Guest submission by Paul Shaviv
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| 4 Hatzalah ambulances were torched last March in London |
Last Yom Kippur, a UK citizen of Syrian extraction drove a
car into worshippers outside a Manchester shul. Two worshippers were killed,
and several injured. In the last few weeks, three Jewish buildings have been
attacked by arsonists; four Hatzala ambulances were destroyed by arson;
numerous instances of Jews being harassed or attacked have been reported. A BBC
documentary screened a week or so ago recorded Jews afraid to wear kippot or
Magen David necklaces in public, or to be overheard speaking Ivrit. The leader
of the rapidly rising Green party in the UK – think Mamdani – has used his
Jewish status to proclaim his anti-Israel/anti-Zionist beliefs. A national
newspaper has reported that ads for accommodation to let are beginning to
specify ‘Zionists not welcome’.
All of this is the tip of the iceberg. Jewish-owned stores,
and other businesses with Israeli connections (real or imagined) are being
daubed or sprayed with red paint. Talk shows on radio are inundated with
antisemitic and anti-Israel callers. For months, threatening pro-Palestinian
demonstrations have paraded weekly through central London and other cities,
sometimes in front of synagogues. And so on, and so on.
This has profoundly shaken Britain’s Jews, who long regarded
themselves as well-integrated Brits, living in a tolerant and generally
hospitable society. They no longer do.
What caused this turnaround? A combination of factors...
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