James O’Brien should lose his job over anti-Semitic description of Holocaust survivor
James O’Brien (left) questioned the credentials of a deceased Jewish Holocaust survivor in order to make a specious political point about Jeremy Corbyn (right).
I used to think LBC radio host James O’Brien was one of the good guys but his disrespect for a deceased Jewish survivor of the Nazi Holocaust is utterly unacceptable.
O’Brien was referring to the 2010 Holocaust Memorial Day event at which Hajo Meyer, a Jewish Holocaust victim who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, attacked Israeli government behaviour towards Gaza, comparing it with that of the Nazis.
It seems the presenter considered such a comparison, by somebody who should know, to be unacceptable and he claimed Mr Meyer made his speech behind the “camouflage” of being a Holocaust survivor.
How utterly despicable.
For O’Brien to attack a man who is not only dead, and therefore unable to respond, is bad enough.
But to diminish the suffering Mr Meyer endured in life by claiming he was under “camouflage” is beyond the pale.
It is also, quite clearly, anti-Semitic: Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of Nazi Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
Has Mr O’Brien ever been forced to endure persecution because of his race, religion, skin colour, ethnic group or any other such distinguishing feature?
Has he ever been forced into a concentration camp, worked like an animal and starved nearly to death?
Has he ever had to live in fear of being murdered alongside a multitude of people like him?
No. He hasn’t.
But he took it on himself to insult the memory of a man who had, in order to score a cheap political point against Jeremy Corbyn, who has apologised for appearing at the event in which Mr Meyer made his speech, even though he was not responsible for its content.
And what did Mr O’Brien do, when he was challenged over his behaviour by a listener? Did he apologise?
Not a bit of it. See for yourself:
James said: “Get lost, seriously. You honestly think when you’ve got the leader of the Labour Party sharing a platform with people who compare Jews to Nazis, you think my vocabulary is the most interesting and important element of this story?
“You, pal, are the problem.You’re the reason why this country is on its knees. You are the reason why the nastiest, most vindictive Tory administration we’ve seen in decades is still hanging on to power.
“You are the reason why, because you’ve got a party led by a man who has the moral integrity of a Kit Kat and yet somehow has managed to persuade significant swathes of decent people that he speaks for decency.
“No he doesn’t, he’s a disgrace. And if the Labour Party was led by anybody else it would be 20 points ahead in the polls.”
Can you see any solid evidence to support his vile claims about Mr Meyer in that vicious rant?
Neither can I.
All I can see are ad hominem attacks and insults on a listener who is perfectly entitled to their opinion, and on the leader of the Labour Party.
This is behaviour that falls well below the standard expected of people in public life.
O’Brien should resign. Or he should be sacked.
You can contact LBC to complain here.
Source: James O’Brien’s Passionate Response When Listener Denies Labour Anti-Semitism – LBC
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I thought he was one of the good guys, too I guess I was wrong…this is appalling behaviour.
This has gone on way too long! I agree you should fight for your rights but now every single word is being analysed to the nth degree, mean while the Tories are still Killing british citizens and robbing others!!
When will this madness finally end and in the picture does any of it really matter what some people think, this is a huge smoke screen allowing the Tories a lot of breathing space. Come on people what is more important stopping the Murderous Tories or giving them what they really need and Want their biggest threat (Corbyn) finally ruined on “might be” opinion.
Add to the ridiculous logic leaps is the preposterous guilt-by-association logic, which O’Brien needs to really stop and think about, because it bounces back on himself. Say Meyer genuinely was an anti-Semite (absurd, but okay, go with it), O’Brien is saying that Corbyn must be held responsible because he shared a stage with him.
O’BRIEN HAS JUST SPENT THE LAST TWO YEARS SHARING A RADIO STATION WITH THE LIKES OF NIGEL FARAGE, NICK FERRARI, AND KATIE F*CKING HOPKINS!
Even Steve Bannon was allowed a platform on that ethically-fractured station recently. We didn’t see O’Brien withdrawing his labour as a protest, did we?
I think calling for him to be sacked or resign is far too strong and will further erode the right of people to hold opinions that we disagree with…….yes the man is a pompous prig…with a Radio show but so to is Nigel (the liar) Farage…. a simple apology is all that is needed …once he realises he was wrong and that he has allowed his hatred of the working class to blinker his opinions
Surely what he and others like him ought to do is accept the fact that some Jews colluded with Nazi’s …..Abraham Gancwajch for example
Some Jews were undoubtedly Fascist and remain so
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revisionist_Maximalism
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-netanyahu-to-make-it-official-fascism-is-what-we-are-1.6264884
Some Jews would have undoubtedly given up other Jews in order to protect themselves during the Warsaw Occupation and their time in the Concentration Camps…its basic human behaviour ….survival of the fittest or the most selfish of mind if you want to look at it like that
Oh and can we also accept that the Holocaust has been weaponised by some Jews and non Jews in order to stifle criticism and shut down debate on the rights (if there can ever be any) and WRONGS of the Jewish Holocaust….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust_Industry
I don’t think it’s too much to demand O’Brien’s scalp over this.
Martin Odoni has made the excellent point that this is a man who shares a platform with people who broadcast opinions that are vile, including Mr Garage, and he has the nerve to complain about Jeremy Corbyn sharing a platform with a Holocaust survivor who said something that is considered to be not politically correct in the current climate.
“Can we also accept that the Holocaust has been weaponised by some Jews and non Jews in order to stifle criticism and shut down debate on the rights (if there can ever be any) and WRONGS of the Jewish Holocaust”
The problem is, O’Brien only wants Holocaust-Manipulation to be highlighted when people are criticising Israel, not when people are defending Israel.
O’Brian has made the usual classic mistake of confusing criticism of Israeli Government policy with anti-semitism and is just fueling the poor quality media misunderstandings.
O’Brian refers to ‘ people who compare Jews to Nazis’ and falls into the nonsense trap immediately. The now deceased Holocaust survivor was, of course saying no such thing. The people might happen to be Jewish but it is their political actions that are being compared to the Nazis. One can debate the validity of the comparison but it is certainly not anti-semitic in nature. To a holocaust survivor, there would be, for some, be deep and painful irony in the way Israeli politics has created injustice and oppression.
O’Brien’s interlocutor makes a good point by pointing out that O’Brien is furthering the Tory agenda by his conflation.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Mike.
The trouble is that this is no mistake; the idea of conflation is there to prevent any such debate, or criticism. Within the examples of anti-Semitism from the I.H.R.A. (which were never intended to be used as such), such a one exists. During 2016, we will have heard and read about criticism of Israel being “used as a cloak behind which to hide anti-Semitism.” I have always contended that, as somebody who has been on the receiving end of racial abuse for most of hims life, racists are not that nuanced, nor calculated, nor clever. That racism, in this country, is more covert and subtle has nothing to do with the racists but the system. Most people don’t know what anti-Zionism, or anti-Semitism are, another reason why this criticism of Jeremy Corbyn and the £abour Party is so effective. My understanding is that, because there was no single definition, what the I.M.H.A. is using was created in order to collect measurable data. The definition distinguishes between motive and intent. Accusers of anti-Semitism will claim that criticism of Israel is being conflated with criticism of Jews and is therefore anti-Semitic, whereby the truth is that it is happening in order to accuse people of anti-Semitism, those accused are not, certainly in the main doing the conflation, from what I can tell. If the waters are muddies enough, the Israeli Government will be beyong reproach and this is very worrying.
I ask, again, why should anybody hate Jews, unless they are given a reason to and I tell you that this anti-Semitism saga will give people a reason.
The conflation is confusing because it’s racist, but also useful to Zionists in certain situations. Hence, they argue – correctly I must stress – that it is anti-Semitic to hold ALL Jews collectively responsible for the deeds of Israel. And yet they also insist that condemnation of Israel is inherently anti-Semitic, which means they themselves are implicating all Jews in the deeds of Israel. Which is yet ANOTHER way (among many) in which Zionists tend to behave anti-Semitically.
They don’t notice how their own position is completely irreconcilable.
LBC radio is owned by Global, they turnover in excess of £500,000,000 yet pay zero corporation tax , they use clever loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of the tax burden.
By association all of their presenters are benefiting from the proceeds of tax dodging, no doubt they couldn’t afford to pay Nick Ferrari £600,000 pa if they did.
My understanding of that was JOB was attacking what the survivor said in abusing what his history. I can say this I am totally sick of the whole thing and I do believe it is a Tory plot to oust Corbyn. I further think Israel is playing a blinder, if you criticize it you are anti semite. Nice one