Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair has issued a stark warning about the rise of antisemitism in Britain and across Europe, arguing that political leaders are failing to confront the “environment of tacit permission” enabling Jew-hate.
Blair – who was appointed in January by US President Donald Trump as one of the founding members of his Gaza “board of peace” – also rejected claims that Israel’s military actions in Gaza amounted to a genocide and criticised some progressive politicians for failing to address Israel’s legitimate security concerns for fear of how the Muslim community might react.
Writing for US news site The Free Press, Blair reflected on the arson attack last week in Golders Green that destroyed four Hatzola ambulances and insisted this was not an “isolated” incident but part of a wider trend.
Citing the thousands of antisemitic reports recorded in the UK last year as well as the spikes documented in countries throughout Europe following October 7, he argued that while political leaders routinely condemn such incidents, their responses have proven ineffective.
"Each high-profile incident is followed by ritualistic condemnation by political leaders. I have no doubt they mean what they say. But their words haven’t stopped the attacks,” Blair wrote.
“Jewish people in the UK and in Europe are genuinely fearful. Some have already left the countries they were born and grew up in, because they know these countries are not dealing with the roots of modern antisemitism and the environment of tacit permission that stalks parts of Western politics.”
Antisemitism, Blair said, has evolved, taking on “new forms, on the right and on the left”. The former leader of the Labour party also pointed to what he called a “pernicious and novel development” within progressive politics – an “alliance with Islamists”.
This union, he continued, has found “an animating cause” in shared opposition to Israel.
Blair also warned that legitimate criticism of Israel risks becoming a cover for prejudice when it ignores the context of terrorism: “You cannot engage in such criticism legitimately if you do not also condemn the terrorism of October 7,” he wrote, adding that one cannot overlook the “substantial” threats posed by groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, or ignore Israel’s security concerns.
He went on: “You cannot complain about the restrictions on goods and material going in and out of Gaza unless you also reference the reasons for the restrictions: the fear in Israel that such materials will be used for the purpose of building a terrorist infrastructure, which is precisely what nearly 300 miles of tunnels underneath Gaza represent.”
Leaders who called for an end to the war in Gaza without also acknowledging that the conflict “would have ended at any point in time if Hamas had said they were releasing the hostages” were being “disingenuous” he claimed.
Blair, who has been heavily involved in the politics of the Middle East for decades, criticised rhetoric around the Gaza war, warning against misuse of the term “genocide”, which he says risked trivialising the Holocaust.
He also said he believed “many progressive politicians who do sincerely reject antisemitism” are “under pressure from party activists and parts of the Muslim community”, so have failed to make these arguments publicly.
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