James O’Brien “Should Be Taken Off Air” After Antisemitic Comments Claiming British Jews Are Taught “Arabs Are Cockroaches to be Crushed”

LBC presenter James O’Brien should be “taken off air” after repeating false and antisemitic comments claiming that British Jews are taught “Arabs are cockroaches to be crushed” at “Shabbat school”, critics have urged – noting that “Shabbat school” doesn’t exist. The Telegraph has more.

The LBC presenter read out a message on air from a listener who claimed that Jews are taught “Arabs are cockroaches to be crushed”.

Mr O’Brien, a former host of BBC Newsnight, said he read out the message in the interest of “objectivity”.

But the Board of Deputies of British Jews have labelled the comments “unacceptable and highly offensive”, and have called on LBC to apologise and “take Mr O’Brien off air”.

The Telegraph understands the broadcast has also been reported to the Metropolitan Police, with one complaint alleging that the programme spread “lies about Jews”.

Police have reportedly been told the show “puts Jews in very real danger”.

The comments, which some have labelled “antisemitic”, were shared online by LBC in a clip from a longer live broadcast.

It has been reported to the media regulator Ofcom, and has since been removed from X, formerly Twitter, by LBC.

In the clip, Mr O’Brien stated: “I’m fascinated by objectivity, which is why I’m going to read out this from Chris”.

He then read out a message that claimed: “My wife was brought up Jewish and at Shabbat school in a leafy Hertfordshire town she was taught that one Jewish life is worth thousands of Arab lives and that Arabs are cockroaches to be crushed.

“Whilst young children are taught such hatred and dehumanisation – undoubtedly on both sides… then they will always be able to justify death and cruelty.”

Mr O’Brien added that in relation to the Israel-Gaza conflict, there was a danger of the public only hearing about “one side” of the “propaganda processes”.

In response to the comments, Andrew Gilbert, Vice President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, called on LBC to apologise and take Mr O’Brien off air.

In a statement shared on X, Mr Gilbert said: “We are urgently seeking a meeting with senior executives following the completely unacceptable and highly offensive comments made by James O’Brien on his LBC show today.

“Broadcasting such a transparent falsehood and demonising the British Jewish community, at a time when antisemitism in this country is at terrifyingly high levels, must have clear consequences.

“LBC should apologise, and take Mr O’Brien off the air.”

Karne Pollock, the head of Holocaust Educational Trust, also pointed out that there is no such thing as a “Shabbat school”.

Worth reading in full.

Obviously, at the Daily Sceptic we don’t endorse cancel culture. But we do endorse radio presenters not repeating racist, defamatory falsehoods against an embattled minority.

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Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago

Personally, I don’t believe the Jews have been taught any such thing about Arabs.
They have been taught lots of horrific things in the Talmud, especially about the goyim, but Arabs are not singled out for particular hatred among the General Herd of Goy Cattle.

The truth is that Muslims & Jews have always been secret allies, ever since Islam was invented and the Koran was written by Mohammed’s first Yemeni Jewish wife Khadija, who asked him to marry her when she was his 40-year-old, already twice-married boss and he was her 25-year-old employee. It was Khadija’s vast wealth, inherited from her Yemeni Jewish father, that funded Mo’s Armies of Conquest.

After Khadija died, her ally Abu Bakr offered his 6-year-old Yemeni Jewish daughter Aisha to be Mo’s second wife, but she later poisoned him so her father could take over. He also got rid of Mo’s only legitimate heir Fatima, by sending a thug to crush the pregnant Fatima behind a door as she desperately tried to keep him out to protect her husband, Mo’s cousin Ali.

JDee
JDee
8 months ago
Reply to  Heretic

Sounds like you went to a “shitbatty” school!

Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago
Reply to  JDee

Crude, puerile comment that makes no sense at all.

JDee
JDee
8 months ago
Reply to  Heretic

Secret allies, is purile nonsense, that explains the various Arab Israeli wars just fine doesn’t it!

Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago
Reply to  JDee

Smokescreen, with the added bonus of helping the Globalist Depopulation Agenda. Why did the IDF wait hours and hours before responding to the Oct 7 attacks, leaving the Jewish population helplessly exposed?

The Koran is merely a copy of the Talmud, because Islam was created by Yemeni Jews just when Judaism had reached its nadir, and was about to be wiped out. Islam was created as a Proxy Army to destroy Christianity, while deflecting all blame away from the Jews. Please see this article by Jewish scholar David Wasserstein for some historical background, though he does not say that Jews created Islam:
So, what did the Muslims do for the Jews? – The Jewish Chronicle – The Jewish Chronicle

All the leaders of Muslim countries are of Jewish ancestry, and Muslims need to wake up, cast off their fake religion, repent their sins and ask forgiveness of Almighty God for being such a Plague upon the Planet.

Ben Bellak
Ben Bellak
8 months ago
Reply to  Heretic

‘The Koran is merely a copy of the Talmud’ because of its rip-off origins – I could be more explicit but would probably be accused of Islamophobia!

JDee
JDee
8 months ago
Reply to  JDee

Try looking up Sahih Muslim 2922, for a better understanding of relationships between the Jews and the Muslims.

Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago
Reply to  JDee

I prefer actual history to stuff made up by rabbis, imams, Hindu yogis, pagan witches or Catholic priests, thanks very much.

WillP
8 months ago
Reply to  Heretic

“Secret allies”. How would an idiot like you know this then?

Ben Bellak
Ben Bellak
8 months ago
Reply to  Heretic

All people in Arabia at this time were either pagan or Jewish; what is your point? ‘Secret allies’? Oh dear.

RW
RW
8 months ago

Calling for radio moderators to be punished for reporting truthfully about opinions of their listeners is a call for censorship and nothing else. Even “just” calling for said listeners to be punished for their published statements is. Insofar a listener comment is factually grossly wrong, it’s completely suffcient to point this out on the programme.

transmissionofflame
8 months ago
Reply to  RW

100%

It doesn’t even need to be pointed out on the programme – someone else can point it out, should they wish to.

RW
RW
8 months ago

I don’t know how this is in the UK but in Germany, if some publication publishes something someone referred to by it considers factually wrong, he has a right to request that a so-called Gegendarstellung (counterstatement) by him is published as well and I think that’s appropriate here: The presenter saw it fit to read out this comment. And hence, representants of the party it was about ought to be given the opportunity to address the same audience with their take on this as well.

transmissionofflame
8 months ago
Reply to  RW

I guess that’s not unreasonable and if I were an LBC listener then I would welcome hearing different views on a subject

Jack the dog
Jack the dog
8 months ago
Reply to  RW

I agree.

Th headline didn’t match the story.

I’m pretty sure O’brien in an obnoxious sob, but that is not a crime.

huxleypiggles
8 months ago

O’Brien is an absolutely vile specimen and the fact that he is given air time by any broadcaster is frankly disgraceful. The man fouls the airwaves by his existence. That a moderately profiled broadcasting company such as LBC sees fit to put him on air says all that is needed about the company.

MajorMajor
MajorMajor
8 months ago

“My wife was brought up Jewish and at Shabbat school in a leafy Hertfordshire town she was taught that one Jewish life is worth thousands of Arab lives and that Arabs are cockroaches to be crushed.

What has his missus got to say about this?
Is he putting words in her mouth?
Who is this prize-winning idiot?

thechap
thechap
8 months ago
Reply to  MajorMajor

Not for a minute do I believe any school in the UK would endorse this ideology, even the very extreme ones. They may teach verbatim what their holy books say, but I don’t believe any school would endorse this attitude, of any religion or denomination. Not in the UK.

Yet.

Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago
Reply to  thechap

Their holy books verbatim are far worse than that, believe me.

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
8 months ago
Reply to  MajorMajor

This is purely hearsay reporting, person A says person B says person C said.
Any self respecting reporter should not report what can’t be verified from it’s source.
in other words it is pure gossip and proves that O’Brien is not very good at his job and will stop at nothing to further his own twisted views.

Wroxetan
Wroxetan
8 months ago

As a member of the FSU I don’t think we should be endorsing calls for cancellation especially of a moderator ,however insufferable..The board of deputies are always calling for cancellation of this or that just like the muslim council, hope not hate and any number of other unelected pressure groups out there.
I remember all the repro German ww2 posters being removed from sale at the Imperial war Museum after a call by the board.

Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago
Reply to  Wroxetan

Yes, it’s contradictory to fight against making all criticism of Islam illegal,

while supporting making all criticism of Judaism illegal…

Ben Bellak
Ben Bellak
8 months ago
Reply to  Heretic

It is not criticism of Judaism it is an outright lie; if you knew anything about it, you would know there is no such thing as Shabbath school.

transmissionofflame
8 months ago

“Obviously, at the Daily Sceptic we don’t endorse cancel culture. But we do endorse radio presenters not repeating racist, defamatory falsehoods against an embattled minority.”

What remedy does the Daily Sceptic suggest for this “radio presenter repeating falsehoods”?

Mogwai
8 months ago

To say this is a whopper would be an understatement, but if you like your history you might like this. Jews, Israel, the Soviet Union, the Grand Mufti, Nazis, the CIA, The Muslim Brotherhood, Obama and more. An excerpt; ”The fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War One by the British and French forces allied with the Arab nationalists in Cairo and the Hashemites of what would become Saudi Arabia led to the British and French betrayal of the Arabs and the publication of the Balfour Declaration. What isn’t often mentioned is that the leader of the Arab Nationalist Movement, Sheikh Hussain, welcomed and encouraged the return of the Jewish people to what he regarded as their rightful homeland. He wanted to bring all the Jewish people back to the land. But another Arab nationalist who would become the most influential and powerful figure, the British appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Amin al Husseini, was totally against it. He refused to allow Jews to ever rule any land and believed Jews were subservient to Muslims. In 1919, he formed Arab militias with the hopes of driving all the Jews out of the land, began a wave of massacres… Read more »

Westfieldmike
Westfieldmike
8 months ago

He is a repulsive little turd in my opinion.

For a fist full of roubles
Reply to  Westfieldmike

Big turd.

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
8 months ago

Here’s a rough summary of the sanctimonious O’Brien, it wanders off towards the end a bit but it really does sum him up.

https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/march-2022/the-oh-so-clever-life-of-obrien/

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
8 months ago
Reply to  Bill Bailey

Here’s another article that makes the above look quite tame, note at the end “…how Brexit broke James O’Brien’s brain.”

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/12/10/the-derangement-of-james-obrien/

Simon MacPhisto
Simon MacPhisto
8 months ago

Would love to see that gobshite sacked and jailed for this. Oh wait….