How the CAA has helped a book exposing the Israel Lobby to go viral

by Martin Odoni

I believe the word the fake charity, the Campaign Against Antisemitism, is looking for is, “Whoops!”

In a bizarre and unintended re-enactment of Peter & The Wolf, the CAA’s relentless efforts to have critics of Israel and of general Zionist perfidy silenced have resulted in one of censorship’s truly great ‘backfires’.

In the last few weeks, Asa Winstanley of The Electronic Intifada among others, has had his new book published – Weaponising Antisemitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn. The book analyses the last decade of fake smears about supposed ‘anti-Semitism,’ and the damage it has done in particular to the British left.

Usual Suspects

The usual suspects in the Zionist lobby have been huffing and haw-ing about the book being supposedly “offensive.” In my experience, anyone “offended” by a catalogue of mere facts is feeling guilty, be it directly or by association, but pressure has particularly been brought to bear on the people hosting launch events for the book as Winstanley tours the country. This pressure is of course very familiar to anyone who has witnessed the frequent de-platforming of the film The Big Lie and it is of course for precisely the same reason; the Zionists do not want people to realise of the anti-Semitism hysteria that, as Simon Maginn’s now widely-renowned hashtag so rightly says, #ItWasAScam. The aforementioned CAA pressured Unite The Union to de-platform Winstanley at the Bristol event on his book tour. Unite, always the Trade Union that is to solidarity what the Australian Cricket team is to fair play, bravely and defiantly caved in lock, stock and barrel and pulled the Bristol event.

While the CAA smugly congratulated itself on yet another censor-smear of Orwellian proportions, Unite’s decision was roundly condemned by the left, anti-Zionist groups, and wider academia. The general pushback was that the book was a very fine, well-researched and significant work of investigative journalism. The furore carried on for several days, and we all know what happens when there is a public furore surrounding a book. Everybody becomes interested, and wants a copy, and ends up buying one to find out what all the fuss is about. Moreover, by giving in to the CAA’s public bullying against a book itemising weaponised anti-Semitism, on the grounds of it containing supposed anti-Semitism, Unite demonstrated in itself that anti-Semitism was indeed being weaponised, which can only have struck a lot of the public as being highly suspicious.

Number 1 bestseller!

The outcome appears to have been delicious. If you go to the Amazon website to see the order page for the book, you will find it has been assigned the much-coveted “#1 bestseller” tag for the Middle Eastern politics category.

Britain more interested in Zionist criminality than the ex-PM? At last!

Now there is a chance it might have achieved this anyway, but it seems more than likely that the huge public row that blew up has drawn considerable attention to the book. This has probably been further boosted by a detectable irritation growing among the general public at the constant hysteria about “anti-Semitism” any time Israel supporters want something kept quiet. Basically, more and more people are growing skeptical of the hysteria, and every time they hear a Zionist call out, “This is anti-Semitic, the author shouldn’t be allowed to speak!” they want to find out exactly what is causing such feeling.

Either way, if the CAA’s hope was to bury the book, it clearly has not come close to working.

There is a downside to this, as I have been warning for some years. The Zionists are Peter, and they have been crying “Wolf!” for a long time. But Zionists also conflate themselves with Jews, and the growing exhaustion felt by the public with anti-Semitism hoaxes means real anti-Semitic trouble could be treated with equal disdain. Yet another needless problem for civilised society that we have the Zionists to thank for.

Zionism is toxic

There truly is nothing redeeming, nothing to admire or respect, about the Zionist movement. It is unequivocally toxic, from its aims to its methods to its irresponsibility.

But the CAA’s blunder is the result of more than these; it also stems from immense stupidity and myopia, because they missed something incredibly obvious – they are not dealing with a screening of a film this time, they are dealing with a public discussion of a widely-available book. When you shut down the screening of a film, unless it is available on DVD, that will be that, at least until someone else tries to screen it. But when you shut down discussion of a book that has already been published and distributed, it will still be on shelves, it will still be downloadable on a Kindle, and the loud public controversy raised is certain to increase interest in it.

That has always been the paradox of censorship; the more you try to have something concealed, the more it takes on an allure to those who are deprived of it. The more curious people become, as the absence of seeing the text for real frees the imagination to fill in the gaps. In this case, the book is already out there, the genie is out of its bottle, and by trying to force it back, the CAA have let everyone know where they can get three wishes. It was bound to happen eventually.

Thanks, CAA, you can stop helping Asa plug the book now

So, good work, CAA, for all the effective free advertising you provided.

And congratulations, Asa. You got all that extra publicity without having to pay a single penny for advertising space!

The CAA, which routinely violates laws requiring charities to remain politically neutral, are an aggressive and underhanded handful of frauds. But one should never confuse aggression, underhandedness, or fraudulence, with being clever.

Now if my dear readers will just excuse me, I am off to laugh until my ribs ache at yet another example of Zionist dimwittery.

Please feel free to join in.