Anti Semitism is normalised in middle class Britain
Telegraph article that I doubt will be published in the Guardian.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/12/anti-semitism-normalised-britain-british-board-jews-israel/Two politicians from opposite sides ends of the political spectrum just completed a six month investigation into U.K. antisemitism. They were stunned by what they found. This is the full text from their piece which accompanies a report in The Telegraph: if people don’t take note I fear for the future of my community in this country. Neither Dame Penny Mordaunt nor Lord John Mann are Jewish, by the way.'We are hard-nosed politicians. We are not shrinking violets who run around being easily offended and we are used to dealing with the extremes of human emotions and catastrophe through our parliamentary case work in the past.Even with decades of these experiences, we were still stunned into silence by the evidence that we received as independent chairs of the Board of Deputies Commission on Anti-Semitism, particularly from young people in the Jewish community.We spent months hearing evidence from the community, professionals and students about their experiences of anti-Semitism and were alarmed by the combination of the rawness of the impact of people’s everyday experiences intertwined with the extraordinary routines and normality within which this is occurring.We are two non-Jews from opposite sides of the political spectrum and we have both come to realise that if our Jewish community is facing discrimination, this is a failure of our society. We must ensure that everyone enjoys the rights and protections that we have worked so hard to develop over many years.What are we meant to say as hardened politicians to a young Jewish female performer who told us that following October 7 venues and promoters, who the artist had worked with for years, no longer wanted to engage with her? Or to students who saw their research staff members coming from an encampment with a megaphone, and disabilities liaison staff members who Jewish student’s trust with their health records shouting for an Intifada?We were told about the experience of a Jewish member of a professional body describe that body as taking years to investigate incidents of anti-Semitism, and heavily editing articles about anti-Semitism and the Jewish experience so as not to cause “offence” to its to broader membership.We heard about the noisy demonstrations and how intimidating people find the current environment, but as we dug deeper what really scared us was the increasing normalisation of far more extreme, personalised and sometimes life changing impact directed at individuals purely and simply because they are Jewish. Worrying dilemmas of where Jewish professionals believed that their professional body was actively discriminating against them but where they required membership from this body to be able to work and acquire the necessary protections.One of our 10 recommendations is that anti-Semitism cannot simply be sidelined as an issue of religious difference, allowing organisations to pretend to themselves that they don’t have to deal with the thornier issue of racism directed against individual human beings.This is an urgent issue not just for the Jewish community but for the United Kingdom as a whole. Jews have lived in this country for centuries and they have contributed greatly to our country. Any attempt to marginalise British Jews in our professions, cultural life, public services or any other arena harm us all.We are all harmed if we tolerate the abuse of some of our fellow citizens by those who hold warped or extreme views. All we are trying is achieve is to add value to what others are already doing.Typically with reports, we send a list of recommendations to government and this report certainly will be placed on the table of the Prime Minister and his Ministers and that of every political party leader.But there is a wider responsibility that we are concerned about. All our institutions, public sector and private sector have a responsibility to their Jewish employees, customers, neighbours and partners, to ensure that they are treated with equal respect and are able to get on with their lives with no negatives.Our recommendations are intended to help everybody to step up to the mark and play their small role in ensuring that we can each say to our Jewish friends, whoever they are and wherever they are, that you are not alone in our country.'
Lucille Grant ● 482d1 Comments ● 482d