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The Myth of British Exceptionalism
Britain’s former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn reacts after the general election results of the Islington North constituency were announced at a counting center in Islington, London, Dec. 13, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Hannah McKay.
JNS.org – That old image of the Jewish family with a packed suitcase at the ready in case they are compelled to suddenly leave their home has returned with a vengeance across Europe.
In France and Germany, home to sizable Jewish communities, the “Should we leave?” debate is raging in earnest. Both of these countries experienced record levels of antisemitic incidents in 2023, most of them occurring after the Hamas pogrom of Oct. 7 in southern Israel. Similar conversations are also being held in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Belgium and Spain—countries with tiny Jewish communities that are nevertheless enduring a painful rise in antisemitism.
What about Britain, though? It’s a pertinent question insofar as there has always been a “British exceptionalism” with regard to the continent. During World War II, the Nazis failed in their quest to conquer the British Isles, in contrast to the rest of Europe. After the defeat of Hitler, the British supported efforts to transform Europe into an economic and political community that eventually became the European Union, even joining it. Yet Britain was never fully at peace with its identity as a European state, and as is well known, the “Brexit” referendum of 2016 resulted in the country’s full-fledged withdrawal from the European Union.
When it comes to antisemitism, however, Britain is very much part of the European rule, not the exception. Again, that’s important because while the British don’t deny that antisemitism is present in their politics and culture, they don’t believe that it’s as venomous as its German or French variations. “It is generally admitted that antisemitism is on the increase, that it has been greatly exacerbated by the war, and that humane and enlightened people are not immune to it. It does not take violent forms (English people are almost invariably gentle and law-abiding),” wrote George Orwell in an essay, “Antisemitism in Britain,” penned towards the war’s close in April 1945.
At the same time, Orwell conceded that British antisemitism was “ill-natured enough, and in favorable circumstances, it could have political results.” To illustrate this point, he offered a selection of the antisemitic barbs that he had encountered over the previous year. “No, I’ve got no matches for you. I should try the lady down the street. She’s always got matches. One of the Chosen Race, you see,” a grumpy tobacconist informed him. “Well, no one could call me antisemitic, but I do think the way these Jews behave is too absolutely stinking. The way they push their way to the head of queues, and so on. They’re so abominably selfish. I think they’re responsible for a lot of what happens to them,” a “middle-class” woman said. Another woman, described by Orwell as an “intellectual,” refused to look at a book detailing the persecution of Jews in Germany on the grounds that “it will only make me hate them even more,” while a young man—a “near-Communist” in Orwell’s description—confessed that he had never made a secret of his loathing of Jews. “Mind you, I’m not antisemitic, of course,” he added.
I’d wager that were Orwell to tackle the same subject today, he would write a similar essay. The rhetoric he quotes echoes eerily in what we are hearing almost 80 years later, particularly the denial that recycling antisemitic tropes makes one an antisemite, as well as the digs against chosenness—because antisemites have never understood (or don’t want to understand) that Jewish “chosenness” is not about racial or ethnic superiority, but a duty to carry out a specific set of Divine commandments.
Last week, the Community Security Trust (CST), a voluntary security organization serving British Jews, issued its annual report on the state of antisemitism in Britain. The CST has been faithfully issuing these reports since 1984, and over the last few years, it has regularly registered new records for the number of offenses reported. 2023 was the worst year of all; there were a stomach-churning 4,103 incidents reported—an increase of 81% on the previous annual record in 2021, when 2,261 incidents were reported (largely due to that year’s conflict between Israel and Hamas for 11 days in May).
Instructively, the worst month in 2023 was October, in the days immediately following the rapes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on that black day. Oct. 11 was, in fact, the worst day, with 80 incidents reported. As the CST pointed out, “[T]he speed at which antisemites mobilized in the U.K. on and immediately after Oct. 7 suggests that, initially at least, this increase in anti-Jewish hate was a celebration of the Hamas attack on Israel, rather than anger at Israel’s military response in Gaza.”
Of course, the present situation in the United Kingdom differs from Orwell’s time for two main reasons. Firstly, in 1945, there was no Jewish state, and antisemitism revolved around cruder tropes invoking supposed Jewish rudeness, clannishness, financial power and so forth. (Even so, Britain was also one of the first Western countries to experience antisemitic rioting linked to the Zionist movement and Israel; in 1947, after two British officers in Mandatory Palestine were executed by the Irgun, or “Etzel,” resistance organization, violence targeting Jewish communities broke out across the United Kingdom, thereby establishing the principle that all Jews, everywhere, are to blame for the alleged evils of Zionism.)
Secondly, in 1945 Britain was still largely a white, Christian society. In the interim, it has become far more diverse and is now home to nearly 4 million Muslims who constitute 6.5 percent of the population. Since the late 1980s—when the Iranian regime issued a fatwa calling for the death of the Anglo-Indian author Salman Rushdie, alleged to have slandered Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses—what was once a relatively docile population has become politically animated, with the Palestinian cause pushed front and center.
In the four months that have passed since the Hamas atrocities, with weekly demonstrations in support of Hamas in London and other cities, Muslim voices have been disproportionately loud in the opprobrium being piled not just on Israel, but on those Britons—the country’s Jewish community—most closely associated with the Jewish state. Of course, this doesn’t apply to every Muslim, and many of the worst offenders are non-Muslims on the left. Indeed, the Oct. 7 massacres have enabled the return to politics of a particularly odious individual whom I had forlornly believed had been banished to the garbage can of history; George Galloway, an ally of Hamas and one-time acolyte of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who is standing in the forthcoming parliamentary election in the northern English constituency of Rochdale for an outfit called the “Workers Party of Britain,” whose manifesto combines nationalism and socialism, but which would probably balk at the description “national socialist” in much the same way that some antisemites balk at the description “antisemitic.”
British Jews have weathered a great deal in recent years, especially the five years when the Labour Party, the main opposition, was led by the far-left Parliament member Jeremy Corbyn, who has since been turfed out of the party by his successor Sir Keir Starmer. Having survived that, the belief has spread that they can survive anything. But there’s another question to be asked: Is the effort worth it? Increasingly, and worryingly, growing numbers of British Jews are now answering “no.”
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US Lawmakers Celebrate Assad’s Fall, Stress ‘Vigilance’ in Monitoring Next Steps in Syria
US Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing at the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, May 21, 2024. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
US lawmakers have celebrated the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria but also cautioned that many of the rebel Islamist groups who helped to oust the longtime president could pose further threats to the United States and its allies in the Middle East.
Assad fled the capital of Damascus on Sunday as a coalition of rebel groups stormed the capital, ending his family’s five-decade rule. The deposed leader, who has been accused of war crimes for his crackdown on rebel forces since 2011, was a partner of Russia and allied with Iran, which for years has used Syrian territory to send weapons to its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.
However, many Western observers have expressed concern that the leading Syrian rebel faction, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is a group formerly allied with Al Qaeda and which is designated a terrorist organization by the US, European Union, Turkey, and the UN.
Following Assad’s fall, US lawmakers were quick to call for both optimism and vigilance.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, posted on X/Twitter that he hopes for a “better future for the Syrian people” following the fall of Assad, but warned about the potential threat of the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) in the region.
“As we bid good riddance to Assad, and hope for a better future for the Syrian people, we must remain vigilant regarding the threat of ISIS and continue to support our partners the Syrian Kurds. This is not a time to let our guard down,” Van Hollen said.
On Sunday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the successful bombing of ISIS camps and fighters in central Syria, saying that the operation was carried out to “disrupt, degrade, and defeat” the terrorist group and prevent it from capitalizing on the fall of the Assad regime.
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed optimism at the new “opportunity” that Assad’s departure represents. However, he added that Syria must adopt a democratic process to select its next leader.
“While it is a time for opportunity, it is also a potentially dangerous time for the region,” Risch said in a statement. “Moving forward, it is imperative the Syrian people choose their next government and Assad faces long-overdue justice for his war crimes.”
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, called for a “peaceful transition” of power in Syria and warned the country’s new leaders to “avoid the chaos that often follows the fall of a tyrant.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) stated that the US must remain “vigilant” in protecting its allies and citizens across the region.
“While it’s welcome news to see the humiliation of Russia and Iran and the end of Assad’s tyranny in Syria, we must be vigilant about protecting our citizens, interests, and allies in the region,” hewrote on X/Twitter. “Distrust but verify the intentions of anyone that might come to power.”
A US State Department spokesperson said on Monday that the Biden administration was seeking ways to engage with Syrian rebel groups and was reaching out to partners in the region such as Turkey to help launch informal diplomacy.
The post US Lawmakers Celebrate Assad’s Fall, Stress ‘Vigilance’ in Monitoring Next Steps in Syria first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Antisemitic Intimidation’: Pro-Hamas Vandals Strike Jewish University of Michigan Official’s Home, Car
Vandalized car belonging to the wife of University of Michigan regents members Jordan Acker. Photo: Screenshot
Pro-Hamas activists at the University of Michigan vandalized the car and home of a Jewish member of the school’s board of regents early Monday morning.
“Divest. Free Palestine,” said the message the group graffitied on a Chevrolet Traverse owned by the wife of Jordan Acker, a Jewish lawyer who describes himself as a center-left Zionist and supporter of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Next to it the vandals spray-painted an inverted triangle, which has become a common symbol at pro-Hamas rallies. The Palestinian terrorist group, which rules Gaza, has used inverted red triangles in its propaganda videos to indicate Israeli targets about to be attacked. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “the red triangle is now used to represent Hamas itself and glorify its use of violence.”
Additionally, Acker confirmed with The Algemeiner on Tuesday, the protesters breached his property and threw what he believes were glass bottles filled with urine through his window.
“In the morning, I woke up to the sound of what appeared to be broken glass, and at first I thought one of my kids dropped a glass, but about 30 seconds later, the police rang the doorbell, and I came downstairs to find shattered glass all over our dining room and my wife’s car spray painted with pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas messages,” he said. “I was targeted because I am Jewish.”
The incident follows a semester of escalations by the pro-Hamas movement on the University of Michigan’s campus. In August, a group which calls itself the “Tahrir Coalition” roiled the campus with a demonstration aimed at sabotaging one of its biggest fall events. Some 45 students and non-students deluged the Diag section of campus for two hours, resulting in mass arrests by local law enforcement.
Weeks later, six people perpetrated a “Nazi like” assault on a Jewish student near the campus, kicking and spitting on him. Amid these developments, an anti-Zionist party which captured control of the student government during spring elections voted to defund student clubs, an ultimately unsuccessful measure its members hoped would force the university to boycott and divest from Israel.
More recently, the university, reportedly initiated disciplinary proceedings against one of its most outspoken and controversial anti-Israel groups, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), the result of which may be a suspension of up to four years.
Acker told The Algemeiner that he has tried to be a responsible and nuanced participant in the campus’ charged discussion about Israel and the future of the Palestinian people, conceding valid points to pro-Palestinian partisans for the sake of intellectual integrity and tempering polarization. However, doing so has not reduced the contempt anti-Zionists on campus harbor against him, and he believes they targeted his place of residence for seeing him as, above all, a Jew.
“I do believe that Palestinian rights are important, but I’m not willing to call for the destruction of Israel” Acker explained.
“I think they know there is nuance, but I don’t think they care. They’re focused on conformity with the idea that Israel should be driven into the sea, and as long as my answer is ‘absolutely not under any circumstances,’ they will continue to treat me as [an Itamar Ben-Gvir] supporter,” he added, referring to Israel’s far-right minister of national security.
Acker then noted that the vast majority of American Jews are to the left of the mainstream pro-Israel movement in America, which is largely supported by the Christian Evangelical community, and that the decision to protest — for example, outside reform “liberal” synagogues in his community — reveals that antisemitism is the primary motivation of most anti-Zionists.
“I had a conversation with a university professor who is deeply involved in this, and I asked him why his group did not protest at Evangelical churches. He looked at me kind of askew and asked, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, well look, there is no group in this country that is more empathetic and sympathetic to Palestinians and their rights than mainstream American Jewry,” Acker recounted. “The answer on this is pretty clear. There’s a substantial proportion of this protest movement, especially now, that is dedicated not to making Palestinian lives better but simply to harassing Jews.”
He continued, “There’s a group that protests outside a very liberal Ann Arbor synagogue every Saturday, without exception, and this has gone on for years. When I think about the people who attend a liberal synagogue, I know that they probably have very two-state solution, pro-Palestinian rights views. And yet, you know, they find the need to protest Jews on the holiest day of the week, right? It has nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with trying to make Jews feel uncomfortable in public spaces.”
The University of Michigan condemned the attack on Acker’s home and personal property as antisemitic in a statement published on its website on Tuesday.
“The vandalism of Regent Jordan Acker’s home early this morning is a clear act of antisemitic intimidation,” the statement read. “The University of Michigan condemns these criminal acts in the strongest possible terms. They are abhorrent, and, unfortunately, just the latest in a number of incidents where individuals have been harassed because of their work on behalf of the university. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We call on our community to come together in solidarity and to firmly reject all forms of bigotry and violence.”
This is not the first time that pro-Hamas activists on college campuses have vandalized property in the name of anti-Zionism.
In September, at the University of British Columbia (UBC), a pro-Hamas group placed a shocking antisemitic display targeting Jews and law enforcement on the gate leading to the private residence of university president Benoit-Antoine Bacon. “Pigs off campus,” said the large banner which People’s University for Gaza at UBC (PUG) tacked to the property. Next to it, the group staked on the finials of the structure the severed head of a pig.
In October, when Jews around the world mourned on the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, a Harvard University student group called on pro-Hamas activists to “Bring the war home” and proceeded to vandalize a campus administrative building. The group members, who described themselves as “anonymous,” later said in a statement, “We are committed to bringing the war home and answering the call to open up a new front here in the belly of the beast.”
Princeton University also saw a shocking vandalism for which an anonymous student group claimed responsibility in the same week. Targeting the building which houses the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO), it involved splattering red paint on the entrance door and graffitiing the perimeter of the building with the slogan “$4genocide.”
At Cornell University, in August, ant-Zionists vandalized an administrative building, graffitiing “Israel Bombs, Cornell pays” and “Blood is on your hands” on Day Hall. They also shattered the glazings of its front doors.
“We had to accept that the only way to make ourselves heard is by targeting the only thing the university administration really cares about: property,” the student culprits told the Cornell Daily Sun during an interview granted in exchange for a guarantee of anonymity.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Antisemitic Intimidation’: Pro-Hamas Vandals Strike Jewish University of Michigan Official’s Home, Car first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Floyd Mayweather Announces New Initiative to Gift Israeli Orphans on Their Birthdays
Floyd Mayweather Jr. gestures during a press conference, ahead of exhibition fight with John Gotti III, in Mexico City, Mexico, August 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Henry Romero
Retired boxing legend Floyd Mayweather has announced a new initiative to help Israeli orphans celebrate their birthdays.
As part of the Mayweather Israel Initiative, the former undefeated boxing champion will gift every orphan in Israel birthday presents over the next year, and the gifts will be delivered by a truck Mayweather sponsored called the Floyd Mobile. Mayweather’s initiative was first announced on Sunday at an event in Israel hosted by Chessed V’Rachamim, also known as Standing Together, not long before he shared the news on social media.
“Over the next year, every orphan in Israel will be visited by the Floyd Mobile and receive special birthday gifts,” he wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. “To all the widows and orphans: keep your heads held high as we honor the cherished memories of those who have passed.”
Mayweather concluded his social media post by thanking Rabbi Shai Graucher, the founder of Chessed V’Rachamim. The organization has provided support to soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces and those impacted by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack that took place in southern Israel last year, including monetary assistance, provisions for soldiers, and packages of essentials and toys to displaced families.
Mayweather has made a number of contributions to help Israeli civilians and wounded soldiers since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. He visited teenagers whose families were murdered in the Hamas-led massacre, and in early October, Mayweather pledged $100,000 to United Hatzalah of Israel to help the emergency medical service organization purchase 100 bulletproof vests to keep its volunteers safe. At an event in late November for injured IDF soldiers, whom he recently visited, he talked about his unwavering support for the Jewish state.
“When I stood behind Israel … I felt I did what was right,” Mayweather said. “I take my hat off to the soldiers. Those warriors in Israel — I’m behind you guys, 100 percent. Since the war has started, I’ve been to Israel four, five times. And I will be back … It’s all about peace. I’m all about peace, love, and happiness.”
The post Floyd Mayweather Announces New Initiative to Gift Israeli Orphans on Their Birthdays first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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