Edinburgh – A Jewish comedian performing at the Edinburgh Fringe has claimed a huge agent responsible for some ‘well known’ acts subjected him to a vicious antisemitic attack in a venue.
BAFTA-nominated funnyman Bennett Arron, who has been likened to a ‘Welsh Seinfeld’, announced that he had been verbally assaulted by the unnamed agent in front of his family after a performance of his new show entitled ‘Loser’.
He claimed: ‘Bit upsetting. The agent of some well-known comedians decided to scream at me in a bar, in front of my family who had come to celebrate my success at the Fringe, that Jews exaggerate antisemitism and that other minority groups have real justification for complaint but not Jews.
‘He also went on to scream that Jews should never have been given Israel and that Jews smeared Jeremy Corbyn.
‘When I asked if we could discuss this another time as he was upsetting my family, he shouted “See THEY always do this!”
‘It really spoilt what had been a wonderful festival.’
It is unclear which specific comedy agent Mr Arron was referring to.
Gary Mond, Chairman of the National Jewish Assembly, told MailOnline: ‘Comments such as this need to be tackled head on. First, antisemitism in the UK is at record levels, with Jews regularly being attacked physically simply for being Jewish.
‘Jews make up only about 0.5% of the UK population but are the target of some 25% of all hate crimes. Second, Jews were not “given Israel”, they actually fought for it in 1948 after the British left the country and the Arabs – and not for the last time – rejected a two state solution and sought to wipe out the Jewish community.
‘Third, Jews did not at any time “smear” Jeremy Corbyn. They simply reacted to Corbyn’s comments and actions, pointing out the antisemitism that often lay behind them.’
