The stunt that went wrong
JVL Introduction
An altercation between police and a pro-Israel activist has been seized upon by those opposed to pro-Palestinian demonstrations to bolster calls for restrictions on them.
In this piece, Paddy French unpicks the narrative around the provocative action staged on April 13 by Gideon Falter, CEO of the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The CAA had announced its attention to mobilise another walking provocation to coincide with the next London demonstration on Saturday April 27. Falter has now called this off, again making eye wateringly disingenuous claims about Jews being in danger.
As we have said in our official statement on the subject, there must be no concession regarding provocations by the CAA, and no restriction on the freedom to protest against Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
NWI
This article was originally published by Press Gang on Thu 25 Apr 2024. Read the original here.
Scaremongers
Gideon Falter and his Campaign Against Antisemitism are in the news this week for a publicity stunt that went wrong. They also claim two thirds of Britain’s Jews are considering leaving the country. The statistics tell a different story …
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These are really important figures and statistics which should be widely publicised.
Amusingly the other Jewish Establishment institutions clearly don’t like the CAA and have experienced Falter as an unreliable witness (euphemism here)…
The problem is that Falter and his stunt got hold of the ‘Golden Hour’ and their version has run round the world before the truth has got its shoes on. My contempt for British journalism now knows no bounds. How could any trained mainstream reporter, honestly, be dumb enough to fall for such an obvious put-up job? It is no wonder that so many people now prefer to go to alternative news sources where they sadly then become prey to so many different conspiracy theories.
The reason that the Charity Commission allowed the CAA to continue to brand Jeremy Corbyn an antisemite is that this is considered merely a statement of opinion not a statement of fact, even if the organisation or individual makes them with all the certainty of them being objectively true. This was established in 2020 when a Jewish man who had been called a ‘notorious antisemite’ in articles on the CAA website brought a case for libel against the organisation which was struck out by the court leaving him liable for costs of nearly £68,000. But any organisation or individual treating the opinions expressed by the CAA as statements of fact in order to discipline or censure an individual would open themselves to a claim for defamation.
I think that the CAA is a pernicious organisation, but I take the view that if I want to be free to voice my opinion, I have to allow others to do the same.
As I do not have his permission to do so I have not named the man who brought the case against the CAA.
This disingenuous stunt can indeed be seen for what it was (and I thank JVL for publishing factual articles which have exposed it as a contrivance) but the vile establishment polticians and media are low on facts or honesty and ran with their simplistic misinformation based on this stunt. I have observed the BBC still referring to it, out of any real context but as if in relation to this Saturday’s march for humane treatment for the oppressed people of Gaza.
The Charity Commission website shows that for the year ending 31/12/2022 the CAA had 7 employees, one of whom had total benefits in the range £100k to £110k.