Councillor Terry Kelly represents Ward 4 of Paisley North West, and is some sort of socialist. When I first heard of his personal blog, I had to ask if it were a spoof as I could not believe such an individual could exist.
But, exist he does.
As discussed at the Sauce Bottle, a ketamine-addled vision of him appeared in one thread’s comments boxes, causing many to doubt the man’s sanity. Yet, all was not so, and it appeared this had been a highly developed Turing test, as a subsequent missive conceded.
Then attention turned to his own blog, including one missive which used “Jews” and “Israelis” interchangeably and, taken on face value, suggested the best way for Jews to win “the respect and affection of most of the world “gain sympathy would be to face a genocide.
I then compared these sentiments to those of Denis Avey, a British soldier who smuggled himself into the death-camps of Auschwitz and, aged 91, is in line to be made a Righteous Amongst Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Time passed, and last night someone posting as Terry Kelly responded:
Someone told me about this reference to me and Allthough I don’t usually read other blogs, I read this and I recognise Mr. Avey as exactly the kind of man who won the sympathy and respect of people all over the world after the second world war.
I can’t help wondering now what Mr. Lavey thinks or would have thought of Israel today and what his reaction to the attack on Gaza approx 1 year ago is or would have been? Could someone hazard a guess without prejudice or invective and let me know?
Not wishing to be fooled again, I posted to Kelly’s own blog asking for confirmation, which he duly gave. The world-authority on Cllr. Terry Kelly, Clairwil, has resigned her position after being taken in my the forgery and not believing the Real McCoy.
I assume, therefore, that the Police complaint about his spoofing which Kelly initiated has come to nowt.
Okay, now to respond to Kelly’s remark:
[1] “Don’t usually read other blogs”, Terry? I would prefer not to admit to being ignorant of differing opinion and taking pride in my ignorance;
[2] Denis Avey is not Jewish, as your first paragraph implies;
[3] Please be consistent when spelling the man’s name;
[4] In the run-up to Holocaust Memorial Day this year, you opined on your blog:
I wonder if Israel will have the effrontery to award people with the “Righteous Among the Nations” award after they have finished cleaning away the blood of the children massacred by them, what moral authority does Israel now have, can Israel or anyone who supports their actions ever use the phrase “Righteous Among the Nations” again? and remember we still haven’t had the election yet, anyone with any shred of decency who is offered the award of “Righteous Among the Nations” should refuse to accept it and those who have this award should return it.
[4 cont…] Given that Avey is now accepting the blessing of Yad Yashem (no more synonymous with Israel as Jews are), I think it is safe to assume he does not share your views;
[5] Whatever the rights and wrongs – or, more accurately, both – of Israeli policy are, comparing it to Nazi actions is and always should be akin to turning up at a convention on black-on-black violence in white hoods and waving nooses, i.e. racial arson.
For what it is worth, I do not think that Kelly, as an individual, is an antisemite. Just a moron. In much of political Scotland there are similar figures – still rooted in a sectarian mindset in which they see unflinching support for whichever party/camp they are in as essential, and any criticism of it to be similarly unflinching support for their designated foes.
Poorly educated, inarticulate and lacking in any sense of proportion they look for easy, risk-free ceritudes (such as limiting their boycotting of Israeli products to olive oil and tomatoes in winter, and not pharmaceuticals or Intel chips) and, but for a quirk of fate, could be “cybernats”.
This does not excuse him. Considering Kelly’s interchanging of Jews and Israelis, and egregious offense in the Nazi-comparison, serious doubts exist in my mind of his being able to fairly represent Jewish constituents – or any other group which is designated the enemy by Kelly.
Paisley is at the centre of Scotland’s Jewish population, and during the Operation Summer Rain in 2006, a nearby synagogue was vandalized as shown to the right (HAT-TIP Engage Online).
Mark Devereux is a sexual predator who engaged in sexual intercourse with a number of women over a period of many years despite being aware of HIV infection. In January this year, he was convicted at Edinburgh High Court for reckless and culpable conduct in connexion with four of his sexual partners: one of whom discovered she was infected after becoming pregnant with twins.
