Rise and rise of antiSemitism
The latest figures show Jews living in Britain are facing more abuse and attacks than ever. So what is behind the disgraceful…
‘Happy Holocaust’ and ‘Peace be on Hitler’ are comments you might expect from historic Nazi propaganda. But no. These remarks were just some of the abusive messages left for 97-yearold Lily Ebert, who created a TikTok account earlier this year to share her memories of being a Holocaust survivor.
‘Over the past few days, my great-grandmother and I have continued to receive messages of hate on TikTok and Twitter,’ Lily’s great-grandson, Dov Forman, 17, confirmed on Twitter. ‘ We will not allow this to stop us educating about the horrors of the past, and what hatred can lead to.’
Sadly, Lily and Dov are not alone. The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors antiSemitism and provides security for the Jewish community in Britain, recorded 1,308 anti-Jewish hate incidents from January to June 2021 – a jump of 49 per cent and
the highest number of attacks in the UK ever.
‘Trying to work out how this inexplicable and vehement loathing of Jewish people began, and why it has endured, is almost like trying to understand each and every wrinkle of history,’ says LBC presenter Nick Ferarri, who is on the CST’s advisory board.
‘But when you discover the Roman philosopher Cicero – born more than 100 years before Jesus Christ – displayed antiSemitism with comments about “the odium of Jewish gold”, you quickly realise how deep-set it is.
‘Then factor in the grotesque trope that it was “the Jews who killed Christ” and suddenly the muddled thinking behind this discrimination that has run for over 2,000 years starts to clear.’
Much of the recent hatred has been attributed to the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict between Israel and Palestine. To win support for World War I, Britain promised the Jewish people a homeland. Yet despite taking control of Palestine in 1920, the British continued to rule until 1948, when the State of Israel was finally created.
The land was inhabited by a Jewish minority and Arab majority. For Jews, it is their ancestral home. For Palestinian Arabs the belief is that the land is rightfully theirs. Disagreements have raged ever since and the fighting flared up again earlier this year. Nearly half of all the recorded incidents of anti- Semitism occurred this May – at the peak of the IsraelPalestine conflict.
Like that encountered by Lily, ‘Emily’, a 38-year-old married mum-of-three from North London has also experienced ani- Semitismn. ‘It was the day of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London,’ she recalls, preferring not to give her real name. ‘I was driving when I saw two cars covered in Palestinian flags. I don’t cover my hair but my young son was wearing a yarmulke skull cap. I had my windows down and was playing Israeli music. The flag-covered cars let me pull out but then suddenly, they sped up behind me, honking their horns and flashing their lights. Before I knew it, one of the drivers started to ram into my car from behind. I was so scared. I was coming up to a red light but I just floored my accelerator and ran through it.’
Emily thought she’d lost them but then saw them speeding towards her again. Thinking quickly, she pulled into a tiny alley and hid behind a van.
‘I was praying they hadn’t seen me, otherwise I genuinely feared I was going to die,’ she says. ‘I didn’t want to frighten my son but I was terrified.’
Luckily, Emily managed to lose the car and report the incident to police but those responsible were never found.
‘I’ve stopped my boys wearing skull caps outside and during the second demonstration, I banned my husband from synagogue,’ she admits. ‘I felt it was too dangerous.
Hannah Rose, now 25, has also experienced anti- Semitic abuse. A few years back, she spoke at a political institution in Geneva about her experiences of anti- Semitism in the Labour Party. As she stepped off stage, a British man accosted her.
‘He snarled at me, “You’ve
‘I have a right to feel safe in my own country’
embarrassed Britain”.’ Hannah was shocked as he continued his torrent of abuse, even blaming Jewish people for Brexit.
‘I couldn’t believe that an older man could scream at me with such conviction. I left the conference in tears,’ she says.
Like Lily, Hannah has experienced anti- Semitism online, via Instagram.
A report by the International Centre for Countering Digital Hate found there was a serious and systematic failure to tackle anti- Semitism by large social media companies, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
Unsurprisingly, Hannah finds the in-person attacks more intimidating. This year, she was having lunch with a friend in Golders Green, when a car screeched past. ‘Free Palestine!’ the driver screamed.
‘It was horrible,’ Hannah recalls. ‘Golders Green is known for its high population of Jews, so we knew it was directed at us. He wasn’t really interested in freeing Palestine – they just wanted to abuse British Jews.’
CST chief executive Mark Gardner says: ‘This year, British Jews have suffered levels of hatred worse than anything seen in recent decades. Some of the abuse and harassment targeting young people in particular was disgraceful.’
And he isn’t wrong. A poll carried out by YouGov and King’s College London in January this year suggested that nearly half of us in the UK have anti- Semitic views.
The poll found 45 per cent of British adults agreed with at least one of six anti- Semitic stereotypes put to them by researchers, including the ideas that Jews ‘chase money’, or ‘talk about the Holocaust just to further their political agenda’.
Rabbi Charley Baginsky, CEO of Liberal Judaism (UK), isn’t surprised by the increased attacks. She says, ‘Every time something happens in Israel, figures rise. But it has been very different this time. Instead of the impersonal daubing of graffiti on synagogues or the desecration of Jewish gravestones, we’ve heard a number of personal anecdotes from our Liberal Jewish community.
‘There have been comments made on buses and in schools. Children who are often the only Jewish students in their school are being asked to justify Israel’s actions, when many of them barely understand politics.’
The impact these attacks are having is clear.
‘I didn’t use my real name in this article because of the backlash I’ve received from speaking out before,’ says ‘Emily.’ ‘It upsets me because, yes, I’m Jewish, but I’m also a British citizen and I have a right to feel safe in my own country.’