Why are US ‘pro-Israel’ groups boosting a far-right, anti-Muslim UK extremist?
WASHINGTON — Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, aka “Tommy Robinson,” is one of the most prominent anti-Muslim activists in the world. A political adviser to a right-wing British party, he is the founder and former chair of a far-right Islamophobic group.
Recently sentenced to 13 months in prison for illegally filming a court proceeding involving Muslims accused of sexual assault and publishing it on Facebook Live, Robinson is more than just an agent provocateur. He’s one of the main forces bringing extremist forms of hate and bigotry from the fringes to the mainstream.
Why, then, are some of his biggest supporters — financial and otherwise — a loose coalition of reactionary, self-proclaimed pro-Israel backers?
According to a recent investigation by The Guardian, Robinson is being bankrolled by a nexus of international organizations. Many of those groups, it turns out, are part of the American right-wing infrastructure supporting the Israeli cause.