Bartholomew's Notes

A statement from the English Defence League:

Another week another story wound up into a frenzy by the far left[;] as a recent blog qui[te] rightly pointed out the EDL is a wet dream for the purposeless lefties…

The ejaculatory and “purposeless lefties” in this instance would be, erm, the Jewish Chronicle, which recently reported that

The head of the EDL’s Jewish division Roberta Moore has announced a partnership with far-right American group the Jewish Task Force on the EDL Facebook page.

The rest of the EDL, though, are not so keen; the EDL statement continues:

…A member of the Jewish Division this week decided to link herself with terrorist organisation JTF. This was the decision and wishes of one single individual within the EDL, and does not in any way shape or form mean that the EDL is linked with this movement. We would like to make it clear that the decision to release a statement of this fact was done so without any consultation or agreement with anyone in the EDL leadership team.

The EDL will never be associated with something that it was formed and exists to eradicate ‘TERRORISM’, and hopes its members understand and realise this.

…There are also a number of pictures that have been ‘exposed’ by the left of people wearing JTF jackets at the Luton demonstration. With over 5000 people in attendance again this is something impossible to police, and again doe not mean the EDL support this group.

Alas, however, much of the “exposing” is being done by Moore rather than “the left”. She has posted two photos to the Jewish Division blog, one showing “a member of the UKIP, a member of the EDL admin, and a member of the JTF – in Amsterdam – 2010”, and the other showing “Jewish task force at EDL demo.” She adds:

So, let’s hear it from the “admin” or “leadership” of the EDL. What was all this hysteria about? Was it because  it was ME who contacted Chaim ben Pesach and not “the admin”?

Own up! I know that idiotic statement did not come from Tommy, Kevin, or Amit, or any of the decent guys there. Someone is trying to make the EDL look stupid. Remove this imbecile at once, or risk the ridicule.

The EDL is already working with the JTF, and the JDL. They have been since last year!

But there are a few individuals in the “admin” who have an issue with me, perhaps because I am a woman, and a Jew…

One can see Moore’s point: the EDL doesn’t appear to have a problem with the Kahanist far right in itself. Last month, a live message from EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) was broadcast via the internet to a Jewish Defense League meeting in Toronto, and Nachum Shifren, the California-based “Surfing Rabbi” who addressed the EDL in London in October, used to be JDL founder Meir Kahane’s driver (although he was “excommunicated” from the JDL in 2005 for supporting Pat Buchanan).

However, the Jewish Task Force is particularly hard core: its leader, Victor Vancier (also known as Chaim Ben Pesach) is a terrorist who went to prison in the 1980s following a bombing campaign. Moore, though, explains it all away:

We contacted the JTF because the JTF is an organisation that has done outstanding work for persecuted Jews.  Unlike some comments and media reports we have seen around, the JTF is NOT a terrorist organization. In fact, they have never attempted to kill or maim anyone. And the only “terrorism” they have committed was to coerce the corrupted Kremlin tryrants (By blowing up EMPTY CARS OF KREMLIN DIPLOMATS) to allow the Jews to emigrate to the Land of Israel, which until then was PROHIBITED to them. The Soviets committed pogroms against Jews for years and years, and only those who know Jewish History will understand the atrocities the Jews were subjected to… So as far as we are concerned, this is not terrorism. There was a genuine threat against Jews in the Soviet Union and what the JDL did was nothing short of miraculous, for when this happened, the Soviet Jews were finally allowed to escape persecution.

Today, Vancier brags about his actions, although at the time of his trial in 1987 he repudiated them in a bid to escape punishment; the New York Times reported:

”I have no justification for what I did,” Mr. Vancier said before his sentence was imposed. He said he realized that his actions had not helped his cause. And he asked for a new chance to build a constructive life.

His court-appointed lawyer, Thomas Concannon, described his client as ”a tragic figure” and ”an empty vessel but for his J.D.L. life.”

”It’s fair to say he’s a little bit nuts,” the lawyer said.

And his terrorism did not just include empty cars or Soviets: the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center was firebombed to protest against a concert by the Moscow State Symphony, and a rival JDL leader was also targeted. The Anti-Defamation League has a chronology of events.

Moore goes on to hint that it might be appropriate for Pakistani Christians to blow up the cars of Pakistani diplomats in the UK – a scattering of question marks probably just about keeps her on the right side of the law here:

Pakistani Christians are currently undergoing the same atrocities Jews have undergone in Soviet times. Religious Blasphemy Laws have been plaguing the country and claiming numerous lives. Again, this is a matter of life and death. Not a joke. How will Pakistanis fight against these laws? How will Pakistanis defend their people against these sporadic and unlawful killings? What would YOU, PEOPLE OF BRITAIN DO??

Would you be called a terrorist for blowing up the empty cars of your diplomats in order to raise awareness? Perhaps so. But would you believe yourself guilty of terrorism? Would your “terrorist” act be worse than the acts of those who are killing your people for something as banal as Blasphemy?

According to the Jewish Chronicle, Vancier has issued a podcast in which he discusses the EDL:

“We were contacted by the English Defence League last few weeks and we have agreed we want to work together on joint projects. They are a major organisation, with mass media coverage.

“I wanted to be sure they were not the BNP, we would never work Holocaust deniers or Nazis. They wave Israeli flags, they support the Jewish people. They want Jewish members. We are happy to work with them to save England from the millions of Muslim invaders. We want to work as a united front.”

He added: “The Jewish establishment in the UK, the ‘self hating Jews’ have condemned the EDL because they support the Muslim invasion. It’s pathetic, including the so-called Orthodox. They have to be politically correct, as we go to the gas chambers. We are not interested in this, and neither is the EDL. This will turn into something big.

I haven’t been able to find the podcast, although I’ve trawled through several videos and messages that represent the “constructive” way he has spent his post-prison life. They are unsurprisingly belligerent and vicious, and include mocking references to black people as “swinging through trees”.

(H/T: Darcy Jones)

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