[THS] Judge faces anti-Semitism probe after speech attacking Israel

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297219/Judge-faces-anti-semitism-probe-speech-attacking-Israel-helps-free-arms-factory-protesters.html

Judge faces anti-Semitism probe after speech attacking Israel helps free arms factory
protesters

By Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent
Last updated at 2:52 AM on 24th July 2010


Judge Bathurst-Norman

Remarks: Judge Bathurst-Norman is being investigated after summing up in a trial
which led to protesters being acquitted

A senior judge was under investigation yesterday after being accused of making anti-
Semitic remarks in court that may have swayed his jury into acquitting a group of
protesters.

Judge George Bathurst-Norman was said by critics to have persuaded a jury to clear
a group of campaigners who smashed up a factory making parts for Israeli
warplanes.

Summing up in the criminal damage trial, he compared Israel to the Nazi regime and
accused the country of ignoring international law.

The judge added that 'there may be much to be admired' about the chief protester,
and that 'in the last war he would probably have received a George Medal'.

The Office for Judicial Complaints, which deals with objections over the conduct of
judges and magistrates, confirmed that an inquiry into how Judge Bathurst-Norman
handled the trial of five political activists at Hove Crown Court in June is under way.

Its findings will be considered by Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge and Lord Chancellor
Kenneth Clarke, who have the final say on any disciplinary action.

A number of complaints are said to have accused the judge not just of anti-Israel
rhetoric but specifically of anti-Semitism.

The case involved a group of activists who broke into and vandalised a Brighton
factory run by engineering firm EDO MBM.

The company was making parts for use in the bomb-aiming equipment on Israeli F16
warplanes.

The invasion shut the factory for a week and caused £187,000 worth of damage. But
five men and women who appeared in court claimed they had done nothing wrong
under criminal damage law.

The law says someone is not guilty of causing damage if they believed it was
necessary for the immediate protection of someone else's property.

It is framed to protect, for example, someone who smashes a neighbour's door down
if they believe their house is on fire.

Gaza attack

Under attack: The judge criticised the actions of Israel in bombing parts of Gaza in
January 2009 which prompted protesters to storm the arms factory

However, in the Brighton case, the activists claimed they believed their invasion was
necessary for the protection of property in Gaza.

Several similar defences by protesters have been successful in recent years.

In 2008, six Greenpeace protesters were acquitted after causing £30,000 worth of
damage at a coal-fired power station.

The jury in that case accepted they had acted to prevent climate change causing
greater damage.

Describing evidence shown in court, Judge Bathurst-Norman told the jury that he
could only describe the 'horrific' events shown as 'scenes which one would rather
have hoped to have disappeared with the Nazi regimes of the last war'.

In his summing up, he gave his backing to the evidence of one defendant, Ornella
Saibene, a former Greenham Common activist.

The judge said: 'She took us through the horrors, and there really is no other word
for it than horrors, that emerged in the press and on the news and the footage as to
what the Israelis were doing in Gaza.

'You may think that perhaps "Hell on Earth" would be an understatement of what the
Gazans endured.'

Among groups complaining was the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Its president, Vivian Wineman, said: 'The judge's comments give rise to profound
concerns about the appropriateness of his directions to the jury.'

Jonathan Hoffman, of the Zionist Federation, said: 'This opens the door to any group
which thinks the British presence in Afghanistan is wrong to go and smash up plants
supplying British forces.' [what an intelligent comment and idea!]

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297219/Judge-faces-anti-semitism-probe-
speech-attacking-Israel-helps-free-arms-factory-protesters.html#ixzz0uyQnZVtM