British Man Convicted in Anti-Semitic Campaign Against Jewish Lawmaker

Luciana Berger

By Josefin Dolsten December 7, 2016

— A British court found a man guilty of waging an anti-Semitic internet campaign against a Jewish lawmaker.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine,24, was convicted Wednesday of racial harassment for posting a series of articles online in which he targeted parliamentarian Luciana Berger. The campaign, which Bonehill-Paine named “Operation Filthy Jew B***|h,” referred to Jewish lawmaker as evil and responsible for the death of Jesus. It also included Berger’s face superimposed onto the body of a rat, according to The Evening Standard.

Bonehill-Paine, who was arrested for the campaign in February, is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for promoting a far-right nationalist protest against the “Jewification of Great Britain” last year.

Berger testified in front of the court that Bonehill-Paine’s articles left her afraid.

“I felt sick, really … I have received, as an MP, anti-Semitism since I was elected. The scale and body during this period, combined with articles, I felt very much under attack. It was all-consuming,” Berger said, according to The Evening Standard.

Berger has been the subject of anti-Semitic death threats and a hate campaign on social media.

Earlier this year, another British man, John Nimmo, pleaded guilty to sending Berger a death threat. He was investigated after Berger called police.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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