Corbyn’s Charedi ally gives to ‘bigot’ group
SHRAGA STERN, the anti-LGBT education activist with whom Jeremy Corbyn had lunch last week, is the biggest donor to a campaign to overturn an injunction preventing protests against same-sex education outside the gates of a Birmingham primary school, the JC can reveal.
The Stamford Hill activist gave £500 to campaign group Birmingham Children THE SILENT, which is fundraising for a legal challenge backing their right to resume demonstrations at the gates of Anderton Park Primary School, which attracted huge media coverage and went on for weeks.
The campaigners are led by 32-year-old Shakeel Afsar, who has urged parents not to “back down”.
He hit the headlines in a confrontation, televised on BBC News, with local MP Jess Phillips, who accused him of “hate preaching” and said his campaign was led by “a load of bigots”.
Mr Afsar and Mr Stern are believed to be in regular contact.
Mr Afsar’s campaign needs £30,000 for a legal team to challenge an injuncMs tion won by Birmingham City Council won on May 31.
On June 10, a judge upheld the injunction, warning protesters they face arrest if they stage protests or distribute material outside the school gates.
Ms Phillips and the headteacher of Anderton Primary School celebrated the news of the successful banning order.
Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, told the BBC the council had “done the right thing for the children”, adding: “It’s just a shame it has come to this thanks to the bigotry of a few”.
Mr Stern infuriated Jewish Labour campaigners last week after being photographed at lunch with Mr Corbyn in Westminster. He later claimed the pair had met by chance after he attended Stern (left) and (top) his meeting with Corbyn last week. Above, the donation paid by Mr Stern to an anti-LGBT education group
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On Tuesday, it was revealed Mr Stern had complained to Labour about Jewish MP Dame Margaret Hodge, claiming the Barking MP had launched an “antisemitic attack” on him after taking a picture of him with Mr Corbyn and suggesting his views do not represent those of the “mainstream” Jewish community.
Mr Stern also defended his opposition to LGBT teaching in schools, insisting he was not homophobic but “stood against all sex teachings in the classroom”.
The letter from Mr Stern to both the party and Dame Margaret was later given to Skwawkbox, a Corbynite propaganda blog to which Mr Corbyn’s supporters often leak material in order to attack the Labour leader’s critics. The blog claimed the Jewish MP was now the subject of a “formal antisemitism complaint”.
Mr Stern has also been behind a succession of letters, purportedly signed by other Charedi men, supporting Mr Corbyn and attacking allegations of antisemitism in Labour. But many of the signatories of these letters were later revealed to be unaware of the contents of the letters they signed.
Yehudis Fletcher, an Orthodox woman from the anti-extremist Nahamu think tank who knew Mr Stern when she worked in the East End construction business, spoke to Observer journalist Nick Cohen about Mr Stern this weekend.
Mr Cohen wrote that the “notion that he [Stern] was a socialist sent her off into bitter laughter”.
Asked what Mr Stern wanted from his meetings with the Labour leader, Ms Fletcher added: “He wants Corbyn to treat extremist Jews the same way he treats extremist Muslims.”
He wants Corbyn to treat extremist Jews the way he treats extremist Muslims’