The anti-Zionist journalist Asa Winstanley wrote an extremely detailed bit of research in ‘Electronic Intifada’ back in 2020 – seems an age ago doesn’t it? - detailing how an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ hoax was rumbled in Scotland and how it was revealed – as I have argued using numerous other cases – that jews have routinely faked such incidents against themselves as a form of advertising (it almost guarantees national media coverage), to further the narrative of ‘widespread anti-Semitism’ (ironically it ends up creating the very ‘widespread anti-Semitism’ by its exposure) and/or for personal profit.
He writes how:
‘A pro-Israel lawyer is facing a fine from the Scottish regulator after helping fabricate a graffiti attack on his home in Glasgow.
Using a fake “pro-Palestinian” persona, a fellow pro-Israel activist claimed on Facebook in January last year that there had been an attack on Matthew Berlow’s home.
“A certain Jewish lawyer woke up this morning to find ‘Free Palestine’ spray painted rather prominently – no idea who was responsible,” the imposter wrote under the fake name “Stevie.”
Smearing the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Berlow replied in a comment underneath that the graffiti was “Typical SPSC behavior. Criminal.”
But Berlow has now admitted the attack never took place – and that he knew the “Stevie” poster was fake at the time.
It was a “mistake” made in “a moment of madness,” Berlow told The Electronic Intifada in an email on Monday.
The “pro-Palestinian” poster was in fact Confederation of Friends of Israel convenor and school teacher Edward Sutherland. Both Berlow and Sutherland are “friends of Israel” activists in Glasgow.
The regulator, the Law Society of Scotland, investigated Berlow after a complaint against his conduct by the SPSC.
In a law society report obtained by The Electronic Intifada, Berlow admitted to having known the real author of the fake post for three or four years.
The report redacts Sutherland’s name, but his activities fabricating “pro-Palestinian” anti-Semitism were exposed last month.
The Daily Record on Monday named Sutherland as the “Mr Y” referred to in the report as the author of the Facebook post.
Sutherland – head of religious and moral education at Belmont Academy in Ayr – faces dismissal over a series of anti-Semitic posts he made using the fake persona.
A screenshot of one of them showed how Sutherland’s “Stevie” profile attacked Berlow in anti-Semitic terms, saying his “big nose was out of joint.”
After their activities were exposed last month, Berlow claimed to The Electronic Intifada that none of “Stevie’s” posts were anti-Semitic.
Screenshots obtained by the Law Society of Scotland implicate Berlow in Sutherland’s deception.
A spokesperson for the society declined to comment on specific cases, but said that: “We take our regulatory duties very seriously.”
“In any case where we have reason to believe that one of our members has not met the high professional standards expected of them we will take action,” she said.
Berlow’s law firm Graham Walker Solicitors and Edward Sutherland did not reply to requests for comment. South Ayrshire Council declined to comment.
The law society has now ruled that Berlow’s “conduct fell below the standard expected of a reputable and competent solicitor” and that it “risked bringing the profession into disrepute.”
The society’s professional conduct sub-committee will make a final ruling on the report’s recommendations. The report, issued on 28 August, recommends a $660 fine.
Berlow told The Electronic Intifada that, “I regret I gave off the impression that SPSC was involved” in the faked graffiti on his home. He regretted “my remark which Mr Sutherland had no control over. He was not behind my careless remark.”
Berlow denied being part of a “plot to implicate SPSC,” claiming the lie was part of an elaborate ruse to entrap an “anti-Semitic stalker.”
But the law society ruled that “it is reasonable to draw the inference that the purpose of the association was to discredit the SPSC.”
Berlow was fined by the society in 2018 after attacking an academic of Palestinian origin online.’ (1)
In a follow up article dealing with the same ring of Zionist jews fake ‘anti-Semitic hate crimes’ Winstanley writes how:
‘A pro-Israel lobbyist in Scotland may lose his teaching job over a series of anti-Semitic posts he has admitted making.
Edward Sutherland is being investigated by the Scottish teaching regulator, The Daily Record reported on Sunday.
Sutherland is head of religious and moral education at the Belmont Academy in Ayr.
A leading figure in the Confederation of Friends of Israel, Sutherland created a fake Facebook profile and used it to post anti-Semitism online.
Using the profile, he posed as a Palestine solidarity activist.
Under the invented persona “Stevie Harrison,” Sutherland is alleged to have attacked a pro-Israel Jewish lawyer by posting in 2018 that his “big nose is out out joint.”
Screenshots released by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign suggest that the lawyer – Matthew Berlow – may even have been in on the deception.
“Typical SPSC behaviour. Criminal,” Berlow replied to one of the fraudulent postings by “Harrison.”
Berlow responded in an email to The Electronic Intifada that it was “not my intention to smear the SPSC.”
He also claimed that Sutherland’s “posts were not anti Semitic” according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s defintion.
The bogus “working defintion” of anti-Semitism has been pushed by Israel and pro-Israel groups for years.
But Sutherland’s anti-Palestinian comrades are standing by him: “We’re worried that he might end up losing his job,” Sammy Stein, a fellow Confederation of Friends of Israel activist told The Daily Record.
Stein said that “Ed is no anti-Semite. In fact, he’s a friend of Israel. He helps man our stall in Glasgow every Saturday.”
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign activist Mick Napier responded to the news saying it was “a disgrace” that Sutherland’s group enjoys charitable status.
The Confederation of Friends of Israel has “an extensive record of publishing racist materials” he wrote. “The Scottish body charged with overseeing charities should revoke COFIS’ charitable status immediately,” Napier said.
The Confederation of Friends of Israel did not reply to a request for comment. After publication of this article, Belmont Academy declined to comment, but passed the buck to South Ayrshire Council – who also declined to comment.
This is far from the first time Israeli and pro-Israeli groups have fabricated anti-Semitism.
In 2016 the Mossad-linked Israeli law firm Shurat HaDin admitted posting a series of violently anti-Semitic comments to Facebook in order to frame Palestinians and solidarity activists.
In 2019, an investigation by The Electronic Intifada exposed a network of fake Twitter trolls systematically posting violent anti-Semitism in order to frame Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and the Muslim community. The culprits remain unknown.’ (2)
You can now probably understand my point in republishing these two articles in that when you see ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ claims in the media then you should immediately do some basic checks because there is a strong possibility that it is yet another case of ‘What ya doing Rabbi?’
References
(1) https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/pro-israel-lawyer-faked-graffiti-attack
(2) https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/scottish-friend-israel-faked-anti-semitism-years