Cape Board takes hateful comedian to court

NOT FOR SENSITIVE READERS

“Jewish people murder, rape, and eat children,” claims aspiring South African comedian Thomas Torr in a recent YouTube video. He is one of four Capetonians that the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape SAJBD) is taking to the Equality Court, and his case will be heard on 23 April.

The others are chef Mariam Jakoet-Harris; self-described politician Mehmet Vefa Dag; and Cape resident Allie Chafekar, who stated, “Viva Hitler viva! I pray that Hitler returns to take away what he left behind,” outside the community’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration in 2023.

Torr’s antisemitic ideas are so depraved, he has been banned from TikTok. In a range of YouTube and now deleted TikTok videos, he rants that Jews are cannibals, paedophiles, and subhuman.

He often repeats the idea that Jews are a “Bronze Age cult” that don’t belong in the modern world. “You know those people who follow that Bronze Age cult that was started by f*cking Moses? They’re savages, they’re barbarians, they’re subhuman, they need to have their human rights stripped,” he says. “It’s a savage, barbaric cult that centres around raping and eating children. There are people [Jews] on your block who get a delivery of Palestinian child meat every week.”

He says a “really fun way to get yourself arrested in a public space” is to say, “Kill the Jews.” He thinks Jews endanger themselves by existing, and it’s no fault of the person who harms them. “They’re so brainwashed, they will literally put their children in danger of being killed. If a child thinks that he’s part of the chosen people, maybe that child would be better off in the afterlife.”

Torr believes Jews “deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law” and “we all have the right to be extremely f*cking angry with Jewish people. We all have the right to condemn them and punish them. You will f*cking face the consequences of your disgusting actions.”

Advocate Mark Oppenheimer, who has appeared in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court in a series of cases that seek to determine the boundary between freedom of expression and genuine hate speech, says Torr’s “vicious antisemitic rhetoric unquestionably constitutes hate speech. Such statements actively incite harm and propagate dangerous hatred against the Jewish community.”

As the case is sub judice, Cape SAJBD Executive Director Daniel Bloch couldn’t comment extensively, but says, “Antisemitism is on the rise globally, and South Africa is no exception. Most incidents occur online. We take these posts seriously, and will continue to monitor, remain vigilant, and take action against any individual or organisation that incites violence, promotes hate speech, or threatens the safety of our community.”

Torr says that in the Torah, Abraham was open to sacrificing Isaac because “he’s used to killing children for food”, and that the manna the Jews ate in the desert was “other people’s children. They would kill, rape, and eat other people’s children – that’s how they survived.”

He believes that Jews provoke antisemitism just by existing, and it’s no fault of the person who is antisemitic. “As soon as a Bronze Age rapist enters my vision, suddenly I’m antisemitic because I don’t like the f*cking way this paedophile-cannibal behaves. Antisemitism will only die when Judaism is completely exterminated.” He said antisemitic people were “sane, logical, rational, saintly, humanitarian, and honest.”

Says Torr, “Jewish kids have no brains, no souls, no thoughts. They have to resort to this 2 000-year-old book that outlines in detail how to rape and eat children.”

He believes organisations like the Anti-Defamation League are “dedicated to preventing people from criticising you [Jews]. Face the truth: everybody hates you because you’re baby rapists and cannibals. People are waking up to your sins, and are going to demolish institutions that kept you safe.”

Torr says, “Israel and Israeli supporters are heartless monsters that don’t deserve human rights. I’m going to dedicate my life to ensuring that the inhumane culture of Israelis cannot hurt anyone else. I would rather die as a Palestinian than live a single day as an Israeli, because I don’t have to live around paedophiles and rapists.”

Torr says Jews and Israelis make him feel superior. “They’re really pathetic, evil people. Even if I tried, I would never manage to be as bad as the average Israeli or Jewish person. Judaism is a religion purely based on violence. Every single one is psychopathic.”

Torr believes the mothers of Israel Defense Forces soldiers are “wh*res” because “the Israeli government forces Israeli women to breed. They [Israeli soldiers] have no relationship with their mother, except for the fact that they know that their mother is a dirty wh*re who s*cks and f*cks all the d*cks until her p*ssy spits out little b*tch-ass soldiers. You know, the immoral f*cking psychopathic, homosexual soldiers whose mothers are all c*ck-sucking f*cking wh*res.”

Torr recently sent an email to the SA Jewish Report saying, “You are retarded Nazi f*ggots. You are psychopaths who rape children. I hate you and I will stop at nothing until you are all eliminated. F*ck you and your disgusting families to death.”

Torr’s bitterness may stem from his unsuccessful comedy career. In a video, he says he is “banned from doing comedy” [in South Africa], and in another, he rants that he hates South African comedians, many of whom are not Jewish, but who he calls “Jewish Nazi comedians”.

He targeted at least one Jewish comedian, spreading messages that the man and his family are “Jewish child rapists”. In a voice message to the SA Jewish Report, he says “I’m a musician and a comedian and you psychopaths ruined my life. You child rapists who think that you’re chosen by G-d.”

Bloch says that if the individuals taken to the Equality Court are found guilty, “they will be ordered to tender an unconditional apology to the South African Jewish community; cover our substantial legal costs; and make a meaningful donation to the Holocaust & Genocide Centre. Should they refuse, they could face arrest.”

Though legal action may not change personal views, “it will deter people from publicly harassing Jewish people”, says Bloch. “These cases will set an important legal precedent and serve as a clear warning to anyone who believes they can post antisemitic content without consequences. Once the four Equality Court cases are concluded, we intend to pursue further legal action against other individuals and groups promoting hate speech.”

Says Oppenheimer, “The SAJBD’s proposed process ensures accountability through a fair trial, where evidence is carefully considered. Its requested relief – a payment of R50 000 to the Holocaust & Genocide Centre and a public apology – is a measured and lenient response given the extremity of these hateful utterances. It remains crucial that society unequivocally condemns antisemitism.”

Says Bloch, “We strongly advise against searching for this kind of content online as engaging with it only boosts its visibility through social media algorithms.” However, if you come across content inciting violence against the Jewish community, report it to the Cape SAJBD Antisemitism WhatsApp line: +27 79 994 5573