I’m not a man given to shouting at my TV or my computer, but there are exceptions. And one of those is when I hear a politician come out with the phrase, “There is no place for antisemitism on the streets of “x” – x being the town or city which has always just shown that there is indeed a very good place for antisemitism on its streets.
It’s not always just towns or cities. In December, “x” was the NHS. After a JC exposé of some truly jaw-dropping examples of antisemitism from NHS staff, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, trotted out the precise formula: “There is no place for antisemitism in the NHS”, when the expose had shown the exact opposite, that there is a warm welcome for antisemitism in the NHS, with NHS Trusts and managers not merely complacent but supportive through their consistent and repeated failure to act.
But as a rule it’s the phrase that the likes of Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, and Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, trot out after there has been one of the regular antisemitic hate marches – after, in other words, the authorities have shown that there is indeed a place for antisemitism on the streets of Britain.
The organisers will usually try to argue with a straight face that it is a gross calumny to describe their protests as antisemitic.
The presence of Hamas flags? The chanting of antisemitic slogans? The parading of placards pushing medieval Jew hate?
How very dare you! They are just concerned citizens expressing their support for peace in the Middle East.
I don’t like ad hominem attacks – the facts are always far more effective as a form of argument – but sometimes stating a fact can seem like an ad hominem attack, and this is one of those times: you have to be a Grade A idiot to buy the idea that these aren’t hate marches, and that the target of them isn’t Jews.
The latest example of this took place on Saturday, with a march in Wesctliff-on-Sea, a suburb of Southend. One of those associated with the march (@ani.says2) said that it was taking place in a “very blue and white area”, with five synagogues close by and one directly on the route.
As for the organisers: they included one (Chelmsford Action for Palestine) so extreme that they resigned from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign after hosting the academic David Miller, who has posted about “targeting Zionists”.
And, just in case there was anyone who hadn’t twigged what was really going on with the march – during Easter – at the front was a woman carrying a cross. Yes, really.
You might think that, since there is supposedly “no place for antisemitism” on our streets, there would be no place for this march. And, you hardly need me to tell you, you would be wrong.
How did the police react to the presence of this march?
How did they react to such a display on the streets of Southend, in the only neighbourhood in the area with a significant Jewish presence?
By showing once again that there is every place for antisemitism on our streets.
The police refused to impose any restrictions or conditions other than moving it from 1.30pm to 2.30pm, which actually made things worse, leaving a bunch of protesters mooching around the area for an extra hour.
The police certainly went out of their way to ensure that everything went smoothly. But not for the Jewish residents of Westcliff who were on their way to and from synagogue and each other’s houses during Pesach – rather, for the marchers.
The police blocked the streets so the march could progress, so Jews – and everyone else – were forced to stay away from the streets in which they live and walk through every day and find alternative routes.
There is an unavoidable parallel. Can you imagine if the EDL had decided to turn up to a Muslim neighbourhood during Ramadan without notifying the police – and then the police stood by and watched as the EDL chanted anti-Muslim slogans.
Of course you can’t, because it – rightly – wouldn’t happen.
But as we have seen repeatedly since the first hate march on October 14, 2023 in London, when it comes to antisemitism on the streets, the only response of the police is to say “feel free”.
