Author Archives: Peter Rainford

Peter Rainford

All Liberals must call out and combat the alarming rise of antisemitism in the UK

By Peter Rainford | Wed 19th May 2021 - 2:10 pm

One of the most depressing and dangerous reactions to the current upsurge of Israeli and Palestinian violence in the Middle East has been the alarming rise in anti-Semitic incidents here in the UK.

On 13th May the Jewish Times highlighted a 250 percent increase in reported anti-Semitic incidents since the start of the recent violence.

Incidents include the now notorious video of racist abuse in North London, vile anti-Semitic abuse shouted at a Jewish schoolgirl, altercations outside synagogues and a swathe of anti-Semitic hate on social media, some of which I have witnessed.

Whatever our opinions of the rights and wrongs of the conflict, whatever our view of current policy and actions of the Israeli Government or of Hamas & Hezbollah, we must ensure in our comments that we do not fan the flames of anti-Semitism.

I do not support the Israeli government violent action in Gaza, I support a two state solution to the conflict and the rights of the Palestinian people to a homeland. I also support the right of Israel to exist and prosper.

There are four common anti-Semitic tropes, currently repeatedly appearing in social media posts about the conflict:

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