‘I have no fear anymore’: the growth of Jewish grassroots in the wake of Oct 7

Stop the Hate UK’s raison d’être is countering the near-monthly Gaza marches of central London that began after October 7. But the group also do their own protests — from rallying outside the BBC to parading through Regent’s Park with bloodied trousers to raise awareness about the sexual violence suffered by Israeli hostages.

But what’s the need for the grassroots when establishment organisations, such as the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), exist?

“We decided that we wanted to come out and show that Jews are not afraid; that we won’t lower our heads; that we are citizens of this country just like anyone else,” said Itay Galmudy, one of the co-founders of Stop the Hate UK. “We demand the police to police those marches and we demand that somebody will rein in the hate.”

A proud Israeli running a business in south London, Galmudy took no interest in British Jewish activism for the ten years that he’s lived here (he visits his home of Jerusalem more than Golders Green), but he felt no one was standing up for the community post-October 7.

“I’m protecting my people,” said Louise Hoffman (not her real name), a 63-year-old volunteer. For her, establishment organisations simply did not do enough to support the community — they’re “too official”, too “strait-laced” and “suited and booted” to get dirty — so Jews like her had to step in on the front lines.

If there was one event that showed the desire for unapologetic and loud communal action, it was the first March Against Antisemitism in November 2023, organised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), which attracted 100,000 people to the streets.

“We were able to get the biggest gathering of Jews and non-Jews alike against antisemitism since the Battle of Cable Street in 1936,” said the executive director of CAA, Gideon Falter.

Since then, the group has organised countless other rallies, including a second March Against Antisemitism last December, and one in February in response to the BBC’s controversial Gaza documentary that was pulled off iPlayer after the broadcaster admitted its child narrator was the son of a senior Hamas official.

Volunteers have soared from 3,000 before October 7 to 8,000, showing that demand for this feisty strain of activism is at an all-time high. “One of the things about CAA is that we’re completely unencumbered in the way that we speak to the government – whichever government it is. Our volunteers keep us honest: we’ve got to represent what people actually think,” said Falter.

The growth of the grassroots has not been smooth. In November last year, CAA alleged that Stop the Hate UK “hijacked” their protest against Francesca Albanese, the UN rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, outside the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas), by turning up with their own sound system and shouting “slogans we disagreed with”.

It’s no secret that there is a tension between the newcomers and more established organisations, but for some, the political climate after October 7 has necessitated unity. Though CAA and the Board previously had not seen eye to eye, Phil Rosenberg, the Board’s president, and Falter pledged to work together in front of an audience at Finchley Synagogue last October, transforming a history of division into a united front.

And the establishment is willing to learn from the innovatory methods of the grassroots, said Rosenberg, who became Board president last June. Since then, he has been seen collaborating with community initiatives — whether that’s turning up at demonstrations or speaking at the Bibas family memorial.

“The grassroots organisations are using really creative people that are coming up with new and exciting ideas,” he said. “Rather than saying, ‘That’s a bad thing because we haven’t thought of it,’ we should actually embrace the fact that there is an entrepreneurial culture of making the case for our community.

“The problem is so big that there’s plenty of room for all of us. None of us can ever have the whole truth but if we work together, then we’ll be closer to it.”

Russell Langer, the JLC’s director of public affairs, agrees. “Jewish people getting together and being active… I’m not going to complain about that,” he said. “Unfortunately, it takes negative experiences for that to happen. It comes in response to the rise in hatred, the rise in negative media coverage. It doesn’t come from a good place to begin with, but people coming together on a local, grassroots level is always something to welcome.”

Part of the chutzpah of the grassroots might be because they’re largely Israeli-led. There’s Galmudy from Stop the Hate UK, Nivi Feldman, leader of the UK branch of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum UK; and Orit Eyal-Fibeesh, the founder of Human Chain 7/10 (the original group from which Stop the Hate UK developed).

Her group was one of the first to spring up after October 7 and was behind a 1,000-strong vigil at Trafalgar Square. Around 200 volunteers, garbed in black and clutching hostage posters, stood in a line, creating a chain of solidarity for the captives, hence the name.

“We happen to be the leaders of the grassroots movement because we’re more daring, we’re doers, we’re braver, maybe we’re fearless,” the logistics expert who has lived in the UK for 22 years said.

The trauma of October 7, for a time, forged a united front among some of British Jewry in support of the Jewish state. But that coalition might begin to crumble, and support for Israel waver, following its resumed hostilities against Hamas in Gaza, bringing the conflict into its 18th month all the while 59 hostages still languish in captivity.

Indeed, the plight of the hostages meant Eyal-Fibeesh held back on her normal staunch criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government. She herself runs the Democracy Now group, which proudly rallied against the Israeli Prime Minister’s plans to limit the power of the Supreme Court before the war but paused action after Hamas’s invasion.

“I go along with the fact that we need to remain united for the sake of bringing those hostages home. But once they’re home, I will go back to protesting against Netanyahu and his government – his terrible government,” she told the JC.

But things are already changing. In March, a group of Israeli protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy, calling out Netanyahu’s “assault on democracy” and demanding for the hostages to be returned. “True loyalty to Israel means standing up when its core values are under threat,” the organisers said at the time.

For Eyal-Fibeesh, it makes sense why some in the British Jewry express unwavering support for Israel post-October 7. But being a true friend sometimes means being a critical friend, and she believes the community should follow the lead of Israelis like her who are unafraid to confront and challenge the home they hold dear.

“We’re the experts on Israel. It doesn’t make sense to act for Israel without using the experts that you have, just around the corner. We’re here, we’re ready to go! We are active and we are mobilising people. We understand the Israeli mentality better than most; it doesn’t make sense not to work together to advocate better for Israel.”