Keith Woods: Right-wing extremist from Ireland; How the Brandenburg AfD courts an anti-Semitic nationalist

Translated from Die Welt, July 4, 2025 – Title

Right-wing extremist from Ireland

How the Brandenburg AfD courts an anti-Semitic nationalist

Irish right-wing extremist Keith Woods rants about “Jewish power” and “racial nationalism” and appears alongside Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis. Two AfD state parliamentarians have now invited him to Potsdam, calling it an “honor.”

He is a rising star in the European far-right scene: Irish YouTuber and publicist Keith Woods, whose real name is Keith O’Brien. The anti-Semitic nationalist was recently a guest in the Brandenburg state parliament – ​​at the invitation of two AfD members. Lena Kotré, deputy parliamentary group leader of the Brandenburg AfD, and Fabian Jank, agricultural policy spokesperson, welcomed Woods in Potsdam last Tuesday. “We are united by the desire for a major remigration movement,” Kotré wrote about the meeting on X. “It was an honor for me to welcome the Irish nationalist and author Keith Woods,” Jank wrote.

The man with whom the AfD state parliamentarians in Potsdam networked has repeatedly attracted attention for years with antisemitic statements. He hates Israel and is well connected with internationally known Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis. He first described himself as “ethnic, racial nationalism” in June 2025. In 2023, he initiated the #BanTheADL campaign, which advocated for the banning of the Anti-Defamation League (now X), an American organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism, from Twitter. In this context, US entrepreneur Elon Musk interacted with Woods several times – thereby ensuring a sharp increase in his follower count, which now stands at more than 230,000.

The Irish right-wing extremist is convinced, for example, that Jews have too much power. In April 2023, for example, he spread messages on Telegram about alleged Jewish control over Western foreign policy, spoke of the alleged enormous influence of Jewish managers at the wrestling marketing company WWE, and wrote that the directors of the Irish state broadcaster and the British television network BBC were Jewish. In December 2023, he complained about an alleged “Jewish overrepresentation” among employees of the US television network CNN. He repeatedly writes about “Jewish power.” There is a strategy to “silence the discussion about Jewish power,” he wrote in March 2025. “Jewish power is real.”

Israel’s government as “bloodthirsty psychopaths”

The alleged power of Jews over politics, business, and culture is a centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy myth that is repeatedly used to incite and justify hatred against Jews. Woods also spoke about alleged “Jewish power” in August 2024 in a joint podcast with prominent Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. In March 2023, for example, Fuentes claimed that the Holocaust was “exaggerated” and that there was a “Jewish conspiracy.” Woods and Fuentes had already appeared together at that time. In January 2023, Fuentes described Adolf Hitler as a “really cool guy.”

Keith Woods, invited by AfD MPs Kotré and Jank, is associated not only with Fuentes, but also with other Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis. In December 2023, Woods published a joint podcast with US entrepreneur Ron Unz, who claimed in 2018 that Jews were “the greatest mass murderers of the 20th century” and that “the standard Holocaust narrative is likely at least substantially false, and very likely almost entirely false.” Also in 2023, Woods shared a post by the American neo-Nazi National Justice Party directed against Jewish organizations that had criticized online hate speech. Woods has also been a frequent guest on livestreams by neo-Nazi Richard B. Spencer.

In May 2023, Woods himself described the Holocaust as a “bogeyman” that has “shaped everything” since 1945. He also repeatedly expresses hatred for the Jewish state. In October 2024, for example, he described the Israeli government as “bloodthirsty psychopaths.” The stereotype of bloodthirsty Jews is centuries old. “Israel should be treated like a pariah state on the world stage,” he had demanded a year earlier. Israel is a “sanctuary for pedophiles.” After the genocidal [!!] Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, the later guest of the Brandenburg AfD MPs claimed that there was no evidence of mass rape – and that most of the civilians killed that day were not victims of Hamas, but victims of the Israeli army.

WELT AM SONNTAG asked Lena Kotré and Fabian Jank how they assessed their guest’s comments and whether they were aware that their guest was closely connected to several Holocaust deniers and had repeatedly made anti-Semitic statements. Both left the request unanswered. Kotré had written on X on Wednesday about the meeting with Woods, saying that the “desire for a reversal of immigration to our countries” was palpable internationally. “International cooperation has long since gained momentum.”

Honoured to welcome Irish nationalist and author Keith Woods at the Brandenburg parliament

@Brandenburg_LT . Together with @KotreLena we spoke about remigration and the AfD’s role as a blueprint for Europe’s patriotic movements. Thank you,@KeithWoodsYT

— it’s time for European patriots to unite!

Honoured to welcome Irish nationalist and author Keith Woods at the Brandenburg parliament @Brandenburg_LT .
Together with @KotreLena we spoke about remigration and the AfD’s role as a blueprint for Europe’s patriotic movements. Thank you, @KeithWoodsYT — it’s time for European… pic.twitter.com/nTA4CZO4TY

— Fabian Jank (@fabian_jank_afd) July 2, 2025