A lawyer for the Jewish Human Rights Watch organisation has appeared alongside former EDL leader Tommy Robinson in a politically motivated video made for a right-wing media website.
Robert Festenstein is filmed by the Rebel Media Youtube site being introduced as Mr Robinson, a legal adviser, as he visits a Sunderland based shop owner who had been contacted by police and asked to remove a sign he had placed outside his shop relating to the funding of terrorism.
The shopkeeper’s cause had been taken up by right-wing campaigners like Mr Robinson who is filmed introducing “lawyer Rob who we brought with us.”
Mr Festenstein represents Prestwich Hebrew Congregation on the Board of Deputies – which issued a firm statement this week condemning an association with Mr Robinson by Jewish organisations.
He is also a regular blogger whose biog states he is “active in representing groups fighting antisemitism and opposing BDS.”
When asked about his appearance in the video alongside the former EDL leader Mr Festenstein, founder of Manchester-based RHF Solicitors said: “I was interviewed by Mr Robinson in connection with a matter where I am instructed by a client who has a potential dispute with Sunderland City Council. Mr Robinson is not my client and I have no association with him.”
Asked about the Board’s statement on Mr Robinson, Mr Festenstein said: “I fully support the Board’s views.”
The Jewish Human Rights Watch organisation was established in 2015 and has engaged in high-profile campaigns against antisemitism and the BDS movement.
Mr Festenstein is listed as one of four directors of the group – and the sole director of a second Jewish Human Rights Watch Education Ltd company formed in May.
A Board of Deputies spokesperson said: “The Board of Deputies is reviewing this matter. We made a clear statement on our position on Tommy Robinson earlier in the week, where we said, ‘Tommy Robinson’s record of anti-Muslim provocation means that he could never be a partner of a respectable or mainstream Jewish organisation’."
