It was already well known that for Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, there was no action the Labour Party could take, short of summarily disposing of its entire leadership, which would satisfy him. He has decided that the party, and its leader Jeremy Corbyn, are anti-Semitic, or at least that they facilitate and even encourage anti-Semitism.
Stephen Pollard
So it was no surprise when the JC once again attacked Labour in its editorial yesterday, addressing not only Jews, but the whole electorate. “To all our fellow British citizens … This front page is addressed not to our usual readers - but to those who would not normally read the Jewish Chronicle. In other words, to non-Jews” it told.
Pollard may at this point have felt rather pleased with himself: his editorial had garnered coverage across the broadcast media, much of it favourable, and very little of it critical. But this was the calm before the storm: the JC is now the subject of a Police complaint, and some of the endorsements are the kind Pollard might rather do without.
Simon Maginn was so concerned about the content of the editorial that he complained to Sussex Police. The grounds for his action are straightforward: “I believe this editorial contravenes Section 106:1 of the Representation of the People Act (1983), and I will be making a complaint to Sussex police concerning it”. His rationale was that the editorial constituted “an 'illegal practice' within the meaning of the Act”.
Here’s his reasoning. “The comments complained of are not ‘political opinions’, they are materially false statements of fact about the conduct or character of a candidate during an election, with the purpose of adversely affecting the candidate’s return, without reasonable grounds for believing them, and thus, I believe, rise to the level of ‘illegal practices’ within the meaning of the act. I therefore believe Mr Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, is in breach of the Representation of the People Act (1983), Section 106:1”.
Pollard, it seems, is taking his opinions and using them to generate his own facts, a course of action that never ends well. And worse was to come: the convocation of the irredeemably batshit otherwise known as Breitbart London decided that the JC’s editorial was just what its inmates, and their audience, wanted to hear.
“Jewish Chronicle Urges Non-Jews Not to Back ‘Racist’ Corbyn” told the Breitbart London Twitter feed, signposting an entire article dedicated to the JC’s editorial, although someone in the Breitbart bunker at least had the common sense to put quote marks around the claim of “racist”. That means the JC has been backed not just by a gang of actual racists, but by a brand known for its support for white supremacists.
If Stephen Pollard is found to be in breach of electoral law, well, as we’ve seen from the recent abuses perpetrated by Vote Leave and Leave EU, the penalties need not be so severe, but the embarrassment and indeed shame would be off the scale.
Reported to the cops and backed by racists. Not Stephen Pollard’s finest hour.
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5 comments:
Pollard does Judaism no good whatever with his hate-filled lies.
I challenge him to produce a single scrap of evidence that Jeremy Corbyn is "antisemitic".
It is of course a disgusting orchestrated right wing smear campaign right across corporate media.
It provides a clear example of what awaits Britain if the tories dupe enough people to get into power. Government by even more lies, smears and corruption.
May Pollard's god forgive him.
THINGS RIGHT WING POLLARD AND CORPORATE MEDIA WON'T TELL YOU ABOUT JEREMY CORBYN.
1977: He helps defend Jewish populated Wood Green from a neo-Nazi march.
EDM3933 1990: He signs motion condemning the rise of antisemitism.
EDM634 2000: He signs motion condemning David Irving for being a Holocaust Denier.
EDM1124 2000: He praises the ‘British Schindler’, Bill Barazetti, for his WW2 kinder transport.
EDM742 2002: He signs motion praising football clubs for commemorating Holocaust Day.
EDM1233 2002: He is a primary sponsor on a motion condemning antisemitism.
11 May 2002: He leads a clean up of Finsbury Park Synagogue after an antisemitic attack.
EDM1691 2002: He condemned attacks on a synagogue in Swansea.
EDM123 2003: He condemns attacks on 2 Istanbul synagogues
EDM298 2003: He signs motion commemorating International Holocaust Day
2004: He condemns the rise in antisemitic hate crimes.
EDM461 2004: He condemns the French government ban of the Jewish Kippa in schools.
EDM717 2004: He signs a motion praising Simon Wiesenthal for bringing Nazi perpetrators of the Holocaust to justice.
EDM1613 2004: He co-sponsors a bill fearing the future of the United Synagogue Pension Scheme.
EDM1699 2004: He condemns arbitrary attacks on civilians in Israel and Palestine.
EDM482 2005: He signs a motion commemorating International Holocaust Day.
EDM343 2005: He condemns desecration of a Jewish cemetery in east London.
EDM1343 2006: He signs a motion commemorating International Holocaust Day.
EDM1774 2006: He condemns an Iranian Magazine soliciting cartoons about the Holocaust.
EDM1267 2006: He condemns Bryan Ferry for anti-Semitic remarks.
EDM2414 2006: He praises British war veterans for their efforts to combat the Holocaust.
EDM2705 2006: He signs a motion marking the 70th anniversary of Cable Street.
EDM271 2007: He co-sponsors a motion lamenting the poverty and social exclusion East London Jews suffered.
EDM153 2008: He praises the Jewish 1944 uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto .
EDM2350 2008: He signs a motion marking the 70th Holocaust anniversary.
EDM173 2008: He condemns the Press Complaints Commission for refusing to sanction The Times for antisemitism
EDM461 2009: He condemns a wave of antisemitic incidents.
EDM605 2009: He signs John Mann’s motion condemning antisemitism on university campuses.
EDM917 2009: He signs a motion condemning antisemitism on the internet.
EDM1175 2009: He signs a motion praising the heroism of British Jews during Holocaust.
EDM337 2009: He condemns Iran’s treatment of Jewish minorities.
EDM850 2010: He joins calls for Facebook to do more to fight antisemitism.
EDM891 2010: He co-sponsors a motion calling for Yemen’s Jews to be given refugee status.
EDM908 2010: He praises work of late Israeli PM in pursuit of a 2 state solution.
EDM1360 2011: He co-sponsors a motion praising the ‘never again for anyone initiative’.
EDM1527 2011: He backs a motion condemning the antisemitic remarks of a lead fashion designer
EDM2870 2012: He condemns the sale of Nazi memorabilia at a Bristol auction.
EDM2866 2012: He co-sponsors a bill condemning the rise of antisemitism in Lithuania.
EDM2899 2012: He condemns a terrorist attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse.
EDM168 2012: He co-sponsors a motion condemning antisemitic attacks during EURO 2012.
EDM 195 2012: He attacks BBC for cutting Jewish programmes.
EDM 1133 2013: He condemns antisemitism In sport
1 Oct. 2013: Corbyn defends Ralph Miliband from Daily Mail antisemitism.
EDM932 2014: He praises Holocaust Memorial’s work on antisemitism education.
EDM165 2015: He condemns a neo-Nazi rally planned for a London Jewish area.
4 July 2015: He co-plans a counter-fascist demo in defence of Jewish Golders Green residents. The march was re-routed.
18 Nov. 2015: He uses one of his first PMQs to challenge Cameron to do more on antisemitism.
9 Oct 2016: He leads a commemoration of the Battle of Cable Street.
3 Dec. 2016: He visits Terezin Concentration Camp to commemorate Holocaust victims.
2017-19: He introduces 20 new measures to combat antisemitism in the Labour Party.
1977? Wasn't that Barkingside?
Anon at 12.45 : thanks for that comprehensive list. Of course it's absolute balderdash that Corbyn has a racist bone in his body.
The right-wing media madness and co-operation of some prominent Jewish "leaders " is depressing.
And meanwhile, Rachel Riley attacks a Northern Working Man's band for having the temerity to play Hava Nagila to a delighted audience and a goat like Stephen Fry applauds her for her very weird notions of what is antisemitic.
It's just bonkers.
I was wondering just now what the circulation was for the Jewish Chronicle, given the prominent reporting on their reporting if you know what I mean. Anyway, they sell a little over 20k copies a week which puts them in the same league as Classic car Weekly and you never see the BBC or guardian picking up on their hot stories like "Experts: bring in more marshals on Brighton run" or "E10 fuel should not be forced on classic cars" or even the absolute smash "114 mile MGB for sale"
Anyway, Google also turned up this little jem from the press gazette
https://pressgazette.co.uk/cash-donors-save-jewish-chronicle-from-grave-closure-threat/
Not only are they a very small paper, they have been in serious trouble financially, their circulation has declined and the pension fund had a large defect. But, they have been saved by a large donation from hidden donors so that the work to uncover anti-Semitism can continue unhindered.
Draw your own conclusions.
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