Jewish community leaders have criticised GB News stars Nigel Farage and Dan Wootton for calling Grant Shapps - the first Jewish home secretary in nearly 30 years - a "globalist", saying it "plays into age-old antisemitic conspiracism".
The pair took to social media to declare that Shapps replacing Suella Braverman's in the top government job amounted to a "globalist remoaner coup" who were trying to take over the government in an anti-Brexit plot.
Lord John Mann, the government's independent advisor on antisemitism, called on GB News to fire the pair if they did not retract their comments.
A spokesperson for GB News said that the channel "abhors" antisemitism, but defended both presenters, saying that they were using the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the term.
The #HuntReshuffle is on. Suella Braverman looks to be out (Leaver and ECHR-sceptic).
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) October 19, 2022
According to reports, she will be replaced by Grant Shapps (Remainer and Globalist).
This is a coup, the Conservative party is dead.
In a tweet following Shapps's appointment, Dan Wootton wrote on Twitter: "The globalist remoaner coup continues. The excellent and brave Home Secretary Suella Braverman is being replaced by Grant Shapps. This is an anti-democratic disgrace. Shame on Liz Truss. We backed you to keep them out. They’re now in control."
Also taking to Twitter, Nigel Farage declared: "According to reports, she will be replaced by Grant Shapps (Remainer and Globalist). This is a coup, the Conservative party is dead."
The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Marie van der Zyl, said in response to the tweets: “Antisemitism experts such as the Anti-Defamation League identify ‘globalist’ as a common antisemitic trope based on conspiracy theories about international Jewish power. Politicians should avoid using the term, particularly when referring specifically to Jewish individuals.”
The globalist remoaner coup continues.
— Dan Wootton (@danwootton) October 19, 2022
The excellent and brave Home Secretary Suella Braverman is being replaced by Grant Shapps.
This is an anti-democratic disgrace.
Shame on Liz Truss.
We backed you to keep them out.
They’re now in control.
Dark days for the UK.
Dave Rich, head of policy at the Community Security Trust, said that the tweets "sent a chill down my spine".
He added: "‘Globalist’ is one of those terms that can have a neutral meaning or a sinister one, but Nigel Farage, in particular, has a record of using language that echoes antisemitic conspiracy discourse when the person he is criticising is Jewish, and at some point, the benefit of the doubt runs out.”
Catherine McKinnell, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group against antisemitism, said: “Calling a Jewish man a ‘globalist’ plays into age-old antisemitic conspiracism. Some people will know this and do so deliberately, others may be naive, but there is no excuse for it whatsoever.
“No one in public life should be using language that perpetuates racist anti-Jewish tropes. It’s as simple as that.”
Not the first time he has flirted with antisemitic dog whistles. https://t.co/Kd0DSNnEuJ
— Dave Rich (@daverich1) October 19, 2022
Joel Rosen, president of the Union of Jewish Students, also condemned the comments in very strong terms, writing: "Describing the appointment of Grant Shapps - a Jewish Home Secretary - as a 'globalist coup' is antisemitic.
"For centuries, Jews have been accused of being loyal to global conspiracy & disloyal to their home countries. Irresponsible pundits are rehashing a historic trope."
In response to the criticism, Nigel Farage told the Guardian: “Since last Friday I have described events in government as a globalist coup. Jeremy Hunt is pro-EU, pro-CCP [Chinese Communist party], pro-WEF [World Economic Forum] and is a globalist politician. Grant Shapps is cut from the same cloth and is also an open-border, pro-EU globalist.
“The OED of a globalist is ‘advocating the operation or planning of economic and foreign policy on a global basis’. I had no idea that Mr Shapps had Jewish roots. In this confected outrage, I can only think that people are worried that I might make a political return.”
Farage has previously been criticised for using several antisemitic tropes, including references to supposed plots by Goldman Sachs and the financier George Soros.
However, Gary Mond, Chairman of the National Jewish Assembly, accepts Farage's explanation. He told the JC: “I am not a political supporter of Nigel Farage, but on this occasion his explanation is completely acceptable. Calling someone a globalist relates to that individual’s political viewpoint and is levelled at many people, Jewish or not.
"If certain Jewish community leaders cite antisemitism in a comment such as this, it cheapens the truly valid, utterly disgusting cases of Jew-hatred that are occurring all too often in our society. Nor is referring to the Anti-Defamation League any defence, as in recent years that body, once highly reputable, has become regarded as woke and left-wing under the stewardship of Jonathan Greenblatt, a former adviser to President Obama, following its endorsement of the Black Lives Matter movement.”
https://twitter.com/joelrosen_/status/1582849100042887168
A spokesperson for GB News said: “GB News abhors anti-Semitism and all other forms of hate and racism.
"Nigel and Dan were referring to the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the term globalist, meaning 'advocating the operation or planning of economic and foreign policy on a global basis'.
"They were in no sense referring to a racial, ethnic, or cultural group.”
This is not the first controversy involving GB News and alleged antisemitism. In November last year, presenter Neil Oliver compared European Covid lockdowns to Nazi propaganda, and in August, he provoked a fierce backlash from community groups by interviewing an alleged former Holocaust denier.
