The leader of the EDL has been caught distributing anti-semitic propaganda on Twitter. Tommy Robinson tweeted a link to a far-right website obsessed with highlighting Jewish figures in public life.
Commenting “I hate Labour because of this”, Robinson linked to an article (NSFW) which follows an extract from a newspaper piece on immigration with the observation:
“Of those mentioned in the above article, Home Secretary, Jack Straw, Immigration Minister, Barbara Roche, and Jonathan Portes, ‘who wrote the immigration report,’ are all Jewish.”
Robinson then found himself taken to task by Jonathan Portes himself, who now heads the NIESR think tank:
With Robinson’s past as a member of the BNP — an organisation with a rich history of anti-semitism — the EDL are understandably paranoid of such accusations, even citing Muslim anti-semitism in their mission statement.
But they are certainly not embarrassed about re-purposing historic anti-semitic propaganda to attack Muslims. The Neo-Nazi cartoon below was adapted and posted to the EDL Facebook page in the wake of the killing of soldier Lee Rigby:
While ostensibly supporting the state of Israel and the Jewish diaspora, this does not carry much truck with Jewish charities such as the Community Security Trust:
“The EDL only uses Jews and Israel in order to try and provoke Muslims. It is racist politics”
What a scumbag.
Fred says:
This is a real terrorist, why the hell is he not locked away?
Is it because he is not a Muslim?
Celia says:
For the people who saw EDL members doing a Nazi salute at a WWII memorial (considering how much there is in school, on telly and in popular culture about that, you’d think they’d have absorbed some of it), this isn’t a big fat surprise. But still worth pointing out, as some people won’t believe it.
Andrew says:
It just goes to show how organised his organisation is. When episodes like this are repeated, weekly, and not one EDL member has the sense to step in, seize control and bring the EDL into the light they so dearly crave.
“We’re not a racist organisation” – Well, EDL members, the rest of the world would disagree. And if you do wish to be taken seriously, change your name (I’m English and I do not require defending, thank you) and think about a little reshuffle at the top, just a bit of feedback from an outsider’s perspective.
ralph says:
The cartoon is gross but I don’t think Robinson is an anti-semite, nor as far as I’m aware is there any good evidence that he is. The post on Twitter is far from evidence but exemplifies carelessness or lack of thought. There have been many examples of people on both the right and left linking to dodgy sites. No doubt there are plenty of people in the EDL who are anti semitic but Robinson?.
The comment above that TR is a terrorist is ludicrous.
Tony says:
What a load of bollox from traitorous kuntze!!! Tommy is no more anti-semitic than Choudary being a fkn human!!! SCUMKUNTZE!!!