This morning, the Prime Minister opened his antisemitism summit with a short speech.
The summit comes just under a week since the stabbing attacks in Golders Green, just a few days after Campaign Against Antisemitism held a rally outside Downing Street calling on the Prime Minister to present a plan, and on the same day as yet another arson attack on a Jewish institution, this time in East London.
Sir Keir said that his Government has begun with immediate protection, announcing further funding for patrols. But, adopting language that we have used in recent days, he acknowledged that “We can’t accept a future where communities feel safer only behind higher walls.”
He said that the authorities are investigating if a foreign state is behind the latest spate of attacks on British Jews, pledging that if Iran or anyone else is coordinated it then “it won’t be tolerated.”
He acknowledged that “Antisemitism does not have one source alone: Islamist, far-left, far-right, extremism all target Jewish communities. That is why this Government has put in place the first coordinated national plan to strengthen cohesion and confront extremism in all of its forms.”
Adopting the language of our protest outside his home last week, he said: “This is not about tinkering around the edges. Our plan is a complete step change in how we protect communities.”
He said that his Government is “strengthening our ability to disrupt extremism,” including “stopping those who spread hatred from entering the country and giving the Charity Commission stronger powers to act against organisations that enable it.”
On social media, he said: “We‘re holding technology companies to account, requiring them to remove illegal extremist content or face serious penalties.”
Regarding the hate marches, he said: “We‘ve introduced stronger powers to deal with protests, ensuring intimidation is not tolerated on our streets.” He added: “We‘re bolstering the response of our justice system, working to speed up sentencing for offences so that consequences are swift and the deterrent is clear.”
Taking a step back, he recognised that “This hatred does not begin with violence: it begins with ideas, misinformation, tropes and conspiracy theories, and with attitudes that, left unchecked, can take root and spread…We’ve commissioned independent reviews into antisemitism in education and health services. Across the NHS, we’re rolling out antisemitism training for staff. And in our schools, colleges and univeristies, we’re investing £7 million to tackle antisemitism, while making sure Holocaust education is taught in all schools.” (The £7 million is old funding that the previous Government had already pledged and has been re-announced several times over the past couple of years.)
The Prime Minister added: “Today we’re going further: we already exepct universities to set out clear disciplinary consequences for antisemitism, and to enforce them. And so we will hold them to account on that. Today, I can announce we will lift the bar higher. When abuses take place, we’re calling on universities to demonstation action. we will now expect them to publish the scale of the problem on their campuses, as well as the specific steps they have taken to clamp down on it. There will be zero tolerance for inaction.”
On culture, he said: “In our cultural venues and spaces, we will also expect more. Where public funding is being used to promote or platform antisemitism, the arts council must act, using its powers to suspend, withdraw and claw back funding.” He added: “And today we’re mandating an independent audit of how allegations are handled. This will be a hard-edge review of where systems are failing and where they need to be strengthened.” Furthermore, he said: “We will also address quieter but no less serious harm. The way rising security costs are forcing Jewish artists and organisations out of public life. that is exclusion and it is unacceptable…” He announced measures to release funding for protective security costs.
“This is not a task that Government can do alone. Every part of society has a responsibility to respond with determination and force. Because there are too many people who don’t see antisemitism for what it is.” Hence he was asking everyone at the summit to reflect on forms of antisemitism in their sectors, and to act with urgency.
“Stopping antisemitism is not someone else’s responsibility. It is all of ours.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Days after we stood outside Downing Street calling on the Prime Minister to present a plan to tackle antisemitism, this is a start. We note that he has adopted some of our language and his acknowledgment that antisemitism comes not just from the far-right but also from the far-left and Islamism.
“But most of what is being announced is merely a programme of telling the authorities to do the jobs they were supposed to have been doing for years. The police have had the powers to ban marches all along, and it should not have taken a spate of stabbings and arson attacks for the Charity Commission to act against extremist mosques or for the Arts Council to stop funding venues that spread hate.
“It is absurd that basic steps have still not been announced today. We all know that Iran is a malign influence in this country, so why hasn’t the IRGC been proscribed and its ambassador expelled? The Prime Minister has been in office for almost two years, and it’s been half a year since the Manchester terrorist murders so why is he merely pointing to ongoing reviews of indeterminate length, without taking obvious action right now, for example banning the Muslim Brotherhood?
“We suspect that avoiding these questions is why the Prime Minister did not invite the UK’s largest antisemitism campaigning charity to his event at Downing Street today. He probably knows that we would play no part in any choreographed spectacle that puts words before action. Now is not the time to be avoiding uncomfortable truths and hard questions.”
