In recent weeks we’ve been treated to news of a rather bizarre so-called ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ in the London borough of Clapton by ‘Israel National News’ (aka ‘Arutz Sheva’ or Israeli Channel 7) where:
‘A 64-year-old man started a blaze in a property in east London, endangering the lives of a Jewish family, including a young child. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after he admitted to starting a fire at his property in east London, with the intent of endangering the lives of a Jewish family and their young baby who lived above him, as reported by Jewish News.
Ian Pitkin, 64, from Lower Clapton, was sentenced to a minimum term of six years and 17 days, after he started the blaze in his ground-floor apartment on March 20.
He had pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life; including possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and having an offensive weapon in a public place.
His Honor Judge Daniel Fugallo, sentencing, said: “This offence was motivated by, and demonstrates, a hostility towards people of Jewish faith.”
Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway said: “We welcome this substantial sentence which clearly reflects both the danger he posed and the aggravating factor,” adding that, “we were able to prove the fact that he expressed clear antisemitic sentiment on several occasions and the Crown Prosecution Service called upon the court to treat racial and religious hostility as aggravating factors.”
The 64-year-old man was arrested shortly after lighting the fire, while seeking medical attention for his own injuries.
The Jewish family inside the blazing apartment was forced to throw their baby from a second-story window and fortunately, the child did not sustain any injuries. The infant was checked by paramedics and luckily came away unharmed.
One family member suffered a fractured hip after jumping out of the window and five others, including a passerby, were injured in the fire.
Detective Chief Conway said: “The damage to the building is incredible and it is amazing that nobody was injured more seriously, while the psychological impact has been well evidenced. Victims reported hearing explosions as the fire spread in the property below them.”’ (1)
So, to summarize this rather convoluted claim we have a situation where Pitkin is alleged to have set fire to his own apartment in order to ‘endanger the lives’ of the jewish family ‘and their young baby’ that lived above him because he was ‘motivated by hostility’ towards jews.
Now this sounds rather off to me in large part because Pitkin is supposed to have ‘hated’ jews but yet no weight seems to have been given to the fact that the behaviour of said jewish family may have significantly contributed to Pitkin’s rather silly arson attack on his own apartment.
The reason this may be conjecturally argued is that the jewish family are acknowledged to have had a young baby at the time – and as any parent will know that often brings a significant noise issue at all hours of the night – whose behaviour and/or the family’s failure to address said behaviour or responsibly look after the child in such as a way as to mitigate any impact on their neighbours.
My guess is – this is hypothetical as I don’t any evidence but I think the facts of the case broadly support such speculation – is that Pitkin was fine with jews before he or they moved in below/above each other, but due to the behaviour of the jewish family and/or their baby; it drove Pitkin to such a state of mental crisis that he began to despise jews and then even further he set fire to his own apartment to either shut up the jewish family and/or their baby so as he could have peace and quiet.
This is proven by implication by what ‘Arutz Sheva’ pointedly left out of their coverage of Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway’s comments but which are mentioned in full by the local ‘Hackney Gazette’s’ article since Conway clarified the reason as follows:
‘He believed the arson was planned after a housing dispute.’ (2)
In other words: Pitkin was in a serious ‘housing dispute’ (probably related to noise) with the jewish family.
Strange how ‘Arutz Sheva’ failed to mention that: isn’t it?
Now that doesn’t mean that what Pitkin did was right – clearly setting fire to your own apartment to get back at any neighbour is stupid and wrong – but rather that the context is probably what is being left out to frame the jewish family as being completely innocent victims when they are very likely not.
It also goes to show that ‘anti-Semitism’ is not triggered by ‘irrational hatred for jews’ but rather by the behaviour of jews.
References
(1) https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/396226
(2) https://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/24576004.ian-pitkin-jailed-life-newick-road-hackney-fire/