ON YOM KIPPUR — the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar — two Jewish people were killed and three left in a serious condition after a car-ramming and stabbing attack outside a synagogue in Manchester (News, 10 October). The suspect, shot dead on the scene, was a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent.
In response to the Yom Kippur attack, and the rise in antisemitic incidents, the Prime Minister assured British Jewry that Britain didn’t simply provide refuge for Jews: the UK, he said, offered Jews a home. It was a country in which Jewish buildings, synagogues, and schools would receive round-the-clock protection.
On behalf of the nation, Sir Keir Starmer offered his condolences, and said that “Britain will come together to wrap our arms around your community and show you that Britain is a place where you and your family are safe, secure and belong.”
In response to such support and assurances, community leaders of the UK’s Jewish population of approximately 275,000 are now asking what can be done to keep Jewry safe. Determined to protect fellow Jews from further attack, they have called for extra layers of security, as well as a strong response from the Government to the rising levels of danger.
But will political assurances by the Government and the demands from British Jews curtail the growing antipathy toward the Jewish community? For more than 2000 years, Jews have been hated because, in numerous ways, they were different from the general population. But, today, the situation is different: Jew-hatred is largely fuelled now by the actions of the Israeli government.
FOR nearly a century, the Palestine–Israel conflict has given rise to a new form of antisemitism. Arab antisemitism has exploded around the globe; and, most recently, the war in Gaza has enflamed critics of Israel everywhere.
In contrast with previous kinds of antisemitism, Jews are not detested today because they are outsiders. Jewry today is loathed because of Israel’s merciless onslaught on the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. During the past two years, hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestinians have marched in countries around the world to protest against Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.
In the past, Jews were hated because they were different from the majority population. These differences varied considerably from century to century. In contrast, the explosion of Jew-hatred today is based on deeply held moral objections to Israeli policy. Critics around the world are shocked and horrified by the ways in which the Israeli military has carried out its campaign. Day after day, numerous television and YouTube channels portray the deaths of innocent civilians, including women and children.
The explosion of this new kind of antisemitism will, I believe, have devastating consequences. No longer will the Jewish community be regarded as innocent victims, as they were in past centuries; instead, Jewry will be viewed as perpetrators of crimes against humanity, even though many Jewish people abhor Israel’s actions in Gaza. As a result, Jews will be unfairly tarred with the actions of the Israeli government.
The Arab world and beyond will not forgive Israel for its onslaught. And these modern antisemites will be joined by millions of protesters around the world who regard the Jewish community as inhumane. The current crimes against humanity will not be forgotten. The memory of this war will continue to haunt Jewry.
Security for the British Jewish community will thus come about not because of political statements; nor will Jews be safe because they demand it. Jews will be secure only if the war in Gaza ends.
BUT it is not enough for the war simply to stop. What is now required is for Jews to empower the powerless after more than a century of bloody conflict. The Palestinian people must have a state of their own (Comment, 26 September).
More than 75 years after the creation of the State of Israel, painful compromises must be made by Jews, as well as Palestinians, in an effort to find a way forward. Only by joining in common cause with Palestinians who seek liberation and freedom can members of contemporary Jewry be safe in the countries in which they live.
It is not enough for the UK Government to promise safety; nor will Jew-hatred cease because the Jewish community demands it. Instead, antisemitism will intensify until the Palestinian problem is solved. The Gaza war must stop.
A ceasefire has begun this week. Israel’s hostages have been released, and Palestinian prisoners have been exchanged. A 20-point plan has been put in place. These are critical steps forward for a lasting peace. Yet, though these are fundamental developments, Palestinians also need to have a home of their own, as Jews did in 1948.
Rabbi Dr Dan Cohn-Sherbok is Professor Emeritus of Judaism at the University of Wales (Interview, 12 May 2023).
