With characteristic pithiness and perspicacity, the comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks encapsulated the whole panoply of Jewish culture, and an entire history of overcoming tragedy, in one line. “If you can laugh at it, you can survive it,” he said.
So, it is that much of Jewish humour is generally characterised by a knowing, almost self-deprecating, quality, a witty observation in the face of adversity. Brooks has impeccable credentials in this area: it was in his seminal film, The Producers, that Hitler’s persecution of the Jews was turned into a musical, Springtime for Hitler. “Don’t be stupid, be a smarty/Come and join the Nazi party”, sang the chorus line.
That’s not to say that Jews will laugh at anything, but it does go some way to explain why the reaction of British Jews to the antisemitic horror that exploded in the Golders Green area of north London last week was not to get militant, not to take to the streets in furious protest, or to march on Westminster demanding the Government take action, but more a mixture of self-possession and steely resolve.
We are all appalled and dismayed, and some of us may even feel scared to go about our daily business. And yet the natural response of the overwhelming majority of Jews in the face of this latest expression of antisemitism is not to make a fuss. That disposition – call it heroic, stoic or pragmatic – is more likely the scar tissue of millennia, and a history which includes the Pharaohs, the pogroms and the Holocaust. And, of very recent memory, Bondi Beach and Heaton Park, where Jews were also murdered just for being Jewish. We have been through worse. Much worse.
For most of our time in exile, particularly in Europe, the Jewish diaspora has lived at the sufferance of others. To draw attention was to invite resentment; and resentment invited violence. The lesson was absorbed across generations: do not be conspicuous, do not complain too loudly, do not antagonise the predominant culture. Assimilation meant survival. This may seem paradoxical when so many Jews have risen to achieve pre-eminence in business, entertainment and indeed politics, but it was a rational response to a world in which antisemitism seemed perpetually to exist just below the surface.
And this is how most of Britain’s 320,000 Jews generally go about the business of being Jewish. (Interestingly, according to the 2021 Census, around 34 per cent of UK Jews identify as secular, or as having no religion.) There is a particular anxiety about calling out antisemitism, too. It casts us into victimhood, and, moreover, would draw attention to our Jewishness. In truth, we generally do outrage in private.
I was born Jewish, but have preferred to wear my Judaism lightly. Growing up in Manchester, ours was not an especially observant household – the nearest thing my father got to giving me spiritual guidance was his advice not to buy retail – and I’ve never gone out of my way to identify as Jewish (even though, for some reason, Wikipedia seems to think it’s the most interesting thing about me).
It’s hard, however, to avoid being radicalised by what’s going on at the moment. A lot of people who don’t like Jews in the first place have found oxygen for their poisonous views while antisemitism is legitimised as an expression of the horror at what’s going on in Gaza. We cannot simply dismiss this as an epic non-sequitur, peddled by useful idiots, and get on with our day. Not now, not now that peace-abiding British citizens are being knifed in suburban streets merely for their faith.
The question is no longer whether antisemitism exists in British life. It is there all right, in both subtle and overt forms, in private clubs, in universities, on social media, proclaimed loudly on banners, and in chants, on our streets, even in political parties who say they stand against prejudice. I think we have to agree that it has gone largely unchecked, its apologists hiding behind free speech issues.
Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party, talks nonsense when he says he has no interest in policing what people say. Of course you have to police hate speech: protecting minority groups is a first principle of a liberal democracy.
So, yes, send the marines in to safeguard Jewish schools and synagogues. But that’s only part of the answer. Antisemitism, like other forms of racism, feeds on the grievance politics that has become the lingua franca of those who seek to polarise opinion, whether from the left or the right. Jews and non-Jews alike have a role to play in re-establishing respect in public discourse, which includes consideration for the beliefs of others, and zero tolerance for anything that diminishes the worries of a minority group.
In the wake of the Golders Green attack, however, it’s in Jewish communities where pain and anxiety is acutely felt. They should not be left to fight antisemitism alone. Visible, consistent support from wider society is critical. That means speaking out, mobilising political will and resisting the temptation to minimise or relativise antisemitism compared with other forms of hate.
Jews should not regard this moment as an existential threat. There have been much worse moments down the years. But history tells us that terrible things can happen when the hateful depiction of Jewish people is allowed to thrive. It is definitely time to make a fuss.
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