Express & Star

Blogger guilty of creating grossly offensive material over anti-Semitic songs

Alison Chabloz also mocked the Holocaust, suggesting that it did not happen.

Published
Last updated
Blogger Alison Chabloz leaves Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Victoria Jones/PA)

A blogger who wrote and performed anti-Semitic songs which mocked the Holocaust has been found guilty of creating “grossly offensive” material.

Alison Chabloz, 54, was convicted of three charges relating to three self-penned songs at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

District judge John Zani said he was satisfied the material was grossly offensive and that Swiss-British dual national Chabloz intended to insult Jewish people.

Sentencing was deferred until June 14 (Victoria Jones/PA)
Sentencing was deferred until June 14 (Victoria Jones/PA)

Chabloz, who wore a blue dress and red neckerchief, uploaded tunes to YouTube including one defining Nazi death camp Auschwitz as “a theme park” and the gas chambers a “proven hoax”.

The songs were partly set to traditional Jewish folk music, with lyrics like: “Did the Holocaust ever happen? Was it just a bunch of lies?

“Seems that some intend to pull the wool over our eyes.”

Around 20 supporters of the musician groaned when the guilty verdicts were given, with shouts of “shame” from the public gallery.

A scuffle ensued outside court as Chabloz left at lunchtime, with a man holding an Israeli flag involved in several heated arguments before police arrived to keep the peace.

Adrian Davies, defending, previously told Judge Zani his ruling would be a landmark one, setting a precedent on the exercise of free speech.

Police officers attend as arguments ensue outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Victoria Jones/PA)
Police officers attend as arguments ensue outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Victoria Jones/PA)

The singer has defended her work as “satire”, saying many Jewish people find the songs funny.

Prosecutor Karen Robinson previously told the court: “They’re not political songs. They are no more than a dressed-up attack on a group of people for no more than their adherence to a religion.”

The charges were initially brought in a private prosecution by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, the group said.

Chairman Gideon Falter said: “Alison Chabloz has dedicated herself over the course of years to inciting others to hate Jews, principally by claiming that the Holocaust was a hoax perpetrated by Jews to defraud the world.

“This verdict sends a strong message that in Britain Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories will not be tolerated.”

Chabloz, of Charlesworth, Glossop, Derbyshire, was convicted of two counts of causing an offensive, indecent or menacing message to be sent over a public communications network after performing two songs at a London Forum event in 2016.

She was also convicted over a fifth charge relating to a third song.

Chabloz was bailed and told to appear before the court on June 14.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.