The article “JEWXIT: COULD 300,000 JEWS FLEE THE UK?” by Hannah Gal published in The Jerusalem Post on the June 12 is creating a stir.
It suggests that one in three British Jews have considered leaving the UK due to rising antisemitism and refers to a 2018 poll by The Jewish Chronicle, that “British Jews between 35 and 54 years old are most concerned about the prospect of a Corbyn-led Labour government, with over half of those surveyed giving emigration serious consideration.”
Revealing prevailing fear among families was a quote from an enraged Jewish mother that “It is almost unreal to me that my daughter’s university choice is determined by her fear of antisemitism.”
She laments that “antisemitism is becoming a part of everyday life.”
This “everyday life” antisemitism, says another mother, is being exacerbated by an atmosphere created by the Leader of the Opposition and possible future Prime Minister:
“I used to wear a Magen David (Star of David) but now I am hesitant. Corbyn’s passive aggressive support of anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiments has created a climate where it is now okay to lash out at things Jewish. His actions speak louder than his words – his regular attendances at events and rallies that lobby for Palestine, coupled with pronounced silences whenever there is a tragedy involving Jewish or Israelis, tells me the allegations are not only well founded, but they are telling of a new kind of neoliberal socialist blood which Corbyn has created in the UK.”
The increasing anxiety level within the Jewish community recently led former chairman of the Conservative Party, Andrew Feldman, to pen a letter to Jeremy Corbyn saying:
“I want you to know that many Jewish people in the United Kingdom are seriously contemplating their future here in the event of you becoming prime minister. This is because they can see that Labour, a party with a proud tradition of tolerance and inclusiveness, is now a hotbed of feelings against Israel and therefore the Jewish people. Quietly, discreetly and extremely reluctantly, they are making their contingency plans, and this would be a tragedy.”
In response to the article, former South African and today a resident in London, UK, Chris Manson writes:
The nature and level of the anxieties raised in the article is entirely commensurate with the evidence that is all around.
Indeed, the only surprise to me is how long it seems to have taken to sink in!
There are many factors that inform that this situation has evolved over at least the past twenty years. As such, it is unlikely also to be just something transient.
These are some of them but by no means all:
- The education profession is entirely dominated by a sort of post-modernist neo-Marxist orthodoxy.
The view disseminated by this establishment is rigidly anti-Israeli and unconditionally supportive of all her enemies.
Hence, this is the view held by educated young people, and to differ from it invites ridicule at best, but more likely ostracism or outright attack.
Nowhere is this culture more entrenched than in the universities. That is why one reference in the article is to the selection of university being dominated by consideration of which campus, relatively speaking, may be less hostile.
- The “celebration” and elevation of multi-culturalism to totemic status. As part of the process of expiation of perceived Imperialist guilt, it has become a requirement of modernity, anti-racist purity and “progressive” political views to ascribe an almost sacred degree of absolute moral value to the views of the historic and contemporary immigrant communities.
Out of such communities were drawn the majority by far of British recruits for I.S.I.L.
For years, these groupings and many more mainstream organisations have campaigned also on behalf of the Palestinian cause.
Thus, over time the prevailing view has distilled into the perception that Israel is a sort of psychopathic “entity”, brutal, racist and simply vile in every way.
Anyone daring to even timidly question this this is simply tarred with the same brush.
These are crimes perpetrated by the Jews. Inevitably by implication, British Jewry provide a legitimate target. Payback for the defenceless victims of global “Zionism”.
- British thought and direction of travel is skewed by the dominance and power of London; this is where the zeitgeist of the nation is defined. Factors (1) & (2) above are dominant in this location which also largely explains the Brexit division.
- Jeremy Corbyn has always been an unrepentant advocate of the overthrow of Israel by any means.
The new recruits to Labour who form his praetorian guard, are social media people informed by factors (1) to (3) above. How surprising can it be that the amalgam of this is now reflected in a casual antisemitism for it is indeed an aspect of contemporary cool: along with anti-sexism, multiculturalism, climate change activism, Trump hatred and so on.
- If Corbyn wins the next election which he may well, and this could be sooner rather than later, we can expect an exacerbation of antisemitism as it will then enjoy a thinly disguised State sanction. Rather like South Africa as is clear from a recent article published on Lay Of The Land. I think therefore that for the Anglo Jewish community in the United Kingdom, the options are what they more or less have eternally been everywhere.
Remain, keep a low profile, disguise yourself, hope that things will get better and discretely work to that end.
Or, accept that sadly, the tide has turned here for the foreseeable future and get out while hanging on to the passport!