Toby Young Anti-Semitism Hypocrisy

No-one in the Pundit Establishment has been more severe in his condemnation of alleged anti-Semitism in the Labour Party than the loathsome Toby Young, who has also used the platform given him by the Spectator magazine to sneeringly tell “It will take more than Labour’s ‘inquiry’ to deal with the left’s anti-Semitism problem”. See, it isn’t going to be a real inquiry, because Tobes knows more about Labour than they do!

(c) Doc Hackenbush 2014

But Tobes is also editor of Spectator Life magazine, and this has enabled him to indulge in the routine hypocrisy of calling out anti-Semitism while at the same time giving employment to one of the most notorious and unpleasant anti-Semites known to mankind. Tobes and the Speccy’s editor Fraser Nelson have not only tolerated, but also promoted and encouraged, the poisonous writings of one Panagiotis Theodoracopulos.

Using the name Taki to save time, Theodoracopulos has made no secret of his anti-Semitic paranoia, which on one occasion led the Speccy’s former owner Conrad Black to openly remonstrate with him. “Last week's anti-Israel diatribe by The Spectator's High Life columnist is almost worthy of Goebbels … Taki's reflections were indefensible … I am afraid he uttered a blood libel on the Jewish people wherever they may be”.

There was more: “He acknowledged his anti-Semitism but implicitly defined it as ‘daring to protest about soldiers shooting at kids', and he asserted that 'the way to Uncle Sam's heart runs through Tel Aviv and Israeli-occupied territory’ … In both its venomous character and its unfathomable absurdity, this farrago of lies is almost worthy of Goebbels or the authors of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. The Speccy still employs him.

Indeed, after Taki had written in the Speccy in support of Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, Nelson happily defended him, explaining “Our readers like diversity and well-written pieces that they disagree with. We have no party line … Every week, there’s at least one Spectator piece I disagree with so much I’d like it spiked ... but the Spectator editor should be the last person in London to reach for the censor’s pen”.

It gets worse: Taki has his own online magazine, where one can read such sentiments as “Merely because they find it fashionable to hide behind a shield of historic persecution to further their group interests and seemingly insatiable hunger for power doesn’t mean they are presumed innocent in all situations. I see Jews as human and therefore likely to be up to no good at any given moment”. Imagine the uproar if a Labour member said that.

An earlier article in Taki’s Mag was imaginatively titled “In search of anti-Semitism”, another concept that would have had Tobes and his pals on the right down on any rotten lefties like the proverbial ton of bricks. Tanya Gold, writing in the Guardian, said of Taki “He calls Puerto Ricans ‘semi-savages’, thinks Kenya is called ‘bongo-bongo land’ and believes Jews control the world”. And Toby Young employs him.

There’s no need for an inquiry into anti-Semitism at Toby Young’s magazine - it’s already there, he’s endorsed it, and is therefore an ocean-going hypocrite. No change there, then.