If I am not for myself, why should others be for me?
The future for Jewish people in Britain is under threat, but if we don’t show that we care, why should anyone else?
We cannot expect the general public, the media, the authorities or the Government to take heed of the Jewish community’s cries if we do not make the effort to show the strength of our feeling regarding the unprecedented levels of antisemitism that have permeated every aspect of our lives.
If we do not tell them how we feel, how are they to know?
We have a responsibility to make ourselves heard.
If you have not yet joined the thousands who have already signed up to march at 13:00 this Sunday, 8th December in central London, please do so now and be part of this critical and historic event.
We will be gathering from 12:00 for a prompt 13:00 start.
You can sign up for the march here.
Why are we marching?
We are marching because these sorts of incidents – all from the past ten days – have become unacceptably commonplace.
- A fourteen-year-old identifiably Jewish girl in Stamford Hill was reportedly hospitalised after being struck in the face with a glass bottle.
- The Trades Union Congress called on all trade union members – including nurses, teachers and journalists – to “wear something red, green, black or a Palestinian keffiyeh to visibly show solidarity” at their places of work, resulting in BBC staff reportedly handing in their National Union of Journalists memberships.
- A leading Jewish restaurant critic quit The Observer after 28 years, saying: “For years now being Jewish, however non-observant, and working for the company has been uncomfortable, at times excruciating.”
- Ten teenagers reportedly attacked a TFL bus carrying pupils from JFS, a Jewish school in North London, in an incident in which four teenagers boarded the bus screaming “F* Israel, nobody likes you! F* off you b!” and throwing things at the JFS students, with seemingly no assistance provided to the victims by the driver or other passengers.
- An experienced Jewish member of staff at the BBC has revealed that antisemitism has become “normalised” at the broadcaster.
- It was reported that Counter Terrorism Police rightly felt the need to ban a video game in which users play as terrorists invading Israel to murder “Zionists”.
- Anti-Israel activists outside the University of Oxford called for intifada, made comparisons between the only Jewish state and terrorists and engaged in genocidal chanting. Meanwhile what happened inside the Oxford Union, the University’s debating society, was indescribably appalling.
- A Jewish leading figure in British arts resigned “from all voluntary positions within UK arts institutions” after accusing the art world of becoming host to “vile antisemitic sentiments…that are not isolated incidents but part of a broader culture that seeks to marginalise and dehumanise Jews.”
- Anti-Israel protesters tried to force their way into Downing Street.
- An academic at King’s College London allegedly attempted to “indoctrinate” her students with Hamas propaganda.
Anybody who does not think that antisemitism is a problem in Britain has their head in the sand.
The question for the Jewish community and our allies is whether we are willing to march this weekend to fight for our future.
It is not just about the Jewish community
It is essential that we march, not just for the Jewish future but for the future of our country.
We must take a stand against the growing extremism, radicalisation and support for terrorist groups that we are seeing on our streets, campuses and online, because it does not just affect the Jews.
As our Chief Executive, Gideon Falter, wrote in The Times last week: “Woe betide us if we believe this to be a passing nightmare, or an affliction that will affect the Jewish community alone and spare the rest. As the late Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks warned, ‘The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews.’”
The full article can be read here.
He also wrote in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday, pointing out that all of the activism that we are seeing is doing nothing to affect events in the Middle East but having a considerable, adverse impact on the fabric of our society right here. He asked: “Has this ‘activism’ done anything to change things in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon or Iran? Or are they just changing the face of our society over here?”
Th full article can be read here.
The future of British Jewry and our country’s tradition of tolerance and decency is not guaranteed. We owe it to our ourselves to fight for our future.
