A letter to the patrons of the CAA

All reasonable people should be working hard to ensure Antisemitism is stamped out and that the issue is not inflamed.

Unfortunately a petition by the Campaign Against Antisemitism appears to have done just that.

The title of the charity’s petition ‘For the many, not the Jew’ could hardly have been more inflammatory.
The result has been an outpouring of violent comments in support of the petition that are nothing less than incitement to political violence (I won't share or link to the comments here, the petition is easily found). Thankfully, in his response to questions raised by the Skwarkbox blog, the Chairman of the CAA condemned the comments.

The Charity Commission has also confirmed it is in contact with the charity after concerns were raised by members of the public about it. 

I am struggling to think of another campaigning organisation (perhaps other than Leave.EU or UKIP) that has acted in such an irresponsible way.

It is true that neither the CAA, nor its patrons, are responsible for comments placed in support of its petition. But it is equally true that the comments do the charity, its officers, trustees and patrons no credit whatsoever, in fact they devalue it.

The charity counts a former Archbishop of Canterbury, sitting MPs, lords and high profile barristers among its patrons. In addition to writing to them, I have also written to the charity.

It is beyond comprehension that those associated with the CAA would not do whatever they can, however small, to de-escalate this.

The text of my letter is below.

Dear Sir / Madam

As a patron of the Charity ‘The Campaign Against Antisemitism’ I must draw your attention to the charity’s petition ‘For the Many, not the Jew,’ currently hosted at Change.org  ( https://www.change.org/p/the-parliamentary-labour-party-jeremy-corbyn-is-an-antisemite-and-must-go )

In particular, I wish to raise with you the many instances in which petitioners are choosing to deploy violent language against the leader of the UK opposition, Jeremy Corbyn MP.

Whilst neither the charity, nor you as a patron, are in any way responsible for the comments people chose to make, I do feel that in the current climate you and the CAA have a responsibility to help de-escalate and perhaps even distance yourselves from these comments.

Barely two years have passed since a sitting MP was murdered in the street by a man who espoused hard right views. It is a tragedy to see comments of a similar, violent nature being recorded alongside the CAA's petition.

It is incumbent on all people involved in public life to act in a responsible way and, where possible, to use their influence to de-escalate this type of inflammatory and violent rhetoric.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely