A ‘no-go zone’ for Jews? The making of a moral panic in London
Jews march within a large rally for a ceasefire in Gaza, central London, 11 November 2023
Ben Reiff writes in +972 on 13 March 2024:
If you were a non-Jewish person living in the United Kingdom and didn’t know any better, you might think Jews are currently deserting London en masse. That’s certainly the impression you’d get from reading any of the major newspapers this past week.
“London’s antisemitism shame” was the headline splashed across the front page of the free commuter daily The Evening Standard on March 5, accompanied by a warning that “Jewish families plan to flee capital amid rising tide of hatred.” “London is now a no-go zone for Jews,” proclaimed the front page of the right-wing broadsheet The Daily Telegraph three days later. The liberal online news site The Independent went even further, asserting that British Jews are considering leaving the country altogether, because it “feels like Nazi Germany.”
There has undoubtedly been a significant rise in antisemitism in the U.K. over the past five months, catalyzed by Hamas’ October 7 assault and Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza. Even anecdotally, friends whose Judaism is more visible than mine have experienced a spike in harassment and threats while going about their day-to-day lives.
Jewish Bloc in march for Palestine, 13 January 2024
But this narrative of London becoming a “no-go zone” for Jews has been deliberately constructed and inflamed. Rather than stemming from concern for Jewish safety, it is being driven by a political agenda: to delegitimize and curtail the mass demonstrations in support of a ceasefire in Gaza that have filled the streets of central London on a near-weekly basis over the past five months.
‘Evil intent’
Despite some mainstream Jewish communal figures dismissing the sensationalist headlines about London as untrue and unhelpful, the established Jewish media and major organizations entrusted with combating antisemitism are continuing to amplify them. Their interests, in effect, align with the Conservative government’s own ambitions to crack down on dissent against Israel’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and starvation in Gaza.