The road to Manchester’s Heaton Park synagogue terror attack has been a long one. Anti-Jewish hatred has been on the rise for over a decade now, with this oldest form of racism taking on a new lease of life in its 21st-century form – the cynically and transparently repackaged ‘anti-Zionism’.
These self-declared anti-Zionists have coalesced around their shared rejection of the Jewish state’s right to exist. But it was Hamas’s genocidal October 7th atrocities that provided the fuel for this new iteration of antisemitism to explode into the mainstream.
That day, well and truly opened Pandora’s Box. As Israel and the Jewish diaspora reeled from the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust, thousands of people were taking to the streets of the UK to celebrate the pogrom. Violent scenes erupted outside the Israeli Embassy in central London.
Sweets were handed out in celebration in British cities. Fireworks were reportedly set off long into the night. From that day forward, it was not a question of if, but when a deadly terror attack would target Britain’s beleaguered Jewish community.
The abuse of freedom of speech on the streets and across university campuses can no longer be allowed to shield those who glorify terror or call for Israel’s destruction. When such rhetoric goes unchallenged, it breeds real violence. The attack in Manchester on Yom Kippur was a tragic reminder of where incitement can lead.
University campuses have been one of the main frontlines for this relentless anti-Jewish onslaught. Delegitimisation of Israel and bullying of Jewish students has become a social pastime for many at the UK’s world-renowned institutions. In some circles, expressing Jewish identity is now treated as a provocation.
The 'resistance' events on campuses today are a taster of what's coming to Jews this autumn - Isaac Zarfati
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StandWithUs UK – a registered charity – has been tirelessly supporting Jewish students and their non-Jewish allies ever since.
Our landmark Voice of Students report, published earlier this year, compiled for the first time dozens of testimonies from students who have faced racist abuse and extremism all in the name of ‘Free Palestine’.
The hijacking of graduation ceremonies and the establishment of tent encampments are just the tip of the iceberg. In the absence of intervention from university leaders, genocidal chants against Israel – and by extension Jews – and calls for violence (‘globalise the intifada’) became an ordinary fact of life on campuses across the country. Jewish students spoke of having their dorm rooms ransacked, being ostracised by their peers, and being silenced.
Swastikas were daubed on university property. Open support for the banned terror group Hamas was witnessed. In any sane society, university authorities and police would have acted decisively. Yet there are precious few such examples.
The painful reality is that the terrifying levels of racism Jewish students face daily show no sign of abating, even after the attack in Manchester.
Look no further than the scheduling of “resistance” events today, on the second anniversary of 7th October – a grotesquely insensitive but intentional act.
Promotional material for these events, many held on university campuses, speaks of “honouring martyrs,” promoting “resistance” – a byword for violence – and “dismantling” Israel.
The scale of the challenge is enormous. Polling of 1,000 students at 20 UK universities last year revealed that 29 per cent saw 7th October as an “understandable act of resistance” – rising to 38 per cent among students at Russell Group universities.
A staggering 51 per cent of those elite students said that supporters of Israel should expect abuse on campus. The reverberations of Manchester will cast an ominous shadow over Jewish students returning to university this autumn.
Many were already profoundly shaken by the recent killing of Charlie Kirk on a U.S. campus, reportedly for publicly expressing his opinions.
The time for words has passed. It’s time to move from lip service to action. The Jewish community has every right to demand it, and this Government has every responsibility to deliver it.
There is little confidence among British Jews in the Government’s ability or willingness to get a grip – but that cannot be an excuse for inaction.
The Prime Minister and Education Secretary must make it unequivocally clear to university leaders that they will be held accountable for the rampant antisemitism and extremism on their campuses.
These leaders should face public scrutiny for their failings just as their American counterparts did during last year’s dramatic Congressional inquiry.
Anti-Jewish racism has become a national crisis. As a society, we cannot afford to allow the last two years to become the new normal.
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