Antisemitism is back in the press. The image taken from
antisemitic British literature of the scheming Jewish money-
man climbing the social rungs and falling down is beginning
to reappear in the press and political circles in London.
According to The Jewish Chronicle, this time Lord
Michael Levy is being hanged on the gallows as the
personification of Judaism, money and influence — all
three of which are disdained by both the right-wing and left-
wing press when they come together in a single individual.
Editor David Rowan quotes the antisemitic book, The Way We
Live Now, which portrays a wealthy Jew named Augustus
Melmotte, who bought his way into the heart of the
aristocracy and the political establishment in the 19th
century, paid for aristocratic titles and ended up in a jail
cell after being betrayed by his friends in a smear campaign
— precisely what is happening to Lord Levy today.
Tabloids like the Evening Standard can barely bring
themselves to refer to him as a lord.
Rumors abound regarding his deeds as PM Tony Blair's advisor
on Jewish affairs, his Middle East envoy and a millionaire
businessman who supposedly exerts a Zionist influence on the
British government. While the Jewish lord appeared tagging
along with Blair on his visits to Ramallah and Jerusalem,
journalists wrote malicious attacks against him for his
alleged involvement in corruption, bribery and cash-for-
honors scandals, although no legal claims have been filed
against him.
During a briefing, sources referred to as "allies of the
Prime Minister" said that the British prime minister has
abandoned the man who brought Labor 14 million pounds.
According to another version "ranking Labor sources" say that
the party's chief fundraiser, who faces charges of offering
titles to contributors, was left at the center of the police
investigation while Tony Blair came away clean. According to
other reports, "friends of Lord Levy" warned he would "take
others down" with him if he alone was accused of the title-
selling scandal. But after Blair was interrogated by Scotland
Yard The Times reported he had left his Jewish friend
to face the judges on his own.
The campaign is bringing in other Jews unassociated with
Levy, such as Sir Ronald Cohen. In leaks to reporters he is
referred to as "extremist circles close to the Prime
Minister," apparently a reference to Israel. According to
The Jewish Chronicle Jewish men of means who drew too
close to the heads of government were always in for a fall in
the end.
Eric Miller, a property developer who served as a cabinet
member under former PM Harold Wilson, was under investigation
when his body was found by fraud detectives. Raincoat magnate
Yosef Kagan was jailed shortly after receiving a title from
Wilson. Press mogul Robert Maxwell, a Jew from Rumania, fell
off his yacht and drowned in the Caribbean Sea when his
businesses failed. He was followed by another Jewish press
mogul, Lord and Lady Blake, owners of the Daily
Telegraph. They, too, fell from the heights of London
society and are fighting court battles. Now, with Blair
weakened and set to resign, Levy — who is a much
smaller catch — seems like fish bait in the net cast by
Laborites and others.
The newspapers published a photo of his lavish home as if it
alone were enough to indict him, and blame him for Blair's
policy of supporting Israel and even for ruining the new
Labor Party project. "Make no mistake," writes Rowan in
The Jewish Chronicle. "Levy's Judaism is just too
tempting a stick with which he can be beaten, and his
enemies' unabashedly antisemitic rhetoric threatens us
all."
