We need a new strategy to fight the ‘globalise the intifada’ murder campaign

For generations, Jews have responded with logical rebuttals and appeals to reason. It’s completely understandable. When lies are told about you, you want to correct the record. But rebuttal does not work. In fact, it helps the haters. We react to hate marches — and so aggrandise them. We deny blood and power libels — and so reinforce them. Just look at the false ‘genocide’ libel since October 7. The accusation is always the headline; the rebuttal the footnote. When we argue against such falsehoods, we are usually strengthening the other person’s belief in them — especially when that belief is so intrinsic to their own ideology.

This is not a moral failure. It is a strategic one.

Modern media ecosystems reward repetition, not accuracy. Social platforms, protest culture, and viral slogans thrive on emotional shorthand. When Jewish voices respond to hostile claims - no matter how factually or ethically - they dignify them. Let’s stop reacting. Let’s start acting with vocabulary and ideas of our own. Let’s define our own narrative, pulling focus away from false ones invented by others.

No - this does not mean putting up a Powerpoint slide of facts. The Jewish instinct may be to dutifully present the facts, but that’s not what audiences buy. They buy stories. Put another way, we sell ingredients; they want a dish. And besides, when did anti-Jewish racism need facts? It delights in illogic. It ‘punches up’ at supposed elite Jewish power at the same time as punching down at ‘dirty Jews’. This absurdity goes unmocked. Instead we give it wings with earnest statements for the Defence.

There is a heavy psychological cost to being in permanent Defence Lawyer mode. When a community defines itself by what it is accused of, it internalises the role of the defendant. That is exhausting and unsustainable. Younger generations will not embrace an identity that means always being on the back foot. It is time to move from Defence Lawyer to Agenda Setter mode.

The good news is that we have allies. With every previous anti-Jewish campaign in history, Jews have been on their own — isolated and persecuted by societies of which they were a part, and from the top down. This time is different. Jews are the target of extremists wishing to overthrow the Establishment of which Jews are – and are seen as – a part. That Establishment is what you might call ‘The West’ or ‘Liberal Democracy’ or ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’. For the first time ever in history, Jews are being demonised because they are part of the majority. Surely that is easier than being the Untermensch, alone?

Make no mistake, the silent majority know they are in the crosshairs too. For every Bondi Beach, there is a 7/7. For every Heaton Park, a Manchester Arena. People are not stupid. They just need a rallying cry to get behind. Let’s give them a campaign to celebrate the long established values of Britain at large… to which British Jews have contributed. A confident campaign that ignores whatever conspiracy theory or hate slogan is trending that week. Rich in feel-good factor. Low on dogma. Rooted in the things we all like and aren’t prepared to lose. The haters will hate it.

In summary, the choice facing Jewish leadership today is between fighting alone, or fighting alongside our many friends on the centre-ground of British life, who know what we bring to the party. But above all, it is a choice between reacting and leading.

Holocaust historians are fond of saying “It always starts with words”. But it has never started with ours. Now is the time to break that rule.

Marc Cave is the Director of the National Holocaust Museum

Holocaust.org.uk