5,000 people have called on the Charity Commission to Deregister the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism – let’s make it 10,000 by next week

On Sunday the Far-Right CAA held a demonstration calling Jeremy Corbyn a racist and anti-Semite and Labour a racist party

The Charity Commission has clear guidelines in respect of charities, campaigning and political activity. In their Guidance Campaigning and political activity by charities at a glance, under key points, there are a number of bullet points that the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism are in breach of.  In particular:

There is a legal requirement that political campaigning, or political activity... must be undertaken by a charity only in the context of supporting the delivery of its charitable purposes. Unlike other forms of campaigning, it must not be the continuing and sole activity of the charity’.

148 references to Corbyn are on the CAA site - not one of them is complimentary

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism are going to find their attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, as a racist and anti-Semite difficult if not impossible to justify.  There is little doubt that the main activity of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism is in defaming and attacking anti-Zionists and supporters of the Palestinians of which they see Jeremy Corbyn as a prime example.

The key legal requirement is that ‘in the political arena, a charity must stress its independence and ensure that any involvement it has with political parties is balanced.’

A glance at the CAA website demonstrates that the attention of the CAA is focussed almost exclusively on the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn in particular.

Maureen Lipman has now changed from Labour to Tories twice already!

A search today reveals 23 occasions when Theresa May was featured in articles, none of them critical, quite the opposite.  

Contrast this with Jeremy Corbyn.  There are 148 articles which mention him, none of them complimentary.  For example article no. 1 states

‘Jeremy Corbyn reacts to CAA demonstration by disgracefully dismissing Maureen Lipman’s speech against him.’   What possible public benefit or charitable purpose is served by this tendentious article?

The article Update on the national demonstration at 2pm this Sunday, calling on Labour to hold Jeremy Corbyn to account is an example of its measured and neutral tone:

‘Under Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party has become a safe haven for racists. He is at home amongst them, having spent his political career seeking out and giving succour to Holocaust deniers, genocidal antisemitic terrorist groups and a litany of Jew-haters.’

How can this possibly be considered to be politically neutral or unbiased?  What possible purpose is served by this attack on Jeremy Corbyn?

Gideon Falter, far-Right Chair of the CAA speaks at their rally of about 200 people

 Its article ‘J'Accuse’ is similarly worded:

‘ “We accuse the Labour Party, its MPs and institutions, of complicity with and promotion of antisemitic racism. ... We are at an historic moment: there is no hiding place for them any longer. The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn is now a racist party and to be silent now is to condone. We call on all Labour MPs and members to act and support our disciplinary complaint against Jeremy Corbyn. This is the point of no return: future generations are watching.”

...

Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Under Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party has been seized by racists. Jeremy Corbyn is at home amongst them, having spent his political career seeking out and giving his backing to Holocaust deniers, genocidal antisemitic terrorist groups, wild antisemitic conspiracy theorists and a litany of Jew-haters. This is the point of no return: Britain must stand up for its Jewish community against the racists in control of the Labour Party...’

Not only is Jeremy Corbyn a racist but so is the Labour Party as a whole.  And this is a politically neutral charity!  Now that William Shawcross, the Islamaphobe who was Chair of the Charity Commission, has departed we would expect this complaint, a successor to the one submitted last year to be quickly dealt with.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION CALLING ON TH E CHARITY COMMISSION TO DEREGISTER THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM

We have over 5,000 signatures now.  In one week it will be delivered to the Charity Commission.  Let’s make it 10,000.

Tony Greenstein