An Anglo-Jewish Hero's Night Out (video)

To quote David Collier, describing the execrable leftist and as-a-Jew anti-Israel event he attended yesterday in London:

".... Then after [each panellist spoke] for a few minutes each, in the spirit of good comradeship the microphone began to move around the floor. One after the other repeated the sentiments of the panel. ‘It is a witch-hunt’.  ‘Antisemitism is a right wing disease’. ‘Left wingers hate all forms of racism, especially Islamophobia’. Over and over again, ‘Islamophobia’, ‘Islamophobia’, ‘Islamophobia’. Several suggested ‘hiding the hate’ might be a good idea for tactical reasons (something to bear in mind). Eventually, someone said it, this whole episode isn’t even about antisemitism, it is about Islamophobia, ‘they’ (I assume Zionists?) ‘are using this to attack Muslims’. Loud applause.

 A special mention needs to go to Jonathan Hoffman. Jonathan is a vocal Zionist presence at some of these events. When the microphone arrived at his door. He made full use of it. You can hear his comments below. Fighting the fight the way he does, is I assure you, emotionally charged and draining. This was an extremely hostile room of radical thought. He deserves both our appreciation and gratitude."

Richard Millett's video shows why (be sure to see his description of this latest London anti-Israel fest too):

Good onya, Jonathan.  כל הכבוד

Needless to say, the abominable leftists have edited our hero and the heckling out of their videos:

The Hiss of Hass

"David Collier, David Collier, the website to watch!"

British readers of a certain vintage will realise immediately that the above sentence paraphrases a famous advertising jingle for a (now defunct) chain of High Street tailoring stores: "John Collier, John Collier, the window to watch!"

 David Collier runs the always compelling and sometimes spell-binding British pro-Israel blog Beyond the Great Divide.

His latest post concerns an odious analogy made at what seems to have been essentially an anti-Israel hatefest at the University of Kent  by a certain female Israeli journalist (the hint as to who is on my play on words in my header).

Writes David Collier inter alia, in a formal complaint to the university:

"....The horror that modern antisemitism is being spread in campus, amongst the educated, rather than in the deprived neighbourhoods, makes it a considerable threat. One that the University of Kent just assisted. Over here of course, they translate the word ‘Jewish’ as ‘Zionist’ to evade censure, then they can say anything they like. Last week, on the FB [Facebook] timeline of someone advertising your event, I saw a comment of ‘just kill all the Jews’. Two minutes later it had been changed to ‘Bastard Zionists’. In the mind of the author they are one and the same.

As a Jew in the UK there will be no running. I will not sit down and ignore the fact that antisemites are taking control of the streets and the campus. I will not silently turn my back as if I do not know where this road leads. I will not let the University of Kent provide a stage for the [Tsarist era forgery] Elders of Zion and walk away as if I just have to accept it.

A simple apology is not good enough. 200 people left the room having been fed antisemitism on your campus. These people need to be told that what they applauded was antisemitism. Each of those people is a little bit more ‘extreme’ than they were before hearing the speech. Some had a pure ‘fix’ for their addiction. And the Jews in the UK? Well, we are all just a little bit less safe than we were.

I heard mention of the Elders of Zion in your university. I heard talk of Jewish conspiracies. I look forward to receiving your thoughts."

Be sure to read all of David Collier's complaint here and his connected post (with video of the Hass speech) here

Meanwhile, another excellent British pro-Israel blogger, the intrepid Richard Millett,who frequently goes where others fear to tread, describes here his despicable treatment at a recent anti-Israel hatefest in London.

Of Wet Dreams, & Chosen People ...

The following, entitled "RMT Senior Official Directs Tirade Of Antisemitic Abuse At Israel Advocate," is a crosspost by the prominent British pro-Israel activist Jonathan Hoffman.  It also appears on the Jewish Chronicle blogs and is crossposted here with the author's permission.

Writes Jonathan Hoffman:

'Astonishing scenes at SOAS [the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University] last night where a small group of Israel advocates managed to dominate a hostile meeting of BDS supporters, called by the RMT trade union (the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers - many of the staff on the London Underground are members).

The Israel advocates had the PSC [Palestine Solidarity Campaign] and RMT apparatchiks completely flummoxed with questions such as "why was Israel singled out by the RMT?" and "was the RMT's obsession with Israel not just a smokescreen to mask the Union's ineffectiveness at delivering jobs and pay for its members?"

PSC Chair Hugh Lanning was left squirming after being brought to task for making that tired old claim that all criticism of Israel is labelled "antisemitic". Hugh, you really must change your shtik, along with that hoary old one about taking pride that the Reut Institute calls London the hub of Israel hate. You need to get yourself a decent scriptwriter Hugh - surely the TUC can afford to get you one?

Moshe Machover - a tired old Israeli-born Commie whose lawyer son Daniel consistently abused the Universal Jurisdiction law against Israelis, until the Government recently close the loophole he exploited - resorted to obscenities:

"The wet dream of all major Zionist parties is ethnic cleansing"

Very astute, Moshe - we can see why you were a professor.

Ilan Pappe is another professor. Here is what fellow historian Benny Morris thinks of him:

"At best, Ilan Pappe must be one of the world’s sloppiest historians; at worst, one of the most dishonest. In truth, he probably merits a place somewhere between the two."

Pappe last night demonstrated astonishing ignorance about the economy of Judea and Samaria. Growth rates in recent years have averaged 6-9% but Pappe insisted on referring to the "impoverished people" of the West Bank.

Adam Hanieh is a lecturer in development at SOAS. We got from him the tired old dog-whistle words of the haters: "Bantustans" .. "apartheid" ... Does he not know that (for example) Arab women in Israel get the best education in the Middle East?

Things really heated up however when Steve Hedley (Bob Crow's right-hand man in the RMT...) let rip at one of the Israel advocates (me).

First he called me "one of the Chosen People" (this phrase used in an abusive manner is a favourite of antisemites: of course the phrase "Chosen People" in the Bible clearly means chosen for responsibilities and not chosen for privilege).

Then he referred to "your friends in the media" (the trope that Jews "control the media" is beloved of antisemites - it appears of course in that well known antisemitic forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion").

The Engage website has a timely piece by Eve Garrard about the "Chosen People" trope:

"Things are different now, and this trope has been resurrected for the same old use: to denigrate Jews and stir up dislike, or worse, against them. In fact it’s very effective for that purpose: most people (very understandably) dislike anyone who claims to be inherently superior to everyone else; and so to attribute such a claim to Jews is a very economical way of making people dislike and distrust them. By referring to the Chosen People you can, without saying another word, tell your listener that Jews are an arrogant supercilious bunch who despise the rest of the human race, and that you yourself don’t much like that kind of thing; and indeed your listener (or reader, as the case may be) probably doesn’t much like that kind of thing either, being a decent honest person; and so you and she together can enjoyably agree that there’s something pretty obnoxious about Jews, or they wouldn’t be claiming to be ‘chosen’, would they, or insisting that one Jew is worth 1,000 other people, which of course they must believe, since Gilad Shalit was exchanged for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, and there’s no other possible explanation of that ratio, is there, eh?

All that hostile implication from just two well-chosen (so to speak) words, or even in Orr’s case one word alone – she writes with casual familiarity about ‘the chosen’, apparently assuming that her Guardian readers use the term so readily that no misunderstanding can arise from the informal contraction. This is indeed real economy of effort in the business of producing Jew-hatred. Orr herself may not, of course, have intended to stir up dislike of Jews; but the language which she chose to use did all the work that was needed for that unlovely task.

What’s worrying about this use of the Chosen People trope is not so much its appearance in a little piece by Deborah Orr: a minor journalist making derogatory insinuations about Jews isn’t anything so very special. But with Orr as with Mearsheimer it’s the silence of the others, of those in the wider context – the colleagues, the editors, the readers at large – that’s the really chilling thing."

Richard Millett's account [Richard, indomitable chronicler of such meetings, a great photo-journalist of a blogger, was threatened with a "right hook"], with audio and video, is here'

Mid Meshuggeneh Mob, Mr Millett Merits A Medal

Never again, most people assumed.

Yet, even while survivors of the Nazis' attempt to wipe Jews from the face of the earth still live, blatant Jew-hatred is back.

Literally, in some cases.

Outside the English-speaking world.

And within it.

From right-wing fascists.

And from their leftist and Islamic equivalents.

These photos of T-shirted antisemites were taken in Budapest and Melbourne respectively.

The pleasant scene below was snapped in New York, during a "Salute To Israel" celebration.

A group of psychopathic antisemites taunts the participants, in this case teenage Jewish girls.

Jew-hatred, less blatant but no less real, was present yesterday outside the Israeli Embassy in London, when a baying mob (abetted by Neturei Karta nuts) protested Israel's retaliation for the murderous attacks on its citizens in the south from what at least one commentator has described as global jihadists. http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/19/global-jihad-strikes-southern-israel/

The Israelis, it seems, are expected by the protesters to roll over and expose their soft underbelly to a deadly enemy.  Unlike the inhabitants of other nations, they are not permitted to defend themselves.

On hand to record the scenes outside the Embassy was blogger (photo-journalist  might be as apt a description) Richard Millett, that stalwart of many a counter-demo outside the Ahava shop in Covent Garden.  Don't miss his graphic description of the event.

He kept his camera rolling until a policeman, doubtless less afraid of Mr Millett than of the swarm of angry protesters, ordered him to stop filming or face arrest.

(It's not the first time Mr Millett has been confronted by Mr Plod: http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2010/07/its-unfair-cop-guv-mr-plod-shows-some.html)

I think the intrepid Mr Millett deserves a combined journalism/bravery award for filming those feral monsters who want Israel wiped from the face of the earth.
http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/as-israelis-bury-their-dead-scenes-from-london/

Judah's Lion told to Hop It – by a Kangaroo Court! The anti-Israel Russell Tribunal swings into action

‘Tis getting towards what’s commonly called “the season to be jolly”, but for many of Israel’s implacable foes in the UK – those incorrigible types who obtain their jollies by berating and defaming the Jewish State – that season has come early, for this month sees in London what Jonathan Hoffman of the Zionist Federation has aptly dubbed an anti-Israel “Hatefest from the Red/Green Alliance of As-A-Jews, Communists and Islamists” in the guise of the Russell Tribunal.

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine is billed as “an International People’s Tribunal created by a large group of citizens involved in the promotion of peace and justice in the Middle East.” The first Russell Tribunal was convened in 1966 during the Vietnam War by the distinguished leftwing Nobel Laureate, anti-nuclear campaigner, mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), whose phrase “May this tribunal prevent the crime of silence” has become the watchword of subsequent tribunals.

“The Russell Tribunal has no legal status but acts as a court of the people, a Tribunal of conscience, faced with injustices and violations of international law, that are not dealt with by existing international jurisdictions, or that are recognised but continue with complete impunity due to the lack of political will of the international community”, we learn from the present tribunal’s website.

"Today, and in the same spirit, the Bertrand Russell Foundation supports the setting up of a Russell Tribunal to examine the violations of international law, of which the Palestinians are victims, and that prevent the Palestinian People from exercising its rights to a sovereign State.

This Tribunal … will reaffirm the supremacy of international law as the basis for a solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. It will identify all the failings in the implementation of this right and will condemn all the parties responsible for these failings, in full view of international public opinion."

On 20-21 November this “kangaroo court” will be in session on the premises of the Law Society, prompting distinguished barrister Jonathan Goldberg QC to observe:

"It is hard to think of any other learned profession in the United Kingdom which has benefited so much from its distinguished Jewish members over the centuries as the solicitors’ profession. Examples abound, right up to the present Supreme Court Judge Lord Collins of Mapesbury. It is deeply offensive to British Jews and lawyers that the Law Society is hosting this controversial political event. It is little more than an Israel-bashing fest, in the guise of a kangaroo court, which has arrogantly summonsed companies doing business with Israel to appear before it to justify themselves. Many of the usual cast of hard left-wing Zionist-haters are speaking."

And Jonathan Hoffman has added:

"It seems that the Law Society has been duped into thinking that this is some kind of high minded quasi-judicial inquiry. But it is a sham show trial with the result predetermined. By using the credibility of the Law Society, the organisers - utterly cynically - are trying to give it a veneer of respectability. They are bringing the name of the Law Society into disrepute and that should be sufficient to lead to the cancellation of the booking. Let's hope the Society's Officers make the right decision. If they do not, many lawyers will question why they should remain members and why they should hold events there."

Last evening, a preliminary session of the Russell Tribunal took place at the headquarters of Amnesty International. The panel comprised film director Ken Loach, well-known for his odious anti-Israel invective, journalist Ewa Jasiewicz (no stranger to readers of the Israel-hating Guardian), whose accomplishments allegedly include helping to desecrate a wall of the Warsaw Ghetto with anti-Israel slogans, and others of their ilk.

Standing sentry as the room filled up was Amnesty’s campaigns director Krystian Benedict, and when this flunkey of the kangaroo court saw Jonathan Hoffman about to enter he barred the man whose leonine courage in speaking up for Israel is legendary.  Mr Hoffman protested, whereupon Mr Benedict wasted no time in summoning not one but four Mr Plods to escort Judah’s Lion off the premises.

 “Rather than try to deal with my on-point objections to the speakers’ comments, I was censored”, notes Hoffman. “Bertrand Russell would surely be turning in his grave. Totalitarian societies begin with curbing free speech. It seems that Amnesty's espousal of 'human rights' does not extend to the right of Jews to protest at antisemitism during Amnesty meetings.”

However, on hand to report on (and photograph) last evening’s event was the doughty Richard Millett, who relates on his blog that “Last night at Amnesty felt less about the delegitimisation of Israel and more about the delegitimisation of Jews.”

Read more at richardmillett.wordpress.com/.../russell-tribunal-on-palestine-presents-ken- loach-at-amnesty/

Muffling the Mufti's Malevolence – "an Arab-role-in-the-Holocaust-denier"?

You may recall my post back in July headed “It’s an Unfair Cop, Guv! – Mr Plod shows some muscle”, which told how the prominent pro-Israel blogger Richard Millett, having been recognised as a supporter of the Zionist Entity, was denied access to a talk at the House of Commons and escorted off the premises by police. In his latest piece Mr Millett draws attention to a talk on Tuesday of this week at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) by Professor Gilbert Achcar. Professor Achcar, who occupies the Chair in International Relations at SOAS – which I’ve seen described as the most anti-Israel campus in Britain – was speaking about his new book, The Arabs and the Holocaust: the Arab-Israeli War of Narratives, to what Richard Millett, who was present, terms “a very receptive audience of 200 students”.

According to Mr Millett, Professor Achcar made such “outlandish claims “ as:

1. The Arabs bear no responsibility at all for the Holocaust.

2. The Israelis have Nazified the Palestinian people.

3. This Nazification has come about by Israel's broadcasting of the Mufti’s connections with Hitler during WW2.

4. The Israelis must apologise for the Nakba if there is to be peace.

5. The Israelis are today still frozen with fear by the Holocaust.

6. Any anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Arab world is purely a result of Israel's aggression.

What hope is there [asks Millett] when students applaud nonsense like this?

Millett adds: “If it wasn't bad enough having Ilan Pappe lecturing students full time at Exeter University his ideological twin is now doing the same at SOAS. The Arabs had a significant enough role in the Holocaust which makes Gilbert Achcar an Arab-role-in-the-Holocaust-denier.”

To read more, go to
http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/arabs-and-israelis-facing...

All Out of Love - High Noon in Covent Garden

In that great Hollywood flick High Noon there’s the famous tense scene in which a resolute Will Kane (aka Gary Cooper), having found no one brave enough to help him take on an outlaw gang, strides down the main street to face them – totally alone. He didn’t need to do so, as he’d handed in his marshal’s badge and was set to start a new life far away. But his stolid determination to do what was right made him put on that badge again.

I guess the doughty and much-admired vice-chairman of the Zionist Federation, Jonathan Hoffman, sometimes feels like Will Kane as, singlehandedly if needs be, he takes on the bad guys. But last weekend he had reinforcements galore – a great many of them emphatically not of his choosing.

Let me explain.

Ahava, the famous Jordan Valley-based Israeli cosmetics company which produces a wonderful highly recommended range of goods containing minerals from the Dead Sea, is under attack internationally by adherents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. And, inevitably, the fight against the company has been taken up with gusto among Israel's demonisers in the United Kingdom. Every fortnight since February, from noon until two p.m. on Saturdays, allies of the Israel-delegitimising International Solidarity Movement have held a noisy, hate-filled demonstration outside the Ahava shop in Monmouth Street, Covent Garden. Banging drums and screeching through loud-hailers, they cause an ear-splitting cacophony which is unpleasant – to say the least – for retailers, customers, and passers-by.

Slogans such as “Dead Sea mud, Palestinian blood” are shouted repeatedly, as well as the tell-tale “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free” (which, of course, signifies the total annihilation of the State of Israel, not merely Israeli withdrawal from the disputed territories), banners are waved, pedestrians are harassed, and insults are hurled at anyone who defies the intimidation and enters Ahava. The photo I include here is of one of the early demos, and the bearer of the blue-and-white flag in the background is – as far as I’m aware, though he’s not wearing a marshal’s hat – the indefatigable Jonathan Hoffman. Like similar demonstrators against Ahava outlets in the United States and elsewhere, the gang of thugs depicted seek to close the entire Ahava operation down.

Their callous disregard for the livelihoods of all retailers in Monmouth Street means that a neighbouring store, bereft of customers owing to the din, has gone out of business and others are similarly imperilled. But these self-righteous protesters have as little regard for those people as they do for the Palestinians who will lose their jobs and livelihoods if Ahava goes under.

This past Saturday, 14 August, there were more demonstrators than usual – about 80. For they were celebrating a shameful legal victory, four activists having been acquitted of failing to comply with a policeman’s orders when, last year, they refused to leave Ahava’s premises and instead chained themselves to a concrete block inside the shop. A charge of aggravated trespass was also dropped. For reasons that remain unclear, the Ahava shop's manager failed to attend court to give evidence, severely undermining the prosecution’s case. In an echo of the defence at the armaments factory trial, the miscreants' counsel explained that his clients had acted as they did because “they felt they had no alternative” and added “We are definitely going to see more of this happening.”

For an eyewitness description and video clips of Saturday’s disgraceful scenes, which the police and municipal authorities seem powerless to prevent, and that of earlier demonstrations outside Ahava, together with a full description, click onto Richard Millett’s Blog, listed on my Blogroll. It’s good to know that , whenever they can, Richard and a stalwart band of other British Jews join Jonathan Hoffman in flying the flag for Israel at these events; additionally, Christian supporters sometimes travel all the way from Wales to attend. As Richard has observed, “The protests have nothing to do with Israel's presence in the West Bank but are all to do with Israel's existence per se judging by the songs that are sung and the placards that are paraded. Additionally ... why do they single out Israel for boycotts and not Turkey and China, for example? It is the boycott that historically deeply resonates against Jews. Boycotts are, therefore, not only discriminatory but deeply offensive and hurtful to Jews.”

Much has been made by extreme left Jewish haters of Israel – some of whom are despicable enough to compare Israel to the Third Reich – of the fact that as well as about 13 pro-Israel demonstrators on Sunday there was a contingent from the English Defence League (EDL). The EDL was formed last year, reputedly out of disgust at the sight of Islamists in Luton verbally abusing the Royal Anglian regiment which was being welcomed home after a tour of duty in Afghanistan. EDL members are widely seen as football thugs and extreme right-wing racists, and although there is a “Jewish Division”, led by Roberta Moore, the “Zionist” protesters needed their aid like the proverbial hole in the head. Once the EDL had arrived, Sunday’s demo really hotted up, as described on Richard Millett’s Blog.

Those who – in a calculated attempt to stigmatise Jonathan Hoffman and smear other pro-Israel counter-demonstrators allege collusion between the Zionist Federation and the EDL are, to put it no more strongly than warranted, mischievous liars. Jonathan has himself stated, as the Guardian reported (17 August): "There is no link between us. We live in a free country, we can't control who demonstrates on the streets. People on the left think nothing of demonstrating with people who support Hamas and other terrorist groups." And Roberta Moore substantiates this claim: "We wish to state hereby that although we were protesting jointly with the Zionist Federation headed by Mr. Jonathan Hoffman, we were not asked by the ZF to protest alongside them. This was our decision and we imposed our presence upon them. The ZF had no choice but to share the space with us."

Here, by the way, is the link to Ahava's shop online; it needs all the love it can muster:
http://www.ahava.co.uk/mailorder/mailorder.html

It's an Unfair Cop, Guv! Mr Plod shows some muscle

Mr Plod is a British policeman stationed at the House of Commons.  His job is presumably to direct visitors, arrest miscreants and deter terrorist attacks.  Richard Millett is a British blogger and freelance journalist stalwart in his defence of Jews and Israel.  Like the valiant Jonathan Hoffman of the Zionist Federation, he goes where angels fear to tread; his reports on anti-Israel meetings and demonstrations are invaluable.  Tom Eisner is a British violinist who doesn't like Israel very much at all and often (although I haven't noticed him lately) goes onto the Jewish Chronicle blogs to taunt - there's no better word, really - fellow Jews who love Israel and wish that beleaguered little country long life.

The other evening, in a corridor of  the Palace of Westminster, Mr Plod, Mr Millett, and Mr Eisner crossed paths.  The outcome was not a happy one for parliamentary democracy.

You see, hosted by Jeremy Corbyn, a Labour MP long known for his hostility to Israel, a meeting was due to take place in a side room (I believe the correct term is committee room) of the House of Commons, addressed by three Arab members of the Knesset.  Its topic was On the "Jewish Character" of the State of Israel, its meaning and significance, political discrimination, and the condition of the Arabs in Israel - just the sort of topic to appeal to Mr Millett in his capacity as reporter.  On seeing it advertised, he tried to register but received no response.  So he went along anyway, and was queuing patiently when somebody approached him.

It was Mr Eisner, who, obviously having the measure of Mr Millett as a champion of The Zionist Entity, asked our trusty blogger whether he'd come to disrupt the meeting.  Somewhat taken aback - for disrupting meetings is not in Mr Millett's nature or remit - Mr Millett answered in the negative.  Mr Eisner, who jokingly asked him for a £200 good behaviour bond, agreed that he could attend the meeting.

However, Mr Millett had been recognised by others as someone holding pro-Zionist views.  And presently  Mr Plod and two colleagues strode purposefully up to Mr Millett.  Mr Plod took the pro-Israel blogger firmly by the upper arm and led him away, past Mr Corbyn, who reportedly averted his gaze and kept shtum.  Mr Millett's details were taken and he was escorted off the premises. 

So, in Westminster, the cradle of democracy, things have come to a pretty pass.  Mr Plod the policeman now muscles in on people who have caused no offence whatever - no offence, that is, apart from holding views that are anathema to anti-Zionists.  Needless to say, the irony of it all is not lost on Richard Millett.

Oh, and by the way, Jonathan Hoffman wasn't allowed in either.  I've advised him to wear a burkha next time.