Community Security Thugs Bar Jewish Opponents of Gaza War from Liberal Judaism Meeting

Mark Gardener, the £100,000+ Head of the CST with fellow bigot - Richard Littlejohn - as he explains the intricacies of racism to someone who calls gypsies 'pikeys'

Debbie 'Mad Mel' Fink arrested by the Met demonstrating against Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations

The CST on patrol with Greater Manchester Police

The Community Security Trust, which is a registered charity (No. 1042391), portrays itself as an organisation solely devoted to the safety and security of the Jewish community in Britain and opposing anti-Semitism. A perfectly legitimate aim you might think. But the CST is not what it seems.

The CST primary focus is in linking ‘anti-Semitism’ to a Zionist agenda. Hence they not merely classify as racial incidents the daubing of cemetries, physical attacks on Jews as Jews etc., but they also record anti-Israel comments as anti-Semitic.

In other words the CST has a hidden agenda which is the political use of ‘anti-Semitism’ as a means of demonising the opponents of Zionism, including Jewish opponents.

The CST is also a very well funded gravy train, with 64 paid employees. In the financial year 2007 it recorded income of over £6m. Almost uniquely, in the words of the Charity Commission, ‘This charity has been given a dispensation by the Charity Commission from publishing the names of its trustees.’

The CST has a long record of barring anti-Zionist Jews from meetings and harassing them. The story below is of a meeting held a couple of days ago by Liberal Jewry in London. It was a panel discussion on Gaza and Community Security Thugs decided to physically bar two well known Jewish activists, Debbie Fink and Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi. They have never been know to be violent, on the contrary they have been subject to violence by both Zionists and the Police. When I attended the first Independent Jewish Voices meeting in London at the end of 2007, which was also stewarded by CST, I was harassed and subject to some pushing and shoving by its employees. IJV decided from then on not to employ the CST.

Although a 'charity' with powerful establishment friends, the question of CST's status will have to be raised with the Charity Commission because the CST is clearly a political body. masquerading as a charity, with all the tax benefits that accrue.

The CST works closely with the Metropolitan and Greater Manchester Police, as the clips from Richard Littlejohn’s ‘War on Britain’s Jews’ broadcast on Channel 4 in 2007 showed. The Police are supposed to be impartial but repeatedly the Police have used the CST as a vigilante adjunct.

This was seen most clearly in the recent demonstration by Zionists in London in support of Israel’s War on Gaza, when CST thugs manhandled a heckler and others in the 'peace' crowd pushed him into the freezing waters of Trafalgar Square fountain before the Police arrived to arrest him. Questions need to be raised about the relationship between the CST and the Police because the latter are more of a Zionist vigilante squad than a genuine Jewish self-defence group against anti-Semites. You can see it all here.

In fact CST, despite its purported remit, has never had any involvement in genuine anti-fascist work in Britain. Why should they? They are a Zionist not an anti-fascist group. They are also extremely rich with assets of nearly £11m.

Perhaps most interesting was its Communications Director, Mark Gardener’s response recently to a comment on Harry’s Place, by ex-Union of Jewish Students officer, David Herman. Herman said of Roland Rance and myself that we ‘collaborate with the enemies of the Jewish people.’ [i.e. the Palestinians]. 'In less forgiving times they would be recei ving a necklace for hanukah!’

Gardener’s response? ‘I’m in David Herman’s (considerable) shadow on this one. Quite! We know where Rance and Greenstein stand, we know their previous, and its exactly why pro-Hizbollah websites carry their propaganda. Duh.’ Not a word of condemnation, quite the contrary, of Herman’s open incitement to burning his opponents alive.

Tony Greenstein

Barred by CST from Liberal Judaism meeting

This evening Deborah Fink and I were turned away from the panel discussion on Gaza, chaired by Rabbi Danny Rich of Liberal Judaism, by two CST (Community Security Trust) men acting in their usual high-handed, arrogant fashion.

We arrived shortly after the meeting began, having had trouble locating the venue which changed from the Montagu Centre to the Indian YMCA at short notice because so many people wanted to attend. We were genuinely interested in listening and possibly asking some questions and had no intention of being disruptive.

Since we had previously been at a picket in Parliament Square, I was carrying the J-BIG banner and poles in bags. While waiting for Debbie, I approached the CST guys in a friendly fashion, saying I would like to park the poles somewhere before going into the hall as obviously I did not want them with me at the meeting. They asked how I heard of the meeting and I said I'd read about it on Rabbi Rich's website and was very interested to hear the discussion. They asked if my name was on the list and I said I understood my friend's name plus one had been put on it in advance by a rabbi friend of hers. While we waited for Debbie they said they would have to search my bag and I said fine and drew their attention at once to the banner, which I said I would also like to leave outside with the poles. They immediately said "You can't go in". I explained again that I wanted to leave the banner and poles outside and I didn't see that they had the right to stop me attending an important discussion, but they were adamant that they had decided and that was it.

When Debbie arrived, she joked that Naomi was not going to hit anyone with the poles and could leave them at the back of the room, later pointing out that they could just be curtain poles from John Lewis! She then told them that her name had been put on the list by a rabbi, who then appeared and confirmed this, but the CST continued to deny us entry and threatened us with the police. Things got a bit fraught and I went to ask the building reception staff if they could provide a place to leave the banner and poles. They said that as long as I was allowed into the meeting they could put them in a locked store room for me.

I went back to report this but it made no difference to the CST men who were arguing with Debbie about their right to decide who attended the meeting. She had pointed out to them, as she had in previous confrontations, that they don't own the building, it was not their meeting and they aren't police, so what right did they have to order us not to go in? They even blocked the stairway so she could not go down!

A police officer then arrived and a colleague of Rabbi Rich's came out. Alarmed by the fracas she decided to uphold the CST decision, which was unfortunate given that it would not have occurred without their determination from the start to bar us as soon as they worked out that we were activists. The CST bullies need to be challenged and stood up to. They had lied to the police officer, (and no doubt to the organisers), telling him that we intended to unfurl the banner inside the hall (although they had no idea what kind of banner it was), but even though we explained again that it would be left in a store room if we were allowed in, permission was denied and had no choice but to leave.

The CST were now saying that the banner was not the issue, but they did not want Debbie in there! So first it was the banner, then it was Deborah Fink’s attendance that was the issue! They sneered when they said her name and talked to her in a condescending manner. Apparently they told the policeman that they had had dealings with Debbie before. They had, as she will not accept their self-appointed 'authority' to go beyond their basic security duties.

Outside the building, as we chatted amicably with the police officer who seemed not terribly enamoured of the CST methods, a J-BIG friend came out having attended the first part of the meeting. She had been allowed in without having her name on any list, but apparently, Danny Rich had been on the door earlier on and was letting through some people who were not on the list, some of whom had indeed been at the vigil.

The whole incident is just another example of how the CST act like a private Zionist police force having no regard for the desirability of open discussion within the Jewish community and intent on censoring critics of Israel. We hope that Liberal Judaism will not see the need to call on them in similar circumstances in future.

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi & Deborah Fink