Why Does ‘British Vogue’ Continue to Feature Antisemites?

Yet another fashion magazine has made the decision to wade into politics — with disastrous results.

British Vogue, one of 26 international Vogue editions, which claims over 800,000 print readers and 3.2 million unique monthly online visitors, has put what it calls “an inspiring army of activists” on the cover of its September issue (arguably the most important issue of the year).

Among the 20 activists Vogue chose to feature are Tamika Mallory and Angela Davis. The magazine called Mallory “one of the most vital activists of her generation” in a feature interview, and called Davis a “straight-up legend.”

In January of 2017, Tamika Mallory rose to prominence as one of four main leaders of the Women’s March in the US. It was not long afterwards, however, that news about her connection with Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, who has called Jews “termites” and referred to Hitler a “very great man” — as well as her own antisemitic comments — began to slowly trickle out.

In May of 2017, Mallory posted a picture of herself with Farrakhan on Instagram, writing, “Thank God this man is still alive and doing well. He is definitely the GOAT. Happy Birthday @louisfarrakhan! .” (GOAT stands for “Greatest of All Time.”)

In February of 2018, as The Washington Post reported, “Mallory attended the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviors’ Day event in Chicago. While [she was] there, Farrakhan delivered an inflammatory keynote that included statements about ‘powerful Jews’ he considered his enemies.” She publicly refused to condemn him when she was called to task.

In April of 2018, she slandered the ADL as “CONSTANTLY [sic] attacking black and brown people.”

Finally, in December of 2018, Tablet magazine reported that Mallory’s antisemitism had apparently infected the Women’s March from its earliest days, alienating other leaders. At the March’s very first leadership meeting, Mallory asserted, according to Tablet, “that Jews were proven to have been leaders of the American slave trade” — an antisemitic falsehood promoted by Farrakhan.  She later accused “white Jews” of “upholding white supremacy.”

After this and other problems were brought to light, the movement broke apart, with dueling, competing marches in January 2019. Mallory, along with co-leaders Linda Sarsour and Bob Bland, resigned from the Women’s March board shortly afterwards.

Why would British Vogue now seek to rehabilitate and promote Mallory and her activism by putting her on the cover of the year’s largest issue?

Moreover, British Vogue also made the choice to include Angela Davis on its cover. Davis, according to the ADL, “has a long record of anti-Israel activism.”

Davis has supported Rasmea Odeh, a convicted murderer and member of the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Odeh was convicted in Israel for the killing of two Hebrew University students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. Odeh confessed to the crime shortly after her arrest, and her trial was observed and deemed fair by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Davis has also called for Marwan Barghouti to be released from Israeli prison. As CAMERA has noted previously, Barghouti “was convicted in an Israeli civilian court of five counts of murder and one attempted murder, and was implicated in four other terror attacks.”

The September cover is the third time this year that British Vogue has prominently featured Davis. Is support of convicted killers the kind of “activism” that British Vogue is trying to promote?

British Vogue claims that it is “committed to abiding by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) rules and regulations and the Editors’ Code of Practice that IPSO enforces.”

This Code states, in section 1(i), “The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading, or distorted information or images.” By omitting this vital information about Mallory and Davis, British Vogue is failing in its obligation to provide accurate information to its readers.

Karen Bekker is the Assistant Director of CAMERA’s Media Response Team.

This article first appeared at CAMERA UK.