UK judge throws out 'abusive' summons by pro-Israel group against comedian Reginald D Hunter

A UK court summons against comedian Reginald D Hunter has been thrown out by a judge, who said that the pro-Israeli group Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) had misled him when bringing the case.

Judge Michael Snow said that the controversial group had brought an "abusive" prosecution against Hunter in an effort to "have him cancelled".

CAA, which has previously been criticised for conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism and for harassing critics of Israel, accused Hunter of sending offensive communications on the social media platform X to Heidi Bachram, a pro-Israel activist, in August and September.

However, Snow said the CAA was using the UK court system for "improper reasons" and that if he'd had full information about the case, he would have refused to summon Hunter to court.

He added that the CAA "did not reveal the extent of [Bachram's] tweets directed against Reginald Hunter in the period immediately preceding the complaints".

Snow said that he CAA's summary of the case had misled him into believing that Hunter had attacked Bachram for "her involvement with the Jewish faith" rather than for her "attempts that were being made to have him 'cancelled'."

Bachram is not Jewish but is married to an Israeli who has relatives who were allegedly killed during the events of 7 October.

Snow made a damning comment on the CAA's case, saying that it had "demonstrated by the misleading and partial way in which it summarised its application and its wilful, repeated failure to meet its disclosure obligations that its true and sole motive in seeking to prosecute RH is to have him cancelled".

"I have no doubt that the prosecution is abusive," he added.

Furthermore, the judge said that his findings on this case should be included in any further attempts by the CAA to prosecute individuals.

Franck Magennis, a barrister who specialises in Palestine-related cases, told The New Arab, "Campaign Against Antisemitism never exited to fight actual antisemitism. It was founded with the explicit intention of combatting the pro-Palestine movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the apartheid state of Israel".

‘Manufactured outrage’

Hunter was previously accused of "antisemitism" by Israel supporters after joking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in July 2024 that being with an abusive wife who complains about being abused herself is "like being married to Israel".

Two pro-Israel activists in the crowd walked out after arguing with other audience members, and Hunter, who has a deliberately irreverent style, made another joke with the punchline "f**king Jews".

He later apologised for this but continued to be hounded by the Campaign Against Antisemitism and other Israel supporters.

"The court case tracks back to a performance by Reggie at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year," UK journalist and broadcaster Sangita Myska told The New Arab.

 "I was at that performance.  The manufactured outrage ever since has been utterly depressing to see. We’ve watched a leading black comedian hounded, mischaracterised and cancelled. And all for what? Because someone didn’t like a provocative, political, offensive (to some)…joke?"

Hunter’s lawyer, Rebecca Chalkley, said that the CAA was a "vexatious litigant".

"You were led to believe in papers in front of you that the CAA was no more than a charity, that it had no history, as since demonstrated, as a vexatious litigant, no complaints, no criticism in parliament," she told Snow.

She said that the group had been "using the courts for their own political agenda".

Ismail Patel, the chairman of the pro-Palestine group Friends of Al-Aqsa, told The New Arab: "The attempt to turn comedy into a criminal process by pro-Israeli actors is a misuse of the law. By quashing the summons, the judge drew a clear line between genuine justice and the weaponisation of antisemitism."

The CAA’s chief executive, Gideon Falter, has previously been accused of deliberately provoking pro-Palestine protesters to create confrontations and smear people as being "antisemitic".

In 2023, Goldsmiths University in London was forced to apologise to a lecturer after investigating him for five months based on accusations brought by the CAA.