Jewish campaign group Stop The Hate has launched a guide on how to campaign for Israel.
Aptly named Answer The Hate, the guide, in the form of a website, includes everything from how to protest to how to speak on the radio and respond to online antisemitism.
The idea was to give everybody who wanted to fight back against anti-Zionism and antisemitism advice, guidance and a structure, said Stop The hate founders – something they said was lacking when they started campaigning.
Co-founder Yochy Davis said: “I have been doing this for over ten years, and for most of them, it was just a handful of us.
“Then October 7 came, and suddenly there were thousands of people who wanted to act and no idea how.
“After our first counter-protest, the WhatsApp group went from 40 to 400 overnight, mostly people who had never protested in their lives. They all asked the same question: ‘What do I do now?’
“There was no guide, no handbook, nobody to tell you where to begin. You worked it out yourself, alone and usually badly.”
Stop The Hate, as it stands today, began just after October 7. Co-founder Max Royston said: “We learnt by getting it wrong in public. Nearly three years on, we now know what works and what wastes people's time, and all of that was sitting in WhatsApp groups and in our heads.
“So, we wrote it down – over 60 guides, handbooks and arguments, from how to talk about Israel and antisemitism to how to start a movement, campaign online or run a protest.
“Stop The Hate was built on one idea – that Jews should not wait for somebody else to defend them. These are the tools to go with it.”
Answer The Hate includes information on legal considerations regarding campaigning in different countries around the world and advises anyone at risk of arrest, prosecution or dismissal to get advice from a qualified lawyer.
The third co-founder of Stop The Hate, Itai Galmudy, added: “We are do-ers, and we will back anyone who wants to do rather than comment. But effort in the wrong place is still effort wasted, and we have watched too many people burn a year of their life on something that was never going to work.
“Antisemitism in Britain is worse than at any point in living memory. That is exactly when it matters that people act, and that their acting produces something. The guide is not only for Britain. Anyone anywhere can use it.”
The guide is due to be officially launched in September.
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