Jewish Former Classmate Of Nigel Farage: He Said ‘Hitler Was Right’ And ‘Gas Them’, To Abuse Me’

NEW YORK (VINnews) — A Jewish former classmate of Nigel Farage told the BBC that the Reform UK leader, who is currently the frontrunner in British polls for the next elections, is being “fundamentally dishonest” by suggesting former pupils who say they witnessed his racism are not telling the truth.

Peter Ettedgui, a  said Farage, now aged 61, had repeatedly told him “Hitler was right” and “gas them” when they were teenagers at Dulwich College, in London.

On Monday, Farage said he had “never directly racially abused anybody” after claims by former Dulwich College pupils, including Mr Ettedgui, that were first reported in The Guardian. Mr Ettedgui said Farage’s claim that those making allegations about his past behaviour were not telling the truth had left him “really angry”.

Peter Ettedgui, a writer and director

The BBC spoke to two former Dulwich College pupils who corroborated Mr Ettedgui’s version of events.

In response to Mr Ettedgui’s claims to the BBC, Farage told GB News: “I categorically deny saying those things, to that one individual, and frankly, frankly for the Guardian and the BBC to be going back just shy of half a century to come out with this stuff it shows how desperate they are.”

In a previous interview with the BBC’s Welsh political editor on Monday, Farage said he had probably “misspoken in my life, in my younger days, when I was a child”. But he insisted he had not “directly racially abused” anyone “by taking it out on an individual on the basis of who they are or what they are”.

Asked if those making the allegations about him were telling the truth, he said: “Well, suddenly after 49 years they seem to have perfect recollection. I would say to you there is a strong political element to this.”Pushed again on whether they were telling the truth, Farage said: “No, they are not telling the truth.”

Mr Ettedgui responded to Farage’s claims in a Guardian article. He wrote that: “Farage has said that this happened so long ago that people could not possibly remember such experiences. I ask, how could I not? It was the first time that I had encountered the “oldest hatred”, the one that claimed generations of my family. I had assumed that such views were a thing of the past – but he taught me otherwise. Maybe he cannot recall what he did. If so, such memory loss is perhaps not a great selling point for a potential leader of a country. But as the victim of his verbal abuse, I can assure you that I do recall it all vividly. His words, the tone of his voice, his physical posture, these are all intensely ingrained, as was the emotional impact – degrading, humiliating.

“Farage suggests that he has never “directly” abused anyone, or at least he did not do so with any intention to hurt. He has said that those who have claimed otherwise are not telling the truth. Well, he did directly target me and I can tell you that it did hurt. How did he think it would make me feel? How does he think those who were called Pakis or told to “go home” felt? His aides have said it is “one person’s word against another”. The Guardian has spoken to about 20 people who witnessed or experienced racist behaviour, including a number who have corroborated my account.

“A third strand of Farage’s explanation of events is that he may have simply “misspoken” as a child. How very woke of this culture warrior to use that term. He was not a child. He was 13 to 14 years old when he “misspoke” to me. The age when many cultures and religions encourage teenagers to face adulthood. I was doing barmitzvah classes during the year Farage was frequently misspeaking to me. His words made me feel conflicted about my Jewish heritage, ashamed even. Ridiculous, really. According to the allegations in the Guardian’s reporting, racist abuse of other pupils continued through to when he was aged 18. That is a lot of misspeaking.”

Mr Ettedgui is one of more than a dozen former Dulwich College pupils from the late 1970s and early 1980s who have claimed they witnessed Farage being racist.

As someone who sat near the future Reform leader in Class 3R at Dulwich College, Mr Ettedgui says he can clearly remember antisemitic abuse being directed at him, something he says he had never experienced before.

“One of the most vivid memories of my school life is Farage repeatedly coming up to me and, knowing that I was Jewish, saying Hitler was right and ‘gas ’em’, and that was frequently followed by a ‘sssss’, you know, kind of imitating the sound of escaping gas.

“That’s my abiding memory of him, and that sort of verbal abuse happened quite consistently over the year that we were together in the same class. And it was pretty vicious, it was pretty nasty, it was absolutely directed in a very personal way at me.”

He said Farage’s words had “hit hard” because his grandparents had escaped Nazi Germany and much of their family had perished in the Holocaust.

“It wasn’t the normal sort of vaguely antisemitic banter that you might encounter in the school grounds at that time in the 1970s. It was much worse,” he added.

Asked how he could be sure that his memory was correct, given that the events he describes happened many decades ago, Mr Ettedgui said: “I think anyone who suffers any kind of abuse, it’s going to mark their lives. And I carry that memory with me very, very strongly.”

He also hit back at Farage’s claim that he was a “child” at the time of the alleged incidents.

“We were teenagers, which in many religions is the age where you turn your gaze towards the adult world,” he said, adding that the teenage Farage was “very well-informed” and “had a sense of history and politics already at that time”.

He rejected claims that his allegations were part of a politically motivated smear campaign, saying that he had “a deeply personal motivation” to speak out now because the idea of Farage becoming prime minister was “repellent and horrifying” to him.

“Is Farage saying here that around 20 people who go on the record, who either experienced or witnessed this kind of abuse, are we all lying?” he asked.

“Is this some sort of conspiracy between us all? Well, I can tell him right now, we haven’t spoken to each other. We haven’t coordinated this in any way.”