What Do They Teach in Religion and Morality lessons at Ayr’s Belmont Academy if the Principal Religion Teacher Edward Sutherland is a Virulent Racist and anti-Semite?

Sheffield Hallam Lecturer & Lawyers 4 Israel's Lesley Klaff Declares that ‘Zio’ is not Anti-Semitic as Scottish Zionists Tried to Smear Scottish PSC as Anti-Semitic

I have the greatest sympathy for the crooks and liars who otherwise go under the name of Glasgow Friends of Israel (GFI) and Confederation of Friends of Israel in Scotland (COFIS).

Put yourself in their shoes. You are desperate to defend your favourite apartheid state (Israel). The only way you can do so is by accusing your opponents of ‘anti-Semitism’. So how can you prove it?

The problem they face, as everyone who is honest (no that doesn’t mean you Sir Sturmer!) is that Palestinian supporters and anti-Zionists don’t hate Jews. Nor do they blame Jews for what Israel does. That is what Zionists do. So what can the Zionists do?

Easy. If you are Edward Sutherland, a genuine non-Jewish anti-Semite, you set up a fake profile as a Palestinian supporter and then post a stream of anti-Semitic abuse. Unfortunately for Sutherland no one seemed to be taking the bait.

Therefore Sutherland and his friend, Zionist lawyer Matthew Berlow, hit on the brilliant idea of daubing ‘Free Palestine’ on Berlow’s home and blaming Scottish PSC. What could go wrong? Well everything actually!

Sutherland set up a fake Facebook profile under the name ‘Stevie Harrison’. He then posted what he considered an anti-Semitic post, ‘Fuck Israel’ and he also set up a fake Twitter account in the same name. Fuck Israel is not the most astute political comment I’ve seen but it’s not anti-Semitic.

Another of Sutherland’s charming posts read “I’ve seen it all now. "Zio prick’s asking for donations” in reference to Jewish lawyer Matthew Barlow’s Go Fund Me page. ‘Zio prick’ was his idea of anti-Semitism whereas it is simply abusive.

At the time Sutherland was Convenor of COFIS. But the icing on Sutherland’s cake was a tweet:

A certain Jewish lawyer woke up this morning to find ‘Free Palestine’ spray painted rather prominently! No idea who was responsible.

This was followed five winking emoticons insinuating that he, “Stevie Harrison”, had done the supposed spray painting. Berlow responded:

Idiocy. Typical spsc [Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign] behaviour. Criminal.

Not only does Sutherland teach morals and philosophy at Belmont Academy but he is the Principal Teacher of religious education too! One can only imagine what religion he teaches? Devil worship?

working with anti-Semites and fascists doesn't stop GFI accusing the Labour Party under Corbyn of neo-Nazism

Sammy Stein from GFI admitted that “Mr Sutherland, as well as a few others in our organisation, have false identities on social media.’ Stein explained the fake profiles by saying:

“We do this to expose people who express anti-Semitic sentiments.”

In other words they post anti-Semitic stuff and then claim the people doing it are Palestinian supporters.

We have come across Sammy before. Sammy is nothing if not an expert in anti-Semitism. In fact he seems to spend most of his time keeping company with anti-Semites. In 2019 Stein was caught with Max Dunbar, ex-Treasurer of the BNP and Treasurer of Britannica, a fascist group which was, according to Hate not Hope, merely the BNP under another name. They were both harassing the SPSC stall.

Another friend of Stein was Jimmy Robertson, former security chief of the BNP in the Highlands. Both had been helping run the GFI stall.

Max Dunbar, ex-BNP and neo-Nazi with Sammy Stein of Glasgow Friends of Israel having a friendly chat at the Zionists' stall

Not surprisingly the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) was forced to set up a hearing into whether Sutherland was a fit and proper person to be teaching children. It’s a bit like asking whether it would be proper to appoint Wayne Couzens as the manager of a woman’s refuge. You know the answer before you begin.

The hearing was told that Sutherland ‘had shared antisemitic posts online after setting up a fake profile ‘under the pseudonym Stevie Harrison.’

The panel heard evidence from Matthew Berlow, who claimed Sutherland set up a fake profile to lure antisemites into exposing their views.

Despite admitting posting the messages with a view to defaming others, Sutherland denied breaching the teachers’ code of conduct. His defence being that “We do this to expose people who express antisemitic sentiments.”

Now why you may ask should Sutherland want to trap anti-Semites into posting on his Facebook newsfeed when he is surrounded by anti-Semites? How many anti-Semites does one man want?

Messages from his Stevie Harrison account read: “Back after a 30 day ban, my first thought? F*** Israel.”

Sharing a post from a member of the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign Facebook page, Sutherland wrote: “Tried to stitch up a good mate of mine. P***k.” For a teacher of religion Sutherland has a penchant for salty language. "Free Palestine ya bastards”.

But it wasn’t just Sutherland who was in on the conspiracy to frame other people for his own anti-Semitism. According to The Times of Israel Zionist lawyer,

Matthew Berlow found to have commented on social media post about attack he knew never happened with accusation that Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign was the culprit

Screen capture from video of a Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally. (YouTube)

The ToI reported in February 2020 that:

A Scottish Jewish lawyer has been found to have attempted to discredit a pro-Palestinian group in accusing it of vandalism that he was aware never happened.

Matthew Berlow, a criminal solicitor based in Glasgow, faces a £500 fine following a probe by the Law Society of Scotland, the local Daily Record newspaper reported Monday.

A preliminary ruling said Berlow did not maintain the standards of behavior expected of a lawyer.

The reporter for the LSS found that Ed Sutherland, a teacher at Belmont Academy in Ayr, had created a Facebook account with the alias “Steve Harrison” which, under the guise of being a pro-Palestinian activist, he then used to associate himself with the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC).

Sutherland is an associate of Berlow and both men have ties to a UK-based Israel advocacy group, the Record reported.

Berlow admitted he knew the graffiti attack was fake telling the Law Society of Scotland that he played along because the Harrison persona was being used “to monitor various ­disruptive activities of the SPSC.”

Not surprisingly the LSS found that Berlow’s behaviour fell below the standards expected of a solicitor and that he had faked a graffiti attack at his own home. Berlow had in the past been fined by the LSS for calling SPSC ‘scummy racists.’

Berlow’s response to Sutherland’s tweet was “Idiocy. Typical SPSC behaviour criminal.” In other words he was trying to frame SPSC for criminal damage. In the circumstances the £500 fine amounted to an endorsement of criminal behaviour. Sutherland’s ‘explanation’ was

 “Unfortunately I made it too real and named an organization I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t my intention to blame the SPSC for a fictitious event.”

As Mick said, the LSS should have reconsidered their fine

“because the damage to our reputation, in accusing us of such criminal acts, is impossible to deny.”

In 2018 Berlow was ordered to undergo “diversity training” and pay a fine after abusing Palestinian campaigners. He was given a fine of £1,750 as well as an additional £100 to University of Aberdeen lecturer and pro-Palestinian campaigner Dr. Karolin Hijazi, for calling her a “snowflake” and a “wannabe justice warrior.”

Scottish pro-Palestinian activist Dr. Karolin Hijazi of the University of Aberdeen in 2014. (Screen capture: YouTube)

One of Sutherland’s worst comments was about Berlow, saying:

‘Looks like a certain Zio’s big nose is out of joint. Don’t worry Mr. Berlow, You’re going to get what’s coming to you.’

When the fake account began to raise suspicion, Sutherland lashed out:

Someone complained to Facebook about me not using my real name. I don’t know what… they are up to but there it is on my profile.

Stevie Harrison. If you want my birth certificate, just say.

If I lose my job because some zionist doesn’t like me supporting the people of Palestine, don’t worry about it. I’ll still have my dignity.

The see you next Tuesday who complained won’t have. Rant over.

According to Mick Napier, the Law Society of Scotland got involved, which led Berlow to admit that he was behind the Stevie Harrison posts — in other words faking his own antisemitic harassment, which of course for Zionists is nothing new.

At this point the rats fell out among themselves. Berlow defended himself by exposing Sutherland’s role: it was Sutherland, not he, who was behind the fake postings. As Tom Suarez observed

‘if Berlow knew of the deceit when it took place, then he knowingly accused SPSC on no basis, and so in early 2019 SPSC filed a complaint against Berlow with the Law Society’

which found against him but imposed the derisory fine.

Berlow went further telling Electronic Intifada that Sutherland’s “posts were not anti Semitic” under the IHRA definition that has been used to tar Palestinian supporters as antisemitic.

My charge sheet included using the term 'Zio' - now the Zios have said it's not anti-Semitic I'm hoping Sir Keith will readmit me with an apology!

Actually I agree with Berlow but that’s because the IHRA is not about anti-Semitism but anti-Zionism. It is a confidence trick that too many University administrators and academics have gone along with.

Bear in mind that in April 2018 the Herald reported that SPSC was being criticised for using a “vile and derogatory word” to describe Zionists and supporters of Israel. And what was this word? ‘Zio’. As Mick explained:

I use ‘zio’ because I am hostile to the political ideology of Zionism adding that ‘Zio is not to be confused remotely with a racist epithet.”

You may remember the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ allegations in the Labour Party which have now mysteriously disappeared as Sir Sturmer busies himself with expelling Jewish members.

Labour's Shami Chakrabarti defined 'Zio' as anti-Semitic and Corbyn being a fool went along with it

In 2016 Shami Chakrabarti issued a report which described ‘zio’ as ‘a new modern-day racist epithet’. Utter nonsense but Chakrabarti understood nothing about Zionism or anti-Semitism.

Sammy Stein, told the Daily Record that Sutherland had been using the alias “for years”, but that “Ed is no anti-Semite. In fact, he’s a friend of Israel.”

Of course as anyone knows, there is nothing incompatible with being a Zionist and an anti-Semite.  On the contrary the list of anti-Semites who love Zionism and the State of Israel is as long as your arm:

Tommy Robinson, Viktor Orban, neo-Nazi Richard Spencer (a ‘White Zionist’), Donald Trump etc. etc. If you are an anti-Semite what is there not to love about Zionism and Israel? Anti-Semites want to get rid of Jews and where better to send them than Israel?

Some of the most important Zionists in history have also held vile anti-Jewish attitudes. And some of the world’s worst contemporary anti-Semites are militantly pro-Israel.

Sutherland was both Convener and site administrator of COFIS, a registered charity. Sutherland took over the position of Convener in 2018 from another disgraced official, Nigel Goodrich, when Goodrich‘s involvement with an overtly racist Facebook group was exposed. Nigel Goodrich left the UK after an earlier case involving Facebook deception when his membership of an extreme right-wing Facebook page Jewish Defence Forces was revealed.

The JDF included members jailed for violent assault and people like Israeli academic Mordechai Kedar who advocated the rape of Palestinian women to deter Palestinian resistance. Its posted “Rule One” which was: “This group is about ‘Palestine and Palestinians’ which doesnt [sic] exist.’ Sutherland defended Goodrich at the time, claiming he left COFIS “due to relocating outside of the UK”.

Starting on April 5, the General Teaching Council for Scotland held a hearing to review Sutherland’s fitness to teach in a classroom.

What Sutherland and Berlow did is nothing new. As Asa Winstanley wrote Mossad-linked Israeli law firm Shurat HaDin admitted posting a series of violently anti-Semitic comments to Facebook in order to frame Palestinians and solidarity activists. In 2019, Electronic Intifada exposed a network of fake Twitter trolls systematically posting violent anti-Semitism in order to frame Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and the Muslim community. See:

Edward Sutherland campaigning for Israel in Glasgow.

COFIS has “an extensive record of publishing racist materials” Mick Napier wrote that

The Scottish body charged with overseeing charities should revoke COFIS’ charitable status immediately.

The GTC stated that the "material posted by the teacher was of an anti-Semitic nature", and Mr Sutherland could lose his job pending the outcome of the upcoming hearing.

It is alleged that his fitness to teach is impaired as a result of breaching several parts of the GTC Scotland code of professionalism and conduct.

It was Sutherland’s defence however that provoked astonishment. In 2018 one of the charges against me by the Labour Party was that:

"On numerous occasions since May 2016, Mr Greenstein has uploaded deeply offensive and derisory antisemitic posts to social media and comments boards including but not limited to : repeatedly using "zio" as a term of derision,

According to the Jewish Journal, ‘zio’ is an ‘anti-Semitic slur coined by the KKK’. Yet what was the defence put forward by Sheffield Hallam lecturer Lesley Klaff of UK Lawyers for Israel on behalf of Sutherland?

According to Mick Napier Klaff defended Sutherland by insisting that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism should not be confused; ‘Zio’ was merely “an abbreviation” and not racist! Which is rich coming from an organisation that dedicates its life to proving that anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism. Klaff argued that:

“A reasonable person would realize that this is a reference to somebody who supports Israel…Zionism is a political ideology and there's a range of views held by Jews on Israel and there's a range of views held by non-Jews on Israel. There are plenty of non-Jews who are Zionist and there are quite a few Jews who aren't…Zionism is not legally recognized as an aspect of Jewish identity. It's recognized legally as a political movement or ideology to which some Jews subscribed. Many non-Jews do as well, so it's not unequivocally anti-Semitic.

Sutherland agreed with Klaff about “Zio” and “Zionist”:

“It’s frequently used as a derogatory term for people who support the State of Israel, whether they're Jewish or not. It is only ever in my experience used as a political insult.”

Klaff is the same person who was responsible for a complaint of ‘anti-Semitism’ being made against Palestinian academic Shahd Abusalama at Sheffield Hallam University. Klaff is sister-in-law of the open racist and fascist, Sharon KKKlaff.

Klaff’s defence of Sutherland demonstrates the dishonesty of the Zionist lobby. Klaff argued that even when “Zio” was used with a hostile expletive this was not anti-Semitic. Posting repeatedly about a “Zio prick” or a “fucking Zio” was not anti-Semitic but entirely political, claimed Sutherland:

In my experience it is an abbreviation for Zionist, in an entirely political sense. It’s entirely political and makes no reference to Jewish tradition culture or religion. "Zio prick" is vulgar but not anti-Semitic.

Oddly enough this was my defence at my expulsion hearing from the Labour Party in February 2018. My argument was simple. ‘Zio’ is short for Zionist and if you believe a Zionist and a Jew are one and the same then it is you who is anti-Semitic. Jeremy Corbyn, being an utter fool went along with it describing ‘zio’ as a ‘vile epithet.’

Sutherland told the tribunal that several other current members of COFIS had also set up Facebook profiles with false identities.

Sutherland and Berlow were co-conspirators who went on to invent a graffiti attack on the lawyer’s home, which they then attributed to Scottish PSC. According to Sutherland’s testimony theirs was a close collaboration. Asked if he shared his posts with Berlow before or after he posted them, Sutherland replied that it was “a combination of the two. It was a daily discussion. I shared all of them with Mr. Berlow”.

Having been caught in flagrante, and facing disciplinary action by their respective professional associations, Sutherland and Berlow put forward an unprecedented defence. It turned on its head the traditional accusation of Zionists that anti-Semitism equals anti-Semitism.

The smearing of political opponents as ‘anti-Semitic’ has been promoted by the Israeli regime since its foundation. Foreign Minister, Abba Eban, explained that Israel works “to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all”.

Boris Johnson’s racist ‘anti-Semitism’ Czar, Lord Mann demanded that UK Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, outlaw the critical use of the term “Zionist”. That party has ruled that “Zio” was on a par with racist slurs, and “should have no place in Labour party discourse”.

Conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism was a constant of pro-Israel advocacy – until the recent GTCS hearing.

A REAL RACIST SLUR DEFENDED

Sutherland’s “Stevie Harrison” jeered about Matthew Berlow, that the “Zio’s big nose is out of joint”. Klaff insisted that such a post was not anti-Semitic, “given that many Zionists are not Jews and given that many non-Jews have big noses and many Jews don't”.

This is disingenuous but clearly the GTC was out of its depth. Nazi propaganda about Jews regularly caricatured Jews with oversized noses. Sutherland claimed the post was “not made generically about any group of people. It refers specifically to Mr Berlow personally having a big nose”. Pull the other one.

Scottish Zionists have a long history of making false accusations of ‘anti-Semitism’ against Scottish PSC. In January 2018 Berlow denounced “people from the spsc shouting about big noses” at his comrades in Glasgow city centre. That earlier fabrication stands in stark contrast to the evidence he gave under oath that they believed that jibes about “Zio big noses” do not constitute anti-Semitism..

Berlow was asked if he thought someone genuinely posting any of those comments would be anti-Semitic: “I would say that this is a person who has a problem with supporters of Israel, with Zionists”.

ZIOS SUPPOSEDLY DEFENDING FREE SPEECH
Klaff who is nothing if not dishonest, which admittedly is a common characteristic amongst lawyers, defended the right to belligerent anti-Zionist discourse as being protected by the IHRA definition:

The IHRA definition was never intended as a tool to be used to sanction people or take away their livelihood or indeed to take away people’s free speech rights…or to discipline them because it’s got to be used in the context of other laws like employment, protection legislation, the right to free speech under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights and so on

This comes from someone who used the IHRA to try and get a young Palestinian academic at her own university sacked!  The dishonesty of these Zios beggars belief. The person who drafted the IHRA, Kenneth Stern, said it was being used to ‘chill’ free speech.

Klaff issued a veiled threat of possible legal action against the GTCS if it found against Sutherland by relying on a dictionary definition of anti-Semitism:

If Mr.Sutherland was sanctioned for these comments on the basis of a definition other than the IHRA definition, if he was to pursue the case under the European Convention of Human Rights, courts would take a dim view of that. Given that the government has adopted it, I think we all need to be singing from the same hymn sheet.

THERE WERE SEVERAL WEAKNESSES in the proceedings of the GTC panel, each attributable to the fact that the only witnesses called were pro-Israel campaigners

·         Although her testimony was recognised by the GTC ‘prosecutor’ to be ‘confusing’, ‘conflicting’, and ‘distinctly odd’, the supposedly ‘expert’ testimony of a member of UK Lawyers for Israel was not scrutinised by anyone with expertise in the field.

·         The potentially criminal act of fabricating a crime to falsely incriminate SPSC was not included in the hearing on Sutherland’s fitness to teach, although the deception was jointly promoted by Sutherland and Berlow, and has been admitted under pressure by Berlow, who defended their joint endeavor as a “a moment of madness”. Sutherland’s lawyer insisted there was no question of criminality in his client’s behavior and this went unchallenged.

·         A lack of knowledge from members of the panel meant that the GFoI fantasy narrative of frightening aggression from ‘hate groups’ hostile to Israel was never questioned. Stein and Berlow were accepted unchallenged as “credible witnesses” and their record of working with a right-wing extremist and Holocaust denier to harass pro-Palestine campaigners remained undisclosed.

·         Sutherland pleaded to the panel that “nothing I have done was motivated by intolerance or prejudice”. This too went unchallenged, whereas the extreme anti-Palestinian racism of the group he led was expressed in numerous racist posts, including a post from the admin welcoming the “euthanizing” of three [Palestinian] rioters in Jerusalem”. Another praised the massacre of Muslims in a New Zealand mosque as “payback for what Muslims have done”

During the four-day GTCS hearing the Israeli lobby demonstrated their true colours. They are not interested in fighting racism but defending Israel and attacking those who stand with Palestine.

See Shock Zionist U-turn at GTC Sutherland hearing, Mick Napier, 15 April 2022, Mick Napier
None of this stopped Jonathan Hoffman, the former Vice-Chair of the Zionist Federation and a good supporter of Tommy Robinson and friend of fascists and anti-Semites alike, from defending Sutherland and Berlow. Hoffman’s only qualification for defending anti-Semites is that they support Zionism and the Israeli state. Which practically includes all anti-Semites today!

Naturally being a concerned member of the public I emailed Belmont Academy to find out whether Sutherland was still teaching at the school. The correspondence is below:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing an article on Edward Sutherland, the teacher from Belmont Academy, who set up a fake anti-Semitic Facebook group under a pseudonym. Please can you confirm whether he is still a teacher of Religion and Morals and Philosophy at your school or not?
Kenny.Ross@south-ayrshire.gov.uk

Sent on 26/04/2022 14:15:00 by Kenny Ross

Hi Tony, please see our response below. If you send any future enquiries to communications@south-ayrshire.gov.uk we will get you a response.

A spokesperson for South Ayrshire Council said: "A hearing conducted by the General Teaching Council for Scotland is currently underway, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this stage."

I therefore responded:

18:19 (5 hours ago)

Dear Mr Ross,

I find it strange that you and the local authority seem unable to say whether you are still employing an open racist and anti-Semite, to say nothing of someone who adopts fake persona on social media in order to blame others for a purported act of vandalism. What I find even more absurd is that this man is a teacher of religion, morals and philosophy! I just hope God has a sense of humour.

This seems out of a Life of Brian sketch.

Yours sincerely,

tony greenstein

Scottish Friends of Israel’s fake Facebook page posted anti-semitic material (SPSC)
Scottish “friend of Israel” faked anti-Semitism for years (Asa Winstanley, E.I.)

When it comes to Foul Mouthed Abuse, noone can outdo Zionist Lawyers like Mark Lewis

Pro-Israel lawyer Matthew Berlow sanctioned by the Law Society for racist smears against Scottish PSC member

When you think of members of the legal profession you think of the scales of justice and the statue of liberty. Justice blind to all special interests, political causes and favours. Lawyers are generally thought of as people who carefully weigh the pros and cons of an issue, always willing to see the others’ viewpoint. They are officially Officers of the Court and their first duty is to see justice is done. But when it comes to Zionist lawyers then you can throw all of that out of the window.

Support for the Jewish supremacism and the State of Israel is their first priority. They are not the first nor the last to put the interests of the State before the interests of justice. You only need to recall John Yoo and Jay Bybee two White House lawyers who produced legal opinions to justify torture. As the New York Times put it, they ‘were not acting as fair-minded analysts of the law but as facilitators of a scheme to evade it. The White House decision to brutalize detainees already had been made. Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee provided legal cover.’

Strange as it may see, NW Friends of Israel, which has previously worked with Tommy Robinson's EDL, had nothing to say about this meeting.  Perhaps not surprising since many of their members were in attendance

The same is true of the Zionist lawyers below. Support for Israel, right or wrong, is their only concern.  Land confiscation, virulent state racism, apartheid laws are all explained away by Jewish exceptionalism. Their legal training is but a weapon to be employed against supporters of the Palestinians. Shouting ‘anti-Semitism’ at every opportunity gives these lawyers the ideal pretext to engage in wholesale abuse.

Mark Lewis

Speaking of bigots, none come more obnoxious than Mark Lewis, who made a name for himself in the hacking cases against the News of the World. Lewis is an ardent supporter of Herut UK, the British branch of Likud.  It is an organisation that is steeped in racism. Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud Prime Minister, is famous for going on Facebook at the last election to warn Jewish voters that ‘droves’ of Arabs have gone to the polls. Likud has presided over a dramatic increase in Israeli state racism, most recently sealed with the Jewish Nation State Law.

Lewis, who spoke at the relaunch meeting of Herut UK, is of the opinion that whatever the Israeli government does should be supported by British Jews and opposition to Zionism and Israel is automatically anti-Semitic. He therefore defends without reservation the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the theft of Palestinian land, the Jewish only roads etc. Indeed he will shortly become a settler himself and no doubt will excuse attacks on Palestinians, burning of crops, polluting water sources, demolition of houses by the need to fight ‘anti-Semitism’.

Like Berlow, Lewis is nothing if not abusive.  So much so that he has got himself hauled up before the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority on charges of abusing people on social media.  His excuse is that they are all neo-Nazis but that is but a pretext.

Lewis is a partner of Mandy Blumenthall, the representative of Herut UK. In August 2018, Lewis and Blumenthal told the Victoria Derbyshire programme that they are quitting the UK as they no longer feel safe because of anti-Semitismand they will move to Israel in December where they can practice their racism without being called to account. Blumenthal naturally lays the blame at the door of Jeremy Corbyn. Derbyshire, alone amongst BBC journalists gave them a good grilling and showed how vacuous are their claims.

Mark's day of rage

On 9 August 2014 when Israel was bombing Gaza, Mark Lewis railed on Twitter against anti-zionists, calling them anti-Jewish racist scum. It started at 2:33pm with Mark's tweet:

Why, as a British Jew, I’m terrified by anti-Semitism in my country.

Ruthless approach to antisemitism

The Times of Israel reported that “Lewis takes a ruthless approach, believing that it’s necessary to be aggressive against anti-Semites on social media.”

“Someone can be a Nazi, but at least [if they are taken to court] they can be a homeless Nazi,” he says. “I’m quite happy to take their homes off them. If these people would have rational debate, I would do that [instead], but they are nutters who have conspiratorial theories and I will never change their outlook.".

Making Craig Murray "homeless"

In September 2017, it was reported that Jake Wallis Simons, associate editor of the Daily Mail Online, was suing Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, for £40,000 in damages plus £100,000 legal costs for lawyer Mark Lewis, who was representing Simons in a High Court case commencing on 7 November 2017.

Craig Murray wrote that “This case has the potential to bankrupt me and blight the lives of my wife and children. I have specifically been threatened by Mr Lewis with bankruptcy.”

Craig Murray reacted:

"I sincerely hope [Mark Lewis] does not consider me a Nazi, though plainly this case is started by my falsely being smeared as an anti-Semite. But no matter how objectionable somebody may find my views on Israel/Palestine, how does it serve justice that “at least my” wife and 8-year-old son “can be homeless.” That is however precisely what Mr Lewis seeks to achieve and to be plain, he has threatened me in person with bankruptcy

High-profile solicitor facing tribunal over online spats with “neo-Nazis”

Law Gazette, 28.9.18.

Mr Lewis has been outspoken in his support of Israel. A former director of UK Lawyers for Israel, in June he halted the pro-Palestinian Al Quds rally in central London for an hour by refusing to move his wheelchair.

He said at the time that he did so to protest against Hezbollah flags and “inflammatory rhetoric”....

The newspaper also said that Mr Lewis took a “ruthless approach, believing that it’s necessary to be aggressive against anti-Semites on social media”.

Mr Lewis told Legal Futures that he could not comment on the case beyond saying that he would “fully defend” himself and that “it will be a very interesting battle”.

There have been an increasing number of disciplinary cases involving social media posts, made more acute where the solicitor identifies as such. Last year, the SRA issued a warning notice to solicitors on how to conduct themselves on social media. Media lawyer Mark Lewis to face SDT over social media comments

High profile media lawyer Mark Lewis – who came to public attention with his work on the phone-hacking cases – is to face a disciplinary tribunal over alleged comments on social media.

Mark Lewis

It emerged today that the Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided to prosecute Lewis, a partner at London firm Seddons.

The allegations are that in May 2017 he used his Facebook account to post ‘offensive and profane communications’ towards a third party.

The SRA also alleges that between July 2015 and December 2016 he used his Twitter account, which publicly identified him as a solicitor, to post offensive and profane communications.

Robert Festenstein

None comes nastier than Robert Festenstein, a bankruptcy solicitor.  He is essentially a fascist. So it was no surprise when he played the part of a solicitor in a video with none other than Tommy Robinson.  Festenstein is a founder of Jewish Human Rights Watch, an organisation that is dedicated to opposing human rights for Palestinians and anti-Zionists.

In May 2017 Festenstein wrote to the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London attempting to close down the Palestine Expo 2017 Festival on the grounds it was a ‘Jewish hate festival’ despite it having numerous Jewish speakers like Ilan Pappe or Miko Peled. One thing JHRW shares with groups like the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism is a hatred for free speech and debate, the hall mark of fascism. 

The letter from Festenstein was one long lie.  It began with a lie: ‘We act for Jewish Human Rights Watch – JHRW.”

It would be more truthful to have said ‘I am Jewish Human Rights Watch – JHRW.” There are number of companies under the name JHRW or similar.

There is JHRW Education in which Festenstein is the sole director.

There is Jewish Rights Watch in which Festenstein is one of 3 directors.

In short Festenstein deliberately disguised his own connections to JHRW in order to make his letter seem more plausible. It would be interesting to see who paid him for the letter and how much!

A letter of total deception - Fenstenstein writes on behalf of a client who just happens to be himself

The next lie was to write that ‘’Whilst our client has no difficulty with legitimate protest, it is most concerned that you are allowing a group with terrorist links to operate an event on your premises.’ Yet more lies.  Like most Zionist activists Festenstein has the greatest difficulty with any protest to do with Palestine and the suggestion that there was any link with ‘terrorists’ is risible.  Given Festenstein’s links with the far-Right and Tommy Robinson he should perhaps have been looking nearer to home.

Recently members of JHRW attacked a Palestine Solidarity Campaign meeting in Manchester and are suspected of being involved in an attack on a Jewish Voice for Labour meeting at Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

Festenstein is also suspected of being involved in a meeting between Tommy Robinson and a dozen members of the Manchester Jewish community.

Festenstein isn't your run of the mill solicitor. He was fined £20,000 by the Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal in November 10th for a series of breaches of the rules governing solicitors. They are detailed below. He was charged with a second solicitor whom he had employed, Bryan Slater.  Slater was struck off the rolls. In short Festenstein is a solicitor whom most people would give a wide berth to.

Jonathan Goldberg QC

The other Zionist lawyer I have become acquainted with is more of a clown than a villain like Lewis and Festenstein.  I refer to Jonathan Goldberg QC, who is a patron of the far-Right Campaign Against Anti-Semitism. In an email exchange with a friend of mine he asked:

‘hear your friend Greenstein got his just deserts.

What was the problem with his family ? Was he an abused child ?

The ‘logic’ of this statement being that Jewish opponents of Zionism must have suffered ‘child abuse’.  Apart from anything else it trivialises the very real problem of child abuse.

I asked the learned QC what kind of idiot attributes political differences to child abuse. Because Zionists cannot perceive why anyone might oppose the ethnic cleansing and apartheid policies that Israel follows, critics are seen as suffering from psychological trauma of one kind or another. Goldberg responded that he was aware my father was a rabbi but that

‘where sons strive so desperately to dishonour their parents and negate everything they stood for publicly, as you have done so prominently, it often stems from a history of abuse, whether verbal, physical or worst of all  sexual.’

Whatever his talents, Goldberg’s expertise clearly doesn’t extend to the medical or psychological field. Even the most brilliant of Zionists, and there is no doubt that Goldberg is a very capable if not brilliant lawyer, unlike Lewis and Festenstein who are merely functionaries, Goldberg is nonetheless completely incapable of understanding why many Jews reject Zionism.

The attribution of political disagreement to  the realm of psychiatric causes was characteristic of Stalinism which incarcerated many dissidents in mental asylums.  Goldberg, for all his talents, is incapable of understand that it isn’t rejection of one’s parents but a rejection of Zionism and what it does to the Palestinians that more and more Jews find unappealing. 

Goldberg is probably a good example of how people can be brilliant in a narrow area like law but narrow minded bigots in all other areas. Despite an inauspicious start we continued our conversation and it became a little less heated. Indeed Jonathan despite continually promising that he would terminate the correspondence clearly couldn’t resist the temptation to engage with me!  A copy of the correspondence is below and the affair was the subject of a blog post. The Wit and Wisdom of Jonathan Goldberg QC

Goldberg is probably best remembered for his caustic comments on the failed litigation in Fraser –v- University College Union where it was alleged that the union’s Boycott of Israel policy discriminated against Jewish members of UCU. The Tribunal comprehensively rejected the case brought by Fraser ruling that the case ‘represents an impermissible attempt to achieve a political end by litigious means.’  Fraser was represented by Anthony Julius of Mischcon de Reya, the solicitors for the Princess Diana Fund who nearly bankrupted it with his hubris and fees!  Goldberg described the bringing of the case as ‘an act of epic folly by all concerned.... You only bring such showcase litigation if you are certain to win.”

Anthony Julius, who had brought the case, demonstrated a staggering degree of incompetence. For example all the claims were outside the time limits which are 3 months, at an Employment Tribunal. It is clear to all but Julius that Zionism is not a protected characteristic (thus meriting the protection of the Equalities Act 2010). Julius isn’t an employment solicitor and he was clearly out of his depths. Julius seems to have taken this criticism to heart.  Previously a flamboyant character he has gone to grass. Nothing has been heard of him since. 

Matthew Berlow

Below is the story of how criminal lawyer and Glasgow Friends of Israel activist Matthew Berlow fell foul of the Scottish Law Society because of his foul mouthed racist rantings. Berlow smeared and abused a Palestinian activist.  Justice however caught up with him as he has now been fined £1,750 by the Scottish Law Society in addition to being instructed to attend Diversity Training.  It is this latter punishment that Berlow resents more than anything else since he considers being Jewish grants him immunity from being a common and garden bigot. A report of this case is in the Herald on Sunday is entitled Diversity training for Jewish lawyer who called pro-Palestinian campaigners 'scummy racists'.

The Case of Matthew Berlow and Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Matthew Berlow is a member of Glasgow Friends of Israel, a far-Right racist group that uses Nazi style language when talking about 'euthanising' i.e. murdering Palestinians - 

Berlow described Dr Karolin Hijazi as a “thin-skinned…wannabe social justice warrior and a “snowflake”, a term popular with US White supremacists and the extreme right generally to attack those who stand up to them. A defender of the Israeli army, a force charged with war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, Berlow has agreed to pay the Law Society of Scotland a £1,750 fine for his behaviour but is upset that he has been mandated to undergo “diversity training”.

In 2016, the Aberdeen Branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) protested an Israeli Dead Sea cosmetics company which profited from the Israeli occupation and apartheid structures. Berlow, a staunch defender of a state that is openly racist, attacked demonstrators as “scummy racists”, claiming bizarrely that the Israeli company was merely an outlet for hatred of Jews, a "soft Jewish target to aim your bile at”. Protests across Scotland fuelled by Israel's massacres of thousands of Palestinians led to the Israeli company closing down and leaving the UK.

Dr Hijazi later reported Berlow to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, which found “potential conduct issues". The Law Society of Scotland investigated and received Berlow's defence that his comments were not directed at "snowflake" Dr Hijazi but at the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Karolin Hijazi is a long-term, committed Palestinian campaigner. She was jailed by Israel in 2012 when a group of Scots joined the Welcome to Palestine effort to reach Bethlehem to help build a school. She refused food during detention with many of the others and was deported along with other British and Scots activists.

The Law Society of Scotland concluded that Berlow had used “derogatory language...damaging to the reputation of both the profession as a whole and of the individual solicitor concerned”. It would seem Berlow couldn't stop digging, for the Law Society judged his written defence of his original actions to be “derogatory and aggressive".

He was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and ordered to pay Dr Hijazi £100 compensation on top of the £1,750 fine.

Berlow will appeal the diversity training order on the basis of a 2017 attack on Scottish BDS campaigners by a minor pro-Israel blogger, David Collier, acting on behalf of the Israeli Embassy. The report claims SPSC is an anti-semitic organisation that denies the Holocaust.

Dr Hijazi said she found Berlow’s comments “particularly disturbing, having campaigned against racism, discrimination and bigotry all my life”. SPSC stands foursquare for Palestinian rights and opposes anti-semitism and vile Holocaust denial, which we consider no less repulsive than Berlow's denying that the Palestinian people suffered a brutal ethnic cleansing by Zionist militias in 1948 and subsequently.

In any event it is advisable to be sceptical about any utterance from Berlow and his comrades at Glasgow Friends of Israel; the Friends of Israeli Snipers openly use the dehumanising language of "euthanising" Palestinians.

Even after Berlow appeared as a prosecution witness in Glasgow Sheriff Court in a failed three-year effort by Scottish prosecutors and pro-Israel lobbyists to secure convictions for racism, i.e. antisemitism, against myself and Jim Watson, he and I maintained an email exchange. (I like the adage, "Hate the sin but not the sinner".)

During our exchanges, I pointed out what he knew, that his Friends of Israel were still lying about the verdict of the recent trial.

Matthew Berlow replied: "I will post the truth about the verdict AND I will make it clear that you are not anti Semitic and cannot be responsible for those that may attach themselves to your cause but that you try and root it out to the best of your ability...". In a separate email, dated 1 August 2017, Mathew acknowledged that "There is no doubt that you are not anti Semitic as you eloquently refute that at every opportunity..."

Normally, SPSC and other campaiging groups have to accept the most grotesque inventions from pro-Israeli groups since their deep pockets and our modest means make a defamation trial very difficult. The successful challenge by Dr Hijazi to unfounded attacks and smears, of which there have been many demented examples, should inspire those maligned in this way to fight back.

Mick Napier

West Calder

21 October 2018