Our commentary follows.

Peter Walker – The Guardian June 28, 2020

Nigel Farage has been condemned by the UK’s main Jewish groups and MPs for repeatedly using language and themes associated with far-right antisemitic conspiracy theories, something for which he has been previously criticised.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said Farage’s airing of claims about plots to undermine national governments, and his references to Goldman Sachs and the financier George Soros, showed he was seeking to “trade in dog whistles”.

The Brexit party leader, who has been criticised for agreeing to interviews with openly antisemitic US media personalities, was also condemned by the MPs who co-chair the all-party group against antisemitism.

Much of Farage’s most recent use of such themes has been connected to the Black Lives Matter protests, and his belief that dissenting voices are being silenced.

In a tweeted video message this month, Farage said the UK faced “cultural Marxism”, a term originating in a conspiracy theory based on a supposed plot against national governments, which is closely linked to the far right and antisemitism.

In the same message, Farage said companies who pulled TV adverts from rightwing TV shows were being pressured by “Soros-funded organisations”. George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and campaigner, is a regular target for antisemitic conspiracy theories. Farage had made the same claim about Soros three days earlier in an interview with the far-right news website Breitbart.

In a recent opinion piece for the Newsweek website, Farage talked about “unelected globalists shaping the public’s lives based on secret recommendations from the big banks”. Goldman Sachs was the only bank he mentioned by name, echoing another common theme from far-right antisemitism.

Writing in a separate Newsweek column, Farage said Black Lives Matter was made up of radical socialists trying to destroy nationalism, “oftentimes funded by globalists”, another term linked to such ideas.

Amanda Bowman, vice-president of the Board of Deputies, said: “If Nigel Farage continues to trade in dog whistles and tropes about George Soros and Goldman Sachs, his decline into obscurity will continue apace. Mr Farage would do well to remember that this proud country has always rejected this sort of prejudice and fought wars to defeat it.”

The Community Security Trust, a charity that works for the safety of Jewish people in the UK, said in a statement: “This is not the first time that Nigel Farage has used language that evokes antisemitic conspiracy codewords, but the deeper problem is that this search for scapegoats will keep requiring new enemies and new excuses, moving the national debate into more polarising and dangerous places.”

Andrew Percy, the Conservative MP who co-chairs the all-party group on antisemitism, said Farage’s tendency of “simplifying everything into a grand conspiracy theory” risked spilling into racism.

“These conspiracy theories have real world and dangerous consequences and are without question antisemitic,” he said. “So now he is being put on notice. Farage needs to cut it out before he causes further harm by providing further fuel to racist antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories.”

Labour MP Catherine McKinnell, the group’s other co-chair, said Farage was “like a bad salesman, peddling distrust and fear that someone is out to get us”.

She said: “Talk of shadow cabals, Soros conspiracies and other nonsense has repeatedly been proven to find its roots in anti-Jewish racism. His choice of language, which echoes some of that circulating amongst the far-right online, is worrying and getting worse.”

Farage’s representatives and the Brexit party were contacted for comment. A spokesman for Farage has condemned previous criticism of his language by Jewish groups and others as “pathetic” and “a manufactured story”.

Farage has previously aired beliefs associated with antisemitism in a series of interviews with the far-right US conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones, and has called Soros “the biggest danger to the entire western world”.

He outlined similar themes in an interview with Revelation TV, a tiny UK evangelical Christian TV channel. He was also interviewed at least six times by Rick Wiles, a far-right, antisemitic US pastor who subsequently used his web radio show to claim Donald Trump’s impeachment was a “Jew coup”.

Farage remains leader of the Brexit party, which has largely halted its activities since December’s general election, although it could re-emerge if Boris Johnson extends the Brexit transition period.

His parallel career as a media personality suffered a blow this month when he lost his show on radio station LBC. Farage has recently sought to establish himself as a web-based media commentator, making videos about the arrival of migrants in boats across the Channel.

Farage’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

Source

Commentary – June 29, 2020

As far as the political establishment are concerned, Nigel Farage is a dangerous man. Against the odds he brought about Brexit, not as a prime minister or a leader of the opposition but as a man who had emerged as a rank outsider.

He’s also definitely not controlled opposition. In recent years he’s survived not one but two close shaves with death.

In 2010 the light plane in which Farage was travelling while campaigning to leave the EU crashed.

Then in 2016 his car veered off the road near Dunkirk after the wheels on his car had apparently been tampered with.

Assassinations through apparent accidents are a ploy favoured by the powers that be, as happened with Princess Diana.

Following the 2016 car crash Farage stood down as UKIP leader fearing his life might be in danger but he didn’t retire to the sidelines. Instead he remained politically active and outspoken.

As such he still remains a very real threat to the political establishment. That’s why, we suspect, he has been coming under fire recently from all sides of the political spectrum, including from the Board of Jewish Deputies.

This all suggests that Farage is again making the political establishment a little nervous.

Why else would the Guardian engage in a sustained character assassination in the piece above? The only problem is they have so little with which to smear Farage. So it’s all by way of inference and association.

Rick Wiles, is the “far-right, anti-Semitic US pastor,” the Guardian says who interviewed Farage. Of course Farage did not say anything remotely racist or anti-Semitic but the fact that he referred to ‘Goldman Sachs, George Soros and “Cultural marxism”‘ was enough.

This suggests that Farage is beginning to get an idea of what is really going on, and that seriously worries the powers that be.

Farage has a bit of a following and he could now start introducing them to ideas about “conspiracies”. This is a potentially incendiary mix. A popular politician who is not controlled by the elite is now talking about “conspiracies”, bankers and “George Soros”.

The best response the Community Security Trust, a UK Jewish charity could come up with was that Farage was using “language that evokes antisemitic conspiracy codewords”. In other words he used language that ‘sounded’ anti-Semitic even though it wasn’t.

Obviously, elements in the establishment are desperate now to smear Farage but the best they can come up with is that he’s using … “anti-Semitic dog whistles”.

Few will be convinced by that.

Farage has also been talking with Alex Jones, who is hardly an “anti-Semite”. Apart from openly acknowledging his support for Israel Jones himself has been accused of being a Zionist shill.

This adds another dangerous element to a potentially explosive mix.

What next?

Nigel Farage seems to understand that modern politics is a dirty, dangerous game, especially for independent outsiders like him. While another assassination attempt would seem a little too obvious, we can certainly expect more media efforts to smear Farage.

However they turn out, don’t be surprised if we hear much more from Farage in the coming years. His Brexit campaign may have only been the start. Ed.