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Poor old Nick, can’t satisfy anti-English kikes, no matter how hard he tries…

BNP seeks to bury antisemitism and gain Jewish votes in Islamophobic campaign

· Community groups unite to combat far right threat
· ‘Website now one of the most Zionist of all’

Matthew Taylor

The Guardian, Thursday April 10 2008 Article

The far right British National party is trying to shed its
antisemitic past as part of a drive to pick up votes among London’s
Jewish community. The party, which could get its first seat on the
London assembly if voter turnout is low next month, is campaigning in
Jewish areas across the capital and attempting to play on what it
sees as historical enmity between the Jewish and Muslim communities.

In one leaflet, handed out in north London last weekend, the party’s
only Jewish councillor, Pat Richardson, is quoted along with a
picture of young Muslims holding a placard reading: “Butcher those
who mock Islam.”

“I’m in the BNP because no one else speaks out against the
Islamification of our country,” said Richardson. “Being Jewish only
adds to my concern about this aggressive creed that also threatens
our secular values and Christian tradition.”

The move has sparked a furious reaction among Jewish organisations
who say the BNP is still antisemitic and racist.

The Board of Deputies, the London Jewish Forum and the Community
Security Trust have launched a campaign with other ethnic minority
and cultural groups and the Hope Not Hate campaign to combat the BNP
threat.

Ruth Smeeth, of the Board of Deputies, said: “The BNP website is now
one of the most Zionist on the web - it goes further than any of the
mainstream parties in its support of Israel and at the same time
demonises Islam and the Muslim world. They are actively campaigning
in Jewish communities, particularly in London, making a lot of their
one Jewish councillor, their support of Israel and attacking Muslims.
It is a poisonous campaign but it shows a growing electoral
sophistication. ”

The editor of BNP newspaper Freedom, Martin Wingfield, wrote on his
blog recently: “There has been a growing dialogue between senior
members of the Jewish community and the BNP and today there are an
increasing number of Jews campaigning for the BNP and feeling very
comfortable with their political choice.”

Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies, said the anti-BNP
campaign which is being run in conjunction with Operation Black Vote
and Sikh and Hindu organisations aimed to underline the antisemitic
nature of the BNP and ensure that all voters turned out on May 1 to
see off the threat posed by the far right.

“Whatever other sources of anti-semitism there are, we are still very
concerned by the threat that comes from the far right,” said
Grunwald. “Despite all its attempts to portray itself differently we
know it is still the same antisemitic, racist party it always was.”
He added: “We, in the Jewish community, will not tolerate any form of
racism or prejudice … I would be thoroughly ashamed if any member
of the Jewish community voted for them.”

The BNP’s drive to abandon its anti-semitism and cash in on what it
perceives to be the growth in Islamophobia was outlined in an essay
by party leader Nick Griffin, who once said of the Holocaust: “I have
reached the conclusion that the ‘extermination’ tale is a mixture of
Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie, and latter-day
witch-hysteria. ” In his essay last year he wrote: “It stands to
reason that adopting an ‘Islamophobic’ position that appeals to large
numbers of ordinary people - including un-nudged journalists - is
going to produce on average much better media coverage than siding
with Iran and banging on about ‘Jewish power’, which is guaranteed to
raise hackles of virtually every single journalist in the western
world.”

Nick Lowles, from the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight, which is
mobilising voters across the country through its Hope Not Hate
campaign, said the tactic of appealing to different ethnic and
cultural groups ticked several boxes for the BNP. “It allows them to
portray themselves as being non-racist at the same time as
legitimising their vicious and sustained attacks on the UK’s Muslim
communities. ”

Backstory:

Analysts believe the BNP could make a breakthrough in the May
election unless there is a big turnout. Last time London went to the
polls the far-right party got 4.7% - a few thousand votes short of
the 5% needed to get a member on the London assembly. At the time the
UK Independence party, which has since largely imploded, polled 8.2%,
and it is feared many of its supporters may now transfer their
allegiance to the BNP. The electoral system means the BNP, which has
since picked up several councillors in London, needs 5% to get one
assembly member, 8% for two and 11% for three. All three mayoral
candidates have condemned the BNP. Ken Livingstone said
yesterday: “We have to get across one simple fact: there’s only one
way to stop the BNP, which is by actually going out to vote against
them. A low voter turnout will help the BNP get elected.”

· The following correction was printed in the Guardian’s Corrections
and clarifications column, Friday April 11 2008. Ruth Smeed, whom we
quoted above, is not now working for the Community Security Trust.
She has been seconded to the Board of Deputies.

http://www.guardian .co.uk/politics/ 2008/apr/ 10/thefarright. race/print