Antisemitism ‘a national emergency’, says Badenoch after Golders Green stabbing

In response, the government has announced a £25 million boost for police patrols in Jewish communities and plans to “fast-track” new anti-terror powers to allow the government to ban state-backed groups such as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Badenoch, however, urged stronger government measures against antisemitism. She called for increased funding for Jewish security organisations, including CST and Shomrim, a volunteer-run group from the Charedi community that currently receives no government funding.

Shomrim volunteers were first on the scene in Golders Green on Wednesday morning.

In an interview with the JC, she praised the bravery of the volunteers, saying: “It must have been absolutely terrifying and yet they ran into the face of danger, they don’t run away from it. So brave… So I pay tribute to Shomrim and those police officers who stopped this from being a much bigger attack than it could have been. Lives were saved.”

She added that it was “not fair” for the community to shoulder so much responsibility for its security, calling for central government funding. “It’s time to look [at Shomrim funding] again because this is a national emergency. It’s a national emergency; this is not a charity.”

Badenoch pointed to a broader pattern of incidents: “We are seeing Jewish people attacked. It’s not just today. Last week there was a man in Slough who was attacked in the most horrific way. We had the Heaton Park murders.

"We’re seeing even businesses that are just selling cakes like Gail’s being attacked for simply having an association perhaps with Jewish people or with Israel. We have newspapers like The Guardian writing as though that’s normal. There is a normalisation of this kind of rhetoric, of this kind of attack, that I think is abhorrent.”

She also criticised comments by Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski, who had referred to a “perception of unsafety” as well as “actual unsafety,” urging him to retract the statement.

“It is completely wrong, for example, for politicians and other figures in the wider British community to be saying ‘oh, it’s just the perception.’ This is not just the perception that something is happening. Something real is happening here. It is a national emergency.”

“[Polanski’s comments] were proved to be completely wrong. I do not know what he was thinking when he said that… there is a real climate of fear and intimidation against Jews. People are being killed as we saw in Heaton Park.

"Two people were very lucky as we saw, the policy and Shomrim were close enough to save their life. Others might not be so lucky unless we do something about this now. It’s a national emergency.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp echoed the criticism, also calling for a retraction of the comment from the Green leader, who is Jewish.

“We have seen here on the streets of antisemitism the reality of antisemitism. Those two men could quite easily have been killed… antisemitism is real.

“When Zack Polanski and the Green Party try and pretend it is simply perception and not reality, that is frankly disgusting. Zack Polanski should be ashamed of himself and he should retract his despicable comments.

“Much stronger action is needed to protect the Jewish community across the whole UK,” again describing the situation as a “national emergency.”

He also called for increased police patrols and expanded use of counter-terrorism powers: “I want to see counter terrorism surveillance powers used against people who might be planning antisemitic attacks.

“Those surveillance powers enable mobile phones and other communication devices to be tapped. I would like to see Iranian diplomats and spies potentially linked to the previous attacks expelled from the UK, and any foreign civilian here in the UK who is antisemitic or supports terrorism or extremism should be deported.”

Philp argued such measures would not infringe civil liberties, claiming that “only people who are extremists or who are violent have anything to worry about. People who harbour no antisemitic sentiments and are not extremists have nothing to worry about.”

Meanwhile, the government’s antisemitism tsar, Lord John Mann, told the JC that he planned to open a “dialogue” with members of Britain’s Muslim community.

“We do know that previous attacks in this area have been from individuals in the Muslim community. We need to be working with the Muslim community to help them get on top of this.”

He added that he “hoped” there was concern within that community, warning: “One of the points I will be making to them is at the moment is that it is the Jewish community under assault, but this will never end with the Jewish community, so the leadership that is needed is in all communities and I am hoping that people will be keen to step up. I also want to know if barriers are being put in their way.”

“We can’t all retrench, some of us need to go out there and engage,” he said, calling for it to be made “wholly unacceptable anywhere for people to move beyond a point of view toward acts of violence against people or property”.

He also pointed to longer-term measures, including antisemitism awareness training for teachers. “Every new teacher should be the first target, as they’re being trained, something automatic.”

“I want punishment and education,” he added, referring to those responsible for violent antisemitic attacks.