London – A top judge is under investigation after being accused of making anti-Semitic comments that could have swayed a jury into acquitting a group of protesters.
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Judge George Bathurst-Norman was said by critics to have persuaded a jury to clear a group of campaigners who smashed up a Brighton factory they claimed was making parts for Israeli war planes.
Jewish groups described the judge as acting like the “defence counsel [rather] than the neutral officer of the court.”
He is said to have compared Israel to the Nazi regime and accused the country of ignoring international law while summing up the criminal damage trial.
The judge, added that ‘there may be much to be admired’ about one Smash EDO protester, and that ‘in the last war he would probably have received a George Medal’.
Eight protesters were either cleared last month by the jury or on the directions of the judge of conspiracy to cause £187,000 damage at the EDO MBM plant in Moulsecoomb, Brighton.
They claim the company makes weapons release mechanisms for Israeli F16 fighters which bombed Gaza killing more than 1,000 civilians.
The protesters said they acted lawfully in “decommissioning” the factory to prevent alleged war crimes being committed by Israel.
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 is under way.
The move follows a series of complaints from organisations including the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
Chief executive Jon Benjamin said: “The judge’s summing up seemed to be more of a character reference for the defendants and an account of the iniquities of Israel and America than a dispassionate appraisal of the evidence.
“Rather than test whether the defence of lawful excuse was available to the accused he appeared more intent on telling the jury why they would be morally wrong not to acquit them.”
The judge told the jury: “It may be as you went through what I can only describe as horrific scenes of devastation to a civilian population, which one would have hoped to have disappeared with the Nazi regime, you may have felt anger, but you must put that emotion aside.”
Jonathan Hoffman, vice-chairman of the Zionist Federation, said: “The judge behaved more like the defence counsel than the neutral officer of the court that he was supposed to be.”
A spokesman for the Office of Judicial Complaints said: “We have received a number of complaints in relation to Judge Bathurst-Norman’s summing up.
“Those complaints will be considered under the Judicial Discipline Regulations in the usual way.”
The findings of the investigation will be considered by Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge and Lord Chancellor Kenneth Clark who will decide if the judge should face disciplinary action.
This judge has a long and well known record of anti-Israel anti anti-semitic attitudes. Having said that, in UK there is a system of appeals designed explicitlyto review and, if necessary, overturn the decisions of the lower courts.
UK’s higher courts have over the years a remakable fairness and objectivity in relations to matters of interest to yidden that other countries, not least the US, could do well to emulate.
Is it only me, or is blatant anti-semitism ramping up this past year or two?
This is a disgrace, of course. The real question, however, is whether the disgrace is a single judge, or a system. We’ll find that out as the disciplinary process proceeds. I very much hope to see British justice erase this stain on its reputation.
anyone with common sense knows that this judge did not act neutral!
i hope this comes to justice, how can one let people go free who decided to break into a factory!!!
In fact the facts are even odded than reported. This judge was brought out of 5 years retirement to hear this case. He was born in Jaffa and is the son of a British Colonial Official charged with enforcing the White Paper of 1936 to ensure that Jews could not escape ‘the hell on earth’ that was Europe to Palestine.
this will continue as long as british jews sit on there hands and do nothing its time\ to get in the governments face and let them know you will not tolerate this behavior or leave