In 1972, I was a post-grad student at Oxford when Idi Amin expelled all Asians from Uganda. Everything fell apart. I thought I’d have to quit university. Professor Hugh Blaschko, a world-famous German Jewish pharmacologist and his Quaker wife, Mary, offered me rent-free accommodation. I lived with them for seven years and grew to love them. The Nazis had murdered many of his family members. Some were in a painted family portrait in their living room. He told me what Berlin was like before and after Hitler rose to power. Those stories stay with me.
The recent attacks on Jewish people and properties and the rally against antisemitism in the UK have reminded us that antisemitism is a very light sleeper. And that British Jews are fearful. Denying that, as some do, stains and dishonours the antiracist struggle.
Just as dishonourable are political leaders who opportunistically exploit antisemitism in their power games.
What I mean is that Sir Keir Starmer’s Government recently said it would ban pro-Palestine marches if necessary. Those comments, from Home Office minister Alex Davies-Jones, came following a terrible antisemitic attack in Golders Green, where two Jewish men were stabbed.
But these marches are our legitimate democratic right. What we are protesting is the conduct of Israel and our own government’s shameful complicity in that.
Starmer, in my view, seems to believe the UK must provide uncritical moral and material support for the current state of Israel. This March, Belgian authorities seized a shipment of military components being sent from the UK to Israel. According to The Campaign Against the Arms Trade: “The UK’s Labour Government is reported to have approved approximately $160m (£118m) worth of arms exports to Israel between October and December 2024.” The figure is drawn from newly released strategic export licensing data.
A large number of Labour loyalists are dismayed because their government says and does nothing about Israel’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.
Five countries – Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Spain and Slovenia – are boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest to protest against Israel’s inclusion. Meanwhile, the UK stands by its ally.
The New York Times, an assiduous newspaper which facts checks everything, has just reported on alleged rapes in prison – some by trained dogs – of Palestinian detainees. The IDF has killed hundreds of journalists and doctors; children and mothers are not spared. The UN rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, has been recording what she calls a genocide in Gaza in the last three years. The US has now imposed severe sanctions against this woman. Belgium and Spain have stood up for this principled observer. Not the UK.
Our media has moved on from the conflict. These demonstrations are the only way conscientious Britons across race, faith and class can keep on reminding fellow citizens of these injustices. Some of the protestors are Jewish. Journalist Maddy Fry spoke to a few such objectors earlier this year. Rabbi Lev Taylor of Kingston Liberal Synagogue told her: “I want to see a shared land where Israelis and Palestinians live in peace, and I want to see a Judaism that is connected to the life of Israelis, but also has its own energy and thrives here in the diaspora, without being dependent upon Israel. The war in Gaza is against Jewish law, but [the media] want a story that divides up Jews and Muslims in Britain and presents a clean narrative that promotes a particular view.”
Check out Na’amod, a movement of Jews in the UK who say they are “seeking to end our community’s support for Israel’s occupation and apartheid, and to mobilise it in the struggle for freedom, equality and justice for all Palestinians and Israelis”.
These are some of the bravest people in the world. Support Palestinians and you often seem to get branded an antisemite. If you are Jewish, hard Zionists contemptuously label you a “self-hater”.
Labour, Tory and Reform UK leaders are now insinuating that pro-Palestinian marches – which some unjustly rename “Hate Marches”- are inciting anti-Jewish hatred. The most rabid antisemitism is found online. During marches, I have argued with young people shouting nasty views. Organisers need to have more people monitoring the demos and stopping these few from poisoning the ambience. The vast number of marchers are simply standing up for the human rights of Palestinians.
The right to protest peacefully is not in the gift of governments. It is a democratic entitlement. So join the march on Saturday. The police may be heavy-handed; marchers may face abuse. But it is our duty as humans to stand by the victims of a genocide. And as democrats to defy authoritarian measures.
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