Groups sign Facebook letter alongside backer of Tommy Robinson
V AN AMERICAN organisation which has openly supported the far-right activist Tommy Robinson in the past is among the signatories to a letter sent to Facebook urging it to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
The Middle East Forum (MEF) is named among nearly 130 Jewish groups and other Non-Governmental Organisations that have put their names to a letter sent to Facebook’s directors demanding they adopt the definition as part of their hate speech policy.
A number of UK-based Israel advocacy organisations also lent their names to the letter, which was sent to the social media company earlier this month and which called on Facebook to “take responsibility and move toward removing the scourge of antisemitism from today’s most important online public square.”
The letter, signed by nearly 130 proJewish and pro-Israel groups, was organised by a group called Stop Antisemitism. org, which says it works “to hold antisemites accountable and to create consequences for their bigoted actions by exposing the threat that they present to all Americans and showing how their ideologies conflict with American values, morals, and principles.”
UK groups that added their signatures to the campaign include Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (Bicom) the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), the Maccabi World Union and North West Friends of Israel.
Mr Robinson — whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon –— founded the far-right English Defence League in 2009 and was previously a member of the British National Party. He has made no secret of his views on Islam.
MEF President Daniel Pipes had confirmed that the Philadelphia-based think-tank was “heavily involved” in a campaign to free Mr Robinson from prison.
Mr Robinson was jailed after publishing a Facebook Live video of defendants entering a law court, contravening a court order.
Mr Pipes told an Israeli TV channel that he believed in freedom of speech and that claims that Mr Robinson was antisemitic were false and that he “shared” the former EDL leader’s opposition to “Islamism”.
Another controversial group to sign Stop Antisemitism.Org’s Facebook letter is the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God — the biggest commercial evangelical church in Brazil.
With more than 12 million members worldwide, the organisation has repeatedly faced allegations of corruption and intolerance of other religions.
Other groups to sign the letter include Coalition For Jewish Values – a group of conservative American rabbis who argue that Judaism should adopt a pro-life anti-abortion stance.
It is understood that UK organisations, including Bicom, were approached to sign the letter without being told what other groups had already signed it – and that the impression was given by its organisers was that major communal organisations across the globe had already offered their support. But UK organisations such as the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust are not to be
Bicom, CAA and Maccabi World Union signed the letter