Tommy Robinson hasn’t been in the news recently. He hasn’t given another speech at the Oxford Union or been arrested for some obscure offence. Nor has he been caught hanging out with any of his allegedly dodgy advocacy groups or hobnobbing with any undesirables. (As far as I know)
But I’ve just heard, belatedly, that he has been doing something unusual. He has been to Israel.
Some people have criticised this trip. They say it’s disingenuous, and that he’s somehow exploiting a cause to further his own racist agenda. Why take that attitude, I wonder?
His pro-Israel critics are at pains to distance themselves from him and his support, which they seem to regard as toxic. The irony is that both Israel and Tommy Robinson have been subjected to large amounts of unfair and unjustified vilification, yet Marcus Dysch of the Jewish Chronicle fails to make the connection.
Tommy Robinson isn’t the most eloquent interviewer who’s ever been filmed, but it’s interesting, The press coverage of this, for what it’s worth, is varied. Some reports are sympathetic, others are plain pathetic. We all manipulate the facts, some more malevolently than others.
