One could almost feel the collective sense of relief. The moment the general election exit poll was released at 10pm on December 12, the communal anxiety that had been building for months finally seemed to lift. Corbyn had lost. Buying challah at my local kosher bakery the following morning, one woman in the queue summed it up with an audible sigh of relief: “It’s over.”
I’m not sure she’s right. The most immediate result of the election is that the UK will now leave the EU. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of Brexit, the 2016 referendum triggered a spike in hate crime, reaching 19 per cent higher than the expected levels at that time. Much of this came from the far right, and it’s entirely conceivable that an election result that effectively rubber stamps Brexit will provide a similar dog whistle to those eager to hear it. While the far right has largely been pushed to the political margins in the UK, it has been boosted both by Brexit and the resurgence of equivalent groups in the US and across Europe.
What of the far left? Corbyn wasn’t just beaten; he was trounced. And while the Jewish community was right to stand up to the antisemitism we witnessed, we shouldn’t be surprised to see Jews being blamed for Corbyn’s defeat by some of his most loyal supporters. The conspiratorial thinking that exists on the far left will likely be enhanced by the results of the election; the desire to settle the score intensified. So it’s not over — that form of antisemitism will simply find other outlets.
Yet the immediate threat posed by a Corbyn-led government is over. The underlying fear felt across much of the community was that the UK might be led by someone antipathetic towards the Jewish community, actively hostile to Israel and dangerously accommodating of Islamists. That is not going to happen.
And with that threat abated, it’s worth reviewing some striking recent research findings. Latest Anti-Defamation League data indicate that attitudes towards Jews in the UK have not deteriorated at all in recent years; they have remained largely stable. Recent EU data demonstrate that the proportion of UK Jews who have experienced antisemitic harassment has barely changed since 2012 — equivalent studies from 2012 and 2018 find more or less identical results.
Israeli government data demonstrate that levels of migration from the UK to Israel last year were slightly below average, indicating that Jews did not flee the UK in 2019 in any significant numbers. And most importantly, ADL data still show that levels of antisemitic sentiment in the UK remain among the lowest in the world.
So while we need to keep a close eye on antisemitism, I think we can also now afford to look beyond it. The country faces enormous challenges. Economic projections are only mildly optimistic at best and given the Conservatives’ reputation for limited spending on public services, many are concerned that more people will feel left behind over time. Developments in artificial intelligence could well exacerbate this, rendering countless jobs surplus to requirements as they become automated by new technology. And the climate change issue will probably become more fraught, bringing unprecedented challenges including unpredictable patterns of migration and changes to global food and water supplies. Put these things together— people feeling left behind, the misery that comes with joblessness and existential uncertainty about the future of the planet – and the potential for unrest is clear.
But if we can predict forthcoming challenges, we can also start working on solutions. Irrespective of Conservative government plans, we can engage in actively working to build a country that does its best for everyone. So with the possibility of a Corbyn-led government now behind us, perhaps the key question facing the British Jewish community is the one we ask every Yom Kippur: who are we?
Are we inward-looking, fearful, self-interested, focused principally on our own concerns? Or are we outward-looking, confident, concerned about society as a whole, and focused on lifting up the most vulnerable? Perhaps the best possible response to the antisemitism we’ve seen and the wider challenges that lie ahead is for us to focus hard on becoming the latter. Maybe now is the time for us to concentrate on helping to create solutions to some of the country’s most entrenched problems. The Jewish community has often punched above its weight; it’s time, I believe, to step up to the plate once again.
Jonathan Boyd is executive director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR)
