In my worst moments my fear is: antisemites think it is our destiny to die. Death comes naturally to the inhuman. (Zyklon B, the instrument of murder at Auschwitz, was, of course, a pesticide.)
I am not saying this is a majority belief, because I don’t think it is: not now, not yet.
But it’s there and, as ever, I look at bystanders, my friends among them, and ask – what will you do to protect your Jewish neighbours?
I was reminded of it when Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley and a Home Office minister, recently told a disturbing anecdote. I want to say that I’ve always liked Phillips, who has been a steadfast ally to Jewish people.
I watched her sit beside Luciana Berger and Ruth Smeeth as they gave their testimony of antisemitism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.
When she retained her parliamentary seat at the general election, she condemned the activists who insulted her. I am not sure how “pro-Palestine” these people really are, as they seemingly seek an endless war which will not harm them, but others. They seem, rather, “pro-death”.
Phillips recently related an anecdote about attending A&E. “The doctor who saw me was a Palestinian,” she said.
“He was sort of like, ‘I like you. You voted for a ceasefire’. I got through quicker.’”
If “pro-Palestine” patients are moved up, are “anti-Palestine” patients moved down? There is evidence of growing antisemitism within the NHS, much of it from health workers themselves. (1 per cent of British doctors are Jewish.)
One told the BBC about abuse at work: “This doctor knew I was Jewish, and just days after October 7 he started expressing support for Hamas, repeatedly shouting, ‘You’re a baby-killer’, in my face.”
This left him “extremely upset, horrified and shaken. I’ve never before had it in such a blatant way inside a hospital – a place which is supposed to be the ultimate safe space”.
According to one poll, three-quarters of Jewish healthcare workers have suffered at least one antisemitic incident since October 7; half report that they feel unsafe at work.
The most awful example is that of a seriously ill nine-year-old Jewish child. In March, at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, he was made to leave his bed while receiving a blood transfusion and lie on the floor: the nurse was apparently wearing a pro Palestine badge, and the child was wearing a kippah.
For the next transfusion, the child did not wear a kippah and did not lie on the floor.
The Manchester University NHS Trust confirmed the incident, stating, “following on from a family’s recent experience at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital…. We have taken action and offered prompt reassurance”.
This is all a fine metaphor for a movement which at its worst seems to apply the adage: die quicker, Jews among us?
