VICTORY - Employment Tribunal finds Stan Keable was Unfairly Dismissed Despite Being Abandoned by UNISON

UNISON HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER – why did unelected officials refuse to defend the right of workers to freedom of speech?

Cast your mind back to March 26^th 2018. The Board of Deputies of British Jews held a demonstration against ‘anti-Semitism’ in Parliament Square. Its target was Jeremy Corbyn. We were in the middle of the local election campaign and Luciana Berger, who was a Labour MP before decamping to the Independent Group, had just discovered a 7 year old ‘anti-Semitic’ to beat Jeremy Corbyn over the head with.

The Board of Deputies at the time of Oswald Moseley urged Jew to do nothing about fascism

Never before in its history had the Board of Deputies held an anti-racist demonstration. Not during the 1930’s in the battle against  Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists. Not during the 1970’s in the fight against the National Front or in succeeding decades against the BNP and EDL. But when Israel was on the agenda they moved into action.

Steve Terry - right-wing Progress Labour councillor and UNISON's London Regional Organiser faced a conflict of interest and resolved it in his favour

Indeed on October 2^nd 1936 the Board specifically issued warnings in the Jewish Chronicle telling Jews to stay away from the BUF march in what became known as the Battle of Cable Street.

Letter from Steve Terry advising Stan to apologise and 'plead mitigating circumstances'

 ‘Anti-Semitism’ had only, it would seem reared its head under Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing leader of the Labour Party. The fact that he is also a supporter of the Palestinians is entirely coincidental!

The Zionists' Racist Demonstration that Momentum Ignored

But on March 26^th 2018, the Board and the Zionists girded their loins and organised a demonstration. Indeed not only the Board but those well known anti-racists Ian Paisley of the DUP, Norman Tebbit, Sajid David and even Chuka Ummuna attended.  It was the strangest ‘anti-racist demonstration ever seen as it seemed to be composed mainly of racists.

The late David Cesarani was a Zionist historian confirming Nazi support for the German Zionists, who represented about 3% of the Jewish community

There was also a counter-demonstration to the Zionists organised by Jewish Voice for Labour and supported by Labour Against the Witchhunt.  At the counter demonstration LAW Secretary Stan Keable got into a discussion with a Zionist demonstrator, during the course of which Stan expressed his view that the Zionists had collaborated before the war with the Nazis.

David Grossman, BBC2 journalist - the ethics of a demented skunk  - note how allegations of collaboration have become 'plotting with Hitler' and how the Holocaust isn't antisemitic

The evidence for this point of view is extensive. However a BBC2 Newsnight ‘journalist’ David Grossman secretly filmed the exchange, posting it on social media.  Immediately came a demand by a junior government minister and Tory MP Greg Hands, for Hammersmith Council to dismiss Stan for having the temerity to express his opinions.

Instead of Council leader Steve Cowan telling Hands to get on his bike, this New Labour apparatchik immediately had Stan suspended.

You might think that this was a slam dunk for Stan’s union, UNISON. Stan approached their London Regional Organiser, Steve Terry, to help him fight the case. Little did Stan know that Terry was a right-wing councillor in Walthamstow and a supporter of Progress. Instead of supporting Stan he told him to plead guilty and plead mitigation!

I spoke, briefly to Terry on the phone and pointed out that the suspension was a breach of Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Speech) however he was too arrogant to take advice.

Unfortunately it's not true

I therefore represented Stan at his disciplinary hearing and on May 21^st he was dismissed. An appeal was made and London UNISON successfully prevented me representing Stan thereon although the Secretary of the local branch represented him.  The appeal nonetheless failed.

It is therefore gratifying to learn that nearly a year later, the Central London Employment Tribunal has upheld the claim of Stan Keable for unfair dismissal, both procedural and substantive. The judgement has not yet been put online but it took 2 hours to read out.

Beth Bickerstaff, a senior UNISON official, dismisses out of hand Stan's complaint at the refusal to provide support for Stan's disciplinary hearing - it is a case of one unelected official covering the back of another

UNISON’s failure to defend the right to free speech of its members is shameful and shocking. There is no excuse for the behaviour of Stephen Terry nor that of his superiors such as Beth Bickerstaffe who upheld the decision of Terry not to give Stan any support.

Why has this happened?  Undoubtedly it is a product of UNISON having adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism which effectively outlaws criticism of Zionism. It is a definition which effectively renders UNISON’s policy of BDS and support for the Palestinians as ‘anti-Semitic’. It means that criticism of Zionism, the ideology and movement behind the establishment of the Apartheid State of Israel is also 'antisemitic' based as it is on the assumption that all Jews are therefore Zionists.

Linda Perks, who broke UNISON's election rules, was effectively promoted for what she had done

Prentis went out of his way to support Adam Langleben of the Jewish Labour Movement who like a rat left Labour for the TIGs. He is now marshalling the case against Labour before the EHRC

Dave Prentis after last year’s elections, went out of his way to extend his sympathy to a Jewish Labour Movement Councillor and Officer, Adam Langleben who, as a result of the false anti-Semitism campaign, managed to lose his own seat in Hendon West.  Langleben is a scab who subsequently jumped ship entirely and joined Chuka Ummuna’s Independent Group. Who knows where he will now go given the split in the Funny Tinge!

The only person penalised throughout all of this was me.  On 8^th October, after a farcical and incompetent investigation carried by Regional Officer Tony Jones I was summoned to a disciplinary hearing conducted by 3 Prentis loyalists headed by Mark Fischer.  I was found guilty and sentenced to the heaviest punishment bar expulsion – 3 years suspension with loss of membership rights – for having dared to criticise Terry’s treacherous behaviour. UNISON is run by full-time officials for full-time officials.  Members are not supposed to criticise these unelected, overpaid bureaucrats.

Terry himself though did not make a complaint. It was his superior, Maggi Ferncombe, who had previously been SE Regional Secretary. I have previously crossed swords with her. This meant that at the disciplinary hearing I was faced with the somewhat difficult task of cross examining Ferncombe as to what was Terry’s reactions were to my criticisms. For example did he feel intimidated and afraid as was alleged. In essence I was cross examining on what was hearsay.  A somewhat difficult task.

Mark Fischer, as a Prentis loyalist, refused to listen to any mention of the reasons why I had criticised Terry publicly.  To him they were irrelevant. Nonetheless during the disciplinary hearing it emerged that I hadn’t been given notes of the original investigation and other discrepancies. These were also disregarded.

Because I secretly taped the meeting I was able to show how I had been hampered in my ability to put forward a defence by the way that the complaint had been made.

However the twist is that although I was required to appeal by November 1^st last year, the appeal hearing has still not been heard 7 months later. The original decision has effectively been abandoned. The reason is not hard to work out. How can someone make a complaint on behalf of someone else when that person isn’t willing to complain themselves?  The unfairness is clear even to such a died in the wool bureaucrat as Beth Bickerstaffe (the daughter-in-law of previous UNISON General Secretary Ron Bickerstaffe).

Tony Jones, a South-Eastern regional official who was my investigator - he is also a right-wing Labour councillor!

So the net result is that I am still a member of UNISON with full membership rights! However the original injustice has not been remedied.  Stan was betrayed by UNISON’s full time officials.  They failed to do their job which is to defend the right of a member to hold and express his opinions. 

The charges against Stan from his employer were laughable:

1.     That, in attending a counter demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament on the 26th March 2018, you knowingly increased the possibility of being challenged about your views and subsequently proceeded to express views that were in breach of the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and the Council’s Code of Conduct.

2.     That you made inappropriate comments which were subsequently circulated on social media which are deemed to be insensitive and likely to be offensive and potentially in breach of the Equality Act 2010 and/or the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

Terry could find nothing wrong in these charges which were a direct challenge to an employee’s right to attend a demonstration and a flagrant breach of Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights relating to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Any full-time official who doesn’t understand that such a dismissal is almost certainly going to be unfair and outside what is called the band of reasonable responses should either be retrained or dismissed. It is clear that Terry's decision was taken on political grounds. Terry’s right-wing politics should not be allowed to interfere with his work which is representing union members.

See:

Stan’s open letter to H&F Councillors:

Mike Cushman – ‘How talking about Zionism can lose you your job’:

Tony Greenstein – ‘No criticism permitted’:
Labour Against the Witchhunt - Stan Keable has won his employment tribunal

Stan Keable - Suspended for Expressing his Opinion on Zionism

What is UNISON for if it doesn't defend its own members?

Why I face disciplinaryaction for criticising London Regional Organiser Steve Terry who scabbed onStan Keable

Suspended from UNISON for Defending Freedom of Speech and the Right of Free Assembly

Unison’s Shameful Betrayal of its members – it supports the right to dismiss a worker for attending a demonstration

Why I face disciplinary action for criticising London Regional Organiser Steve Terry who scabbed on Stan Keable

Two weeks ago I was called to an investigation hearing. A complaint had been made against me regarding criticism I had made in various articles of UNISON’s London Region Organiser, Steve Terry, a right-wing Labour Councillor in Walthamstow.  The articles are below:

Stan Keable - Suspended for Expressing his Opinion on Zionism - Welcome to Stephen Cowan's Thought Police in Hammersmith & Fulham Council

What is UNISON for if it doesn't defend its own members? Stan Keable - abandoned by Steve Terry, the union’s London Regional Officer

No criticism permitted

Stan Keable, an employee of Hammersmith and Fulham Council and also Secretary of Labour Against the Witch-hunt, attended a demonstration in London on March 26^th called by Jewish Voice for Labour.  It was called in opposition to the Zionists’ ‘Enough is Enough’ demonstration outside Parliament. It was part of the fake anti-Semitism campaign before the local elections, whose target was Jeremy Corbyn.

Unison sells itself more as an insurance company than a trade union

The Zionist demonstration was billed as an ‘anti-racist’ demonstration (the first one the Board of Deputies has called in its history) but an anti-racist demonstration at which Norman Tebbit and the Democratic Unionist Party are participants, to say nothing of Uncle Tom Chuku Ummuna and Sajid David is unlikely to be about fighting racism.

BBC 'journalist' David Grossman, with the ethics of a rattle snake

Stan got into a discussion with a Zionist in the course of which he expressed the view that the Zionist movement had collaborated with the Nazis.  The discussion was recorded by BBC Newsnight editor and all round bigot, David Grossman.  Placed on social media it caused the racist local Tory MP, Greg Hands to demand that Stan be sacked. Thus we see how the false anti-Semitism campaign is a threat to free speech and democratic rights, aided by yellow journalists such as the BBC’s Grossman.

H&F Council leader Steve Cowan promptly ensured that Stan was suspended and last month I represented Stan at his disciplinary hearing the result of which was that he was sacked.  I should not, of course, have had to represent Stan as I am from Brighton and Hove UNISON not Hammersmith but when Stan approached the London Regional Organiser, Steve Terry for support he received none.

Terry’s advice was that Stan should plead guilty and plead for forgiveness.  In a letter of May 8^th Terry advised Stan that:

‘the course that you should take is to indicate that you regret any offence caused by your remarks and plead mitigating circumstances.’

A supporter of Progress, Terry was completely unfit to make a decision in this case. His own prejudices rendered him incapable of seeing that the main issue was not whether or not Stan was correct in his views but an elementary one of the right to free speech and free assembly, rights guaranteed under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The ECHR was drawn up and approved by the European countries precisely because of the lack of rights of civilians under Nazi occupation during the war. Terry however is a pen pushing bureaucrat, incapable of comprehending such issues.  For him, defence of Zionism was the only issue. 

Tony Jones - one of my two investigators

The two main charges against Stan were:

1. That, in attending a counter demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament on the 26th March 2018, you knowingly increased the possibility of being challenged about your views and subsequently proceeded to express views that were in breach of the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and the Council’s Code of Conduct (‘Working with integrity’ and ‘Working with the media’).

2. That you made inappropriate comments which were subsequently circulated on social media which are deemed to be insensitive and likely to be offensive and potentially in breach of the Equality Act 2010 and/or the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

In other words Stan should not have attended the demonstration in question because he rendered himself susceptible to being challenged about his view!  Could you have a more pathetic attack on the basic rights of any citizen?

Gail Adams, the second of my investigators, receiving a CBE from Prince William

To anyone with a modicum of understanding of human rights issues, let alone employment rights, these charges were a threat to all workers. Terry however was too dim to understand that.

The idea that by ‘causing offence’ Stan was guilty of a disciplinary offence is outrageous. Where lies freedom of speech? As Jodie Ginsberg wrote in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings and the murder of a Danish filmmaker by jihadists,

the right to free speech means nothing without the right to offend.  If all you have the right to do is to utter platitudes then free speech is meaningless.

Of course Terry was unconcerned by issues such as free speech. This overpaid and useless official considers that the members are accountable to him. It was therefore not surprising that Terry, who is not used to criticism from members, made a complaint via his superior, the London Regional Secretary against me.

The racist Zionist demonstration whose counterdemonstration Stan joined

On June 4^th I was called to an investigation hearing conducted by 2 more officials, Gail Adams and Tony Jones from the southern region. Ms Adams is Head of Unison’s Professional Services Unit and Tony Jones is Regional Manager for the South-East and as Tony revealed during the course of the interview is himself a Labour councillor in Reading!  Most of the interview was conducted by Tony Jones, who was jovial and pleasant.  Gail Adams was mostly silent but her hostility was evidenced by her body language and general demeanour.  Clearly the idea of criticising a fellow official didn’t go down well.

You can read the whole interview here or you can listen to the tape of the interview here. Amongst the ‘highlights of the interview was my statement, in a letter to the Head of UNISON’s Executive Office, Beth Bickerstaffe, that the Inquiry could only be a ‘stitch-up.’ Tony Jones was offended by this description so I had to point out that this was not intended personally. Rather it was the fact that I was the person who was subject to a complaint rather than Terry, for his refusal to defend a member under attack and his incompetence in failing to have any grasp of basic employment or human rights, to  say nothing of his refusal to get a legal opinion.  On any objective basis Terry should be suspended on charges of gross misconduct as a prelude to his dismissal. But of course to Ms Bickerstaffe, daughter-in-law of former UNISON General Secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe, it is me who is guilty of the ‘crime’ of criticising a full-time official.

What my case demonstrates is the democratic deficit in UNISON.  Despite supporting Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership elections in 2015 and 2016 (despite rumours that Dave Prentis would withdraw his support) UNISON is not a left-wing union. In the past 8 years, at a time of massive cuts in local government, it has abysmally failed to take any action against those attacks on members’ jobs and conditions or pay. When there was action a few years ago and strikes over pensions the union leadership did their best to get the action called off by pretending that they had secured concessions. Prentis is well-known for his lack of backbone.

Despite the fact that UNISON has good policy on Palestine and supports BDS (albeit doing very little to implement it) it has also supported the false ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign against supporters of Palestine.  I spoke on the motion in 2007 and again 2008 at national conference when policy on BDS was first proposed.  The arguments of the Zionists were basically that those supporting BDS were supporters of Hamas and anti-Semitic! Rodney Bickerstaffe, when he spoke at a PSC AGM attacked the use of false accusations of anti-Semitism against supporters of Palestine.  People are well aware of how Zionists weaponise ‘anti-Semitism’ but today they remain silent.

That is what the actions of Terry are about.  He is a fulsome supporter of the idea that support for the Palestinians is ‘anti-Semitic’ and in particular criticism of Zionism, the ideology of the movement that dispossessed the Palestinians. That is why Stan has been abandoned and that is why I am subject to a bogus ‘investigation’ that can only conclude that I am guilty as charged, even though charges have yet to be laid.

Tony Greenstein

Im Tirzu – the Fascist organisation that is spearheading the Israeli State’s attack on human rights organisations

In Israel human rights activists are considered traitors, foreign agents and terrorist supporters

One of the signs that Israel is on the road to becoming an authoritarian state is the fact that even the herrenvolk, Jews who are human rights supporters or anti-war activists, are attacked as traitors, spies, foreign agents and enemies of the State.  Even the liberal New Israel Fund [NIF] is considered a hostile organisation. 

Im Tirtzu video targeting New Israel Fund for allegedly persecuting Israeli soldiers

One particular object of attack is George Soros, the billionaire Jewish philanthropist, who has funded the NIF and Israeli human rights organisations.  The Zionist attack on Soros is no different from the attacks of anti-semites.  Indeed Netanyahu joined hands with the far-Right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the latter's attack on Soros.

Yair Netanyahu's cartoon which drew praise from neo-Nazis

Last year Netanyahu's son, Yair, drew a cartoon of Soros which received plaudits from David Duke of the KKK and Andrew Anglin of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer.


The Jerusalem Post quoted Zehava Gal-On, former head of Meretz as saying that 'this won’t be the last time that neo-Nazis quote Netanyahu,” accusing him of “supporting world antisemitism” after the Foreign Ministry released a statement legitimizing criticism of Hungarian- American billionaire George Soros.  William Echikson in Politico echoed this:

'During his campaign, Orbán blamed his country’s problems on a Jewish financier, George Soros — and won, big time. After his victory, Orbán spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, said the attacks on Soros “could not possibly be anti-Semitic, since they were echoed by Netanyahu.”

Don't let Soros have the last laugh, in a  mocking echo of Hitler's prophecy speech when he talked about having the last laugh over the Jews who had derided him

Anti-semites claiming that their support for Zionism means they can't possibly be antisemitic has become a regular theme.  When people say that anti-semites disguise or hide their anti-semitism by professing support for the Palestinians, the opposite is usually true.  Most anti-semites today assert that they couldn't possibly be anti-semitic since they support Israel and Zionism.  People such as Richard Spencer, the founder of the alt-Right who declares himself a 'White Zionist'.

Viktor Orban has launched a campaign to rehabilitate Hungary's pro-Nazi war time ruler, Admiral Horthy, who presided over the deportation of nearly 1/2 million Jews to Auschwitz.  This however has not stopped Netanyahu from striking up an alliance with Orban.

Im Tirzu, is part of the far-Right scene in Israel.  It is a fascist pressure group which see it as its mission to demonise Israeli human rights organisations, cultural figures of the left and indeed any opposition to the right-wing nationalist demagogy that passes for debate in Israel. Even the Jerusalem District Court said it was legitimate to call Im Tirzu a fascist group.

Im Tirzu is not a marginal organisation.  It is actively supported by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu but not only him.  The ‘opposition’ of Yesh Atid, a supposedly centrist party under Yair Lapid and the Israeli Labour Party under its new right-wing leader Avi Gabbay, also support the demonization of human rights groups.

On its 10^th anniversary Netanyahu posted a video congratulating Im Tirzu on its fine work

The latest Im Tirzu video attacks the NIF which funds human rights organisations such as Bt’selem as traitors who attack ‘our’ soldiers as they go about their thankless work murdering Palestinians.  It is the kind of propaganda stuff you would expect of a fascist organisation for whom the fatherland is uber alles.

You see the same adoration for the forces of the state that existed in Nazi Germany.  Im Tirzu specialises in attacking dissident culture and even prominent left-Zionist cultural figures. The Nazi party also attacked avante garde culture.  In the words of Herman Goering, ‘when I hear the words culture, I reach for my revolver.’

See The Cultural Axis, Robert O. Paxton in the October 26, 2017 Issue of The New Yorker, a review of Benjamin Martin’s The Nazi-Fascist New Order for European Culture.

This is where Zionism and its racial supremacist, ethno-nationalist state are now heading.  A state where the very term ‘leftist’ is now a term of abuse.

Jonathan Offir’s article is a timely reminder that far from being a democratic state, Israel is rapidly removing democratic rights even from Jews.

Tony Greenstein

Rightwing video says New Israel Fund supports ‘foreign agents’ who persecute Israeli soldiers

Jonathan Ofir on May 2, 2018

The rightwing Israeli Jewish group “Im Tirtzu” has published an incitement video, featuring Adi Shosberger, who has recently called soldiers near the Gaza fence ‘terrrorists,’ and an activist from ‘Machsom Watch’ (‘Checkpoint watch’) who tells an Israeli soldier “you are a disgrace”.

The video frames these actions as a conspiracy of the progressive New Israel Fund. New Israel Fund, a global organization based in the U.S., has supported Machsom Watch, but it has no connection to Shosberger. “I have no connection to the New Israel Fund,” Shosberger writes, in Hebrew. 

The Im Tirtzu video satirically promotes a video game, where one plays a soldier confronting leftist activists:

“Do you want to experience what IDF soldiers feel when they are persecuted by New Israel Fund organizations?”, the narrator says.

In the game, the soldier confronts activists and ‘terrorists’ yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’. The narrator says:

“What are you waiting for? Join the fight against the foreign agents.” 

In the actual video game, the soldier can kill the Palestinians, but has to jump over the Israeli activists.

Shosberger, who was protesting the manifestly illegal policy of shooting unarmed protesters, has also been trashed by a mainstream radio host who has publicly fantasized about her rape and murder, calling her “stupid”, “filth” and “little bitch”.

The Israeli organization “Im Tirzu“ calls itself “the largest grassroots Zionist movement in Israel,” but has been widely labelled “fascist”. A Jerusalem court judge has even ruled that this is a legitimate charge. 

woman reading out statement from Breaking the Silence

Its call to fight the “foreign agents” arose 2-1/2 years ago, when Im Tirtzu published a video which incited against four NGO’s: B’Tselem, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Breaking the Silence, and HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual. Staffers were personally named and framed as “foreign agents”.

“While we fight terror, they fight us,” the narrator said

That video coincided with the push from Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, herself arguably a fascist, of the “Transparency bill” nearly two years ago, which forced organizations that receive more than half their funding from institutions abroad (including from European governments), to disclose it prominently in official reports. The law does not specifically refer to leftwing organizations, but applies to about 25 NGOs. Rightwing NGOs, such as those supporting Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, tend to rely on private donations, which the law does not cover. 

The recent video is a further incitement against those who criticize Israeli policy, and it is making a blanket judgement of any dissent to be a national treason by “foreign agents”.

Im Tirtzu is ostensibly calling for this treatment of “foreign agents” to be implemented in law. But the incitement there is so virulent, that it’s not difficult to see how someone might get the idea that they should take the law into their own hands, and ‘teach these foreign agents a lesson’ – as an act of patriotism, of course.

One might be inclined to see this merely as a ‘game’, as the video suggests it is. But it is not a game. It is dead serious. It’s as serious as when the mentioned mainstream radio host Shai Goldstein says he “feels like killing that woman” (Adi Shosberger). But many Israelis don’t seem to get this. It passes as mere ‘outrage’, justified by the notion that the “most moral army in the world” cannot possibly be carrying out acts of terrorism, or even acting in ways which are a “disgrace”.

Militarism is a religion in Israel, like Zionism, and people are being sacrificed by it in many ways. Mostly, it’s Palestinians – but it’s also those who show solidarity with them. Then you’re a “foreign agent”.

About Jonathan Ofir

Israeli musician, conductor and blogger / writer based in Denmark.

Im Tirtzu Admits Mistake in Campaign Against 'Left-wing' Israeli Cultural Figures

The right-wing group's director tells Haaretz, however, that the public has the right to know about cultural figures' left-wing affiliations.

The latest Im Tirtzu campaign, which targets left-wing artists. Pictured (from left): Sha'anan Street, Amos Oz, Joshua Sobol and Gila Almagor. From the Facebook page of Im Tirtzu

The right wing Im Tirtzu group, which last month stirred controversy over its video targeting figures from left-wing organizations as foreign "moles," acknowledged that it had erred in a new poster that purports to expose some of Israel's leading cultural figures as left-wing.

The acknowledgment of the mistake with regard to the poster, in which authors Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua, actress Gila Almagor and singer Chava Alberstein among others were labeled "moles in culture" was posted on the organization's Facebook page over the signature of its director general, Matan Peleg. The poster, which was put on the group's Facebook page on Wednesday, disclosed what Im Tirtzu claimed was  the cultural figures' association with left-wing groups.

Despite the admission of error, in a conversation with Haaretz, Peleg defended the poster and said the public has the right to know about the political activities of those featured in it. The poster prompted widespread condemnation from politicians on the right as well as the left, including condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Among those criticizing it were Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the leader of the right-of-center Habayit Hayehudi party, who called the material "embarrassing, unnecessary and humiliating." His party colleague, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked added that artists identified with the left should not be placed out of bounds. For his part, Likud Knesset member Benny Begin called the outing of purported traitors "a longstanding ugly and dangerous fascist trait."

In its Facebook post on Friday, Im Tirtzu did not provide detail regarding what it viewed as mistaken in the poster, and did not remove it from its website or remove the list of artists and intellectuals that accompanied it. In a separate statement, Im Tirtzu reaffirmed that it was proud of its initial "moles" campaign directed at figures associated with Israeli human rights groups and left-wing organizations receiving foreign government funding, saying that the mistake that it was acknowledging only related to the poster featuring the cultural figures.

Friday's Facebook post over Peleg's name contained the following admission regarding the poster: "We made a mistake. We put up a mistaken post on a very important and substantial subject and therefore we need to be much more careful." Saying that the poster didn't constitute a campaign and that the organization wasn't calling anyone a traitor, despite media allegations to that effect, the statement in Peleg's name added: "We take full responsibility and promise to continue to work with great faith on behalf of the people of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF," the Israel Defense Forces.

"We will continue to convey pointed criticism of organizations that present IDF soldiers as war criminals and against those calling for a boycott of the country. Many thanks to all those who have supported us over the past two days and thank-you also to those who set us straight over our mistake," the statement added.

Later Im Tirtzu issued a clarification that the acknowledgement of the error related only to Wednesday's post of the poster and not the earlier campaign "which exposed those who harm IDF soldiers, [a campaign] over which we are proud and will continue [to publicize]."

In his conversation with Haaretz, however, Peleg defended his group's publication of the list of cultural figures, information that he said was already available elsewhere on the Internet. "The major advantage of the media storm that erupted is that now many in Israeli society know that when they say 300 cultural figures have signed a petition of one kind or another, they know they can check it name by name, and it's possible that they will see some of the names on the public boards of outside organizations," he explained.

When asked about his group's future direction, he replied: "The DNA of Im Tirtzu is to work against organizations that harm IDF soldiers, and that won't change." He explained that the Facebook post with the poster on cultural figures was not removed because the group viewed the material posted on Facebook as an ongoing feed, meaning that, with the posting of additional material, the poster appears lower down.

"If you assume responsibility, you assume responsibility," he said. "Now that we have written what is mistaken in it, we will certainly leave it so anyone who wants to form an impression will do so. We are not evading responsibility. We wrote in the post what we view as a mistake and we are moving forward."

Jerusalem Court: Okay to call Im Tirtzu a 'fascist group'

By Noam Sheizaf

|Published September 8, 2013

A verdict by the Jerusalem District Court finds that recognizing ‘certain lines of resemblance’ to fascism in the ideology or activities of the right-wing movement can be seen as ‘truthful.’ The verdict is a major blow to Im Tirtzu’s efforts to portray itself as a mainstream, grassroots movement.

The extreme-right group Im Tirtzu lost a court case against a group of leftist activists who opened a Facebook page called “Im Tirtzu – A Fascist Movement.” Judge Raphael Ya’akobi of the Jerusalem District Court determined that some of Im Tirtzu’s attributes bear certain similarities to fascism – thus allowing the activists to use both a freedom of speech defense, as well as “spoken truth” defense.

Ya’akobi ruled against Im Tirtzu in all claims of the lawsuit, except for a post on the group’s page which drew similarities between Im Tirzu and Nazi ideology.

Im Tirtzu has become known over the past several years for their attacks on left-wing academics and organizations. Following the Goldstone Report on 2008-09’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Im Tirtzu accused the New Israel Fund of aiding, through the various organizations it supports, the UN fact finding mission. A personal campaign against the head of the NIF, Naomi Chazan, bore anti-Semitic features [disclaimer: +972 Magazine is on the New Israel Fund’s donor-advised list].

Later, Im Tirtzu members campaigned against academics who taught courses about the Palestinian narrative of 1948, and led the campaign to shut down the political science department in Ben Gurion University, which was considered too “lefty.” Last year, the department was put under a long review process by the Israeli universities’ budgeting committee. Im Tirtzu was also behind the attempt to scare the Eretz Yisrael Museum from hosting the annual ‘Return Conference,’ an event put on by the non-profit Zochrot, which works to promote awareness of the Nakba in Israeli society.

Im Tirtzu’s leadership enjoys strong ties within the Likud party. Interior Minter Gideon Sa’ar (Likud Yisrael Beiteinu), a favorite of the group, spoke at their annual conference.

Ad by Im Tirzu blaming the head of NIF Naomi Hazan in the creation of the Goldstone report

Three-and-a-half years ago, Im Tirtzu filed lawsuit against the creators of the Facebook page “Im Tirtzu – a Fascist Movement,” demanding NIS 2.6 million ($720,000 US) in compensation and the removal of the page. During the procedures, the defendants had Professor Zeev Sternhell, a world expert on fascism, testify on the resemblance between Im Tirtzu’s activities and those of the European extreme right in the first half of the twentieth century. Sternhell himself was a victim of a pipe-bomb attack by Jewish terrorist Ya’akov “Jack” Teitel.

Furthermore, Ya’akobi ruled that in all cases but one, the name of the Facebook page and the specific posts that were brought before him fall under the right to free opinion. Thus, a slanderous motive cannot be attributed to them.

Here is a link to the full verdict [Hebrew].

Although the court could have stopped there, Ya’akobi also accepted the defense of “a truthful publication,” that the critique of Im Tirtzu as part of the political debate was in the public’s interest. In other words, the court is not stating the Im Tirtzu is a fascist movement (or that it isn’t, for that matter), but that because there exist “certain lines of resemblance” to fascism, calling them as such cannot be considered slanderous.

This is a major blow to Im Tirtzu’s attempts to position themselves as a mainstream grassroots movement. In the past, group members threatened a lawsuit against Wikipedia Israel for calling it “a right-wing movement” on its entry.

Im Tirtzu has been sponsored by John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel. According to the movement’s report, in recent years most of the support to Im Tirtzu comes from the Central Fund of Israel, which sponsors various religious, right-wing and settler causes.

The Jerusalem court did not call for compensation regarding the single claim in which it ruled in favor of Im Tirtzu, since the case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.