Antizionist antisemitism is an existential threat to Jewish life in Britain – here’s how to fight it

Regardless of theology, Islamist terrorists in the Middle East have always viewed their holy war against Israel as having two fronts: One against the state, and one against the people. From the 1994 AMIA Jewish community centre bombing in Argentina, which killed 85 and was carried out by Iran-backed operatives, to the slew of attacks against Jews in Britain and Europe orchestrated earlier this year by Tehran, Jewish communities are the soft underbelly of the “axis of resistance’s” war against Israel.

The unprecedented levels of antizionist antisemitism which are gripping the world did not therefore take root during the Gaza conflict. They had been strategically indoctrinated for decades. The October 7 attack was simply the spark.

This is clear in the upsurge of attacks against Jews from the very day of Hamas’ pogrom in Israel, well before Israel began operations in Gaza. And, nearly one year after a ceasefire in Gaza, which ended major hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the Community Security Trust (CST) reported in August that antisemitic incidents in the UK had risen 21 per cent in the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period last year.

Antisemitism begets antisemitism, with massive spikes in antisemitic attacks following the Heaton Park attack as well as the slew of Iranian-backed attacks against the Jewish community in the spring.

The October 7 attack did not unleash a passing wave of antisemitism but raised the level of the water. Anti-Jewish hate has now become normalised within the UK. For the first time in nearly a century, Jews in the west are questioning their future and once again leaving a suitcase by the door.

Antizionist antisemitism is now institutionally embedded across the UK, especially in the public sector. Many Jewish students and NHS staff and patients are unable to visibly identify as Jews and face regular antisemitic harassment. An obsession with Israel, which detracts from threats to Britain’s national security and increases the threat to the Jewish community, increasingly dominates our politics. As Hamas sought to isolate Israel from the world, so too are Jews being frozen out of society in their own country.

Following the Manchester attack the government has implemented a range of commendable steps to protect the Jewish community, from increased support for security to creating new powers to curb intimidation at anti-Israel protests.

But the continued rise in incidents demonstrates that discrete steps such as increased funding for protection and training in sectors like education and health are no longer enough.

Jewish life in Britain faces an existential threat today. Jewish children should not be educated in schools surrounded by rings of security. Jewish students should not face harassment and intimidation in some of Britain’s foremost seats of learning. Jewish patients should not have to remove a Star of David or a kippah when they visit a hospital.

In short, higher and thicker walls are not the answer to a social ill which requires nothing less than structural realignment.

What is needed now is a strategy that gets to the very root of the hate and antisemitism festering in our society. Andy Burnham has rightly committed to "confront antisemitism wherever it appears" and has pledged to continue the work of the last government to tackle the current antisemitism crisis. Part of this commitment must therefore be recognising that the primary driver of antisemitism post October 7 is antizionism, where a fixation on Israel has become embedded in many institutions and across society.

As Labour Friends of Israel’s new report to be released this week, “The 7 October attacks and the rise of anti-Zionist antisemitism in the UK” details, there are a wealth of proactive policy steps that are required.

The government should, for instance, require all public bodies to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism in full and without amendment. It says criticism of the Israeli government is entirely legitimate but draws a red line at comparing Israel to Nazi Germany or denying Jews the right to their own state.

The government should establish an independent reviewer of antisemitism in the public sector, who will produce and publish an annual report, and ensure all public bodies collect data and report on antisemitic incidents and complaints.

There should be a new statutory framework for the investigation and disciplinary handling of hate crime incidents in higher education and universities, with the Charity Commission, Office for Students and other regulatory bodies given the powers they need to crack down on students’ unions which fail to address antisemitism.

And we need action across government to tackle the Iranian domestic threat, a key driver of antisemitism, radicalism and extremism. We need to identify and dismantle soft influence networks that advance Tehran’s objectives under the cover of cultural, academic, charitable or media activity.

But more than individual policy steps, however important they may be, we need to acknowledge, as too few hitherto have, the principal cause and manifestation of antisemitism in Britain today: the obsessive demonisation and delegitimisation of the State of Israel and its people.

Mark Sewards is the honorary parliamentary chair of Labour Friends of Israel