Antisemitism Erupts Again

I used to think that members of the anti-Zionist lobby in the UK would hang their heads in shame if Hamas or Hezbollah managed to breakthrough the security and massacre Israelis on a large scale. How wrong I was; the antisemitism I knew to be there all along was even more deeply rooted than even I thought and is now erupting on a scale we have not seen for more than 75 years, and in the UK even longer.

The sight of young adults on the streets of London smirking as they tear down posters of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza turned my stomach. How could someone so young and seemingly so intelligent be filled with such contempt for incarcerated babies, the elderly, and frail, who are probably held in tunnels, and whom they have never met? That they should so brazenly display their hatred of Jews made me wonder what they would say, or worse still do, if they could retain their anonymity. Imagine if this had happened to posters of the missing after 9/11, or the memorial photos to victims of the Manchester Arena bombing. Of course, on each of those occasions it would have been unthinkable, but clearly not unthinkable when it comes to Jewish victims of the abhorrent terrorist attack on 7^th October, the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

The hundreds of thousands that pour onto the streets of major British cities to declare their hatred of Israel, on occasion of the West, and of the values many of us hold dear, makes me wonder where all this will lead. It appears that for not an insignificant number of people antisemitism is now a commonly accepted form of conduct; it is also increasing at an alarming rate.

For many people their capacity for hate must be greater than their power of reasoning; there can be no other explanation for the deafness with which they respond to expressions of concern about their words and behaviour. After all, if you marched stating that Black Lives Matter, if you took part in a Pride Parade, or stood in a vigil in memory of the raped and murdered women on our streets, why would you march alongside Hamas apologists and supporters? Let there be no mistake, for Hamas, no life matters not even their own. For Hamas, diverse sexualities are of Satan and should be eradicated in the most perverse ways. For Hamas, women are merely objects and should be subdued and possessed by men. So why would opponents of racism, homophobia and misogyny stand next to banners that in effect support Hamas?

Some that take part in the marches say they would never endorse the appalling views of the Islamists about them. They also claim they are insulted by those that criticise the marches in their entirety when there are calls for genocide in Israel, and jihad or intifada in the UK. They object to being labelled as apologists for extremism and terrorism. If that is so, then why don’t they speak as vehemently against those they march alongside who are promoting such hatred? Those that claim to be ‘innocent of the hatred of their co-marchers’ are at best naïve, but also tragically playing into a trajectory that is not only divisive, but hurtful, and extremely dangerous. Whilst their ignorance of what would be said and done on such marches could have been justifiable on week one, after four weeks of brazenly repetitive calls for genocide no one can be in any doubt as to what will be said and done on such a march. So those that choose to march now do so knowing they might end up standing alongside jihadists calling for genocide. They may therefore be complicit in fuelling the antisemitism that has erupted across our nation and world.

How can this apparent lack of self-awareness be understood? For many people antisemitism is inexplicable. It is the longest hatred; it has caused the greatest genocide in human history, and it does indeed defy all logic. The tropes recur in different form in every generation, and I fear that the roots of antisemitism are present in every person. It is as if a shadow is cast across every human soul at birth. The new-born is shocked at its arrival, having given up the security of the womb they have become at risk. Emerging from reassuring darkness, the light pierces their eyes. From constant warmth, their nakedness is exposed to the cold. From a previously muffled environment, the sudden and sharp sounds in this new world are distressing. In short, the new-born is made to feel an alien and utterly defenceless. Any subconscious reminder as a child or adult of this moment, i.e. a threat to their familiarity and security, increases their hostility toward it. This may include encountering something new or someone that is different, or a culture that is dissimilar to their own. At that moment the one that feels threatened may fight or flee. It is as if the light in their life, all that is good and joyful and safe, has momentarily been extinguished and there is no desire to reignite it. No matter how irresponsible and irrational the consequential contempt becomes, nothing appears able to initiate a pause for reflection, as it is with antisemitism.

Antisemitism is beyond any reason. It exists and has done in various forms for millennia: religious, racial, or political. A philosopher once said that if God didn’t exist, we would have to invent him. For many it is a similar phenomenon with Jews. If Jews didn’t exist, they would have to be imagined, thus creating a vent for scorn, hostility, and anger. It is a despairing thought, but no less despairing than the waves of Jew-hatred that have afflicted every corner of God’s earth in which Jews have sought to settle over millennia. To paraphrase Tom Lehrer, ‘Catholics hate Protestants, Protestants hate Catholics, Muslims hate Hindus, and everybody hates Jews.’[i]

Today’s hostility toward Jews is expressed in many ways: political cartoons, conference resolutions, campus debates, and protest. The mask that is donned to cover the hatred is a call for Israel to desist from attacking Gaza. It is always right to condemn the sickening deaths of children and other innocents but there is an interesting take on the present protests. Where were the protests when children were being blown apart in Yemen? Where were the protests when women were sold in slave markets during the time ISIS controlled much of Syria and Iraq? Or men’s severed heads there used for footballs? Or young women imprisoned and even beaten to death in Iran because they want to express their freedom and femininity without a hijab? Or schoolgirls in their hundreds abducted from their classrooms in Nigeria? And countless other places where Islamists have inflicted their abhorrent and violent worldview and resultant actions on anyone whose culture and beliefs did not match their own? But what happens when the only Jewish state in the world responds to the greatest massacre of Jewish life since the Holocaust by seeking to destroy a terrorist organisation whose leaders have promised to repeat the pogrom again and again until Israel is eradicated? Protests on a massive scale erupt across the planet: Jews are again the reason for their own suffering, the Jews are lying about the events, falsifying the facts and stats. Jews around the world live in fear because they have again become targets for abuse and worse. Hans Mayer wrote, ‘whoever attacks Zionism, but by no means wishes to say anything about Jews, is fooling themselves or others.’[ii] One friend in the UK Jewish community said in typical fashion to me that ‘when it rains in Israel, the Diaspora get wet.’

So many on the marches are using coded slogans that most people in the UK cannot decipher. Thankfully more have come to understand what the chant ‘From the River Sea Palestine will be Free’ actually means. It is of course a call to arms by Hamas and others to wipe the State of Israel from the map through the eradication of Jews and others. Take also the hadith ‘the day of judgment will not come until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then the Jews will hide behind trees and rocks, and the trees and rocks will cry out. “O Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me; come and kill him.”’ A demonstrator in Birmingham waved a placard stating ‘Now do you understand why the trees and rocks will have to speak?’ Lost on most people, but she knew the Hadith and she knew what she was saying. Incitement to hatred? Of course. Incitement to violence? Of course, but lost on most people and lost on those officers policing the protest.

Make no mistake about it, these are dangerous days for Israel, the only fully functioning democracy in the Middle East, the only nation where Christians have increased in number over the past 75 years. As long ago as 1967 Jean Améry quoted a Palestinian leader in an interview who said, ‘Israel is condemned to win every battle. If it loses just one, then….’ [iii] Amery said that the Palestinian did not continue, but the interviewer and those listening knew what the outcome would be. 56 years on from the interview, we have seen with our own eyes, that the threat still looms over Israel.

Make no mistake about it, antisemitism is gaining ground across the world, as well as in the UK, and again becoming mainstream and normalised. In so doing it will be difficult to stem, as it has always been in the past. Some outside the Jewish community, as in previous generations, recognise this ancient phenomenon. They have a huge burden of responsibility, one that is not exercised lightly, one that is costly, to speak out and act as they are able. Friendships are broken, vulnerabilities become exposed, and life is all the more difficult when they do. However, what else can we do other than stand against the hatred and stand with the oppressed?  

I recently came across a song that inspires confidence in times of danger.

He Who Believes Is Never Afraid (Mi Shemaamin Lo Mefached)

In every place, all the time

Everyone, old and young alike, has

Nice days and bad days

And in between them is the answer to all questions

There is one great G-d

In this world, he gives us everything

From darkness to light

The path that we just have to choose

And it is know that life is a gift

Everything is foreseen and given

He who believes is never afraid

Of losing hope

And we have the King of the Universe

And he protects us from everyone

This nation is a family

Time and time again that is the secret to success

The nation of Israel will not give up

We will always remain on the map

And it is known that life is a gift

Everything is foreseen and given

He who believes is never afraid…

It is a great deed to be happy

To always be happy

He who believes is never afraid…

Eyal Golan

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[i] Frank  Améry, Essays on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Left, Ed by Marlene Gallner, Indiana University press, 2021, p58

[ii] Ibid p52

[iii] Ibid p49