BNP After Jewish Votes

From The Guardian on Thursday:

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.

Jewish groups, however, are not having it:

Ruth Smeed, 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.”

This should not be a surprising development, although it is of course utterly transparent. The one quote from Nick Griffin which sums up the whole strategy – and which reveals Griffin’s true feelings towards Jews – appeared in 2006 in a report for The Forward concerning an American Renaissance conference:

Nick Griffin has been credited with trying to root out antisemitism from the British National Party, which he leads. But in answer to a question at the recent conference, he said: “The proper enemy to any political movement isn’t necessarily the most evil and the worst. The proper enemy is the one we can most easily defeat.”

By swapping open anti-Semitism for Muslim-baiting, the BNP has managed appear more attractive to some – it has also enjoyed some PR assistance from the “libertarian” right. However, some new recruits eventually realise what they’ve got themselves mixed up with.

UPDATE: For some bizarre reason, David Irving’s website has linked to this story. Those who require more information about Irving should go here, Irving himself and his minions should get lost.

3 Responses

  1. […] The BNP decided to downplay anti-Semitism for strategic reasons several years ago; Nick Griffin (author of an anti-Jewish pamphlet called Who Are the Mind-Benders?) realised that attacking Muslims was more likely to yield results, and he is quoted as having said that “The proper enemy to any political movement isn’t necessarily the most evil and the worst. The proper enemy is the one we can most easily defeat.” Jewish groups, however, remain unimpressed. […]

  2. […] Re: BNP to consider non-white members BNP After Jewish Votes Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion […]

  3. I am a BNP member.Ive always considered the veiw of the jew by nick as bloody stupid, did jews blow up people in NY, blow up russians in the south of russia, murder people on trains in spain,did the BNP bash in the head of a jewish girl in a beach in ISRAEL, did we celibrate it,THE PARTY IS MORE THAN JUST ONE MAN,you wont find it so easy to distroy us ,as you distroyed Enock Powell.2 mistake is the asumption that we are playing the jews against the muslims,this is hardly the truth, we have ,like all of western civilisation a 1600 year war with this islamic 4th reich.most of the attacks on jews in europe are by islamists.

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