The West Has An Antisemitism Problem
As Israel grieves the West drowns in double standards
A barbarous attack on innocent civilians, the most hideous act of inhumanity I can remember in my lifetime. Last Saturday’s attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists should have united every single one of us in the West in condemnation. Instead it has left behind a trail of double standards that reveal an ugly truth; when Jews are being murdered we just don’t care as much.
Not A Matter of Debate
Anyone who follows international politics becomes, I think, a little numb to harrowing images and reportage of atrocities. The world is full of hatred and atrocities are common. If you don’t immunise yourself against the emotional impacts of them then you become much less effective at making the planet a better place to be - good policy is rarely made when emotions are high.
Sometimes, though, even the most well preserved mental barrier can be broken. Whether an event does or not is a good test as to the extent of the evil at play. There are no words that can articulate the horror of what Hamas did to people last weekend, their destruction of the young, the vulnerable, the innocent. There is no debate to be had about whether this act of terrorism was justifiable. Except there is, because many in the West are at best equivocating over, and at worst defending Hamas’ actions.
Can you remember another atrocity, another act of murder against civilians, another act of murder against babies, that was greeted not with condemnation but with counter-arguments? 9/11, 7/7, and the attacks on the Bataclan were all followed by swift condemnation and condolence from all but the darkest recesses of the globe. What is the difference between what happened on Saturday and the other three? The latter were not antisemitic attacks on Jews.
Institutional Cowardice
I will come on to the disgrace of those who have defended, or worse, celebrated the attack on Israel later on. Almost as disturbing though is the cowardice of our institutions in the face of the attack. When Ukraine was invaded by Russia the Wembley arch was lit up in yellow and blue, when George Floyd was murdered the England football team took the knee for two years. The FA will not be lighting the arch with the blue and white of Israel’s flag tonight ahead of England’s friendly against Australia. I am not for a second suggesting that English football’s governing body feel anything other than horror at Sunday’s events. But why are they so scared to do the right thing?
During my undergraduate degree I lost count of the number of times my university issued emails or statements expressing solidarity or organised vigils in the aftermath of disturbing international events. The response from Britain’s universities has been conspicuous by its absense. So too has the BBC shamed itself in its refusal to refer to Hamas as terrorists. The esteemed broadcaster John Simpson defended this in a tweet explaining that the beeb has to avoid taking sides. Forgive me, but bullshit. Did the BBC not describe 9/11 or 7/7 as terrorists attacks? Regardless, Hamas is a proscribed terrorist group in the UK and the BBC is the British Broadcasting Corporation.
What sort of message is this to project to the world or indeed our own Jewish population? Our institutions are not on the side of Hamas, but support for Palestine has become an increasingly important signifier of progressivism at the same time as it has become ever more blurred with support for terrorism. Our institutions are not on the side of Hamas but they act if those that are are merely expressing legitimate opinion, god forbid we offend them.
Eroded Values
The last week has shown an alarming truth about Britain and the West. Most people are not antisemites but we have far too much tolerance for antisemitism. If I were to go out and scream abuse about muslims, or people of colour, or LGBTQ people in the way many have done so about Jews and Israel over the past few days, the law would - rightly - come down on me. And yet the shouts of “gas the jews” in Sydney, the celebration of murder in New York, and the riots outside the Israeli embassy in London are treated as within the confines of acceptable opinion.
Yet it isn’t surprising is it? When many of the most influential people in the world of celebrity and academia lined up to endorse Jeremy Corbyn for Prime Minister. It is not surprising that many of those same people are sympathetic to the argument that what happened in Israel is just what happens when you have a territorial dispute with your neighbour. The murder of babies is never just what happens. Our national institutions have disgraced themselves.
We have big lessons to learn. The scenes we have witnessed in Britain in particular have been allowed to happen because we have lost confidence to defend our values. And we do have values. But too often we are presented with a false binary; go full Suella Braverman, crack down on immigration, leave the refugees to the whims of the English Channel. Or tolerate intolerance and hatred because to fight back would be intolerant. This has become liberalism’s paradox.
Our society should be tolerant of different viewpoints, different faiths, different ideas. But what separates society from anarchy is where it sets the limits. We are a liberal democracy and anyone who doesn’t believe in the values of liberal democracy should be stigmatised and made to feel unwelcome. Otherwise our system will kill itself. There is nothing wrong with feeling that the Palestinians have been treated unfairly or that they have a right to exist too, but allowing that to stretch into the defence of terrorism shouldn’t be something that is tolerated anywhere in the West.
Such stigma must be carried out on a personal level too. I trust most people reading this newsletter don’t hang around with Islamophobes or mysognists. Treat those who wish to wipe Israelis off the map from the river to the sea the same, ditch those who celebrate the paragliders, ditch them even if they look and sound like you, even if they have the same opinions as you on other matters, ditch the antisemites in your life. We have to stop treating it as just an acceptable - even high brow - opinion. When Jews are murdered, when Jews are under threat we do not care as much and the response to Sunday’s attack proves it. Jews have been trying to draw attention to this for years. It is on the rest of us decent people to amplify their message.
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