Editing British National Party (section)

=== Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia ===
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=My experience as a campaigner against the multi-racial idea in Britain and in favour of our country's centuries-old tradition of racial homogeneity has brought home to me beyond any doubt the fact that Jews are to be found at the forefront of opposition to British racial self-preservation.|source=— Tyndall's belief that a Jewish conspiracy was behind multiracial Britain{{sfn|Tyndall|1988|pp=106–107}} }}

Under Tyndall's leadership, the BNP was openly [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]].{{sfn|Goodwin|2011|pp=38–39}} From [[A. K. Chesterton]], Tyndall had inherited a belief that there was a global conspiracy of Jews bent on world domination, viewing the ''[[Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'', which is known to be a forgery, as genuine evidence for this.{{sfn|Copsey|2008|p=91}} He believed that Jews were responsible for both [[communism]] and [[international finance]] capitalism and that they were responsible for undermining the British Empire and the British race.{{sfn|Copsey|2008|p=91}} He believed that both democratic government and immigration into Europe were parts of the [[Jewish conspiracy]] to weaken other races.{{sfn|Copsey|2008|p=89}} In an early edition of ''Spearhead'' published in the 1960s, Tyndall wrote that "if Britain were to become Jew-clean she would have no nigger neighbours to worry about&nbsp;... It is the Jews who are our misfortune: T-h-e J-e-w-s. Do you hear me? THE JEWS?"{{sfnm|1a1=Billig|1y=1978|1p=128|2a1=Richardson|2y=2011|2p=53}} Tyndall added [[Holocaust denial]] to the anti-Semitic beliefs inherited from Chesterton, believing that [[the Holocaust]] was a hoax created by the Jews to gain sympathy for themselves and thus aid their plot for world domination.{{sfnm|1a1=Gable|1y=1995|1p=267|2a1=Copsey|2y=2008|2p=92|3a1=Goodwin|3y=2011|3p=39}} Among those to endorse such anti-Semitic conspiracy theories was Griffin, who promoted them in his 1997 pamphlet, ''[[Who are the Mind Benders?]]''{{sfn|Richardson|2011|p=53}} Griffin also engaged in Holocaust denial, publishing articles promoting such ideas in ''The Rune'', a magazine produced by the [[Croydon]] BNP. In 1998, these articles resulted in Griffin being convicted of [[Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred|inciting racial hatred]].{{sfnm|1a1=Griffin|1y=2011|1p=197|2a1=Macklin|2y=2011|2p=26|3a1=Richardson|3y=2011|3p=52|4a1=Trilling|4y=2012|4p=75}}

When Griffin took power, he sought to banish overt anti-Semitic discourse from the party.{{sfn|Macklin|2011|p=26}} He informed party members that "we can get away with criticising Zionists, but any criticism of Jews is likely to be legal and political suicide".{{sfn|Trilling|2012|p=85}} In 2006, he complained that the "obsession" that many BNP members had with "the Jews" was "insane and politically disastrous".{{sfn|Macklin|2011|p=25}} In 2004, the party selected a Jewish candidate, Pat Richardson, to stand for it during local council elections, something Tyndall lambasted as a "gimmick".{{sfn|Woodbridge|2010|p=42}} References to Jews in BNP literature were often coded to hide the party's electorally unpalatable anti-Semitic ideas.{{sfn|Richardson|2011|p=53}} For instance, the term "[[Zionism|Zionists]]" was often used in party literature as a euphemism for "Jews".{{sfnm|1a1=Goodwin|1y=2011|1p=39|2a1=Richardson|2y=2011|2p=53}} As noted by Macklin, Griffin still framed many of his arguments "within the parameters of recognizably anti-Semitic discourse".{{sfn|Macklin|2011|p=36}} The BNP's literature is replete with references to a conspiratorial group who have sought to suppress nationalist sentiment among the British population, who have encouraged immigration and mixed-race relationships, and who are promoting the [[Islamification]] of the country.{{sfn|Richardson|2011|p=52}} This group is likely a reference to the Jews, being an old fascist canard.{{sfn|Richardson|2011|pp=52–53}}

Sectors of the extreme-right were highly critical of Griffin's softening on the subject of the Jews, claiming that he had "sold out" to the '[[Zionist Occupied Government]]'.{{sfn|Woodbridge|2011|p=118}} In 2006, John Bean, editor of ''Identity'', included an article in which he reassured BNP members that the party had not "sold out to the Jews" or "embraced Zionism" but that it remained "committed to fighting&nbsp;... subversive Jews".{{sfn|Copsey|Macklin|2011|p=94}} Under Griffin, the BNP's website linked to other web pages that explicitly portrayed immigration as part of a Jewish conspiracy,{{sfn|Richardson|2011|pp=53–54}} while it also sold books that promoted Holocaust denial.{{sfn|Richardson|2011|pp=54–55}} In 2004, secretly filmed footage was captured in which Griffin was seen claiming that "the Jews simply bought the West, in terms of press and so on, for their own political ends".{{sfn|Richardson|2011|p=52}}

[[File:East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre - geograph.org.uk - 394907.jpg|thumb|left|The BNP have called for the banning of any further mosques being constructed in the UK.]]
Copsey noted that a "culture of anti-Semitism" still pervaded the BNP.{{sfn|Copsey|2008|p=162}} In 2004, a London activist told reporters that "most of us hate Jews",{{sfn|Copsey|2008|p=162}} while a Scottish BNP group was observed making [[Nazi salute]]s while shouting "Auschwitz".{{sfn|Copsey|2008|p=162}} The party's [[Newcastle upon Tyne Central (UK Parliament constituency)|Newcastle upon Tyne Central]] candidate compared the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] to [[Disneyland]], while their [[Luton North (UK Parliament constituency)|Luton North]] candidate stated her refusal to buy from "the [[kike]]s that run [[Tesco]]".{{sfn|Richardson|2011|pp=50–51}} In 2009, a BNP councillor from [[Stoke-on-Trent]] resigned from the party, complaining that it still contained Holocaust deniers and Nazi sympathisers.{{sfn|Macklin|Virchow|2011|p=220}}

Griffin informed BNP members that rather than "bang on" about the Jews—which would be deemed extremist and prove electorally unpopular—their party should focus on criticising [[Islam]], an issue that would be more resonant among the British public.{{sfn|Copsey|Macklin|2011|p=85}} After Griffin took over, the party increasingly embraced an Islamophobic stance, launching a "Campaign Against Islam" in September 2001.{{sfn|Goodwin|2011|p=68}} In ''Islam: A Threat to Us All'', a leaflet distributed to London households in 2007, the BNP claimed that it would stand up to both [[Islamic extremism]] and "the threat that 'mainstream' Islam poses to our British culture".{{sfn|Woodbridge|2010|p=41}} In contrast to the mainstream British view that the actions of militant [[Islamism|Islamists]]—such as those who perpetrated the [[7 July 2005 London bombings]]—are not representative of mainstream Islam, the BNP insists that they are.{{sfn|Wood|Finlay|2008|p=710}} In some of its literature it presents the view that every Muslim in Britain is a threat to the country.{{sfn|Wood|Finlay|2008|p=721}} Griffin referred to Islam as an "evil, wicked faith",{{sfn|Copsey|2008|p=166}} and elsewhere publicly described it as a "cancer" that needed to be removed from Europe through "chemotherapy".{{sfn|Trilling|2012|p=143}}

The BNP has called for the prohibition of immigration from Muslim countries and for the banning of the [[burqa|burka]], [[halal]] meat, and the building of new [[mosque]]s in the UK.{{sfn|Goodwin|2011|p=69}} It also called for the immediate deportation of radical [[Islamism|Islamist]] preachers from the country.{{sfn|Goodwin|2011|p=69}} In 2005, the party stated that its primary issue of concern was the "growth of fundamentalist-militant Islam in the UK and its ever-increasing threat to Western civilization and our implicit values".{{sfn|Goodwin|2011|p=69}} To broaden its anti-Islamic agenda, Griffin's BNP made overtures to the UK's Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish communities; Griffin's claim that Jews can make "good allies" in the fight against Islam caused controversy within the international far-right.{{sfn|Woodbridge|2010|pp=41–42}}