“Anonymous” attacks US extremist websites, alleges Ron Paul link

The Internet hacking group “Anonymous” has decided to join the fight against right-wing extremism. Deutche Welle and PC Magazine report that last month, elements of the loosely-knit confederation of super-hackers set their sites on German neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist groups, especially the NPD, and have set up a German-language website dedicated to revealing confidential information hacked from NPD accounts, including the names of donors and the real names of individuals writing for extremist publications under pseudonyms.

They then they took their fight one step further, and reportedly took down the website of the American Nazi Party and the affiliated site, White Honor, though both those sites have since returned to the Internet.

Anonymous’ latest hits are on a group that is particularly close to my heart, American Third Position. As of this writing, the main website of the group is down; its owners have apparently responded by redirecting its URL to the website of Merlin Miller, A3P’s candidate for US President in 2012 (yes, they have a presidential candidate). A huge amount of information on A3P’s Jamie Kelso has now been posted on the “Good Night White Pride” website. Anonymous has reported that they have evidence that Ron Paul, who is currently seeking the Republican nomination for a 2012 presidential run, met with A3P’s board of directors. If this is true, it is an explosive revelation. I haven’t looked at the evidence for this yet, but it is already circulating on some news sites, though it has not yet made the national press. (Allegations that Ron Paul has links to white supremacist groups have been out there for years, and the controversy over his newsletters, which in the past have contained extremist content, is well known.) Of course the extremists themselves are blaming Anonymous’ activities on Jews.

Although I also fight extremism and anti-Semitism by publishing information on this blog about the activities and ideas of extremists, I do not support illegal activity or hacking. I post information I find online or in printed materials; I do not try to hack websites. (In any case, I have no idea how to do that.)

Press TV shut down in UK

I just found out that Press TV has lost its license to broadcast in Britain because it violated provisions of the UK Communications Act. Apparently the violations did not pertain to its programming content, but to its failure to consistently register itself as an entity whose editorial content is determined in Tehran.

I can’t say I’m terribly sorry to see them go. As I have documented on this blog, Press TV has promoted anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and maintains a roster of avowed anti-Semites as commentators. Free speech is a serious issue, but from what I have read, Ofcom, the British entity that regulates commercial broadcasting (I guess similar to the American FCC?), proposed several solutions to allow Press TV to come into compliance with the existing regulations. If Press TV refuses to play by the rules everyone else adheres to, I don’t think it’s censorship to close them down until they mend their ways. (I have a problem with selective enforcement of the rules, but I don’t know enough to determine whether that is the case here.)

You can be sure that some people will blame Jews for this. Oh wait, they already do. Gilad Atzmon writes that the decision to revoke Press TV’s license was made due to “Jewish lobby pressure.” And people commenting on Press TV’s own story about the incident are saying that Britain was forced to make this decision by its “Zionist commanders” or by “Israel and their closest cousins AMERICANS [sic].” One commenter alleges that the decision was “instigated by israhell through a local ishelli group in uk. Those seedlings of satan cannot stand criticism nor truth, for it places a huge spotlight on their demon infested lives.” Another writes that Press TV was the only broadcaster in the UK that was not “editorially controlled by Israel by proxy.”

Israel Shamir calls Spanish Holocaust denier a “wonderful man”

Pedro Varela with David Duke

Israel Shamir, a Jewish convert to Christianity who espouses medieval-style anti-Judaism but who defends himself by claiming he is merely an anti-Zionist, called my attention to an article in in the Spanish newspaper El Pais about Pedro Varela. Varela is a right-wing extremist in Spain who denies the Holocaust and venerates Hitler. He has been in prison since late 2010, when he was convicted of disseminating Holocaust denial.

In his introduction to the article, Shamir reveals that Varela is his Spanish-language publisher. He calls him a “wonderful man” and insists that all the charges against Varela are merely “political accusations.”

David Duke also calls Varela “a good friend,” and the two of them conducted a book tour in Spain in 1987 to promote Duke’s blatantly anti-Semitic book, Jewish Supremacism. Varela also facilitated a notorious speech by David Irving in Spain in 2007 (see Irving’s account of the speech here and here), and eventually became Irving’s Spanish-language publisher.

It is hardly necessary to adduce any more proof of Israel Shamir’s anti-Semitism, but his lauding of Pedro Varela and use of him as his publisher is just one more bit of damning evidence.

Kevin MacDonald cheers the fringe voices of anti-Semitism in the OWS movement

You know that weird guy who has been showing up with anti-Semitic signs to the Occupy Wall Street rallies in Manhattan? A professor at Cal. State-Long Beach thinks he’s the one who’s got it right.

In his latest blog post, Kevin Macdonald, a professor of evolutionary psychology at Cal State-Long Beach and white supremacist ideologue, complains that the Occupy Wall Street movement is not calling attention to the fact that Jews have a “dominant position” among the financial elite and that Jews “have control” over important Wall Street firms. MacDonald thinks that this Jewish control is very important to understanding the US financial woes of recent years. In a 2010 post, MacDonald asked, “Does Jewish financial misbehavior have anything to do with being Jewish?” Predictably, he answered in the affirmative:

“[T]he current financial meltdown has revealed a large role for Jewish companies and Jewish money managers who engineered the meltdown and profited handsomely from it….The key point is the legitimacy of fraud within the Jewish community. Successful fraudsters are not shunned but rather become pillars of the community….The idea is that the Jewish financial elite sees the non-Jewish world in instrumental terms — as objects with no moral value….In psychological terms, these Jews are behaving in a sociopathic manner toward the non-Jewish world. That is, they have no concern for the moral consequences of their actions — no empathy or concern for victims….In any case, it is a very troubling sign indeed for the US that the financial sector is vastly outpacing the rest of the economy in corporate earnings as well as in executive compensation — especially when it’s being run by a group of people who have sociopathic attitudes toward non-Jewish America.”

Of course, MacDonald’s argument is undermined by the fact – which he himself notes! – that Jews are also prominently represented in the ranks of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Doesn’t that disprove his own argument about an alleged Jewish penchant for and veneration of financial fraud?

For that matter, why doesn’t MacDonald talk about the stirring calls for honesty, fairness, and social justice made by Judaism’s great prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah? MacDonald loves to tout his command of Jewish sources, so why doesn’t he talk about these verses in Leviticus, when Moses commands the Jews:

“Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight…Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly… Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity….Do not causes perversions of justice; use honest scales and honest weights; I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” (Leviticus 19, slightly modified translation from the NIV Bible)

How typical of MacDonald, to craft bizarre theories of Jewish perfidy and to demonize our tradition, while ignoring our foundational principles and the ideals that are preached in synagogues across the world every week.

Congratulations Lynx and Lamb

The Gaede Twins in 2007

According to a report on Good Morning America, the twin sisters who comprised the white power music duo, Prussian Blue, have renounced white supremacism. They started their band when they were twelve years old, after having been home-schooled by their mother, neo-Nazi April Gaede. For years they were the darlings of the worldwide white supremacist movement, and they publicly expressed both their admiration for Adolf Hitler and their contention that the Holocaust was a myth. Today, however, after suffering from several serious health problems, the now-19-year-old women have repudiated their old belief system. That’s a hard thing to do, especially since making this change probably alienated them from many of the people in their lives. Congratulations, Lynx and Lamb. I have great respect for what you’ve done.

Update: Apparently, discussions about the Gaede twins’ personal growth have been burning up the white supremacist message boards. The administrators of Stormfront have deleted all threads on the subject. Over at VNN, a lengthy thread includes several posts from April Gaede, including this one, in which she claims that her daughters’ beliefs have not changed as much as the media are claiming. That’s certainly possible. Many white supremacists insist that they respect all races and religions even while promoting their racist beliefs, and the twins’ statements could be interpreted in that manner. But Juju Chang, who did the Good Morning America story, seems to have had some extensive conversations with the girls, and for now I’m going to trust her presentation of their views.

Conviction upheld for Holocaust-denying bishop

Hot off the presses: A German court has upheld the conviction of SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson for defaming the memory of the dead and inciting racial hatred, though it lowered the fine he must pay. No reaction yet from the anti-Semitic community, but much fulminating about the Zionist lobby is likely to ensue. Ingrid Rimland Zundel posted a meandering essay about Williamson two days ago on the Veterans Today website.

SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson explains court strategy

Traditionalist Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson, who faces charges in a German court of inciting racial hatred over his public denial of the Holocaust, announced in a letter to supporters [on the Dinoscopus mailing list] that he would not try to defend the truth of his statements in court. Rather, his defense would be based on the argument that his remarks “were self-evidently in no way intended for a German audience, and thus the German law did not apply to [his] situation.” The German press agency DPA had recently quoted Bishop Williamson’s former lawyer as saying that the bishop intended to argue in German court that his statements were factually true (i.e. he would repeat in court his contention that the Holocaust never happened).

Bishop Williamson’s defense may well not hold up in court. There is precedent for German courts upholding their right to prosecute any case where Holocaust denial was made accessible to German citizens, even if the actual statements were made outside Germany and in a foreign language. We saw this in the case of Fredrick Toben in late 2000, and the principle was reaffirmed in 2007 with the conviction of Ernst Zundel in Germany, partially for web content that was posted outside the country. [Correction 07/12/2011: German news sources are reporting that Bishop Williamson's interview with Swedish TV took place in Germany. That made his defense much weaker, I think. I'm not surprised the court upheld his conviction.]

If convicted, Bishop Williamson may be forced to pay a fine; I don’t think the prosecutors are asking for prison time.

Bishop Williamson is a member of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), which has a history of promoting anti-Semitism. The bishop’s own anti-Semitic comments have been documented as well.