Remembering real antisemitism

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Diana Neslen

Moral panics and antisemitism

Us old timers gather each morning for our concessionary swim. Mark usually holds forth and gathers a crowd around him. He is the centre of attention. I read the newspaper. But sometimes, before the rest come, Mark and I converse. We are, after all, both Jewish and so have things in common. We discuss our children and grandchildren, our youth, where we daven (worship) and historic Jewish sites we have discovered on our travels. We steer clear of controversial topics, like Israel. The aggro is not worth it. So I was pleasantly surprised when Mark turned to me after Maureen Lipman, that inveterate cheerleader for Israel, had told the world that she no longer felt safe in Britain. He found it unbelievable that anyone could say this. Both of us reminisced about times when Jews were really in the front line, when graves were desecrated and the 43 group of Jewish ex servicemen had to defend the community against Mosley’s thugs. He made it quite clear that as far as he was concerned, he could not feel safer. The other concessionaires, who represent the diverse nature of our borough, joined in and were as amazed as we were that anyone should make these statements

But if you read the newspapers and listen to the politicians, you would come away with a very different opinion. There is a surfeit of alarmist talk about the danger that Jews are under. Certainly events in Paris provided the catalyst, but these past few months have seen an avalanche of articles highlighting the dangers to the Jewish population in the United Kingdom from antisemitism. This seems surprising when considering that compared to the past, real antisemitic feeling has dissipated considerably. One has only to look at the historical records to note that there were anti Jewish riots in 1947; that, according to Orwell antisemitic thoughts and feelings were de rigueur in the post-war period. During the 1960s I became used to antisemitic statements made by contemporaries. And 40 and 50 years ago, graves were regularly daubed with swastikas. Today racism has unfortunately become something of a common currency, but it is not directed so much at Jews, who get politicians fighting to be the first to condemn antisemitism, while attacking groups without political clout.

I can vouch for the situation in the diverse outer London borough in which I live. A third of the residents are of British heritage, a third are from South Asian heritage and we have a sprinkling of people who trace the origins of their families to the Commonwealth to Europe or to Africa.   There is also a settled Jewish population. In spite of alarms emanating from national politicians indicating that community tensions are increasing, our local police could discover no evidence of strife or tension. Of course the police take no chances and provide cover for synagogues and also for the Holocaust Memorial day. This allowed one of the Rabbis to use his Holocaust day platform to fulminate, lacking any evidence, about the growth of antisemitism, because the police provide protection. The local paper uncharacteristically followed his baleful lead.

So how did we get to this place where outrageous complaints of antisemitism get public airings while minority communities suffer murderous attacks and refugees are allowed to drown in the open seas? Certainly terrible murders of Jews and others in France and Belgium deserve condemnation, but must be recognised as aberrations. We can say that where once Jews were a persecuted minority in Europe, they are now a protected species in most West European countries, courted by politicians and the media. In contrast we find that in most Western countries Muslims, impoverished migrants, refugees and asylum seekers have to struggle to get a decent hearing.

The Community Security Trust confirms that Israel endangers Jews. Every time Israel goes on a rampage, killing Palestinians without sanction, the temperature rises and reports of anti social behaviour, verbal and occasionally actual abuse against Jewish targets increase. The Jewish leadership, who claim to speak on behalf of all British Jews, give unqualified support to Israeli offences. The media, always so keen to demand that Muslims condemn whatever atrocity individual Muslims perpetrate, never ask any Jewish spokesperson to condemn Israel, thus making it clear that they do not regard what Israel does to thousands of defenceless civilians in the same light as that which Muslim killers perpetrate on individuals in the public space. Neither do they believe that Jewish leaders, in spite of their public approval for Israel’s actions, should be asked to defend their support.

In July and August, Operation Protective Edge, provided a horrifying spectacle of Israel, a country without a moral compass, bombing unprotected civilians with impunity, killing children, destroying infrastructure and washing its hands of its atrocities. The Jewish leadership knew that their community was divided, so unusually they did not organise one of their supportive extravaganzas, with flags and bunting and religious leaders cheerleading for war and for terror.

Instead they indulged in a media blitz, sending their best people to the broadcasters and to the press to present arguments for Israel. However in the light of the pictures coming from Gaza, it proved a difficult task, so a new tactic was called for. There were some anti-social incidents in the United Kingdom and in Europe there were abusive confrontations. This gave the leadership the distraction they needed to identify Jews as the real victims. Thus the pages of the Jewish Chronicle and the mainstream media were filled with stories about the rise of antisemitism. It seemed nothing short of obscene that when whole families were flattened in the open air prison that is Gaza, our media was fulminating about ‘the oldest hatred.’

The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies called a meeting of Jewish groups where they outlined the unstinting support they had given Israel. They had nothing to say about the military terror Israel was perpetrating on an imprisoned and defenceless population. Rather they gave themselves a pat on the back for maintaining fealty to Israel by their non stop blitz of the media and of politicians.

Their cosy edifice was not to last. A group even more closely allied with Israel’s right wing culture, were out to defeat the platform. They stood up to challenge the lack of overt mobilising for Israel’s war of choice against the civilians of Gaza. They had another trick up their sleeve. They mounted a challenge from the extremist right. Antisemitism was the stage they chose. They organised a group called the Campaign against Antisemitism. They held a large rally on the steps of the law courts and circulated a negative survey that encouraged expressions of fear at the upsurge of antisemitism and belief that Israel is the solution to such concerns. This survey has been comprehensively dismissed as worthless, but its promoters have already been given inordinate space to peddle their disagreeable views.

Paradoxically while such fear mongering actually encourages immature publicity seeking fascists like Joshua Bonehill to jump on the bandwagon and threaten mayhem in Jewish areas let there be no doubt: Antisemitism, as I and those of my generation know it, is not on the rise. What is on the rise is manufactured concern by people with what I regard as a rather nasty axe to grind. If the people fronting Campaign against Antisemitism are really interested in the well being of Jews, they would prevail on the Israeli government to treat all the people under its control with the same respect that they demand for themselves. This would do far more to protect the Jewish populations than all the moral panics that they generate.

Some names have been changed.