Head of Public Policy Tim Dieppe comments on the rising antisemitism in the UK following the Hamas terrorism in Israel
I really did not expect that I would live to see Jewish schools closing in the UK because they feared for the safety of Jewish pupils.
Yet, last Friday, three Jewish schools closed for the day and parents were told to keep their children inside because “of the risk of violence on the streets.”
They were right to worry about their safety since two Jewish schools were vandalised with red paint in the last week. All Jewish schools in the UK now have security guards that are paid for by the government. The government awarded £3m extra funding to “protect schools, synagogues and other Jewish community buildings.”
It is shocking that they are needed.
Meanwhile there are open demonstrations in the streets with crowds chanting antisemitic slogans and celebrating Islamic terrorism.
Sevenfold rise in antisemitic incidents
The Metropolitan Police said that between 30 September and 13 October there had been 75 reports of antisemitic offences, up from 12 in the same period in 2022. Incidents reported to the police increased sevenfold year on year from 14 to 105.
The Jewish charity Community Security Trust said that in the ten days inclusive between the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Saturday 7 October and Monday 16 October it recorded 320 antisemitic incidents across the UK, and stressed that this is a provisional figure that is likely to rise. This compares with 47 antisemitic incidents over the same ten days in 2022.
These incidents included 15 assaults, 14 cases of damage and desecration of Jewish property, and 46 direct threats. Swastikas were seen daubed in Manchester.
The Islamic connection
I wrote about Islamic antisemitism after the last spike in antisemitic incidents in 2021. In that article, I quoted multiple examples of antisemitic verses in the Qur’an and in the Hadith and in the life of Muhammad. I noted that the Hamas Charter cites various antisemitic Hadith. For example, the Charter says:
“The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree (cited by Bukhari and Muslim).”
A footnote explains that:
“Bukhari and Muslim are the authors of the two most authoritative and widely accepted collections of hadith (traditions of the Prophet).”
Another footnote explains that:
“This tradition (Hadith) which is imputed to the Prophet, has been often quoted in Islamic literature, old and modern.”
It is worth noting that the slogan of Hamas, from Article Eight of the Charter says:
“Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Qur’an its Constitution, Jihad its path and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief.”
The Charter explicitly states:
“There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. The initiatives, proposals and International Conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.”
These are not people who will ever be happy with a two-state solution. Article Eleven states:
“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it. No Arab country nor the aggregate of all Arab countries, and no Arab King or President nor all of them in the aggregate, have that right, nor has that right any organization or the aggregate of all organizations, be they Palestinian or Arab, because Palestine is an Islamic Waqf throughout all generations and to the Day or Resurrection.”
The recent terrorist attacks on Israel are thus very explicitly religiously motivated. The root of their motivation is Islamic. There is also a religious antisemitic motivation, and the root of Islamic antisemitism all over the world is religious.
A 2019 survey found that 11% of the UK population harbour antisemitic attitudes. But amongst Muslims it was 54%. For some reason, in 2023, the prevalence amongst Muslims was omitted from the survey. It is too politically incorrect to point out the prevalence of antisemitism amongst Muslims in the UK?
Antisemitism is rising in the UK because Islam is growing
According to the last census in 2021, 6.5% of the population identify as Muslim, up from 4.9% in 2011, and 3.1% in 2001. The Muslim population tends to be concentrated in certain areas, with boroughs like Tower Hamlets, Blackburn with Darwen, Newham, and Luton all over 33% Muslim.
It should be no surprise that we see increasing antisemitic incidents as the Muslim population increases. Nor should increased support for Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas be a surprise. This was entirely predictable.
Islam affecting democracy
This week, Labour was in crisis talks to avert a grassroots rebellion over its pro-Israel stance. The Telegraph reported that “There are 31 constituencies held by Labour MPs with predominantly Muslim communities, of which 17 are represented by frontbenchers. MPs who could be under threat at the next election include Angela Rayner, the deputy leader and Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary.”
Four Labour Muslim councillors have already quit in protest, and dozens more are said to be close to following.
All major political parties, with the exception of the Conservative Party, have formally adopted the highly problematic APPG on British Muslims definition of Islamophobia.
This means that politicians risk expulsion from their party if they say something that is deemed ‘Islamophobic’. Just last week a Labour councillor was suspended from the Labour Party for this very reason. One of the offending tweets argued that this definition of Islamophobia was ‘fiction’ and later ‘wrong’. Labour politicians know very well that they can’t criticise Islam and stay in the Labour Party.
Mass immigration and multiculturalism to blame
Mass immigration of people with a different religion is bound to affect the culture. This is particularly the case when it is an antisemitic religion and a religion that motivates some people to acts of terrorism. I have written before about whether Islam is a religion of peace. In short, while most Muslims are peace-loving people, the religion itself cannot be said to advocate peace in its teachings, or in the example of Muhammad, or in its history.
What we are witnessing today is the abject failure of multiculturalism. I have written before on “What’s wrong with multiculturalism?” Multiculturalism is based on the absurd idea that all cultures are equally valid. Clearly, however, an antisemitic culture, for example, is objectively worse than a philosemitic culture.
Multiculturalism was always destined to fail. It was bound to result in a clash of cultures. Sadly, we now have an increasingly antisemitic culture in the UK. This is a direct result of the mass immigration of Muslims over the last several years which was predicated on the doctrine of multiculturalism.
What can Christians do?
We cannot stay silent while there is antisemitism on our streets. Surely that is a lesson we should all have learnt from history. The growth in antisemitism we are seeing in the UK is very alarming and should be vocally opposed by everyone.
We cannot avoid talking about Islam either. The link with Islam is explicit, yet the mainstream media avoid saying this. The widespread adoption of the APPG definition of Islamophobia is very concerning. Christians need to argue for the importance of free speech in relation to Islam and for the ability to openly critique Islamic teaching.
Perhaps as we see ever more clearly the failures of multiculturalism and the breakdown of society as we flagrantly defy God’s laws, people will start to turn back to Christianity after all?
This has to be our hope and our prayer. It is never too late for repentance. Sadly, I am not seeing many signs of it at present.
