There follows below a grim warning from a British Jew now living in Israel, who is convinced that antisemitism in the U.K., largely spread by the millions of Muslims now living in the country, will inexorably increase. The signs, he says, are unmistakable, of a resurgence of antisemitism, and British Jews must recognize that the “golden age of British Jewry is over.” It is time for them to make aliyah. More on his anguished cri de coeur can be found here: “All Jews should leave the United Kingdom – opinion,” by Jonathan Lieberman, Jerusalem Post, November 4, 2023:
…I recall almost no antisemitism growing up in Manchester, the second-largest Jewish population in the UK. There were Jewish clubs, Jewish sports, Jewish social activities, and theater, all sitting side by side with their non-Jewish counterparts. I spent six years at university in London and had only one example of antisemitism, and that was not from a student, but a professor. This then was the Golden Age of British Jewry.
Sadly, however, it has all come to a grisly end. Jews in the UK no longer feel safe. Lord David Wolfson, a Jewish Peer of the Realm, made a speech last week in the House of Lords in which he stated that he was more fearful for the safety of his daughter on London’s underground wearing a Magen David than he was for his son currently wearing the uniform of the IDF on the battlefront. This is a stark shift from the sense of security and belonging that once characterized the Jewish experience in the UK.
Pro-Palestine rallies in most of the major cities in the UK have become a breeding ground for hateful chants, including cries of “Jihad,” and these instances go unpunished. Despite strong statements from the home secretary, law enforcement is impotent to intervene. Quite simply, they are scared to enforce the law of the land. This leaves the Jewish community feeling vulnerable, and in some cases, actually terrified….
A group of traditional Jews in London in a certain area all decided that they did not feel safe with mezuzot on their doors and have taken them down.
This is the UK in 2023, the so-called “enlightened multicultural society”, where Jewish schools and synagogues have a constant police presence (useless as it is), where children and adults have to hide their Jewishness for their own personal safety, where young gentile kids are told they cannot play with Jewish kids.
The experiences of British Jews in 2023 are a far cry from the “Golden Age” that many remember. For those who grew up in an era of relative acceptance and harmony, the current atmosphere is not only shocking but deeply saddening. The sense of displacement and insecurity that many British Jews feel today is a harsh reality check for a nation that has prided itself on its values of tolerance and diversity.
This is not the Britain I grew up in, and it is not the country I want my grandchildren to grow up in….
If all the Jews in the U.K. were to follow his advice and move to Israel, Israel would be left without articulate defenders in Great Britain. Israel needs those unofficial diplomats, defenders of the country and its people, who are now entering a most difficult period of their existence, given Hamas’ ability to make people forget its atrocities and to focus on the supposed “violations of international law” — a complete calumny — committed by the IDF. How else can Israel make its case feelingly in any country, except through the Jews living in that country?
Furthermore, right now we are seeing antisemitism at its peak in the U.K., because of the Israel-Hamas war, and the loss of life in Gaza. The army of Israel haters have come out in force to demonstrate and chant that “from the river to the sea/Palestine will soon be free” — an unmistakeable call for the death of the Jewish state and its replacement by a twenty-third Arab one. And they also shout about the “apartheid” state of Israel, and yell about the IDF’s non-existent “war crimes” and “genocide.” The wilder the charge, the louder the chants. Few of these people, whether it is the Muslims exhibiting the antisemitism taught them in the Qur’an, or their non-Muslim fellow travelers, whose antisemitism has different sources, going al the way back to the “Christ-killing” charges, and blood libels, of the dim past, are willing to listen to the facts. Israel in no way practices “apartheid,” Jewish and Arab Israelis have precisely the same rights. Nor can the IDF be described as committing “war crimes” when it makes endless efforts to warn civilians away from targets the Israelis are soon to hit, by messaging, telephoning, leafletting, and using the “knock on the roof” technique. No other army in the world warns its enemies of exactly when and where an attack will take place; the IDF’s practice makes it, in the judgement of British Colonel Richard Kemp, the “most moral army in the world.”
When the Gaza war is over, and the full truth comes out about how the IDF conducted itself not just according to international law, but also admirably, some in the U.K. will change their views. They will change even more when they learn, from the Gazans themselves, now liberated from their Hamas rulers and free to talk, about how Hamas always and everywhere deliberately put civilians in danger, by placing its weapons, rocket launchers, and fighters in or near civilian buildings, including schools, hospitals, mosques, and apartment buildings. The world will learn about the true casualty numbers, not the inflated figures put out by the Hamas Ministry of Health, and about the true number of Hamas operatives killed, so many of whom have until now been described, without the least proof, as “civilians.” All this will help the wave of antisemitism to recede in the U.K. A precipitous abandonment by Jews of the U.K., where they have made their lives, would be bad for them, worse for the U.K., and worst of all for Israel itself, which needs substantial numbers of Jews to remain in Europe, as the Jewish state’s defenders, explicators, and ambassadors of good will.
CogitoErgoSum says
The Jews are simply the ones at the top of the Islamic hate list. The Quran tells Muslims to fight all Infidels until they submit to the religion of Submission. The same thing that happened Oct. 7 in Israel definitely has the possibility of being repeated in the UK or the US or anywhere that Muslims perceive the need for it. I don’t know how anyone with even a little bit of intelligence can miss seeing this coming.
tgusa says
Pissing on graves. Spitting in the faces of the dead. There are a lot of dead Americans that fought the nazis who would be outraged if they were able to see what Britain has done with their last full measure of devotion. It is an abomination.
FYI says
A moment to think of the great things the islamic world has given us..
Great works of art,musicians,scholars,top scientists..?:well none of that infidel nonsense obviously.
The much maligned Jews on the other hand..
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I think he is right. Had I been a Jew living either in Britain or Europe, I would be considering moving to either Israel, or the US (but not to a blue state). It’s way too dangerous out there
Hindus there too should be looking at similar options – either moving to the US, or to India/Nepal/Mauritius
WPM says
Their is no Moving away from Moslems or jihadist They are all over the world at the top of their hitlist are the Jews, everyone else is on the hit list Christian ,Hindus ect,.Look at the major protest going on in every America right now.
mike says
Muslims want all Jews to move to Israel. Hamas and Iran want all the Jews in one area. This would allow Iran to make one strike and take all the Jews out at once
wake up
Hudders. says
Much of the UK is now a seemingly foreign land.
Lawless islamic crime riddled enclaves exist in almost all towns & cities,
Where sharia & hatred towards non muslims is stronger than ever before.
Women who are not covered in medevial refuge bags are insulted, assaulted & worse.
Young girls & boys are simply not safe there.
The recent displays of muslim political power within the Labour Party
& unchecked jihad supporting/pro Hamas chants, at the threatening recent protest marches,
Attest to an ever increasing danger in today’s UK.
Namely multiculturalism has clearly failed & things are going to get worse indeed it seems.
And then came remembrance weekend, adding insult to injury…..
tgusa says
The globalists in the shadows believe that to change the world in to their image chaos is the best way to go about it. Therefore we see what we see going on. But as is said, “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men often go awry.”
Scottish poet, Robert Burns
Hold on to your butts we are in for quite a ride.
mgoldberg says
As an American, as a Jew, I understand the sentiment expressed by the author. But these lands who gave us all measures of freedoms and liberties should not be abandoned to the hordes of would be tyrants of Islam. I love my America for its gift to the world, to me, to all it’s citizens, and I have no intention of turning over any of it to the nitwits who would drain it of it’s republic, of it’s history. This is a conflict that has been brewing for a long time, and unfortunately it will likely get worse.