Fawkes Corbyn Jewish Protest - MAYBE NOT

Once again, the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog have gone after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Once again, the author of the post is replacement apprentice sandwich monitor Tom Harwood. And once again, the impression is given that someone is overreaching themselves.

Under the title “Corbyn’s Home Pranked By Jewish Activists”, readers are told “A small group of Jewish activists have installed a sign on Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington home this morning, in their words to ‘highlight the threat that he poses to the British Jewish community.’” And that, apart from the less than totally original observation “Ouch”, is that.

The “sign” tells “London HQ for Hamas, Hezbollah, the IRA and the Kremlin … All enquiries to Jeremy Corbyn … (Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites please use back entrance)”. This has been taken up by the Sun, which claims “Jeremy Corbyn pranked by Jewish activists with sign on his garden fence listing his links to extremist groups … The Labour boss had a sign placed on the fence outside his house in Islington this morning stating it was the 'London HQ for Hamas, Hezbollah, the IRA and the Kremlin’”.

In an article which goes on “JEREMY Corbyn has been pranked by Jewish activists today with a sign on his garden fence highlighting the ‘threat’ he poses to the community because of his links to extremist groups … activists took matters into their own hands”, one thing is mysteriously missing. Who is this “small group of Jewish activists”?

No group has claimed responsibility for the sign. And then there is the sign itself. See how it is so neatly aligned to the photos? Absolutely straight to the frame. But the fence to which it is allegedly attached is not. Then there is the greenery.

The overhanging creeper covers a little of the sign in one photo. But that part of the greenery is missing in the other. And how is the sign attached to the fence?

The string, or whatever is looped round the fence, at the right-hand side of the sign looks convincing enough. But that at the left doesn’t, with the string apparently not looping round over the top of the fence. The string looks rather straighter in one photo than in the other.

As for the sign, it’s all very neatly ordered and spaced, along with the customary Fawkes hypocrisy (Staines has been involved in running guns to terrorists, and the Fawkes blog has taken money from the Russian Government). It has a nice neat frame. And it’s been “placed” by a group so shy that they don’t want to claim the credit.

So, O Great Guido, is this a real sign, really attached to the real Corbyn fence? Or is it a moderately convincing but ultimately sham Photoshopping?

No prizes for guessing where my Occam’s Razor is leading me right now. Another fine mess, once again.

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