Clare Short, the IHRA definition and a case study in being wrong
30 May 2019
Clare Short’s appearance on Tuesday’s BBC Newsnight was a case study in being wrong, with her mistakes typifying the evasions and excuses for antisemitism that are repeated like a mantra by the anti-Israel left.
CST securing the Jewish News Big Family Show
19 March 2019
CST staff were delighted to run a stall at the Jewish News Big Family Show and Expo at Allianz Park this weekend. The show hosted 130 exhibitors and around 6,000 guests and featured an opening speech by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, as well as celebrity hosts Rachel Riley and Nick Ferrari.
Hidden Hate: what Google searches tell us about antisemitism today
11 January 2019
What can the internet tell us about antisemitism in the United Kingdom? Today , CST and the Antisemitism Policy Trust publish a new report, called Hidden Hate: What Google searches tell us about antisemitism today, that uses Google search data from 2004 to 2018 to show what people in the UK are searching for in relation to Jews, Zionism and the Holocaust, and what this tells us about antisemitic attitudes in Britain today. The report is authored by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, who wrote the acclaimed 2017 book Everybody Lies: What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are. The report also uses data from the complete archive of the far right website Stormfront, which has been used as a discussion board by neo-Nazis across the world for over 20 years.
Turning a blind eye to antisemitism: Amnesty and co.
20 December 2018
Amnesty has, in just over a year, issued two reports on misogyny, racism and social media that make no mention of antisemitism. This, despite CST and our partners, such as the Antisemitism Policy Trust, having extensively evidenced the abuse that Jewish women suffer, especially MPs.
Albion Beatnik: Holocaust Denial and antisemitism in your local indie bookshop
27 February 2018
In Oxford, there’s an independent bookshop called Albion Beatnik. Albion Beatnik is happy to play host to people who they know are peddlers of Holocaust Denial, Jew hatred and other conspiracy theories. They have hosted such notorious figures as Gilad Atzmon and Nick Kollerstrom and sell David Irving’s books in their history section. When informed on Twitter that Gilad Atzmon was a well-known antisemite they doubled down on their support for him. As a point of fact, Atzmon promoted his latest book Being in Time (described by CST as “a profoundly antisemitic work”) there last June and several other times in 2017. Albion Beatnik also blogged about Atzmon’s book The Wandering Who in 2015. This is the book that was labelled by CST as being “quite probably the most antisemitic book published in this country in recent years.”
Jewish women, money and cunning
2 August 2017
The deep outrage directed against Kevin Myers’ depiction of women, Jews and money in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times was inevitable and correct. The condemnation of Myers crude, ugly linkage came from all sides. He was sacked and this squalid example of hoary old antisemitic stereotypes was swiftly dealt with: but the themes of Jews, money and cunning superiority remain central elements of antisemitic opinion today, including much of the anti-Zionism that now passes for accepted wisdom in a disturbingly wide circle of British and international politics.
CST: representing our British Jewish community
1 December 2016
CST thanks Home Secretary Amber Rudd MP for her strong support for communal security measures, as stated in her speech at a Jewish news / BICOM conference on 30 November.
CST receives award for outstanding, unique and long term contribution to British Communal life
11 November 2016
Last night at the Jewish Chronicle 175 th Anniversary awards, CST’s Chief Executive David S Delew received, on on behalf of CST's volunteers, staff and trustees, an award for an outstanding, unique and long term contribution to British Communal life. David S Delew responded to receiving the award:
CST working to protect our community
27 May 2016
It is a rare that all members of the CST Communications department are in the office at the same time, such are the volume and variety of meetings that we all engage in. The team juggle several meetings every week with a broad spectrum of partners, stakeholders and interested parties. In May, CST representatives continued to meet with several MPs and Peers from all main political parties and at all levels to discuss issues around Jewish communal security and antisemitism.
What antisemites really think
14 April 2016
Last night Channel 4 broadcast a documentary called “What British Muslims Really Think”, based on an opinion poll asking a range of questions about integration, identity, religion social attitudes. The survey included a set of questions about attitudes towards, and beliefs about, Jews. It confirmed the findings of previous polls, showing that levels of antisemitism in Muslim communities are higher than in the general population. This pattern has been found by polls across Western Europe. This latest poll showed something else that is interesting, and is not specific to Muslims: that people who believe antisemitic things about Jews rarely think of themselves as antisemitic.
The anti-war left’s problem with antisemitism
9 March 2016
The below article is the original version of an opinion piece published by the Jewish Chronicle on 3 March 2016. The JC entitled it as “Anti-war activists still don't 'get' antisemitism”.
Abu Qatada: No Longer in Britain, but still preaching jihad and antisemitism
29 February 2016
Sheikh Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, better known as Abu Qatada al-Filistini, has not been in the UK for nearly three years, but his legacy still looms. He was deported to Jordan in 2013, acquitted on terrorism charges there, and since his release has been doing in Jordan what he did in Britain: encouraging people to support violent jihad and spouting antisemitism.
The anti-war left’s contextual problem with antisemitism
26 February 2016
Jon Lansman is a key Jeremy Corbyn aide, leader of the Momentum group. His article in the Jewish Chronicle, “My doubts about Oxford Labour antisemitism claim”, exemplify the fundamental distance between this part of the left and mainstream Jewish opinion on antisemitism.
Labour: Mistaken about antisemitism?
25 February 2016
On 17th February, Ken Livingstone evoked much derision when he stated, live on LBC Radio (link in this excellent Tom Harris article in Daily Telegraph, at 2min 55secs in the audio at foot of page).
Concerns expressed in CST’s submission to the Home Affairs Committee Inquiry on Countering Extremism reinforced after Peace TV Urdu channel warned over antisemitism
23 February 2016
The Islamic satellite television channel, Peace TV, has been warned that it faces sanctions by Ofcom, the broadcasting standards regulator, for allegedly screening antisemitic lectures by the late Dr. Israr Ahmad.
Daily Telegraph removes “Shylock” references from article about Jewish hedge fund manager
18 February 2016
Last Tuesday (9 February) the Daily Telegraph published an article about the role played by Elliott Management hedge fund, and its founder and President Paul Singer, in ongoing negotiations over debt relief for Argentina. The article was changed following a complaint by CST about its use of antisemitic cultural references from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.
BBC Radio London breaches guidelines during antisemitic call
31 December 2015
On the Simon Lederman show on BBC Radio London early in the morning of 22 December 2015, a man named as “Andy from St Margaret’s” was allowed to make antisemitic accusations without significant condemnation or rebuttal. CST condemns the BBC for allowing the caller to continue without being properly opposed or cut off by the presenter. CST also believes the content of the call is in direct contravention to the BBC’s own guidelines for dealing with controversial subjects, impartiality, religious sensitivity, harm and offence.
Opposing antisemitism: an appeal to put words into action
27 August 2014
The past two months have seen the number of antisemitic incidents in Britain approach record levels Much of this has been due to extreme reactions to the conflict between Israel and Gaza that reached its latest ceasefire yesterday. This problem, and its link to extreme manifestations of anti-Israel…
Roger Waters & the sickening wall of silence on antisemitism
10 September 2013
On 18th August, Roger Waters appealed for Israel to be boycotted, and blamed Baroness Deech (Nee Fraenkel) for blocking a BBC broadcast of anti-Israel remarks by his fellow musician, Nigel Kennedy. Roger Waters remark was antisemitic on two counts. Directly, he drew attention to Baroness Deech's maiden name,…
BBC HARDtalk: any qualms that you could be feeding antisemitism?
21 May 2012
Jewish conspiracy theory is fundamental to antisemitism. It relies on the notion of Jewish wealth and power, working against the rest of society. It is commonly expressed as Jews controlling politicians and the media. This does not render discussion of Jewish political and media influence illegitimate. It does, however, require…
Guardian removes Raed Salah comment from website
24 April 2012
The Guardian has removed a comment posted in Raed Salah's name in a comment thread on their Comment Is Free website at CST's request, which included a false and damaging allegation against CST. Raed Salah wrote an opinion piece for the Guardian last Thursday, in which he did not mention…
Guardian removes "false accusations of antisemitism"
23 April 2012
In February, CST Blog discussed Guardian Comment is Free headlines that wrongly claimed an article by Rachel Shabi revealed how "Israel's rightwing defenders" make "false accusations of antisemitism". We noted: The Jewish community has probably had more run-ins with the Guardian than every…
Boycotts and freedom
5 April 2012
The front page of this week's Jewish Chronicle has two stories that go to the heart of the impact that anti-Israel campaigning can have on UK Jewish life, and on wider society. The lead story is about arguments over the inclusion of Israel's Habima theatre company in the 'Globe to…
The Economists Pathetic Auschwitz Complex
9 March 2012
According to an article by M.S. on the Economist blog, Israel and its Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fear Iran because they suffer from Auschwitz complex. Furthermore, this Auschwitz complex supposedly links with the Jewish festivals of Purim and Passover. At its end, we are told that Netanyahus fears over I…
The Guardian's false accusation of "false accusations of antisemitism"
24 February 2012
The Jewish community has probably had more run-ins with the Guardian than every other British newspaper combined. This matters on two levels: emotionally, because the Guardian exemplifies the kind of liberalism that many Jews instinctively feel; and, politically, because of the moral tone that the Guardian sets within British life. …
Wink-wink at the Glasgow Herald?
20 September 2011
The Glasgow Herald is Scotlands oldest and best selling quality daily newspaper. Tom Shields is one of its leading columnists, well known for his wit and observations. In todays Herald, Shields invites his readers to imagine what it would be like being a Palestinian under enemy occupation, divided by…
Johann Hari and "Loathsome smearing"
15 September 2011
Independent columnist, Johann Hari, today admits to having plagiarised the work of others. He also admits to having branded someone as an antisemite, in order to wrong them. His admission and apology: The other thing I did wrong was that several years ago I started to notice some…
Latuff and the Guardian
23 August 2011
Today's Guardian carries a profile of Carlos Latuff, the Brazilian cartoonist whose work is used by many anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-globalisation activists in their political campaigning. The Guardian describes Latuff as "The voice of Tripoli", because of his cartoons relating to the Libyan uprising; but their article typifies the superficial…
The Blame Game
29 July 2011
After 9/11, the idea spread amongst many different people, in different parts of the world, that Israel and/or the Jews were ultimately responsible for the terrorist attack. In one way of thinking, more common in Arab or Muslim majority countries, this was because (so the argument went) Israel actually carried…
The Guardian: Fuelling Denials of Antisemitism.
1 July 2011
Today's Guardian editorial, concerning the detention by UK Border Agency of Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, typifies the bias with which most Israel-related antisemitism is treated by large swathes of the liberal-left and far-left. It is no surprise: after all, the…
Antisemitism: Norwich to Westminster & 800 years
23 June 2011
Tonight, BBC 2 will show a documentary entitled, "History Cold Case: The Bodies in the Well". It concerns the remains of 17 skeletons found at the bottom of a medieval well in Norwich. The skeletons date from the 12th or 13th centuries and were found in 2004 during construction works. 11 of…
Press TV and the Protocols
27 May 2011
Iran's English-language station Press TV was censured by Ofcom this week for airing an interview with a jailed Iranian journalist which was obtained by force during his imprisonment. This is not the firsttime that Ofcom have ruled against Press TV, and the Iranian channel seems to be getting a bit…
Conspiracy theories at the New Statesman
25 May 2011
Last week Mehdi Hasan, political editor at the New Statesman, wrote a column about the activities of pro-Israeli lobbyists in Washington D.C., which he sees as the cause of the current impasse in the Israeli/Palestinian peace process. This paragraph, in particular, caught the eye (emphasis added): The…
Antisemitic cat escapes from anti-Zionist bag
9 May 2011
The website of leading American political journal Dissent carries an article by CST's Mark Gardner, examining the increasingly anti-Semitic anti-Zionism of parts of the left intelligentsia It compares this, in part, with the increasingly anti-Zionist anti-Semitism of American neo-Nazi ideologues. The Dissent article is entitled Routledge's Journal of…
Spectator Alert: Ill-Mannered Jews Spotted in Savoy Grill
5 April 2011
As an explanation of what distinguishes the English characteristics of antisemitism from its uglier and more lethal continental equivalents, Anthony Juliuss book, Trials of the Diaspora simply cannot be bettered. Nevertheless, at 811 pages (including references), you might want something shorter and easier to read in the bath. Thankfully, The …
The Guardian, Jonathan Freedland, Antisemitism
3 March 2011
Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian (main feature of G2 section), has written an excellent comment piece on the state of antisemitism today. It should be read in full and can be found here. Freedland's crisp analysis covers many aspects of contemporary antisemitism, premised upon …
Guardian letter and an unbecoming headline
24 February 2011
The Guardian (24 February 2011) carries a lengthy letter jointly signed by CST, Board of Deputies and Union of Jewish Students. The paper was under no obligation to carry the letter, especially given its length, but regrettably it has been framed on the letters page in a disconcerting…
Rupert Murdoch, the "Zionist movement" and BBC Radio 5 Live
25 January 2011
Rupert Murdoch has long been a person of fascination to those who believe that Jews, or Zionists, run the media. You only have to put "Rupert Murdoch Jewish" into Google and scroll through the 209,000 results, many of them from neo-Nazi web forums, to marvel at the geneological detective work that…
Lincoln's blood libel and Seven Jewish Children
20 January 2011
In February 2009, the playwright Caryl Churchill wrote a short play, called Seven Jewish Children, as her "response to the situation in Gaza" the previous month. The play is explicitly about Jewish parents and children (Jews are mentioned in the title and the text, whereas the word "Israeli" does not appear…
Update. Article amended at Comment is Free
18 January 2011
On 12 January 2011, CST Blog expressed its concerns with an article by John Whitbeck, posted by the Guardian on its Comment is Free website on 29 December 2010. This followed my emailing initial concerns about the article to the Guardian Readers' Editor on 30 December. The CST blog article…
The Guardian and America's "slavish subservience to Israel"
12 January 2011
The myth of Jewish power dominates antisemitism. The myth finds its strongest mainstream resonance in grotesquely overblown claims about Zionists, or Israel, controlling America. For example, the Guardian Comment is Free website saw fit to run an article on 29 December 2010 that stated America has slavish subservience to Israel Indeed,…
Let's recognise our friends
22 December 2010
The Jewish Chronicle website carries the following op-ed by Richard Benson , Chief Executive of CST. ----- On 8 December, the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, wrote to me, announcing government funding for the security guards at 39 voluntary aided Jewish schools. He said the funding, should fully meet…
The pernicious, tired world of conspiracies
17 December 2010
There is an excellent article on the Morning Star website, called The pernicious, tired world of conspiracies, which explains the problems and weaknesses of attempts to explain the world through conspiracy theories. The author, Colin Todhunter, writes: Why bother having an informed understanding of the dynamics of the modern world…
OpenDemocracy and Zionist conspiracies
7 December 2010
OpenDemocracy is a news, commentary and analysis website that claims in its mission statement: openDemocracy publishes high quality news analysis, debates and blogs about the world and the way we govern ourselves. We are not about any one set of issues, but about principles and the arguments and debates about…
BBC World Service documentary on antisemitism
6 December 2010
The BBC World Service has produced a two-part series about modern antisemitism in Europe. The first programme features CST's Mark Gardner, amongst many other interviewees. The series website explains: In this two-part series for Heart and Soul, Wendy Robbins takes a personal journey into the heart of Europe, where fears…
MEMO: "Creating New Perspectives"...or reycling old ones?
2 December 2010
Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a pro-Palestinian activist group that recently took a small delegation of MPs and journalists to the West Bank and Israel, including Labour MPs, Jeremy Corbyn and Andrew Slaughter; and Seumas Milne (columnist and Associate Editor of the Guardian). MEMOs website describes itself as ...an in…
Morning Star readers: don't abuse the Holocaust
26 November 2010
On 22 November, CST Blog discussed a series of letters in the Morning Star newspaper that abused the Holocaust in order to attack Israel. CST's article discussed the content of the letters, the manner in which they had been further debased by the headlines given them by the…
Morning Star and Abuse of the Holocaust
22 November 2010
Recent posts on CST Blog have included sections and summaries from CSTs recently released report, Antisemitic Discourse in Britain in 2009. (The full pdf can be accessed here. 58 pages, including graphics.) The next section of the report that was due to be shown here, was …
Why can't the American media copy the Guardian?
13 August 2010
An article in the Guardian newspaper (Obama alone cant make the US see the Middle East anew 11 August 2010) by columnist / roving Middle East reporter, Jonathan Steele, provides yet another example of the potential antisemitic pitfalls that are risked by heaping everything on Israels shoulders. In this spe…
My Jewish Optician Might Shoot Me
5 August 2010
It is neither CSTs desire nor role to act as a public relations outlet for Israel. However, when antisemitism arises, directly, because facts have been deliberately omitted from an anti-Israel article, we will say so. Todays Independent provides one very small example of this. In this instance, the a…
Kvetch Update: Volvos, pushchairs and the Jewish threat to multi-cultural Britain
4 August 2010
I hate to kvetch further about Christina Patterson and The Independent (see blog posting immediately below, "Volvos, pushchairs and the Jewish threat to multi-cultural Britain"), but today's Indy carries a front page trailer for the latest round in Patterson's dissection of her orthodox Jewish neighbours in Stamford Hill. The trailer…
Volvos, pushchairs and the Jewish threat to multi-cultural Britain
2 August 2010
In the Monty Python sketch, Hells Grannies, an earnest TV documentary presenter investigates ruthless gangs of grannies, who rule the streets by spreading fear and terror amongst healthy young men and women, clobbering people with their handbags and walking sticks. I was reminded of the sketch when re…
Oliver Stone: Conspiracy Theorist: Who, Me...???
28 July 2010
Film director, Oliver Stone, famously knows a thing or three about conspiracies. Odd then, that when telling the Sunday Times about his next project, the "Secret History of America he should have fallen foul of the hoary old one about Jews running the world. Stones comments appeared at t…
Universal Jurisdiction, the early years
22 July 2010
The Jewish Chronicle reports that the government has announced measures to amend the law on universal jurisdiction for war crimes. The proposed change will take the power to issue an arrest warrant out of the hands of local magistrates, so that it rests solely with the Director of Public Prosecutions.…
"Bloody Jews", a new academic term
13 July 2010
Eve Garrard, writing on Normblog, tells a distressing story of a recent encounter with antisemitism: 'Bloody Jews,' he said. 'Bloody Jews, bugger the Jews, I've no sympathy for them.' I gazed at him, aghast. Where had this suddenly come from? The encounter I'm here describing took place very…
Robert Fisk: words, power, genocide and Holocaust
22 June 2010
The Independent newspaper (21 June 2010) featured a double page spread entitled Fighting talk by Robert Fisk in which he railed about the use of semantics by journalists, but revealed some very curious semantics of his own. Fighting talk is a lengthy article about the use and the abuse of …
Hizb ut-Tahrir: "purify the earth of Jewish filth"
20 June 2010
Hizb ut-Tahrir have often claimed that they do not support violence, and that they are not antisemitic. When challenged on this, they normally say that they are merely anti-Israel, not against Jews. An example is this article, from the Guardian's Comment Is Free. Two weeks ago, Hizb ut-Tahrir in Bangladesh…
Palestine Telegraph and "Jewish power"
17 June 2010
Palestine Telegraph has published an article by Gilad Atzmon in which he defends Helen Thomas's call for Israeli Jews to "go home to Poland, Germany, America and elsewhere." The website's editor, Sameh Habeeb, has previously denied allegations of antisemitism relating to comments he made to a Leeds student newspaper about…
Numerus Clausus
25 May 2010
Stuart Littlewood at the anti-Zionist website Redress has spotted a problem with the composition of the new Parliament: Proportional Representation is a big buzz-word in the UK these days. It implies fairer voting and fairer government. It is claimed to give minorities a better chance of being heard and therefore, t…