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

Open Letter to the Lying Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, Warren Morgan

It’s Time to Make Way for an Honest and Truthful Politician

Lies come easily to Warren Morgan

30 September 2017

Cllr. Warren Morgan,

Leader Brighton and Hove City Council,

Town Hall
Bartholomew Square
BRIGHTON
BN1 1JA

To:       warren.morgan@brighton-hove.gov.uk          @warrenmorgan 

Dear Cllr. Morgan,

Sir Henry Wotton is famous for his observation that ‘an ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.’  Given that you are not a diplomat what is it that makes you feel the need to lie so often?

You have been widely quoted as saying that Labour’s conference will not be welcome in the city in the future because of ‘anti-Semitism’.  You are reported in Brighton and Hove News as having ‘singled out a local campaigner Tony Greenstein’.  You are quoted on Facebook as saying that:

 ‘We have the prominent activist and suspended Labour Party member Tony Greenstein here, who indeed was present at the fringe meeting where it was suggested that Holocaust denial should be allowed. His expulsion, in my view, is long overdue.’

The only possible interpretation of your remarks is that I am responsible for what a speaker at the meeting I attended allegedly said. Otherwise why call for my expulsion? What you are engaged in is the McCarthyist tactic of guilt-by-association. Unsurprisingly Joe McCarthy was also anti-Semitic.

The speaker, Miko Peled said that ‘‘Israel, Zionism, even the holocaust  - can these subjects not be discussed, yes or no?’  Nothing Mr Peled said disputed the holocaust. He was merely saying that all subjects, ‘even the Holocaust’ should be open for discussion. That is in fact the current legal position in the UK.  Of course we could bring in legislation to make Holocaust denial illegal, as in Germany and Austria.  However given the electoral success of far-Right, neo-Nazi parties, Alternative for Germany and the Freedom Party in both countries, this doesn’t seem a particular wise route to go down. 

All that Miko Peled was doing was to say discussion about the Holocaust is legitimate free speech.  To twist this into support for Holocaust denial is a prime example of how anti-Semitism has been weaponised by supporters of Zionism and the Israeli state.  It demonstrates your contempt for those who died at the hands of Hitler’s regime – Jewish and non-Jewish.

Unlike you I am Jewish. Unlike you half my father’s family was murdered in the gas chambers of Treblinka. For you to use the Holocaust, of both Jews and non-Jews, up to 5 million of whom also died in the Nazi concentration camps, as a cheap political device in order to gain a political advantage over your opponents in the Labour Party is despicable.  If anyone in Brighton Labour Party is anti-Semitic it is you and your followers. 

It is noticeable that you and your political soul mates have nothing to say about racism against the Roma, yet proportionately just as many Roma died in the camps as Jews. Racism against the Roma today is far higher than that against Jews today but it isn’t so politically advantageous.

As you well know I have often been the recipient of this vile Holocaust denial propaganda, as evidenced by the Argus article of 16th October 1993 as well as physical attacks by fascist groups such as the National Front. A cursory search of the Argus archive would turn up numerous articles e.g. Adam Trimmingham’s review of my book ‘Fighting Fascism in Brighton’  I confess that in 40 years of opposing fascism and racism in Brighton and Hove your name has never once come up.

My reasons for opposing Zionism and the Israeli state are the same as my opposition to fascism and racism in Britain and Apartheid in South Africa. Your use of the Jewish Holocaust for transparently cheap political purposes is contemptible.

Mega Momentum rally before last year's Brighton Labour Party AGM

Last year you lied about spitting at the local Labour Party AGM, because the candidates you supported lost a democratic election.  This year your friends had no traction at Labour Party conference and once again you have resorted to dishonest political gamesmanship, even if it is at the expense of stirring up and exploiting anti-Semitism.

The sophisticated wit of former Brighton councillor Craig Turton endorsed by Cllr Morgan

I realise that you may find this difficult to understand but even the worst political foes try to maintain a certain level of political decorum.  That however seems to elude you.  On your Facebook page there is a comment from former Brighton councillor Craig Turton:

‘Well said Warren Morgan! Greenstein is a poisonous piece of shit - the sooner he's kicked out of the Party the better! - Thursday at 10:09

Instead of admonishing Turton you respond ‘Thanks Craig, appreciate that. Hope you are well.’

It is clear that you are unfit for any public office, both because of your display of arrogant ignorance and your inability to conduct an appropriate public discourse.  You are clearly unfit to be the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council.  Singling out and defaming one Brighton Jewish resident by name is inciting hate crime. If you have an ounce of decency you will resign of your own accord.

It would also be interesting to know with what authority you wrote your letter and on behalf of whom.

Yours truly,

 Tony Greenstein 

Background

Councillor Warren Morgan is a supporter of Progress.  In 2015 he supported Liz Kendall, the most right-wing candidate for leader of the Labour Party.  Last year he supported Owen Smith.

In the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the leadership elections Warren Morgan, Peter Kyle MP and the Labour councillors have felt ever more beleaguered.  The 3 Brighton & Hove parties contain a massive 8,000+ members.  Last July 2^nd 600 people came out to vote at the AGM of the local District Labour Party.  When  Momentum supported candidates won with majorities of 2-1, Warren Morgan promptly invented an alleged spitting incident, backed up by another councillor Emma Daniels, which led to the national Labour Party and the Chair of the Disputes Committee, Anne Black, suspending the party.  Morgan thought nothing of lying through his teeth if it gave him a political advantage.  Last week he did so again.

Morgan even makes light of suggestions of a conspiracy - you don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to know that sometimes there are conspiracies - when the CCTV footage was examined and the staff member interviewed it was clear that Warren Morgan was a liar

Morgan was confident that City College would never release CCTV footage but when it did he remained silent

 The right-wing officials in the party did their best to uphold Morgan’s allegations and hatchet woman Katherine Buckingam was sent down by Iain McNicol from Labour nationally to ‘investigate’ the allegations.  Despite her best efforts, Buckingham found it impossible to find any evidence to back up Warren Morgan’s lies and when the video tape of the alleged incident was produced, courtesy of City College, where the AGM was held, Buckingham refused to view it!  [see Warren Morgan, Emma Daniels & The Spitting Incident That Never Was, My response to Katherine Buckingham, the Labour Party’s head of disputes and discipline]

At last week’s Labour Party Conference the Left was in a large numerical majority.  It is clear from the reception given to anti-Zionist Jewish speakers at the Conference, Naomi Wimborne-Iddrissi and Leah Levane, that Conference was unwilling to put up with more fake allegations of anti-Semitism.  Both received standing ovations.   The loudest cheer of Corbyn’s speech was reserved for his references to Palestine.  The Labour Friends of Israel and Jewish Labour Movement were not best pleased.

Both the Free Speech on Israel and Jewish Voices for Labour meetings were packed to the rafters.  So an allegation was invented and I have no doubt that Zionist activists pored over the footage they took secretly of the former meeting to find anything that could possibly discredit the speech of Miko Peled, an American-Israeli and son of an Israeli General Mattiyahu Peled.  When at one point Peled said that everything, including the Holocaust, should be discussed, this was transformed by the spin merchants and cynical manipulators of the Apartheid lobby into a call for Holocaust denial!

Warren Morgan, to whom lying comes as easily as his expenses claims, agreed to write a letter to Iain McNicol threatening the Labour Party with not being allowed to hold a conference in Brighton.  In other words for the sake of his Zionist and Progress friends he was willing to sacrifice millions of pounds in tourism money in Brighton.

Once again the fake anti-Semitism allegations have been used as the last throw of a desperate and discredited group of cynical and dishonest politicians.  And because I happened to be in the same room as 150-200 other people and even worse I spoke at the meeting, I am therefore guilty of Holocaust denial too and should be expelled immediately if not sooner.  I have no doubt that people will clearly see what has happened as the actions of desperate right-wingers trying to use the issue of anti-Semitism in order to halt the advance of the Left. 

I have therefore penned an Open Letter to Warren Morgan calling on him to do the only decent thing in his life so far and that is to resign as Leader of the Labour Group and better still as a councillor altogether.  To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Macbeth, nothing in his life would become him like the leaving of his office.

Tony Greenstein

Europe - Why Brexit Plays into the Hands of Racists & Reactionaries

Below is the latest Comment piece I have written for my local paper, the |Brighton Argus.  It is difficult for the Left in Britain to decide between an increasingly racist and reactionary Europe.  Its forcing of austerity on Greece or its racist deal with Turkey to fast track its admission to the EU whilst sending back refugees to a place that isn't even safe for Turkey's own citizens.

However the alternative is even more unpalatable and we have an assorted variety of right-wing Tory MPs, UKIP, fascist groups and assorted right-wing loonies (with a smattering of Stalinists and right-wing Labour MPs) in the leave Europe camp.

It's an unpalatable choice but on balance staying in to work with other groups within Europe rather than retreating to a little England position is my own choice in the referendum on whether to leave the European Union or not.

Letters & Articles 2015 - A Year of Surprises

2015 - When the Fightback Began

2015 has been a very significant year for me.  It involved both fighting for my own life as well as the lives of others.  In September I had a liver transplant, which has so far gone well, having been successfully cured of Hepatitis C with a new generation of non-interferon drugs.

This was the subject of my first letter to the Guardian.  I was fortunate to have a wonderful consultant and excellent care from the Sussex County Hospital in Brighton who got me onto a government funded programme for the sickest 500 hepatitis patients in Britain.  The drug, Sofusbuvir in conjunction with Ledaspavir and Ribavirin knocked out the Hep. C completely.

My letter was about the fact that Sofusbuvir, much of the research for which had been undertaken at Cardiff University, before Gilead Sciences took it to completion was costing $1,000 a pill, i.e. $90,000 for a three month course whereas it costs $1 to make.  India refused it a patent forcing Gilead to agree to the production of a cheaper generic drug.  Britain under Cameron of course took no such step.  The pricing of Sofusbuvir out of all proportion to its actual cost is killing people.  At this very moment Mummia Abu Jamal, the former Black Panther journalist who was framed in Pennsylvania for killing a cop, by a racist judge and an all-white jury, has hepatitis C and the US prison service is refusing to pay for his treatment and thousands of other prisoners who have hepatitis.

The key political fight this year has been against what Bob Dylan once called the Masters of War.  The liars and Benns who argued for yet another bombing campaign, this time in Syria, as if all they had erased from their memory what had happened in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

Of course the West was involved in a struggle between good and evil in Syria, against Isis, just as it had done against Saddam Hussein.  No matter that the good fight was being fought with Turkey, Isis’s main partner oil trading partner and rear supply base.  A war fought with Saudi Arabia which at this very moment is aiding Isis and Al Qaeda in Yemen, to say nothing of al-Nusra and ahrar al-Sham in Syria.  Such are the hypocrisies of the West.  But to Hilary Benn it is an ‘anti-fascist’ fight!

I am therefore posting both some of the letters that I had printed throughout the year as well as articles in various papers.  I have contributed a weekly Comment piece to my local paper, the Brighton Argus.

Over the summer the British Labour Party elected Jeremy Corbyn, who was initially given odds of 100-1 against, as leader of the Labour Party.  The Right has since done its best to undermine him and unfortunately Corbyn and more especially John MacDonald have refused to launch a significant fightback.  This is the subject of an article I wrote for Weekly Worker.

I am therefore copying underneath the articles and letters which I have written and that have appeared in the press this  year.

Tony Greenstein 

Brighton's Sodastream Shop is Forced to Close

A Magnificent Victory for BDS

When Israel’s Sodastream decided to set up shop in Brighton, in an attempt to exploit our Green credentials, the local Palestine Solidarity Campaign took up the challenge and began a weekly picket with others on week days. Local Zionist and Kach/EDL thug, Simon Cobbs, vowed that this would not be another Ahava. Ahava was the Israeli ‘beauty shop’ in London’s Covent Garden which we closed down two years ago.

Picture from the early days of demonstrations

From the early days

At the beginning the Zionists confined themselves to the opposite side.  When they mixed it with us, they managed to successfully deter any doubting shoppers