Just when you think “Comment is Free” couldn’t get any worse, it now emerges that below the line commenter, William Bapthorpe, is back with what appears to be the explicit approval of Guardian management.
For readers that are new to CiF Watch, William Bapthorpe made the following comment last month:
While this comment was deleted and Bapthorpe eventually banned, Matt Seaton, editor of “Comment is Free” went to great lengths to try and prevent his banning.
Well it now turns out that William Bapthorpe has been posting since January 20th under a new moniker, LavartisProdeo, and he is unashamedly admitting that he is indeed William Bapthorpe.
Two weeks later, it appears that its common knowledge that LavartisProdeo is Bapthorpe, even among Guardian contributors!
If we dig a little deeper, we discover that William Bapthorpe is pumping out Jew-hatred of the most insidious kind under his new moniker.
“[T]he uncomfortable intellectual kinship between Zionism and anti-Semitism”. What Bapthorpe is referring to is the claim by many in the anti-Zionist movement that the Zionists conspired with the Nazis to murder 6 million Jews. This line of thinking has its ideological roots in Soviet propaganda against the Jewish state and is virulently antisemitic. Of course this is all lost upon the Guardian moderators who are so entrenched in their anti-Zionism that this comment remains undeleted.
Notice also how Bapthorpe feels kinship with anti-Zionist commenter, Matzpen. Yes the same Matzpen who thinks that Shimon Peres should be put up against the wall and shot.
And the manner in which Bapthorpe makes the Zionism-racism connection is further revealed in this undeleted comment:
So where are the mods in all of this? They fail to ban antisemitic comments made by LavartisProdeo. And worse than that, they fail to ban LavartisProdeo who on more than one occasion admits that he and William Bapthorpe are one and the same.
Well in case you’re wondering what the reason for this is, all is revealed with this telling admission from LavartisProdeo/William Bapthorpe:
So there you have it, William Bapthorpe has been allowed back and can even resume the use of his former moniker – yet another example of the seriousness with which Matt Seaton takes antisemtism. As I said previously this sends an unequivocal message to the Jewish community that anti-Jewish bigots like Bapthorpe are acceptable members of the CiF community and at the same time communicates to anti-Jewish bigots like Bapthorpe that they can continue to engage in antisemitic discourse with impunity.
“Comment is Free” not only reeks of antisemitism it stinks to high heaven.
If you feel as outraged about this as I do, I urge you to write to Matt Seaton at matt.seaton@guardian.co.uk and give him a piece of your mind.
UPDATE
As a result of this post, LavartisProdeo has been banned although the two antisemitic comments above remain undeleted.
Hawkeye
Omar2
WellofSense
Medusa
The Alchemist
Louise
Tosca
Maimon
Telling the Truth
Israelinurse
Adam Levick
Margie in Tel Aviv
Guest/Cross Post
Hadar Sela
93 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 20, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Gangastaista
I have written an email to the given address supporting the editorial line presented here.
I can forward it on to anyone who requests it.
February 20, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Biodegradable
I wouldn’t piss on Seaton if he was on fire, much less would I spare even a molecule of my mind to give him.
February 20, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Gangastaista
The uncomfortable intellectual kinship between Zionism and anti-Semitism”. What Bapthorpe is referring to is the claim by many in the anti-Zionist movement that the Zionists conspired with the Nazis to murder 6 million Jews. This line of thinking has its ideological roots in Soviet propaganda against the Jewish state and is virulently antisemitic.
This is a claim repeated by Jewish academics. Moreover, the statements of German Zionists were, well, as demented and bigoted as is possible to imagine.
Lenni Brenner ‘s 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis is one example of the documentation trail.
As far as Zionism is concerned, the founder of Zionism and apostate, Theodor Herzl, sought to intensify hatred of the Jew in order to enhance the cause of political Zionism. Here are some of his “pearls”:
JAG claims this is a quotation from Theodor Herzl’s diary. I would very much welcome confirmation of it, or evidence it is a forgery: It is essential that the sufferings of Jews become worse, this will assist in realization of our plans. I have an excellent idea, I shall induce anti-semites to liquidate Jewish wealth. The anti-semites will assist us thereby in that they will strengthen the persecution and oppression of Jews. The anti-semites shall be our best friends”.
JAG also claim Jacob Klatzkin, a famous German Zionist, stated in the early 20s: “We Jews are aliens… a foreign people in your midst and we… wish to stay that way. A Jew can never be a loyal German; whoever calls the foreign land his Fatherland is a traitor to the Jewish people“.
Of course, not only should Jews not be slurred with the words and misdeeds of these individuals, neither should the Zionist movement. But, unless JAG are systematic forgers, it appears there was a deeply mentalist and unpleasant element to European Zionism, including prior to rise of the Nazis. Zionism appeared, to some, to be more important than Jewish life.
For example, David Ben-Gurion in 1938 “If I knew it was possible to save all the children in Germany by taking them to England, and only half of the children by taking them to Eretz Israel, I would choose the second solution. For we must take into account not only the lives of these children but also the history of the people of Israel.”
As the saying goes, with friends like that…
February 20, 2010 at 7:52 pm
AKUS
I await my invitation to return to the hallowed columns …
February 20, 2010 at 8:06 pm
JeremyHP
OK Matt, when do I start?
February 20, 2010 at 8:08 pm
JeremyHP
The Guardian shoudl be ashamed but of course it won’t be — that neatly summarises the problem.
February 20, 2010 at 11:35 pm
TomWonacott
Hawkeye
The Guardian continues their outrageous double standard for anti Israel posters.
February 20, 2010 at 11:56 pm
Abandon hope
Gangastaista above ( 734) expresses my thoughts..this article is trying to claim LavartisProdeo, is posting “anti Semitism” which is simply not true. You are leaping to conclusions based on his past post and then blaming the Guardian for your interpretation.
As to the other matter of his banning and this is a separate matter entirely… I called for his banning simply for the use of the word “slaughter” .
As to Mazpens comment re killing Peres ..this was just as unacceptable as people praising the death of the Hamas leader.. so CIF cannot really be thought of as biased here because they allowed many posts congratulating Mossad .
,
“”Comment is Free” not only reeks of antisemitism it stinks to high heaven.”" ??
Case unproven.
February 21, 2010 at 12:09 am
peter1
Is there really a surprise that he’s back?
He is exactly whom the guardian caters to, we have two hangers on here who are cut from the same cloth…..and they post with tedious regularity, as if proclivity will convert their fantasies into truth.
February 21, 2010 at 12:15 am
Abandon hope
TomWonacott
“The Guardian continues their outrageous double standard for anti Israel posters.”
This is one of the few places that does not seem to see what others do ..that Israel and pro Zionost opinion is changing and critics are less welcome than ever. McCarthy in todays Guardian says
” Who now remembers the extraordinary moment in September 1982 when 300,000 Israelis stood in a Tel Aviv square to protest at their government’s complicity in the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps? Or the Four Mothers’ movement which in the late 1990s did so much to precipitate Israel’s withdrawal from that bitter 18-year occupation in Lebanon?”
There are no fair critics left … all are smeared and lambasted as “haters” . A dangerous , inward looking, highly defensive and impervious mentality is forming .
February 21, 2010 at 12:30 am
NapoleonKaramazov
Cif watch’s obsession with this is an over reaction.
Bapthorpe is not anti Semitic, he is just a typical Guardian militant atheist. The militant atheists on the Guardian are not particularly endearing, but they are a far cry from Stomfront material. Yes they have a blinkered opinion that all religions only exist as a form of evil and cannot see the cultural, social and traditional aspects of religions, all of which have contributed to our human tapestry. Trying to argue with these people is frustrating because of their single mindedness and their strong belief in atheism is itself like a religion.
He doesn’t hate you because you are Jewish, he hates you because you are religious. (ok, a lot of Jews and non Jews on this site are not religious) I myself, I suppose, am an agnostic. But I consider myself a cultural Christian in the same way a an atheist Jew feels attached to his Jewish roots (although obviously ‘Christianity’ is not an ethnicity).
So why don’t you just drop this?
He made no reference to ‘Jews’, no reference to Israelis, although it is obviously them that are his target. The comment was out of hand yes. On cif people often make stupid comments. But he is quite clearly a militant atheist, not an anti Semite. His description of them as ‘Religiously motivated maniacs’ shows that. The settlers happen to be religious, therefore they are in his eye ‘bad’. That is the Pavlovian reaction of Graun militant atheists.
You quite clearly seem to be flogging a dead horse. I don’t deny that there are a small minority of real anti Semitic pond life who somehow migrate to cif, and a much larger chunk of completely ‘anti israel’ types who cannot see any good in Israel, despite it’s science, technology, education, democratic and varied culture.
That said, I sincerely hope that no one here is offended by my comments. I myself have been accused of being an anti semite on this page and that hurt and upset me. I trust you will have the maturity not to resort to such baseless accusations.
Peace/Shalom.
February 21, 2010 at 12:32 am
peter1
The very same people remember that there were NO marches in Lebanon itself protesting the actions of LEBANESE who conducted the massacre.
The very same people remember that the man who planned, organized and directed the massacre, Hobeika, was elected to and served multiple portfolios in the Lebanese gov’t.
The very same people who’s euphoria over Oslo was stunned into silence by the intifada.
The very same people who embraced disengagement from Gaza and were jolted by the reality of thousands of qassams.
The very same people enjoy vigorous debate within Israel, it is only the anti-semites, both the knuckle neanderthals and the nod nod wink wink, who continue to decry their inability to hide their intentions with such red-herrings.
February 21, 2010 at 12:40 am
JerusalemMite
It is a disgrace. My fantasies are of one of the Guardian editorial coven being on a live TV show and being asked about their laughingly called ‘moderation’ policy. I’m sure that the answers would be a complete hoot.
Bapthorpe is just one.
Berchmans has had so many of his inane comments deleted that it would be very difficult to defend not having prevented him from posting.
Take LaRit, EdwardsMacaroni, SpectorOverEurope, Moron, (who seems to be in a straight jacked which prevents him using a keyboard), PremptiveResponse and GazaGirl/Dotty or whatever.
I wonder what would happen to a commenter who wrote once, just once, that all the Palestinians who do not leave Israel should be slaughtered, man woman and child.
Would The Guardian allow him to continue posting? Sill question.
February 21, 2010 at 12:42 am
hounddog
Target this dipshit LavartisProdeo,press the abuse button on every single post of his,and explain why,hound him.
IF I belonged to a religion that is single minded and that says all William Bapthorpes who are atheists should be slaughtered,would that make it alright.
February 21, 2010 at 12:58 am
Gerald Kreeve
The tale of williambapthorpe tells me that comment is free considers their commitment to any sort of honesty is only superficial.
Has any pro-Israel banned contributor ever been told that they can resume their previous monikers if they like? Why does this difference in treatment exist? I apologise for this ridiculous question. It is obvious that they have not and that they have had to resort to making this blog instead.
February 21, 2010 at 1:15 am
TomWonacott
NapoleonKaramazov
WilliamBapthorpe said,
“…………Remember this was not long at all after the end of WW2 – with the revalation of the full horrors of the Holocaust fresh in the memory, many foreign journalists and NGO’s (as they would nowadays be called) were, understandably, reluctant to criticise what the Jews were doing in Palestine. This emboldened the Zionists to ever more explusion, destruction of property, and on several occasions massacres of innocent men, women and children……”
Accusing Jews of using the Holocaust as a shield to massacre Palestinian men, women and children is not antisemitic in your opinion? It reminds me of the worst kinds of hate speech directed at Jews.
He also said,
WilliamBapthorpe
3 Jan 2010, 12:51PM
“…….yes Berchmans it can be very discouraging. I’m a Christian myself but many of my friends are Jewish or Muslim and while they can be very friendly to each other on an individual level, en masse the situation is a bit different… oh, how I wish I had a magic wand to bring peace to the ME, but unfortunately I don’t. All that can be done is common ventures like Barenboim and Said’s West-Eastern Divan orchestra, to try to build friendship and love where there previously was mistrust and suspicion.
You take care too old chap…..”
He certainly doesn’t sound like a Guardian militant atheist, now does he? Embarrassingly enough, he calls himself a Christian and speaks of “friendship” and “love”……….
February 21, 2010 at 1:16 am
Gerald Kreeve
NapKar why are you so heatedly and determinedly protective of Bapthorpe, a person with whom you have no acquaintance?
You say
He is not a militant atheist. He is a catholic himself, a fact that he has mentioned several times on comment is free. His reference to ‘religious maniacs’ is therefore directed to the denigration of the particular religion and not the concept of religions as such. You say ‘
You are wrong in this as he is. Many of the settlers are not at all religious. Many are agnostics or atheists.
The amount of knowledge you have of the settlers and the situation in Israel is apparently close to the amount of knowledge you have about the person we are discussing, which is nothing at all. You really should not make these rash statements about things you don’t know. It makes you so vulnerable and lets the world see who you are.
February 21, 2010 at 1:23 am
Arabella Meller
The media are supposed to disseminate information and we are accustomed to trust them to convey the facts of our world honestly.
When we see that the Guardian flouts the rules so openly and shares their attitude with their chosen public then we know that whatever we read in their newspaper is to be questioned. The Manchester Guardian was one of the most revered in the world. This new version is a sad travesty of what there used to be.
February 21, 2010 at 1:33 am
Abandon hope
NapoleonKaramazov
“12:30 am ..Cif watch’s obsession with this is an over reaction”
This was a well argued post. Bapthorp had addressed me a couple of times on CIF and did not strike me as the devil incarnate either.
February 21, 2010 at 1:40 am
Arabella Meller
Abandon Hope – you’re all over this thread. Are you protecting Matt Seaton or the Guardian or Bapthorpe or Karamazov? You don’t do it very well.
February 21, 2010 at 1:40 am
Abandon hope
Arabella Meller
“The Manchester Guardian was one of the most revered in the world. This new version is a sad travesty of what there used to be.”
I never really bought the ” the once great Guardian ” yarn and think it is an attempt to sound balanced …without having to be specific , as to “why the gradual fall from grace?” and “did this have anything to do with coverage in the Middle East?”
You are shooting the messenger.
February 21, 2010 at 1:54 am
Abandon hope
TomW
Re “I wish I had a magic wand to bring peace to the ME, but unfortunately I don’t. .”
I think he was experimenting with better drugs than you can get in Scotland!
… no excuse for using the word “slaughter”but posters are exaggerating what to he said ….when it is not needed.
Houndog is implying he said “all jews should be slaughtered ” What he said was so bad there is no need to exaggerate it.
February 21, 2010 at 1:57 am
b752i
I will try posting a comment today to see if I have been reinstated. HaHa
February 21, 2010 at 2:06 am
Arabella Meller
Abandon Hope:
You say you never bought the once great Guardian line and yet you hammer it in cif. You really are quite the hypocrite aren’t you?
February 21, 2010 at 2:06 am
peterthehungarian
Gangastaista
I have written an email to the given address supporting the editorial line presented here.
Quelle surprise! A bigot racist Jew hater supports the editorial line of a bigot racist Jew-hater blog!
February 21, 2010 at 2:13 am
Arabella Meller
“”This was a well argued post”"
Berchmans you have really made a fool of yourself over NapKar – even after Gerald Kreeve’s exposure of his ignorance of the facts you still say it’s well-argued.
Well, well… getting to know you (ugh!)
February 21, 2010 at 2:47 am
Independent Observer
Oh, what a joyful sound! One homicidal Jew-hating nutter (Bapthorpe) being supported by a whole bevy of Jew-hating nutters – NapoleonKaramazov, Gangster, Berchmans, not to omit the staff of the Guardian who provide the sounding board.
What a nauseating stench.
February 21, 2010 at 2:54 am
Abandon hope
Arabella Meller
“You say you never bought the once great Guardian line and yet you hammer it in cif. ”
No. I said ..and I quote .. ” I never really bought the ” the once great Guardian ” yarn ” …specifically using inverted commas round ” the once great Guardian ” to show I was referring to the phrase used by others. You have jumped ..full of prejudgement .. and not read what I wrote. Im not complaining ..Im used to it.
I meant the number of posters here and on CIF who claim the Guardian was good ..in the past ..but has become poor. I just assumed.. and in this case I was dead right.. that people that push this line have a shallow understanding of the situation.
“You really are quite the hypocrite aren’t you ”
Having completely misunderstood me.. because you failed to read my post properly.. you jump to judgement, As I said Im not complaining ..Im used to it. Peace to all.
February 21, 2010 at 3:00 am
Oy Va Goy
Great comment Gerald.
Please let us know Hawkeye what reply you get.
February 21, 2010 at 3:08 am
Abandon hope
Independent Observer
.
” a whole bevy of Jew-hating nutters –”
Is “bevy” the correct collective term? I thought it was “cluster ” . As I said earlier if we are going to take on the Guardian ..we have to get these things right. The other thing is understatement.. so helpful in avoiding ridicule.
February 21, 2010 at 5:08 am
b752i
berchmans:
Why don’t you set up a site called CifWatchWatch that monitors the comments on CifWatch ? Then someone can set up a site called CiFWatchWatchWatch that monitors your site …….
Had Gadya
February 21, 2010 at 5:22 am
b752i
I logged in and this is what is poster above the box where comments are typed in:
“Logged in as b752i This message will be held for moderation
click here to log out”.
February 21, 2010 at 5:23 am
THH
From todays thread
The Jews aren’t allowed for self identification in their country and its all a sort of Zionist conspiracy to call its critics Anti Semites .
incredible.
February 21, 2010 at 5:26 am
THH
The last one was from Berchmans , if you didn’t recognize the B .
February 21, 2010 at 5:38 am
Germolene
and here’s another
Berchmans
21 Feb 2010, 9:14AM
## Israel’s greatest weakness has always been that it does not know its own strength ##
.
It knows fine ….. underplay underplay..we are the victims, remember.
B
Berchit the aggression there is tangible and ”we” is nobody else but the Jews. Your antisemitism is self evident.
Away with you.
February 21, 2010 at 5:53 am
Abandon hope
THH
” ( calling Israel the Jewish State …) all a sort of Zionist conspiracy to call its critics Anti Semites .”
You see …on CIF I said you were not normally lumpen and there you go proving me right. Except I said ” ploy ” rather than “Zionist conspiracy”. Ploy being a ruse intended to frustrate an opponent.. whereas ” Zionist conspiracy”is darker with images of cabals influencing affairs and is standard defensive tactics to brand critics of Israel as extreme.
February 21, 2010 at 5:57 am
Abandon hope
Germolene
.
” ”we” is nobody else but the Jews ”
Only if my original point is correct that to call Israel “the Jewish state” makes all comment anti Semitic. If you call the country “Israel ” …her proper name ..then the “somebody else” is the Israelis.
February 21, 2010 at 6:10 am
THH
Abandon hope
Its a Jewish state .
Even if you don’t want it to be .
February 21, 2010 at 6:22 am
Abandon hope
THH
” Its a Jewish state . Even if you don’t want it to be ”
This is exatly what you said on CIF implying that I dont want there to be such a state. Like Chomsky I am a Zionist. I think there definitely should be such a state but I would hope it would not be one that prides in crossing continents to murder folk.
February 21, 2010 at 6:26 am
Monnie
“…must be slaughtered, every last man, woman and child”
Well that is clear enough. If you support that, you are a murderous anti-Semite.
End of.
It appears that the buck stops at Matt Seaton. I had no idea the sort of person behind CIF, but this website is an eye-opener for me.
That post was pure evil, and Matt Seaton was prepared to overlook it.
Says it all about him.
February 21, 2010 at 6:32 am
THH
@Abandon hope
Its not what I said .
Author : The second, unjustified, is that criticism from any quarter includes an implicit question of the legitimacy of the Jewish state.
Me : Well, people constantly calling to the dismantle of the Jewish state and building of a new Palestine .
People are not only criticising Israel , but they also question its legitimacy , not as a state but as a Jewish state .
February 21, 2010 at 8:20 am
Gangastaista
peterthehungarian
Quelle surprise! A bigot racist Jew hater supports the editorial line of a bigot racist Jew-hater blog!
Eh? Is that even written in English?
Why not blame for the holocaust? Not just as a denier, or as a supporter, but as the main and instigator and central planner? If you’re going to lie about antisemitism and bigotry because you have otherwise no moral case to make, you might as well make it VERY BIG lie.
February 21, 2010 at 8:53 am
Abandon hope
THH
“People are not only criticising Israel , but they also question its legitimacy , not as a state but as a Jewish state . ”
I only ever criticise the use of the term “Jewish state ” if I believe the intention of the use is to imply anti Semitism. I have no problem whatsoever if people want to have a Jewish state ( It will be smaller than present day Israel of course ) As I have often said the 67 line appears to be a position acceptable to the Arabs.
February 21, 2010 at 9:09 am
Mitnaged
FAO Matt Seaton
I would like my posting rights to CiF to be reinstated.
I called for no-one to be slaughtered, much less have I tried to post again under a different moniker, and even less taunted CiF by the fact that I can out-manoeuvre them and their talk policy. I was never told why I was deleted although I asked for an explanation.
So, Matt Seaton, you can reach me via this page. Tell me when my moniker has been reinstated.
(PS: I have just heard that the reincarnation of Bapthorpe has been banned again. I take it that’s a “No” then).
February 21, 2010 at 9:18 am
Serendipity
Berchmans (for today, anyway):
“…I have no problem whatsoever if people want to have a Jewish state ( It will be smaller than present day Israel of course ) As I have often said the 67 line appears to be a position acceptable to the Arabs….”
Have you??? Where????
Do Georgina and the gang know that you are posting this here and that you accept the right of the Jewish state to exist within secure borders?
February 21, 2010 at 9:21 am
THH
@Abandon Hope
Nobody told you that in your mind the things you believe others are thinking is almost always wrong ?
February 21, 2010 at 9:31 am
Serendipity
Have just looked over your previous posts Berchmans.
From now on I think that Gaza should be referred to as a Muslim enclave. There are no Jews there except poor Gilad Shalit and Christians are under threat from Muslims there – see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm7JEqdZ128 – which by your reckoning makes Gaza a discriminatory enclave too.
Muslim Gaza and the West Bank discriminate against anyone who isn’t a Muslim – see http://blog.echurchwebsites.org.uk/2010/01/07/alarming-increase-hostility-violence-indigenous-christians-west-bank-gaza-escalated-exodus-human-rights-lawyer-predicts-disappear-jesus-birthplace/ -
there will be no Jews in the new Palestinian state either, which will come about because such Palestinian state will privilege Muslims over any other peoples or religion and discriminate against any Christians who remain there as they discriminate against them and intimidate them already. For a precedent, see Muslim Saudi Arabia and Muslim Iran.
Palestine will therefore be a de facto Muslim apartheid state just like its Arab/Muslim neighbours.
Which means that you and your Guardianista friends, Berchmans, will have been supporting Muslim apartheid.
February 21, 2010 at 9:51 am
JerusalemMite
Abandon hope
I have no problem whatsoever if people want to have a Jewish state ( It will be smaller than present day Israel of course ) As I have often said the 67 line appears to be a position acceptable to the Arabs.
Why don’t you ask your ‘gentle’ friends if they would be prepared to accept a Jewish Democratic Zionist state in the Middle East Berchmans? Even the countries which have signed ‘Peace Agreements’ with Israel say that they do not recognise it as a Jewish Zionist state.
That would be against the teachings of Islam Berchmans.
You know. The ‘Gentle Religion’. The religion of ‘love and everlasting happiness’ like in The Sound of Music.
Representitive of the religion of peace
February 21, 2010 at 10:22 am
wearenotblind
Napoleon K.,
While I am fiercely proud of my Jewish roots, I too am a cultural Christian. Just as Israel is a “Culturally Christian” country. Israel is a refuge for any Jew in the world that is persecuted for being either culturally or religiously Jewish. So what makes Jews “cultural Christians”? Belief in civil law over religious law, belief in freedom of religion, speech, and a free press. Are these “Christian” values? Of course not, they are western European values and that is why the religious fundamentalists in the US, and the Vatican, are not the “cultural Christians” in the sense I believe you mean it.
Yet, I believe everybody would agree that had someone made a comment about slaughtering every single Muslim, man woman and child, there would be a very different reaction from the Guardian editors/moderators than the one Bapthorpe experienced. That is why, despite the pathetic defense of the Guardian by Abandon Hope/Berchmans, the Guardian is an enemy of Israelis, Zionists, and Jews. And amazingly, this cite has now far surpassed CiF as a place for intelligent debate. It is time this cite invited articles from anti-Israel writers where ideas can be seriously debated. And I don’t mean the idiots like Victoria Brittain and Silverstein.
February 21, 2010 at 10:26 am
NapoleonKaramazov
“One homicidal Jew-hating nutter (Bapthorpe) being supported by a whole bevy of Jew-hating nutters – NapoleonKaramazov,”
I will not accept such statements. Of that is the level of intellectual critique on this site then I will leave you to stew in your own pot. Never mind that I often read books by academic Jews, talk to Jews online etc. Let’s see. books I have read over the past few weeks include those written by Jared Diamond, Steven Jay Gould and the Freakonomics book by Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner. All of these people are Jews.
I would however advise many on this site to seek out a local mental health professional as you clearly seem to be suffering from some kind of paranoia.
And I admit I was wrong about Bapthorpe’s religiosity, and of course I know that not every West bank settler is religious, although they are perceived as being so. Although even then we don’t know Bapthorpe’s level of religiousity, he may as ‘Catholic’ as an atheist Jew is still a Jew (of course Christianity has no ‘ethnic’ attachment unlike Judaism but some people call themselves ‘ethnic Chrsitians’ even when they are atheists, beacuse they were raised in the culture and traditions.
However on cif there are a large number of militant atheists who see religion as only being one vast oppressing force, and cannot see any positves like identity, culture and tradition. Because of the things they frequently say, such as ‘all religions are about child abuse and oppression of women’ I wrongly assumed that Bapthorpe was one of them.
So, have a nice day.