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Charity boss who wrote that ‘terrorists founded Israel’ is reported to watchdog
Hugh Jaeger, who sits on the board of Bus Users UK, branded Zionism ‘evil’ and compared Israel to the Nazis
August 3, 2021 13:33
Hugh Jaeger, who sits on the board of Bus Users UK, branded Zionism ‘evil’ and compared Israel to the Nazis
August 3, 2021 13:33An anti-racism group has reported a charity director to the Charity Commission after revealing posts in which he wrote that “terrorists founded Israel” and branded Zionism “evil”.
The GnasherJew Twitter account, a group of four anonymous racism hunters, said it was “astonished” that Hugh Jaeger was a director and trustee of a charity.
However Mr Jaeger, who sits on the board of Bus Users UK, a charity which aims to make transport more “accessible and inclusive”, accused the Twitter group of running a “smear” campaign against him.
The online row erupted after GnasherJew published a thread of tweets and cartoons posted by Mr Jaeger.
In one post Mr Jaeger condemns “racist Israel”.
He writes: “Palestinians strive for freedom. Terrorists founded Israel by massacres and ethnic cleansing to steal Palestine. State terrorists who massacre, steal land, apply apartheid, murder children and commit war crimes have ruled Israel ever since.”
In another he writes in defence of former Peterborough MP Lisa Forbes who was forced to apologise for liking an antisemitic post. In his post, Mr Jaeger brands Israel a “racist endeavour”.
In a third he compares Israel to the Nazis. Posting in 2019, he wrote: “In 1948 Zionists copied the Nazis to liquidate several villages.”
GnasherJew said it had reported Mr Jaeger to the Charity Commission.
The account added: “We are astonished that this man is a director of any charity, let alone one that prides itself on inclusivity”.
The JC contacted the charity for comment but it did not respond.
On Twitter, Mr Jaeger hit back at GnasherJew saying the account had blocked him and was conducting a “smear campaign from behind a block” which was “below the belt”.
He added: “And so it is targeting my charity colleagues, in the hope of damaging either me, them or both.”
Among Mr Jaeger’s posts highlighted by GnasherJew was a series of cartoons by controversial artist Carlos Latuff.
One features a picture of an armed Israeli border police officer standing on the corpse of a dead Palestinian. Mr Jaeger wrote: “Pic of an Israeli Magav border police thug sums up why Zionism is evil & why Palestinians must resist.”
And in a separate picture he posted photographs of Labour leader Keir Starmer, former deputy leader Tom Watson and frontbencher David Lammy who, he claimed, “took backhanders from the Israel lobby”.
He has also denied the scale of Labour’s antisemitism problem.
In December, 2019, he wrote a blog about misinformation in which he claimed: “No one has proved that antisemitism is any more common in Labour than it is in UK society as a whole”.
He added: “Israel and its supporters will do anything, however unscrupulous, to discredit and destroy supporters of Palestine.”
He named former Labour MPs and “Zionist celebrities” who had “relentlessly” smeared Jeremy Corbyn.
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