When my daughters go to school, they have to walk through a gate, manned by security guards. This is the grim reality of Jewish life in London in the twenty first century, given the dangers of anti-Semitism. Similarly, the footballer Gary Neville recently tweeted after driving through Manchester on a Jewish holiday, how depressing it was to see so many security people patrolling outside synagogues.
The third article of my series, therefore, is about prejudice. Indian communities know what it’s like to face discrimination and be singled out because of their religion or race. They know what it’s like to walk down the street and face abuse for nothing more than their identity. The Jewish community, likewise, has a long history as victims of persecution and anti-Semitism, and sadly it still persists today.
I’d like to say something about anti-Semitism, past, present and future. I think anti-Semitism is not just a problem for Jews but for the whole of society. History has shown us that it is often a bellwether for wider racial and religious prejudice. Anti-Semitism may start with the Jews, but it is often reflective of something fundamentally ugly about society. I think there are some helpful lessons and learnings for those tasked with combating hate in each of our communities.
First, on the past, the history of the Jewish people has been blighted by centuries of hatred. Early forms of anti-Semitism came from Christians who accused Jews of killing Jesus. This is not the place for a long theological exposition. Countless books have been written on the subject. Overall there is little reason to think that the Jews were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion, and many reasons to think they were not. But the idea took root, and spawned terrible attacks on Jews in Europe and beyond.
The UK was shamefully at the forefront of this. The blood libel, the accusation that Jews murder non-Jews in a religious ritual and drink their blood, has its origins in this country. It first took place in Norwich in 1144 when a Christian boy, Hugh, was found murdered, and the Jews were blamed and subsequently attacked. Such was the continuing climate of hostility towards the Jews in the Middle Ages that they were expelled by the King, Edward I, in 1290 (they were not to resettle until the seventeenth century).
The history of anti-Semitism shows that it has been remarkable for its contradictory claims. Jews have been hated for being rich and poor, capitalist and communist as well as cosmopolitan and parochial. The hatred has been compared to a virus that mutates. Whereas once it was religion-based, it's focus changed over time to race. The Nazis believed that their Aryan race was superior to the Jews, which provided the framework for the tragedy of the Holocaust when six million Jews were murdered. These days, much of modern day anti-Semitism sees Israel as responsible for the ills of the world.
That brings us to the second point about today’s anti-Semitism. Whereas several years ago, it was confined to the far-right, it now is also found in Islamic extremism and the so-called “New Left” (the problems with a number of anti-Semitic episodes in the Labour party is a manifestation of the latter). The latest survey of anti-Semitic incidents, published in August, showed that, in the first half of the year, there were 767 recorded incidents in the UK. This marked a 30-per-cent increase from the 589 incidents recorded during the same period in 2016.
The Jewish community is experiencing heightened attack, but is not in despair. The situation is bleak, but is in no way comparable to the situation faced, for instance, by Jews in Germany in the 1930s. One of the reassuring factors is that the community has developed its own security infrastructure. It has its own organisation, the Community Security Trust, which protects schools, synagogues and other community buildings. On occasion, CST has worked closely with the Hindu community to advise on its own security arrangements, such as with the Temple in Neasden. This type of cross-communal cooperation builds bonds of trust between our two communities, and is welcomed by the government.
I have talked about the past and present, but what of the future? It is hard to see the levels of anti-Semitism abating. With radical Islamic posing such dangers, and a proliferation in the channels of spreading hate through social media, we need to be on our guard. As has been famously said, “the price of peace is eternal vigilance."
Clearly all faith and ethnic communities, particularly those which are visibly identifiable, suffer from discrimination, and we all need to watch out for each other. Just as I welcome non-Jews condemning anti-Semitism, we should all stick up for each other where we can. At the same time, we should count ourselves fortunate to live in a country like this one which not only espouses values of tolerance and cooperation, but lives them, and has the rule of law to enforce this.
Zaki Cooper is on the Advisory Council of the Indian Jewish Association.
