British Man Convicted in Anti-Semitic Campaign Against Jewish Lawmaker
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
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.
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