The New Face of British Anti-Semitism
GELB, NORMAN
Out of the Closet The New Face of British Anti-Semitism By Norman Gelb London Last December 20, a disturbing article appeared on the Op-Ed page of the London Evening Standard. It...
...Moreover, the combined readership of all three of those publications is less than that of any one of the newspapers here that support Israel...
...That was down slightly from the previous year, but a general upward drift set in after 9/11, with assault cases alone totaling 41...
...Since most Jews support the State of Israel, even if they object to its current policies, that is effectively calling them brutal fascists...
...rich Jews dominating their besieged host country...
...At one of her own dinner parties, she reported, the ambassador of amajor Western nation called Israel "that shitty little country," and asked, "Why should the world be in danger of World War Three because of those people...
...The latter include the Sun, with by far the largest circulation in the country—which has called for Arafat to be deposed—the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the London Times—which has termed criticism of Israel by the European Union illconceived and plain wrong...
...But as of this writing, they say their investigations have provided insufficient evidence for prosecutions...
...cover as resonating "with a very traditional anti-Semitic iconography...
...Anti-Jewish sentiments, only thinly disguised as anti-Zionist, are also expressed openly by radical imams in some British mosques...
...It has left a hard core of Arabists in the Foreign Office, though their influence on the Labor govermnent seems sharply limited these days...
...Wyatt's column unleashed a wave of repressed feelings about anti-Semitism in Britain, of which Jacobson's lament was the most personal...
...Criticism of Israel is fueled by Britain's historical association with the Arab world...
...Whether at dinner parties or work, individuals who believed condemnation of Israel's actions or policies was unwarranted or excessive most often considered it prudent not to speak out and risk being ridiculed or shouted down...
...David Triesman, general secretary of the Labor Party and a longtime New Statesman reader, called the cover "one of the most offensive images I have seen...
...It's neither the Taliban nor AI Qaeda—it's the state of Israel and Jews in general...
...Marxist poet and cultural commentator Tom Paulin, who has equated the Israeli Army with the Nazi SS, says, "You're either a Zionist or an anti-Zionist...
...But the most persistent condemnation of the Israeli government appears here in Leftist newspapers and journals, particularly the New Statesman, the Guardian and the Independent...
...There has been a shift away from verbal and written anti-Semitism to physical attacks on Jewish property and members of the community...
...He was quickly identified in the press as the French Ambassador, but the French Embassy denied that he was an anti-Semite or anti-Israel...
...BBC executives insist, of course, that they do not dictate any slanting of the news...
...By any sensible calculus of danger, English Jews are not in danger...
...The Independent's Aaronovitch has observed that compared with the daily downpour of prejudice suffered by Asian families in Britain, what the Jews experience is "a light and constant drizzle of antiSemitism...
...That it required Petronella Wyatt's initial revelation about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in polite society to encourage others to go public with their own experiences and feelings was evidence of a marked reluctance among British Jews —and Britons in general—to make a fuss if it can reasonably be avoided...
...The "Kosher Conspiracy...
...It featured an article charging that well-connected British Jews, and a Jewish "freebooting Scandinavian arms billionaire," have been engaged in a concerted, "sometimes virulent" campaign of suppression against journalists in Britain who criticize Israel and the "Zionist lobby...
...The most authoritative survey of antiSemitism in Britain has come from Anthony Julius, a prominent lawyer whose book on the subject is to be published later thisyear...
...But even if some people had overreacted, he said, it is impossible to avoid the nagging feeling that "something disagreeable is in the air here...
...In what was not meant to be a warning but sounded like one, a Guardian editorial sharply critical of the Israeli government urged "Jews the world over [to] think deeply about the terrible cost of securing their necessary sanctuary [Israel...
...On February 28, after observing the seesaw nature of the feelings publicly aired by others, he issued a "cry of warning...
...But he maintains "this is not so in England today...
...Nevertheless, the incident demonstrated how readily the widespread condemnation of Zionism and Israeli government policies in Britain often shades into anti-Semitism...
...The article said, "Big Jewry, like big tobacco, is seen as one of life's givens...
...Visiting Yasir Arafat in Ramallah recently...
...Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips wrote that "since the war against terror started, polite British society has found an enemy to target...
...The New Statesman's editor, Peter Wilby, eventually conceded that the cover may have been misguided...
...Britain's Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, has put the matter more strongly...
...On January 14, just as that flurry of disquieting disclosures began fizzling out, the New Statesman magazine, for decades the flagship journal of the British Left, produced an issue many had good reason to consider blatantly anti-Semitic...
...For the most part, antiSemitism has of late taken on new forms here...
...Journalists who know him doubt that he is an antiSemite...
...CST Director of Communications Michael Whine notes that while the situation in Britain is not comparable to that of some other places—for instance, France, where anti-Semitic acts are far more common—the high British figures for 2001 "reflect a global trend whereby violence in the Middle East gives rise to attacks against the Jewish community in the diaspora...
...Julius, who last year helped to destroy the reputation of Hitler apologist historian David Irving in a London court, has criticized the "Kosher Conspiracy...
...It was written by British author Howard Jacobson and began, "Suddenly it doesn't feel safe to be a Jew again...
...Everyone who supports Israel is a Zionist...
...The Guardian's Freedland, reflecting on how Middle East developments have made anti-Jewish attitudes fashionable once more among the chattering classes, has written that there is "a line between anti-Sharonism and antiSemitism and we need to police it vigilantly—protesting when it is crossed, keeping our counsel when it is not," or "we weaken our credibility...
...A number of subdued analyses have cautioned against anti-Jewish actions and attitudes, yet taken a broader perspective...
...People who have "a respectable veneer," he said, "can express anti-Semitic sentiments in public and now get support rather than condemnation...
...No matter that Blair believes Levy's many longstanding contacts across the divide in the region make him eminently suitable for the role...
...something that Jews more often overhear than are confronted by...
...The handful of ideological neofascists who continue to pump out anti-Jewish literature no longer have much public impact or even presence...
...at London dinner tables...
...In any event, the outpouring of anger sparked by the recent manifestations of anti-Semitism was shortly followed by a striking calm in several Jewish assessments of their significance...
...suggestion does not seem to have revived the activities or standing of British anti-Semitic ideologues either...
...Writing in the Independent, David Aaronovitch wryly commented, "he's merely a victim of that weird virus in which [sic] editors try to provoke readers into very publicly canceling their subscriptions...
...Admitting that he grew up with "the idea of unsafety encoded" into his Jewish identity, Jacobson said "now it is as though I have come into my inheritence...
...Prime Minister Blair strongly backs the existence of Israel within secure borders...
...They consider its policies criminal, oppressive and totally without redeeming features...
...Too frequently to discount, I hear remarks that Jews are to blame for everything...
...He went on to say he had no doubt that the magazine, traditionally critical of the Israeli government, has gone further and is now anti-Semitic...
...A group of London Jews identifying themselves as "nonreligious and anti-Zionist" occupied the magazine's office, demanding an admission that it was anti-Semitic, and left only after being threatened with police action...
...That is especially true on the BBC, whose coverage of the Middle East outrages many British Jews and frequently astounds visiting Americans...
...As for the thuggish racists who have given British soccer fans a fearsome reputation—and whose predecessors were the backbone of the prewar Oswald Mosley Fascist movement— today their attacks are largely directed at blacks, immigrants from Eastern Europe, and especially people identifiable as being of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin...
...Guardian correspondent Jonathan Freedland described the cover as "an image replete with almost classic anti-Semitism...
...A second article in the same issue accused Britain's mainstream media of ignoring Prime Minister Tony Blair's "betrayal of the Palestinians," including his appointment of Lord Levy, a "wealthy Jewish businessman," as a special envoy to the Middle East...
...The question mark notwithstanding, the message seemed unmistakable: Since "kosher" refers to Jews rather than Zionism, the headline suggested that British Jews were conspiring against Britain while pretending to be loyal citizens...
...Lord Janner, a former Board president, spoke of a surge of anti-Semitism among the "viciously and notoriously anti-Israel Left liberal media" and "traditional anti-Semites of the aristocratic far Right...
...There were 90 incidents of damage to or desecration of Jewish property...
...But two weeks earlier columnist Petronella Wyatt, who mixes in London's social and intellectual circles, wrote in the conservative Spectator magazine that anti-Semitism "has become respectable...
...In fairness, however, it should be noted that other points of view do sometimes appear in their columns...
...The police have been under pressure from members of Parliament and others to enforce public order laws against those inciting to violence...
...They coincided with claims made throughout the Muslim world, and in Britain's Muslim community, that the State of Israel is a fundamental source of global problems...
...There is also much sympathy for the Palestinians as hard-pressed underdogs in their conflict with the Israelis...
...In 2001 only 20 complaints of such offensive material being distributed were received by the Community Security Trust (CST), an independent Jewish body that monitors anti-Semitic activity in the United Kingdom...
...it showed a large, glittering gold Star of David with its bottom point driven into the center of a supine Union Jack...
...Norman Lebrecht, a distinguished music critic, called the New Statesman issue "the nastiest collation of Left-wing racialism produced in this country in my working memory...
...Daily Telegraph columnist Barbara Amiel, wife of Canadian newspaper mogul Lord Conrad Black, agreed that being anti-Semitic is no longer unfashionable in Britain...
...In an address that night before the Parliamentary Council Against Anti-Semitism, he urged it to take action that would prevent the current situation from deteriorating into "violence and bloodshed...
...She quoted an unnamed member of the House of Lords, reputed to have impeccable liberal credentials, as saying, "The Jews have been asking for it and now, thank God, we can say what we think at last...
...There had been a growing concern about anti-Semitic actions and statements emanating from extremist elements in Britain's 2 million strong Muslim community...
...The one exception has been Jamaican born Abdullah el-Faisal, formerly known as William Forest, an Islamic preacher and self-styled "sheik" who has been arrested for openly urging his followers to kill Jews...
...The evidence that antiSemitism is on the increase here, he says, is "in the main, quite paltry...
...Many of the incidents here occurred in areas where large numbers of Muslims live, and at universities where extremist Muslim student organizations are active...
...But Lawrence of Arabia, the champion of Arab causes almost a century ago, remains a heroic and symbolic figure among many Britons...
...In many cases the line has been so blurred as to be barely distinguishable...
...Julius further warns of the danger posed by an "expansionist politicized Islamismi and says the threat of antiSemitism is serious in many parts of the world...
...Jo Wagerman, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, an elected representative body, declared anti-Semitism has gained respectability here for the first time in more than 50 years...
...Over a bold headline reading "A kosher conspiracy...
...Murderous attacks on Israeli civilians are almost invariably said to be probable retaliation for Israeli action against militants in Gaza or the West Bank...
...Whatever claims might be made that those articles were legitimate, if controversial, anti-Zionist comments by writers expressing their own views were glaringly repudiated by the message contained on the New Statesman's January 14 cover...
...Particularly targeted were visibly Orthodox Jews, one of whom was the victim of severe violence...
...Britain's 300,000 Jewish citizens, recovering from the trauma of the Holocaust, have in the past studiously avoided attracting attention to themselves by highlighting instances of anti-Semitism...
...Asked whether the fairly explosive response to the December-January antiSemitism revelations amounted to overreaction and the subsequent let's-notpanic approach represented underreaction, Alan Bolshover of the New Israel Fund in London answered, "probably a bit of both...
...Still, according to the CST there were 310 anti-Semitic episodes in the country during 2001...
...One prominent Jewish figure here is inclined to believe them...
...Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it was necessary for the chairman of the Palestinian Authority to stop terror attacks against Israelis...
...Now, it appears, that reluctance has been overcome...
...The CST says the law enforcement authorities, the Home Office and the judicial system have been responsive to Jewish concerns about the situation...
...The highest monthly rate of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain occurred in the three months beginning with the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York...
...Although the atrocities committed by Palestinian suicide bombers are given full coverage in the British media, they tend to be framed in terms of moral equivalency between the terrorists and the Israelis...
...in his view, the problem is the personal predilections of the BBC Middle East correspondents—though that tells a story in itself...
...Norman Gelb reports regularly for The New Leader on British affairs...
...He adds that "Israel related anti-Semitism" has arisen in part from Leftist journalists and intellectuals having turned condemnation of the Jewish state into what they consider the fourth of their 20th century series of honorable causes, after Spain, Vietnam and South Africa...
...Expressions of outrage were immediate...
Vol. 85 • March 2002 • No. 2
