This is a cross-post from Parliament Street by Stephen Hoffman
Stephen Hoffman, Parliament Street’s Director of Middle East Studies, looks at rising antisemitism in the UK. His report argues that current tensions are making some Jewish people feel like the UK is no longer their home as they do not feel safe. As a country committed to religious freedom and tolerance, this cannot be allowed to continue.
The report focuses on the new type of antisemitism, where Israel has become the Jew of the family of nations. Whilst the majority of criticism of Israel is not antisemitic, if you replaced the word Israel for Jew in some of the critiques of Israel, the antisemitic nature of the criticism would be revealed.
Statistics
Throughout the paper there are some shocking statistics revealed, including:
1. 70% of UK Jews says that antisemitism has grown in the last five years.
2. Three in five observant Jews say avoid public displays of Jewishness.
3. One in five British people believe Jews’ loyalty to Israel makes them less loyal to the UK.
4. 1200 antisemitic recorded incidents in 2014, more than double the amount of recorded antisemitic incidents in 2013.
5. In the past three years there has been a ten fold increase in the amount of antisemitic comments recorded on social media platforms.
What the report calls for:
1. Consideration should be given to revealing the names of those who anonymously post antisemitc comments online.
2. The creation of a taskforce to reveal and respond to online antisemitism. The point being to try and make it socially unacceptable.
3. Stop funding of all Islamist groups.
