Vanessa Feltz slams BBC ban on attending march towards antisemitism

Vanessa Feltz has branded a BBC ban on employees attending the march towards antisemitism as ‘immoral’ and revealed the ‘vile racist trolling’ she has obtained since yesterday’s rally.

The TV persona, 61, who was employed by the BBC Radio 2 for greater than 20 years till she stepped down in August 2022, stated she was ‘so glad I’m now not there’, throughout an interview with Jeremy Kyle. 

Ms Feltz joined Countdown’s Rachel Riley, actor Eddie Marsan and TV choose Rob Rinder on the march towards antisemitism in central London on Sunday, which noticed greater than 100,000 individuals attend.

Speaking at present on TalkTV, Feltz was requested if she felt the broadcaster’s choice to ‘ban’ employees from attending the rally confirmed a ‘elementary, primary anti-Jewish feeling’, to which Ms Feltz replied: ‘I believe so’. 

She added that had she nonetheless been working for the BBC, she would have ‘needed to go’ on the march, regardless of realizing that attending rally would imply that she would face disciplinary motion 

In a passionate deal with, Ms Feltz stated: ‘Racism is unlawful, it is immoral… how are you going to say to employees who’re sentient beings, who should be capable of determine what they wish to do and the place they really feel they need to be, you can’t go on a march towards racism.’

This comes as Jewish employees on the company claimed they might be at Sunday’s rally in central London, in defiance of the BBC’s ‘ban’, as they vented their frustration on the BBC’s information protection of the battle between Israel and Hamas.

Ms Feltz added: ‘I’d been very proud to work on the BBC for simply shy of 30 years. How are you able to say you possibly can’t go on a march towards racism?’

Alarmingly, Ms Feltz additionally revealed the barrage of the ‘vile racist trolling’ abuse that she has obtained on-line, on account of attending the rally alongside tens of 1000’s of others calling for an finish to hatred towards the Jewish neighborhood. 

She continued: ‘I’m actually horrified that this needed to occur in any respect, that we needed to go on a march. I’m completely shattered by a few of the antisemitic, vile racist trolling that I’ve obtained since.

‘Yesterday I acquired residence I checked out my telephone, I should not have actually, I ought to have simply thrown it away actually, thrown it in a pond or one thing, I actually imply it as a result of messages and photos of me on the march with messages saying, ‘We see you’ after which ‘unfollow’ after which describing me as human excrement, as a curse. 

‘Every vile slur, disgusting swear phrase, horrible factor that you could possibly want on the worst individual on earth.’

Former prime minister Boris Johnson and his spouse Carrie additionally took to the streets of London to indicate solidarity forJewish individuals amid a surprising rise in studies of antisemitic hate crimes within the final month.

Describing the ambiance on the march yesterday, Ms Feltz stated: ‘ It was all the pieces. It was all completely different feelings. There are 225,000 Jews solely within the United Kingdom of 66 million individuals so fewer than 1 / 4 of one million Jewish individuals and there have been 105,000 individuals marching. 

‘So very many people marching yesterday should have been non-Jews so it should have been that we had been marching shoulder to shoulder with individuals who simply realised that antisemitism is barely racism. 

‘There’s nothing particular about it. It’s not a singular form of racism – it is racism. That’s all it’s. It’s hating someone as a result of they’re Jewish… It’s precisely the identical as any form of racism towards some other neighborhood.’

She added: ‘I felt so terribly unhappy to be marching in 2023 within the nation I really like; to say we’re all individuals as a result of I’ve celebrated multiculturalism and believed in it and cherished it, felt privileged to be right here.

‘I really like my nation, I’ve all the time felt comfy and completely happy and optimistic and in the previous few weeks it is a very, very completely different feeling.’

The gargantuan turnout meant it was the most important protest towards anti-Semitism for the reason that rise of the well-known Battle of Cable Street in 1936, when Nazism and Fascism was on the rise throughout Europe.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism stated: ‘Week after week, central London has turn into a no-go zone for Jews.

‘We have witnessed mass criminality, together with glorification of terrorism, assist for banned terrorist organisations similar to Hamas, and incitement to racial or non secular hatred towards Jews.’

They added: ‘The unhappy reality is that Jews don’t really feel protected in our capital metropolis’.

Speaking on the 1,300 per cent rise in antisemitic incidents within the UK for the reason that horrific October seventh terrorist assault, Ms Feltz stated: ‘Since that day, there’s been a tidal wave rise in antisemitism towards Jewish individuals on this nation. 

‘The connection – I do not perceive, do you? – between an unprovoked bloodbath of harmless individuals in Israel and deciding to hate a kosher butcher in Manchester or Leeds or London? How would that presumably make any sense to anyone? 

‘But Jewish individuals who’ve been comfy and completely happy right here all these years all of the sudden really feel scrutinised and nervous.’

A BBC spokesperson advised the MailOnline: ‘The BBC is evident that antisemitism is abhorrent. 

‘We have established steering round marches, which explains that completely different concerns apply relying on what you do for the BBC. 

‘Corporately, now we have not issued any employees communication on any particular march this weekend, however this doesn’t imply discussions which contemplate the steering haven’t taken place between colleagues’. 

The full protection of Vanessa on the march towards antisemitism will air on her Drivetime present from 5pm at present on TalkTV.