UKIP Embraces Anti-Semitism

Now that the remnants of that motley convocation of saloon bar propper-uppers otherwise known as UKIP is no longer lead by former Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, the party has welcomed a number of new members whose past they appear not to have checked out - or if they did, were not overly concerned about it.

This brings us to the decision of Paul Watson, the Battersea bedroom dweller, to become a Kipper, an act in which he was joined by Mark Meechan, aka Count Dankula, whose sole claim to fame is that he trained his partner’s dog to react to statements such as “Gas the Jews”. It seems Meechan was not the only one with an anti-Semitic past.

Watson, in his interactions with the screamingly batshit Alex Jones of InfoWars infamy, has gone there too, employing the crudest of anti-Semitic tropes in order to push yet another conspiracy theory about the September 11, 2001 attacks which destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Watson’s pitch to Jones was captured on video, and this is what he had to say in support of the totally untrue claim that the Twin Towers were brought down by controlled demolition. “He said that the plot was probably started by al-Queda, however you want to define that, and because, obviously, Israel, since its formation, has infiltrated and controlled Arab Governments and Arab militant groups”. There was more.

“They immediately got wind of the plot, went to the CIA, and asked them, y’know, what we gonna do about this. And basically the Zionists and the neo-cons said ‘let’s use it’, exactly what they pronounced in their Project for a New American Century document, a year before they called for a catastrophic and catalysing event, a new Pearl Harbor, and that’s exactly what they got with 9/11.” Could it get more batshit?

Yes it could. “He points to the fact that there were five dancing Israelis, originally called Middle Easterners, it was confirmed by the Jewish newspaper Forward, that they were Mossad agents. So that proves Israel knew the attack was going to happen”. Watson then goes totally gaga and claims the aircraft involved in the 9/11 attacks were being flown by remote control. He uses big words like “transponders”.

So let’s pick the anti-Semitic tropes out of that. One, Israel controlling other Middle Eastern Governments. This is total crap. Two, “the Zionists and the neo-cons” - a great Jewish conspiracy behind 9/11, which is also crap. Three, 9/11 was carried out with the collusion of the Israeli Government, which is more crap. Also, the Mossad does not confirm who does, or does not, work for it. Newspapers in Israel operate under strict censorship, and the idea one of them would finger a group as Mossad agents is, you guessed it, crap.

We know InfoWars pitches batshit conspiracy theories; that much is not news. That there are anti-Semitic tropes used as part of that pitching is also not news. But for someone who has just been welcomed into a supposedly mainstream political party, that should be news.

Watson was welcomed personally by David Kurten, a London AM. The possibility, however small, of him getting access to airtime through his membership is causing disquiet, as Jim Waterson at BuzzFeed News has told. That is why this bout of anti-Semitism matters. If UKIP welcomes them, their access to airtime should end. Full stop, end of story.