Nick Timothy MP@NJ_Timothy
The conversation in Jewish families is, as Trevor Phillips said this morning, “who among our friends would save us?” We are in an undeniable crisis of antisemitism, and many are asking whether they need to leave Britain.
Many have already done so.
This is heartbreaking, but the time for weak words is over. We need to be unsparingly honest about what is happening, and what we can do about it.
Antisemitism is an ancient disease, and there is no point pretending it does not come from several sources. We saw the surge in antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. It has been partly purged, but there are some - like Naz Shah - on the Labour benches who have made antisemitic statements in the past.
We saw in the Maccabi Tel Aviv scandal that Labour are up to their necks in corruption and communalism in places like the West Midlands. Starmer and Mahmood got away with this - but they knew the police and council had worked together to ban the Israeli fans. They didn’t intervene to stop it because they didn’t see the problem. But the scandal happened because the authorities took the side of Islamists over Jews.
Now we see the surge of the Greens - a party absolutely riven with sectarianism and antisemitic candidates and activists.
And on the online right, we’re starting to see some of the antisemitic language we’ve seen emerge in the recent years in America. It’s not at all of the same scale - but that could change and it would be wrong to ignore it.
Above all though - and this is where too many find it difficult to tell the truth - we have an undoubted antisemitism problem among the Muslim population.
Polls show among British Muslims:
- Around half say “Jews have too much power over UK government policy.”
- Four in ten say the same for the media and the financial industry.
- Only one in four believe Hamas committed rape and murder on 7 October.
- Only one in four believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish homeland.
- Around half feel more sympathy with Hamas than Israel.
When people ask why Britain - for so long previously a welcoming place for Jews - suddenly has such a problem, this is obviously the most significant change. The official Muslim population here has doubled from 1.6 million in 2001 to over four million today. Some studies suggest seventeen per cent of our population will be Muslim by 2050.
Only around half of Muslims in Britain today were born here. And the countries from which Muslim immigrants are coming often have entrenched antisemitic cultures. Pakistan, Somalia, the Middle East. We are importing hatred that should never be welcome here.
We are faced with a choice between keeping our Jewish citizens and receiving more and more people from these places. The choice we should make ought to be obvious.
We should deport any foreigner who espouses this hatred. We should show zero tolerance to any British nationals who incites hatred and violence. We have to clamp down on the hate marches, and lock up those who are guilty of public order offences and incitement - including anybody who calls to “globalise the intifada” and chants “death to the IDF.” Above all, we have to stop importing hatred and extremism and antisemitism from countries where we know these things are rife.
I waited a few days after the Golders Green attack before commenting because I wanted to see what the reaction would be. Unfortunately it was exactly as anticipated: weak words, no action, promises to build higher walls around our Jewish citizens. But I am not willing to sit here and watch as my friends discuss with their loved ones whether they should give up on Britain and emigrate.
As a country, we have a choice to make - and my choice is to stand unequivocally with Britain’s Jews.
