Jewish community lights up London in memory of Sydney victims

This evening, the Jewish community came together to bring light to the darkness. We mourned the dead in Australia and celebrated the endurance of Jewish life in the face of those who mean us harm, in the best spirit of Chanukah.

The event, organised by Campaign Against Antisemitism and Chabad UK, saw the lighting of the Chanukiah in the shadow of the statue of Sir Winston Churchill, a towering historical leader who understood evil and refused to relent until it was defeated.

When we first arrived, someone shouted at us: “Free Palestine f*** off!” This is sadly what we have come to expect in Sir Sadiq Khan’s and Sir Mark Rowley’s London.

The crowd was addressed by several speakers.

Ashley Dalton MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention: “We’re here to stand together against the hatred and the vitriol from wherever it comes. The Government does not and will not tolerate antisemitism. We stand with Jewish people today.”

David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Tredegar, Shadow Attorney General: “Do you know what ‘globalising the Intifada’ looks like? We do now. It looks like bodies piled on the sands of Bondi Beach. That is what globalising the intifada means.”

Richard Tice MP, Deputy Leader of Reform UK: “We celebrate the fact that light always pierced through darkness. It beats darkness. It always will overcome darkness.”

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism: “It could have been here, and it could have been us.

“Many in Britain will have missed that Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein are on trial after police say they caught them with assault rifles and almost 200 rounds of ammunition. ‘Their plan was to get the weapons and ammunition and identify a mass-gathering of Jewish people whom they could attack,’ say the prosecution. It is alleged that the defendants were waiting for more ammunition before embarking on a mass shooting. Both deny the charges.

“What happened in Sydney will happen again and again until the West wakes up. The enemy is at the gate. Our politicians are out of time. There is not a moment to lose.”

We lit the Chanukiah, as Jewish people each night of Chanukah in celebratory fashion. We remembered those murdered in Australia.

According to our representative polling of the Jewish community, British Jews consider Islamists to be the most serious threat (95%) compared to the far-right (67%) and the far-left (91%). More than nine in ten British Jews do not believe that the authorities do enough to protect the Jewish community from Islamists. Less than one-tenth of British Jews believe that the authorities are doing enough to address and punish antisemitism; 84% believe that they are not.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said “This evening, we sought to bring light to the darkness, to mourn the dead and celebrate the endurance of Jewish life in the face of those who mean us harm, in the spirit of Chanukah.

“Chanukah recalls the Jewish fight against antisemitic oppression in another era, and calls on us to redouble our efforts in that same fight today. We will not be cowed by terrorists, nor will we allow the names of the fallen to be forgotten.

“The threats that British Jews, like Jews across the world, are facing are graver than any Western government seems prepared to acknowledge. The West has still not woken up to the menace, much less roused itself to fight it. Until it does, Jews will continue to pay the ultimate price, and then, so will everyone else.”