The results of the latest Campaign Against Antisemitism survey come as no surprise. There was palpable relief across the community at the defeat of Jeremy Corbyn in December 2019, so it is no wonder that substantially more of us say now than in 2019 that we consider Jews have a long term future in the UK. But as the survey confirms, the picture is hardly rosy with 44 per cent saying they avoid outward signs of their Jewishness in public because of fear of antisemitism. In that context, the Community Security Trust’s investigation into far-right threats against British politicians in the wake of the attack on the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob makes salutary reading. It is not just the conspiracist mindset that is the same as the Labour antisemites; many of the specifics of those conspiracies are exactly the same, such as — of course — the focus on Lord Rothschild, Jews as ‘enablers’ of the corrupt establishment, Jews controlling the media and politics and Jews as all-purpose targets of hate. In other words, antisemitism may have been given its head in the Labour Party but it was in no way confined to the Labour Party. 

History tells us that antisemitism is both a left- and a right-wing phenomenon and has been utilised by rulers and politicians of varied labels. History teaches us another lesson: that Jews should be wary of mobs. So when we see the likes of last week’s crowd gathering in Washington, we know that it spells trouble. It was thus entirely predictable that the British far-right would be emboldened on by the Washington mob — and that antisemitism would, as ever, be the glue binding their conspiracies together.