This is becoming serious. For 2 pickets in a row Jonathan Hoffman, Zionist Federation co-chair and leader of the activist wing, has been absent. How can this be? An illness perhaps? Well yes, it’s what’s called a diplomatic illness.

After the debacle of his skipping down the road arm-in-arm (almost) with Roberta Moore of the Jewish Division of the EDL and then accusing the photographer David Hoffman of ‘photoshopping’ the picture, which resulted in him having to make a humiliating apology, he then followed this up with a comment that ‘When I lie I apologise’ (albeit under legal compulsion!) admitting to lying as a matter of course.

Having been forced by the Jewish Chronicle, on whose site he has his blog, to apologise and with the resulting embarrassment of its co-Chair being caught in flagrante with the fascist EDL, Hoffman has clearly been told to lie low or better still disappear.

Yesterday, the counter-protest was mainly an EDL affair, complete with a Spanish and Israeli flag. It seems that the defence of Israel now is being increasingly left to fascists (though a few Zionists did turn up, such as one Martin Sugarman). And that is exactly how it should be. Isn’t it right that the open and naked bigots and racists should defend a state that is founded on bigotry and racism?

Tony Greenstein