2 min read
It is three years since Tommy Robinson, the English Defence League founder, dropped the news that he was quitting the group in a move co-ordinated by the counter-extremism think-tank, Quilliam. His "defection" was cautiously welcomed, with the emphasis on the caution. Richard Benson, the former Community Security Trust chief executive, said Robinson was an "absolute street thug" who needed to prove himself as a reformed character before mainstream groups would work with him.
Flash-forward to 2016 and the repeat criminal - whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and who has previously been jailed for fraud and convicted of assault - has largely sunk without trace.
He has spoken at rallies held by the British branch of the Pegida group, an anti-Islam movement working to capitalise on the fracturing of the far-right and which picks up support from the diminished BNP - of which Robinson was also once a member - and EDL.
But aside from his incessant tweeting and appearances on fringe right-wing websites and media channels, he has dropped from view.
Until earlier this month, when he visited Israel.
His support is simply a provocation to UK Muslims
Robinson, who once disguised himself as a rabbi in an apparent attempt to evade police and address a demonstration, has often stated his support for Jews and displayed apparent backing of Israel. He waved the country's flag at EDL protests.
Last year he told the JC he supported the community because all Jews he had ever met were "great". One was his barrister, another was his accountant.
Perhaps his trip was a natural progression, an Israel tour experience pitched less at post-GCSE students, more at Muslim-baiting ex-convicts.
Robinson travelled around Israel and the West Bank, tweeting pictures of himself watching the Syrian conflict from the Golan Heights, meeting Christian ministers in Bethlehem, wearing an IDF T-shirt, larking around in the Dead Sea, and at the Kotel, where he donned a kippah.
One picture, of Robinson standing on an Israeli tank and holding a machine gun, resulted in some British newspaper coverage.
He finished the visit by explaining it had "honestly been the best and most fascinating trip of my life. I'd recommend to everybody to visit the beautiful state of Israel". His 142,000 followers on the site lapped it up.
But this was all played out in an echo-chamber. Robinson preaches to those already converted to his supposed cause.
The reality is, and always was, that his "support" for Israel and Jews was designed simply as a provocation to British Muslims. It is in no way a two-way relationship.
Robinson and the EDL were motivated by their desire to stir tensions between communities and cause trouble on the streets. They often succeeded.
When, in 2010, the EDL launched a "Jewish division" urging the community to help "lead the counter-Jihad fight", barely a dozen people signed up - and most of them weren't Jewish.
British Jews know why these figures, often posing as political outsiders, cosy up to Israel. And the community rightly rejects them with the derision and contempt they warrant.
The danger is of others believing that Israel, and by extension our community, desire any links whatsoever with Robinson and his ilk.
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