Why the fight against antisemitism is one all liberals must join
Antisemitism and Islamophobia are the same thing – hate – just directed at different people
In 2015, after Islamist terrorists murdered 12 people in the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, there were calls from some commentators – on social media, of course – for ordinary, peaceful Muslims to be held accountable for the actions of al-Qaeda and the like unless they took some kind of action against them. It was unclear just how a Muslim granny living quietly in Stockbridge was supposed to set about taking on a bunch of murderous extremists, but who cares about details when there are likes to be garnered?
Then, in 2024, after false rumours spread online that a Muslim asylum seeker had murdered three young girls in Southport, mobs of lawless thugs took to the streets in several UK towns and cities, attacking mosques, asylum hotels and people who looked vaguely foreign. Some hard-right commentators then shamefully appeared to sympathise more with the rioters than their peaceful victims.
Since the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel and its devastating and excessive response in Gaza and beyond, chants of “globalise the intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” can be heard at protests in the UK, along with fervent condemnation of “Zionists”. There are different views about what these words mean, some of them highly disingenuous.
However, to many Jews and others, it is all abundantly clear. “Globalise the intifada” means attack Jewish people in countries outside Israel; “from the river [Jordan] to the [Mediterranean] sea...” is a call for the destruction of Israel, which lies within that area; and “Zionists” is code for Jews.
‘Content of their character’
The connection between these responses to horrific, violent attacks is that, in each case, people who had absolutely nothing to do with them were blamed in one way or another. Even apparently intelligent people seem capable of this way of thinking, despite its obvious flaws.
Individuals can only control their own actions. Therefore, they can only be fairly judged by “the content of their character”, to quote Martin Luther King’s famous I Have a Dream speech, and not by the actions of anyone else, least of all someone they’ve never met and know nothing about.
Who among us would think it reasonable to be found responsible for the crimes of a relative or a neighbour? Who would think it fair if they, as an individual British person, were to be blamed and punished for actions by the UK Government, such as the Iraq War or colonialism or some other offence from the past? Yet too many people seem quite happy to impose collective judgments on other groups of people, usually defined on ethnic or religious grounds.
A warped ideology
The portrayal of migrants as dangerous criminals – when they are actually less likely to commit violent crimes than UK-born citizens – is another example. The fact that some police forces have given in to political pressure and started to publicise the ethnicity of suspects in some cases, as if this were a significant factor, demonstrates just how far this warped ideology has seeped into the fabric of this country.
How long will it be before a defence lawyer raises the fact that police issued a statement that included the ethnicity of an arrested suspect? “Why was this considered to be relevant information? Was my client detained because he fit the false perception that people with his background are more likely to commit this offence? Were the investigating officers prejudiced against my client from the start?”
According to the Geneva Convention, there is a “principle of individual responsibility” and “no protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed”. This should apply just as much in peacetime as during war.
READ MORE: Police are aiding and abetting far-right, racist thugs by publicising ethnicity of suspects
‘Sadness, solidarity and empathy’
I grew up on the outskirts of Glasgow and am well aware that criticism of one side of the sectarian divide instantly puts you on the side of the other in the minds of many. It’s why people tend to criticise both equally whenever there is trouble.
So one of the most important responses to the rise of antisemitism in the UK was an open letter signed by leading British Muslim figures in which they expressed “sadness, solidarity and empathy” with British Jews and said that “as Muslims, we understand how rising prejudice, hostility and hate crimes feel”.
“We all have a responsibility to ensure that arguments about British politics, or passionately held views about the Israel-Gaza war and wider conflicts across the region, remain within proper boundaries separating democratic political voice and protest from hatred and prejudice towards Jews in Britain,” they wrote. Well said, well said.
The key dividing line is not between supporters of Palestine and supporters of Israel, or Jews and Muslims. It is between people who accept the fundamental liberal principle that we are all individuals and illiberal, ignorant racists who are prepared to use violence against others based on their ethnicity or religion, or who attempt to justify or promote its use.
None of us can be held accountable for the latter – just as ordinary, decent Muslims cannot be blamed for the actions of terrorists. However, we do need to recognise just how dangerous such mindsets can be if allowed to spread unchecked.
Antisemitism and Islamophobia are the same thing – hate – just directed at different people. Anyone who calls themselves a liberal or an anti-racist has no choice but to do whatever they can to oppose both. It may not be much – this article is my own attempt at a contribution and I don’t expect it will win over many hearts and minds – but we all do need to try.
Otherwise, society may continue on its current path towards a very bleak future full of the worst horrors of the past.
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