There are moments in politics when silence is not neutrality, it is complicity. As Honorary Chair of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel, and as a Jew, I know what those moments look like. We have just witnessed one.
In north London, Jewish ambulances – volunteer-run, life-saving services – were burned outside a synagogue. Not vandalised. Not graffitied. Burned. Deliberately. Because they were Jewish.
This does not sit in isolation.
We have seen attacks in Bondi. We have seen the murder of Jews at synagogues in Manchester. We are seeing a pattern – one that crosses borders and contexts but is united by a single, undeniable thread: Jews being targeted because they are Jews.
We can debate policy in the Middle East. We can – and should – disagree, robustly and respectfully. But this is not that. This is not protest. This is not “context”.This is antisemitism, plain and simple, expressed through intimidation, violence and murder.
And here is the uncomfortable truth: our response, as a Party and as a movement, matters just as much as the acts themselves.
Because words have consequences.
When we soften our language, when we hedge, when we reach for “on all sides” statements in moments that require moral clarity, we create space. Space that is filled by those who do not share our liberal values. Space that is exploited by Islamist ideologies that do not begin with Jews, but so often start there.
If we are blind to that – if we tell ourselves this is isolated, or complicated, or someone else’s problem – then we are on a very slippery slope.
As Liberal Democrats, we pride ourselves on being the party of tolerance, pluralism and community. But those values are not proven in conference motions or policy papers. They are proven in moments like this.
So this is a call to my Party, our Party. Wake up to what is happening.
Do not look away because it feels uncomfortable or politically inconvenient. Do not outsource your voice to carefully balanced statements that say everything and mean nothing. Lead.
Call this what it is: antisemitism.And more than that – act.
Do not “stand in solidarity”.That is not enough. Speak. Do.
If you are a councillor: say something publicly. Engage your local Jewish community. Raise it in your council.
If you are a parliamentarian: use your platform. Name it. Challenge it. Lead from the front.
If you are a local party chair: bring people together. Make this an issue your local party cannot ignore.
If you are a canvasser, a volunteer, a member: do not let this pass in silence. Talk about it. Challenge minimisation when you hear it.
Because right now, many British Jews are asking a very basic question: who will stand up when it counts?
And we should also be clear about the wider context. These are not random acts. They are part of a pattern – one that intelligence and security experts increasingly link to Iranian proxies seeking to divide communities and destabilise democratic societies. They thrive in the grey areas, in the hesitations, in the reluctance of decent people to name what is in front of them.
We cannot afford to give them that space.
Liberalism is not passive. It is not the art of saying the least offensive thing possible. It is the courage to defend people – especially minorities – when they are targeted.
If we fail that test with the Jewish community, we will fail it elsewhere too. History is very clear on this point and whilst it doesn’t necessarily repeat itself exactly, it almost always has a similar rhythm
So this is the moment.Not to observe. Not to equivocate. Not to wait.But to speak. To act. To lead.
Flood the comments section below with what you can – and are prepared – to do to speak up and act. Let our Party lead.
And if you want advice on the best, and most sensitive, way to act, reach out to me directly at [email protected].
Because if we cannot do that when Jews are attacked, when synagogues are targeted, when people are murdered and ambulances are burned in our capital city, then we have to ask ourselves:
What, exactly, are we waiting for?
* Gavin Stollar OBE is the Honorary Chair of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel. He is a former Parish and District Councillor, Parliamentary Candidate and parliamentary aide to Rt. Hon Charles Kennedy during his first two years as Party Leader.
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8 Comments
I think the most powerful statement in naming all of it and demanding accountability. This is anti semitism, the recent mosque attacks were Islamaphobia, the far right marches racism, the attacks on trans and abortion rights etc. we as a party are not nearly loud enough about our liberal values. No one deserves to be hurt or scared bc of a characteristic they cannot control. Liberalism means equal right to safety and we need to be loud and consistent about that for everyone.
I was fortunate to hear Prof Sir Simon Schama speak on March 23rd at the Inaugural Annual Lecture on Antisemitism at the Oxford Literary Festival. He made many of the same points as Gavin Stollar makes in his powerful editorial above. Burning ambulances in Golders Green is antisemitism – there are no other words that can be used. But Simon Schama made another point that is equally true – that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism and needs to be condemned equally strongly.
So, as an individual within the Lib Dems who is not a local chair, nor a councillor, nor an MP, I will avail myself of Gavin’s offer and contact him directly. However, it would be good for the Party to take two specific actions: firstly, to acknowledge that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, they are one and the same. Secondly to be able to demonstrate that the Lib Dems effectively investigate complaints of antisemitism within the party.
@Sarah
I’m sure you didn’t intend this, but I do think the including of those who oppose abortion in the same sentence as those who are anti-Semitic/islamophobic/prejudiced again trans individuals, is quite unfair. We may disagree with those who believe that abortion results in the killing of innocent human life, but none of us would suggest that their motivation for holding those views is hate.
Gavin is right. Four ambulances funded by charitable donations which serve across all communities in North London have been torched because they are run by Jews. Imagine if that happened in your street next to your house?
Imagine if you couldn’t go to your heavily protected local community centre without being searched?
If you could not go to your place of worship without going through security?
If your heavily protected place of worship needed a safe room in case of attack?
If every time you held an event you could not preannounce the venue for security reasons?
If your children went to school behind layers of security, practiced security drills and were advised to be careful on public transport?
If people were murdered on your holiest day in your place of worship?
If there were repeated plots to cause murder and mayhem in your community? And that some plans have succeeded (as they did at Manchester, Bondi, Brussels, Paris, Marseilles, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Buenos Aires, the list is endless.)
If you can empathise, now is the time to support us, to speak out, to be active, even if it is the more difficult road. Because if you cannot, (and if as some do, you instead blame the victims), this tiny 350 year old community, just 0.5% of the population, maybe 300,000 people, the canaries in the coalmine, will not be here forever.
“firstly, to acknowledge that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, they are one and the same.”
I’m afraid that is demonstrably not true. In reality, Zionism is more than anything a political ideology, beyond the domain of any specific religious group. Most Zionists, in fact, are Christian. There are in fact Muslim Zionists and “Muslim Zionist” only sounds contradictory because we’re conditioned to understand Zionism as an ethnic characteristic, which it clearly is not.
To complicate this further, there are many Jews who are anti-Zionist. The Israeli Government, Zionism, and Jewishness are NOT interchangeable, and that is maybe where conversation should begin.
“anti-Zionism is antisemitism” No, it isn’t.
I think you do Simon Schama an injustice. His line is that anti-zionism on the left has descended into anti-semitism. You cannot make that point without accepting that they can be separate. His definition of Zionism is perhaps no longer mainstream and certainly does not include support for the current actions of the Israeli government.
” ‘anti-Zionism is antisemitism’ No, it isn’t.”
It certainly isn’t. However, people do need to be careful.
Racists are past masters at constructing bogus, seemingly valid attack points against their enemies, in order to conceal their racist intent and to give themselves a false alibi. Badenoch said she wasn’t anti-Muslim, she was just worried about having men and women praying separately, with the women “sent to the back”. Rubbish. Badenoch was concealing a racist attack under the false guise of feminism.
If anti-Zionists want to avoid acting in that way – or even being perceived to do so – they should be careful. It’s never “the Jews” who should be criticised, and it’s not even “Israel”, which is an ambiguous word to use. It’s “Netanyahu”.