Conference of ‘Nazi sympathisers’ in London provokes community’s concern

Jewish groups have asked hotels to exercise diligence when taking bookings, after a meeting of the world’s foremost Nazi sympathisers and Holocaust deniers took place at the Grosvenor Hotel in Victoria earlier this month.

The ‘London Forum’ event, held on Saturday 11 April and reported this weekend, saw fascists from Britain, Spain and North America come to the UK to spout “vile anti-Semitism,” according to security chiefs. 

Using a booking made online under the name of Carlyle Group, historians and activists – some of whom had links to the National Front and the British National Party – lined up to discuss anti-Semitic topics such as “Jewish-Zionist domination”.

Flanked by flags, historian Mark Weber is shown in one video ranting against “this ‘chosen people’ mindset, this ‘us versus them’ attitude, which is anchored in centuries of Jewish heritage and is deeply rooted in the collective Jewish psyche”.

Star speaker Pedro Varela, who has been previously been arrested for praising Hitler, said: “They say Jews have the gold in the world and the power in the press and they are going to rule the world.”

He continued, using the analogy of a war, asking: “What are the enemy’s faults? We should also be smart and clever, as are the children of darkness.”

Dave Rich, a spokesman for the Community Security Trust, said: “The vile anti-Semitism that was heard at this meeting should be of concern to everybody. We understand that the venue was unaware of the nature of this meeting when they took the booking, but we hope that more diligent checks would be made in future.”

Jonathan Arkush, vice-president of the Board of Deputies, said: “The material from this white supremacist group makes ugly reading… On the face of it, their proceedings should be investigated to ascertain whether criminal offences have been committed, including incitement to racial hatred.”

Gerry Gable, editor and publisher of anti-Fascist Searchlight magazine and leading expert on the extreme Right, who worked with the MoS on our investigation, said last night: ‘This is the biggest and most significant meeting of Holocaust deniers that Britain has ever seen. It is a very worrying development.’

Journalist for the Mail on Sunday said they had passed information on the event to the Metropolitan Police, but Met spokesmen were unaware of the event.