Ban the hate preachers, kick out the anti-Jewish doctors and public sector workers, stop those anti-Jewish protesters, intent on making Jews feel scared in the place they have been proud to call home
October 15, 2025 13:04
Sadly, it goes without saying that anti-Jewish hatred is not a new phenomenon. But we only have to go back 20 years or so, and to our neighbours in France, to see its dangerous impact. Here in Britain, we looked across the Channel and saw French Jews dealing with the same problems of antisemitism we faced.
Then, in France, events took an even darker turn. In 2006, Jewish Parisian Ilan Halimi was kidnapped, tortured and left to die by an antisemitic gang. In 2012, Mohammed Merah shot dead three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse. And in 2015 there was the siege on the Jewish supermarket in Paris, where four of the nineteen Jewish hostages were murdered.
In the first two decades of this century at least a dozen French Jews were murdered by radicalised French Muslims, and up to 100,000 Jews fled France as a result.
Now, in Britain, we are staring down the barrel of the same gun. For all the hatred and extremism that our community has faced since the October 7 attacks, we avoided the worst outcome – until Yom Kippur, when a jihadist attacked Heaton Park Synagogue and Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed.
It was the first time in living memory that Jews had been killed because of who they are on British soil. And it changes everything – not only for Jews, but for Britain too.
The Jewish people have a long and proud history on this island nation. Though this has not been without its ups and downs. Jews were expelled in 1290 and not allowed back until the 1650s – but modern Britain is one of the great Jewish success stories.
A community of a few hundred thousand has built a flourishing life here and contributed immeasurably to the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation. Now, sadly, we’re also embattled once again.
What was a terrifying scare under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party has become an earth-shattering reality as war has raged in the Middle East. Anti-Jewish hatred has been allowed to prosper. Hate crimes against Jews have increased by more than 100 per cent in the past two years to over 3,200 in a year.
It came to a head in Manchester. A line in the sand. But what to do? For many Jews it means contemplating their future in this country. Can you protect your family in the face of such virulent anti-Jewish hatred? It’s unclear.
Upon the announcement of a ceasefire in the Middle East, huge crowds marched on our streets – not to welcome the momentous deal but to chant fresh messages of hate. An Oxford University student, supposedly amongst the brightest in our country, leads a chant calling for “Gaza” to put “Zios in the ground.” Bob Vylan, who invented the cry “Death to the IDF” at Glastonbury, has a national concert tour next month.
They call for death, and now they have their wish. Does anyone start to see the problem?
If this is not stopped then it becomes our new reality. It is not for the Jewish community to find all the solutions. This extremism is fuelled by antisemitism but it is a threat to British society as a whole. The then-French Prime Minister Manuel Valls made it clear that France without its Jews would not be France at all. He saw that attacks on Jews endangered the essence of France itself. Something to think about. What kind of Britain do our leaders want?
It’s time to make another choice. Either be afraid, cowering in the face of hatred. Or stand up and take it on. Only now, warm words and platitudes will not cut it. Action is required. It will be the only antidote to this poison.
Ban the hateful preachers who claim that Jews are responsible for society’s ills. Kick out the anti-Jewish doctors and public sector workers, like those who despicably smear a decent, religious man like the Chief Rabbi as a supporter of genocide. Stop those anti-Jewish protesters who swarm our streets and university campuses, intent on making Jews feel scared in the place they have been proud to call home.
Because that’s the point. We are proud British Jews. Proud of this country, and proud of our contribution to it. Our enemies are Britain’s enemies. They don’t want us here and they certainly don’t want us in Israel either.
Many of those who attack us cannot stand what Britain stands for. We must now choose whether to let them get their way.
Jonathan Goldstein is the former chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council
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