Tuesday, November 06, 2018
Calls on UKIP to break links with anti-Semitic conspiracy website
It isn't just Labour who have an anti-Semitism problem it seems. According to this article in the Guardian, Jewish organisations have accused UKIP of embracing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories through the party’s links to a far-right US website that regularly attacks George Soros and which has argued that the Pittsburgh synagogue attack could have been instigated by the US government.
They add that the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Community Security Trust (CST) has called on UKIP to dissociate itself from Infowars after it brought in one of the website’s editors as a member and used him to promote the party to younger people:
John Mann, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group against antisemitism, said Infowars was a “vile and dangerous” organisation.
It is led by Alex Jones, a web radio host who argues the 9/11 attacks, the 7 July bombings in London and the Sandy Hook primary school massacre were either faked or carried out by government-linked forces. Jones is being sued by Sandy Hook parents and has been banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
His de facto deputy at Infowars is Paul Joseph Watson, a Briton who has the title of “editor at large” for the website, and has regularly guested on Jones’s show.
In June, Watson was among a trio of YouTube personalities welcomed into UKIP as part of an attempt by its leader, Gerard Batten, to make the party more appealing to young voters.
Another was Mark Meechan, a self-described comedian and free speech activist who was fined this year for posting a video showing his girlfriend’s dog giving Nazi salutes in response to phrases including “gas the Jews”.
Watson’s membership was seen as a particular coup – he has 1.4 million YouTube subscribers – and after he joined, a video he made praising the party was featured prominently on UKIP’s website.
The association with Infowars has prompted renewed concerns about the direction of a party that remains the UK’s fourth-biggest by polling numbers, but under Batten has taken a more hard-right stance, mainly targeting Islam.
Infowars regularly carries disparaging stories about the supposed influence of Soros, the billionaire financier who is at the centre of anti-Semitic conspiracies about so-called “globalists” seeking to control the world.
Separately, Soros was among 14 prominent US figures to whom pipe bombs were posted this month. Jones has argued the bombs were a “false flag” plot.
Through these actions, UKIP are becoming more and more marginalised and, unless Labour address their anti-Semitism problem then they could well follow them.
They add that the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Community Security Trust (CST) has called on UKIP to dissociate itself from Infowars after it brought in one of the website’s editors as a member and used him to promote the party to younger people:
John Mann, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group against antisemitism, said Infowars was a “vile and dangerous” organisation.
It is led by Alex Jones, a web radio host who argues the 9/11 attacks, the 7 July bombings in London and the Sandy Hook primary school massacre were either faked or carried out by government-linked forces. Jones is being sued by Sandy Hook parents and has been banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
His de facto deputy at Infowars is Paul Joseph Watson, a Briton who has the title of “editor at large” for the website, and has regularly guested on Jones’s show.
In June, Watson was among a trio of YouTube personalities welcomed into UKIP as part of an attempt by its leader, Gerard Batten, to make the party more appealing to young voters.
Another was Mark Meechan, a self-described comedian and free speech activist who was fined this year for posting a video showing his girlfriend’s dog giving Nazi salutes in response to phrases including “gas the Jews”.
Watson’s membership was seen as a particular coup – he has 1.4 million YouTube subscribers – and after he joined, a video he made praising the party was featured prominently on UKIP’s website.
The association with Infowars has prompted renewed concerns about the direction of a party that remains the UK’s fourth-biggest by polling numbers, but under Batten has taken a more hard-right stance, mainly targeting Islam.
Infowars regularly carries disparaging stories about the supposed influence of Soros, the billionaire financier who is at the centre of anti-Semitic conspiracies about so-called “globalists” seeking to control the world.
Separately, Soros was among 14 prominent US figures to whom pipe bombs were posted this month. Jones has argued the bombs were a “false flag” plot.
Through these actions, UKIP are becoming more and more marginalised and, unless Labour address their anti-Semitism problem then they could well follow them.
