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Antisemitism

Delivered February 26, 2020. Contributor: Pamela E.

Goals

  • T identify anti-semitic/anti-zionist organizations and individuals active in Liverpool and Birmingham and to learn about any attacks agains Jewish people in Liverpool and Birmingham during the last 20 years.

Early Findings

Liverpool

The Labour Party
  • Although technically not an official antisemitic/antizionist organization, the Labour Party has been accused of becoming increasingly antisemitic under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
  • Two long-serving MPs, Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman, both resigned from the Labour Party in 2019. In resigning, Berger, an MP for nine years, said her reason for leaving was because the Labour Party had become "sickenly, institutionally racist" under the leadership of Corbyn.
  • In April 2018, Luciana Berger, who is Jewish, joined other female Jewish MPs as they read antisemitic, hate-filled mail and messages that had been sent to them by some of Jeremy Corbyn's supporters. The response of those responsible for the messages was so vitriolic and threatening that Jewish MPs were provided with bodyguards for protection at the Labour Party Conference in 2018.
David Icke
  • David Icke is a British author, media personality, and conspiracy theorist with his own website, podcast, and social media accounts.
  • David Icke has previously stated his belief in the global conspiracy of ‘Rothschild-Zionism, a secret society putting its agents in places of power, and has listed the names of Jewish people he believes are part of it. He has also stated that he isn't antisemitic because "Jews are really reptiles" and not people.
  • David Icke has a massive following on various social media platforms including YouTube (695 Thousand subscribers), Twitter (216.3 Thousand followers), Facebook (739,859 followers) and Instagram (53.7 followers).
  • David Icke's podcasts are played on platforms including Podbean. He is a frequent guest on podcasts produced by other podcasts like the Richie Allen Show that plays on Mix Cloud.
  • Another person involved in the antisemitism movement in Liverpool and across Britain and the World actually is Richie Allen. His podcast show regularly hosts holocaust deniers. While most of the reviews he receives from listeners on Chartable are generally positive, one from 2018 listed increasing antisemitism and attacks against Jews and Israel by the show's guests as the reason this listener stopped listening.
Birmingham
  • In September 2019, a man was arrested in Birmingham on a charge of "suspicion of committing a racially aggravated public order offense." The arrest occurred after he was filmed reading antisemitic literature to two young Jewish boys while they were traveling on the London Underground. The man was filmed threatening individuals who tried to intervene.
Summary of the Findings Relevant to the Research
  • During the first hour of research we were able to provide the name of one person involved in the antisemitism/antizionist movement in Liverpool. We were also able to provide information related to increasing antisemitism in the branch of the Labour Party located in Liverpool. We were able to identify a second person active in the antisemitism movement who, while linked to the events in Liverpool, is also a nationally-recognized figure. We were able to find one instance of a recent verbal attack against Jewish children in Birmingham.

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