A British bulldog toy and other souvenirs are pictured at a souvenir store, near Parliament Square, on ‘Brexit Day,’ in London, Jan. 31, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Simon Dawson.

In 1968, Enoch Powell — a British politician and writer — was attacked when he criticized immigration to Britain by large numbers of former members of the British Empire. At that time, I was convinced that he was off his rocker, largely because of the inflammatory language he used.

The Conservative Party expelled Powell and excoriated him for being a racist fanatic. At that time between 70 and 80% of the British population agreed with him. Anti-immigration in Powell’s day was directed at the black West Indians. But they in fact shared so much of the British cultural and religious values. Their only fight was racial prejudice — not imposing blasphemy laws or outlawing whatever they considered offensive speech.

In the 1970s, I was in the cabinet of Chief Rabbi Lord Jakobovits, who was responsible for Interfaith Affairs, and I must say I enjoyed very cordial relationships both with Christian, Hindu, and Muslim leaders. We hoped to work together, to support each other for a tolerant society.

Since then, Britain and Europe have changed beyond all recognition. In some ways, this has been very healthy. The old imperial white entitled middle and upper classes have seen the erosion of their grip on society. In its place, a much fairer and less prejudiced world emerged. But as with all cycles, there are reactions and have been major problems.

In Europe as in America, the cultural, academic, and human rights progressives have inexorably swung towards the left-wing neo-Marxist ideology that allows for any alliance, even with other groups with incompatible values, so long as it leads to power.

Like Stalin’s pact with Hitler, they have allied themselves with jihadi Islam and against Israel. The irrational theories of a universal, capitalist oppression lump everyone together regardless of history or nuance. Anyone perceived to be or have been suffering — regardless of the cause or the history or their wealth and status — is a victim. Everyone else is an oppressor.

This has resulted in a completely different ethos that is leading countries on a downward spiral of social and cultural conflict that is tearing apart societies and helping the rise of the only apparent alternative — fascism.

Welfare and health systems everywhere are in crisis. Public subsidies have made it almost unnecessary for so many people to find work. And yet, advanced countries desperately need new blood, to fill jobs — which will only increase as birth rates decline.

Unless the disparity is addressed, humanely, the result will be disastrous. Already there are no-go areas in the Western world, living according to different ethnic values that conflict with the dominant culture — and yet there is no serious effort to integrate them.

The UK Government’s own website explains, in straightforward terms, that anyone, including foreigners, can easily get subsidies — and can also help their families and friends.

We have ignored the explosive reality that is now changing Western civilization. Our lay and religious leadership has wanted to curry favor with governments for their own careers and status, and preached an apologetic gospel of naivete — a dream of sharing homes and co-operating and working together, that ignored an ideology of domination that came with many who have been preaching far-left and jihadi doctrines.

Liberal Jewish organizations on both sides of the Atlantic were so blinded by showing how liberal they were and only empowered enemies of Western values. Charity is important of course, but not at the expense of standing up for principles and the rights of everyone.

Meanwhile the press, the Internet, social media, and influencers have all but corrupted the minds of billions under our noses — and with our encouragement, they have all but erased the art of honest reporting, and reasonable, objective, and civilized discourse.

Too often, we have been told that Israel and the Jews are to blame, as if this disease, this culture war, were not endemic to our societies. We have allowed imported ideologies funded by rich states and enemies of freedom to spread, because we were overconfident and took our eyes off the ball.

Are we witnessing the death of Western culture and civilization? I pray not.

The author is a rabbi and writer, based in New York.

A Houthi ballistic missile strike in the Palestinian village of Sa’ir. July 13, 2025. Credit: X/Twitter

On the evening of August 24, the BBC News website published a report by Paulin Kola headlined, “Israel hits Yemen’s Houthis after reports group used cluster bomb” which opens as follows:

Israel has carried out air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in response to the group’s missile attack on Friday which Israel said carried cluster munitions.

Readers would of course be unlikely to know anything about “the group’s missile attack on Friday” — given that the BBC News website did not provide any coverage of that attack at the time, or in the 50 or so hours before the appearance of Kola’s article about Israel’s response to it.

Neither would BBC audiences be aware of the fact that earlier “on Friday,” the Houthis had also conducted a UAV attack — or that at least seven additional missile or UAV attacks had taken place since the beginning of August (1/8, 3/8, 5/8, 8/8, 12/8, 14/8, 17/8).

Readers wouldn’t know this, because — as we have noted in the past — the BBC generally ignores such attacks, unless Israel responds. And even then, the BBC fails to provide its audience with any sense of the scale of Houthi aggression against Israel, which according to the INSS has now reached over 400 attacks:

Perusal of the BBC News website’s “Houthis” page shows that prior to Kola’s August 24 report, the last three occasions on which audiences found any brief mentions of Houthi attacks on Israel were on June 10 , July 7,  and July 10, 2025 — in the first two cases, also following Israeli retaliatory strikes.

Like many of his colleagues before him, Kola tells readers of this report that: [emphasis added]

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis have regularly launched missiles at Israel and attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

The BBC’s serial use of the phrase “regularly launched missiles” of course fails to provide readers with any sense of the scale of those attacks, meaning that they are unable to put reporting about Israeli retaliatory strikes into the appropriate context.

On the topic of the attack on August 22 that used a missile containing cluster munitions, Kola tells readers that:

The Israeli military said the Houthi strike had been the first use of such bombs by the Iran-backed Houthis during the current conflict with Israel, local media and the AP reported.

The Israeli military is reportedly investigating why it was unable to intercept the missile carrying the munitions, which are banned by more than 100 countries. […]

After Friday’s attack, the Houthis released a video showing bombs dispersing mid-air.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told media on Sunday that one such bomblet had landed on the yard of a home in the central Israeli town of Ginaton, causing light damage.

The IDF investigation centres on why the missile delivering the bombs was not intercepted before they had been dispersed, according to Israeli media.

That “light damage” can be seen in a Jerusalem Post report which also includes an account from the daughter of the home-owner.

“Fortunately, our mother heard the alarm and went into the emergency room. We talked while she was there, and she said there was a big boom. When she came out, she saw that the whole house was covered in glass,” Shira told Ynet. “It’s lucky that it fell close and not on the house. She said that the whole house shook, and as you can see, everything is shattered.”

The version of Kola’s report which is currently available online closes by telling readers that:

The [Houthi] rebels are backed by Iran, which Israel said also used cluster bombs during its 12-day confrontation with Israel in June. Iran did not respond at the time to this report.

Interestingly, Kola did not inform BBC audiences that, in addition to the IDF statements concerning Iranian cluster bomb attacks, Amnesty International (which the corporation often quotes and promotes) also put out a report citing three such attacks in June 2025.

Even more remarkable is the fact that the original version of that part of Kola’s report read as follows:

The [Houthi] rebels are supplied by Iran, which also used cluster bombs during its 12-day confrontation with Israel in June.

However, some 11-and-a-half hours later, that paragraph was amended to make it less accurate and informative.

Hadar Sela is the co-editor of CAMERA UK – an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared. 

People visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 11, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo

In a sermon from a mosque in Ramallah, a preacher on official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV prayed that Allah “strike the thieving Jews and the aggressive Crusader Christians.”

He then went on to describe them all as “increasing corruption” in the world:

PA TV preacher: “O Allah, strike the thieving Jews, and strike the aggressive Crusader Christians who have behaved arrogantly and tyrannically on earth and increased corruption on it. 

O Allah, whip them with the whip of torment, and show us a black day for them.”

[Official PA TV, July 25, 2025]

As documented by Palestinian Media Watch, the PA shows complete disrespect for Christianity by hijacking Jesus, turning him into a Palestinian, a Muslim, and the first “self-sacrificing fighter” — a term the PA uses to define Palestinian terrorists, and a “Shahid” –“Islamic Martyr,” which is portraying him as being in Paradise married to 72 virgins.

Now the PA has gone even further, defining Christians as Crusaders, indicating that the religious wars of the Middle Ages are continuing. And since the religious war continues, the preacher prayed for Allah to “strike the aggressive Crusader Christians.”

Another regular PA TV preacher recently insulted the Jews, and called on Allah to “protect Islam, the Muslims and the Al-Aqsa Mosque” from the “impurity, filth and defilement of the Jews”:

PA Shari’ah Judge Abdallah Harb: “Allah protect the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque from the impurity of the Jews, the filth of the Jews, and their defilement, O Master of the Universe.”

[Official PA TV, June 20, 2025]

The author is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.