Veteran anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein is suing the Campaign Against Antisemitism for calling him a “notorious antisemite”.
Mr Greenstein, who was expelled by the Labour Party in February 2018 for abusive behaviour, is seeking damages from the CAA for defamation and breaches of data protection.
In documents filed at the High Court, he claims statements made by the CAA on its website and shared on social media have “caused and continues to cause him considerable distress, hurt, injury to his feelings and embarrassment”.
Mr Greenstein, a founding member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the UK and of Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods, described himself as a “Jew who deplores and condemns antisemitism”.
He said he had been subjected to antisemitism himself and well understood the “pain, anger and distress caused by expressions of racial prejudice directed against Jewish people”.
He added he had “consistently distinguished himself from those few pro-Palestinian campaigners who are truly antisemitic and has challenged such people over their racism.”
At the same his campaigning had “also been directed at opposing false allegations of antisemitism from being used to discredit or distract from legitimate discourse about and criticism of Zionism and the state of Israel.”
Mr Greenstein cited several statements made by the CAA which referred to him as a “notorious antisemite”, and wrote that he had breached the “International Definition of Antisemitism” by calling Jews Nazis.
Mr Greenstein also took issue with the CAA over comments that he had “previous criminal form for brazen deception, having past convictions for credit card theft and subsequent use, vandalism, drug possession and a number of other petty crimes”. The CAA has also accused him of “brazenly lying” to the Charity Commission.
He said the CAA had published “purported details of wholly irrelevant spent minor convictions which are over 30 years old, which purported details are of course themselves defamatory.”
CAA said: “The case brought by Mr Greenstein is being defended.”
