Monday, May 30, 2016

When you challenge anti-semitic blood libels you become the victim of anti-semitic abuse and threats



This is an update to the posts here, here, and here.

When a non-political charity - against its own rules - awarded first prize in the Redbridge finals of its speaking competition for youngsters to a virulently anti-Israel speech full of lies and blood libels, I was one of the first to complain. Not to demand the speech be censored, but simply to point out that this speech should not have won the competition and that the charity should set the record straight by allowing a proper response to the speech (which had been met with enthusiastic applause at Wanstead High School). I also noted that the student in question had been extensively re-tweeting hateful material from a well-know terrorist supporter called Abbas Sarsour.

The charity said that they had already decided a week earlier that the speech was in breach of their two fundamental rules and that because of this the student was not being put through to the Grand Final.

Because the antisemites (of whom there are far more than Israel supporters) decided that I had played a role  in 'silencing a child' I have now been abused, threatened in many ways - including being reported to the police - and accused of being a child molester and paedophile. I am currently receiving, for example,  hundreds of abusive tweets per hour (even though I only joined twitter a few months ago and before the weekend had received less than a dozen tweets in total). You can see them on my twitter feed and comments on my recent blog postings.  There is also a campaign to 'ban' me (whatever that means):

@Support Please ban @EdgarDavidson81 for online threats to @LeanneMohamad #LetLeanneSpeak

David Collier has a brilliant report on the same thing here.

Daphne Anson: Police have been informed tweets Israel defaming schoolgirl as anti-Israel forces rally

And here is a reminder for all the haters - who say they are not antisemites - now visiting my blog:






Sunday, May 29, 2016

This explains Leanne Mohamad's perverse views about 'Palestine' and the 'Zionists'

Based on her retweets, 'Peace loving' Leanne Mohamad gets all her information about 'Palestine' from Hamas supporter Abbas Sarsour, who glories in the murder of 'Zionists'. Above are some screenshots from his twitter feed
The story of schoolgirl Leanne Mohamad's award-winning anti-Israel speech, full of ignorant lies and blood libels, keeps getting more interesting. I don't normally 'do' twitter but I posted about the story there today and got back a torrent of abuse. Some of it was of this sort:


But most of it was accusing my of 'censoring' Leanne (an interesting accusation given that my letter to the CEO of the Speakers Trust specifically said I was not asking for the video to be removed or censored, and in any case the Trust had already unanimously decided she could not be put through to the Grand Final as the speech broke their fundamental rules). And Leanne herself started re-tweeting these tweets to me, e.g.:


So I decided to have a look at Leanne's twitter feed. And, unsurprisingly, there was this kind of propaganda and lies:

But then I noticed that there were far more offensive re-tweets and they were all from Abbas Sarsor, who is a well-known Hamas supporting propagandist and inciter of violence (the website Canary Mission has found many anti-Israel/antisemitic student activists and academics in the USA use his work). I present below some further examples of Sarsour's work, which Leanne is so keen to re-tweet. It was lucky I took some screenshots because just a few minutes later I discovered that Leanne had blocked me (and I suspect she may also be in the process of removing tweets).

What I would like to know (and will ask her Head Teacher) is if anybody from the School bothered to check her twitter feed before deciding that she was the best student to speak**(UPDATE see below). I will ask the local MP the same question given the Government's determination to identify and eradicate extremism targeting school children.

Anyway here are some more of Sarsour's tweet. All his tweets fall into one of the following categories:






**UPDATE: Here is a screenshot taken minutes ago from Wanstead High School:


UPDATE: Now I have exposed this I have become subject to multiple personal threats and abuse

Saturday, May 28, 2016

A schoolgirl's 3-minute video confirms there is no future for British Jewry


Update: As you can see from clicking the link, the video has now been removed from the Speak Out Challenge website but here is a screenshot below I saved, and the whole video is actually interspersed with the response video from Brian of London at the bottom of this page. Also worth mentioning that the antisemites on twitter are apoplectic at my actions that they say have led to this girl being 'censored'. In fact, the Speakers Trust had already decided not to send the girl through to the Grand Final and, moreover, in my letter to the CEO I specifically said I was not asking for the video to be removed. I was asking for the right to respond to the lies (and specifically have the School hear the response). Brian's video does this.
Another Update: This explain the 'Peace loving' schoolgirl's perverse views on 'Palestine'



(SEE FURTHER UPDATES AT BOTTOM OF PAGE)

This is actually a good news and bad news update to the posting yesterday about how a 3-minute anti-Israel hate speech full of lies and blood libels by Leanne Mohamad of Wanstead High School won the 2015-16 Jack Petchey “Speak Out” Challenge Redbridge Regional Final.

The good news is that I have had a response** (see below) from the  CEO of the Speakers Trust (who run the competition on behalf of the Jack Petchey Foundation); she states that the judging panel have now decided unanimously against sending Leanne Mohamad through to the Grand Final. The reason is that they had the same concerns to those I raised. Note, in particular, how the speech was in breach of the two 'fundamental rules made explicit during training'.

The bad news is that the more I think about Leanne Mohamad's speech, and the jubilant reaction to it, the more it is evident that there is no long-term future for British Jewry (and it seems Brian of London agrees with me). Here we have a very well-educated child in an affluent suburban school who has been groomed and brainwashed into accepting a 'Palestine' narrative that is even more extreme than that proposed by Hamas. Yet, she seems to have had the full support of all the school's teachers and pupils as well as the local authorities who clearly bought into, and supported, the same narrative because so much of Britain's political and academic class is controlled by the Islamic/leftist alliance that deems 'Palestinians' as the ultimate victims of our age and Israelis as the ultimate villains.

A very large proportion of schoolchildren are being brought up with the same extreme views as Leanne Mohamad. People with these views are already dominant in Britain's Universities with their "Israel apartheid" weeks and their closing down of any pro-Israel speech on campus.  Things are clearly going to get a lot worse with the influx of immigrants who have been fed the same antisemitic propaganda from birth. In 5 years time Leanne Mohamad may be intimidating Jewish students on a University campus with her lies and in 15 years time it is highly likely that Leanne Mohamad will be a member of Parliament (she is after all just a younger version of many like her now in the Labour party). Judging by the comments yesterday of Teresa May someone like her would be welcome in the Conservative party and could even become Prime Minister.

Leanne's narrative is driven by hateful antisemitism that refuses to acknowledge any rights of the Jewish people, and completely ignores the reality of Palestinian terrorism and rejectionism, the fact that the 'poor Palestinians' are the recipients of more aid per person than any other people in the world, and that most of the billions of dollars given in aid that have not ended up in terrorist bank accounts has been spent on terror tunnels and weapons. It is a narrative that is clearly promoted not just in Leanne's mosque, but also by the BBC, Sky News and almost every main stream newspaper. That is why not a single person in authority at Wanstead High School or on the various Redbridge committees even questioned the legitimacy of what Leanne was saying or noticed that her speech was in breach of both of the competition's fundamental rules.

The 'official' Jewish leadership of the UK ultimately bears some responsibility for allowing this narrative to take hold, when the simple truth was all that it needed to expose it. Now Jewish parents in the UK are having to send their children to schools and colleges where the Leanne Mohamads dominate all debate, while the Jews cower in silence. That is the future for Jews in the UK.

**Response from Julie Holness, CEO
Thank you very much for your email, which my colleague Rebecca Griffiths has this morning forwarded to me. We take your concerns very seriously. 
Every year thousands of young people are trained in the art of public speaking. They are encouraged to speak out on something they feel passionately about and of course they bring with them their history and culture and beliefs. 
There are, however, two fundamental rules that are made explicit during the training:
- the speech must have a positive and uplifting message - in fact this is one of the core terms of the agreement with the Jack Petchey Foundation.

- a speaker should never inflame or offend the audience or insult others and this, by definition, means that propaganda is ruled out absolutely from the outset.
It is, however, the school that votes through its most talented speaker in an Assembly final and an independent panel of judges from the local community who select their regional winner. Speeches at this level will have been further developed and even rewritten, with the training guidelines but without our input on content. Judges do not mark a speaker down because they disagree with a point of view but they are clearly briefed on the those guidelines. Unfortunately, with over 18,000 young people trained annually, a speech that does not observe these ground rules may very rarely get through on passion and delivery. 
Last Saturday a Speakers Trust and Jack Petchey Foundation judging panel decided unanimously against sending Leanne Mohamad through to the next stage and she will not be speaking at the Grand Final. These were precisely our concerns. 
As a Speakers Trust trainer I was responsible for managing the schools in Redbridge and I have a close affinity with the region. Please let me know if you would like me to forward your email to Wanstead High School so that your comments and reservations may be heard. 
If you wish to discuss this further you have my home office number below, which you are welcome to use at any time. 
Kind regards,
Julie Holness

Chief Executive Officer
Speakers Trust
Getting the Public Speaking
And here is my follow-up:
Dear Julie
Thank you for your very fast response to my letter, which is greatly appreciated.
I am pleased to hear that the judging panel found that the speech by Leanne Mohamad was in breach of both of the fundamental rules you cited and that, as a result, she will not be speaking at the Grand Final.
 
What I do not understand is that if, as you say, these "two fundamental rules are made explicit during the training" how on earth was it possible for a speech like this not only to be accepted in the first place but to actually win the Redbridge Final? It seems that there must have been a complete breakdown of the competition processes at many levels. It also seems to me that political activists in Redbridge and the School have hijacked the competition to promote what is, ultimately, a deeply antisemitic narrative. 
What I would like to know is how the damage done is going to be redressed. The lies and blood libels in Leanne's speech, which went totally unchallenged, actually go far beyond what even the terrorist organisation Hamas claims. To say these blood libels are deeply offensive to me and my many family members in Israel (some of whom have been murdered by the Palestinian terrorists whose narrative Leanne presents) is an understatement. Yet I see that the video is STILL on your website http://www.speakoutchallenge.com/leanne-mohamad-winner-jack-petcheys-speak-challenge-redbridge-regional-final-2015-16/  on a page which congratulates Leanne as the Redbridge winner. 
I am not, incidentally suggesting that the video must be taken down or censored. But if it is left there must be a clear statement about how it has breached the rules, why it is so offensive and why nothing like that can ever be accepted in the future. There must also be a proper video response. 
As far as the School is concerned I have already written to the Head Teacher, but I think you should also seek answers from them to the above questions.  It frightens me to know how such extreme, hateful and ignorant views have not only become main stream in such a school, but have become a mark of excellence with apparently unanimous support.
Yours
Edgar
See also: How to win a UK child's charity award - make a speech full of lies and blood libels against Israel 

UPDATE: The Jewish Chronicle has picked up the story, although curiously (given that it failed to cover the story first time when the child won the competition) it headlines with the good news that the Panel unanimously voted the speech out of the final.

UPDATE: Brian of London has produced a superb response video. This is what I will ask the head Master of Wanstead High School to show to all the pupils. Please watch it all:





Update: This explain the 'Peace loving' schoolgirl's perverse views on 'Palestine'

Friday, May 27, 2016

How to win a UK child's charity award - make a speech full of lies and blood libels against Israel


Update: As you can see from clicking the link, the video has now been removed from the Speak Out Challenge website but here below is a screenshot I saved and the whole video is actually interspersed with this response video from Brian of London which is also on my update here.




UPDATE: see here for good news and bad news outcome to this story.

Thanks to Daphne Anson for first alerting me to this story.

How do you win an award with a British Charity whose mission statement is
To enable young people (aged 11 – 25 years in London and Essex), to achieve their potential by inspiring, investing in, developing and promoting activities that increase their personal, social, emotional and physical development.  
Obviously, you make a hate speech containing nothing but blood libels against the State of Israel (a speech that also includes the statement "Islam is perfect" and ends with the raising of the Palestine flag and the call to "Free Palestine" which is wildly applauded). Here is self-explanatory letter I have written to the person in charge of this particular scheme at the Charity:

Dear Ms Griffiths (becky.griffiths@speakerstrust.org)
I have been a long term supporter of the Jack Petchey Foundation [personal details were added here].  What I was not aware of was that the Charity was now in the business of supporting vicious blood libels against the State of Israel.
Specifically, I have watched the speech by Leanne Mohamad of Wanstead High School  that won the 2015-16 Jack Petchey “Speak Out” Challenge Redbridge Regional Final. This speech consists of three minutes of solid lies and blood libels claiming that every day since 1948 (when the State of Israel was established) the 'defenceless' Palestinians have been slaughtered, with 30,000 children murdered.
For the record there are no verified instances of Palestinian children being 'murdered' by Israel, although many dozens have died as a result of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups launching unprovoked rocket attacks against Israeli civilians (often from schools and hospitals) and then using their own children as human shields when Israel has responded. In fact, Amnesty International (an organisation that has traditionally been hostile to Israel) reported just this week that most of the child casualties of the 2014 conflict (that was started by Hamas) were actually killed by Hamas rockets falling short of their 'target'.  In contrast, there have been several hundred Israel children murdered by Palestinian terrorists who all operate as part of 'official' groups (Hamas, Fatah, and Islamic Jihad) and each such murder is a cause of rejoicing in the Palestinian territories. A catalogues of the most recent murders can be found here. Three especially brutal examples you should read up about are:the Ma'alot School massacre; the Haifa school bus massacre; and the Fogel family massacre.
As for the lie that Palestinian children cannot sleep because they are 'bombed every night', perhaps Ms Mohamad is actually thinking of the Jewish children of Sderot who really were bombed almost every day between 2005 and 2014 by the Palestinians of Gaza.
You must surely be aware that supporting hateful and vicious political propaganda puts the Jack Petchey Foundation in breach of its Charity Commission obligations as made clear in the Commission's document here.  
Before I make a formal complaint to the Charities Commission I would like to know what the Charity is going to do about it and, in particular, whether and when it plans to at least put the record straight for the children of Wanstead High School, in terms of ensuring they hear the truth about what is happening in 'Palestine'.  
Yours sincerely
I have also written to Mr Hamlyn (whs@wansteadhigh.co.uk) the Head Teacher at Wanstead High School and Trudy Kilcullen  (CEO of the Jack Petchey Foundation CEO, mail@jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk). And I copied in Jonathan Arkush (President of the BoD) as this must surely be of concern to them.

UPDATE: see here for good news and bad news outcome to this story (including response to my letter).

Incidentally I should really sue Ms Mohamad for plagiarism** (**satire for all you antisemites out there) since it seems her speech was based entirely on my definition of what it means to be a Palestinianist:


Thursday, May 26, 2016

Catch a Jew: the most revealing book about Israel's enemies


I finally got round to reading all of Tuvia Tenebom's book last week having had it for a few months and only previously read a few extracts. The book exposes the total corruption and lies of the multiple NGOs (non Government Organisations) and charities who operate in Israel/Palestine and who are massively funded by foreign governments (especially the EU) to deligitimize Israel, and organise Palestinian 'resistance' and propaganda.

Even for a seasoned 'activist' like myself (who has dedicated much time to investigating and exposing the anti-Zionism of the Western narrative and media, anti-Semitism of Palestinians, and who spends a lot of time in Israel), the overall message of the book was shocking and deeply depressing. It shows on the one hand that the irrational antisemitism that underpins the universal anti-Zionist narrative is even more deeply rooted than I feared; and on the other hand that most Israelis are even more oblivious of this than I suspected.

I think this is one of the most important - and in many ways brilliant - books I have read. Crucially, the reviews and extracts I had read did not do the book justice and in many respects were quite misleading. For a start, the popular narrative that Tuvia is a right-wing Zionist is itself a lie. This lie is promoted by those (including many who call themselves Zionists**) who are uncomfortable when their liberal ideas are blown apart by facts, especially when the person who reveals those facts is a Jew using unconventional methods. Rather than confronting the evidence that Tuvia presents (and it really is more clear-cut and damning than most of what you will have seen elsewhere) critics fall back on the 'right-wing Zionist' (or even 'racist') slur to discredit the fact finder and close down the debate (take a look, for example, at this review of the book in Tablet Magazine). In fact, Tuvia is not a 'rightest' in any normal sense of the word and nor, it seems, a Zionist. Some of his harshest criticism is reserved for ultra-orthodox Jews and 'right wing extremists'. The fact that he refers to the Israeli Labour party as 'centrist' indicates that he is naturally a man of the left.  Indeed, both Netanyahu and Lieberman refused interviews with him since (in Tuvia's words) "both their teams have concluded that I am a leftist troublemaker" and his Bohemian lifestyle puts him socially in the extreme liberal category.

But his 6 months in Israel clearly make Tuvia realise that most of the 'left' are the opposite of the liberal intelligentsia that they claim to be. They are intolerant, shallow and hypocritical; the Jews among them are among the most self-hating, while the non-Jews (of the European and other NGOs) are driven by antisemitism. These activists ignore the most brutal behaviour of Arabs while spending their entire lives looking for Jews in Israel who 'misbehave'. Their objective is to use evidence of such misbehaviour  (no matter how trivial and contrived - indeed it is normally set up by the activists themselves) as 'proof' that Jews do not deserve to have their own country.  It's as simple as that. Hence the book's title "Catch a Jew". These people are determined to make most of Israel 'Judenfrei'.

Readers of my blog will know that that I have spent a lot of time exposing the antisemitism behind some of the most popular and respected NGO's and charities.  However, even I was shocked by the extent to which supposedly 'humanitarian' organisations like the International Red Cross and Medecin Sans Frontiers are actually just political anti-Zionist machines. And the depravity and lies of Israeli NGOs like B'Tselem are also at a level far worse than I ever imagined or reported (and remember B'Tselem are Yachad's main Israel partner).

By being able to cast himself as a different character, depending on who he was meeting, Tenenbom discovered what people really understand and believe. Hence, he exposes a level of antisemitism in supposedly moderate and highly educated Arabs, that almost all Israelis (and certainly the entire Israel media) refuse to acknowledge or accept. But it is what he discovers about 'leftist' Israelis and the NGO activists that is most revealing. For example, Haaretz writer Gideon Levy - man who has dedicated his life to the Palestinian cause and who can find no good Zionist Jew and no bad Palestinian -  is a liar who speaks no Arabic and does not have a single Palestinian friend. In fact Tuvia finds that many Israeli leftists love the Arabs far more than they love the Jews, but do not actually have any Palestinian friends. Their love of Palestinian Arabs is based on a purely theoretical view of what the Palestinians are and what they want. The leftists want - and believe - that the Palestinians are like them and that they yearn for peace and mutual respect. The reality that Tuvia finds everywhere is that, when speaking among themselves (as opposed to their NGO friends and Jews) the Palestinians actually yearn for a Jew-free state encompassing the whole of Israel. And the NGOs have brainwashed their followers to believe that this is the only ethical solution also.

One especially poignant passage is this one:

I meet a very nice couple, both widely known, highly educated, highly intellectual, exemplary self-haters, optimal Arab lovers, and they touch me deeply. They are Israeli Jews and I won’t identify them, what they do, or in what part of the town they reside. They tell me three interesting stories.
(1) They live in a beautiful home, which was renovated for them by an Arab contractor whom they knew and blindly trusted. When the contractor was about done with his work, for which he was handsomely paid, he presented them with a wonderful gift, for which he did not want to get paid: a big olive tree that he planted in their garden. They were very touched by his gesture and thanked him profusely. He listened to their thanks, looked them straight in the eye and said: “You don’t have to thank me. I didn’t do it for you, I did it for myself and my family.” They did not understand what he was saying, and he explained: “Soon you will move out of this house.” How so? “Because soon this land will be free of Jews.” They were devastated. How could he say such a thing to them
(2) Years ago, many years ago, the lady was gang- raped by a bunch of Arab youth.
(3) Years later, their granddaughter was sexually abused by an old Arab friend.
These three stories are the total sum of their personal experience with Palestinians, yet they won’t allow themselves to be affected by any of these incidents. The man explains to me: “I believe in humanism, I believe that the Palestinians are good people and that they want to live with us in peace. I believe that we have done them wrong and I believe that they have not done us wrong. It doesn’t matter to me if what I believe in is factually right. I know it’s not, but I don’t care about facts! I want to believe, even if everything I believe in is false.
This is an attitude I have discovered myself in many conversations with Israelis (especially in Tel Aviv) and my British friends find it very hard to believe. For example, after the massacre of the Fogel family in Itamar in 2011 several Israelis told me that they not only felt no sympathy for the Fogel family 'because they chose to live in the occupied territories' but also felt the act was justified as the 'Itamar settlement was a humiliation' for the Palestinians.

Other parts of the book also provide extensive evidence of things I have suspected and written about. For example:
  • I have long moaned about the anti-Zionist bias of Israeli films. Tuvia discovers that almost every Israeli non-fiction film is funded by external NGOs under condition that they support the anti-Zionist narrative. So basically if you want to make a film and do not have your own funding, your only option is to make an anti-Zionist one. But, because of the leftist domination of academia and the arts, almost all Israel government arts funding also goes to film-makers and artists who promote an anti-Zionist narrative.
  • While I have reported on the anti-Zionist activities of the foreign funded NGOs I was unaware of just how many there are, how well funded they are, and the extent to which they are changing facts and behaviour. For example, it is the NGOs who have created the 'Bedouin' crisis that threatens to disrupt the entire Negev and its future development. The NGOs have even brainwashed the Bedouins into regarding themselves as 'Palestinian Arabs' (something they never considered themselves to be 20 years ago). Elsewhere the NGO activists scour the land looking for anything to photograph and video that can cast Jews in a bad light. Most of the time the incidents they report were actually set up by  the activists themselves (including helping Arabs attack Jews). They also bribe Arabs to invent 'crimes' committed by Jews.
  • The International Red Cross - which exerts enormous power and influence in Israel (Tuvia reports on how IDF soldiers and Police cower when confronted by ICRC people) - is run by an unelected group of Swiss nationals (no other nationals are allowed) and this antisemitic group gets decide what constitutes international law. It is they who decided that, of all the many disputed territories in the world (including China's occupation of Tibet and Turkey's occupation of Northern Cyprus) only Israel's 'occupation' is illegal. 
  • The contrast between the media's narrative about the relative prosperity and freedom of Jews and Arabs and the reality (such as in Hebron where the Jews are ghettoised with no freedom of movement, and forbidden from any type of building work on their homes, while their Arab neighbours have no such restrictions; and the many Palestinian mansions all over the 'West Bank').
However, the most disturbing lesson of the book is Tuvia's contrasts between the beliefs of the majority of Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Muslims. The Jews are naive, riddled with self-doubt and crippled by excessive compassion;  but the Palestinians are united in the belief that one day the whole of Israel will belong to them. Witnessing the way Jews have already lost control of areas in Israel he implies that ultimately this contrast will result in the end of the Jewish State unless things change dramatically.  I am not as pessimistic as Tuvia, but if Israel continues to produce 'generals' like Yair Golan and politicians who are not prepared to stand up to them, then Tuvia will be proved right.

**The fact that the organisers of the Limmud conference actually cancelled Tuvia's invitation to speak on its panel session, exposes Limmud as being completely worthless.

***The Amazon cover page for the book says:
This book recounts the adventures of Tuvia Tenenbom, who wanders around Israel of our time calling himself "Tobi the German". In the course of numerous interviews Tuvia extracts information, sentiments, hidden theories and delusional visions motivating the miscellany of peoples forming the present-day Holy Land. Does Palestinian wife number one hate the Jews more than she hates wife number two? Who does a young German tourist hate more, her dead Nazi grandpa or the just-born Jewish baby? Who finances cash-rich NGOs pursuing a Judenrein Israel? Who sets Palestinian olive groves on fire and why? What do you see from a Piper Cherokee above a Bedu camp? Who are the flaming feminists who sacrifice their lives for the rights of polygamists? Whose land is this, anyway? In the course of his seven-months journey Tobi the German discovers Syrian flags growing inside apples, she-asses who used to be men, five-star refugee camps, flying prophets, cash-loving guardians of the poor, masturbating monks in eternal love of Palestinians, human rights activists in eternal hatred of Jews, cash-rich rabbis without congregations, families growing in cemeteries -- among many others. Catch the Jew!, the most humorous composition on the Middle East to date, is a polyglot spin around a cultural miscegenation in a very small space. However, it is never-daunted author finds that with labneh, strudel, olive oil, apple pie, kebab, rugelach, hummus and schnitzel, a happy tummy can bear us through even the most appalling matters. Except the conclusion.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

On the appropriate response to antisemitic lies and blood-libels directed at Israel


Following my report on  Sunday's counter-demo against an antisemitic 'pro-Palestinian' attempt to spew lies and hatred in London and close down a Jewish-Israeli store a commentator expressed concern at the (well-meaning) banner here held up by one of the pro-Israel demonstrators, feeling it was far too defensive.

Indeed this is a subject I've addressed before - notably here - but it seems few people understand it so I will attempt to make this very simple using the following hypothetical analogy:
Jackie White looks after her 80 year old mother Iris who has been house bound in London with dementia for 10 years. One day a man Patrick Bates with a history of psychopathic violence and delusions, tells the local media that Iris has been murdering street children in Brazil every day for the last 10 years and that he plans to kill her to stop this. 

What should Jackie's reaction be? Should she:

a) Attempt to counter the accusations of Patrick Bates by providing proof of Iris's long-term disabilities and explaining what a caring woman she has always been.

or

b) Expose Patrick Bates as the liar and dangerously insane psychopath that he clearly is.

If she chooses a) she has already entered into a narrative in which 'both sides' are talking about whether or not Iris is a child killer. A reasonable 'headline' for the media would be:
"Jackie White denies her mother is a child killer"
If she chooses b) she has put the focus solely on the dangerous Patrick Bates. A reasonable headline would be:
"Lying madman threatens to kill 80-year-old housebound woman with dementia"
Given the obvious preference for b) can anybody explain to me why, in response to the obvious lies and blood libels about Israel originating from psychopathic killers like Hamas, Israel supporters choose the equivalent of option a) above and hence ensure that:
  1. The lies and blood libels ("Israel massacres children", "Israel is an Apartheid state" etc) become the focus of the discussion
  2. The lies and blood libels get repeated ad nausea and hence become intrinsically associated with Israel
  3. The systematic lying and psychopathic behaviour of the Palestinians and their supporters is totally ignored.
So, in future, Israel supporters must avoid saying what Israel 'is not' and focus on exposing the lies and psychopathic behaviour of the Palestinians and their supporters. Since almost all of the lies against Israel are simply a reflection of what her accusers really do, the accusations should be turned back against them; for example, here are the kind of things that the banners should say:
"There are 58 apartheid countries in the world: they are the 58 Islamic countries."
"Palestinians glory in the murder of Jewish children"
"The greatest honour in Palestinian society is to kill a Jew in cold blood"
"Believing Palestinian lies inhibits peace"
"Accepting Palestinian lies encourages them to kill"
"Arabs ethnically cleansed Jews from every one of their countries"
etc
We should also be telling the stories and showing the faces of the many Israelis murdered by Palestinians including the hundreds of children.

See also:
All these progressive thinkers, intellectuals and peacemakers cannot be wrong

Monday, May 16, 2016

Read the antisemitic abuse following today's counter demo

I reported earlier on today's counter-demo against an antisemitic  'pro-Palestinian' attempt to spew lies and hatred in London and close down a Jewish-Israeli store. As this video from the anti-Israel agency Russia Today shows, the counter demo was clearly both a surprise and shock to the antisemites who normally have free rein over London's streets.


But just check our the continual stream of antisemitic abuse in the comments on the video. I have captured a few screen shots below:




Sunday, May 15, 2016

The day the Jews of London and their friends fought back

Update: see this follow-up for people who think none of this has anything to do with antisemitism.

Today, like so many days in London over the last 10 years, a group of antisemites who go under the laughable guise of 'Palestine supporters' planned to:
  1. March through the streets of London shouting despicable lies against Israel without being challenged
  2. Hand out leaflets spewing more lies, hatred and antisemitic blood libels to unwitting Londoners trying to enjoy a day out in the sunshine; and finally
  3. Lay siege to a modest Jewish Israeli-owned shop with the explicit intention of forcing it out of business, without a murmur of protest against them.
But NOT today. They met their match because, thanks to outstanding work by Gemma Sheridan (see update* about this below), Paul Besser, Joseph Cohen, Yochy Davis,  and others, Israel supporters had found out their plans and, at short notice, got together an impressive counter demo. And for over 3 hours Israel supporters were right in the faces of the antisemites ensuring that not a single Londoner or tourist heard their lies unchallenged.

It all started when the antisemites gathered in Soho Square and were about to serenade the visitors there trying to have a peaceful lunch with their classic tune "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free".  They were greeted first by Ishmael Sali, who they assumed would be joining their hatefest.


The look on their faces was quite something to see when Ishmael pulled out a large Israeli flag (see more pictures of Ishmael below), followed by others doing the same. Within seconds the terrorist supporting goons were surrounded by more people with Israel flags (more people in fact than the antisemites) and for the 20 minutes they stayed there singing the Israel supporters drowned out their noise with their own, including with some impressive shofar blowing.

When the antisemites started their march toward Covent Garden they were surrounded and followed all the way. For the 2 hours they were outside Sabon Israel supporters made sure to counter their lies. In particular they made sure the lies in these leaflets they were handing out did not go unchallenged:


And their ludicrous stunts - like letting off smoke bombs in red and then in the colours of 'Palestine' and attempting to throw a bag filled with shit were muted.


Even when their demo outside Sabon ended (to a rousing rendition of Hatikvah) the antisemites were followed all the way back. For once they did not have the streets of London to their own and they did not like it one bit.

Although still relatively small in numbers today's direct action by Israel supporters was a thousand times more effective than anything done in the last 10 years by the entire set of organisations run by Britain's 'official Jews' combined (UPDATE: Note I am referring to those 'official' demos and not other direct action events like today of which there have been quite a few). In fact I have no doubt that if the Board of Deputies and CST were aware of what was going to happen they would either have tried to stop it or would have made sure the Israel supporters were penned in as far away from the action as possible (which they manage to do every time) to maintain the image of the 'trembling Jew' **(UPDATE: see below comments about this from the President of the BoD).

Every time the 'Palestine Solidarity Committee' plans one of these stunts I can't help thinking of this. And it's about time they are shown up for the bigots they are.

UPDATE: Look at the antisemitic abuse after a video of the counter demo was posted.


PS I like these photos from today (courtesy Sharon Zacks):








and this one courtesy of Israel Advocacy Movement which perfectly sums up the day:


And here is what Israel Advocacy Movement says about today:

***TODAY WE SCORED A DECISIVE VICTORY***
London Palestine Action tried to close down an Israeli cosmetics shop in London called Sabon, their reason? Because the Sabon factory is in Kiryat Gat, a city well within the 1949 Armistice Lines, this was not a protest against "settlements", disgracefully this was a protest against the very existence of Israel.
London Palestine Action promoted this event for over a month, yet without advertising we were able to mobilise far more activists than they had. For one of the first times in years, our chants of "1, 2, 3, 4 stop the boycott, stop the war, 5, 6, 7, 8 stop the boycott, stop the hate", drowned out their screams of "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free"... a call for the destruction of Israel.
With our activists and supporters robed in Israeli flags we were successful in obscuring their message of hate.
The cherry on the cake, was when Chloe organised our supporters to end the day with a shopping spree in Sabon... the perfect response to a boycott.
For those that couldn't make it today, please take 5 minutes to head over to https://www.sabonuk.co.uk/en/ and support a great business that has found itself the focus of a vile and bigoted hate campaign.
Thank you so much each and everyone who came and continues to support Israel with us.
UPDATE: Wow it seems we REALLY got to them:


..and check the antisemitic abuse on the view comments

*UPDATE: Gemma Sheridan was working solidly on this - and the counter-demos that took place the day before - for six weeks and deserves special credit.

**UPDATE: Following my posting of this article the President of the Board of Deputies (Jonathan Arkush) wrote this response (which he is happy for me to share here):
Dear Edgar
I was very pleased indeed to read about the counter-demonstration.  You rather did the Board a disservice with your wide-of-the-mark comment.  The Board has always supported demonstrating and indeed has organised many of the leading ones.  The very last thing we would do is to have restricted this type of event !  Provided, obviously, any demonstration is conducted within the law I can assure you it will have the Board’s support.
I think you are aware that under my presidency the Board has spoken up and acted loudly and clearly for British Jews and Israel and I assure you will continue to do so without fear or favour.

What we need to do is to act with unity.  Let us support each other strongly and steer away from making derogatory comments – we can save those for the real opposition.

Regards  
Jonathan
UPDATE: a commentator expressed concern at the (well-meaning) banner saying "Israel is not an apartheid state etc") held up by one of the pro-Israel demonstrators, feeling it was far too defensive. I have written about this here.

See also:

Thursday, May 05, 2016

Moronic Israeli General's own goal and gift to the antisemites of the world

Probably the worst and most inappropriate speech ever given by any Israeli in a position of authority. And on Holocaust Memorial Day. Makes you wonder why anybody bothers to fight antisemitism.The antisemites are salivating over this.


Monday, May 02, 2016

Letter from a (now former) Labour Party member

A friend has sent me the following letter that he wrote to his (Labour) MP and Party Chairman in April 2013 (i.e. over 3 years ago). Note the people (including soon-to-be Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and of course now leader Jeremy Corbyn) he identifies as being at the heart of the party's antisemitism problem. He did not get a reply to the letter and he did resign as a result.

Anybody who thinks the Enquiry into 'antisemitism and other forms of racism' set up by Corbyn is going to end in anything but this outcome is deluded.

See also:

Sunday, May 01, 2016

Exclusive: Results of the Enquiry set up by Corbyn to investigate antisemitism and other forms of racism*



* Satire. But given that the Enquiry was set up by Corbyn to investigate 'other forms of racism' in addition to antisemitism, and given it is chaired by Chakrabarti - a woman who has yet to find an Islamic terrorist she does not seek to defend - do not expect the actual results to be much different.

16 May 2016 Update (this is not satire): Shami Chakrabarti joined the Labour Party the same day as being appointed the 'independent chair' of this enquiry.

1 July 2016 Update (not satire): The report has been published. Seems none of this was satire after all.

See also: