Racist who fled hate trial caught in America

A racist who fled the country after being convicted of five charges of publishing racially inflammatory material has been apprehended in America.

Stephen Whittle, 41, of Preston, Lancs, had written five offensive articles under the pen-name Luke O’Farrell, which were published on the internet.

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Minister pledges to fight hate

A government minister committed financial backing this week to help combat antisemitism.

Jim Murphy, minister for Europe, made his pledge at the launch of a new London-based think-tank dedicated to combating the growth of antisemitic discourse and discrimination.

Mr Murphy said the government would fund the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism through the Department for Communities and Local Government.

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Bloggers refuse to apologise over ‘evil Jew’ libel threat

A popular political website is refusing to back down in the face of a threat of libel action from an Islamist activist who denies having referred to an “evil Jew”.

Harry’s Place, the left-of-centre blog, has engaged top lawyers Mishcon de Reya to defend it against a claim from Mohammed Sawalha, the president of the British Muslim Initiative.

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Rabbi gets a police escort to synagogue

A rabbi has been forced to have a police escort for Shabbat services because he fears for his safety.

For the past two years, officers have followed Rabbi Yossi Schwei as he walks the one-mile route from his Luton home on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.

They began accompanying him as a precaution after youths began hurling verbal abuse at him and his family.

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Two convicted on race hate charges

Two racists have been found guilty of publishing material with the titles 'Make Niggers History'; 'Dumb Niggers, Gloating Jews' and 'Diversity = Death'.

Bigots Simon Sheppard, from Selby, North Yorks., and his co-accused Stephen Whittle, from Preston, Lancs., were charged with inciting racial hatred.

Leeds Crown Court heard during the trial that 40-year-old Sheppard controlled a website called www.heretical.com and that Whittle, 41, would write articles for it.

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Neo-Nazism ‘on rise’ in Ukraine

Antisemitism is rising in Ukraine following a year of attacks on the Jewish community, according to an Amnesty International report released today [Friday].

The human-rights group said neo-Nazism was “on the march” in the country after authorities failed to challenge racism, often classifying violence as “hooliganism” by “skinheads”.

The report quotes figures from the Eurasian Jewish Congress which recorded 29 violent attacks against Jewish people and their properties in 2007.

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JFS admissions policy backed by judge

A challenge to the admissions policy of the JFS Comprehensive School in Kenton, North West London, appears to have ended today after Mr Justice Munby ruled the policy to be "entirely lawful and proportionate to the aims and objectives of the school." Sitting in Cardiff, the judge said that Jewish status could only be defined by Jewish law, and was not something to be determined by the secular courts.

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Kinder refugee recalls ‘awful’ swastika letter

An 83-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany spoke this week of the “hurt” of being the victim of a campaign of antisemitic and threatening letters. The material came from a Portsmouth postman  who has just received a four-year jail sentence.

In February 2005, Julius Klein, who came to Britain on the Kindertransport aged 14 in 1939, received an envelope containing a swastika-daubed paper. There were references to Adolf Hitler and the number 18, often associated with Hitler, whose initials are the first and eighth numbers of the alphabet.

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Brutal Paris attack raises new fears for community’s safety

As the latest young Jewish victim of a violent attack in France woke up from his coma on Monday, debate was reignited on the safety and future of the county’s Jewish community.

Rudy Haddad, 17, was wearing a kippah when he was beaten by between 15 and 30 teenagers of black African origin wielding metal bars. The incident, which occurred on Shabbat afternoon, was initially described by French authorities as antisemitic. 

The attack took place in Paris’s multi-ethnic 19th district, which has large Jewish, Arab and black populations.

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Student leaders pledge to fight campus racism

Manchester University’s growing reputation for harbouring antisemitism is facing a new challenge after Jewish candidates gained a third of the places on the student-union council.

The new team will have four Jewish representatives on the executive and another 14 on the student council. One of them — Rob Pinfold — is the new general secretary.

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