Nigel Farage sang antisemitic songs to Jewish schoolmates – and had a “big issue with anyone called Patel”, a former schoolfriend has claimed.
Jean-Pierre Lihou, 61, was initially mates with the Reform UK chief when he arrived at Dulwich School within the Nineteen Seventies, on the time when Mr Farage is accused of claiming antisemitic and different racist remarks by greater than a dozen pupils.
Warning: This text comprises references to antisemitic slurs which readers might discover offensive
One other former pupil, Stefan Benarroch, who was within the 12 months under Mr Farage and is Jewish, stated that Mr Farage was “not a kid” when he made alleged antisemitic remarks and his behaviour was “unacceptable in any era”.
Mr Farage has stated he “never directly racially abused anybody” at Dulwich and stated there’s a “strong political element” to the allegations popping out 49 years later. Reform’s deputy chief Richard Tice has known as the ex-classmates “liars”.
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Jean-Pierre Lihou stated he was initially a buddy of Nigel Farage
‘Individuals had been harm by it’
“He used to sing: ‘Gas them all, gas them out, gas them all, into the chambers they crawl’ – and the rest of those horrible words,” he stated.
“You think, when somebody is obviously distressed by that, why do you keep doing it? The humour wears off… when you see this, and because I’m German I’m particularly sensitive to anyone making that kind of analogy.”
Mr Lihou additionally stated Mr Farage used to “pass comment on anyone that wasn’t white, particularly Indians”.
He stated: “He had a great big issue with anyone called Patel because I think the school had at one point more Patels than Smiths. That seemed to irk him.
“Anyone who wasn’t white, he was prone to have a remark just about all through my faculty life, particularly Jewish folks. I feel that was the worst factor since you might clearly see that folks had been harm by it.”
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Stefan Benarroch instructed Sky Information Nigel Farage was ‘not a child’ when he made antisemitic remarks to classmates
‘He was really ghastly’
He stated he would by no means have come throughout Mr Farage “had I not been a Jew”.
“He and his minions – and one of his minions, in particular, was my tormentor at Dulwich – they would spot us coming out of Jewish prayers on a Friday,” he added.
“So his behaviour at 16, 17, 18 – and you are a man at 18, you’re technically an adult – was truly appalling. So we’re not talking about a kid here.”
The property developer stated the racism allegations are “not just about Nigel Farage as a teenager, this is also about Nigel Farage as an adult”.
“His behaviour as a teenager was unacceptable by any standards and in any era. He was truly ghastly at Dulwich College,” he added.
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Nigel Farage calls for apology from BBC
‘This stuff do not go away you’
Mr Benarroch, who’s not a practising Jew, added: “I was terrified of his bullies, he had these guys hanging around with him who were instructed to have a go at us as these young, nice Jewish boys.
“I do not recall ever having direct contact with Nigel Farage, however actually I used to be very a lot a witness to his tormenting of others, particularly Peter Ettudgui.
“He [Mr Farage] was so extreme, these things don’t leave you, they don’t leave your body, as such.”
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Nigel Farage in his faculty days
On Thursday, Mr Farage launched right into a tirade on the BBC after one in every of its reporters requested concerning the claims, with the politician studying out a letter he stated was from somebody he went to highschool with.
He quoted the unnamed Jewish pupil as saying there was “plenty of macho, tongue-in-cheek schoolboy banter” and stated typically it “was offensive, but never with malice”.
The issue for Farage is the story is simply getting larger
Amanda Akass
@amandaakass
Allegations about Nigel Farage’s schooldays have hit the headlines because the early days of the Brexit marketing campaign in 2013.
He has at all times dismissed such claims as ‘politically motivated’ and insisted lately he has ‘by no means instantly racially abused anyone’.
However now with the prospect of Prime Minister Farage trying ever extra probably – former classmates have determined now could be the second to talk up about their issues, nearly fifty years later.
The allegations are deeply surprising. Jean-Pierre Lihou instructed me Farage used to sing a sickening tune concerning the Nazi fuel chambers, which started ‘fuel all of them, fuel them out, fuel all of them, into the chambers they crawl’.
Lihou claims Farage stated non-white pupils needs to be despatched house and had a selected situation with the truth that at one level the college had extra pupils with the surname ‘Patel’ than ‘Smith’.
Stephan Benarroch in the meantime instructed my colleague Ali Fortescue he witnessed Farage ‘tormenting others’ and was himself ‘terrified’ by Farage’s ‘gang of bullies’ who he claims ‘had been instructed to have a go at us as these younger, good Jewish boys’ on their method again from Friday prayers.
The Guardian – whose investigation final month prompted a renewed give attention to the problem – reviews that 28 former academics and pupils have come ahead to report witnessing antisemitic or racist behaviour from him.
A bunch of Holocaust survivors are actually calling on Farage to both admit whether or not he stated the phrases he is accused of claiming, and apologise, or accuse those that stated he did of mendacity.
His political opponents – battered for therefore lengthy within the polls by Reform UK – are eager to pile on the strain too. Each Labour and Liberal Democrats have urged him to ‘come clear’ and apologise.
The Tories have additionally argued that if it is true, Farage ought to make an apology, although Kemi Badenoch has actually been extra nuanced in her response than different political rivals, making the purpose that what most individuals might say as youngsters could be very totally different from what they’d say as adults.
The issue for Farage is that removed from going away – the story is simply getting larger.
He is clearly massively pissed off by this – as evidenced by the indignant tirade he launched in opposition to the BBC this week when their reporter requested concerning the allegations. He argued it is ‘double requirements’ to criticise what he was alleged to have stated 49 years in the past, at a time when broadcasters had been nonetheless displaying blackface in The Black and White Minstrel Present. He additionally learn out a letter he stated had been despatched to him by a Jewish modern pupil, who described ‘loads of macho, tongue-in-cheek schoolboy banter’ – which, whereas typically ‘offensive’, was ‘by no means with malice’.
In fact the query of who will win the following election is not right down to journalists – however voters.
And the jeopardy for Reform is whether or not these allegations will deter sufficient potential voters – significantly wavering Tories – to disrupt what has to date been an unstoppable wave of help.
‘It was not schoolboy banter’
Mr Benarroch rejected Mr Farage’s declare it was simply “schoolboy banter” and stated he has continued to indicate the identical views, simply in a much less apparent method.
“You tell that [that it was banter] to the guys, to Peter who had ‘Hitler should have gassed you’ said to him,” he stated.
“Peter Ettedgui was tormented by Nigel Farage.
“The purpose I am making is, he is a grown man now. He is a extremely smart politician with nuance when it fits him, and so clearly he is not going round saying ‘Hitler ought to have gassed you all’, clearly.”
The former Dulwich student said Mr Farage had “saved probably the most disgraceful firm possible” within the US through the 2010s on radio and TV reveals.
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‘Did you racially abuse fellow pupils?’
He particularly named Rick Wiles, a far-right American conspiracy theorist whose YouTube channel was banned in 2020 after calling Donald Trump’s impeachment a “Jew coup”.
Mr Benarroch, who stated he’s not a part of any political celebration, stated “there is no political motivation” behind his allegations, however accused Reform and Mr Farage of constructing “a political statement” by calling them liars.
On Thursday, Mr Farage stated he had obtained a number of letters from former pupils in help of him.
He stated a letter from a Jewish schoolmate, stated: “While there was plenty of macho tongue-in-cheek schoolboy banter, it was humour, and yes, sometimes it was offensive… but never with malice.
“I by no means heard him [Farage] racially abuse anybody.”
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Dulwich School is an all boys non-public faculty in south London. Pic: Reuters
He stated: “This ridiculous interview has nothing to do with Nigel Farage himself however apparently somebody who knew him at college nearly 50 years in the past.
