MP’s call: investigate the ‘Campaign Against Antisemitism’
JVL Introduction
The Charity Commission (CC) informed John McDonnell MP in November 2024 that they were going to reopen an investigation into the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA). In recent years there was a regulatory compliance review after many complaints, including successive submissions by JVL since 202, but that review was closed down with no obvious signs of any changes in the CAA’s much publicised allegations of antisemitism clearly intended to counter criticism of Israel or of Zionism. That the CAA helped to destroy the Corbyn project and is putting many other institutions under pressure is appalling and also dangerous.
Now John McDonnell has taken up with the CC the false allegations against a college lecturer at Goldsmiths College, that has spent a great deal of its scarce funds on an investigation into antisemitism (see Michael Rosen’s blog about this from March 2025) .
JM/LL
This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Thu 10 Apr 2025. Read the original here.
MP John McDonnell urges probe into antisemitism charity over smearing of lecturer
Goldsmiths College apologised to Ray Campbell for causing him ‘distress’ and suspending him over the CAA’s allegations
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The persecution of left-wing and Islamic charities and the hands-off approach to the Campaign Against Antisemitism is revealing of the Islamaphobic bias in the Charity Commission itself. For 6 years it was Chaired by the bigot William Shawcross who exclaimed that Islam was a ‘problem’ for Europe.
My own charity, the Brighton Trust, has come under fire because of anonymous allegations – probably by CAA and/or UKLFI and we are having to take expensive legal advice.
The CAA and UK Lawyers for Israel are and have remained immune. They provide no public benefit but clearly they a lot of work for the Israeli government and the Zionist Federation. Quite how that is charitable is beyond me.
CAA also known as “Gideon’s Gestapo”
Excellent article the truth must always be exposed, its good to know we have good people who are willing to expose the true facts above all else, and bravely scrutinise where needed for all our sakes to preserve our democracy.
Seen this at a Palestinian demo where police arrested people. A woman entered causing problems saying anti Palestine remarks. There were many Jewish workers supporting the demo.
I think the most revealing sentence here is: Last May, the Charity Commission closed the case, saying that JVL “has not demonstrated it has the required legal standing to make such an application”. It raises the question of what is the requirement which has to be satisfied before an organisation has ‘Legal Standing’?
Ever since 7 October 2023 it has seemed to me that those who are protesting about the actions of Israel, including JVL, have been viewed as a disorganised ragbag of protesting groups and individuals, which is why ex Home Secretary Sue Ellen Braverman thought she could use the label ‘Hate Marches’ with impunity.
Would she have been able to do this if there had been an organisation marching called ‘Jewish Campaign Against Misrepresentation’? (I assume here that there would be general agreement that many Jewish people do feel that organisations like BOD, CAA and Lawyers for Israel, do misrepresent their views).
A well organised group like this, possibly with charitable status, would be difficult to ignore by the Charity Commission. CAA seems to have the ear of the Home Secretary; why not JCAM or a similar organisation?