UK pro-Israel lawyer faked graffiti attack to frame pro-Palestinian group

Berlow confessed the incident was faked. However, he went along with it as part of an attempt “to monitor various disruptive activities of the SPSC.”

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 11:53

Antisemitic graffiti on an Australian Jewish cafe (photo credit: screenshot) — Antisemitic graffiti on an Australian Jewish cafe

(photo credit: screenshot)

British pro-Israel attorney Matthew Berlow is facing fines and criticism for allegedly faking a graffiti attack on his home in order to discredit a Scottish pro-Palestinian organization, the Daily Record reported on Monday. Berlow denies all allegations and the validity of the Daily Record report.

According to the report, Berlow had originally planned to fake an attack on his home in order to frame the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC).

This was done when pro-Palestinian activist Stevie Harrison wrote a post on social media to highlight the graffiti attack.

“A certain Jewish lawyer woke up this morning to find ‘Free Palestine’ spray-painted rather prominently – no idea who was responsible,” the post read, followed by multiple winking emojis.

In response, Berlow commented: “Idiocy. Typical SPSC behavior criminal.”

Harrison, however, doesn't exist. He was a fake Facebook profile created by pro-Israel activist Ed Sutherland in January 2019 in order to infiltrate the SPSC, the newspaper reported.

Sutherland, like Berlow, is a member of the pro-Israel advocacy group Friends of Israel.

Berlow, however, told The Jerusalem Post that "there was no actual vandalism of [his] property but merely private discussion between two people of a false plan to vandalize my property," claiming the Daily Record's report is "false."

Berlow stated that Sutherland "unilaterally took it upon himself to set up a fake persona on Facebook purporting to be an anti Israel activist in order to gather intelligence about the various intentions of certain groups vis-a-vis the street stall."

He said that the creation of the profile did not come with the intention of smearing any group in particular, and that he has not confessed to being involved in it's creation.

When questioned as part of a probe by the Law Society of Scotland (LSS), the report stated that Berlow confessed the incident was faked. The report states that he went along with it as part of an attempt “to monitor various disruptive activities of the SPSC” through the use of Harrison.

Berlow said, however, that he never confessed "to staging an attack on [his] own home in order to discredit the SPSC."

In response, a court fined Berlow £500, ruling that he did not maintain behavioral standards expected from an attorney, the Daily Record reported.

“We welcome the finding against Berlow but the gravity of the offense clearly merits more than a £500 rap on the knuckles,” SPSC's Glasgow branch chairman Mick Napier said, according to the report.

“I believe those who have been defamed, including myself, should be awarded exemplary damages. We have been smeared as antisemitic and that is serious and quite unacceptable," he said.

“The LSS decided no damage had been done to myself or the SPSC, but I would urge it to reconsider this because the damage to our reputation, in accusing us of such criminal acts, is impossible to deny.”