Understanding the Conspiracy of MuralGate “MuralGate” refers to the allegations of antisemitism that dogged Labour and especially Jeremy Corbyn when it was revealed in March that he seemed to approve of an antisemitic mural in 2012. Early on it was countered that this fabrication of outrage was a conspiracy (rather than a “Last Straw” to which exasperated Jews said “enough is enough”). This new analysis substantially vindicates the conspiracy theory. 1. By closely examining the number of “comments” on the screenshots of the incriminating images taken from the Facebook page I show that the shots were taken in 2012 – though only published for the first time in 2015, and that the 2018 image used was a composite. 2. By closely examining the tweets of the person concerned who re-released the data, and who accidentally published himself playing guitar at his wedding to @absoluteradio, I identify @CQuilty52 (his name, address, alter-egos, and so on). 3. By collecting and sequencing @CQuilty52’s relations with: (a) other antisemitism activists (and Douglas K Murray), (b) significant journalists (Nick Cohen, Isabel Hardman, Dan Hodges, Melanie Philips, and Guido Fawkes), (c) the Jewish establishment (BDBJs and JLC), (d) politicians especially Luciana Berger, I provide an account of @CQuilty52’s role in what was a carefully planned plot. 4. I show that @CQuilty52 is a “friend” of David Baddiel and David Schneider and look at their role in this story. 5. I provide highly probable reasons for thinking that @CQuilty52 was behind Guido Fawkes’ revelations regarding Naz Shah (2016), the coordination of the two inquiries into social media, the pressurising of the Jewish establishment, and liaison with politicians in the plot. 6. By examining at deliberate silences and feigned ignorance, I construct an argument that shows how an artificial calm was created before an artificial storm, one which implicates Luciana Berger, Sajid Javid and others (in setting up the antisemitism debate in April) but which was probably planned in February. 7. I decisively undermine the “authorised version,” the myth of the last straw, for example, by showing how the “enough is enough” narrative was already being constructed two weeks before enough officially became enough. 8. I probe the relations between others such as Alex Rubner and Victoria Freeman, Sarah (daughter of Baroness) Deech and others who appear in this story giving reasons why one but not the others was involved. 9. I give a brief but telling analysis of the comparable figure, Shai Masot, whose tweets show a similar concern to undermine critics of Israel by infiltrating UK politics. 10. On the balance of probabilities I argue that such also were the motives of the plotters. The essay has six parts. In the first I examine the visual images that permit me to “carbon date” the time of capture. In the second I identify the alter egos of the chief protagonist and give an ideal type for his role (“The Production Manager”). In the third I look at the strategy and tactics of the Production Manager including the feigned ignorance of Corbyn’s comment and, as well, I undermine the opposing narrative. This permits a fourth part in which I present an informed sequence of events. The fifth and concluding part considers motive. Part six is an appendix taking the form of a time line which, with some repetition, assembles key events (with endnotes now as opposed to footnotes).

A plea for journalists to take up a few leads. I compare the strategies used to smear Corbyn in MuralGate and CemetryGate, and suggest that we need to ask a few probing questions.

A teacher giving special help to a seventeen year old discovered that the girl had never heard of the holocaust, and so the amanuensis informed her of the basic facts. A little later she had to apologise: " I'm sorry Miss. I can't concentrate on the lesson. I just keep thinking of what that man did to them. " That's always struck me as a poignant lesson in how those with emotional intelligence can outstrip the learned. The girl had a genuine insight into the gravity of what for her was news. It may seem shocking that the girl could have remained ignorant for so long, but probably most teachers have come across enormous gaps. I imagine, however, that all modern Jewish children will have this experience burning in their memory from a tender age. This shared memory will form the basis of a common experience. And from this common experience we have the basis for common understanding and judgement including practical judgements. So the father of Margaret Hodge taught his children to always have their " suitcase packed and in the hall. " I can understand this. I can't defend, Hodge, though. Her outburst against the party leader for being racist was exaggerated, and I don't believe she was losing her temper – she was using it, and using it cynically. Corbyn was holding out against accepting the examples of the IHRA. It is said that criticism of Israel will not be censored, but to my mind the relevant criticism will be. That is, IHRA will be used to silence those who argue that an Apartheid State should be boycotted. As I have learned in some detail, the current smear campaign revolves around this point. i For this reason I regard her actions as insincere – even though I don't doubt the validity of the ethos acquired at an early age and shared with others in the community. * These remarks are preliminary to my point which is as follows. I have put some effort into getting at the facts of the smear campaign. ii But I have also learned from experience that virtually no British journalist is willing to take up the story. Omerta. Perhaps one reason is the creepy factor. In 1903 a forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, purveyed the sinister trope of a worldwide controlling influence of Jews – the theme of a cartoon shared by Jair Netanyahu, incidentally, as he (antisemitically) attacked George Soros. The feeling seems to be that to allege a conspiracy – as I do – and to suggest – as I also do – that this may be connected to the events of Gaza: this is too shocking for words. Still, I have once again to borrow the insights of those I am countering: General Uri Saguy once used the phrase " purposely timed hysteria. " That's what I think we're dealing with here. But still, and to get to my point, we can legitimately wonder how Israel does it. I don't suppose that Bibi has a touch-screen on his desk of a world map that allows him to press the hysteria button as and when, so that politicians will set up debates, established Jewry demonstrate, and Press give saturation coverage. This is what did actually happen in the UK, March – so that the events in Gaza were eclipsed in the British media. But to say that the outrage was for the smokescreen seems to imply a mechanism that sounds fanciful. Isn't it more economical to think simply that Corbyn's past was catching up with him so that the outrage was natural (rather than fabricated)? What, then, is the mechanism? To pose the question thus is to see how bad it is, for people are not things that work by clockwork. Still, although it is quite a controversial issue for sociological methodologists, there does seem to be some sort of thing as " common responsibility " and, at times,

In this hastily written and inadequately researched note I wish to offer a few connections between MuralGate and CemeteryGate. Over a couple of months I made a detailed study of the former and concluded that a smear campaign was operating to undermine Jeremy Corbyn in view of his pro-Palestinian credentials. My latest version is here. i This includes a paragraph on Jamie Bickerton @JBickertonUK. He had slipped through my net, although I was casually aware of him. But he has now turned up in CemeteryGate, and so I have homed in on this apologist. My opening epigraph, " to be clear that " is a conflation of tweets from the two " scandals. " What's extremely interesting is the time at which Bickerton tweeted. MuralGate kicked off when Luciana Berger complained in a tweet at 7 am March 23rd. I show beyond reasonable doubt that she was part of an extremely coordinated campaign. One of the heuristic devices that helped me considerably was a detailed time line. However, since I hadn't placed Bickerton's tweets in that context I missed his significance. However, when I took just a glance of his timing his involvement was obvious. He tweeted at 7.08, and was probably the earliest respondent. Then, in what are obviously clearly crafted tweets he sends six out in eleven minutes. This is announced as a thread, although there is no indication by numeration as to when it ends (as it does with a reference praising Berger). Instantly, His Twitter friend @NickCohen4 tweets at 7.20. Just a little later Bickerton has an exchange with @MarcusDysch from the Jewish Chronicle (who I show was deeply involved). So there seems little doubt that he is involved: his role is to offer an immediate, and fairly detailed explanatory thread. He is adamant that it is perfectly clear that the Mear One mural was antisemitic, even claiming (contrary to the artist's pinned tweet) that Mear One (Kalen Ockerman) had admitted antisemitism. Here I would simply cite Martin Odoni who seems to have given the clearest response, including (in his replies to objectors) the quotes that Bickerton cites. Now, on Saturday 11th August the Daily Mail splashed with " Corbyn's wreath at graves of Munich terrorists. " This was a rerun of an unsuccessful story in 2017 that the Mail revisited. It does not seem as though new information has come to light except that the Mail sent photographers to get more images. These purport to show Corbyn in a location where Atef Bseiso and others are buried. Corbyn is shown holding a wreath, and then Corbyn is shown, apparently in front of Sala Khalef's grave (where part of a floral display is visible) (page 7) when visiting the cemetery after a conference in Tunisia. Shortly after, Corbyn wrote in the Morning Star: After wreaths were laid at the graves of those who died that day and on the graves of others killed by Mossad agents in Paris 1991, we moved to the poignant statue in the main avenue of the coastal town of Ben Arous … ". The charge is that Corbyn was honouring the Black September Munich terrorists. What's interesting is that a thread from Bickerton is on immediate display: at 10.02 am. Again, it shows forethought that suggests detailed preparation. That thought shows attention to the narrative that needs to be conveyed. We are told that things are perfectly clear even at that early stage. I simply wish to point out that Bickerton was wrong. As with the mural (as Odoni shows) things were not perfectly clear at all. First, the pictures in the Mail do not show conclusively where the wreath Corbyn was holding was laid. If indeed there are four graves adjacent to the spot in the covered walkway where Corbyn is photographed, it does not seem as though four graves were laid with wreaths. I'm unclear about the pictures, but it does seem as though a separate memorial stands between the graves and the walkway (shown by a red arrow in the Mail with no explanation). And when a wreath is shown on that grave (online editions) this is clearly a different wreath. So, what happened to the wreath (which Labour officials say has an Arabic legend from the conference) is unclear.

See instead "Reason and Investigative Journalism"

Shining a light on the attack dogs whose grievance against Corbyn, to begin with, was never antisemitism.

My complaint to the Jewish Chronicle now with IPSO. It gives a simplified version of my long argument in MuralGaga, namely, that MuralGate was not a "last straw" to which exasperated Jews said "enough is enough" but a calculated plan to fabricate outrage.

I never planned to write MuralGaga. At the time I didn't take too much notice of the original MuralGate story, but what ignited concern was the shootings on Good Friday, and also my anger at the Tablet editorial that I read Holy Saturday. I noticed that in his leader Brendan Walsh used language from Gaudium et Spes that I knew off by heart. Referring indirectly to the atomic bombs dropped in Japan, the Fathers of Vatican II affirm that the " vast destruction of cities and their inhabitants is a crime against God and humanity that merits unequivocal condemnation. " I found cadences of this strong language in the leader – yet as applied to solidarity with Jews in the context of a demonstration against Jeremy Corbyn! Even though I was well aware that this would have been penned on the Tuesday, I wrote an angry letter to the editor. As it happens Walsh replied, and later I discovered that he was to give the after dinner speech at a Conference on Catholic theology at Durham at which I was presenting a short paper. So, I wrote more kindly, and he reciprocated inviting me to seek him out at the conference. In the following issue (which like the previous, never mentioned the Palestinians) Dawn Foster wrote on MuralGate opening with a sentence on Luciana Berger. Again, I didn't take much notice, and had never heard of Berger – nor any other Jewish MP, though I had a vague recollection of who John Mann was (without knowing his actual name). This too raised a suspicion in me especially as Walsh mentioned sources in the Labour Party that he trusted (without revealing who they were). On Easter Sunday I was still very upset about Gaza, and for " revenge " consoled myself by reading (with the help of the New Jerome Biblical Commentary) the Prophet Amos. I was very moved by the book's pathos. And later that week I found myself writing a long letter to the Chief Rabbi about my reflections for which I received a polite reply. I've put this up on my academic site. i Still, my interest was not in MuralGate per se, though I was worried about Gaza, complaining, and then taking to another level, an angry correspondence with the BBC. I was outraged by the way that I thought that they had minimised and neutralised what I took to be the equivalent of Sunday Bloody Sunday. In doing this I was taking in much information from the internet, often not taking too much notice of my sources. Most of what I wrote in MuralGaga, then, I learned from scratch, but still had no particular interest in the scandal until April 15 th. This was when President Arkush of the Board of Deputies and Chairman Goldstein wrote in Comment is Free about how they had come to demonstrate on March 26 th. My instant reaction was to count the paragraphs (ten) and the number of those concerned with time (six). I was immediately struck by what I took to be the insincerity of the writers and their account of a " last straw. " From that time on I started thinking about MuralGate, and concern deepened when I read of the Commons debate on antisemitism. During that period I fired off many letters to the MPs in question (including my own who was refusing to reply to any correspondence). In fact, only Alex Sobel replied. His name had been in the Jewish Chronicle's article and so for that reason he was on my list. Actually, I know that he had said nothing that had upset me – very rudely, though, I told him that I thought his tweet on Gaza was as " bland as a Burt. " One thing that he said that stayed with me was to the effect that the issue of Labour antisemitism had been going on for some time. I should say that I found myself liking Sobel, and also his support for Meretz (the Israeli Labour Party had been moving to the Right when it split with Corbyn April 10 th) but I also felt he didn't want to speak out too strongly for rocking the boat. I also recall putting some thoughts together that I sent to Jonathan Freedland, eventually getting a reply that I thought insincere. He claimed to know the community well and that there was genuine anger, so that my " conspiracy theory " was just that. But he failed to discuss any points of substance – being under pressure to write a book. I also reached out to Keith Kahn Harris for advice, as I had been impressed by the way

The thesis “Islam Tweets: Challenging Ideas & Notions due to Social Media” asks how traditionally shaped ideas are re-framed due to social media channels. This process happens through the network-character of society, offline as well as online. To show that historical notions, such as the doctrine of Jihad, are re-interpreted within an online framework three Twitter accounts of Salafi preachers are analyzed. These represent alternative networks themselves. Thereby, showing that through tools offered by Twitter to its users, religious practices are strengthened and group cohesion is consolidated. Twitter allows its users to take turns in conversations, referencing to previous statements, and creating a cohesive conversation in a non-cohesive network. These two processes lead to a re-imagining of traditional notions, e.g. Islam’s notion of Jihad. In this process the doctrine of jihad, which fulfills two basic elements for the religious community of Muslim believers, is re-shaped through an online narrative. This work argues that if the Islamic State propagates jihad by sword on social media, then the examined Muslim preachers use their social media presence to pursue jihad by mouth using similar content patterns as Daesh. The applied methods are: discourse analysis with a particular focus on online usage; Social Network Analysis; Manual Content Analysis and Genre Analysis.

A short report into the 2017 UK General Election See the full report online: http://www.electionanalysis.uk