What Their True Intensions Were

The great Ricky D. Hale writes:

Comedian Reginald D. Hunter recently got in trouble when he dared make a joke that “it was like being married to Israel” at the Edinburgh Festival and was heckled by an Israeli couple who told him this was “not funny”. Hunter responded to the hecklers (like all comedians do), and in the ensuing exchange, the couple left the gig, later saying they were “driven out”.

A supporter of the couple shared this photo on Twitter:

As a result of the incident, Hunter had another gig cancelled to “protect the Jewish community” and the newspapers decided he must be anti-Semitic, and possibly also ableist, emphasising one of the couple is disabled. Not sure why they didn’t throw in sexism for good measure, given one of them is female. I mean why not?/ A critic for the Telegraph called Dominic Cavendish was keen to tell us this was the “ugliest Fringe moment I’ve ever witnessed”, insisting the audience was baying at the Israeli couple.

However, this claim was disputed by journalist Sangita Myska who insisted “the couple were not ‘hounded out’ by a ‘baying’ anti-Semitic crowd”.

Nevertheless, the Israeli couple told one journalist it felt like the entire audience wanted to attack and beat them, but they did not mention why the audience might have been upset…

I’ve no idea if the below claim is true, but it really ought to be cleared up by the couple…

The Jewish Chronicle pounced on the story because accusations of anti-Semitism are their thing, but you’d think they’d have learnt their lesson, given how many libel cases they’ve lost. Just ask Audrey White what they’re like…

It’s hard to know exactly what took place at the gig, but Hunter revealed the identities of the Israeli couple in a Twitter thread and they were recognised by every Corbynista who was on Twitter in 2019. Let’s just say the couple are not exactly apolitical. Their names are Mark Lewis and Mandy Blumenthal, and if you’ve ever heard them speak, you will know they come across as a tiny bit odd.

Sabrina Miller published an interview with the couple in the Daily Mail to reveal the horrors of what took place, comparing the incident to the “Two-Minutes Hate” from Orwell’s 1984…

In the Daily Mail interview, the couple used the names Shimon and Talia, yet they are clearly Mark and Mandy…

So let’s see if we can figure out why Shimon and Talia, sorry, Mark and Mandy, might not wish to disclose their true identities…

First of all, they were interviewed in 2019 by Victoria Derbyshire and insisted they were thinking of leaving the UK, due to the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister. The implication was Corbyn was somehow a threat to the safety of Jews.

The Israeli couple once told the Telegraph: “'We no longer feel safe in Britain. Anti-Semitism is forcing us to leave our home”, but six years later, it appears they’re still here. Interestingly, Blumenthal wrote a blog post explaining she and Lewis grew up in the UK and have always lived here. They told journalists they were visiting the UK on a “romantic holiday”, but I’ve seen suggestions they briefly moved to Israel and moved back.

Are they now living in Israel and only visiting the UK to somehow find themselves in the middle of an anti-Semitism row? Or did they never leave? Or did they briefly leave and move back? Whatever the answer, they haven’t exactly been forthcoming.

Mark Lewis just happens to be an honorary patron of the Campaign Against Antisemitism and was once a director of UK Lawyers for Israel. He and Blumenthal spoke at the launch of a Zionist group called Herut UK (which later merged with Likud to become Likud-Herut UK). Incidentally, Lewis once got in trouble for sending harassing tweets and wishing death upon people over a period of 18 months, despite being a lawyer. He was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

Mark Lewis has represented Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann-Oberman, two Z-list celebrities who sent legal threats to a large number of people five years ago.

In March 2019, Lewis publicly notified Twitter users of his clients’ intention to sue them, in most cases because they’d retweeted a blogger called Shaun Lawson. This followed a disagreement between Riley and a 16-year-old Jewish girl on Twitter over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and accusations the girl’s father was an anti-Semite. Shaun wrote a blog post on the events, but he could not be sued as he lived abroad. For legal reasons, I will not be linking to his blog post, but it’s still out there.

As far as I understand, some Twitter users panicked and settled out of court, potentially paying thousands of pounds for the crime of a retweet. One of the people who received a legal threat from Lewis on behalf of his clients was a minor and the action against her was dropped.

A Twitter user called Jane Heybroek, who just happened to be a barrister, was threatened with legal action and decided she would fight in court, even if it cost her her life savings. Heybroek forced Riley and Oberman to withdraw their claim and ironically secured a substantial pay out from them. It was a beautiful moment of karma.

Given the backgrounds of Mark Lewis and Mandy Blumenthal, and the way they’ve been involved in high profile incidents relating to anti-Semitism allegations, I will leave you to draw your own conclusions on their presence at the Hunter gig, their decision to hide their identities and the ensuing row, but only they can tell us what their true intentions were…