Well never let it be said that far-right are not full of surprises and the latest one is going to upset the meshuggeners on the Nazi web forums in no uncertain terms: the EDL are about to launch their Jewish Division to ‘lead the fight against jihad.’ (See The Jewish Chronicle and Facebook for further details). As is well documented the EDL are a broad coalition of Nazis, hooligans and sundry Islamophobes holding views from the moderate to beyond the extreme and this new venture is bound to cause ructions with the latter. Mark Israel claims in the Chronicle article that the EDL have no connection with the BNP and that Jewish people have a common cause with them. He clearly has not done his research properly and should investigate EDL supporters and BNP members Chris Renton, Liam Pinkham and Michael Heaton who along with other fascists aligned with the BNP, BPP, RVF, ASF etc, may not think this is so kosher. This could be an easy and non-committal smokescreen of tolerance in order to push the ‘multicultural’ aspect of the EDL but it is bound to raise concerns.

That the far-right are making placatory noises towards the Jewish community is nothing new: the BNP had recently set out their support for Israel, claiming it ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’ but this has been apparently withdrawn and the webpage is no longer in existence (it is still on the NorthWestNationalist forum though). We can only assume that this was a step too far, like the acceptance of non-whites, for many in the BNP. There is still a virulent strain of anti-Semitism running through all the far-right websites and the phantom Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG) is blamed for all the world’s ills along with Islam and ‘Marxism’ and anything else that is annoying them at the time. Without getting too deep into it, the ZOG theory tends to run along the lines of: Jews control capitalism and communism and are taking over democracies and sooner or later we will all be wearing yarmulkes and eating knishes. Or burkahs and samosas depending on the thread. Enough already.

NWN (could they change their name to NorthWestAryans? NWA?) are no fans of the EDL and see them as misguided simpletons what don’t really understand nationalist politics proper like what they do. They also claim that the EDL ‘are happy cronies of the Zionists’ and that this new development means ‘another group gone down the drain.’ The pro-Griffinite BNP VVNuk forum are highly sceptical and we will have to see whether the ZOG conspiracy nuts respond on there. Griffin in the past has said that the EDL is a Neo-Con-Zionist-Marxist-false-flag-front and proscribed members from attending demos. This has failed. They still go.

Far-right conspirators also claim that Alan Lake, who is bankrolling the EDL, has more nefarious reasons in mind. Others claim that it is a state operated honeytrap designed to draw in and monitor hardcore hooligans and discredit fascist activists. There is also the ‘Sheffield Question’: the ‘leadership’ of the EDL were nicked on their way up to Scotland and taken back to Sheffield (why there?) no doubt by Special Branch/MI5. Whilst in the nick their homes were turned over and their computers seized. There is a question over what happened in the station and whether the cops threatened them or persuaded them to provide information on the more extreme hooligans and the Nazi element – who the EDL leadership want rid of following the ‘fire extinguisher’ incident with the ageing warriors of Combat 18. We await further developments.

EDL/BNP
The EDL may not be a BNP front (or a Zionist-etc one) but it is certainly utilising street tactics that the BNP abandoned with the ‘no more meetings, marches, punch-ups’ statement by Griffin. Though this hasn’t helped him much. Following the dismal results in the election the BNP has been busy expelling, smearing and suspending members. Disgruntled fascists and BNPers were unimpressed by Griffin’s piss poor performance in Barking, his embarrassing turn on Question Time as well as his general lack of media savvy, the losing of multiple council seats and the alleged kleptocratic tendencies of the leadership clique. There are still questions over the BNP finances from the last couple of years, the role of Jim Dowson and the funding of the truth truck. There is a move towards a leadership change which Griffin is trying to prevent. In order to mount a challenge a prospective Führer has to garner the votes of 20% of the party membership but only those who have been members for over 18 months or so. This was recently upgraded from 5% which considerably reduces the possibility of any realistic challenge given that many members sign up and let their membership lapse after a year anyway once they realise how the BNP is run. Griffin has announced he is to resign in 2013 by which time he will have presumably purged the dissenters, straightened the policies and taken a few classes in presentation.

Over on the anti-Griffin NWN site Eddie Butler is seen as a contender but he is in the process of being smeared by the pro-Griffin VNNuk and the Covert Undercover site. As is South African spook Arthur Kemp. Butler is currently answering question from himself on his blog about his eligibility to take on the Brown Crown of Griffin. Suspensions and expulsions have also been the fallout from the election: former wunderkind Mark Collett has been booted out following his attempted ‘murder plot’ against Griffin; Simon Bennett was booted out over control of the BNP website and is also being smeared on VNNuk; and other Regional Organisers are allegedly suspended. All of which give the EDL an attractive sheen for disaffected BNP members and unattractive racists everywhere. The BNP’s Jewish sector may defect to the EDL wholesale (all 2 of them). The EDL are seen by some as active, effective and a dance back to the good old days of street fighting. Others are more timid and prefer the safety of the keyboard.

For any members of the Jewish community contemplating joining up with the EDL and its fascist bedfellows they should remember that their tactics of street intimidation are exactly the same as Germany in the 20s and 30s, Moseley’s in the 1930s and 40s, the NF in the 70s, and the BNP in the 80s. They should also remember Cable Street, the 43 Group, the 62 group and the many Jewish political activists who have fought against this kind of intimidation and racism over the years. As should Mark Israel.

‘Mazel Tovsta’

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