GB News Accused of Spreading an ‘Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory’ Unchallenged – But Ofcom Says It Can’t Act

A GB News guest has been accused of repeating an antisemitic conspiracy theory, unchallenged by the presenter, in a show that has now been removed from YouTube but remains watchable elsewhere online. 

In the segment, titled “Ireland’s SILENT INVASION: The SHOCKING Truth Behind MASS MIGRATION” and originally broadcast on host Neil Oliver’s GB News YouTube channel, YouTuber Ivor Cummins suggests that the “NGOs, who are driving for many, many decades, the mass migration… are all headed up by a certain peoples [sic], and that peoples you’re not allowed to discuss, but you know, the Zionist thing” – appearing to reference an antisemitic conspiracy theory about wealthy Jewish people controlling and coordinating world events. He tells Oliver that “most of them [migration NGOs] are led by, essentially, Zionist-type people”. 

The video was originally uploaded to YouTube, then deleted over the weekend before an edited version was re-uploaded. This version was also later deleted. It is not clear whether YouTube removed the video or GB News. However, it is still available on the GB News Bitchute channel, featuring ads which suggest it is still being monetised. Bitchute hosts a wide range of extreme content under the guise of being a home for free speech. 

Asked if they were investigating the interview, a spokesperson for broadcast regulator Ofcom told Byline Times their rules only apply to Ofcom licenced TV and radio channels. “We don’t regulate content on their social media channels. If something was broadcast on a licensed channel, then we could assess any complaints against our rules before deciding whether or not to investigate,” the spokesperson said.

The segment, in which Cummins bemoans immigration into Ireland, references an as-yet unpublished interview he says he conducted with Michael Yon, a writer, former Green Beret and go-to tour guide for far-right influencers like Laura Loomer and others involved with pushing anti-immigration rhetoric in the US.

Yon, who Cummins describes in the GB News clip as “amazing” and someone who “backs up every one of his facts”, has also reportedly made antisemitic claims on video at an anti-immigration “Take Back Our Border” rally in Texas, which was circulated online. In the footage, he makes the false accusation about “terrorists coming across the border being funded by Jewish money”.

Oliver’s show was moved online last year, amid “significant concerns” Ofcom had over editorial control of live output at the channel (in that instance, specifically referencing another scandalous live segment involving comments made by Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton). No reason was given for the shift in Oliver’s program structure but the effect is to remove it from Ofcom’s remit.

Richard Wilson, director of Stop Funding Hate, told Byline Times: “This toxic and dangerous video is extreme even by GB News standards – but sadly it’s not an isolated example. Any company that buys online advertising would do well to speak to their agency and ensure that their ads will not show up on the GB News YouTube channel or website.”

And Jo Maugham, Executive Director of Good Law Project, said GB News had been “getting away with platforming and hosting hatemongers like Oliver for far too long,” noting that the channel is “funded by advertisers who should know better, including the likes of Sky.” Sky Media manages GB News’ advertising.

Asked about his comments, Ivor Cummins suggested he was the victim of “propagandistic attacks”, telling Byline Times: “There is clear blue water and three thousand years of history between the wonderful Abrahamic religion of Judaism and late nineteenth century Zionism, thus to conflate the two is an error in critical thinking, history and basic research. 

“But to do so knowingly by echoing the anti-Semitic trope appears to be an act of propaganda and defamation which I fulsomely reject, if that is your purpose here?”

The most upvoted comment on the video, albeit only with three upvotes, says: “It’s the Jews. Just say it FFS [for f**k’s sake]”.

This is not the first time that GB News, or Oliver’s show, has been accused of propagating antisemitic sentiment and conspiracy theories. 

In February 2023, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) against antisemitism spoke out against Oliver’s show after he discussed, in his words, “a silent war” by politicians to “take control of the people” and impose a “one-world government”. 

As reported by The Guardian, this idea appeared to echo the hoax conspiracy manual ‘Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars’, supposedly a document outlining how to build a world dominating government which prominently features a section the Rothschild banking dynasty as part of this agenda, a common antisemitic trope. The Board of Deputies and APPG called on the channel at the time to tackle “conspiratorial antisemitism or other misinformation”. 

In the most recent segment with Cummins, both he and Oliver talk about mass migration as a tool being used to divide people, again referencing “silent weapons for quiet wars” more than once, and frequently alluding to different “tribes” of people, “elites or wealthy people… or any other kind of tribe”, “globalists” who control mass migration using migrants as “cannon fodder in that silent war”. 

Oliver also featured a guest on the same show who is part of the fringe campaign group the ‘New Chartist Movement’, which has published work accused of antisemitic tropes, including one referencing the “corporate and banking Deep State, completely supported by the Zionist state of Israel.” 

The interview comes amid another ongoing controversy involving the channel, as the supermarket chain Marks & Spencer has been hit with a customer boycott led by the campaign group Stop Funding Hate, over its decision to advertise on GB News, following other comments made by some of its presenters. 

The retailer, which claims to be “celebrating the LGBTQ+ community” and that it only works “with suppliers that share our values”, is facing the action, which currently has over 16,000 signatures, following segments where presenter Josh Howie made comments saying that the community included “paedos”, and, two days later, Michelle Dewberry, in a discussion on trans rights, referred to “these fellas that go around dressed as women” being “deviants”. 

GB News and Neil Oliver did not respond to a request for comment.

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