Richard Littlejohn stated it is "open season on the jews", whereas the evidence showed that the allegations of anti-Semitism reported in his documentary had been taken very seriously by the police, MPs and journalists. For example, an apology was issued for the offensive New Statesman cover. Littlejohn further went on to state that, "most Jews in Britain feel they are facing the worst threat since World War 2". Any rational person would ask if this was mere conjecture on his part or could he point to some hard evidence? So why didn't he produce any opinion survey to back up his claim?

Littlejohn said repeatedly that criticism of Israel "spills over" into anti-Semitism but Richard Littlejohn failed to define what that means. What does Littlejohn acknowledge to be legitimate political opinion?

Criticisms of the CST and their recording methods were not mentioned, despite the fact that the CST was relied upon as a source of information for the programme.

Imam Sajid and Tony Greenstein brought in a very important perspective, by questioning the role of many Jewish leaders supporting Israel, in contributing to the mistaken identification of all Jews with Israel.

Littlejohn explains the lack of criticism of Israel's policies from Jewish leaders by focusing on the lack of a single unified representational body for the whole community. This demonstrates double-standards, because the Muslim community is often criticised for not speaking out enough against extremists, despite our even greater lack of unified respresentation.

MPACUK never stated Fitzsimmons was part of a "world neo-con zionist conspiracy" as Littlejohn alleged - we simply highlighted her membership of Labour Friends of Israel (see for yourself) . Littlejohn, as a presenter, clearly endorses Lorna Fitzsimmons' interpretation of the Rochdale incident and fails to question the Islamophobic stereotype inherent in her assumption, that Muslim voters are motivated by anti-Semitism. This Islamophobic stereotype is contradicted by the evidence, that constituencies with very large numbers of Muslim voters have elected Jewish MPs, as in the case of Oona King. This exact point was raised in the Operation Muslim Vote documentary (Ch4, 2005), immediately after the end of the clip that Littlejohn cut out and used.

The programme described Fitzsimmons as the former MP for Rochdale, but fails to mention that she is currently head of BICOM, a leading pro-Israel advocacy group, which is clearly relevant when she is speaking on this subject.

There was obvious bias in the facts given about Israel - Littlejohn reported that Israel is a small country of 5 million people, but ommitted the highly relevant point that it has illegal nuclear weapons, the 4th most powerful army in the world, and receives more aid from the USA than the rest of the world put together. No mention of Al-Nakba, the 8 million dispossed Palestinian refugees, the well-documented human rights abuses committed by Israel, the long list of UN resolutions violated by Israel - need we go on?

There was also blatant bias in reporting of the Lebanon war - he mentioned the kidnapped Israeli soldiers and rockets fired by Hizbullah but only refered to Israel's "response" - not the fact that this response entailed killing over 1000 Lebanese, including many women and children, complete destruction of civilian areas and carpet bombing with cluster bombs that continue to maim children to this day.

Littlejohn mentioned Israeli acadamics opposing the boycott, but fails to mention those Israeli academics such as Ilan Pappe who support the boycott.

He accuses the left of peddling conspiracy theories but does not mention the open documentation of the influence of pro-Israel lobbies in the West, such as the paper published by Mersheimer and Walt at Harvard. Why was there no mention of the widespread allegation that smears of anti-Semitism are sometimes used in order to attempt to silence critics of Israel as stated by Robert Fisk, Norman Finkelstein, Paul Findley and many others?

The Littlejohn piece was described by Channel 4 as a "personal view" - they are only allowed by OFCOM rules to make such authored documentaries if they are balanced over time.


What You Can Do:
Ring and email Channel 4 and urge them to commission a documentary on rising levels of Islamophobia and its links to some pro-Israel campaigners.

Channel 4 contact details:
To submit a complaint: http://help.channel4.com

Ring Viewer Enquiries: 0845 076 0191


What To Say: (feel free to use your own words)

Channel 4 should make documentaries examining:
1. Islamophobia and the contribution of pro-Israel lobbies in fuelling it.
2. The objectively documented influence of pro-Israel lobbies in the West, such as AIPAC, in fuelling international conflicts and the supposed "clash of civililisations".
3. The use of smears of anti-Semitism to silence Israel's critics and the affect of pro-Israel lobbies on freedom of speech in the West.
4. Please also make any additional points you feel are important.


Some Background Information:

As the Guardian review said: "Richard Littlejohn lecturing on the evils of bigotry is akin to Hannibal Lecter advocating vegetarianism":

Richard Littlejohn Fact File:

1. Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party, describes Littlejohn as his favourite journalist

2. He has been found by independent broadcasting regulators to be homophobic, frequently using the word "poofs", and often makes disparaging references to gay public figures such as Peter Mandelson, Mandelson's partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva, and Ron Davies, linking gay men to paedophilia by claiming they are attracted to young boys.

3. His comments on events such as the 1994 Rwandan genocide, about which he wrote: "Does anyone really give a monkey's about what happens in Rwanda? If the Mbongo tribe wants to wipe out the Mbingo tribe then as far as I am concerned that is entirely a matter for them."

4. Littlejohn once urged Charles Clarke to commit suicide.

5. Littlejohn was judged by the Radio Authority to have breached guidelines on homophobia and incitement to violence. Littlejohn claims that gay people who worked on the programme found his comments about massacring gay people with flamethrowers "hilarious".

6. a) Johann Hari (Journalist and author) has described Richard Littlejohn writing as "far-right propaganda". He has accused him of lying about the benefits paid to asylum seekers.
b) In 2004, Hari appeared as a guest on Littlejohn's Sky News programme and challenged him about his claims that an asylum seeker could claim hundreds of pounds per week in benefits, stating that the true figure was just £37.77 per week. He later wrote: "I asked Richard how much a single asylum seeker is given in benefits each week. You'd think that a journalist who writes about asylum twice a week would, of course, know something so incredibly basic. His response was clear. He snapped: 'I have no idea'."

7. Ipswich murders article - On the 19th December 2006, in the aftermath of the Ipswich murders of five women, Littlejohn wrote a column on the events which many, including usually loyal Daily Mail readers, found offensive and insensitive. He described the victims of the murderer as "disgusting, drug-addled street whores" and their deaths as "no great loss". He added that for prostitutes, being murdered is "an occupational hazard" stemming from their own "free choice". He goes onto say “They weren’t going to discover a cure for cancer or embark on missionary work in Darfur. The only kind of missionary position they undertook was in the back seat of a car.”

8. Racism - In Daily Mail about an untitled column by Richard Littlejohn on 9 January 2007, in which he writes: "...here is a simple cut-out-and-keep guide to the two dominant branches of Islam: Sunnis are the peace-loving, Saudi-backed wing who brought you Al Qaeda. Shias are the peace-loving, Iranian-backed strain behind Hamas and Hezbollah. I hope that helps."

9. On July 22 the Sun's regular columnist Richard Littlejohn came perilously close to inciting hatred against Muslims and Arabs. He justified ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians and made fun of the suffering of millions of Iraqis. "The Palestinians are the pikeys of the Middle East. If they must have a homeland, give them part of Saudi Arabia, because the Egyptians, the Syrians, the Jordanians and the Lebanese don't want them either".

Immediately after the above paragraph, he writes:
"No more hand-wringing. It's time for neck-wringing".

10. Richard Littlejohn comments on the recent spate of letter bombs: "I wouldn't lose much sleep if those wicked dupes, like Red Ken The Terrorist's Friend, who help glorify politically motivated murder and make common cause with killers, were to find themselves on the end of a bombing. Livingstone is the man who feted the IRA while it was slaughtering civilians on the streets of the capital back in the 1980s and today invites Islamist preachers of hate to tea and biscuits at City Hall, while their disciples are blowing themselves up on crowded Tube trains." - Daily Mail, 9 February 2007.

---