Texas teachers are in a precarious position with the latest legal requirements,” referring to the new law. “Our purpose is to support our teachers in ensuring they have all of the professional development, resources and materials needed. Our district has not and will not mandate books be removed nor will we mandate that classroom libraries be unavailable.”
Ms Fitzgerald added that teachers who are unsure about a specific book “should visit with their campus principal, campus team and curriculum coordinators about appropriate next steps.”
One Carroll teacher, who kept her identity anonymous, said that “Teachers are literally afraid that we’re going to be punished for having books in our classes. There are no children’s books that show the ‘opposing perspective’ of the Holocaust or the ‘opposing perspective’ of slavery. Are we supposed to get rid of all of the books on those subjects?”
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.
Jews four times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than other faith groups, CAA analysis of Home Office stats shows
An analysis by Campaign Against Antisemitism of new Home Office statistics released this week shows that Jews are more than four times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.
Police forces across the country record hate crimes against Jews as religious hate crimes, and these records show that in the year 2020/21, 1,288 hate crimes were committed against Jews, making Jews the target in 20% – more than one in five – of the total number of religious hate crimes.
These figures mean that there is an average of over three hate crimes directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales. Hate crimes against Jews are also still widely believed to be under-reported, and also do not reflect the extent of antisemitic material and abuse on social media.
However, when one accounts for the miniscule size of the Jewish population, it emerges that Jews are statistically more than four times more likely to be the targets of hate crimes than any other religious group, with some 489 hate crimes per 100,000 of the Jewish population in 2020/21.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Once again, Home Office figures show that Jews are far more likely to be victims of hate crimes than any other religious group. Contrast this with the pitiful number of prosecutions for antisemitic hate crimes, and it throws into high relief the failure of the Crown Prosecution Service to take proportionate action against racism directed at the Jewish community. With England and Wales’ minuscule Jewish community suffering an average of more than three hate crimes every single day, identifying, prosecuting and punishing perpetrators is absolutely urgent.”
Woman reportedly douses Brooklyn Yeshiva in gasoline and sets it on fire
It has been reported that a woman doused a Brooklyn Yeshiva in gasoline and set it on fire.
The alleged incident happened last night at 19:27 at the Yeshiva of Flatbush on Avenue J. Camera footage released by police shows a woman, dressed in black, carrying a red gasoline canister.
A security guard inside the school claims to have witnessed the woman then set fire to the gasoline before fleeing. The guard then extinguished the fire with water before calling the police.
Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime and are searching for the woman.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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.
Former Love Island star Dr Alex George speaks out against antisemitic abuse aimed at his girlfriend on Instagram
Dr Alex George, the UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador and former Love Island star, has spoken out against the antisemitic abuse that his girlfriend, who is Jewish, has received on Instagram.
Dr George took to the social media app to repost his girlfriend Ellie Hecht’s Instagram story in which she highlighted some of the antisemitic abuse that she had been receiving. These messages included: “Jew? Need to check unfollow or not”, “Back to Nazi camp you go”, and “Jew should of been died in the war”.
Ms Hecht said: “Here are a handful of shocking messages I have received for my family heritage, from some uneducated trolls. I wasn’t going to post this but I have seen a lot of antisemitism recently and it isn’t talked about enough and I am shocked by the silence of the majority in the wake of very recent antisemitism.
“Jewish people have been persecuted for hundreds of years and it is still NOT okay. I couldn’t be more proud of my family heritage and on that note, I urge people to educate themselves before committing a hate crime. THINK before you send a horrible message. THINK before you are cruel to someone else for NO reason.”
She added: “Sadly, hate crime has gone up by 9 percent in the UK after the pandemic. This makes me so sad. Think about it like this: even after the Holocaust, even after all of those millions of people died because they were Jewish or gay or had a disability, and this is still happening. It makes me realise how bleak the future will be for my children.”
Dr George, commenting on the incident from his perspective, wrote: “I will not tolerate antisemitic abuse (nor any other abuse) towards Ellie in any way, shape or form. I can’t believe I am actually having to type this. Disgusting.”
He continued: “I feel awful now, all Ellie has done is be my gf. Feels like in a way I have brought this to her door. No one deserves that kind of abuse.”
He later thanked his followers for sending in messages of support, writing: “Thank you for all the kind messages to Ellie and I. Things do need to change. The good people in the world outweigh the bad.”
A few hours later, Dr George spoke directly to his Instagram followers in a video posted on his story, in which he said: “I just want to say thanks to everyone for your messages. I know I’ve kinda said that already but yeah, just to reiterate, and had a lot of messages from Jewish people, people from Jewish background, culture, who’ve experienced antisemitism and yeah, it’s pretty shocking.”
He continued: “It’s not okay really is it but we need to do more to tackle this.”
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.
Millwall football hooligans’ threatening “Attention Jews” poster found near club’s stadium
A poster with the words “Achtung Juden”, which is German for “Attention Jews”, put up by the Millwall Berserkers hooligan group was found near Millwall Football Club stadium.
The poster also featured the cockerel from Tottenham Hotspur Football Club’s logo with its head detached from its body and lying in blood.
Millwall Football Club removed the poster and said: “Millwall Football Club has a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination of any kind. This is a disgraceful action which the club immediately reported to the British Transport Police. Millwall will provide them with full and comprehensive cooperation with their investigation and any individual or group identified will be banned from the club for life.”
Millwall FC Supporters Club also condemned the poster, saying that it “abhors any such comment or content and that such material has not been produced or distributed by anyone with our knowledge. Whoever did so does not represent the Millwall fan base.”
On the Millwall Berserkers’ Instagram page, they have uploaded several of their logos and posters, two of which bear a striking resemblance to Nazi symbols.
One poster displays the words “South London Hooligans” alongside an image of a bird that appears almost identical to that of the Nazi eagle. Another logo seemingly utilises the Othala Rune, a symbol that is a part of the Runic alphabet which was co-opted by the Nazi Party and has since been used as a symbol of white supremacy.
Swastika graffiti discovered in Mill Hill East, North London
Swastika graffiti has been discovered in the North London area of Mill Hill East, it was reported today.
A photograph uploaded to Twitter shows two swastikas that have been daubed onto the pavement outside of a bus shelter.
It was also reported earlier this week that antisemitic graffiti was found in a toilet on a construction site in Hertfordshire. The photograph shows a swastika next to the words “f**k off yid c**ts.”
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: Danny Cohen
Deputy Chairperson in Irish Parliament reportedly claims Israel is trying to accomplish “Jewish supremacy”
A politician in Ireland has claimed that Israel is trying to accomplish “Jewish supremacy”, it was reported earlier this week.
Catherine Connolly, the Deputy Chairperson of the Lower House of Ireland’s Parliament, allegedly asked Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney if by his ministry’s “indicating support for the Jewish character of the Israeli state”, it agrees with “the treatment by Israel of Palestinian communities in its attempts to accomplish Jewish supremacy.”
It was also said that she asked Minister Coveney about “his views on whether these attempts to perpetuate the supremacy of Jews over Palestinians amount to apartheid, and if he will make a statement on the matter.”
The phrase “Jewish supremacy” is regarded by many as an antisemitic conspiracy theory which states that Jews harbour the goal of world domination, a false allegation that the Nazi Party used to justify its persecution against Jewish people.
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 Foreign Minister reportedly said that he “respect[s] the strong connection between the Jewish people and the State of Israel.”
“By their very nature, all states have certain inherent characteristics,” he said, using “socialist, democratic, united, Islamic, Arab or Jewish” as examples, but he added that those states should have “full respect for the equal rights of all citizens, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or other similar factors.”
Jewish Representative Council of Ireland Chairperson Maurice Cohen said that Deputy Connolly had “strayed into classic antisemitic language by perpetuating the trope of ‘Jewish supremacy.’”
“The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland urges all political parties, as well as both Houses of the Oireachtas [legislature] to immediately adopt the [Definition] of antisemitism to which the government is already a European signatory,” he added.
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.
World leaders speaking at Sweden conference call for stricter measures against antisemitism and Holocaust denial
World leaders called for further measures to tackle antisemitism and Holocaust denial yesterday at the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism.
Swedish Prime Minister Löfven spoke of previous milestones in the fight against antisemitism, naming the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust of January 2000, which led to the creation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and the 2020 IHRA Ministerial Declaration as important moments. “We are not looking for another declaration, we are looking to translate these principles of these documents into reality,” the Prime Minister said.
He continued: “I have therefore encouraged delegations that are representative here in Malmö today to present concrete measures to promote Holocaust remembrance and to combat antisemitism, anti-Gypsism and other forms of racism.”
Antisemitism is currently present in “extreme right-wing groups, parts of the Left, in Islamist environments and among ordinary citizens,” Prime Minister Löfven said, and said that it was also present “among adults and children who fled to Europe from countries where hatred of Jews is promoted in schools and through state-propaganda.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke of online antisemitism and the danger of violent attacks from extremists. He said: “We have witnessed thousands of antisemitic assaults, vandalism and threats from extremists all over, including in Malmö. This rise in antisemitic attacks on the streets, the physical attacks and assaults and verbal assaults, offensive articles and increasing intimidation on the web have been fueled, in large part, by the explosion of antisemitic incitement online.”
The President added that tackling antisemitism necessitates “working aggressively on social media, including with and confronting social media companies to ensure that hateful incitement is quickly removed,” while also adding that legislation, litigation, adjudication and law enforcement were also necessary tools in the fight against antisemitism.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who spoke out against antisemitism in Canada earlier this year during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, said that “we’ve seen so many different radical extremist groups of various types lashing out at so many different things, but one of the few, common things that so many of them have is an acceptance of antisemitic stereotypes and tropes that slip into their discourse, and that they build on so much of their other hatred on [sic].”
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who earlier this summer condemned antisemitism in a historic address, said that “each time someone denies the Shoah, each time an antisemitic act is committed, each time that a grave is desecrated, each time our memory is trampled on, it’s our shared humanity that is threatened.”
Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission, spoke of how the threat of antisemitism still exists for Jewish people, adding that it is also a “poison for our democracies, our values, and our open societies.” She continued: “We have to fight it, offline and online, and hate speech, disinformation and the denial of facts are everywhere online.”
The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is Jewish himself and was recently urged by a group of 70 Jewish officials from the United States Department of State to fire an “openly antisemitic” employee, delivered a statement at the conference in a recorded video in which he stated that the United States is “committed to remembrance and to fighting antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and hate in all of its modern forms.” He added that “The dangers of the Holocaust are not simply problems of the past..antisemitism is on the rise in many parts of the world.”
Secretary Blinken continued by outlining the steps that the United States has taken towards fighting antisemitism, which included pledging $1 million to counter antisemitic hate speech “online, in the Middle East, and North Africa”. He also stated that the United States was starting an expanded series of international visitor leadership programmes” which will work with “government and civil society representatives to confront Holocaust distortion and antisemitism in North Africa, Middle East, Europe, and Latin America.” The Secretary of State said that through working with congress, another $1 million will be given to tackle Holocaust denial in central Europe.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg also spoke at the event, saying that “At Facebook, we stand against hate of all kinds. We are working with governments and NGOs to fulfill the promise of ‘never again’.”
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-Nazi’s ashes “mistakenly” buried on plot of Jewish musicologist
Church authorities managing a Brandenburg cemetery have admitted to a “terrible mistake” after the ashes of a prominent neo-Nazi were buried in the grave of a Jewish-born musicologist.
Henry Hafenmayer, a 48-year-old Holocaust denier who died of an undisclosed illness, was well-known among German neo-Nazis, some of whom attended his funeral. During his life, Hafenmayer served a prison sentence for penning a series of antisemitic screeds to public bodies in which he branded the Holocaust a “lie”, which is a criminal offence in Germany where Holocaust denial falls foul of a law against “incitement of the people”.
Hafenmayer’s ashes were buried in a grave that used to hold the remains of Prof. Max Friedländer, a specialist in German Lieder who taught at Harvard University in the 1910s. Though Friedländer converted to Protestantism, he was born to a Jewish family, a fact not lost on the far-right activists who attended Hafenmayer’s funeral. Among those attending the funeral was Horst Mahler, a founder of the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group who later became a neo-Nazi.
The cemetery management explained that when a gravesite’s lease is not renewed after a “rest period” of ten to twenty years, the remains are removed and burial plots are reclaimed for new burials, but Friedländer’s headstone was still there because it was a listed monument.
In a statement, Christian Stäblein, a bishop at the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, said: “The burial of a Holocaust denier in the grave of Max Friedländer is a terrible mistake and a harrowing process in view of our history. We have to see immediately whether and what we can undo.”
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: Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia
Twelve-year-old Jewish girl assaulted by woman with a buggy
A twelve-year-old girl was assaulted by a woman with a buggy in Stamford Hill.
The incident took place at 16:15 on Clapton Common on 7th October 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: CAD8531 07/10/2020.
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.
Antisemitism is being “introduced to teenagers” through Instagram and TikTok, according to new report
Antisemitism is being “introduced to teenagers” through Instagram and TikTok, according to a new report from the anti-racism organisation Hope Not Hate.
The report also found that users were being led down a “rabbit hole of political extremism” due to the social media platforms’ algorithms and that users were spreading antisemitic sentiments using emojis and filters.
Common, antisemitic hashtags used on the platforms allegedly included #JewWorldOrder and #synagogueofsatan. In addition, hashtags seemingly belonging to broader conspiracy theories such as #illuminati and #NWO (New World Order) embedded hidden content that redirected users to antisemitic tropes. It was also reported that Instagram’s algorithm would present people looking at these hashtags with far-right accounts for them to follow.
We reported last year that Instagram and Facebook came under pressure to take action following the revelation that a network of 80,000 white supremacists was operating on its platform.
A spokesperson for Instagram said: “Antisemitism is completely unacceptable and we don’t allow it anywhere on Instagram. We’ve always removed attacks against people based on their religion, and last year we made important updates to our policies, to remove any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust, as well as more implicit hate speech, such as harmful stereotypes that Jewish people control the world.”
Hope Not Hate’s report said that while TikTok banned hashtags that appear blatantly antisemitic, such as #killthejews, other hashtags that may not include an overt reference to Jewish people but would still be considered antisemitic or direct people to antisemitic content, such as #rothschildfamily, #synagogueofsatan and #soros, had been viewed 25.1 million times in six months.
A spokesman for TikTok said: “TikTok condemns antisemitism, and we work aggressively to combat hate by proactively removing accounts and content that violate our policies and redirecting searches for hateful ideologies to our community guidelines.”
We recently produced a series of posts highlighting TikTok’s problem of allowing content that promoted Holocaust denial.
In July, we reported that according to a new study, antisemitic content on the social media platform TikTok had increased by 912%. According to research from Dr Gabriel Weimann of the University of Haifa and Natalie Masri of IDC Herzliya’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism, antisemitic comments on TikTok grew 912% from 41 in 2020 to 415 in 2021, and the platform saw 61 antisemitic postings so far this year compared to 43 last year. Antisemitic tropes and images that were used in video content included Nazi salutes, diminishing the impact of the Holocaust, and propagating caricatures of Jews with long, hooked noses.
Last week, we wrote that new measures laid out by Ofcom could mean fines for video-sharing platforms like TikTok and Twitch.
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.
Chabad rabbi’s car defaced with swastika and other antisemitic graffiti in Santa Monica
The car belonging to the rabbi at Chabad at Santa Monica College (SMC) was defaced with a swastika and other antisemitic sentiments.
Last Thursday, Rabbi Eli M. Levitansky’s car was vandalised with the Nazi symbol as well as a Star of David next to the words “is illegal”. Rabbi Levitansky spoke of how the vandalism was “a shock” and that “it obviously was a targeted crime” as his was the only car that was defaced.
In response to the vandalism, Rabbi Levitansky took to the Chabad’s Facebook page to encourage people to carry out a mitzvah (a good deed stemming from religious observance). “The idea was really to give this message that, in such an event, the best response is to combat it with action and with positivity,” Levitansky said, adding: “People have written that they will be lighting Shabbat candles because of this, or they will be doing charity because of this, things of that nature. That is very, very heartwarming to see…it’s not just an outpouring of support, which is nice to see, but it’s an outpouring with the next step, with action taken.”
Michael Tuitasi, Vice President of Student Affairs, said that he was “sickened” by the “horrible, hateful incident”, calling Rabbi Levitansky “a great mentor to the Jewish students at Santa Monica College and whom I consider an integral part of the extended college community.” “While the incident did not occur at the college, it is felt by our community and strongly condemned.”
Mr Tuitasi also said that SMC is creating “a space for students who may have been impacted by this incident” and urged students to contact the SMC Center for Wellness and & Wellbeing.
“At Santa Monica College, there is no room for hate. SMC stands firmly against antisemitism just as the college stands against all forms of discrimination and hate. While we cannot control hateful actions that take place away from Santa Monica College, this college is dedicated to creating a safe environment for all our students, and denounces hate speech or actions,” Mr Tuitasi said. He went on to call Rabbi Levitansky’s response to the vandalism “inspiring.” “Instead of letting this act of darkness take him away from efforts to do good during the Jewish holidays, he has redoubled his efforts to help the community come together and spread light.”
In July, a swastika was found spray-painted onto the pavement next to a car belonging to the Jewish son of Holocaust survivors.
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: StopAntisemitism.org
Man pleads guilty to multiple offences after verbally abusing Jewish people attending a synagogue
Tejinder Lohia, who subjected members of the Jewish community to a “torrent of racist abuse” which included “Kill you Jews, F**k Jews” and invoking Adolf Hitler’s name, has pleaded guilty to multiple offences.
The alleged incident took place on Clapton Common and was reported on 10th September by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
Mr Lohia was charged with one count of using threatening/abusive/insulting words with intent to cause fear of/provoke unlawful violence, two counts of racially/religiously aggravated fear/provocation of violence by words, and three counts of possession of a controlled Class A drug (cocaine).
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced last week at Thames Magistrates Court to a twelve-week prison term, suspended for twelve months, and unpaid work and alcohol treatment.
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: Stamford Hill Shomrim
Toronto law professor apologises for pairing Nazi quote with photo of Jewish judge on Twitter
A Toronto law professor has apologised for changing his Twitter profile photo to an image of a Jewish judge with a quote attributed to a well-known Nazi written over it.
Professor Mohammad Fadel, who teaches Business Organisations at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, changed his Twitter profile photo last week to that of Justice David Spiro, a Jewish member of Canada’s Tax Court, with the words “The sovereign is he who decides the exceptions” written below. This is a quote from Carl Schmitt, who was an active member of the Nazi Party. Prof. Fadel also changed his Twitter name to “Schmitt lives in Toronto.”
Prof. Fadel has since released an apology in which he said that although he “never intended to compare Justice Sprio to a Nazi,” he understood in retrospect why people accused him of making the connection. He went on to say that he was “deeply sorry for the pain” that he “unintentionally caused them.”
In August, the University of California Merced launched a formal investigation into the alleged antisemitism of Prof. Abbas Ghassemi after he reportedly tweeted that “Zionists” controlled the American economy, government policy, banking, and media.
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.
Jewish man leaving North London synagogue punched in the face
A Jewish man leaving a synagogue in Clapton Common was punched in the face, it was reported on Friday.
It was also alleged that the attacker filmed the incident.
The incident was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 3799 07/10/21
In April, a rabbi was assaulted in Clapton Common by a man yelling “Dirty Jew, I am going to kill you!”
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.
Anti-vaccination blogger places yellow stars on her children and wears concentration camp uniform for social media
An Australian anti-vaccination blogger has received backlash after uploading photographs to social media in which she placed yellow stars on her children and wore a concentration camp inmate’s uniform.
Sarah Mills, who is popular in anti-vaccination circles, has a following of more than 100,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
In one photo, which she accompanied with the words, “history is repeating itself”, the mother of three can be seen with her children posing whilst wearing the yellow star that was forced upon Jews during the Holocaust with the words “No Vax” written on them. The caption to the photo read: “As of today I may no longer enter restaurants, cafes, theatres, cinemas, concerts, museums, sporting events, pools, clothing stores or anything deemed non-essential. I live in regional [New South Wales] so we’ve been living freely for a while now, until today. Yesterday I was safe to be in public, today I am a threat.”
In another image captioned “Prisoner 385968 reporting for duty”, Ms Mills can be seen wearing the blue and white uniforms that prisoners in concentration camps were forced to wear with a number tag. She added: “Does anyone know where we get our full uniform? I’ve found the shirt but wasn’t sure if there’s anywhere you can get them as a set? or are we just provided them upon arrival? Sending love to my future inmates.”
In a previous post in which she referred to her perception of a division between people who chose to have the COVID-19 vaccination and those who did not, the blogger wrote: “I’m starting to learn who would have hidden Anne Frank and who would have turned her over to the Nazis.”
Ms Mills denied comparing unvaccinated people to Holocaust victims, telling Daily Mail Australia: “I am in NO way comparing the deaths of millions of people to not being allowed into Kmart, but people need to look at where that ‘them/us’ situation began.”
The inflammatory and misleading comparison has been used among anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks, which have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.
In August, antisemitic protest signs have prompted hate speech and incitement of violence investigations in France. Earlier this year, organisers of an anti-vaccine demonstration in the city of Avignon were described as “brainless” for using the Nazi yellow star in their protest. Joseph Szwarc, a Holocaust survivor, spoke out against these use of the yellow star, 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 States, Canada, Ukraine and elsewhere.
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: Facebook
Labour reportedly set to name and accuse five former staff, including Seumas Milne, Karie Murphy and Laura Murray, of leaking internal report on antisemitism
The Labour Party is set to name and accuse five of its former staff of leaking a controversial report into the handling of antisemitism cases at Party headquarters.
The mammoth report was compiled in the final months of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and was titled “The work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014 – 2019”. Although the report – which was reportedly the product of a review of 10,000 separate emails and thousands of private WhatsApp communications between former senior party officials – said that its “findings prove the scale of the problem, and could help end the denialism amongst some part of the Party membership,” it nonetheless insisted that there was “no evidence” of antisemitism complaints being treated differently to other forms of complaint, or of “antisemitic intent” among current or former staff.
Crucially, the report argued that Labour headquarters was beset by factionalism and attempts to undermine the Corbyn leadership, which laid the groundwork for a ‘stab in the back’ myth that the Labour Party machine betrayed the far-left in order to prevent Mr Corbyn from electoral victory.
At the time, Campaign Against Antisemitism described the report as a “last ditch attempt to discredit antisemitism allegations.”
At first, the report, believed to have been commissioned by then-General Secretary Jennie Formby, was not released to the public, and was intended to be sent to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as part of its investigation into Labour antisemitism, in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant. Based on legal advice, however, the report was not submitted.
Instead, within a short time, an unredacted version of the 860-page report was leaked by unknown persons and then disseminated by some twenty individuals, including Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP, putting Jewish people mentioned in the report at risk.
Individuals named in the report – including former staffers criticised over factionalism – launched legal proceedings against the Labour Party for breach of their privacy, while Labour launched an internal investigation led by Martin Forde QC (publication of the results of which has been delayed indefinitely due to the ICO’s investigation) and a further independent inquiry, while the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the data regulator, also commenced an investigation.
The claimants sought, in the course of the litigation, to force Labour to disclose the names of those believed to have leaked the report, which Labour resisted, arguing that, although it “reasonably believes” that it knows who leaked the report, it could not be certain beyond doubt and therefore that innocent individuals might be wrongly implicated. The court agreed that there was a “real risk” of this and rejected the attempt, made by a claimant via a Norwich Pharmaceutical order, to force disclosure.
However, the Party has now changed course and is reportedly planning to lodge papers with the High Court naming Seumas Milne, the far-left journalist who served as Mr Corbyn’s Executive Director of Strategy and Communications; Karie Murphy, a trade unionist and Mr Corbyn’s chief of staff, whose nomination for a peerage was blocked; Laura Murray, a disgraced Corbyn aide who was appointed to lead the Labour Party’s disciplinary process; Georgie Robertson, who worked in Labour’s communications team; and Harry Hayball, a staffer in Labour’s Governance and Legal Unit and former Head of Digital Communications at Momentum who was reportedly labelled as the author in the report’s metadata.
It is understood that both the Forde inquiry and the independent Labour investigation interviewed all five individuals, who deny that they are the source of the leak and are now reportedly considering bringing their own legal claims against the Party for breaching their confidentiality by naming them. A spokesperson for the individuals reportedly said that “They entirely reject these baseless claims. They did not leak the report, and fully cooperated with the Party’s independent investigation by an external investigator, and the inquiry led by Martin Forde QC. They understand that neither of those investigations concluded that they were responsible.”
It is believed that the Labour Party may now be naming the individuals in order to try to shift liability for any potential data breaches away from the Party and towards the individuals allegedly responsible. The individuals’ solicitors said:“To the extent that the Labour Party has explained its proposed action, it is clear that it will be naming the individuals in an attempt to deflect on to them its own liability in claims brought by a group of claimants who are suing the Party over the leak as well as the Party bringing a related claim direct against the five. The Party apparently admits that its case against the individuals is purely circumstantial and inferential, but has failed even to set out that case properly in correspondence, despite its obligations to do so under the relevant Court Protocol.”
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.
Outrage online after host club in Osaka holds Nazi-themed night
A host club in Japan has come under fire after holding a Nazi-themed night, it was revealed recently.
Host clubs are a type of nightclub where female staff members are paid to drink and spend time with male customers. In some instances, customers are presented with a “menu” of available hosts.
Twitter users were dismayed to find out that the Unfair Club in Osaka chose to host a theme night in which staff wore Nazi uniforms.
In addition to this, the event released promotional material advertising the night featuring swastikas. A photo of the inside of the club shows someone surrounded by bottles of alcohol that display swastikas on them, and is sitting in front of a large swastika that has been mounted on the wall.
One user wrote: “This is what the inside of the Nazi host club looks like. Ignorance and stupidity at its finest.”
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 accused of Holocaust denial and pedophilia found with £2.5 million stash of Nazi memorabilia in Brazil
A man accused of Holocaust denial and pedophilia has reportedly been found with a stash of Nazi memorabilia worth £2.5 million in Brazil.
The Nazi items were allegedly discovered in a raid of the man’s home when police served him with an arrest warrant. The man has been accused of raping a minor and abusing other children at his home in western Rio de Janeiro.
The man was also charged with illegal possession of a weapon and racial discrimination.
The items reportedly included Nazi uniforms, images of Adolf Hitler, periodicals, Nazi insignia, flags and medals of the Third Reich at his home, as well as guns and ammunition from the era.
Luis Armond, the lead detective on the case, said that the individual is “a smart guy and articulate, but he’s a Holocaust denier, he’s homophobic, he’s a pedophile and he says he hunts homosexuals.” He added: “I’m no doctor, but he seems to me an insane psychopath. This is something that is totally unusual and shocking.”
Following the raid, police are said to be investigating the suspect’s connection to a number of far-right groups.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.
CAA praises UK and Australia for principled vote against hypocritical UN resolution that pretends to condemn racism while endorsing antisemitic Durban process
The UK and Australia have jointly repudiated a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council that pretended to condemn racism while endorsing the antisemitic Durban process.
The UK’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, Simon Manley, issued a Joint Statement on the Resolution Calling for Action Against Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance on behalf of both nations, in which he reiterated the UK and Australia’s “commitment to combating all forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia and related intolerance whether that be at home or abroad.” He further insisted that the two allies are “committed to engaging on UN resolutions which consider how to eliminate racial discrimination.”
However, Mr Manely went on to declare that the UK and Australia “do not agree with the multiple references to the Durban Conference [in the resolution], given the historic concerns over antisemitism.”
Mr Manley was referring to the Durban conferences, while, while presented under the guise of combatting racism, have previously provided a stage for antisemitic hate speech and actions. At the original 2001 conference in the South African city, there were attempts to equate Zionism with racism, in an echo of the United Nations’ darkest period. Subsequent review conferences in the Durban series have included the distribution of the notorious antisemitic propaganda, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an early twentieth-century forgery long used to incite mob violence against Jews, as well as then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referring to the Holocaust as “ambiguous and dubious.”
Mr Manley observed that “the UK and Australia did not attend the recent 20th anniversary commemorative event for the Third World Conference Against Racism. There were reportedly nearly 40 states who, like us, made the decision not take part.”
He said that the two Western nations “cannot accept the references [in the resolution] to the Durban Review Conference or the positive language welcoming the recent commemorative event in New York.”
He urged the Council to consider “why so many states stayed away and how we can move forward,” and declared that “racism should be tackled in all its forms and, regrettably, for far too long, the UN has downplayed the scourge of antisemitism. This must end. The UK is clear that we will not attend future iterations of the Durban Conference while concerns over antisemitism remain.”
He ended by calling for a vote on the resolution so that the UK and Australia could vote against it.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reiterated on Twitter that “The UK is committed to tackling antisemitism and racism around the world,” rightly observing that the UK and Australia’s stance on this resolution is entirely consistent with that commitment.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We welcome this joint statement by the Governments of the UK and Australia that calls out the UN Human Rights Council’s hypocrisy, claiming to fight racism on the one hand while endorsing antisemitism on the other. No fight against racism can succeed if it ignores, marginalises or enables racism against Jewish people. It is time that the UN and its institutions learned that.”
Candidate for Mayor of Rome faces backlash after saying Jews “control banks and a lobby capable of deciding the fate of the planet”
A candidate hoping to become elected as the next Mayor of Rome is facing backlash for comments he made about Jews and the Holocaust in an article.
Enrico Michetti, the right-wing candidate who is also a radio presenter and lawyer, wrote an article last year in which he claimed that victims of other mass killings are thought of less than those who died in the Holocaust because they “did not own banks and did not belong to a lobby that is capable of deciding the destiny of the planet.”
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.
Mr Michetti was criticised by Emanuele Fiano, a Jewish MP from the centre-Left Democratic Party, who said: “My grandparents, who were gassed at Auschwitz, were much poorer than you, Michetti, as were my uncle and aunt and my great uncles and aunts.”
Mr Fiano added that he hoped Mr Michetti would be “ashamed of these words for the rest of your life,” before adding: “I have no pity for adults, cultured, who in 2020 make such a remark. I will not accept excuses. You don’t deserve excuses.”
Ruth Dureghello, the President of the Jewish community of Rome, said that Mr Michetti’s remarks were “dangerous” and that they hid “a disturbing prejudice.”
In a statement on Saturday, Mr Michetti seemingly tried to retract his words, stating: “The Holocaust was unique in its inhumanity against men and women who had done no wrong whatsoever, the lowest point in history. The utmost vigilance and unity is required by everyone against all forms of antisemitism, so that what happened never happens again, not even in other guises.”
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.
“A cosmopolitan enjoying state benefits to fatten himself up and live in two countries, to make money here and spend it there,” says Belarus state TV about murdered Jewish dissident
Belarus state television has described a murdered Jewish dissident as “a cosmopolitan enjoying state benefits to fatten himself up and live in two countries, to make money here and spend it there.”
Andrei Zelzer, a 31-year-old programmer, was shot dead by security forces during a raid at his home in Minsk as part of a crackdown against dissidents by the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Plainclothes personnel from the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus reportedly entered Mr Zelzer’s home with orders to arrest him. According to the Government, Mr Zelzer killed one of them during the raid.
Ryhor Azaronak, a news anchor on STV, a state television channel, then described Mr Zelzer using tropes reminiscent of antisemitic Soviet propaganda, claiming also that Mr Zelzer was American. It is understood that no new outlet has confirmed this dubious claim about his nationality, although Mr Zelzer did work for a US-based information technology company founded by a Belarusian Jew who now lives in the United States.
During the monologue, Mr Azaronak reportedly employed a stereotypical accent of Yiddish-speaking Soviet Jews.
It is believed that there are about 9,500 Jews in Belarus.
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 writes to Amazon after company is reported to be profiting from book promoting Holocaust denial by far-right leader Mark Collett
Campaign Against Antisemitism will be writing to Amazon after it was reported that the online marketplace has cut a book deal with Mark Collett, the leader of far-right group Patriotic Alternative.
Patriotic Alternative is known for its efforts to recruit youth to its white nationalist ideology. Previously, the far-right group published an online “alternative” home school curriculum condemned as “poison” and “hateful” and attempted to recruit children as young as twelve through livestreaming events on YouTube, according to The Times.
It is led by the former head of the youth wing of the BNP, Mark Collett, who is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, collaborated with the infamous American antisemite David Duke, and espoused antisemitic and racist views.
Mr Collett’s book, The Fall of Western Man, says that Adolf Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies would have been “something that one would have been proud to be a part of”, adding that “Those in attendance wore uniforms, looked healthy and were of good breeding stock.” He also said that “when it comes to the notion of white guilt, nothing is pushed more strongly” than the “alleged extermination of six million Jews at the hands of the German people”.
He continues: “The Holocaust has been elevated to a level of importance so great that it has its own worldwide day of remembrance, and a multi-million dollar industry exists to push the established narrative. The Holocaust industry churns out movies, books and television shows on a regular basis to ensure that the Holocaust is constantly kept in the collective mind of Western man.”
“Western man is also brainwashed and enslaved by notions of white guilt that stem from false historical narratives of his colonial past, slavery and the Holocaust,” Mr Collett writes.
The book’s website features reviews of the book, including one from David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Mr Duke said that the book was “An excellent and incisive work”, adding: “It’s a book I recommend to anyone who wants to understand the deeper mechanisms and processes that are leading to the ethnic cleansing of the European People from the civilisation which they created.”
According to The Times, Amazon is selling the book on its website for between £15 to £25 and has struck a deal with Mr Collett in which it receives 85% of the book’s earnings, despite its claim to not sell certain content including content that they determine is “hate speech” or other material they deem “inappropriate or offensive”.
Amazon has said: “As a bookseller, we believe that providing access to written speech is important, including books that some may find objectionable. We have policies that outline what products may be sold in our stores, and we invest significant time and resources to ensure our content guidelines are followed. We remove products that do not adhere to our guidelines.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism will be writing to Amazon to demand the book’s removal from its website, as well as an apology and for all proceeds from the book to be put towards Holocaust education programmes.
According to Hope Not Hate’s report, Patriotic Alliance is “a racist far-right organisation with antisemitism at its very core. They aim to combat the ‘replacement and displacement’ of white Britons by people who ‘have no right to these lands’.” The group reportedly holds that “it is Jewish elites, particularly, who are orchestrating the ‘replacement’ of white Britons.”
Earlier this year, the far-right group was found to be using the social media platform Telegram to create neo-Nazi channels dedicated to sharing vile messages, antisemitic conspiracy theories and images glorifying Hitler. A report into Patriotic Alternative published last summer found that several members of the group engaged in Holocaust denial.
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.
CAA to write to BBC after blurb for French period drama describes Alfred Dreyfus as “notorious Jewish spy”
The BBC has edited the blurb for a French period drama on iplayer that described the wrongly-convicted French military officer Alfred Dreyfus as a “notorious Jewish spy”.
In its description of the new BBC4 series, Paris Police 1900, the BBC wrote: “French period crime drama. The French Republic is in turmoil as rumours spread about the release from Devil’s Island of Dreyfus, the notorious Jewish spy.”
Alfred Dreyfus was a French army captain wrongfully charged with espionage in the 1890s because he was Jewish. He was tried and convicted, leading to an outcry and his eventual release. The real spy was caught and Dreyfus was reinstated into the army and served honourably in WWI. The Dreyfus affair is considered one of the most momentous incidents in the history of European Jewry and antisemitism.
The BBC must apologise for this incredible oversight, and we shall be writing to the Corporation.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Somehow, the most basic facts about the antisemitic Dreyfus affair eluded BBC producers in their description of a programme about this very period in French history. One wonders how authentic the period drama could hope to be if it fails to grasp such elementary background. The BBC must apologise, and we shall be writing to the Corporation.”
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].
Tortoise news website apologises over cartoon showing Mark Zuckerberg as a parasite controlling the world
Tortoise news website has apologised after publishing a cartoon on social media showing Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg as a parasite controlling the world.
The cartoon reportedly referenced a story about a Facebook whistleblower who testified in the United States Senate last week, and was shared to Tortoise’s 19,000 followers on Instagram.
The cartoon, which showed Mr Zuckerberg as a parasite with octopus-like tentacles engulfing the planet, was captioned: “This parasite can now be found the world over! It is ever mutating to control more and more of our cognitive functions.”
Tortoise media, which was launched in 2019 by former BBC News director James Harding, describes itself as “slower, wiser news without all the noise.”
“We fully accept that the cartoons should not have appeared and apologise for the hurt they have caused. We are removing them immediately from the Tortoise website and social media,” Tortoise said in a statement, adding that the website recognised the “unintended echoes of antisemitic visual tropes” in the image.
The cartoonist, Edith Pritchett, also apologised, saying that it had not occurred to her that the cartoon could have caused offence in that way, but that “it should have done and I am extremely sorry to have caused such hurt.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This appalling cartoon plays into age-old antisemitic tropes of parasitism, global power and media control. We welcome Tortoise’s prompt removal of the cartoon and apology, but the real question is how a media organisation led by some of the country’s leading journalists could design and approve such an image. The publication of this cartoon demonstrates that insensitivity and ignorance about the mutations and manifestations of antisemitism remain rampant in the media industry and how much more work there is to do to educate the most influential people in our society.”
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].
Argentinian Jews to appeal judge’s dismissal of case against Former President Kirchner over AMIA cover-up
The Argentinian Jewish community has resolved to appeal last week’s judicial decision to dismiss the case against former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner over her alleged role in a cover-up of Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre.
The terror attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AIMA) building in Buenos Aires on 18th July 1994 killed 85 people and wounded hundreds.
Last Thursday, a judge in the Argentine capital dismissed the case against Ms Kirchner, who is a former President and is currently serving as Vice President in the administration of President Alberto Fernandez, her former chief of staff.
In 2018, a federal judge ruled that Kirchner, the former foreign minister and other aides would be tried in connection with a 2013 agreement with Iran that whitewashed the Islamic Republic’s involvement in the bombing.
The existence of the pact was exposed by Alberto Nisman, the federal prosecutor leading the AMIA investigation who was found murdered in his Buenos Aires apartment in January 2015 just before he filed a formal complaint against the Kirchner government over the agreement. Ms Kirchner falsely portrayed his death as a suicide, and questions have long lingered over whether any of the defendants might have been implicated in the assassination.
The head of the Argentine umbrella Jewish organisation DAIA said that “We continue to demand justice and the bringing of the accused to trial,” and pledged that DAIA would appeal the decision.
The Jewish community has long been frustrated and intimidated in its search for justice in the bombing.
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.
New poll shows almost half of the British public believes police have antisemitism problem
A new poll has suggested that almost half of the British public believes that the police have a problem with antisemitism.
Left Foot Forward commissioned Savanta: ComRes to ask the public to what extent they thought that the police in general have a problem with antisemitism. 46 percent of respondents said that they did believe that the police have a problem with antisemitism, compared with 29 precent who said that they did not. A quarter of respondents said that they did not know.
Seventeen percent of respondents said that they thought that the police had a “significant” problem with antisemitism.
Geographically, 56 percent of Londoners – the highest proportion of any region – believed that police had a problem with antisemitism, with over half of respondents agreeing in Scotland, Wales and the North West.
Six in ten 2019 Labour and Liberal Democrat voters also agreed, compared to just over four in ten (42 percent) of Conservative voters.
Whilst concern about antisemitism in the police is high, concerns about problems with racism, sexism and class bias are even higher.
A spokesperson for the Home Office reportedly said: “We are clear that any form of prejudice in policing is unacceptable and the Government remains committed with police leaders to address these issues and keep our communities safe. Allegations of racism including antisemitism should be treated extremely seriously by the police and any allegations of misconduct aggravated by discrimination must be referred immediately to the IOPC [Independent Office for Police Conduct]. We are working closely with the police to deliver the diverse police workforce that our communities need.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s latest Antisemitism Barometer showed that 40 percent of British Jews do not believe that the police do enough to protect them. Still, the police are the most trusted branch of the criminal justice system among British Jews, with the courts and Crown Prosecution Service coming in for greater criticism.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These are sobering figures that tally extraordinarily closely with how the Jewish community itself feels about the police. Our research has shown that four in ten British Jews do not believe that the police do enough to protect them. Jewish confidence in the police is not helped by revelations of police officers affiliated to neo-Nazi groups or who participate in racist WhatsApp groups. Nor is it boosted by questionable policy decisions, such as the Met’s refusal to prohibit a second ‘Free Palestine’ convoy to drive through London earlier this year, even after the first convoy was involved in wholesale harassment of Jewish neighbourhoods and numerous antisemitic hate crimes.
“This poll shows that, while the Jewish community is indebted to our police forces for the immense good that they do, our concerns with shortcomings in British policing are registering with the wider public. We hope that this will lead to the changes we need.”
Recently, an officer in the Metropolitan Police was convicted and imprisoned for being a member of the banned neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action, while the Met is also investigating multiple police officers over their participation in antisemitic protests whilst in uniform.
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.
Chelsea fan pleads guilty to sending antisemitic tweets aimed towards Tottenham supporters
A man who was charged after a series of antisemitic, hateful, and racist tweets were identified by Chelsea Football Club has pleaded guilty.
After an investigation by the Metropolitan Police, Nathan Blagg, 21, of Retford in Nottinghamshire was charged last month with seven counts of sending by public communication network an offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message/matter which violate the Malicious Communications Act. The charges refer to seven tweets sent between 29th September, 2020 and 5th February, 2021.
Mr Blagg pleaded guilty to all charges today at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. The court heard that Mr Blagg was initially reported by a West Brom fan before his posts were investigated by Chelsea Football Club’s security team and finally passed on to the police. The posts included images as well as tweets and retweets of offensive messages.
Prosecutor David Roberts said that there was a “racially aggravated” element because of the “antisemitic nature” of many of the tweets.
Maeve Thornton, defending, reportedly said that Mr Blagg had been suffering at the time from “low moods” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms Thornton said: “He has got drawn into this in terms of a lack of awareness and understanding of the impact this was going to have.
“With hindsight, he now understands how wrong this is. He is indeed very remorseful and very apologetic and has taken steps to address his offending by removing himself from Twitter. There is not going to be a repeat of this behaviour moving forward.”
Mr Blagg has been released on unconditional bail until the date of his sentencing, which is expected to be held on 5th November.
In April, Chelsea Football Club announced that it had banned an abusive online troll from its matches for ten years after he hounded a Jewish journalist who came forward and received support from Campaign Against Antisemitism.
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.
Tower Hamlets and police investigating antisemitic sign on council property after contact from CAA
Tower Hamlets and the Metropolitan Police are investigating an antisemitic sign in the window of a private residence on council property after being alerted by Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The sign, which read “Wake Up! We are living in a psychopathic Zionist military police state. Smash the Jewish white supremacist Nazis”, was displayed in the window on the corner of Virginia Road and Columbia Road and was reported to us by a member of the public.
We alerted the local council, which is investigating, as well as the Met police (reference number BCA-110897-21-0101-IR). If you have any more information, please contact us at [email protected] or the police on 101, quoting the reference number above.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Antisemitic incitement cannot be tolerated and we will always take action when victims and witnesses bring incidents to our attention. We welcome the investigations by Tower Hamlets and the Met Police into this distressing sign and expect its prompt removal.”
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.
Convoy suspects plead not guilty in court on charges punishable by up to three years in prison
Four men from Blackburn have entered pleas of not guilty after being charged in connection with the alleged antisemitic abuse shouted from a ‘Free Palestine’ convoy in North London in May.
Appearing yesterday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Mohammed Iftikhar Hanif, 27; Jawaad Hussain, 24; Asif Ali, 25; and Adil Mota, 26, all from Blackburn, pleaded not guilty to charges of using threatening, abusive or insulting words, or behaviour, with intent, likely to stir up racial hatred.
The charges relate to the convoy on 16th May, participants in which were caught on video allegedly shouting through a megaphone “F*** the Jews…rape their daughters” as they drove through Jewish neighbourhoods waving the flag of the Palestinian Authority, during fighting between Hamas and Israel.
The incident took place a stone’s throw from a synagogue in West Hampstead and continued into St John’s Wood. The convoy had previously and provocatively passed through other Jewish neighbourhoods as well, including Hendon and Golders Green.
The abuse was condemned by the Prime Minister and Home Secretary.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Service admitted that they had failed so badly to monitor the convoy that it took hours to find the car in question, which was identified from photographs taken by a Jewish member of the public who had the presence of mind to capture images of the vehicles’ licence plates. Later that day, the four arrests were made.
The charges are punishable by up to three years in prison.
It is understood that Mr Mota’s lawyer told the court that his client was travelling as part of the convoy but was not involved in the alleged incident.
All four defendants were released without bail conditions, with the trial scheduled for 3rd November at Wood Green Crown Court.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to the Home Secretary calling on her to proscribe Hamas in full in the UK, and has urged all MPs to do the same.
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.
Conservatives confirm that inflammatory group calling itself “Conservative Friends of Palestine” is not affiliated to the Party
The Conservatives have reportedly confirmed that the inflammatory group that calls itself “Conservative Friends of Palestine” is not affiliated to the Party.
The so-called Conservative Friends of Palestine, which operates a website and a Twitter handle with a modest following, claims to “seek to promote conservative values and provide new thinking on the Israeli-Palestine conflict that acknowledges the reality on the ground and advances long term solutions based on principles of equality and justice.”
Its website continues: “Besides providing a space for conservatives to come together and challenge the current one-state reality of the conflict that is so damaging, we aim to promote Palestinian voices that so often get left out of the conversation.”
However, in reality the group has constantly courted controversy, for example talking about “false accusations of antisemitism” and complaining about the “weaponising of antisemitism”. The website also has a bookshop offering numerous controversial and inflammatory books, and the group is staunchly opposed to the widespread adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism, particularly by universities, which is a flagship policy of the Government, which was the first national government in the world to adopt the Definition.
The status of this controversial group in relation to the Conservative Party has been a matter of concern, and we are pleased that the Party has apparently confirmed that the group is not affiliated.
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.
Nazi stickers with razor blades placed underneath found at Kent bus stop near primary school
Nazi stickers with razor blades placed underneath have been found in Kent at a bus stop near a primary school.
The stickers were discovered at the Dunton Green bus stop on 22nd September.
The Vice-Principal of nearby Dartford Technology College wrote to parents to warn them of the stickers, saying: “The school has received a message from Kent County Council regarding an abhorrent incident of vandalism, whereby extremist and racist stickers were attached to a bus stop that was very close to a primary school. The worrying aggravating factor was that razor blades were slipped underneath the stickers, creating an injury risk when removing stickers.”
Sightings of other stickers were reportedly made on 5th September in Chatham and on 8th September on Henry Street. Kent Police said that the stickers in Chatham did not have razor blades behind them.
Inspector Matt Atkinson from Sevenoaks’ Community Safety Unit said: “This is disturbing behaviour and while I do not want to cause people to panic, I do want to raise awareness of this issue. Publicly promoting offensive, hate-filled notices is not acceptable in itself but adding razor blades to potentially seriously harm somebody is despicable.”
“If anyone has information as to who placed these stickers in this location or sees anything similar of concern please do report it via 101 and do not attempt to remove them,” he added.
In June, a sticker belonging to the neo-Nazi group, British National Socialist Movement, was found on a lamppost near Manchester’s Charedi Jewish community.
Last year, members of the proscribed National Action group were sentenced to prison, having engaged, amongst other activities, in far-right stickering and recruitment campaigns. Campaign Against Antisemitism continues to monitor and report on far-right stickering campaigns.
Image credit: Google
CAA writes to Netflix over provocateur Dave Chappelle’s antisemitic comments in ‘comedy’ special
Campaign Against Antisemitism is writing to the streaming giant Netflix over provocateur Dave Chappelle’s new ‘comedy’ special over antisemitic comments he makes during the programme.
In “The Closer”, released on Tuesday, Mr Chappelle makes off-colour comments about numerous minority groups. Regarding Jewish people, he says: “In my movie idea, we find out that these aliens are originally from earth — that they’re from an ancient civilization that achieved interstellar travel and left the earth thousands of years ago. Some other planet they go to, and things go terrible for them on the other planet, so they come back to earth, [and] decide that they want to claim the earth for their very own. It’s a pretty good plotline, huh? I call it ‘Space Jews’.”
The implication is that the inhuman Jews left their ancient homeland and other countries of their dispersion of their own volition. After causing destruction elsewhere they have now returned to reclaim what they had willingly abandoned, even at the expense of misery of others. As an analogy it shows breathtaking ignorance of Jewish and world history, not to mention current affairs, and plays into antisemitic tropes about Jewish otherness, world domination, insularity, parasitism and evil.
The incoherent ‘joke’ receives little applause, with Mr Chappelle reacting by saying: “All right, it’s gonna get worse than that, hang in there.”
Mr Chappelle later makes another comment referencing how Jews subject others to the atrocities that they suffered in the Holocaust. “How can a person perpetuate the same evil on a person that looks just like him?” he asks. “It’s mind blowing. And shockingly, they’re making a movie about him. Ironically, it’s called “Space Jews’.”
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The claim is a form both of Holocaust inversion and also Holocaust denial, as the analogy minimises the scope of the genocide of the Jewish people by making baseless equations.
Mr Chappelle’s programme has also drawn the ire of other minority groups.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Antisemitism and minimising the Holocaust are no joke. Whilst there is always a place for light-hearted humour, Dave Chapelle’s so-called comedy is barely coherent and plays on the ignorant prejudices of his audience. It is bad enough to do so in the confines of a comedy club, but to be streamed into living rooms around the world courtesy of Netflix is an undeserved privilege for someone willing to mock the trauma of Jewish history and the memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide. We shall be writing to Netflix for the show to be pulled from its service.”
Earlier this year, Netflix rightly condemned antisemitism and Holocaust denial. We hope they now live up to that commitment.
New Ofcom rules could mean fines for TikTok and Twitch
New measures laid out by Ofcom could mean fines for video-sharing platforms (VSP) like TikTok and Twitch.
The broadcasting watchdog said that one-third of users have seen hateful content on such sites. The new rules state that VSPs must take “appropriate measures” to protect users from content related to terrorism, child sexual abuse and racism. This would mean the platforms must:
Ofcom stated that the progress taken by the eighteen VSPs in question would be published in a report next year.
Incidents of antisemitism have been reported on both TikTok and Twitch.
In July, we reported that according to a new study, antisemitic content on the social media platform TikTok had increased by 912%. According to research from Dr Gabriel Weimann of the University of Haifa and Natalie Masri of IDC Herzliya’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism, antisemitic comments on TikTok grew 912% from 41 in 2020 to 415 in 2021, and the platform saw 61 antisemitic postings so far this year compared to 43 last year. Antisemitic tropes and images that were used in video content included Nazi salutes, diminishing the impact of the Holocaust, and propagating caricatures of Jews with long, hooked noses.
In August, Twitch, the world’s biggest streaming site for watching video games, announced that it would introduce new measures to prevent “hate raids” that include antisemitic abuse, images of swastikas, and other racist or homophobic abuse. The move follows complaints from users in minority groups after some users of Twitch were subjected to high levels of abuse in recent months in so-called “hate raids.”
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.
Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet British ambassador after right-wing author accused of antisemitism was denied entry into UK
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is expected to meet the British ambassador this week after a right-wing author accused of antisemitism was denied entry into the United Kingdom on Saturday.
A letter from the Border Force showed that Rafal Ziemkiewicz, a Polish author who has been accused of promoting antisemitism and homophobia, was denied entry into the country as his views were deemed to be “at odds with British values” that were “likely to cause offence” and was flown back to Warsaw.
Mr Ziemkiewicz was accused of antisemitism by Poland’s Human Rights Ombudsman last year after he reportedly said on Polish television that Jews had cooperated with Germans in the Holocaust. In 2014, he was accused of justifying rape after he allegedly tweeted: “Whoever has never taken advantage of a drunk person, let him throw the first stone.” He has also reportedly made several homophobic comments and tweets.
Speaking on the incident, Mr Ziemkiewicz reportedly said on Sunday: “I fell victim to a really powerful hatred against Poland by Poles themselves.”
Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Szynkowski vel Sęk then tweeted about the event, saying: “I will invite Ambassador Anna Clunes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week to make sure that freedom of speech belongs to the catalog of British values and as it corresponds with the attitude of the British services in the case of R. Ziemkiewicz.”
However, he later clarified his comments. “I see the ambassador this week. The conversation is not an escalation, but the foundation and common denominator of the work of the entire Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are also bound by the obligation to care for Polish citizens abroad and to respect freedom of speech. These revelations are worth so much,” the Minister said.
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.
Concern over Conservative councillor who appears to entertain equation of COVID vaccine with Zyklon B
Concerns have been expressed over a Conservative councillor who appeared to entertain an equation of the COVID vaccine with Zyklon B on Twitter.
A Twitter user wrote, “I fear that this vaccination is this admins/pharma’s verision of zyclon B. Of course this is only my opinion [sic].” Zyklon B was the gas used to murder Jews in Holocaust extermination camps.
Cllr Steve Tierney, of Fenland District Council, then retweeted the tweet to his thousands of followers with a comment: “I hope, for all our sake, that turns out to be completely wrong. 🙁 :(“
While Cllr Tierney did not affirm the sentiment, engaging with it by expressing his mere hope that it will not prove to be accurate suggests that he entertains the possibility that the comparison might be valid. Instead, he should have either ignored the tweet or called out the comparison as inflammatory nonsense. Whatever one’s views on lockdown rules or vaccines, there is no basis for comparisons to the genocide of the Jewish people.
Over the past year, anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.
Cllr Tierney has been vocal on Twitter about antisemitism, especially in the Labour Party. This tweet therefore goes to show how even those sensitive to some manifestations of antisemitism can nevertheless have a blind spot when it comes to others.
We urge Cllr Tierney to delete the tweet and encourage his followers, whatever their views on vaccines, to avoid needless equations with the Holocaust.
Fenland District Council, where Cllr Tierney holds the Transformation, Communication and Environment portfolio, has adopted the International Adoption of Antisemitism.
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.
Conservative councillor accused of supporting far-right group Patriotic Alternative suspended from Tory Party
A councillor for the Conservative Party has been suspended after he being accused of supporting the far-right group Patriotic Alternative.
The group is known for its efforts to recruit youth to its white nationalist ideology. Previously, the far-right group published an online “alternative” home school curriculum condemned as “poison” and “hateful” and attempted to recruit children as young as twelve through livestreaming events on YouTube, according to The Times.
Tim Wills, a borough councillor in Worthing, is alleged to have joined a Patriotic Alternative chat room on the social media platform Telegram in June, where he reportedly posted messages of support.
Earlier this year, the far-right group was found to be using Telegram to create neo-Nazi channels dedicated to sharing vile messages, antisemitic conspiracy theories and images glorifying Hitler.
On 22nd September, Cllr Wills is alleged to have written: “My view is Covid is a loss maker for us, we just need to centre on white genocide […] because many of our white race are convinced about vaccines, but not about our replacement, and need to be informed about this?”
In another message, he is alleged to have encouraged members to “Remember the fourteen words”, likely a reference to the neo-Nazi fourteen-word oath: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”, a slogan initially devised by David Lane, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group “The Order” which was responsible for the murder of Jewish radio host Alan Berg.
He also reportedly said that because Patriotic Alternative “have no chance of political power any time soon, sadly”, he viewed the Conservatives as “the best of a rotten lot,” as the group would still have a “right-wing minority who are on side”. He also reportedly said that if it were not for his “sensitive job” as a Conservative councillor, then he would take on the vacant regional organiser position in his local branch.
A Conservative Party spokesperson confirmed that “Cllr Tim Wills has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.”
Hope Not Hate describes Patriotic Alliance is “a racist far-right organisation with antisemitism at its very core. They aim to combat the ‘replacement and displacement’ of white Britons by people who ‘have no right to these lands’.” The group reportedly holds that “it is Jewish elites, particularly, who are orchestrating the ‘replacement’ of white Britons.”
The group is led by the former head of the youth wing of the BNP, Mark Collett, who is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, collaborated with the infamous American antisemite David Duke, and espoused antisemitic and racist views.
A report into Patriotic Alternative published last summer found that several members of the group engaged in Holocaust denial.
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.
Auschwitz-Birkenau site defaced with Holocaust denial graffiti
Antisemitic graffiti, including Holocaust denial slogans, has reportedly been discovered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.
Auschwitz concentration camp, one of the most notorious concentration camps where over a million people were murdered, was officially converted into a museum and memorial site in 1947.
The museum released a statement on Twitter yesterday which said that “signs of vandalism” were discovered on “nine wooden barracks in Sector Blla of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau site: spray-painted inscriptions in English and German, some of them antisemitic in nature.”
It continued: “Two references to the Old Testament, often used by antisemites, and denial slogans draw special attention.”
The museum described the vandalism as “an outrageous attack on the symbol of one of the greatest tragedies in human history and an extremely painful blow to the memory of all the victims of the German Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.”
The statement added that video footage was being reviewed and that police are investigating the 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.
Piers Corbyn says antisemitism allegations against him and his brother are a “pack of lies”
A video has emerged of Piers Corbyn claiming that allegations of antisemitism against him and his brother Jeremy Corbyn, the antisemitic former Labour Party Leader, are a “pack of lies”.
Speaking outside of the Conservative Party Conference, Mr Corbyn was asked if anyone at the conference had raised concerns of antisemitism to him, to which the controversial lockdown-sceptic replied that “nobody has said anything about that at all”, before adding: “It’s all a pack of lies and people know that.”
When asked what he meant by the phrase “pack of lies”, Mr Corbyn said: “The idea that me and my brother are antisemitic…he’s not antisemitic and neither am I.”
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.
When asked “Why was it leafleted in Jewish areas?”, Mr Corbyn replied: “It wasn’t specifically leafleted in any particular areas. That is a lie made up by the media. Or, some troublemakers leafleted it through their own doors, I suspect, and then came forward.”
“To try and portray you as antisemitic?”, Mr Riach asked, to which Mr Corbyn responded “Yes, yes.” When Mr Riach asked whether it was a conspiracy or not, Mr Corbyn replied: “Well, certainly a plot.”
Recent footage showed Mr Corbyn comparing vaccinations to Nazi policy outside the Houses of Parliament. The video showed 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.
On 20th July, Mr Corbyn, alongside other anti-vaccination protesters, showed their support at a far-left demonstration that was held outside of Labour Party headquarters. Speaking about the COVID-19 vaccination and the lockdown, Mr Corbyn said: “You know what happened in Germany. The left there, they were begging Hitler to support them. They believed in Hitler. You know what happened. The rest is history…the Jews were labelled as a danger and were locked up.” Mr Corbyn also gave an interview at the demonstration in which he denied that he, or his brother Jeremy Corbyn, were antisemites.
Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.
Mr Corbyn has a history of controversy in relation to antisemitic conspiracy theories. He has previously retweeted @whiteknight0011, a notorious neo-Nazi who declared that “They will force Trump in to war What do you think happened to Hitler? Bilderberg CIA IMF Banker Gangsters They are the problem” along with four images. The @whiteknight0011 account has since been suspended. One image showed Lord Jacob Rothschild, the Jewish banker and philanthropist, against the background of a Nazi flag, claiming that he controls the world. A second showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a puppeteer controlling ISIS through Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, orchestrating the war in Syria and Paris attacks as Lord Rothschild and the Queen look on approvingly. A third image showed the faces of supposed Jewish conspirators who run the world to society’s detriment, proclaiming: “Know your enemy”. The last image showed a family photo of the Royal Family, claiming that they are in cahoots with these Jewish conspirators in committing “the worst genocides, invasions and theft in all history.”
Mr Corbyn has also claimed that “Zionists” were conspiring against his brother: when Jewish then-MP Louise Ellman complained of antisemitic attacks against her, Piers accused her of using it as a cover for political attack, tweeting: “ABSURD! JC+ All #Corbyns are committed #AntiNazi. #Zionists can’t cope with anyone supporting rights for #Palestine”.
Holocaust survivor accuses Joe Rogan of promoting antisemitism over Instagram video comparing vaccines to the Holocaust
A Holocaust survivor has accused podcaster Joe Rogan of promoting antisemitism after he uploaded a video to his Instagram where comparisons were made between COVID-19 vaccines and the Holocaust.
The video in question featured an audio excerpt from one of Mr Rogan’s podcasts in which he reportedly professes the importance of freedom in response to the idea of having to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination whilst various images are featured on screen, including footage from the Holocaust that shows Nazi officers, Adolf Hitler, white Star of David armbands and the Jewish ghettos in Europe.
Mr Rogan can be heard saying: “As soon as you give politicians power, any kind of power that didn’t exist previously, if they can figure out a way to force you into carrying something that lets you enter businesses or lets you do this or lets businesses open, historically, they are not gonna give that power up. They find new reasons to use it. We have to protect those freedoms at all cost, whether you agree with people’s choices or not, because it is the foundation that this country was founded on: freedom.”
“It is the literal structure that allows this country to be so f**king amazing…anything that comes along that can inhibit your freedom is, by definition, anti-American,” he adds.
The video is understood not to have been created by Mr Rogan but was uploaded to his Instagram account, and was posted with the caption: “FREEDOM. It’s the most important thing we have. It’s what makes this place special. It’s rare, and it’s fragile. Protect it at all costs.”
In response to this, 86-year-old Holocaust survivor Gideon Lev created two TikTok videos in which he criticised Mr Rogan for uploading and seemingly endorsing the video. In one of his videos, Mr Lev said: “I am an 86-year-old-survivor of the Holocaust and saw your video on American freedom and the COVID-19 vaccine. It included images of the Holocaust and of Adolf Hitler, the monster who murdered my father, 26 members of my family, and six million Jews and others in gas chambers, in ditches, in firing squads, and even in gas trucks.”
Mr Lev continues: “You are absolutely not promoting freedom, but promoting hate, antisemitism, and possibly even more violence and constant hate. You should apologise to us all, remove the video immediately. It is disgusting and thoughtless and careless and I am shocked by your lack of sensitivity. You want to speak about freedom? Come and speak to me.”
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.
Antisemitic rapper Wiley performs at freshers’ event in Preston despite protest from students’ union
It was reported that the antisemitic rapper Wiley performed at a freshers’ event in Preston on Saturday despite protest from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Students’ Union beforehand.
On 24th July 2020, the rapper Richard Kylea Cowie, who is known as Wiley, spent days engaged in an escalating rant on social media against Jews. After likening Jews to the Ku Klux Klan and claiming that Jews had cheated him and were “snakes”, Wiley tweeted that Jews should “hold some corn”, a slang expression meaning that they should be shot. He added: “Jewish community you deserve it”. He then also called on “black people” to go to “war” with Jews.
Wiley repeatedly evoked conspiracy theories that Jews were responsible for the slave trade and that modern-day Jews are in fact imposters who usurped black people — a conspiracy theory that has incited acts of terrorism against Jews, such as a shooting in Jersey City and a stabbing attack in Monsey, NY during the festival of Chanukah last December.
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.
On Friday, it emerged that UCLan Students’ Union released a statement condemning the news of Wiley’s scheduled performance at Preston’s Switch nightclub. The statement read: “UCLan Students’ Union sometimes signposts students to external events being run across the city, but we are always clear that these events are external to us and are not run by us. We are also able to confirm that this Switch club night was not one of these events. We condemn all forms of antisemitism and given the previous actions of Wiley, which include a series of antisemitic social media posts, we strongly encourage Switch to cancel this event and reconsider any further ties with Wiley and his management.”
The University adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism last November.
However, despite the students’ wishes, Switch persisted in hosting the rapper and has since uploaded a series of photos and videos of his performance to its Facebook page.
Campaign Against Antisemitism is continuing its response to Wiley’s antisemitic tirade, including:
Suspect in Stamford Hill alleged assaults barred from entering M25 until trial in January
The trial has been set for a suspect in a series of alleged assaults in Stamford Hill in August.
Abdullah Qureshi, from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, was charged last month at Thames Magistrates’ Court with one count of racially or religiously aggravated wounding or grievous bodily harm, four counts of racially or religiously aggravated common assault and one count of racially or religious aggravated criminal damage.
The charges relate to five incidents on 18th August investigated by Metropolitan Police’s Central East Command Unit. Groups including Campaign Against Antisemitism and Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, put out witness appeals following the incidents, as three of the five alleged incidents were caught on video.
In one incident at 18:41, an Orthodox Jewish man was struck in the face with what appeared to be a bottle. In another at 19:10, a child was slapped on the back of the head, and in yet another at 20:30, a 64-year-old victim was struck and left unconscious on the ground, suffering facial injuries and a broken ankle. It is understood that two further incidents have been alleged.
A trial for Mr Quershi has been scheduled for 18th January at Stratford Magistrates’ Court.
It is understood that, in lieu of remand, Mr Quershi is prohibited from travelling into the M25.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “These attacks were not ‘random’ in the usual sense: these victims were chosen because they are Jews. We applaud the police for their swift investigation and expect the authorities to ensure that justice is done for the victims of these violent hate crimes.”
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.
Islamic charity under investigation by Charity Commission after Jihadist and antisemitic material found on its website
An Islamic charity is under investigation by the Charity Commission after Jihadist and antisemitic material was found on its website.
The Miftahul Jannah Academy, based in Waltham Forest, was reported by the National Secular Society to the Commission over lectures delivered by Islamic scholar Muhammad Patel that allegedly praised the Taliban, encouraged Muslims to fund Jihad and contained antisemitic references, including to the “dirty qualities” of the Jews.
One lecture is titled “A quality of the Yahood — to kill those who want to guide them towards the commands of Allah”. Yahood is the Arabic word for Jew. Mr Patel reportedly says in the lecture that the killing of Islamic scholars is among the “wretched” and “dirty” qualities of the Jews.
The Miftahul Jannah Academy says that its aims and objectives include “to further the true image of Islam”.
The Masjid-e-Umer Trust, which runs Walthamstow Central Mosque where Mr Patel has apparently given sermons and run youth activities, has also been referred to the Commission.
The Charity Commission said: “We contacted the Miftahul Jannah Academy on 24th September about audio recordings alleged to be from the charity’s website. We await the trustees’ response. We are now in receipt of additional information which we are carefully assessing.”
Image credit: Google
Antisemite Jeremy Corbyn insultingly appropriates memory of Cable Street as he shares stage with suspended Labour member accused of bullying Jewish MP
The antisemitic former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn shared a stage at yesterday’s rally, which marked the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, with a suspended Labour member accused of bullying Luciana Berger, the former MP for Liverpool Wavertree.
Hazuan Hashim stood next to Mr Corbyn during his speech, seemingly recording it on video throughout. Mr Hashim, along with three other members of the executive of the Constituency Labour Party (CLP) in Wavertree, was reportedly suspended from the Party last year when the group criticised their local MP for expressing regret that her predecessor, Ms Berger, felt that she had to leave the Party.
Paula Barker, the Labour MP for Wavertree, wrote in the Jewish Telegraph that “Luciana leaving the Labour Party was a shock to many and I find it deeply regrettable that she felt she could no longer stay.” Ms Berger was hounded out of the Labour Party in early 2019 after years of antisemitism and threats of deselection.
However, four members of the executive committee of Ms Barker’s Constituency Labour Party (including its chair and secretary) issued a statement in the branch’s Member’s Bulletin accusing Ms Barker of presenting an “inaccurate and factionally-motivated position on antisemitism” that only “reflected the influence of a partial view that claims to speak for all Jewish people.” They further insisted that “our political disagreement with [Ms Berger] was cynically attributed to bullying, harassment and antisemitism on our part” and that “the suggestion that the Constituency Labour Party Executive is in any way a party to bullying and antisemitism is a false and slanderous accusation.”
Expressing outrage at the appearance of both Mr Corbyn and Mr Hashim at the rally, a Liverpool Labour activist said: “It makes my blood boil seeing Jeremy Corbyn give a speech at an event, that is meant to show solidarity with British Jews, alongside someone who has actively tried to harm relations with the local Jewish community in Liverpool. Hazuan Hashim should be nowhere near this event, and neither should Corbyn.”
Another speaker at the rally was Poplar and Limehouse MP Apsana Begum, who has previously been investigated for alleged antisemitism after accusing Tony Blair of spreading “Zionist propaganda”, claiming the leaders of Saudi Arabia were “inspired by Zionist masters” and sharing material by a political activist accused of antisemitism and 9/11 conspiracy theories. Members from Jewish Voice for Labour, an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, also spoke.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is the height of chutzpah for the antisemite Jeremy Corbyn to appropriate the site and memory of a famous battle against racists who held the same prejudices against Jews as he does. That he shared the platform with someone suspended from the Labour Party for allegedly harbouring similar views is par for course for the former Labour leader. On this occasion, it appears to be Mr Corbyn who has shown that he does not understand English irony.”
Mr Corbyn has often been mocked for his denials of anti-Jewish racism despite his long record of appearing alongside extremely dubious figures, with the former Labour leader sometimes being dubbed the ‘unluckiest anti-racist’ for so often finding himself in the company of these people while insisting on his own blamelessness.
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. 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.
Man rides his bicycle into group of Jewish children aged three to fourteen before punching one in the face
A man reportedly rode his bicycle into a group of visibly Jewish children aged three to fourteen before punching one in the face.
The attack took place on 3rd October at Woodbury Grove near Finsbury Park and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD 4729 03/10/21.
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: Google
Jewish woman left in shock after brick thrown through her kitchen window
A Jewish woman has been left in terror after a brick was thrown through her kitchen window.
The attack took place at 14:00 on 1st October on Heathland Road in Stamford Hill and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference number: CAD3316 01/10/21.
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.
Attorney General asks court to review “unduly lenient” sentence for student who downloaded nearly 70,000 neo-Nazi and bomb-making documents who was spared jail and told to read English literature instead
The Attorney General has asked the Court of Appeal to review the “unduly lenient” sentence given to a student who downloaded nearly 70,000 neo-Nazi and bomb-making documents but who was spared jail and told to read English literature instead.
Ben John, 21, was convicted by a jury at Leicester Crown Court on 11th August 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 even 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”.
Speaking directly to Mr John, Judge Spencer asked him: “Have you read Dickens? Austen? Start with Pride and Prejudice and Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.” The judge told the defendant to “think about Hardy. Think about Trollope”, before adding: “On 4th January you will tell me what you have read and I will test you on it. I will test you and if I think you are [lying to] me you will suffer. I will be watching you, Ben John, every step of the way. If you let me down you know what will happen.” The judge said of the defendant that “he has by the skin of his teeth avoided imprisonment.”
Mr John was instructed to return to Judge Spencer every four months in order to be tested on his reading. In addition, he was 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.
However, Campaign Against Antisemitism and other concerned groups were incredulous that Mr John had been spared jail and was “let off with a mere suspended sentence and some English homework.” We added that “for all the novels that the judge has ordered Mr John to peruse as he enjoys his unearned freedom, it was notable that Crime and Punishment was not among them. Perhaps the judge himself ought to review that classic as he reflects on the risk that his sentence poses to the public.”
Now, however, Attorney General Suella Braverman has intervened, using her power to request that the Court of Appeal review the sentence.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said: “I can confirm that the Attorney General has referred Ben John’s sentence to the Court of Appeal as she agrees that it appears unduly lenient. It is now for the Court to decide whether to increase the sentence.”
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.
Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay elected new co-Leaders of Green Party in possible boost to fight against antisemitism in Party
Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay have been elected as the new co-Leaders of the Green Party, which may herald fresh impetus in the fight against antisemitism in the Party.
Ms Denyer, a councillor in Bristol, and Adrian Ramsay, a former Deputy Leader of the Party, replace the outgoing Sian Berry and her co-leader, Jonathan Bartley, who stepped down earlier in the summer.
Ms Denyer has been a consistent supporter of the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Green Party, which is the only major party in the UK not to have adopted it (in addition to the Party’s branch in Scotland, the Scottish Greens). However, notwithstanding goodwill on the part of its leaders, the Party would be reliant on its membership to back the adoption, which members have thus far been reluctant to do.
The new leaders indicated during the leadership primary that they took antisemitism seriously,
In a hustings, Ms Denyer observed that antisemitism within the Party would not be fixed overnight but insisted that “we need to take a clear and consistent line against antisemitism” and to ensure that the Party is more welcoming and inclusive, with workshops for members and a better resourced disciplinary committee to review antisemitism complaints. She also reiterated her and Mr Ramsay’s support for a motion at Party conference to include antisemitism guidance in the Party’s constitution. That guidance would include the International Definition of Antisemitism but, controversially, also other definitions.
The Denyer-Ramsay ticket elaborated on the issue of antisemitism in a response to a questionnaire from the Jewish Greens. They reiterated their support to the inclusion of the Guidance on Antisemitism being included in the Framework for Ethics and Conduct, inclusion of which is to be debated at the Party’s conference this month. They also committed to the principle of “nothing about us, without us” when talking publicly about issues relating to liberation groups, and pledged to attend antisemitism training and support its role out across the Party.
They further declared that “We have a particular priority in our first 100 days to support the Party’s liberation and policy groups to facilitate workshops and training (e.g. the Jewish Greens’ antisemitism training roadshow)” and that “We also believe that it is important that liberation groups are consulted on policy,” pointing to Ms Denyer’s having co-proposed a motion to this year’s Party conference that “would give liberation groups the right of reply on conference motions that affect their members.”
Although we welcome these commitments and look forward to working with the Green Party’s new leadership, the structures of the Party are such that the flexibility of the leaders to introduce new policies on antisemitism and overhaul the Party’s deficient disciplinary processes is limited.
Joe Glasman, Head of Political Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “We congratulate the newly elected leaders of the Green Party and look forward to working with them on tackling the increasingly worrying issue of antisemitism in their Party. However, our recent experiences with the Party’s disciplinary processes give us ample reason for concern, and its new leadership has an uphill battle ahead. For our part, we will continue to support any officials and members in the Party who wish to fight antisemitism, and hope that the new leaders will join us.”
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.
Recently, we revealed how certain policies of the Scottish Greens (the Green Party branch in Scotland) are cause for concern for the Jewish community, including the Party’s opposition to the International Definition of Antisemitism and other controversial items. Consequently, Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is under growing pressure over the SNP’s recent deal with the Scottish Greens.
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.
David Miller fired from University of Bristol one month after CAA commenced lawsuit against the University on behalf of brave Jewish students and amid pressure from Jewish community disgusted by his antisemitic conspiracies
David Miller, an academic obsessed with anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, has been fired by the University of Bristol one month after Campaign Against Antisemitism commenced a lawsuit on behalf of current students against the institution.
Our legal case against the University concerned alleged unlawful harassment on the basis of Jewish ethnicity and Judaism, amounting to breaches of the Equality Act 2010, as well as breaches of contract. We launched proceedings in late August and the University swiftly realised that it was putting itself in legal jeopardy by sustaining Prof. Miller’s employment at the institution.
A number of brave students at the University stepped forward to act as complainants in the litigation. We also wish to thank Asserson Law Offices, led by senior partner Trevor Asserson, and barristers Derek Spitz of One Essex Court and Benjamin Gray of Littleton Chambers.
Having failed to act over Prof. Miller since his comments in February, in a statement released today by the University, it said that “following a full investigation”, Prof. Miller is “no longer employed by the University of Bristol,” explaining that “We have a duty of care to all students and the wider University community, in addition to a need to apply our own codes of conduct consistently and with integrity.” The statement admitted that “Prof. Miller did not meet the standards of behaviour we expect from our staff” and that accordingly, “the University has concluded that Professor Miller’s employment should be terminated with immediate effect.”
The lawsuit related to Prof. Miller’s speech on a Zoom webinar in February this year in which he said that the “Zionist Movement” is “the enemy” that must be engaged, that it is “the enemy of world peace,” and that those associated with Zionism, including Jewish students on Bristol campus, “must be directly targeted”.
Taken together, the implication of Prof. Miller’s remarks is that all decent people who support “world peace” should view Bristol Jewish Society and the Union of Jewish Students, and Jewish people, including those who identify with those bodies, and the vast majority of Jewish students as an “enemy” that must be “directly targeted”.
He also said that interfaith work between Jewish and Muslim groups is “a trojan horse for normalising Zionism in the Muslim community”. He also claimed that Jewish students, by virtue of being Zionist, “encourage Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism”.
Prof. Miller has a long record of inflammatory statements about the Jewish community.
Bristol had come under increasing pressure from the Jewish community, which was united in its disgust at Prof. Miller’s comments and the drawn-out investigation that the University was conducting with no apparent end in sight.
Prof. Miller’s statements and the University’s failure to condemn them and take swift action against him have been the subject of a great deal of attention from the Jewish community as well as hundreds of academics and Parliament, including a written question by Lord Austin, as well as a recent intervention from Robert Halfon MP. Prof. Miller was also defended by an array of controversial ‘usual suspects’ whose interventions did nothing for his collapsing credibility.
The legal claim that we spearheaded contended that Prof. Miller’s statements sought to create a hostile environment for Jewish students. It further alleged that the University was liable for Prof. Miller’s conduct, and was further liable in its own right, for unlawful conduct in breach of the Equality Act, and for its breach of its contract with students.
Other than a final call for prospective claimants, we minimised the public profile of the case in order to protect the identities of the brave student claimants who not only believed that enough is enough but that, in order for things to change, they must also act on that belief. We are enormously grateful to them for their courage. Despite the lower public profile of the case, the University was in no doubt about our intentions and resolve.
We also wish to thank others in the Jewish community, MPs and academics for the pressure that they have brought to bear on the University of Bristol in recent months.
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Within a month of us commencing proceedings against the University of Bristol on behalf of a group of courageous Jewish students, David Miller has been fired. We pay tribute to them for standing up against antisemitism and to our legal counsel for helping us secure this victory in the fight against anti-Jewish racism on campus.
“Following the launch of our lawsuit, it was clear to the University that it would be held to account in court and had to act to protect Jewish students in accordance with the law. Universities across the country should be warned that we will do whatever it takes to defend Jewish students from racists on campus by upholding their rights in court where necessary.”
The case was the latest step by Campaign Against Antisemitism to defend the rights of individual Jewish students. We believe that universities and students’ unions must be robustly held to account when they fail to defend Jewish students or when they allow their lecturers to discriminate against or harass them.
Teenage actor who played role of antisemitic bully in a film is now suspected of the real-life assault of 60-year-old Hamburg man
A sixteen-year-old has been suspected of assaulting a 60-year-old man at a vigil against antisemitism in Hamburg, Germany.
During the “Hamburg for Israel and against antisemitism” vigil, which took place on 18th September near the city’s central train station, a group of three or four people approached the participants and one of them – a male believed to be between the ages of eighteen and 25 – began yelling abuse.
When participants asked the offender to stop, he punched the victim in the face. Although police chased the group, they managed to flee on e-scooters.
After the attack, the victim was reportedly in hospital for six days with a broken cheekbone and nasal bone. Photos show the victim with a swollen eye and bloody face. In an interview, the victim was seen having to wear an eyepatch.
The teenage suspect identified by police as Aram A., who reportedly acted in a film about Holocaust survivors in which he played the role of a bully who harasses a Jewish boy, is being investigated for causing bodily harm.
Hamburg State Security was said to have identified Aram A. using video footage and then located him at his home in Berlin. Aram A.’s mother reportedly stated that her family was “against Israel” but that “what [her] son did is wrong”.
Stefan Hensel, Hamburg’s Commissioner on Jewish Life and the Fight against Antisemitism, said: “The rapid search success of the authorities is a reassuring signal after the disturbing images of the attack on the Hamburg vigil participant. The current case shows once again that even projects with the best intentions are no remedy against antisemitism. We see this incident as an appeal to intensify our work even further. In the long run, it will only be crowned with a consistent investigation of antisemitic crimes and criminal prosecution.”
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.
Synagogue shooter who killed 60-year-old woman sentenced to life in jail without possibility of parole
The man who shot and killed a 60-year-old woman in a California synagogue was sentenced to life in jail without the possibility of parole yesterday.
In July, John T. Earnest, the man who killed 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye in the Chabad of Poway Synagogue shooting in April 2019, pled guilty to the charges of murder and attempted murder in a plea agreement that saw him avoid the death penalty.
Mr Earnest, who was nineteen at the time of the shooting, was said to have entered the synagogue with an AR-15 style rifle and opened fire on the 54 congregants inside, killing Ms Gilbert-Kaye and injuring three others, including an eight-year-old girl and the congregation’s founder, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who lost a finger.
During the shooting, Mr Earnest’s rifle jammed, at which point several members of the congregation ran towards him, chasing him out of the synagogue. He was understood to have fled before calling the police himself to confess that he had committed a shooting at a synagogue because he believed that Jews were trying to “destroy all white people,” and was subsequently apprehended approximately two miles from the synagogue.
Mr Earnest also confessed to committing arson at the Dar-ul-Arqam Mosque in March 2019 “for the purpose of terrorising Muslim worshippers,” it was revealed in a news release from the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. Addressing Mr Earnest’s motivation behind the Poway Synagogue shooting, the news release said that Mr Earnest “admitted that he committed those crimes because of his bias and hatred of Jews.”
At yesterday’s sentencing at San Diego’s Superior Court, testimonies from the attack’s victims and witnesses were given before Judge Peter Deddeh read Mr Earnest’s sentence. Mr Earnest’s lawyer stated that Mr Earnest wished to make a statement, though this request was denied by Judge Deddeh who said: “I’m not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity.”
Mr Earnest is set to be sentenced in December for committing the arson at the Dar-ul-Arqam Mosque.
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.
Swastika graffiti discovered around Manistee, Michigan
Recently, swastika graffiti has been discovered around Manistee, Michigan.
After reports last week that swastikas were found painted on roads in Manistee’s Filer Township, a Manistee resident reported that similar graffiti was found in downtown Manistee.
Another resident, Rhonda Greene, stated that she discovered several swastikas downtown by Manistee’s Riverwalk. In an email, Ms Greene wrote: “My husband and I have removed multiple swastikas from the Riverwalk in the last few weeks. I have video of myself rubbing out one that was drawn in chalk near the U.S. 31 Bridge on 17th September, and we have also done the same on several other occasions at various points along the Riverwalk (and in the downtown district).”
Paul Bosschem also testified to witnessing the hateful symbol displayed around Manistee, stating: “I removed two of them at Veterans Memorial Park when I was power washing the stone and concrete. They were in chalk and came off with no problem. I just thought (it was) kids messing around. I did not report it to anyone.”
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 suspends Vice Chair of local party branch over remark about Sir Keir Starmer’s “Jewish wife”
According to a report, the Labour Party has suspended the Vice Chair of Walsall South Constituency Labour Party after he allegedly claimed that Labour is changing for the worse because Sir Keir Starmer’s “wife is Jewish”.
Nick Dodds has reportedly been put on administrative suspension pending investigation after the Party was alerted to his comments about Lady Starmer, who has largely maintained her privacy during her husband’s leadership of the Party.
Mr Dodds also allegedly claimed that Sir Keir was surrounded by too many Jewish advisors.
It is understood that Mr Dodds’ wife was the first to heckle Sir Keir during his keynote speech at Labour’s annual conference this week.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
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.
Far-right organisation Britain First becomes a political party once again
The far-right organisation Britain First has registered as a political party, it was revealed this week.
The Electoral Commission approved the group’s registration despite its reputation as a far-right organisation whose leaders have been convicted of, and imprisoned for, hate crimes. Britain First was previously registered as a political party but was deregistered in 2017 after failing to renew its registration on time.
In an email to its supporters, Britain First wrote: “This is a stupendous victory for the Britain First movement. Although our street activities will continue, this day marks the birth of Britain First as a traditional political party that will take the fight to the establishment through the ballot box.”
An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: “The application to register Britain First as a political party has been approved. We assessed this application against the criteria set out in law, including consideration of public comments submitted to us. The party’s application met the legal criteria and the party has therefore been registered.”
In 2019, Facebook reportedly banned a number of far-right groups and individuals, including Britain First leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen.
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.
Driver’s attempt to run over Jews observing Sukkot prompts police investigation in Los Angeles
A driver’s alleged attempt to run over Jews observing the Jewish festival of Sukkot has prompted a police investigation, it was reported this week.
The reported incident took place last week at Congregation Shaarei Tefila, a synagogue in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. Magen Am, a security team who were working with the event, said that a man walking a dog appeared to be canvassing the area which made congregants feel uncomfortable. The security team immediately reported the individual to the Los Angeles Police Department. It was said that according to witnesses, the man threatened: “I’m a real Muslim. I’ll show you what real terrorism looks like!”
When approached by Magen Am, the individual reportedly made derogatory comments about Jews, which elevated the team’s suspicions. The man then “returned with his vehicle approximately twenty minutes later and attempted to run over Jews at the event”, and “slammed the gas to full throttle down an alley full of people”. It was said that “People had to jump out of the way or they would have been run over” and according to witnesses, it appeared as though the suspect tried to target a woman and her teenage daughter. The car reportedly then stopped before the metal gates and screamed “F**k the Jews” before fleeing the scene.
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
Roundup of antisemitism news from Labour Conference as Sir Keir Starmer defends backing antisemite Jeremy Corbyn “100%”, saying any Labour government is better than the alternative
On antisemitism, this year’s Labour Party conference has exemplified the tension between public relations and substance and continues to raise questions about how and why the Party’s leadership is tackling the issue. Sir Keir Starmer’s follow-up comment this morning defending his backing of the antisemite Jeremy Corbyn by arguing that a Labour government is better than the alternative is a case in point.
Asked about his effort to de-Corbynise the Labour Party, Nick Robinson asked Sir Keir on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning about a comment that he made during the 2019 General Election backing Mr Corbyn “100%”. Mr Robinson observed to Sir Keir that “you presented to the country with something that was not a plan for serious government…and not a man who was a serious candidate to be Prime Minister.”
Sir Keir responded, saying: “I am a member of the Labour Party and a Labour MP and like every member of the Labour Party and every MP we support a Labour Government. A Labour Government is always better than the alternative. And all of us supported a Labour Government at the last election, and quite right too.”
Sir Keir conveniently omitted that numerous Labour politicians of principle had by that point left the Party in disgust at its institutional racism and in solidarity with their Jewish peers who had been hounded out of the Party under Mr Corbyn’s leadership. Although Mr Robinson’s question was not specifically about antisemitism, Sir Keir mentioned earlier in the interview that antisemitism was one of the reasons that the electorate did not consider Labour under Mr Corbyn fit for government, and Sir Keir’s infamous “100%” backing for Mr Corbyn was never diluted by Mr Corbyn’s or Labour’s racism.
Sir Keir has now explained why he backed a Corbyn government while others left: because loyalty to party trumps fighting racism.
The comment comes the morning after the conclusion of Labour’s annual conference, in which Sir Keir claimed repeatedly to have “closed the door” on antisemites in the Party and on Labour’s “shameful chapter”, even though there was plenty of evidence that this was not remotely the case, with fears for the safety of Jewish attendees and Jewish former Labour MP Ruth Smeeth stating that “this is my 22nd Labour conference, and yet I feel sick about the idea of being in Brighton, knowing I will be a target for yet more racist abuse”; reports of expelled members permitted access to the conference; a speaker who has allegedly promoted Rothschild conspiracy theories invited to address the main conference hall; another outrageous fringe event hosted by the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour; and Labour backbencher and one-time member of Sir Keir’s Shadow Cabinet, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, apparently complaining that Labour members were being “purged or set up with false allegations”.
In addition, illustrating the persistence of a particular mindset that continues to strain the Party’s relations with the Jewish community, delegates approved a provocative motion using extremely inflammatory language about the Jewish state that was proposed by the controversial faction Young Labour. Sir Keir and Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy tried to distance themselves from the motion.
Then there was Mr Corbyn himself, who reportedly still refused at the conference to apologise for the comments that got him briefly suspended from the Labour Party and indefinitely suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), while apparently continuing to bring other MPs down with him, with longtime ally, Andy McDonald MP coming under fire for appearing alongside him at a conference event. Mr McDonald subsequently quit the Shadow Cabinet, ostensibly over a policy issue.
Sir Keir apparently reiterated that Mr Corbyn needs to apologise to be permitted to rejoin the PLP (and new rules may mean that Mr Corbyn may never otherwise become a Labour MP again), but the charade of his concurrent membership of the Labour Party and exclusion from the PLP is a constant reminder of how broken Labour’s disciplinary process is. Is it tenable to argue that Mr Corbyn’s offenses are at once so great as to exclude him from the PLP but not so great as to prevent his membership of the Party? Is Labour’s message to be that racists are welcome in the Party but simply not as its public face?
It is that tension between public relations and substance that has become a theme of this year’s Labour Party conference.
Certainly, there were some welcome steps, such as the introduction of a semi-independent disciplinary process, as mandated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) after it found Labour to be institutionally racist toward Jewish people following an investigation in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant. Yet although this change was legally required, over a quarter of those attending the Labour conference voted against it (as did eight members of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee in the days preceding the conference) and some affiliated groups (such as the second-largest union, Unite) abstained. Evidently, for them loyalty to their version of Labour trumps not only fighting racism but also the law.
But Sir Keir’s claim to have “closed the door” on antisemitism in the Labour Party is not only absurd but a worrying insight into how he views the problem. At the beginning of the conference, Sir Keir heralded the new disciplinary process as “a major step forward in our efforts to face the public and win the next general election” (because he recognises, as he told BBC Four’s Today programme this morning, that antisemitism was one of the reasons Labour lost the election in 2019), rather than as a sadly necessary means of delivering justice for Britain’s Jews because his Party was found to have been so grotesquely racist as to have broken the law.
Later, at the end of the conference, he delighted in Dame Louise Ellman’s return to the Party — announcing at the beginning of his keynote speech, “welcome home Louise” to an ovation (and some hissing) — but that was the only nod to antisemitism in his entire address.
Sir Keir will have to show that he sees fighting Labour antisemitism as more than just a public relations stunt necessary to win elections.
Joe Glasman, Head of Political and Government Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Sir Keir Starmer believes that he has closed the door on the shameful chapter of Labour antisemitism, but he is worryingly mistaken. Far from being the end of the matter, approving a semi-independent disciplinary process, as required by law, is merely the beginning of the real challenge of purging racists and their enablers from his Party and delivering justice for the Jewish community. That means implementing that new process, investigating our complaints against Jeremy Corbyn, Angela Rayner and others, and encouraging a major culture change in a Party that, as this conference has shown once again, remains obsessed with Jews and the Jewish state.
“It also means Sir Keir himself admitting that the period of Mr Corbyn’s leadership, which he actively supported, were inimical to his Party’s ideals. In this respect, his claim on Today that a Labour government led by an antisemite is ‘better than the alternative’ is not encouraging.
“Just as Dame Louise Ellman left the Party years after its antisemitism had taken institutional root, so the remedial process, if undertaken in good faith, will take years after her return to run its course, as she herself acknowledges.
“Above all, waging a public relations campaign and actually fighting antisemitism are two different things. Sir Keir has spent the last several days showcasing his ability to do the former, but he cannot pull the wool over the eyes of Britain’s Jews. He will be judged over whether he really reforms the Labour Party and delivers justice for the Jewish community.”
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, including Angela Rayner. 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.
Ukraine bans “antisemitism and its manifestations”
The Ukrainian Parliament passed a law last week which bans “antisemitism and its manifestations”.
The Law on Prevention and Counteraction to Antisemitism in Ukraine defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, expressed as hatred of Jews”.
283 lawmakers out of 450 voted to pass the law, though it must be signed by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who is himself Jewish. However, the punishment for breaking this law has not been specified.
In August, pig skulls were used to desecrate the grave of Rabbi Nachman’s daughter in Kremenchuk. In June, a synagogue in Kremenchuk was found with bullet holes after being reportedly shot at.
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.
“No Jew Jab for Oz” graffiti sprayed on IKEA store in Melbourne
Antisemitic graffiti has been discovered spray-painted on an IKEA store in Melbourne, Australia.
The shop, located in the suburb of Richmond, was reportedly defaced last Thursday with the words “No Jew Jab for Oz” and, on another wall, “No Jew Jab”.
It was noticed by a Jewish woman who reported the vandalism to Victoria Police. Richmond Council painted over the graffiti.
The Anti-Defamation Commission observed the “poisonous alliance” between anti-vaccination networks and antisemitic groups that are “feeding off each other’s conspiracy theories and wacky narratives.”
Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.
Image credit: Anti-Defamation Commission
Dame Louise Ellman is first Labour exile to rejoin Labour but warns “there remains a great deal more to do to tackle antisemitism” in the Party
Dame Louise Ellman, the last Jewish MP to have quit the Labour Party over antisemitism, has today announced that she is the first to rejoin.
Dame Louise resigned from Labour in October 2019, shortly before the General Election, after 55 years of membership, asserting that “Jeremy Corbyn is not fit to be Prime Minister” because he “spent three decades on the backbenches consorting with, and never confronting antisemites, Holocaust deniers and terrorists”, saying that he has “attracted the support of too many antisemites”.
She said that she made her “agonising” decision because “The Labour Party is no longer a safe place for Jews and Jeremy Corbyn must bear responsibility for this.” She warned: “We cannot allow him to do to the country what he has done to the Labour Party.”
Dame Louise was the last of several courageous MPs to be hounded out of the Party or leave the Party in disgust at its institutional racism, which was later affirmed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), following an investigation in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant.
In a statement today, Dame Louise said that she is returning to her “political home” because she is “confident that, under the leadership of Keir Starmer, the Party is once again led by a man of principle” who has “shown a willingness to confront both the anti-Jewish racists and the toxic culture which allowed antisemitism to flourish.”
However, Dame Louise warned that “there remains a great deal more to do to tackle antisemitism in the Party,” and said that she recognises that many others will not feel ready or willing to rejoin.
Yesterday, Labour’s annual conference approved the introduction of a semi-independent disciplinary process, as mandated by the EHRC, but with less than 75% support, showing that there is still considerable resistance within the Party’s membership to addressing its racism.
Indeed, only recently Dame Louise’s successor as MP for Liverpool Riverside, Kim Johnson, denied that Dame Louise had been hounded out of the Party at all, seemingly still denying the scale of the problem.
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.
Madrid adopts International Definition of Antisemitism
The Madrid Assembly, the local Parliament of Spain’s main region, adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism on Friday.
The Assembly also demanded that Spain’s national Parliament adopt legislation that would prevent it from giving any grant or public aid to entities that breach the Definition.
It was reported that Spain adopted the Definition last year. Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.
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.
Controversial activist Ghada Karmi accused Sir Keir Starmer of ‘weaponising antisemitism’ at Hackney Labour meeting
The outspoken activist Ghada Karmi has reportedly accused Sir Keir Starmer of “weaponising antisemitism”.
Dr Karmi is a former medical doctor and now a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. She is a perpetual presence on the anti-Israel lecturing circuit in Britain and has a history of making antisemitic statements.
She was the keynote speaker at a meeting last Thursday of the Hackney North Labour Party and accused Sir Keir of using the “label of antisemitism as a weapon”. She further described allegations of antisemitism as a “smear accusation” which was being used as a “weapon” to suspend and expel members of the Labour Party.
The chair of the meeting, Sue Millman, reportedly cut Dr Karmi’s inflammatory address short, saying: “I know and respect your academic credentials, but as you know there are many sensitive issues within the Labour Party at this time. Some of your remarks have been extremely controversial. We have been very careful within this party, that we don’t allow ourselves to become riven over this matter. We have many, many Jewish members of all persuasions. Specifically, because it wasn’t the sort of talk we were expecting we need to draw it to a conclusion now. I really feel we can’t continue.”
Dr Karmi reportedly insisted that those who criticised Israel became “the victims of what I can only call a witch-hunt”, an example of the antisemitic ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by which allegations of antisemitism are dismissed as malevolent and baseless attempts to silence criticism of Israel.
In its report on Labour antisemitism, the Equality of Human Rights Commission (EHRC) determined that such denials of antisemitism were part of the unlawful victimisation of Jewish people by the Labour Party. The report following a statutory investigation by the EHRC in which we were the complainant.
Dr Karmi challenged the International Definition of Antisemitism in her speech and also made inflammatory remarks about Israel.
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.
Sacked Eton teacher shares interview with author who claimed “Jews were always behind pornography”
A former teacher at Eton College has shared an interview he conducted with an author who claimed that “Jews were always behind pornography”.
Will Knowland, who was reportedly sacked from his position as an English teacher at the prestigious school last year after accusations of sexism were raised against him, shared an interview online in which his guest was a controversial author.
During the interview, the topic of which was pornography and its place in society, author Dr E Michael Jones made several inflammatory remarks. At one point, Dr Jones says: “If you’re talking about, concretely, the rise of pornography in the twentieth century, you have to talk about Hollywood, and you have to talk about the Jews. The Jews were always behind pornography.”
Later in the interview, when Mr Knowland quizzed the author on whether pornography could exist as an expression of free speech, Dr Jones reportedly said: “It’s not part of free speech, no one ever said that dirty pictures were part of free speech, but that’s what the Jews did over this period of time.” He allegedly also called the ADL, an American Jewish organisation, “the SS of the Jewish Gestapo”.
According to the ADL, Dr Jones is “an antisemitic Catholic writer who promotes the view that Jews are dedicated to propagating and perpetrating attacks on the Catholic Church and moral standards, social stability, and political order throughout the world”. The group adds that he “portrays the Jewish religion as inherently treacherous and belligerent towards Christianity” and that he “describes Jews as ‘outlaws and subversives [who use] religion as a cover for social revolution,’ and claims that Judaism possesses ‘a particularly malignant spirit’.”
In 2008, Mr Jones defended the use of the terms “the synagogue of Satan” and “the vomit of Judaism”, stressing that they originate from religious sources.
Mr Knowland reportedly defended the interview yesterday, stating that “Clearly many Jews are aghast at pornography, but suppressing discussion is not healthy. Accordingly, Jewish involvement in pornography has been discussed in the Jewish Quarterly. If Dr E Michael Jones is mistaken in his views, giving them a platform is the best way to expose those mistakes.”
Mr Jones has denied all accusations of antisemitism.
Campaign Against Antisemitism continues its robust engagement with social media companies over the content that they enable to be published, and we continue to make representations to the Government in this connection.
JVL co-Chair expelled from Labour Party as antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation hosts yet another outrageous event at Labour conference
The co-Chair of Jewish Voice for Labour, an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, has been expelled from the Labour Party and thrown out of its annual conference, where JVL was hosting yet another outrageous event.
JVL claimed that Leah Levane was expelled “because she rightly said the Party has been cynically abusing antisemitism issues not to protect Jews but to make Labour a socialist free zone”.
In reality, Ms Levane was more likely expelled for her association with Labour Against the Witchhunt, an antisemitism-denial group that has been proscribed by the Labour Party. Ms Levane is a councillor at Hastings Borough Council, where she was reportedly the only councillor present at a vote to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism to abstain. In 2017, Ms Levane reportedly commented on Facebook on an item titled “Austria’s neo-Nazis find friends in Israel”, writing that it was “not surprising”. She also claimed online: “Jews are often agents rather than instigators of exploitation.”
JVL hosted a fringe event over the weekend at Labour’s annual conference. In the past, its events have attracted controversy. This year’s event – titled “Labour in Crisis – Tackling Racism in the Party” – came after numerous JVL members have found themselves threatened with expulsion from the Party.
The event welcomed numerous former Labour members who have been expelled from the Party, including the antisemites Jackie Walker and Tony Greenstein. The Party has claimed that it cannot prevent expelled members from attending fringe events, which, as one journalist rightly put it, “makes a mockery of claims in the Party’s own guide.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism recently bankrupted Mr Greenstein after his defamation lawsuit against us humiliatingly backfired.
Although the Party supposedly cannot prevent expelled members from attending fringe events, it does not mean that the Party cannot sanction those who shared a platform with such individuals, as per Sir Keir Starmer’s (poorly fulfilled) leadership election pledge. For example, the former Shadow Chancellor and current backbench MP John McDonnell attended the event.
Meanwhile, journalist Theo Usherwood was ejected from the event (before apparently being permitted re-entry), as was the Jewish activist David Collier.
Elsewhere, the pro-Corbyn MP and controversial former Shadow Minister, Dawn Butler, was also apparently seen wearing a JVL badge, while Andy McDonald, the Shadow Employment Rights Secretary, is reportedly due to host an event with the suspended Labour MP and antisemite Jeremy Corbyn in support of a Unite campaign.
Labour’s annual conference continues in Brighton until Wednesday.
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.
UPDATE: JVL has reportedly apologised “unreservedly” after LBC’s political editor Theo Usherwood was allegedly assaulted. Mr Usherwood accused Mr Greenstein of assaulting him and that the crowd had applauded when he was forcibly ejected from the room, before later being permitted re-entry.
Antisemitism is being spread through video games, research shows
According to BBC Click, antisemitism and other forms of hate, including racism towards other groups and homophobia, is being spread through video games.
Examples of such hate were found on the streaming platforms DLive and Odysee where players can stream themselves playing games like Call of Duty, Roblox and Minecraft whilst chatting with other users.
In Minecraft, an adventure game where users can build and create new environments, it was discovered that a user had built a Nazi concentration camp. It was also reported that in the game Roblox, a user had invited other users into a driving game where they could “become a racist” by running over and killing non-white characters.
A spokesperson for Minecraft said: “Terrorist or violent extremist content is strictly forbidden by our community standards and we take action to remove such content if it appears on our systems.”
Roblox spokespeople similarly condemned such actions, stating: “We work relentlessly to ensure our platform remains a safe and civil space, and with a combination of machine learning and a team of over 2,000 moderators, we monitor for safety 24-7 to detect and swiftly act on any inappropriate content or behaviour.” A spokesperson for Call of Duty said: “The actions we have taken to confront racist behaviour include banning players for racist and hate-oriented names, implementing new technology and making it easier for players to report offensive in-game behaviour.”
It was also said that these conversations can then move onto the social media platform, Telegram. In March, we reported that the far-right group Patriotic Alternative was using Telegram to create neo-Nazi channels dedicated to share vile messages, antisemitic conspiracy theories and images glorifying Hitler.
Over a quarter of Labour conference votes against new semi-independent disciplinary process mandated by EHRC as Sir Keir Starmer absurdly claims vote “closed the door on shameful chapter”
Over a quarter of attendees at the Labour Party’s annual conference voted this weekend against the introduction of a new semi-independent disciplinary process.
The changes are required by the Party’s Action Plan, agreed with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which found Labour to be institutionally racist toward Jewish people following an investigation in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant.
Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee recently endorsed the changes, albeit with eight members voting against and eighteen in favour. Together with the conference vote, it is clear that the Labour Party remains divided on whether to tackle antisemitism in its ranks.
The pro-Corbyn Momentum faction reportedly instructed its delegates to vote against the changes at the Party’s annual conference, which has been marred by the prospect of Jewish delegates being heckled and high-profile Jewish figures being offered security.
Although the passage of the vote was welcome, Sir Keir Starmer absurdly responded by tweeting that “This is a decisive and important day in the history of @UKLabour. By implementing the EHRC rule changes, we’ve closed the door on a shameful chapter in our history. And we have taken a major step forward in our efforts to face the public and win the next general election.”
It is apparently lost on the Labour leader that the introduction of a new disciplinary process is only the beginning, as the new process must now actually be implemented, with outstanding and any new allegations of antisemitism investigated and appropriate sanctions applied. Otherwise, this is nothing more than an exercise in public relations. Sir Keir’s suggestion – in the same breadth – that this is merely “a major step forward in our efforts to face the public and win the next general election” is not encouraging. Tackling racism should not be about winning elections but about doing the right thing.
Joe Glasman, Head of Political Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “We welcome the long overdue overhaul of Labour’s disciplinary process, which is at the heart of the Party’s institutional antisemitism. But the devil will be in the implementation, and we will be watching closely to see whether and how Labour investigates our outstanding complaints against numerous sitting MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn and Angela Rayner, under the new process. With over a quarter of conference attendees voting against these changes to Labour’s rules, even though they are mandated by the EHRC, this weekend’s vote shows that these changes are not a silver bullet. Labour members, even today, remain bitterly divided over whether or not Jews should be welcome in their Party.”
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, including Angela Rayner. 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.
CAA report: Britain’s political parties and antisemitism
Today, during party conference season, Campaign Against Antisemitism releases its review of the state of Britain’s major political parties vis-a-vis antisemitism, with particular focus on relevant developments over the past twelve months.
This review of the parties (ordered alphabetically) supplements our ongoing Antisemitism in Political Parties monitoring project, which documents specific cases of antisemitic conduct and how the parties have addressed them.
These findings are based not only on publicly available information but also on our own investigations and dealings with the parties (where those dealings have not been on a confidential basis), except in the case of the Labour Party, which is the only party that refuses to engage with us.
To download a PDF copy of this report, please click here.
Conservative and Unionist Party
There have been a number of cases over the past year where the Conservatives have sought to kick allegations of antisemitism into the long grass, promising investigations and then conducting them in secret, if at all, over long periods, seemingly in the hope that the problem is forgotten and enabling the Party to issue a mere slap on the wrist to the parliamentarians or councillors in question. We at Campaign Against Antisemitism do not forget, however, and we continue to call out the Conservatives over these failures.
Beyond the disciplinary processes themselves, concerns have been raised over the past year in relation to the use of certain tropes about ‘elites’ which, while not inherently antisemitic, have been used to stoke anti-Jewish sentiment within far-right circles in Britain, Europe and the United States. We continue to urge Conservative politicians to employ responsible language and make the context of their views clear to listeners, so that their remarks cannot be construed or misunderstood as endorsements of far-right positions.
At times, there can also be a mismatch between the national Party and local branches, with, for example, ministers repeatedly calling for local authorities to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism but Conservative-led local councils falling behind in doing so.
Shortcomings notwithstanding, the Conservatives – both in their capacity as the party of Government and among backbenchers in Parliament – have been at the forefront of the fight against antisemitism in Britain and abroad, including being the first national government in the world to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism and threatening the funding of local authorities and universities that do not adopt it, as well as proscribing the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action and the antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation Hizballah, both following urging by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others.
We continue to work with the Government to advance the security of the Jewish community and to call out shortcomings in the Conservative Party.
Green Party of England and Wales and Scottish Greens
The Green Party is the only major political party in England and Wales not to have adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism, and its sister branch in Scotland, the Scottish Greens, is likewise the only political party not to have done so north of the border. While the Green Party’s outgoing leaders have supported its adoption, both in private conservations with Campaign Against Antisemitism and in their capacity as local councillors in London (where both their councils have adopted the Definition), the membership as a whole has failed to endorse the measure at a Party conference, as is required under Party rules.
While we continue to hold discussions with the Party’s leadership, its disciplinary structures are amateurish and utterly deficient. It has minimal professional infrastructure and, unlike in other major parties, its members retain considerable control over policy. Its constitution has failed to keep up with the Party’s electoral rise. One symptom is the failure to adopt the Definition; another is the Party’s woeful disciplinary process, which we have experienced firsthand. We have submitted numerous complaints to the Party over officeholders and candidates, only to find that the complaints are ignored for long periods of time and then adjudicated against arbitrary standards or dismissed for novel constitutional reasons. The effect is that the Party has failed to take any real action against prominent members who have expressed antisemitic sentiments, including the Party’s recent Equalities and Diversity Coordinator who now holds the International Coordinator portfolio. Finding redress for racism against Jews in the Green Party is thus extremely difficult, and all the more worrying as the Party is also particularly vulnerable as a possible destination for far-left Labour members expelled over antisemitism.
These shortcomings do not go unnoticed by the Jewish community. Our Antisemitism Barometer survey of British Jews late last year found that the Greens were second only to Labour in how many respondents felt that the Party was too tolerant of antisemitism (43%).
The Greens are currently holding a leadership election, with candidates taking different positions on whether and how to fight antisemitism in the Party. We continue to monitor this primary with interest, but we are mindful that unless the Party’s internal procedures change, it may have a problem ever winning the trust of the Jewish community.
In Scotland, the Scottish Greens hold more expressly virulent positions which we have publicised. In 2015, the Party adopted a motion, which has never been rescinded, condemning “Israel’s claim to be ‘the Jewish State’” and “Zionism as a racist ideology.” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is an example of antisemitism.
The motion also committed the Party to opposing “Aliyah” (Jewish immigration to Israel, including by British Jews) and Israel’s Law of Return, the Jewish state’s answer to centuries of persecution of diaspora Jewry. The motion further called for the removal of Hamas, an antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation, from its designation by the British Government as a terrorist organisation, and supported the BDS movement — the campaign to boycott the Jewish state — the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of British Jews find intimidating.
The debate on this motion was held on a Saturday, when observant Jews would be unable to participate, and it passed easily. It became Party policy and remains so even as the Scottish Greens recently joined the Scottish devolved Government for the first time. Indeed, it is the first time that a Green Party has joined any Government in the United Kingdom. We remain deeply concerned about these policies of the Scottish Greens and call for the Party to rescind them immediately in order to reassure the Jewish community of its good faith.
Labour Party
The Labour Party is the only political party to have been found to be institutionally racist against Jewish people by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), following a statutory investigation in which we were the complainant. It is thus in a category of its own when it comes to assessing its record on racism against Jews over the past year.
The Parliamentary Labour Party and Shadow Cabinet comprise politicians who either actively supported an antisemitic leader — and Sir Keir Starmer himself is on record as having given his “100% backing” to Jeremy Corbyn — and those who did nothing as their principled and courageous colleagues quit the Party or, in the case of several Jewish MPs, were hounded out of it. Winning back the trust of the Jewish community — which, historically, has been very supportive of the Party that recently betrayed it — was always therefore going to take real and compelling action.
There have been examples of such action over the past year, including Mr Corbyn’s ongoing suspension from the Parliamentary Labour Party (even as his suspension from the Labour Party was disgracefully short-lived and he is now eligible to attend the Party’s annual conference); proclamations by Labour’s General-Secretary to Constituency Labour Parties to avoid discussing antisemitism; the proscription of the antisemitism-denial group Labour Against the Witchhunt and the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson’s so-called “Resist” faction, with all of their members threatened with automatic expulsion from the Party; the expulsion of Ken Loach; the ruling National Executive Committee’s (NEC) resolution to introduce (subject to approval at Labour’s annual conference) a semi-independent disciplinary process; and, at the local level, the good record of Labour-controlled local authorities of adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Nevertheless, positive steps have been slow, incremental and at times undermined by contradictory maneuvers. For example, Mr Corbyn’s suspension from the Labour Party was inexplicably lifted using precisely the disciplinary process that the EHRC had just ruled was unfit for purpose; numerous MPs and officeholders have not been sanctioned for sharing platforms with members suspended or expelled over antisemitism, despite Sir Keir’s leadership election pledge to do so; and disciplinary actions in other high-profile cases have been reversed, the disciplinary process remains a mess and, when first published, Labour’s proposed complaints handbook was a joke. Furthermore, the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, Jewish Voice for Labour, has not yet been proscribed. Neither, for that matter has the pro-Corbyn Momentum faction, whose co-Chair denied that a Jewish MP was hounded out of the Party, while Young Labour’s controversies are ignored and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which a past investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism found was riddled with bigotry, has been positively welcomed by the Party.
Moreover, the goodwill and trust between Labour and the Jewish community that did build up in the months since Sir Keir won the leadership of the Party was wasted during the conflict between Hamas and Israel, when Labour MPs and councillors, though not alone, were too often involved in stoking communal division, ignoring displays of antisemitism at rallies and on some occasions even joining in with them.
We have also 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 our 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, including Deputy Leader Angela Rayner. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and indeed there have been reports that our complaint against Ms Rayner has been dismissed without so much as an acknowledgement (contrary to the Party’s new complaints handling policy), let alone an investigation.
Not only have our complaints not been acknowledged almost one year since they were submitted, but Sir Keir has also repeatedly refused to engage with us, despite our being the complainant in the EHRC’s investigation into antisemitism in his Party. Indeed, Labour is the only major political party that has not been willing to work with us when approached.
All of this has been noted by the Jewish community. Our latest Antisemitism Barometer, published at the start of the year (with polling conducted after Mr Corbyn’s suspension and well before the conflict between Hamas and Israel), showed that British Jews feel that the Labour Party is more than twice as tolerant of antisemitism than any other political party. Remarkably, compared to the previous year’s figures (polled while Mr Corbyn was still leader of the Party), Labour performed worse, with 88 percent of respondents considering that the Party was too tolerant of antisemitism under Sir Keir compared with 86 percent the year before under Mr Corbyn, perhaps due to disappointment caused by the evaporation of Sir Keir’s bold promises. At times, this sentiment has spilled into the open.
The Party now faces its next test at its annual conference. The contours of the Party’s internal struggle are clear, with Jewish Voice for Labour due to hold a fringe event; Labour Against the Witchhunt to hold parallel events; Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford scheduled to speak at a concurrent conference alongside Mr Corbyn and Mr Loach; pro-Corbyn members intending to push a motion to restore the whip to the former leader; and attendees due to be asked to approve mandatory changes to the Party’s disciplinary committee that almost one third of the Party’s ruling National Executive Committee nevertheless still thought fit to oppose.
Even if the leadership succeeds in redirecting the Party and recasting its rules, in the background is Labour’s vast membership, over two thirds of which believe that the problem of antisemitism in the Party has been “exaggerated” or that there is not a serious problem (findings similar to those in a poll conducted shortly after the 2019 General Election), and the Parliamentary Labour Party, too much of which remains populated by Mr Corbyn’s allies and acolytes, who hold similar views to him in relation to the Jewish community. The real challenge — to which our complaints speak — will be applying the new direction and rules to those in the Labour Party who supported or enabled the unlawful victimisation of Jewish people.
We continue to encourage the Labour Party in its positive steps and fulfilment of the Action Plan agreed with the EHRC, but we will also continue to pressure the Party on its failures and inconsistencies, and ultimately expect to see our complaints investigated and upheld so that the Jewish community gets justice.
Liberal Democrats
Whether as a result of their reduced size, lack of media interest or a genuine willingness to tackle antisemitism when it arises — and there is evidence of the latter — the Liberal Democrats appear to have performed rather well over the past year in relation to antisemitism in Britain. The Party has improved markedly since the days of David Ward and Jenny Tonge (who mercifully retired from the House of Lords, where she sat as an independent, earlier this year).
The Party has generally moved quickly to investigate allegations when they have arisen, and even dropped a prospective London mayoral candidate after her past comments emerged — although as the Party’s own leader admitted, questions remain about how she was permitted to stand in the first place.
However, the Party still has something of a blind spot regarding antisemitism abroad. For example, in a debate earlier this year on antisemitism in Palestinian Authority textbooks, one of the Party’s veteran MPs appeared to imply that the issue does not really matter. Meanwhile, at its recent annual conference, the Party adopted a motion about the Middle East that made explicit reference to the Palestinian Authority’s and Hamas’s persecution of the “LGBT+ community and women” but, disappointingly, made no mention of their antisemitism. This was particularly concerning given the surge in antisemitism in Britain during the conflict between Hamas — which is an antisemitic genocidal terrorist group — and Israel earlier this year. The Party did condemn that antisemitism at the time.
We look forward to continuing to work with the Liberal Democrats over the coming year, both to build upon their improvements in dealing with domestic antisemitism and to engage them on the issue of anti-Jewish racism abroad.
Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, made a great deal of its internal review into antisemitism, to which we made submissions. The review came following the devastating report into antisemitism in the Labour Party by the EHRC. However, for all the Plaid Cymru report’s worthy conclusions — including that the Party should update its definition of antisemitism to conform precisely to the International Definition of Antisemitism — the Party has taken no real steps at all to deal with its rather public antisemitism problem.
The report made recommendations to improve the Party’s disciplinary process, but these have yet to be implemented. Moreover, the Party showed no willingness to prevent a candidate from standing for election despite her disgraceful record. The Party has also repeatedly failed to update us on the states of complaints that we have submitted. The report and its recommendations are only as useful as the Party’s willingness to tackle the problem of anti-Jewish racism, and the Party’s actions in the months since the review was announced and published give cause for concern.
There is a conflict within the Party as to whether and how to tackle antisemitism. For example, former leader Leanne Wood appeared on Twitter to endorse the claim that antisemitism has been “exploited” to “smear” Jeremy Corbyn and to defend Rebecca Long-Bailey, who was sacked from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet after she promoted an article containing an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Meanwhile, another former leader of Plaid Cymru, Lord Wigley, asserted that “it’s absolutely clear that Plaid Cymru cannot tolerate antisemitism or any other form or racism.”
Late last year, our Antisemitism Barometer surveyed whether British Jews felt that any political parties were too tolerant of antisemitism. Plaid Cymru saw the largest increase compared to the previous year, with a rise from 9% to 23%. Although this year’s figure is still lower than that for other major parties, given Plaid Cymru’s limited geographical focus compared to national parties and its lesser media exposure, the Party should take no comfort from this statistic.
We continue to work with allies within Plaid Cymru to improve the Party’s position on racism against Jews.
Scottish National Party (SNP)
Numerous SNP politicians have been revealed over the past year to have irresponsibly compared their political opponents to Nazis, which we have repeatedly called out, usually leading to apologies. Another MP has also made regrettable comments about antisemitism in Palestinian Authority textbooks. Also this year, an SNP MP previously suspended from the Party over allegations of antisemitism and subsequently readmitted was selected to sit on the Party’s internal conduct committee (the MP has since left the Party for unrelated reasons).
The leader of the SNP and First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, recently sought to reassure the Jewish community that she “understood the community’s anxieties” and is “committed to tackling” antisemitism. It was therefore disappointing that she struck a deal with the Scottish Greens, despite their policies on certain sensitive issues for the Jewish community. Ms Sturgeon now finds herself under pressure over the arrangement.
However, there are also bright spots. The first local authority in Scotland to have adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism is the body controlled by the SNP, namely the Scottish Government. It is important, however, that Ms Sturgeon and the SNP — and indeed all parties — recognise that adoption of the Definition must be followed by its application in disciplinary cases, and that reassuring words must be accompanied by principled action against anti-Jewish racism.
We continue to monitor and cooperate with the SNP in tackling antisemitism in its ranks and within Scotland, where the SNP is the party of Government.
Summary
Joe Glasman, Head of Political Investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “There is antisemitism in all political parties, be it expressed, enabled or ignored. But not all parties are equal offenders, with some improving over the years and others moving in the wrong direction. Others still try to tick boxes and say the right things but fail at times to take real action.
“Growing concerns about the Green Party notwithstanding, Labour remains the only major party with a problem of institutional racism, as confirmed by the EHRC following our referral. It is astonishing that, despite being the complainant in the EHRC’s investigation, the Labour Party is alone among national political parties in refusing to engage with us. Under its current leadership, Labour has taken welcome steps to tackle the Party’s racism, but progress has been slow and unsteady. This year’s annual conference could be make-or-break for the Party, with the Jewish community and all decent Britons watching to see what kind of party Labour wants to be.
“We will continue to monitor, expose and cooperate with all parties to educate on and stamp out antisemitism from our public life.”
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.
To download a PDF copy of this report, please click here.