Jonathan Hoffman and Damon Lenzner Convicted of Thuggery and Physical Intimidation of Sandra Watfa
Ex-Zionist Federation Vice-Chair and Board of Deputies Officer Hoffman forgot to Accuse the Police and CPS of ‘Institutional Anti-Semitism’
It is my sad duty to inform people that my old friend, Jonathan Hoffman was today, with another Zionist thug, Damon Lenzner, convicted of harassment and threatening behaviour.
I had intended to attend court tomorrow as two days had been set aside for the hearing but it would seem the pair decided that cowardice was the better part of valour as they agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charges in exchange for the CPS dropping the assault charges. Or maybe they had advance warning that I would be making an appearance
They were both fined, sentenced to community and restraining orders. Lenzner was subject to a curfew and an electronic tag. They were also barred from approaching Sandra Watfa, the woman they harassed or Mr Haverty-Stacke, whom Lenzner punched. Reports can be found in Electronic Intifada, the Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News
Judge Nigel Dean, said the pair’s actions amounted to“aggressive, bullying behavior.” Clearly he is a man who believes in understatement. It is a sad comedown for Hoffman who used to be Vice-Chair of the Zionist Federation and a senior member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and its Defence Committee.
However Hoffman made the mistake of falling out with just about everyone and in particular criticising Mick Davies, Chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, a rich capitalist and now Treasure of the Tory Party. Everyone who made, even the mildest criticism of Israel was an anti-Semite, including most of the Board of Deputies
Asa Winstanley writes that ‘One supporter was absent though: former Jewish Labour Movement chair Jeremy Newmark. Writing sympathetically on a thread on Hoffman’s Facebook page in March, Newmark called the case “appalling.”
You might find this surprising since Hoffman is someone who has worked openly with the far-Right – Tommy Robinson supporters and Britain First’s Paul Besser as well as Pegida supporters Ambrosine Shitrit and Sharon KKKKlaff and Kahanist David Collier. Newmark is a Labour Zionist
However this is not so surprising. The differences between Labour and fascist Zionists have always been tactical. Hoffman went out on a limb to defend Newmark when the Jewish Chronicle accused him of corruption and trousering thousands of pounds from a Zionist ‘charity’, the Jewish Leadership Council.
Suffice to say I have enormous sympathy for Newmark because the money would otherwise have gone into anti-BDS activity so it’s probably best that it went on champagne, taxi bills (unpaid) and good meals (kosher one hopes)
Hoffman on his blog today was unrepentant. He claimed that he and Lenzner had been acquitted of the assault charges. This is a lie. The CPS had agreed to drop the charges in exchange for them pleading guilty to lesser charges. However what is one small lie amongst many? Hoffman ranted that:
appallingly, the policeman on the case insisted that the case be tried as a racial and religious hatred case (Section 145, Criminal Justice Act). In other words according to him we were there not because we found the antisemitic discourse of InMinds repugnant, but because we are Islamophobes. What a disgrace: the Court ignored it.
The message from this verdict is that neither pro-Israel advocates nor campaigners against antisemitism can trust the police or the CPS.
Hoffman finds it difficult to believe that his behaviour is Islamaphobic and probably believes that his fascist friends are also lovers of Muslims
When he was first informed that he was going to be prosecuted Hoffman accused the Crown Prosecution Service and the Police of ‘institutional anti-Semitism’ (in fact he called the CPS ‘institutionally anti-Israel but since all opposition to Israel in Hoffman’s book is ‘anti-Semitism’ then that is what he really meant).
One thing that seems to have escaped all other reporting of the case is that Daman Lenzner’s representative is Daniel Berke. By one of these coincidences that plague those of us in public life, Berke is also the solicitor to Tommy Robinson. I guess it’s a question of Berke by name and Berk by nature