Harry's Place has the story, but it's worth reprinting here...
On the front page of our website, we have a poll 'Should Rabbis work with the EDL?'. On the EDL, the Jewish community is united, the Board of Deputies, the CST and the great and the good have urged us to have no involvement with them, calling the group violent, with a hidden, racist agenda.
Luckily, overwhelmingly, our readers are agreeing, and voting 'No' in our poll.
But Tony Greenstein, the ardent anti Zionist blogger, has other ideas. On the "Boycott Israel Network", a forum of antizionist rantings...
Terry Gallogly, chairman of York Palestine Solidarity Campaign, says: “People might like to vote in this poll if only to embarass Hoffie [Jonathan Hoffman] and the Zionist Federation”
Tony Greenstein replies:“Done so and voted – in favour of course. Please try to make sure that people on BIN vote and to vote yes. It will be quite good for us that a JC poll comes out in favour of working with the EDL!!!”
Lucy Lips on Harry's Place writes:
So, in a nutshell, Tony Greenstein is suggesting that anti-Zionists should try to rig a JC poll, so that they can falsely paint Jews as racists.
This is dirty tactics at its lowest. EDL presence at pro-Zionist demonstrations is unwanted and the ZF have made it clear they are not welcome behind the same barriers. We are sending a clear message that our community does not want friends like these.
Greenstein's actions are not only dishonest and antidemocratic. They are very dangerous. As are those of the PSC, which the first poster Gallogly, claims to represent. The PSC are closely associated with the TUC, which recently extended their boycott of Israel. Perhaps the TUC, and not the ZF, should be the ones scrutinising their friends more closely.
UPDATE: We have suspended the poll. We can't trust the results any more and we wouldn't print the results of a hijacked poll in next week's paper. The results would not really reflect the view of the community. But despite the best efforts of Greenstein, when the poll came down nearly 80 per cent were still voting against contact with the EDL.
