Anti-Semitic blogger ‘made Jewish MP fear for her safety’
A BLOGGER who took part in a hate campaign against a Jewish MP smirked as jurors were read out a string of his antiSemitic tirades, which branded her a ‘rodent’ and an ‘ evil money-grabber’.
Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 23, is accused of racially abusing Labour MP Luciana Berger with five ‘hateful and insulting’ articles after blaming her for the imprisonment of a far-Right ‘comrade’.
Yesterday, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree – who had to ask for police protection – told jurors at the Old Bailey she felt ‘very sick’ and feared for her personal safety when she saw the hate-filled blogs.
In 2014, Mrs Berger became the subject of a vicious online hate campaign called Operation Filthy Jew B***h after neonazi Garron Helm was jailed for sending her a malicious communication. Helm pleaded guilty to tweeting a picture of Mrs Berger, 35, with a yellow Star of David superimposed on her forehead, captioned with the words ‘Hitler was right’.
After he was sentenced to four weeks in prison, his supporters bombarded the MP with death threats and 2,500 violent, pornographic and anti- Semitic messages in just four days, the court heard.
Prosecutor Philip Stott told jurors that although BonehillPaine was not responsible for the initial campaign, he also regarded the prison sentence as ‘ wrongful’ and joined in by writing five abusive articles over four months.
Mr Stott said: ‘He viewed Mr Helm as a “comrade” whose cause ought to be advanced, and believed that the woman who he says “put Mr Helm in prison” should be targeted afresh.
‘The common ideology which so stirred Mr Bonehill-Paine is one of fierce anti-Semitism.
‘Throughout the articles... Mrs Berger is referred to by Mr Bonehill-Paine as, for example, a rodent, as evil, a money-grab- ber, a dominatrix and responsible for the death of Jesus.’
The defendant stifled sniggers in the dock as Mr Stott read out the articles.
Referring to one article by Bonehill-Paine entitled The Legacy of Operation Filthy Jew B***h, Mrs Berger said: ‘One thing that particularly concerned me was the military nature and layout of the article about “battle” – and “battle” means a lot of different things.’
She added: ‘I was incredibly troubled and very concerned. The article included a sexual image which was very, very troubling. With all these images used, I felt very sick.’
Defending Bonehill- Paine, James Palfrey said parts of the articles could be seen as satire, adding: ‘Within these there are elements that are of ridicule or mocking.’
But Mrs Berger replied: ‘I didn’t interpret them as ridicule or mocking, I found them very concerning.
‘Some told me to “watch my back”, referred to the area where I am an MP and death threats were included. Some were violent death threats, some were pornographic. One message of that nature is hard enough to cope with.’
Four of Bonehill-Paine’s articles were published on his own online newspaper called The Daily BALE (Britain Against Left-wing Extremism), which describes itself as ‘Britain’s No 1 Nationalist Newspaper’.
Two of the articles were entitled ‘ Racist anti-white Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger exposed’ and ‘Joshua Bonehill: on the eve of the battle’.
A fifth, headlined ‘The Legacy of Operation Filthy Jew B***h’, was posted on his personal website.
Bonehill-Paine, previously of Yeovil, Somerset, denies a charge of racially aggravated harassment.
The court heard he was ‘a committed proponent of antiSemitic views’ and will not dispute making the ‘ repulsive’ remarks or seek to distance himself from his ‘reprehensible views’. The trial continues.