Article Israel’s embrace of Tommy Robinson deepens rift with British Jewry (UK brewing)

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RELATED (scivillage): Tommy Robinson leads massive London rally ..... Is Tommy Robinson just a populist, period, instead of far-right?
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Israel’s embrace of Tommy Robinson deepens rift with British Jewry
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/202510...tish-jewry

EXCERPTS: Israel has “made the crisis for Britain’s Jews even worse,” said journalist Melanie Phillips, reacting to the Israeli government’s decision to invite far-right activist Tommy Robinson to visit the country. The move has triggered a bitter row between Israel and Jewish community leaders in the UK who view Robinson as a far-right agitator.

Phillips, a long-time defender of Israel, said the invitation by Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli amounted to “a very stupid and dangerous mistake,” accusing Israel’s government of “handing an unexpected weapon to the enemies of Israel and the Jewish people in Britain.”

Her remarks came after Chikli announced that Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, would be hosted in Israel this month “as a courageous leader on the front line against radical Islam.” The minister said Robinson’s visit was intended to “strengthen bonds with allies who refuse to be silent.”

Robinson confirmed that the Israeli government would pay for his flight and accommodation, and said he planned to meet Knesset members, visit “Judea and Samaria” — the term used by right-wing Israeli politicians for the occupied West Bank — and tour Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial.

The decision has been condemned by leading Jewish bodies in Britain, who described Robinson as a dangerous extremist and said the invitation showed contempt for the Jewish community’s views.

In a joint statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) called Robinson “a thug who represents the very worst of Britain.”

“In our darkest hour, [Minister Chikli] has ignored the views of the vast majority of British Jews, who utterly and consistently reject Robinson and everything he stands for,” the organisations said.

[...] Robinson, a former leader of the far-right group known as the English Defence League, has attempted to reinvent himself as a pro-Israel activist. Yet he has reportedly published anti-Semitic material, including a 2022 essay titled “The Jewish Question,” which repeated conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the media and finance.

Nevertheless, Robinson has been promoted and financially supported by pro-Israel advocacy networks in the US and Europe that frame him as a defender of Israel and a “truth-teller” on Islamist extremism.

Historians have long noted the paradoxical relationship between anti-Semites and Zionism. In the 1930s, for example, Zionist groups agreed a pact with Nazis known as the Haavara (Transfer) Agreement. It allowed some German Jews to emigrate to Palestine by transferring part of their assets through a German-Zionist trade arrangement — a deal negotiated under the Nazi regime.

Though intended as a means of rescue, it has since become emblematic of the uneasy relationship between Zionism and fascism. Today, scholars and community leaders warn that similar paradoxes are re-emerging as segments of Europe’s far right adopt pro-Israel rhetoric while continuing to promote anti-Jewish or xenophobic ideas at home... (MORE - missing details)

[Syne]

Robinson will only anger those on the left, who already roundly criticizing Israel.
They don't really have much grounds to call him antisemitic, other than claiming "globalist" somehow only means a Jewish conspiracy.

[stryder]

Robinson eats pork.. just saying.

[Syne]

No one said Robinson was Jewish. 9_9
Wait, do you think Jews aren't supposed to associate with pork-eaters? @_@

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The people at Robinson's rallies actually seem to be a wide mix of all sorts, including Labour or ex-Labour voters. That's resonant of the globally spreading Trump effect -- a populism that (in the states) brings in a range of independent and estranged Dem types that the old Republican Party would probably have shunned or at least been reluctant to invite -- especially with respect to conspiracy buffs.

Activism is traditionally conceived as a leftist thing. Conservatives of the past seemed to view it as taboo for anyone on the non-extremist right to be mimicking such (even though there were exceptions, like anti-abortion demonstrators). One excuse often dispensed was that conservatives were too busy working and raising families. They just didn't have the idle time of leftangelicals to be playing in the streets or dispensing copies of The Daily Worker at drugstore corners.

That attitude seems to have changed -- whether because of social media, Trump, race-inclusive Western chauvinist clubs, or whatever.

But ever since the old counterculture became mainstream decades ago, left protests are now consequently glorified as noble by the legacy establishment. And any construed parallel of that on the right is, of course, disparaged as the opposite.

[confused2]

Tommy Robinson is quite a guy..

]The Tommy Robinson from whom Yaxley took his name was a prominent member of the Luton Town MIGs, a football hooligan crew which follows Luton Town.[14] The pseudonym successfully hid his identity and criminal history until the connection was uncovered in July 2010 by Searchlight magazine.[15][16] He has also used the names Andrew McMaster, Paul Harris,[17] Wayne King,[18][19] and Stephen Lennon.[17]

I generally try not to tread in any Tommy Robinson but apparently other folks feel differently.

[Syne]

Tommy Robinson Acquitted – Bogus Terror Charge Crushed In Court

In a dramatic courtroom rebuke of politicized policing in Britain, journalist and activist Tommy Robinson won a decisive legal victory this week when Judge Sam Goozee ruled that law enforcement officials unlawfully targeted him because of his political beliefs. Robinson credited Elon Musk for financing his defense, declaring that “free speech won.” He added that without Musk’s intervention, “I’d probably be in jail.”

The case stemmed from Robinson’s July 2024 arrest at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone, where he was charged under the Terrorism Act after refusing to give police the passcode to his phone. Officers claimed suspicion after observing him driving a friend’s Bentley to Spain. Robinson countered that the phone contained confidential sources and the identities of victims tied to his reporting.

Judge Goozee dismissed the charge outright, ruling that the stop and subsequent prosecution were politically motivated. “I cannot put out of my mind that it was actually what you stood for and your beliefs that acted as the principal reason for the stop,” Goozee said from the bench. The verdict underscored that political belief is recognized as a protected characteristic under the U.K.’s Equality Act, making discrimination on that basis illegal.

The judge eviscerated the police testimony, finding it riddled with inconsistencies and evasions. Officers admitted destroying key notes, contradicting each other on major details, and issuing confused or deceptive statements. Goozee described police witnesses as unreliable and lacking credibility. The ruling affirms that Robinson was not suspected of terrorism; instead, the police appeared to have used counterterrorism powers as a pretext to harass a high-profile critic of the establishment.
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