It’s time for the Charity Commission to Deregister a Political Rottweiler
which libels, smears and destroys individuals who oppose Zionism and support
the Palestinians
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| Extract from JNF lease |
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| In reaction to the Israeli Supreme Court decision that they couldn't refuse to rent to non-Jews the JNF responded saying that 80% of Israeli Jews prefer a Jewish to a democratic state. The Knesset overturned the ruling in Kadan. |
The
CAA is chaired by Gideon Falter, who is a Director of JNF UK. The JNF is
committed by its constitution to managing land on behalf of Jews only. It owns and controls 93% of Israeli
land. It is one of the main instruments
of apartheid in the State of Israel. It is an openly racist organisation and it
is no surprise that Falter is a Director.
The
CAA specialises in targeting and bullying vulnerable individuals, smearing and discrediting
critics of Zionism, especially Jewish opponents, by taking out of context, distorting
and manipulating what they say. Lies
come easily to them.
Malaka
Shwaik Mohammed, a 26 year old Ph. D. Student at Exeter University was an ideal target.
Malaka comes from Gaza. She was understandably traumatised by Israel’s
blitzkrieg in 2014, Operation Protective Edge, when 66 of her own family and
friends were murdered.
The
CAA harvested tweets and social media posts by Malakha, in particular one where
she said ‘If terrorism means protecting
and defending my land, I am so proud to be called terrorist. What an honour for
the Palestinians!’ This was enough for Malaka to be described as ‘a terrorist-supporting antisemite.’
Although
I wasn’t party to this conversation I imagine that Malakha was accused by a
Zionist opponent of being a ‘terrorist’
and she replied that if support for things like the Right of Return and the
creation of a democratic rather than a Jewish state meant that she was a terrorist
then so be it. That wasn’t an admission that she was either a terrorist or an
anti-Semite it was merely a ways of saying that if being a Palestinian meant
she was defined as a terrorist then so be it.
Likewise
Malakah said that “The shadow of the
Holocaust continues to fall over us from the continuous Israeli occupation of
Palestine to the election of Trump”.
If Israel claims its foundation was the consequence of the Holocaust
then it can hardly complain that its actions are seen as the legacy of the Holocaust. One would think this would be an
uncontroversial statement.
The
CAA falsely claimed
that ‘According to the International
Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli
policy to that of the Nazis” is anti-Semitic.’ This is an example of the CAA’s brazen
dishonesty.
What
they term the ‘International Definition’ of anti-Semitism is the International
Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, which specifically
states that it is ‘non legally binding.’
The
actual definition, which is 38 words long, says nothing about drawing
comparisons with the Nazis. The IHRA
definition is accompanied by 11 examples of behaviour which it says ‘may serve as illustrations’ of anti-Semitism.
Note the word may.
One of these examples speaks of ‘Drawing
comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.’
The
introduction to the 11 examples of ‘anti-Semitism’ states ‘Contemporary
examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and
in the religious sphere could,
taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:’ and then it gives a list of the 11 examples, 7
of which refer to Israel.
In other
words the CAA, by stating that comparisons, regardless of context, between
Israel and the Nazis are automatically anti-Semitic are simply lying. Israelis make comparisons between their
opponents and the Nazis regularly. Daniel Blatman, a Holocaust researcher at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, makes just such a comparison between Israel
and Nazi Germany in Heading Toward an Israeli
Apartheid State .
None of this
stopped the CAA smearing and libelling Malaka as an anti-Semite, despite her
involvement in anti-fascist and anti-racist mobilisations at Exeter University. When the Exeter Guild of Undergraduates
investigated the CAA’s allegations they were found wanting and she was cleared. The Daily Express, Mail and other media
outlets apologised
for taking up the CAA smears. The full story is told here.
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| The CAA accused Jackie Walker of Holocaust denial before realising that she had only been quoting Israel's fist Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion - the post has since been taken down! |
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| The 'anti-semitic' text that according to the CAA were holocaust denial thus proving Jackie Walker was anti-semitic. In fact they came from David Ben Gurion! |
Possibly
the most ludicrous of their vile nasty attacks on individuals came when they accused
Jackie Walker of posting texts asking whether Hitler can be blamed for the
Holocaust! On 7th February 2017
the CAA posted that Jackie
Walker has now posted a text on Facebook which asks whether Hitler can be
blamed for the the (sic!) Holocaust, and leaves open the possibility that he
was justified.
What
you may ask did Jackie Walker say? What anti-Semitic inquity? Well it was a quote from Nahum Goldman, the
former President of the World Jewish Congress and the Zionist Organisation asking why the Arabs
should make peace when they were expected to pay the price for Hitler and
Auschwitz. It takes a quite malevolent and insidious mind to twist such a
quotation into Holocaust denial.
However, given them their due, the CAA has a limitless talent for
invention and creative writing. What
made matters worse was that Goldman, in his autobiography A Jewish Paradox was quoting from David Ben Gurion, the first Prime
Minister of Israel! Needless to say the CAA quickly pulled the post when they
realised their error but it is indicative of their methodology.
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| The CAA's viciously racist image of a 'typical' Muslim - substitute 'Jew' for 'Muslim' if you have difficulty seeing it |
The
CAA has dedicated itself to stirring up trouble and conflict between Jews and
Muslims. The CAA is a viciously
Islamaphobic organisation. In the
Forward to a pamphlet British Muslims and Anti-Semitism the CAA write:
On every
single count, British Muslims were more likely by far than the general British
population to hold deeply antisemitic views. It is clear that many British
Muslims reserve a special hatred for British Jews, rating Jews much less
favourably than people of other religions or no religion, yet astonishingly
British Muslims largely do not recognise antisemitism as a major problem.
The
CAA also posted a racist image of the archetypal Muslim man, reminiscent of similar
cartoons depicting Jews in years gone by.
If someone posted a similar cartoon about a typical Jewish male there
would be universal outrage.
If
you go to the CAA site there are no less
than 200 articles attacking Corbyn. In a
piece entitled J’Accuse,
an absurd parody of the anti-racist article that helped ensure the pardon of
Alfred Dreyfuss, a Jewish officer in the French army, Gideon Falter wrote
explaining why they were calling a demonstration outside the Labour Party HQ.
“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.
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| Bob Blackman MP - an Islamaphobic CAA patron |
The
ranting hysteria, the hyperbole and the outright lies would be appear odd if it
came from Britain’s fascist fringe. Even
Nick Griffin at his worst would find it difficult to emulate Falter. The
suggestion that Corbyn has ‘given his
backing to holocaust deniers’ is a lie without a shred of evidence to
support it, yet this is a charity with a list of Zionist patrons such as the Islamaphobe
Bob Blackman MP.
I
have previously written about how the CAA fiddle and manipulate surveys they
commission and how they draw tendentious conclusions such as that nearly half
of Britain’s Jews are about to take the boat to Israel. They have even come under heavy
criticism from sections of the British Jewish establishment with their
sloppy and unscientific methods with the intent of deliberately stoking up perceptions
of anti-Semitism in order to create an atmosphere of fear and tension.
In
the Charity Commission’s Guidance Campaigning
and political activity by charities at a glance, 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’.
The
Charity Commission stipulates that
‘in the political arena, a charity must stress its
independence and ensure that any involvement it has with political parties is
balanced.’
The
Charity Commission has, until recently, been Chaired by the Islamaphobe and
right-wing bigot William Shawcross. Shawcross was an ex-Director of the cold
war Henry Jackson Society and he was reported in the Guardian as having said
in 2012 that ‘Europe and Islam is one of
the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future”. The CAA, in response to a petition calling on
the Charity Commission to deregister them tried
to intimidate Change.org into taking the petition down (they failed!).
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| The CAA politely ticks of the anti-semitic press for their coverage of George Soros - no hysterical attacks on antisemites or genocidal killers |
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| These newspaper headlines about George Soros the 'puppet master' merited no criticism from the CAA |
This
has however got to be the beginning of the campaign to remove this political
cancer. The CAA needs to be treated as any other racist and fascist
organisation. It’s actions against genuinely anti-Semitic individuals are a
mask for its real purpose. It pursues individuals like Alison Chabloz, a
complete nonentity with severe personality and mental health problems, whilst
refraining from criticising any anti-Semitic organisation that is pro-Israel.
When the Tory newspapers launched a campaign against George Soros, using the traditional
anti-Semitic meme that he was an international Jewish financier who was trying
to ensure that Britain remained subject to the control of ‘global interests’,
the CAA exonerated them. It’s headline
was: ‘Today’s article in the Daily Telegraph about George Soros’ intervention
in British politics is not antisemitic, but editors chose their headline
poorly. Yes quite. And its reaction to the Sun’s ‘Puppet Masters’ headline? There wasn’t one!
What you can do – share this post
as widely as possible on social media.
The CAA is at the heart of the false anti-Semitism campaign. It works closely despite being on the far-Right,
with the so-called Jewish Labour Movement. We may need to take legal action to
force the Charity Commission to act so people need to know what is at stake. Below
is my letter to the Charity Commission.
Please email Ms Grenfell and the Charity Commission at the email
addresses below to let them know what you think of their inactivity to date
I have also posted a
considerable number of posts on the CAA see!
Libel Crowdfunding Appeal to
Stop the Campaign Against Antisemitism's Defamatory Attacks Reaches 20%
Tony Greenstein
Thursday, 03 May 2018
Jane
Grenfell,
Senior
Technical Case Manager,
Regulatory
Compliance
Charity
Commission
8th
May 2017
20180226 - FAO Mr Greenstein -Campaign Against anti-Semitism CRM:0050736
Dear Ms
Grenfell,
Fifteen
months ago I submitted a complaint to the Charity Commission concerning the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism [CAA],
Charity No. 1163790. I asked you to launch
an investigation into this bogus charity and to derecognise it. To date you
have done nothing.
I
am therefore writing to you again asking you to deregister this bogus
charity. It’s behaviour has become even
more outrageous and it is openly running a campaign to slander and remove the
Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn MP.
I enclose a Petition
of over five and a half thousand people who are making the same request.
My
complaint is a very simple one. The CAA is an overtly political organisation
whose principal concern is to label as anti-Semitic supporters of the
Palestinians or the opponents of Zionism.
The CAA has not hesitated to smear Jewish anti-Zionists as anti-Semitic
whilst turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic supporters of the Israeli state.
There
is, for example, not one mention of Tommy Robinson, the anti-Semitic
founder of the English Defence League. Robinson is a died in the wool racist
who is also a supporter of Zionism.
Contrast this with veteran Israeli anti-Zionist, Professor Moshe
Machover who is the target of 7 articles such as the absurd CAA
lodges complaints over professor’s support for genocidal antisemitic terrorists.
A
cursory look at their website demonstrates where the CAA’s concerns lie. 180 articles attacking Jeremy Corbyn compared
to 20 articles supportive. of Theresa May, for example CAA congratulates Theresa May.
Because
the CAA is only interested in the ‘anti-Semitism’ of opponents of Zionism there
are just 2 posts concerning the British National Party and nothing at all about
the English Defence League.
The
CAA has however take umbrage at the formation of Jewish Voice for Labour
calling it a sham. Why should the JVL arouse its ire? Because it isn’t a Zionist organisation.
An
example of how the CAA deliberately distorts the message of its opponents is
its blatantly false article Jeremy
Corbyn’s friend Marc Wadsworth expelled from the Labour Party for accusing
Jewish MP of orchestrating media conspiracy. Marc didn’t even know that the
MP in question, Ruth Smeeth, was Jewish.
He didn’t accuse her of orchestrating anything.
The
CAA followed up this series of lies with CAA
calls for Chris Williamson MP to have the whip withdrawn after he backs
expelled activist Marc Wadsworth .
What possible charitable purpose is served by this non-stop diet of
personal and polemical attacks on Black and Jewish anti-racists by this
so-called charity?
On
Sunday 8th April the CAA called a protest demonstration outside the
Labour Party headquarters. Gideon
Falter, the Chair of the CAA was quoted
as saying:
“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.
How
can the Charity Commission possibly accept these continual attacks on the
Leader of Britain’s second major party?
To accuse Corbyn of backing holocaust deniers, genocidal anti-Semitic
terrorist groups etc. is reminiscent of Nazi propaganda. There isn’t a single
word of truth in these vicious lies yet the Charity Commission is like the 3
wise monkeys -it neither sees, says or hears anything.
If
this kind of attack on the Labour Party is allowed to continue then you may as
well tear up your Campaigning
and political activity guidance for charities (CC9) which states
that ‘in the political arena, a charity
must stress its independence and ensure that any involvement it has with
political parties is balanced.’
This
kind of demonization owes more to Goebbels than a British charity. It is unacceptable and I am asking you to
revoke their charity registration without further delay.
If
the CAA’s charity registration is allowed to continue then virtually any
political campaigning organisation, as long as it’s not standing for elections,
should be eligible to register as a charity.
The CAA demonstrates its political balance by repeatedly using the
phrase ‘racist
labour’. Not once has it applied
such a pejorative term to the Conservative Party despite its history of racism
from Enoch Powell to the present Windrush scandal. The CAA has never commented on the
Conservative Party’s links
with anti-Semitic
parties such as Poland’s Law & Justice Party in the European
Parliament. Why? Because these parties may not like Jews but
they love Israel.
The
primary purpose of the CAA is not to
oppose anti-Semitism per se but to tarnish and smear supporters of the
Palestinians and opponents of Zionism as ‘anti-Semitic’.
In
addition to those who have signed the Petition calling on the Charity
Commission to deregister the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism I also enclose
nearly 1,000 comments which have also been made by the signatories. I look
forward to an early and positive response.
In the words of one of the signatories, David Reece of Exeter:
‘Anti-Semitism is abominable. Using false
accusations of anti-Semitism to silence legitimate political disagreement is
despicable, and should not be tax-exempt.’
It’s
a message I expect you and the Charity Commission to take to heart and quickly.
You have had enough time.
Yours
sincerely,
Tony
Greenstein
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