Normality and fear

For those who doubt the existence of antisemitism in Britain, the hate-crime figures from the Metropolitan Police this week should be a bracing corrective. The number of such crimes against Jews more than doubled last year. There were 299 in London between April and the end of December — a 128 per cent increase on the same period in 2013. But such evidence will never be enough for the ideologues whose politics prevent them accepting the idea that antisemitism is alive and well. They will not even accept the evidence of the murders in the Hyper Cacher in Paris. Astonishingly, there are those who deny that the victims were killed because they were Jews. Appalling as last year’s rise in hate crimes may be, however, we need to keep the figures in perspective. Even before the Paris murders, the French community lived with an ever-present threat — from street violence and attacks, to murders in Jewish schools, shuls being firebombed and rampaging mobs attacking Jewish neighbourhoods. French Jews are now, slowly, attempting to return to normal after the Hyper Cacher murders. Their normality, however, is a horror show, which is why a community of 500,000 is expected to fall to 400,000 within a few years.

Our situation has not been remotely comparable. But while we have not had to live with the same level of attacks and hate crimes, the Paris murders have sent fear into our homes. And it is a rational and understandable fear. Not of the relatively low-level day-to-day antisemitism covered in the hate-crime statistics but of a jihadi attack. The police have stepped up their presence in Jewish areas and the CST is doing even more than can be reasonably expected of a volunteer-based organisation. But the truth is that, as the former head of MI6, John Sawer, put it this week: “There will be another terrorist attack in this country.” The issue is when and where. Jews are a relatively easy target — as well as being near the top of the jihadis’ target list. Our community is strong and vibrant. But we are also realistic about the threat we face.