Daniel Ben-Ami
Spiked, Feb. 1, 2024
“Some will no doubt try to argue that the issue here is not anti-Semitism, but rather that people are frustrated with Israel or are expressing opposition to Zionism. But this does not wash. If your opposition to Israel leads you to attack or agitate against Jews, then your ‘opposition to Israel’ is just anti-Semitism rebranded.”
Anti-Semitism has surged in the UK since the Hamas pogrom in southern Israel on 7 October last year.
Earlier this week, a man wielding a knife threatened the staff of Kay’s kosher supermarket on Hamilton Road in the Golders Green district of London. He reportedly entered the shop and demanded to know where the staff stood on ‘Israel and Palestine’.
Fortunately, the shop staff bravely forced him to leave, using trolleys and broomsticks to keep him at bay, before he was later arrested. As a video of part of the confrontation shows, they can be heard shouting ‘yesh lo sakin’ (he has a knife) in Hebrew. According to the police, ‘a 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon, criminal damage and racially aggravated affray’.
Tragically, this was no isolated incident. A few weeks ago, three Israelis – two men and a woman – were attacked in London’s Leicester Square after their assailants heard them speaking Hebrew. The two men suffered head injuries as a result.
Also in London last month, a group of masked men mobbed a Jewish charity event for disaffected young boys. The men tried to break into the charity’s office in Hendon, north London but were blocked by police. They were also filmed abusing Jewish passers-by. Apparently, they had got wind that an Israeli soldier would be addressing the boys (his talk was on how to overcome adversity and avoid taking drugs). … [To read the full article, click here]