BT shuts down ‘anti-Semitic’ Catholic website

BT HAS banned a religious website critical of extremist Jews that it has hosted for four years following a campaign from a group of MPs claimed it was anti-Semitic.

It is understood to be the first time that a website in Britain has been shut down under such circumstances.

The website, www.catholicvoice.co.uk, takes an inflammatory stance over extreme sections of Judaism that reject non-Jewish races.

The website editor, Timothy Johnson from Sheffield, a radical Catholic, told the

” the action highlights a growing campaign against critics of the actions of extremist Jews and is a breach of free debate in a free society”

Sunday Herald last night he was the subject of a "smear" campaign. He and his supporters say the action highlights a growing campaign against critics of the actions of extremist Jews and is a breach of free debate in a free society.

The site was shut after John Mann, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Committee on anti-Semitism, raised an early day motion supported by other MPs, including Glenda Jackson and Labour MP for Livingston Jim Devine.

Mann says the website is "vile and anti-Semitic" and "seeks to inspire hate against the Jewish community amongst others".

He complained to BT subsidiary Plusnet, which hosts the site, about the content, saying the site had "anti-Semitism on every page".

BT passes all internet traffic through a service called Cleanfeed, which uses data provided by the Internet Watch Foundation - a non-profit, non-government-affiliated organisation - to identify illegal content such as indecent photographs of children and racist and criminally obscene material.

But the site's content has not caused any issue for BT until now.

Although IWF's blacklist causes content to be censored even if it has not been found to be illegal by a court of law, IWF director of communications Sarah Robertson claimed in December that the IWF is opposed to the censorship of legal content.

BT would not discuss the specifics of why it had closed Catholic Voice now, but confirmed it was the result of the complaint.

Mann said: "Those who are writing, commissioning and uploading vile hate speech should face the full force of the law."

In his letter to Plusnet, he said: "The website that I understand is hosted through your organisation has been brought to my attention. It is deeply offensive in content - racist, anti-Semitic and discriminatory - and therefore in violation of your own hosting policy."

He complained in particular about two statements on the websites. The first - "To call Jesus a Jew is blasphemy" - was the heading for an explosive theological essay on Christ's origins.

Mr Johnson says the second - "Jews are followers of Satan" - has never appeared on the site.

Though not mentioned by either BT or Mann, the website more recently defended Richard Williamson, the Catholic bishop who questions whether millions of Jews died in Nazi gas chambers.

It is now understood Johnson is looking to find a host in another country, having accused BT of "hounding" the site off the internet.

He said the action underlines growing concern that critics of radical Jews in the 21st century - highlighted in the Israel-Hamas conflict - are being dismissed as fascists, tapping into a fear of Nazism.

He believes the actions raise concerns about civil liberties and the free discussion of controversial and provocative subjects on the internet. continues here

Holocaust-denier removed from Argentine seminary

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic bishop who has drawn sharp criticism from the Vatican and Jewish groups for denying the extent of the Holocaust was removed as the head of an Argentine seminary, a Catholic Church official said on Sunday.

Pope Benedict angered Jewish leaders and progressive Catholics last month when he lifted excommunications on the bishop, Richard Williamson, and three other traditionalists to try to heal a 20-year-old schism within the Church.

The Vatican has since ordered the bishop to publicly recant his views questioning whether the Nazis used gas chambers and the number of Jews who died.

But Williamson, who is British-born, recently told Germany's Spiegel magazine he must first review historical evidence before considering an apology.

In a statement, Father Christian Bouchacourt, the head of the Latin American chapter of the Catholic Society St. Pius X, said Williamson had been relieved as the head of the La Reja seminary on the outskirts of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.

"Monsignor Williamson's statements do not in any way reflect the position of our congregation," it said.

The decision came hours after Pope Benedict and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who publicly criticized the pontiff for his decision to rehabilitate the bishop, spoke by telephone.

The two had a "cordial and constructive" conversation on the issue, the Vatican said.

The Vatican has been at pains since the excommunications of the four bishops were lifted on January 24 to contain damage provoked by Williamson's comments, which he made during an interview with Swedish television last month.  continues here

Of note Bishop Richard Williamson's weblog

Suspected Holocaust denier wins his legal fight against extradition after judge throws case out of court

An alleged Holocaust denier has won his fight against extradition to Germany. 

Dr Gerald Toben, 64, is accused of publishing anti-Semitic material on his website. 

The Australian academic is wanted in Germany to stand trial for posting the alleged items between 2000 and 2004. 

The German authorities claim they are 'of an anti-Semitic and/or revisionist nature'.



In the European Arrest Warrant issued in October 2004, he is accused of approving of or playing down the murder of the Jews by the Nazis.

But District Judge Daphne Wickham ruled the warrant invalid today at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, saying it contained inadequate detail about the offences.

It neither states the name of the website nor where the propaganda is said to have been published from - only referring to the 'world-wide internet'.

After discharging Toben, Judge Wickham granted him bail pending an appeal after imposing strict conditions which include a £100,000 security.

Other conditions include residence at an approved address, written confirmation from the Australian High Commission of which passports he holds, and not to access the internet.

He is also banned from giving press interviews.

Judge Wickham added that she had not been required to decide at this stage whether the alleged crimes were valid extradition offences.

Grey wavy-haired Toben, smartly dressed in a suit, appeared pleased on hearing the judge's decision from the glass-fronted dock at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

The public gallery was packed with supporters of Toben.

Toben claims he will not get a fair trial in Germany.

The controversial author was reportedly jailed in 1999 at Mannheim prison for breaching Germany's Holocaust Law Section 130, prohibiting anyone from 'defaming the dead'.

Toben's Adelaide Institute website has drawn criticism for many years.

In 2000 he fought an order by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission in Australia to remove its 'offensive' content.

The commission claimed it breached Australia's Racial Discrimination Act.

Toben completed his Dr of Philosophy course at the University of Stuttgart in 1977 and taught schools and colleges all over the world.

He founded the Adelaide Institute and is the author of at least eight books on education, political science and history. continues here