Brighton Argus Fake News Story About Palestinian Threat to Jewish Festival

Zionist Dirty Tricks Brigade Hard at Work Creating ‘Anti-Semitism’ Where it Doesn’t Exist

I was phoned at about 1.00 yesterday by Joel Adams, a reporter with the Brighton Argus, just as I was about to go out to lunch.  Had I heard, he asked, about a Palestinian demonstration later than afternoon at Hove town hall.  No I hadn’t but of course it was possible I simply hadn’t heard of it.  I promised to get someone to ring him back but as far as I was aware there was no such demonstration.

Fake News Article from Argus

I immediately contacted the Chair of Brighton PSC to confirm that there was nothing planned that afternoon.  At the same time Greg Hadfield, the suspended and elected Secretary of the disbanded Brighton and Hove District Labour Party also confirmed to Joel Adams that there was no demonstration.

Although Joel did not tell me what it was that was happening at Hove Town Hall that afternoon I soon learnt that it was the lighting of the candelabrum (menorah) ceremony on the Jewish festival of Chanukah. 

Now why should a Palestinian organisation wish to protest at such a ceremony?  What has a Jewish religious ceremony got to do with Israel’s murder and dispossession of the Palestinians and the demolition of their homes and villages?  Absolutely nothing of course.   The Palestinians quarrel is not with Judaism but with Zionist settler colonialism.  

I realise  that Joel isn’t the most clued up of reporters but anyone with a minimal political awareness could have worked out that this story was fishy.

Having attended a Planning Committee meeting of Brighton PSC the previous night I was pretty certain nothing was happening on Thursday afternoon.  I didn’t know that there was a menorah lighting ceremony and nor did Joel Adams tell me.  If he had been honest and told me what it was that was planned then I would have definitively confirmed nothing was planned rather than being simply puzzled and scratching their head.

Hove Town Hall

What was the Argus’ reaction?  Not to ignore the whole matter but to run an ‘Exclusive’ ‘Jewish candle-lighting held behind closed doors over security concerns’.  What was the exclusive?  That bogus security concerns and a hoax had led to a Jewish festival ceremony being held away from the public and out of sight?

The real story was that some malicious person, probably Simon Cobbs from Sussex Friends of Israel or perhaps Ivor Caplin, the Jewish Labour Movement’s Southern organiser, former MP and war criminal (he was a junior Defence Minister at the time of the Iraq War) had decided that the best way to heighten Jewish fears of Palestinians was to invent ‘anti-Semitism’ and plant a false story that a demonstration was planned at the menorah lighting event.

Because the Zionists have no concrete evidence to back up their ritual assertions that anti-Zionist = anti-Semitism, they are now resorting to fake stories about Palestine threats to demonstrate at Jewish religious events.  This kind of behaviour has a long pedigree.  In Iraq in the early 1950’s, Zionist agents in Haganah, despairing of the Iraqi Jewish community emigrating to Israel planted bombs in Jewish cafes and a synagogue thus simulating the anti-Semitism that was lacking.

The real villain of the story is the Brighton Argus.  There was a time when it was a good local paper.  It used to have such things as investigative reporters, court reporters and the like.  Today it relies primarily on press releases for its stories.

I am though surprised that even The Argus relied on a totally made-up story as a headline ‘Exclusive’ when the only story was who was behind this malicious hoax. The other question is who in the Council fed the Argus with this non-story.

Suffice to say when I put these questions to Joel Adams he first said I should ring him up at home and when I persisted, he dissembled, stuttered and then in frustration told me to ‘fuck off’ and put the phone down.  Clearly Joel isn’t in the running for Reporter of the Year!

I have sent a letter to the Argus but I don’t hold out any great hope that its editor Arron Hendy will print it as newspapers rarely admit to their mistakes in public.

The moral of the story is how desperate the Zionists are that they have to invent false rumours of anti-Semitic demonstrations and simulate ‘anti-Semitism’ in order to be able to defend the world’s only Apartheid state.

Later in the day the Argus updated its story.

Tony Greenstein

Brighton Palestine Solidarity Campaign Statement

False rumours of ‘pro-Palestine protest’ trigger security alert at Hove Town Hall

December 14, 2017

The Argus ran a story this afternoon about a security crisis at Hove Town Hall. The Argus reported that the City Council and local police were concerned about the threat posed by ‘a planned pro-Palestine protest’ to the lighting of the Chanukah Menorah – so concerned in fact that the ceremony had to be held ‘behind closed doors’ rather than at its usual outdoor site. 

The Argus also reported that ‘two sources close to the city’s pro-Palestinian movement told The Argus no demonstration was ever planned’. In later online updates the Argus reported that ‘there was no demonstration’.

Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign wishes to state clearly that no such protest was ever planned by local campaigners for Palestinian rights. Religious ceremonies would never be targeted by pro-Palestine groups. BHPSC is naturally sorry to learn that concerns over security disrupted the Menorah-lighting ceremony. 

Questions must be asked about the source of this unfounded rumour, as they appear to be using religious sensitivities to discredit legitimate political protest. The Argus judged that the security alert was newsworthy: what was newsworthy was that rumours about a non-existent protest were spread in order to create a security crisis. The important questions for the press to ask are: who spread them? and why?

Letter sent to Argus