Absurdly this racist group is a
charity.  Perhaps it is not so absurd
because the Charity Commission was, until recently, headed by one of the chief Islamaphobic bigots in public life, William Shawcross, who was on the board of the Anglo-Israel Association
and the far-Right Henry Jackson Society. [see Rightwing thinktank pulls funds for Commons
groups after disclosure row]

The CAA is a far-Right organisation
with close links to far-Right Zionists who work with the Football Lads Alliance,
Tommy Robinson and assorted fascist organisations. The CAA chose to call the
fascists who attempted to disrupt the recent Al Quds demonstration,
‘anti-terrorism activists’.

I am bringing a libel action against the
CAA for having called me a ‘notorious
anti-Semite.’  I am not alone.  If you are Jewish and anti-Zionist then you
are almost certain to be defamed by the CAA. 
Its list of victims is a lengthy one and includes Israeli Professor Moshe Machover, the late
Gerald Kaufman MP, Jackie Walker as well as assorted Palestinians.

I have decided to make a stance
against this McCarthyist organisation which pollutes public life and destroys
debate and dialogue.  It has borrowed all
the techniques of the American political scene where ‘attack ads’ are the
standard fare in political life.  The CAA
believes that by screaming ‘terrorist’ and ‘anti-Semite’ at anything to do with
the Palestinians or anti-Zionism that it can drown out rational discussion and intimidate its opponents into silence.

The CAA operates according to
Goebbel’s maxim that the bigger the lie the more
likely it is to be believed.  It
particularly specialises in distorting what people say to fit in with their
agenda. So when Jackie Walker asked why should Arabs make peace when the
Zionists have taken their country and stolen their land the CAA screamed ‘anti-semitism. When she then went on to say
that anti-Semitism, the Nazis and Hitler had nothing to do with the Palestinians, the CAA
pounced.  Jackie Walker was accused of exonerating
Hitler of the Holocaust. Indeed she was all but accused of denying that there was a
Holocaust. EXCLUSIVE: The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism Accuses Jackie Walker of
Holocaust Denial

The only problem was that Jackie
Walker  didn’t say this.  She was quoting from a book by the former
President of the World Zionist Organisation, Nahum Goldmann, The Jewish Paradox!  Even worse Goldmann was in turn quoting from
the first Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion!  Needless to say this post was quickly pulled
but not before it had been widely quoted and copied.

Only an organisation that
deliberately sets out to distort and mangle what people say, in order to
silence any criticism or debate about Zionism could possibly mistake a quote
from Ben Gurion for an apologetic for Hitler. Ben Gurion was trying to
understand and explain Arab hostility to Zionism from the Arab
perspective.  He was trying to put
himself in the shoes of the Arabs. The CAA is consistent in refusing to admit
or accept that the Palestinians have any case. They are unconcerned with the
feelings of Arabs or Palestinians. Arabs are cardboard cut-out terrorists and
‘genocidal  anti-Semites’ (one of their
favourite phrases).  In their eyes all
Muslims are anti-Semitic (apart from a few tame quislings).

In the past 18 months, the
Campaign Against Anti-Semitism has accused me of being a ‘notorious
anti-Semite’ five times in retaliation for my initiating a petition to have the Charity Commission
deregister them.  Accusations of ‘anti-semitism’ were made by way of retaliation.

I therefore decided, that we have to
put an end to these McCarthyite accusations of anti-Semitism – which are
nothing more than a form of political terrorism.  I  launched a libel action earlier
this year.  Libel actions however cost
money.  An earlier crowdfunding appeal
raised £8,722 of which £2,400 was spent paying a barrister to draft the initial
Particulars of Claim.  I now need to be
able to pay for more legal work and that is why I am relaunching my CAA Libel
Appeal.  There is still £6,222 left from
the original appeal but given that libel actions can run into hundreds of
thousands of pounds my appeal for £15,000 is for the bare bones and nothing more.

So please give generously to the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism Libel
Fund!  This is not for me but for all those
campaigners for Palestine who have been accused of ‘anti-Semitism’.

And please sign
the petition to deregister the CAA as a charity

Tony Greenstein