An anti-racism event was urged to recognise the concerns of British Jews in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on October 7.

Dr Edie Friedman, a Jewish anti-racist campaigner, told a packed room in Liverpool’s Albert Dock on Sunday: “many people still feel traumatized by the events of October 7, the attack by Hamas, which resulted in the highest death toll in a single day of Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

The event, titled “After Far Right Riots: Why a Labour government mist challenge racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism” was hosted by left-wing group Stand Up To Racism and also featured speeches from the general secretary of the National Education Union Daniel Kebede and Labour MPs Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Dawn Butler and Richard Burgon.

Friedman spoke about the sharp increase in antisemitic attacks in the UK following Hamas’s atrocities, in the form of “physical attacks”, “verbal abuse”, and “social media conspiracy theories” that has resulted in people removing “the star of David, that they might wear around their neck” and their Mezuzahs from their front doors.

Panelists at Stand Up To Racism's fringe event the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. Credit: Stand Up To Racism

She also warned of allowing antisemitism within the pro-Palestine movement and told the crowd antisemitism “can manifest itself in a slogan that says ‘free Palestine’, which is, of course, absolutely fine” but not if “the next sentence is kill Jews.”

Friedman cautioned against holding minority groups responsible for the actions of individuals: “I remember a number of years ago at an event, someone saying to me, ‘what are you doing about your Jewish Home Secretary, Michael Howard?’ What was behind that question? ... Why is he my Home Secretary, and would someone who was Christian be asked that sort of question?”

The Jewish anti-racism campaigner said all communities should move away from their “echo chambers,” adding that “sometimes we feel more comfortable just speaking to people who agree with us.” She went on, “we have to accept the inconsistencies and all the messiness, and we mustn't compete for victimhood or trauma, because there's plenty of trauma to go around for all of us, but nevertheless, is something that we repeatedly do.”

Sabby Dhalu Stand Up To Racism co-convenor said that “no religious community is responsible for the war in Middle East or any other international issue or any other thing that any government carries out.”

The event also saw criticism of the both the Labour and Conservative government’s rhetoric about asylum seekers and calls for solidarity with minority communities in the wake of this summer’s far-right riots.