A Jewish former classmate of Nigel Farage told the BBC that Reform UK leaders are being “fundamentally dishonest” because former students who say they witnessed his racism are not telling the truth.
Peter Ettedegui said that when he was a teenager at Dulwich College, London, Farage repeatedly told him that “Hitler was right” and “put pressure on him”.
On Monday, Farage said he had “never directly racially abused anyone”, following claims by former Dulwich College students, including Mr Ettedgui, which were first reported in The Guardian.
Mr Ettedegui said Farage’s claims that his accusers were not telling the truth about his past behavior had left him “really angry”.
The BBC has spoken to two former students of Dulwich College who have supported Mr Ettedgui’s version of events.
In an interview on Monday, Faraz, 61, said he had probably done “wrong things in my life, in my younger days, when I was a child”.
But he stressed that he had never “directly racially abused” anyone by “saying something about a person because of who they are or what they are.”
Asked whether his accusers were telling the truth, he said, “Well, after 49 years suddenly they have got it right. I would tell you there is a strong political element in this.”
Asked whether they were telling the truth, Faraz said: “No, they are not telling the truth.”
After watching Farage’s denial, Mr Ettedgui told the BBC: “This is a man who has power, influence, who has had a massive impact on the direction of this country, for which, you know, hats off to him.
“And he’s being fundamentally dishonest in everything he says there. So I’m upset and angry about it.”
Mr Ettedegui is one of more than a dozen former pupils at Dulwich College in the late 1970s and early 1980s who have claimed they witnessed Farage being racist.
As the man sitting next to the future Reform leader in Class 3R at Dulwich College, Mr Ettedegui says he clearly remembers anti-Semitic abuse being directed at him, something he had never experienced before.
“One of the most vivid memories of my school life is Farage coming up to me repeatedly and, knowing I was Jewish, saying Hitler was right and ‘Gas ‘em’, and then often saying ‘sssss’, you know, imitating the sound of being gassed.
“That’s my lasting memory of that, and this type of verbal abuse continued throughout the year we were in the same class together.
“And it was very vile, it was very bad, it was absolutely directed towards me in a very personal way.”
He said Faraz’s words “hit hard” because his grandparents had fled Nazi Germany and most of his family had perished in the Holocaust.
He added, “This was not the usual kind of vague anti-Semitic joke that happened on the school grounds in the 1970s. This was much worse.”
Asked how he could be sure his memory was correct, given that the events he described occurred several decades ago, Mr Ettedegui said: “I think anyone who suffers any kind of abuse, it’s going to mark their life.
“And I hold that memory very, very strongly with me.”
He also hit back at Faraz’s claim that he was a “child” at the time of the alleged incidents.
“We were teenagers, which is the age in many religions when you turn your attention to the adult world,” he said.
He said that the teenage Faraz was “very well informed” and “had an understanding of history and politics from that point on”.
He rejected claims that his allegations were part of a politically motivated smear campaign, saying that he had “a deep personal motivation” for speaking out now because the idea of Farage becoming Prime Minister was “repellent and frightening” to him.
“Is Faraz saying here that about 20 people who have gone on record, who either experienced or witnessed such abuse, are all lying to us?” he asked.
“Is this some kind of conspiracy between all of us? Well, I can tell him right now, we haven’t talked to each other. We haven’t coordinated this in any way.”
Claims about Farage’s alleged teenage racism were first raised 13 years ago by journalist Michael Crick, when he was a reporter for Channel 4 News.
When The Guardian published the new allegations last week, Reform UK said they were “completely baseless”.
A spokesman for Reform said, “The Guardian has produced no contemporaneous records or corroborating evidence to support these disputed recollections from nearly 50 years ago.”
“It is no coincidence that this newspaper seeks to discredit Reform UK – a party which has led in more than 150 opinion polls consecutively and whose leader is now the favorite with bookmakers to become the next Prime Minister.
“We fully expect that as we approach the next elections, these malicious efforts to tarnish the reforms and mislead the public will intensify.”
Some former pupils at Dulwich College say they do not recognize the picture of Farage or the allegations of racism against him.
Patrick Nelan, who was in the year below Faraz at Dulwich College, told the BBC that there were some songs he would not be proud of.
But he added: “I have never seen Farage being openly racist, anti-Semitic towards anyone… I would be disappointed because I never thought of him as openly racist.”
The BBC has spoken to two former pupils who say they remember Farage personally targeting Peter Ettedgui.
Jean-Pierre Lihou said: “I remember him specifically talking about ‘Go home, Hitler was right’, singing ‘Gas Them All’ and all these absolutely anti-Semitic comments directed directly at Peter.”
He said he was sure his memories were accurate and that “it feels like yesterday to me”.
Another former student, Martin Rosell, now chairman of the local Liberal Democrat branch, also confirmed the anti-Semitic claims, claiming that when Mr Ettedegui answered a question in class, Farage would “mutter something like ‘Jew’ under his breath”.
Asked if there was any political motivation behind his decision to speak out now, Mr Rowsell said: “I don’t think so. I’m not doing this as a member of my local party.”
“I do this as someone who remembers something that happened 49 years ago, and my memories are obviously the same as many other people’s.”
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