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14 March 2025
Gary Clueit’s statement in response to defamatory statements made against him by
Michael Josem, the Jewish Chronicle and others.
Summary:
• Outside of the political arena I have never applied collective responsibility to anyone, let
alone Jews.
• I have always tried to distinguish Jews from Zionists from Israelis in my criticisms. Not all
Israelis are Zionists and most of the world’s Zionists are not Jewish.
• I have never at any point had anything against Jews or Judaism. They have long been
friends and allies of mine in the long struggle for human and civil rights.
• I have never denied or minimised the holocaust. The true numbers are however often
underreported which is of concern, in part because it also diminishes the true barbarity of
the Nazis. All victims deserve proper recognition.
• In the Middle East, my issue is with political Zionism and the treatment of Palestinians over
the past 70+ years. And that would apply regardless of who the perpetrators were or are.
• My anger and feeling of impotence at seeing in near real-time what has been happening in
Gaza and elsewhere over the past 17 months has been palpable. Perhaps some of my posts
could have been better phrased, but I do not and cannot ever apologise for being adamantly
against genocide, ethnic cleansing and other war crimes.
• The weaponization of antisemitism by Michael Josem (‘Mr. Josem’) is to the very real
detriment of Jews everywhere, many of whom do face hate and discrimination.
• Much of what is contained in this statement was shared with all MHKs some time before
the election.
• There is no-one on our island that would do more to defend, protect and
support our valued Jewish community from actual antisemitism, something I
have never and will never tolerate.
The vendetta
I apologise in advance for the length of this statement that includes a long attachment. The
accusations against me are highly defamatory and require a comprehensive response.
Since 8 October 2023 I have been continuously attacked and defamed because of my support of
Palestinians and opposition to the ever-increasing war crimes witnessed in near real time,
primarily in Gaza. The two most virulent zealots over that period have been Mr Josem and Peter
Marshall (‘Mr Marshall’). Mr Josem and Mr Marshall have declared themselves the arbiters of what
one is allowed to say with respect to Israel and Palestine. They have been cheered on by other
individuals with an axe to grind. These two and their friends have determined that I am an
antisemite and have then spent inordinate amounts of time finding “proof” for their assertion. This
proof consists of out of context (often zero context) screenshots captured on Twitter/X since the
events of October 7th that they claim portray me as a holocaust-denying (or minimising)
antisemite.
This campaign against my election has once again been actively pursued by Mr Josem, initially
setting up John Boyle to take the consequences of clearly defamatory statements while Mr Josem
sat back and enjoyed events unfold. My election success has served to incense Mr Josem who has
now become directly involved to include spreading his venom to the Jewish Chronicle. The Jewish
Chronicle hit job orchestrated by Mr Josem is entitled “Politician who questioned how many Jews
were killed in Holocaust gets seat on Isle of Man Parliament”. The title alone is defamatory as