Brighton Rocks Against Racist Settler Shop Sodastream

Jewish Chronicle Refuses to Print Letters Criticising Its Lies and Deceptions

Traditionally the role of a newspaper was to inform its readership of events.  Some papers like The Times, but also the Jewish Chronicle, considered themselves papers of record.  When  historians would come to write up the period in question, they could faithfully cite the newspapers concerned as a historical record.  Serious newspapers therefore took great trouble to ensure that Comment and Reporting were separated off, although of course a paper’s political stance would inevitably colour the nature of its reporting.

More 'mob rule' JC 9.2.13.

So anyone wanting to know more about the Jewish community and the British Union of Fascists would ignore the Jewish Chronicle at their peril.  But when  historians come to write about  how and why the Apartheid State of Israel was dismantled and de-Zionised in favour of a non-racist unitary state, they will want to look at the history of the movement for BDS which brought about the end of a Jewish Racial State in Palestine.

This was going to be a picture of a perfectly empty shop and its bored shop assistants - but the window has caught the image from the opposite side of the road where the Zionists demonstrate.  Like Dracula they aren't captured in the mirror!

Unfortunately using the Jewish Chronicle today under Stephen Pollard, as a source of information about the anti-Apartheid movement against Zionism would be about as much value as citing  Hogwarts as an example of the English public school system.  In fact it would probably be less accurage!

PSC demonstrators chatting as the forlorn Zionists wave the Union Jack on the opposite side of the road - hoping to attract the odd EDL supporter

As readers of this blog will know, Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle learnt his trade at the feet of the most unscrupulous and malevolent of all newspaper proprietors, Richard Desmond, when he was Editor of the Daily Express.  Pollard still writes for Desmond and the Express, whose circulation is faithfully reflecting that of the Jewish Chronicle – all one way down!
So accompanied by an admittedly nice photo of protestors and school students demonstrating outside the settler shop Sodastream, were the usual lies and disinformation – except that this time the article was subtitled ‘Sketch’ – which in serious newspapers is a clue to the fact that what follows isn’t to be taken seriously (usually write-ups of parliamentary proceedings).

According to the Jewish Chronicle - this is 'mob rule' and a festival of 'hate slogans'!!

The article is titled ‘Brighton rocked by hate slogans’.  Apart from the feeble witticism [clue:  Graham Greene!].  No doubt if this had been a 1930’s picket of a shop selling German wares, the JC would have characterised anti-Nazi slogans as being full of ‘hate’.  We should have learnt to love Hitler just as we should now love Israel.

Mob Rule in Brighton (S Pollard, Jewish Chronicle fiction novellist of the year)

The article itself finds it difficult to get even the simplest of things right.  Apparently Sodastream is 50 yards from the clocktower – in fact it’s about 500 yards.  We learn that Brighton is home to a number of the number of protests including outside Sainsbury’s which stocks settler products from the West Bank.  It concentrates on the arrest of 2 people who had nothing to do with the protest, but who found the Zionist protest in support of ethnic cleansing so objectionable that they gave mock Hitler salutes.  Unfortunately the first person who did so, rather than taking legal advice, pleaded guilty.  In fact there is a long tradition of people giving mock  Sieg Heils and Hitler salutes at racist events.  When I was 16 I travelled down from Liverpool to London for the Twickenham demonstration against the Springbok tour.  Outside the ground thousands of anti-racist, anti-apartheid demonstrators were giving the South Africans and their supporters sieg heil chants.

The Jewish Chronicle, which has never once interviewed a protestor, does manage to interview the vacuous Fiona Sharpe of Sussex Friends of Israel.  Apparently she is taking part in the counter-demonstration because she doesn’t like being bullied.  A good example of the Zionists’ disingenuousness.  Perhaps she opposes bullying on principle?  If so   then why isn’t she out demonstrating against the bullying of Palestinians who are stopped for hours at checkpoints, have their land  confiscated, their crops burn and their children subject to random military attacks.  Or maybe the bullying of the oppressed doesn’t count.  After all, to racists they are less than human so nothing counts.

The Jewish Chronicle even manages to interview the traditional enemy, a Christian fundamentalist, Daniel Laurence.  Many of the counter-protestors are Christian anti-Semites who want the Jews to go to Palestine so that Armageddon can take place, the Rapture begin and millions of Jews perish in the fires designed for the anti-Christ.  Because historically the first Zionists weren’t Jewish but Protestant Restorationists like Palmerstone and Lord Shaftesbury.

Sad to say that this Saturday gone, the demonstration was even quieter.  The solitary policeman seemed bored out of his mind as did Sodastream’s security guard.  People on the street were just as receptive to our message and once again, if you want peace and quiet to practice your yoga or meditation then you should consider Brighton’s Sodastream shop (it calls itself Ecostream!) which has now been designated a customer-free zone.

I include a short video to demonstrate how peaceful everything is, unlike the loud and lying  headings of the Jewish Chronicle’s articles.  And once again Simon Cobbs was conspicuous by his absence.

Tony Greenstein

Sodastream Brighton Is Already Damaged Goods – No one Wants to Buy Stolen Goods
I tried a small experiment today.  I went back to Sodastream shop and took some pictures, about an hour after the last demonstrator had left.  Now according to Simon Cobbs, the EDL supporting Zionist who organises the counter-demonstration,  ‘Dr Lucas rejected claims that if the protests did not move from directly outside EcoStream, the store would close.’ http://www.thejc.com/node/100197

Of course to Cobb and the Zionists the fact that a demonstration is successful in persuading people not to shop somewhere is evidence that they are being intimidated and the protest should be banned.  Protests, after all, should only be allowed when they have no hope of persuading anyone of anything!

I was, therefore, curious to see what trade was like when we were not there.  Perhaps Cobb was right.  After all even a stopped clock, and Cobb is somewhat repetitious, is right twice a day.  I went expecting a few customers.  Surely curiosity if nothing more would lead to people going in to see what the fuss is about.  Maybe some people are nervous and shy and steer clear of demonstrations altogether.  The point is that I expected that the shop would be busier than during the demonstrations when the only custom seems to be from the demonstrators  opposite.

I was therefore staggered that during the time that I was outside and filming and observing not one person went into the shop.  Indeed, if you want peace and quiet in Brighton, probably the best place to go is not to the library, which seems a hive of activity these days but Sodastream!  You can be sure that other customers won’t interrupt you.  Perhaps Sodastream should think of putting big cushions on the floor, getting rid of the counters that no one buys from anyway and instead offer yoga and transcedental meditation.  Not only would the demonstrations stop but trade is likely to increase significantly!

The Jewish Chronicle however is playing an entirely different and thoroughly disingenuous game.  It is trying to change reality through the use of deliberately false and hyped reporting.  The editorial in this week’s Jewish Chronicle is entitled ‘Mob-rule by the sea’.  Of course the Jewish Chronicle hasn’t bothered to send a reporter still less interview one of the counter-demonstrators.  Today it is no longer, as it once was, a paper of record.  Truth is seen as an expedient.  In reality the screeching of the JC betrays the mentality Lord Haw-Haw – mix in a nugget of truth [there is a demonstration, it can’t be denied] together with a vat load of lies.

I also took the time out to video a representative sample of just how peaceful the demonstration is – people talking, asking questions, quietly waving their flags, running a stall and on the opposite side waving the Israeli flag and the Butcher’s Apron (union jack).  Despite provocations from Jonathan Hoffman’s uglier twin, taxi driver Harvey Garfield, who stuck his camera in peoples’ faces (the Zionists tried that trick at Ahava – fat lot of good it did them) and the Christian woman in blue who is so fascinated with Bondage, Submission & Domination (she thinks that that’s what BDS is about! she comes along every week in hope).

And to enliven proceedings this week a group of about 8 kids – about 12-14 in age – came along to demonstrate and shout in support of the Palestinians.

But the Jewish Chronicle is determined not to let truth get in the way of its political campaign to have the demonstration banned.  So the headline of its article on the protests this week was ‘Protests turn nasty outside Ecostream’ with a picture showing the 2 sets of demonstrators intermingling.  In fact, at the shop’s own request, the Israeli demonstrators went to the other side of the road as the shouting between the 2 sets of demonstrators was deterring shoppers.  Fat lot of good it’s done them as no one wants to be seen buying stolen goods anyway. 

But the real purpose behind the distorted and untrue coverage of the Jewish Chronicle is to provide a basis for an application to the High Court to issue an injunction against the demonstration on the grounds of fear, intimidation etc. etc.  The only problem is that the evidence is against them.  Despite accusations of having been spit on and been subject to anti-Semitic abuse, the opposite is true.  3 members of the PSC demonstration have been assaulted, including myself.  Simon Cobb grabbed one demonstrator from behind and gripped his neck.  Another woman had a megaphone pushed in her face and I was attacked by a mentally ill transvestite who goes by the name ‘Chelsea’.

The only anti-Semitic abuse that there has been has been by the same Simon Cobb who thought it funny to shout ‘Jews Out’.  Not that he’s the first or the last Zionist to do so.   Since the Palestinian demonstration usually has a number of Jewish people on it the idea that we would demonstrate against Zionist racism whilst indulging in anti-Semitism is wishful thinking.

What there has been is one conviction where a passer-by  (not an ‘anti-Israeli activist as the Jewish Chronicle has twice stated) was convicted of making a Nazi salute in the direction of the Zionist demonstration.  Apparently someone else was also arrested for this today.  It is to be hoped that s/he pleads not guilty because what was almost certainly intended was a form of satire, in other words irony.  People see Jewish demonstrators in favour of ethnic cleansing [the Christian fundamentalists on the Zionist demonstration call the Palestinians who are being evicted and having their land stolen ‘occupiers’ as the Jews were there 3,500 years ago!] and they give a Nazi salute as if to say, you of all people should remember the evils of racism.

Indeed I can remember the 3rd demonstration I attended in my life.  It was at Twickenham back in 1970 against the touring South African Springboks.  A crowd of thousands outside the ground chanted ‘sieg heil’ the Nazi chant at those attending.  Did it mean we were therefore Nazis?  Of course not, we were indulging in a form of political irony.  Those who demonstrate in favour of racism and ethnic cleansing cannot expect a free pass.

Jewish Chronicle Refuses to Print Letter Pointing  Out Its Lies & Deceptions

Below is a letter which I sent  last week to the JC pointing out that their coverage, culminating in the 'Mob rule by the sea' article, was a tissue of lies and falsehoods.  Unsurprisingly it was not printed.  The JC doesn't do debate anymore.

Dear Sir or Madam:

For the past five months, the Jewish Chronicle has covered the weekly protests outside Brighton’s Sodastream shop.  We do not expect the JC, a pro-Zionist newspaper, to cover the protests favourably.  However we do expect your reports to be truthful.

We reject the repeated allegations which have been made that the protests are anti-Semitic and in particular the suggestion that there are ‘unparalleled level of antisemitism’ in Brighton.  (14th January 2012, New friends in Sussex).

Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Brighton has been actively involved in opposing the fascist English Defence League, an organisation which combines support for Israel with holocaust denial. When the EDL marched in Brighton last April, PSC members were there to oppose them. We are unaware of any Zionist participation in anti-fascist work in Brighton. 

The JC’s tendentious coverage of the protests culminated in your leader ‘Mob-rule by the sea’ (7th February 2013).  As can be sees from a video of last Saturday’s protests,  http://azvsas.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/brighton-sodastream-shop-possibly.html the demonstration is completely peaceful.  Even the Police twitter account agreed that the protests have been peaceful.  (‘'Looking forward to peaceful protest and good communication (as usual)!').   This hardly sounds like mob-rule.

The JC's real agenda appears to be to provide justification in court for an attempt to seek an injunction by the provision of false reporting.

A newspaper which was interested in reporting the truth would, at least have made an effort to interview some of those involved in the anti-Sodastream protests.  Instead you have printed any allegation, however absurd.  Your repeated suggestion that our objection is to Jews rather than the dispossession, theft and expulsion of the Palestinians is contemptible.  We are not in the slightest concerned with the religious affiliation of who owns a shop. 

Your allegation is particularly reprehensible as it is suggesting that the considerable number of Jewish members of PSC are conniving in, if not actual participants in, acts of anti-Semitism.

You have twice referred to a member of the public who was arrested for giving a Nazi salute, as an ‘anti-Israel activist’.  (13.12.12., 24.1.13.)  Your assertions are untrue and unsubstantiated. The man in question is completely unknown to us.

Yours faithfully,


Tony Greenstein on behalf of
Brighton Palestine Campaign