The US could grant British Jews asylum if they choose to leave the UK over rising antisemitism, President Trump’s personal lawyer has claimed
A keen pro-gun advocate, Robert Garson even suggested that he would “train any Jewish person that wants to learn” how to handle a firearm, having become a National Rifle Association-accredited instructor in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
Garson, who is Jewish and was born in Manchester, told The Telegraph that, in his opinion, the UK is “no longer a safe place” for Jews, adding that he has raised his concerns with the State Department and the president’s special envoy combating antisemitism, Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun.
“When I look at what is going on with Jews in Britain, and when I look at the changing demographics, I don’t believe – and I have discussed this with people in the Trump administration – that there is a future for Jews in the United Kingdom. For me, that is particularly sad,” he said.
Garson, who is also a board member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council after being appointed to the council by Trump last May, said he believes there is a “a lack of political will” to seriously tackle the problem of rising antisemitism in the UK.
“Keir Starmer has turned a total blind eye to antisemitism,” he alleged. “The Prime Minister has allowed rampant antisemitism to become commonplace in society and has allowed it to come from those who really don’t have Britain’s best interests at heart.”
Seemingly referencing the Shoah during the interview, he added: “I am a great believer that if there had been six million guns in six million Jewish hands, there would have been six million fewer deaths.”
Later, he claimed that “they are coming for the Jews and then they are coming for your pubs” and that “you are going to have sharia-compliant areas very, very soon”, apparently alluding to popular right-wing conspiracy theories about Muslim communities in the UK enforcing sharia law on others
On the likelihood of the US actually opening its doors to the UK’s approximately 300,000 Jews, the 49-year-old went on: “It is certainly not an unattractive proposition. It is a highly educated community… it is a populous that speaks English natively, that is educated, and doesn’t have a high proportion of criminals. There were conversations.”
This is not the first time the idea of America offering a safe haven for British Jews has been floated by someone with connections to the Trump administration, though.
In October last year, Alex Witkoff – the son of US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff – appeared to give his backing to the idea, retweeting an article from the Wall Street Journal titled America Can Give Refuge to British Jews along with the comment “Europe has seen this before – in the 1930s”.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.