A rabbi has branded an election leaflet put out by the British National Party as “blatantly Islamaphobic”. The leaflets have been sent to Jewish voters showing people dressed in Islamic clothing performing Nazi salutes and holding banners bearing anti-Semitic claims such as “God Bless Hitler”.

Rabbi David Hulbert, of Bet Tikvah Synagogue, Newbury Park, and a member of the borough’s Three Faiths Forum, which is a coalition between Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities, said: “It’s blatantly Islamaphobic. I really don’t think they will be picking up many votes from the Jewish community here.”

BNP Cllr Julian Leppert, who is hoping to regain his council seat for Hainault and is also standing as an MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, said the images on the leaflet were designed to be attention grabbing. He said: “We’re using this election to bury some of the myths about the British National Party. If you read the Jewish press, they are still banging on about the same old rubbish, saying we’re Nazis.”

Ilford Recorder, 23 April 2010

Well, you can understand how the Jewish press might come to that conclusion, can’t you?