"The benefits we got from it, the wartime camaraderie and everyone, almost everybody, mucked in [with] whatever they could do, whatever [way] they could help somebody else they did - that wasn't just in the army,” Kersh said. “You don't get that now, no."
And, in his BBC interview, he added that he "absolutely" sees comparisons between the current political climate and the period just preceding the war, saying: "The top budget should be defence.
"Defence must come first, second, third, fourth and fifth, because only if you're strong, you won't be attacked.”
Kersh, who is commended in the King’s New Year Honours list for his school talks on Holocaust remembrance and his wartime service, told the JC last year that, although it is necessary to remember the past, being vigilant to the current wave of antisemitism is arguably more important.
“A bully will only attack someone he thinks is weaker; it applies to people, and it applies to states,” he said. “You've got to be prepared to fight back - that's the only way to stop antisemitism.”
