The Telegraph has revealed that a senior staff member of Stop Funding Hate, the group behind the GB News advertising boycott, has shared content on social media that many regard as antisemitic and has links with a group called Ethical Consmer, a leading advocate of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the U.K. The Telegraph ’s Steven Edginton has more.
Amanda Morris, the community organiser for Stop Funding Hate (SFH), has been criticised for several social media posts, including one from 2021 promoting the phrase “#FromTheRiverToTheSea”, a well-known chant used by Hamas to call for the destruction of Israel.
A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is hard to square Amanda Morris’ history of comments, posts and associations with Stop Funding Hate’s philosophy of ‘open, inclusive and participatory campaigning’.”
“Promoting anti-Semitic phrases like ‘From the River to the Sea’, which calls for the destruction of Israel; urging the media to give a platform to spokespeople from Hamas, an anti-Semitic genocidal terrorist group banned by the U.K., are all red flags.”
“How could Jewish people possibly feel included in any of SFH’s campaigning led by such an individual? And how on earth SFH could work with her?”
Stop Funding Hate has led campaigns urging advertisers to sever ties with conservative-leaning media organisations, including GB News, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph. Last week the coffee company Grind said it had stopped advertising with GB News in response to a tweet from SFH.
The Telegraph can also reveal SFH is heavily reliant on a group called Ethical Consumer for its campaign strategy and materials. Ethical Consumer is a leading advocate of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the U.K., which pushes for the avoidance of Israeli-produced goods and services.
Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, introduced a Bill last month to clamp down on BDS campaigns which he claimed “lead to appalling antisemitic rhetoric and abuse”.
Amanda Morris wrote a report in May 2021 criticising the media for “referring to Hamas as (an) Islamist militant group” and said “referring to Hamas” as an “Islamist militant group” disregards “that they won a popular vote in 2006”.
Earlier that month conflict had broken out between Israel and Palestine, with the Home Office reporting that 4,000 rockets had been fired indiscriminately into Israel by Hamas killing civilians and children…
Amanda Morris said: “I do not consider that the retweets in question are antisemitic. I have been critical of some of the actions of the state of Israel, but that does not mean that I am antisemitic – on the contrary, I am an opponent of all forms of racism including anti-Jewish racism.”
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