Prof. John “time for Jews to reflect” Ashton claims scandal of his antisemitism is a “political” conspiracy against him, while thousands sign CAA petition to take him off BBC, ITV and Sky News

Prof. John Ashton has claimed that the scandal of his antisemitism recently unearthed is a “political” conspiracy, while the number of signatories to Campaign Against Antisemitism’s petition urging broadcasters to stop featuring the public health pundit has grown into the thousands.

Prof. Ashton has a long history of antisemitic and inflammatory comments, including comparing Israel to the Nazis and holding Jews responsible for the actions of the State of Israel, both of which are breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism, as well as trolling Jewish women MPs.

In remarks to The Canary, a controversial hard-left blog under investigation by the Government’s Independent Advisor on Antisemitism, Prof. Ashton said that “the fact they’ve dug this stuff up – whatever the validity of it – after six years, it’s obviously political isn’t it? That’s where we are.”

Prof. Ashton tried to explain away his record of racism rather than apologising for it, and was more concerned about the timing of the revelations and their impact on him rather than the effect of his words on Jews. The Canary, rather than encouraging Prof. Ashton to make amends for his antisemitism described the exposure of his anti-Jewish sentiments as a “witchhunt”, a common refrain of the far-left.

Since our petition calling on the BBC, ITV and Sky News to stop featuring Prof. Ashton on their programmes was launched, Prof. Ashton appears to have had fewer bookings by major broadcasters. You can sign our petition here: https://www.change.org/p/bbc-bbc-itv-sky-news-get-prof-john-time-for-jews-to-reflect-ashton-off-our-televisions

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