The Israel-Palestine Conflict

Preface

In the last few years, I have noticed a sense of unease throughout the world, compounded by events that highlighted our vulnerability, societal division, and the fragility of our shared values. The COVID-19 pandemic in particular halted the rhythms of daily life, leaving us all with a new awareness of how uncertain and unpredictable our reality actually was. This collective trauma has only deepened with major ongoing crises around the world, from famine and climate disasters to renewed conflicts and wars.

Countries such as Somalia, Kenya, Syria, Haiti, and Venezuela are suffering beyond measure.[1] Slave populations number in the millions in India, China, Iran, and Indonesia.[2] In 2023 there were 45 major conflicts in the Middle East, 35 in Africa, 21 in Asia, 7 in Europe, and 6 in Latin America.[3] Right wing populist movements are on the rise across Europe.[4] Yet among these tragedies, one issue has struck me with particular intensity, forcing a profound re-examination of my own values, identity, and beliefs; the Israel-Palestine conflict. What was once a distant geopolitical issue has become a personal crisis, challenging my values as a British citizen, a progressive liberal, and most importantly, a Jew.

Though criticism of Israel, like that of any state, should be permissible and encouraged, I have seen the conversation veer towards something much darker. The discourse I have seen on Israel blurs the lines between acceptable critique and unacceptable antisemitism, conflating opposition to Israel with hostility towards Jewish people. In this essay, I hope to shine a light on the complexity of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Though I will likely not be changing any minds, I still want to encourage a more compassionate and informed understanding of Israel and Zionism.

A Nation, Some Politics, and a bit of Religion

Being British isn’t just about my geographical location; it’s an intrinsic part of who I am, from the pub to the cricket ground. It’s rooted in the values and collective history that shape my identity. Finding humour in adversity, resilience during hard times – these are things that feel very British to me. Whilst patriotism may not be trendy nowadays, I am truly grateful to be part of a nation that has left such an impact on the global stage, though I can admit it has not always been a positive one.

I hold a deep appreciation for the NHS, my bookshelves are lined with British history books (which is rather problematic in some parts), and I even have a soft spot for the Royal Family, though I believe the role of royalty does need curtailing. I adore British rock bands, authors, poets, and artists. I revel in afternoon tea, and can’t wait for Christmas Day. My grandfather was an officer in the British Army, and my great-grandfathers both fought in WWII. My non-British friends tease me for how British I am, and my British friends make fun of how posh I am. It’s not about a nationality, it’s about a set of quintessentially British ideals and experiences that have shaped my perspective on life.

The same can be said for my political values. Being left-wing and liberal is not just a political stance, it’s a reflection of my dedication to progressive values and social justice. It’s my belief in collective action bringing about positive change, and that society should be fair and inclusive, giving everyone equal opportunities and rights. I believe in individual freedoms, and that change can come from open dialogue and understanding. I advocate for more control over industry and the economy; taxing the rich, strengthening welfare and safety nets, and nationalising monopolised and essential industries. Though I may not align with all the traditional tenets associated with the left-wing, if forced to choose a side, I know exactly where I stand.

Beneath my quirky Britishness and brash liberalism lies something that goes far beyond the country I was born in and the political views I hold; I am Jewish. My ancestors came from Poland and Russia, and before that, somewhere in the desert. I’m Jewish through and through, with thousands of years of history behind me. My parents were married in an Orthodox ceremony, and I celebrated my Bar Mitzvah at 13 having grown up as a Reform Jew. I have since moved on from the many of the religious aspect of Judaism, but it remains a significant cultural identifier for me.

Much like my British identity and political views, I feel no shame for my religion; in fact, I take pride in it. However, I am often hesitant to admit it. I don’t wear a Star of David around my neck, and though I do use Yiddish terms (I’m very fond of saying oi vey) I don’t actively publicise my religion at all, and I usually go to great lengths to avoid disclosing it. My reluctance comes not only from my agnosticism/atheism, but also from a fear of inviting hostility. I do not reject my Jewish identity, but hiding it has become a defensive tactic.

There’s a point of contention where my three identities mix, and the current discourse on Israel-Palestine has introduced a new layer of complexity to the situation; truthfully, few topics create as much controversy as Israel-Palestine. My perspective is shaped by the history of my ancestors, the burden of the knowledge of their persecution, and the understanding of the importance of the Jewish homeland. Recent discussions on the topic have taken a disconcerting turn, exposing abundant antisemitic undercurrents. I’ve never been someone who takes the side of Israel, but I am suddenly feeling compelled to defend its existence because I need to defend my own.

Growing up, I used to think that only those on the far right held antisemitic views, but I have since learned that antisemitism spans all sections of the political spectrum.[5] Despite this knowledge, I was still woefully unprepared for the vitriolic nature of people’s attitudes towards Israel, and by extension, the Jewish people. As this essay will show, it has become evident that the current discourse on Israel-Palestine has stretched far beyond mere disapproval for the government, and leaned heavily into antisemitism. To provide context, I will begin by summarising the story of the Jewish people, detailing the immense historical persecution that we have endured. From there, I will delve into my personal experiences within left-wing circles, particularly in the UK, and explore the prevalence of ignorance surrounding the conflict. I believe it is crucial to shed light on how legitimate criticism of Israel has transformed into a safe space for antisemitic ideologies to thrive.

Exodus and Exile: A Chronicle of Jewish History

To truly understand the importance of Israel, we have to understand the history of the Jewish people. This is not an exercise in sympathy, but a necessity in order to engage in a dialogue on the nation itself. Ours is a narrative of persecution and resilience, and it would be wrong to discuss the current Israel-Palestine situation without acknowledging this.

Jewish history began on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the ancient land of Canaan, a region that roughly corresponds to present day Israel. The earliest written evidence of the Israeli people came from around 1200 BCE. Whilst the Old Testament recounts the classical tale of Moses and the Exodus, I will fast forward a bit to more recent history.

In 900 BCE, there was the Kingdom of Israel. Solomon’s Temple was built, which existed where the Temple Mount is in Jerusalem today. The kingdom lasted until 700 BCE, when the Neo-Assyrians conquered it. Then in 600 BCE the Babylonians took over, and destroyed Solomon’s Temple in the process. It was a difficult time for the Jews, but things calmed down until the Persians arrived in 500 BCE and destroyed the Babylonians. In 300 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the entire known world, and when he died, his empire was divided amongst his generals. This gave way to the Seleucid Empire, and what we call the Hellenistic Period. For Jews, this meant being forced to adopt Greek cultures and ways of life, with basically all Jewish religious practices being banned. This led to a revolt by a group of rebels known as the Maccabees, and an independent Jewish Kingdom was formed until about 60 BCE, when the mighty Roman Empire came knocking at their door.

The Jewish people thrived in some areas of Roman rule, and suffered in others. Israel/Judea existed in different forms as a client state or province or satellite state. Eventually Judaism became illegal for a while in Rome under Tiberius, and most were kicked out of the city too. There were a few Jewish-Roman wars between 60 BCE and 130 CE, but the really important moment is when Jesus of Nazareth arrived. He was a Jewish man who observed Jewish rituals and traditions. He was eventually killed by the Romans, but in time, the Jewish people would be blamed for his death, for deicide. Matthew 27:25 is the first example of this claim, though I’m not going to get into the specifics of who killed Jesus Christ – the important takeaway is that Jews would be blamed for Jesus’s death for millennia.

In 355 CE, relations with Rome improved under Emperor Julian, but he was killed in battle, and with his successors embracing Christianity, things were not looking great for the Jews. The Roman Empire split in half in 400 CE, and in 470 CE the Western Empire fell and the Eastern Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire did not treat Jews kindly. In 500 CE Emperor Theodosius issued a set of decrees that officially began the persecution of Jews. Emperor Justinian went even further, with one of his acts being the banning of Jews from owning Christian slaves with the threat of execution.

As we hit the Middle Ages, hating Jews had become a favourite pastime of most Christians, who held the Jews responsible for killing Jesus. When the Arab Islamic Empire took over in 640 CE, Caliph Omar allowed the Jews to reestablish themselves in Jerusalem. In 710 CE Jews in Spain were having a Golden Age, and there was a period of tolerance and acceptance. The Jews were trading and making money, much to their neighbour’s dismay, but that was all put aside after 300 years, because it was time to retake the Holy Land. In 1100, Christians in Europe decided to prevent the expansion of Muslim states, and to reclaim Jerusalem from Muslim rule. As they were doing this in the name of Jesus Christ, it seemed fitting to murder as many of his betrayers as possible on the way. Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, or they were killed. In the 1200s, Muslims in Spain attacked the Jews, and Muslim governments around the Middle East destroyed synagogues; Jews were again forced to convert, this time to Islam, or be killed.

In Europe, post-Crusades, you could almost say medieval society was tolerant of Jews. They operated outside of the feudal systems and policies that dominated medieval Europe, and because of the Jews’ expertise in finance and medicine, they were often protected – though heavily taxed. Consequently, their status in society led to jealousy and mistrust. A common pattern seen in Western Europe was that the Jews, with money, were essentially seen as property of the King. In the year 1300, King Edward I kicked the Jews out of England. France followed suit, as did Austria, which resulted in a migration towards Poland, where they were openly invited by Casimir the Great. Shortly after this, the Jews were partly blamed for the Black Death. Even though the official policy of the Church was to protect Jews as Jesus was Jewish, there were no real protections for them. False accusations were made that Jews poisoned the lands and water supplies; this was because Jews were not as affected by the plague because they were located away from major towns and cities, and they placed a bigger emphasis on cleanliness and sanitation, and although the specifics are still argued over, accusations were thrown regardless.

Around the year 1400, Spain’s Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism after a major pogrom, and then nearly a century later, their remaining Jews were forced out of Spain because nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition. Jews were expelled from Sicily, Portugal, and most German cities. In Lisbon, Dominican friars absolved the sins of anyone who kills Jews in the city; Jews were tortured and killed en masse, including women and children. In the 1500s, the Protestant Reformation swept through Europe, led by Martin Luther and his Ninety-five Theses. However, when he saw that the Jews weren’t going to convert to his new church, he decided that their synagogues should be burned; he even wrote a pamphlet called ‘The Jews and their Lies.’ The Reformation reformed a lot of things, but not antisemitic traditions. Shakespeare wrote the Merchant of Venice around 1598, which was more Judeophobic than antisemitic, but it’s still one of my favourite plays.

After this, things calmed down again for the Jews. There were ghettos, and endless forced sermons trying to convert them to Christianity, and they were unfairly taxed, but they survived. The Cossacks murdered thousands of Jews in Russia/Poland (boundaries were dynamic). In Poland, around 65,000 Jews were wiped out but then in 1655, Oliver Cromwell allowed them back to England. German composer Wagner attacked Jewish composers for writing substance-less music, maybe because they were his rivals. Things were exciting in North America for the Jews, and after the revolution they were granted protection under the nation’s freedom of religion. The same happened in France with their revolution.

The 19^th century wasn’t as bad for Jews compared to some of the previous ones, but it did see the shift in religious based antisemitism to a more cultural one, i.e. that the Jews were an inferior race which mattered less than them killing Jesus but led to the same results anyway. This was notably seen at the end of the century during the Dreyfus Affair, which involved someone in the French army sending military secrets to the Germans. Alfred Dreyfus was an officer in the artillery, which made him a likely suspect, but it was the fact that he was Jewish that made him a top suspect. Despite little evidence, he was arrested and found guilty – twice. This showed Jews that despite their emancipation and supposed equality, antisemitism would never go away. This sort of thing happened a lot in Jewish history, there’s several famous similar affairs like Beilis, Hilsner, Frank. Also, the United Kingdom elected a Jewish Prime Minister in 1874.

In the late 1800s, the idea of Zionism, the re-establishment and development of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel, started to become a serious ambition. Theodor Herzl had a dream that Jews would “live free at last as men on [their] own soil” because thus far in Jewish history, they moved wherever they weren’t persecuted only to end up being persecuted there anyway. This was when a lot of Jews started to move back to their homeland, and events like the Dreyfus Affair helped to encourage it. After WWI, Britain captured Palestine from the Ottoman Empire, and the Jews were finally given a home thanks to the Balfour Declaration in 1917. There was increasing violence from Arab co-inhabitants, with several riots and revolts, but then something very bad happened.

Over the span of 2,000 years, Jews were blamed for almost every ill that plagued humanity, including the death of the Messiah himself, but they persisted, tried to integrate whilst remaining true to who they were, and hoped for freedom. Following WWI, Germany’s defeat left the nation in a dire situation. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party claimed that it was the fault of the Jews, who had “stabbed Germany in the back.” Hitler’s antisemitism cannot necessarily be traced to a specific starting point, but when the Nazi party took over in 1933, their antisemitic attitudes became government policy.

It started with Anti-Jewish laws and legislation; the banning of Jews from certain professions and government affiliated roles. Then they restricted citizenship rights, and criminalised marriage between Jews and non-Jews. Then came a wave of legislation that shut down every single Jewish business left in Germany. Signs were erected to remind Jews they were unwelcome; Jewish children were removed from the schools. In 1938, there was a major pogrom which was known as Kristallnacht, so called because of the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after Jewish shops and buildings were destroyed. Over 200 synagogues were attacked, 7000 businesses, 30,000 arrests of Jewish men, and an estimated 100 deaths. During this whole time, all who could escape did, but those who didn’t or couldn’t were placed into forced labour camps. Jews were then required to wear the yellow star. They were being executed in their thousands. Deportations, ghettos, murders; it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to be marched to a mass grave, stripped, and shot or buried alive by your neighbours and government. All over Eastern Europe, Jews were being systematically wiped out on a scale never before seen but still it wasn’t enough. In 1941, Nazi Germany began to implement industrial plans to murder European Jews. This was known as The Final Solution (to the Jewish Question). Death camps, ovens, efficiency. Six million Jews later, one-third of the entire Jewish population was wiped out. The allies won the war though, and in 1945, it was over. A few months after the end, there was an International Military Tribunal that saw many Nazi defendants indicted on charges including crimes against humanity; only ten Nazis were executed after the Nuremberg Trials.

The Holocaust left a mark on the collective consciousness of the Jewish people that is still felt today.

After WWII, the world recognised that the Jewish people needed a homeland where they could find refuge and security. This is what Zionism truly is; it is not a conspiratorial plot to overthrow the world, but instead the desire to establish a Jewish homeland – a desire that stems from the centuries of persecution that I’ve covered above. Post-WWI, there was a genuine effort to find a workable solution. The 1917 Balfour declaration invited Jews to immigrate to what was at that time part of Ottoman Syria, and then in 1937 the Peel Commission proposed their partition. Post-WWII however, the reality of the Holocaust and the way Jews had been treated throughout history made the establishment of a Jewish homeland a priority. The newly formed United Nations decided to partition Palestine in 1947, in order to provide a haven for a people who had suffered immensely for almost two thousand years. The goal was to allow the Jews a home to live freely, rebuild their lives, and become part of the world again. Israel allowed the Jews to reclaim their identity, self-govern, and finally find their security.

They never really did find their security though. Antisemitism as seen in the Crusades, Inquisition, Pogroms, and the Holocaust was primarily based on religious and cultural prejudices, but after the establishment of Israel in 1948, the hostility began to take on a new appearance. War was waged on Israel immediately following its independence, leading to a mass exodus of Jews living in surrounding Arab/Muslim lands. Jews had lived in North Africa and the Middle East for nearly 3,000 years (including the Lemba Jews in Zimbabwe for at least 2,500 years[6]) but now they were being forced to leave countries that had been their homeland for countless generations.

Country	Jewish Population in 1948	Jewish Population in 2018
Algeria	140,000	>50
Egypt	75,000	100
Iraq	135,000	>10
Libya	38,000	0
Morocco	265,000	2,150
Syria	30,000	100
Tunisia	105,000	1,050
Yemen	65,000	>50

Data[7]

This trend continued with subsequent conflicts including the 1956 Suez War, the 1967 Six Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War – when Israel was attacked by surprise on the holiest day of the year. A year prior to the Yom Kippur War, in 1972 during the Munich Olympics, Israeli athletes were taken hostage by a Palestinian terrorist organisation, and 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered.

The pattern of violence continued with the Intifadas (a series of rebellions) but in 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza. Despite this, all hopes for peace collapsed when in 2006, Hamas won a major election victory and the nation fell into civil war. The fighting ended quickly, with Hamas taking full control of Gaza. Since then, there have been sporadic conflicts, ad hoc eruptions of violence, and even a few ceasefires. Then, on October 7^th 2023, all progress towards peace and stability was abruptly ended when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,400 civilians at a music festival and taking several hundred hostages.[8] Israel found itself at war again, and people around the world began to take sides. Rather than unifying against terrorism, the discourse veered into anti-Zionism, with many appearing to justify the attacks under the guise of resistance against Israel.

Bridging Jewish History to the Modern Jewish Experience

To bridge the historical context to the modern Jewish experience, it is essential to recognise that anti-Zionism is not a separate phenomenon, but is in fact a continuation of the same antisemitism that has plagued Jews for centuries. Jewish persecution, from all religions and all nations from all corners of the earth, often wrapped in righteous indignation, is a tale as old as time. In the modern era, the contemporary demonisation of Jews manifests itself differently from historical antisemitism because the focus is now on anti-Zionism. Instead of hating Jews for alleged historical wrongdoings such as killing Jesus, or conspiracies such as their control of the global economy, the narrative has shifted to casting Israel as an oppressive, genocidal regime. This shift allows people to express their animosity indirectly, under the pretext of political criticism – though plenty will still happily perpetuate the old baseless claims and conspiracies. The conflation of Jewish identity with Israeli politics means that Jews are held responsible for the actions of the state.

There is an obvious lack of understanding about what Zionism means, and what it emerged from, hence my abridged Jewish history lesson in the previous section. The establishment of Israel was not just a political manoeuvre by larger colonial powers, it was a response to an exceedingly long history of Jewish persecution. Zionism began as a movement for the self-determination of the Jewish people, who faced centuries of expulsion, violence, and genocide.

Criticism of Zionism is difficult to separate from the rejection of the Jewish people’s historical connection to the land of Israel, as well the rejection of their persecution and consequent right to self-govern. This concept is further explored by Jewish Marxist writer Steve Cohen in his insightful book “That’s Funny You Don’t Look Anti-Semitic” (Cohen, 1984) which is a fantastic exploration into left-wing antisemitism.[9] Much like Cohen, I acknowledge the paradox at the heart of Zionism – it can be both racist and anti-racist, as it displaces Palestinians whilst protecting the Jewish people. Cohen’s work sheds light on the uncomfortable truth that anti-Zionism, particularly on the left, can harbour antisemitic undercurrents. Anti-Zionism can easily become a mask for antisemitism, allowing prejudiced views to be expressed in the form of supposedly genuine political critique. The paradoxical nature of something that is inclusive and exclusive, liberating, and oppressive, shows how complicated this situation really is.

Although anti-Zionism can be limited to the criticism of certain government policies or actions, it also often leans into the rejection of the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, and therefore the Jewish right to self-determination. The blurring of lines has made it difficult to separate anti-Zionism from a more generalised rejection of Jewish identity and rights. Israel is not just a state, it is a lifeline for the Jewish people; it is a guarantee that the horrors of the past will never happen again. This does not equate to unconditional support for the Israeli government, but it does mean viewing Israel’s existence as essential. Zionism is more than political ideology; it is about identity, history, and survival. There are only 15 million Jews in the world, 0.2% of the total population, with half of them living in one homeland. There are 2.4 billion Christians, 2 billion Muslims, and 1.2 billion Hindus. There is simply nowhere else for us to go.

The Intersection of Identity and Politics in Modern Britain

As we move from the broader historical context of Jewish persecution and the complex nature of Zionism, it is necessary to explore how these issues intersect with modern British politics. As a British Jew, navigating these turbulent political topics has become increasingly problematic, particularly in the left-wing circles that I traditionally align with. When the topic comes up, I tend to remain silent lest I become a target. Allow me to explain why this is not an overreaction;

In 2015, Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour party. By this point, he was known for his staunch anti-Zionist stance and his support for Palestinian rights. I admired how he reignited passions for many progressive causes, but I also witnessed how he brought to the surface a deep-rooted issue of antisemitism within the party:

1. Labour MP Naz Shah posted that Israel should be moved to the United States in order to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict. She was suspended from the party but later reinstated[10]
2. Former London mayor Ken Livingston was suspended for saying Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s[11]
3. Labour candidate Vicki Kirby[12] claimed “We invented Israel when saving them from Hitler who now seems to be their teacher #FreePalestine”[13]
4. Alan Bull, a Labour activist, was a vocal Holocaust denier[14]
5. Corbyn tried to adopt a new code of conduct on antisemitism that moved away from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, omitting all examples related to Israel[15]

Whilst such incidents were unfortunately common, and this list does go on for quite a while, the real problem was in the institutional failure of the Labour party to address and rectify the situation. The Chakrabarti Inquiry in 2016 for example was criticised for being insufficiently rigorous, and for failing to address the root of the problem.[16] Labour-supporting Jews found themselves witnessing their own party tolerating antisemitic views at the highest level, resulting in a protest in 2018 accusing Corbyn of allowing antisemitism to flourish within the Labour party.[17] Two years later, the Equality and Human Rights Commission published a damming report on antisemitism within the party, leading to Corbyn’s suspension[18] (he was eventually reinstated[19]). The reason I have spent so much time on Corbyn is to show the persistent and complex nature of antisemitism in British left-wing circles. This man was a hero to my friends at university. Criticism of Israel, even if valid, became a veneer for insidious views. For British Jews like myself, this was a profoundly disillusioning era as we saw antisemitism accepted in the party that was supposed to fight for equality and justice. Things have changed under Labour’s new leader, but their old leader hasn’t changed at all.

Jeremy Corbyn, self-proclaimed friend of Hamas[20], delivered a speech a week after the October 7^th terrorist attack. It reflected a concerning bias and lack of condemnation for Hamas, though he did reference the “young people who died in the Negev desert,” and the “young people killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.”[21] By framing the incident with language that softens the impact of the attack and fails to condemn the group responsible, he has perpetuated a skewed perspective. Even the words “died” and “killed” have completely different connotations, and without context, a narrative has been weaved that downplays the reality of the situation whilst also unjustly framing Israeli forces as murderers. The shift into the accusation that Israel is killing young people further muddies the water, as it makes the first part of his statement seem meaningless, regardless of the fact that he’s downgraded the murder of 1,400 people into just some deaths in a desert. His speech undermined the severity of the attack and fostered an unfair characterisation of Israel. The admission by a protestor at the event that the “killings hadn’t helped the Palestinian cause, but we need to blame those really responsible for creating the problem”[22] proves that there is a detrimental impact from such rhetoric.

There were also two young protestors interviewed who weren’t actually aware that there was an attack on October 7^th, and they even held a sign that said “Rishi, Keir, U must be invertebrates cause ur spineless! Call 4 ceasefire.”[23] Here’s what they said in an interview:

“When Hamas invaded Israel on 7^th October, what was your initial reaction to that?”

“I don’t believe they did, did they? Hamas?”

“I think I need to be a bit more clued up on everything that’s going on.”

“I’m not sure if I’ve seen anything that shows that’s actually happened.”

I also want to highlight that during a highly charged interview in November 2023, Jeremy Corbyn refused to describe Hamas as terrorists, repeatedly denying it.[24] He then said that Hamas was “dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people”[25].

There has been a troubling display of ignorance regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. At these events, the protestors are convinced of their moral righteousness, overlooking key facts and realities. Their fervent opposition, rooted in a simplistic and one-sided narrative driven by people like Jeremy Corbyn, fails to recognise the legitimate security concerns of Israel and the aspirations of the Jewish people for a safe homeland. Their ignorance makes them dangerous, because ignorance is a potent catalyst for the distortion of facts, and in the absence of a nuanced understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict, antisemitism can casually weave its way through the narrative unopposed. It turns well intentioned activism into a breeding ground for anti-Jewish rhetoric.

Being aware of this ignorance, and as a person of Jewish heritage, I continue to be afraid of pro-Palestine marches. It’s not that I feel I would be identified as Jewish, but I still feel afraid to be standing near a large crowd of pro-Palestinian supporters. On November 3rd, there was a huge pro-Palestine protest at Kings Cross[26], where I was supposed to be meeting someone. I kept my distance, but I could hear the chants of “from the river to the sea”[27], so I thought I better avoid the area.

The reason that chant makes me uncomfortable is as follows; “from the river to the sea” is a call for the state of Palestine to stretch from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, which means wiping out the state of Israel. It is a catchy phrase, especially when it is followed by the rhyme of “Palestine will be free,” but it is loaded with antisemitic weight. The reality of the chant is that the Jewish state will be dismantled, and Jews will be removed from their ancestral homeland. I live for political disagreements and debates, but in this situation, the other side is calling for the erasure of my people’s homeland and most likely my people too, so there is no debate to be had. Calling for justice for the Palestinian people does not need to include that caveat. Jon Lansman, who worked with Jeremy Corbyn and founded the left-wing organisation Momentum, suggested that the left needed to “find another phrase”[28] to use. Typically, when a minority group claims a word or phrase hurts them, progressive left-wing/liberal movements are quick to accommodate the group and change the language, yet for the pro-Palestine movement, a genocidal chant appeared to be totally acceptable.

Only a day after the Kings Cross event, there was another pro-Palestine protest in Trafalgar Square, with more antisemitic signs and extremist chants. One protester held a banner that read “Let’s keep the world clean,” with a picture of an Israeli flag in a bin.[29] At Charing Cross station, a protestor held a sign with a Swastika on it.[30] Suella Braverman was the UK’s home secretary during the first month following the October 7^th attack, and at a pro-Palestine rally on November 12^th 2023, one of the speakers claimed to not “be hateful” before blaming the UK’s pro-Israel stance on Braverman’s “Jewish [and] Zionist husband.”[31] On November 26^th, there were Nazi symbols spotted at protest in Park Lane.[32]

Protests are chaotic, and they draw people from lots of different backgrounds with a range of views, but I believe that tolerating or associating with someone who holds the most extreme and hateful beliefs, let alone not outright rejecting or opposing those views, implicates everyone in that group. On November 30^th, there were protestors with swastikas on their signs in Manhattan, with one comparing Jews to Nazis through the graphic of a swastika intertwined with a Star of David.[33] The Manhattan protest was organised by a group called ‘Within Our Lifetime’, and they have previously called for the destruction of Israel and vocalised support for the October 7^th Hamas attack.[34] Pro-Palestine marches scare me because they are an environment where calls for violence against my people are tolerated, and even celebrated, but instances of antisemitism aren’t just limited to the protests.

On October 20^th, a few weeks after the terrorist attack in Israel, London based Imam Muhammed Abdullah Shakir preached for the protection of “Al-Asqa from the usurper Jews”[35] as well as calling for a “curse on [the] infidels.”[36] Al-Asqa is a historic mosque situated on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem – the Temple Mount predates the mosque by a good 800 years, and it’s the single most holy site in Judaism. Regardless, the preacher at the Greenwich Islamic Centre (which is also a registered charity) preached his antisemitic hate speech, asking his congregation to “destroy [Jewish] homes,”[37] and the only response from the British Government was that the local MP condemned the remarks in the “strongest possible terms.”[38]

There are hundreds of members at daily prayers at the centre, and thousands for big events[39], and they were all there to receive this antisemitic preaching. There were 1.4 million views for his sermon online too, and Greenwich police somehow found no criminal offences to have occurred.[40] A few days after this speech, Mosque chairman Mohammed Kozbar, who is also deputy secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) adviser on hate crime, praised Hamas’s founder as the “master of the martyrs.”[41] In doing my research on the MCB, I learned that the Government had a policy of non-engagement[42] with the group over its association with extremism, but that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had an arrangement to consult with them on appointing imams to the armed forces. As of November 5^th, the MoD has cut ties to the MCB after this realisation.[43]

These incidents reveal a troubling undercurrent of Islamic antisemitism in London that extends beyond organised marches. The fact that such rhetoric can be disseminated from admired community leaders and major institutions underscores the pervasive nature of this issue. The police, the council, and the MoD have a responsibility to protect all members of the community, but they have fallen short on addressing blatant antisemitism. They are letting the fire spread, and in doing so, they are betraying a minority within the community that they are supposed to serve.

The Metropolitan Police response to all of this has been less than satisfactory too. A couple of weeks after the October 7^th attack, there was going to be a prayer walk in Golders Green, a Jewish area of North London. The Met stopped what was described as a “pro-Israel rally”[44] not because they thought the pro-Israel supporters were going to cause problems themselves, but because they were concerned that the people from the pro-Palestine rally nearby were going to come and harass them.[45] Jewish members of the community weren’t allowed to peacefully rally because people from the pro-Palestine side were threatening their safety. I really am trying to avoid cherry picking antisemitic incidents within these protests, but one masked protestor chanted “We will find the Jews, we want their blood,”[46] which to me, suggests a terrorist is being tolerated among the crowd of pro-Palestinians, and that the police would rather allow those marches to occur than Jewish ones.

Instances of antisemitic chants and violent threats are not isolated outbursts; they reflect a more troubling scene of the acceptance of hatred within these demonstrations. When the police, or authorities in general, fail to take decisive action against such rhetoric, it emboldens those who are expressing those hateful views. The failure to protect Jewish communities creates an environment where antisemitism can flourish.

Perhaps one of the reasons that The Met has failed to support Jewish communities is due to the input of people like Attiq Malik, a lawyer who advises Scotland Yard, who is also chair of the London Muslim Communities Forum.[47] He has publicly stood against the “global censorship by the Zionists,”[48] and led chants of “from the river to the sea.”[49] He also decided that Jihad had multiple meanings[50]; while traditionally it is understood as an exertion or struggle, it can be more broadly defined as the obligation on all Muslims to follow God’s will and defend Islam.[51]

This perspective is alarming when considering the implications of antisemitism within Islamic Jihadism. In ‘Anti-Semitism and its Metaphysical Origins’ (Patterson, 2015), there is a chapter dedicated to the idea that Jew hatred is a fundamental aspect of Islamic Jihadism.[52] The author quotes a highly regarded Egyptian scholar, Mohammad Hussein Ya’quob, who said:

“[Muslims] will fight, defeat, and annihilate [Jews], until not a single Jew remains on the face of the earth.”

“If the Jews left Palestine to [Muslims], would we start loving them? Of course not. We will never love them. Absolutely not. The Jews are infidels.”

“We must believe that our fighting with the Jews is eternal, and it will not end until the final battle.”[53]

Such extreme views highlight the role of religious fervour in creating a climate of hostility for Jewish communities. Malik’s influence and the presence of similar figures in positions of authority raise serious concerns about the impartiality of law enforcement in the UK. The Met police went on to say they would not clamp down on calls for Jihad[54] – this is a total disservice to the people they are meant to protect. By allowing this rhetoric to persist, The Met is endangering the Jewish community.

The Met Police have since ended their relationship with Mr Malik after attention was drawn to his antisemitic actions.[55] I should also mention that I found out that the National Association of Muslim Police’s co-founder was Abdul Bari, who was the secretary-general of the MCB,[56] that same controversial group I discussed a few paragraphs earlier. The group has frequently moved into political commentary and public lobbying, which is concerning considering the police should be politically neutral.

The Met permitted a large protest of Palestinian supporters but denied a small rally of Israel supporters, with the reason being to maintain order and prevent violence.[57] I agree with the logic, but herein lies the problem; by sticking to this procedure, the Met ends up allowing the larger group to get away with things that the smaller group couldn’t. As Dominic Lawson wrote in The Times, this leads to an “inadvertent form of discrimination”[58] as different rules are given to different groups. I strongly recommend reading his entire article, as it demonstrates how British Muslims have been appeased out of a fear of negative optics or retaliation.

Each time a pro-Palestinian protest has been allowed to occur; the police have unintentionally (using that word lightly) empowered those with antisemitic views. Appeasement, in its simplest terms, is a policy of making concessions to an aggressive party in the hope that conflict will be avoided. Historically, appeasement was seen in how Britain and France dealt with Nazi Germany, where they thought making incremental concessions to Hitler’s demands would prevent another war. The reality of course was quite different, as it emboldened Germany and showed that the West would not intervene, leading to increased aggression, and World War II. Appeasement prior to WWII should be recognised as a cautionary tale for how important it is to consider the consequences of shortsighted decisions to prioritise immediate peace over long term stability.

In December 2023, Havering Council decided to cancel the lighting of Hannukah candles, citing concerns about “inflaming tensions”[59] within the community. They did eventually reverse their decision[60], but the initial path they chose shows that there is a tendency to opt for superficial harmony at the expense of real unity. The council has shown us that their approach to conflict resolution is to avoid immediate discomfort, in this case, from a more violent and outspoken group. By choosing to cancel the lighting of the candles, the Jewish community has been marginalised, and been shown that their cultural practices are expendable in the face of potential trouble. The hostility against Jews was not addressed or resolved, and it signals a lack of commitment to protecting Jewish rights and safety.

The events unfolding around us in London, and Britain, are a stark reminder that despite the apparent permissiveness and tolerance of modern British society, Jews will never be safe unless we control our own security; and that is without even discussing antisemitic sentiments from around the world. Israel’s existence is not just a political issue but one of survival. The threat of a pogrom is waiting around every corner, and it only takes a single populist leader to decide that the tried and tested scapegoat of history should go for another round. People marching for freedom today might be in the mobs tomorrow, and that is why I, someone who was not remotely a supporter of Israel’s expansionist actions, have written an entire essay to explain why I have no choice but to stand with Israel. I want compassion, I live a compassionate life, but the entire recorded history of the human race has shown me and my fellow Jews that we will never receive it in return. We must rely on our own strength and solidarity to ensure our safety and survival.

When Ignorance Blends into Antisemitism

Ignorance about the intricacies of Israel-Palestine frequently blends into antisemitism, whether intentional or not. With a lack of understanding for the historical and political contexts of the conflict, many people approach it with oversimplified and biased perspectives. The Israeli government, especially at this moment in time, is not necessarily speaking for the people of Israel, let alone the Jews from around the world; they are responding to October 7^th. Similarly, it appears that many people support the idea of a free Palestine without acknowledging the influence of Hamas, and how their actions help to endorse a terrorist group.

Ignorance creates a breeding ground for antisemitic views to take root and flourish, and this is evident in the slogans and chants frequently heard at pro-Palestine protests. Phrases like “from the river to the sea” may at first seem like calls for Palestinian liberation, but they also imply the eradication of the Israeli state, which directly threatens the Jewish people’s existence.

Hussein Aboubakr Mansour is an Egyptian writer, and he concluded that Palestinian national liberation “necessitates the indiscriminate killing of Jews.”[61] He explained that the concept of “freeing Palestine” is seen as an equivalent to resistance against foreign settler colonialists, and that therefore the Jewish people are being unfairly collectively punished for being perceived imperialist colonisers rather than a persecuted peoples deserving of their own homeland. Mansour then posits an extremely interesting idea – that Islamic fundamentalism and left-wing anti-Zionism are “two sides of the same coin,” and that while Islamists call for Jewish eradication in the form of Jihad, the left-wing instead calls for Palestinian emancipation; the end result being the same.

This reflects my broader view of the conflict as a whole; from an Islamic perspective, it is often framed as a struggle between Islam and the West, with Western values seen as hostile to the Islamic way of life. Additionally, there is a unifying undercurrent of ancient antisemitism. On the far-left, the conflict is seen as one between white colonial powers (primarily the US and Europe) and an oppressed people, often overlooking the oppression faced by Jewish communities themselves.

The convergence of these two perspectives amplifies a voice heard by a larger, crucial third group: progressives. Generally moderate and not malicious, this group is active and believes in their moral superiority. Many progressives view the conflict as one between poor, oppressed non-white victims and wealthy, white Jewish oppressors – a binary that oversimplifies the situation. With one side equipped with tanks, and the other with rocks, their sense of moral righteousness becomes clouded by delusion, leading to anger towards those they view as being on the ‘other’ side. This is where moral conviction becomes dangerous certainty, further reinforcing the ignorance of the complexities behind the issue.

Whilst people have the right to express their views, and advocating for a free Palestine is a legitimate stance, one that I happen to personally support, the statement has been co-opted by anti-Jewish movements, and is being used to delegitimise the existence of Israel.

Calling for a ceasefire also counterintuitively only serves one side of the equation:

1. In 2008, during a ceasefire, Hamas was found to have dug a tunnel with the intention of capturing Israeli soldiers positioned near a border fence[62]; in the same year there were also rocket attacks from Hamas[63] before a complete unravelling of peace talks due to even more Hamas attacks.[64]
2. In 2009 there was a ceasefire in place until militants launched rockets into southern Israel.[65]
3. In 2012, rockets were fired by Hamas post-ceasefire[66], and this ceasefire was brokered by Egypt. They tried again in 2014[67] with nine different truces, but hours after the ceasefire brokered by the US and UN, Hamas attacked Israeli soldiers, killing two and capturing one.[68]
4. There was another in 2018[69], then another in 2019[70], both rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.
5. They also had a ceasefire in 2020.[71] In 2021, Oxfam called for a ceasefire so that they could “prioritize the preservation of human life above all else”[72] but thus far, each ceasefire led to Hamas regrouping and re-arming, and ending lots of human lives. In that same year, militants also sent incendiary balloons into southern Israel.[73]
6. Lastly, there was a ceasefire in 2022[74] and again in May 2023, and that one was broken on October 7^th.

Too many people in the West believe that pacifism leads to peace, when in the case of Israel-Palestine, all it does is allow Hamas to recover and attack again. A ceasefire implies that both parties agree to halt hostilities, but the protests in London aren’t calling on Hamas to cease their attacks, nor are they calling for the release of captives.[75] Historically, disarmament only worked  when security was guaranteed by larger powers, such as the US, but if we look at Ukraine, who was supposed to be protected from a Russian attack, we can see that a country can only truly rely on itself for defence. For both Ukraine and Israel, who share a border with neighbours who want to destroy them, a ceasefire means giving up.

The call for a ceasefire is a well-meaning effort to stop the violence and save lives, but ceasefires are temporary, and only allow hostile forces to regroup and rearm. Whilst I agree with putting an end to the violence, ceasefires inadvertently prolong the suffering of civilians by maintaining a status quo where the conflict is not resolved, and peace is not achieved. This is also true for the notion of a diplomatic resolution, specifically the current two-state solution.

The two-state solution as it exists today is obviously unworkable, but if it could evolve into something more effective, then both nations could stand together on the world stage – akin to India/Pakistan possibly. However, reaching an agreement would require diplomats willing to meet the requirements of each side, and it is doubtful that Palestine would agree to Israel being recognised as a nation for Jewish people, especially considering that the admission of that alone has broken-down previous negotiations before.[76] The absolute necessity of having a home for the Jewish people should by now be clear, and the two-state solution does little to guarantee the safety and sovereignty of the Jewish state. This is not a simplistic narrative where Israel is a big bad Western oppressor and Hamas is a scrappy underdog. One is a Jewish nation striving for freedom and security, and the other wants to see them wiped out. Desiring freedom for Palestine doesn’t negate the fact that it poses a serious threat to Israel, and Jews in general. I want Palestinians to be free from conflict and oppression, but I am not naïve enough to deny the legitimate concerns and threats that Palestine poses to Israel.

There is also a single state solution, meaning the merger of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The only outcome to be expected from the merger is civil war. People with vastly different views, religions, experiences, and even language differences all being forced together. Israel would have to abandon its raison d’être[77], Jews would have no homeland. As Middle East analyst and negotiator Aaron David Miller put it, the one state solution is a “pointless, meaningless exercise.”[78] The region is home to diverse cultural traditions that are often at odds with one another, and even within these groups there are vastly different ideas about how they want their country to be governed. There are also historical grievances that would require an unimaginable reconciliation process to address, but ultimately, no matter what, the single state solution will only result in violence. Nowhere in the Middle East is there an example of a fantastical utopian liberal society where vastly different ethno-religious cultures get along side by side. We need to make the two-state solution work, and it could be done, without Hamas impeding the effort.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni once said that “as long as Hamas controls Gaza, it is a problem for Israel, the Palestinians, and the entire region.”[79] Without Hamas, there is potential for a unified Palestinian leadership that is open to diplomatic negotiations and compromises. Their presence is nothing more than an obstacle for peace, and in order to see why, I will explore their fundamental ideologies, beliefs, and actions – something I believe most pro-Palestine protestors have no idea about.

Know Thine Enemy

Hamas was formed in 1987 as a more hardline and religiously motivated group than the comparatively secular Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).[80] This happened at the beginning of the first intifadas, which were uprisings in Palestine aimed at ending Israel’s intensified settlement construction.[81] The themes of their charter are to destroy Israel and install an Islamic theocracy in Palestine, wage unrestrained Jihad (holy war), and reject all agreements made with Israel.[82] The preamble to their covenant states that “Israel will continue to exist until Islam will obliterates it.”[83] Their military wing is known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and it has conducted many attacks against Israel and even domestically in Palestine[84]; their most famous is likely now the October 7^th attacks. In 2006, Hamas won legislative elections in Palestine with 45% of the vote, much to the surprise of even US officials.[85] Then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the party had “one foot in politics and the other in terror.”[86] Ishaan Tharoor of The Washington Post wrote that “a recognised terrorist organisation that refused to disarm its armed wing or revise its antisemitic charter that called for the destruction of Israel [has] secured democratic legitimacy.”[87] Hamas established itself as the protector of Palestinians[88] but they are nothing more than a terrorist organisation that is part of a wider global Islamic Jihad.

Furthermore, there are aspects of the Palestinian government – that is technically separate from Hamas – that are extremely problematic. The Martyr Fund is one such aspect; it’s a fund that pays cash to Palestinians who kill or attack Israelis.[89] The families of the attacker receive a payment if they are imprisoned or killed. In 2018, the Taylor Force Act restricted sending aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as it continued to incentivise violence against Israelis.[90] The US government later found their contributions to the PA were being used for the fund, and so they stopped their payments completely, as did the EU.[91] The practice was referred to colloquially as ‘Pay for Slay’.[92] It represented a clear financial incentive to harm and kill Israelis, military or civilian.

The President of Palestine, for his PhD, wrote a piece about the relationship between Nazism and Zionism.[93] Mahmoud Abbas disputed the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and he even blamed the Jews for the Holocaust.[94] He then published a full book on the topic, saying the six million figure was a myth and lie, and that it was at most a few hundred thousand.[95] Since then, he’s gone on to trivialise the Holocaust and repeatedly liken Israel to Nazi Germany, just like the protestors seen in London. Interestingly, in a poll carried out by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), they found that 53% of Palestinians believed Hamas was the “most deserving of leading and representing the Palestinian people” with only 14% supporting the Fatah Party (Abbas).[96] This is because Palestinians actually see Abbas as a weak leader, which is what has led to increased support of Hamas.[97] The polls are usually detailed and nuanced, and PCPSR is respected for its accuracy. As a girl interviewed by Foreign Policy said, “The fact that Hamas responded [referring to rocket strikes in 2021] regardless of how effective it is – Palestinians feel someone is speaking for them.”[98] The PCPSR also found that 75% of Palestinians supported the October 7^th terror attack.[99]

The peace process seems, once again, to have died. I hope it will be revived in the future, but what that future looks like is beyond my capabilities to envision.[100]

The Attribution Dilemma

As we have seen in this essay so far, Israel-Palestine is complex, and not just politically. Both sides engage in actions that contribute to the ongoing tensions, and it is difficult to accurately determine the primary responsibility for specific individual events. Historical grievances, territorial disputes, unreliable narratives, and a variety of biases and motives all complicate the task of assigning responsibility. Asymmetric warfare and controversial tactics only serve to muddy the waters. Despite this being the case, international scrutiny tends to disproportionately criticise Israel for its responses, whilst not applying the same level of accountability to Palestine for their actions, including Hamas. The imbalance in attribution complicates efforts to address the conflict fairly, and it impedes accurate understandings of the situation, contributing to ongoing tensions.

Tens of thousands of rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since 2001, with the advent of Qassam rockets, which are crude projectiles lacking a guidance system, named for the military wing of Hamas.[101] Though the rockets are rudimentary, the attacks themselves are condemned for indiscriminately targeting civilians, and are therefore labelled as war crimes.[102] Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel have been opposed by the UN, EU, and human rights groups around the world. In 2021, between May 10^th and May 21^st, a period of 11 days, there were over 4,360 unguided rockets and mortars fired at Israel civilian population locations[103] but due to the relatively low but still awful death count of ten civilians, these attacks do not receive global attention. Prior to the October 7^th terrorist attack, missiles had been fired constantly at Israeli targets without end.[104] In 2007, Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that Palestinian security forces made no effort to prevent rocket attacks[105], and the New York Times (NYT) found that the majority of Palestinians supported attacks on Israel instead of peace talks.[106] Whilst rockets are launched back and forth from both sides, attacks aimed at Israel rarely make headline news. Perhaps this is due to the Iron Dome, which is designed to protect civilians from incoming rocket attacks, and the air raid alarm system:

When a rocket is fired, the Azaka[107], meaning warning, gives Israelis sixty seconds to find a safe room. In a populated area like Tel-Aviv, hundreds of thousands of people will immediately drop what they are doing and run into a shelter. Their world shuts down and they pray that the rocket will be intercepted. An incoming rocket, even a Qassam rocket, is still capable of mass destruction. With lower casualty numbers, attacks on Israel simply aren’t worth writing about.

Gaza has no such system, and it is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Much of the population lives in tightly packed neighbourhoods and camps. Additionally, 45% of the population in the Gaza strip is below the age of 14.[108] It has one of the highest rates of population growth in the world, and every year there are 30 births per 1000 people to 3 deaths.[109] It’s an extremely young population with a median age of 18, compared to the world average of 28.[110]

Keeping this in mind, in November 2023, the IDF found rocket launchers in a children’s playground in Gaza.[111] They shared footage of troops locating rocket-launching positions all over civilian areas, including by a children’s swimming pool and some residential homes.[112] With Hamas launching rockets from civilian areas, using civilian infrastructure, it becomes clear why the death toll is so high in Gaza, even if the exact figures are in dispute. Israel states that it takes measures to minimise civilian casualties, including warnings where possible and precision bombs to minimise collateral damage, but due to the density and human shielding tactics, it is nearly impossible to avoid non-combatant casualties.

Hamas does not adhere to conventional warfare rules, and their strategy involves provoking Israeli responses that will inevitably cause civilian casualties. Under international law, Israel has the right to self-defence but an obligation to avoid civilian deaths. Not an easy task in urban warfare, which Hamas uses to its advantage.

On October 17^th 2023, there was an explosion in the car park of al-Ahli Arab Hospital. It sparked immediate and widespread media coverage, with most outlets initially blaming Israel for the incident.[113] The attribution was quickly disseminated throughout social media, leading to outrage and condemnation for Israel’s actions. The only source for the death toll at the time was the Gaza Health Ministry, which is overseen by Hamas, and also counts terrorists (soldiers) as civilian casualties.[114] The first media outlet I could trace the story back to was Al Jazeera, the infamous mouthpiece for the Qatari government/royal family. The initial reports blaming Israel persisted in the media, even after evidence emerged that the explosion was likely a missile fired from within Gaza towards Israel.[115] Without being allowed access to the site, an international effort led to the opinion that it truly was a misfire of a rocket from Gaza[116], but this did nothing to stop the spread of the headlines nor the awakening of the activists.

Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, spoke to the NYT when they attempted to inspect the bomb. The NYT was told “the missile has dissolved like salt in the water” and “it’s vaporised, nothing is left.”[117] Hamad also said that Hamas will “repeat the October 7^th attack time and again until Israel is annihilated”[118] and that “everything [Hamas] does is justified.”[119] This was followed by Salama Maroof, who runs the Hamas government media office, saying “Who says we’re obligated to present the remnants of every rocket that kills our people?”[120]

The media landscape plays a pivotal role in shaping public perception of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and as anti-Israeli headlines dominate the early news cycle, a narrative is established that continues even as corrections are later issued. In early November 2023, a BBC newsreader quoted a Reuters news report live on the air. She stated twice that the IDF was “targeting people including medical teams as well as Arabic speakers”[121] referring to Al-Shifa hospital. What the report actually said was that the IDF “entered the hospital with medical staff and Arabic speakers.”[122] This is highly problematic as it has an immediate effect on the audience, and studies show that initial information has a stronger and longer lasting impact than subsequent corrections, also known as the primacy effect.[123] Once the viewers hear this news report, they form an immediate impression based on the incorrect information. Corrections also receive much less attention, and online, they are less prominently featured than the original item.

This isn’t the first time the BBC in particular has shown their bias too. Despite there being many more examples, these are the first three that came to my mind:

1. In 2012, reporter Katty Kay tweeted about the “Jewish lobby”[124] having significant power in American politics.[125]
2. In 2019, the BBC aired a documentary about Gaza[126] that featured a brief interview with a Palestinian man who spoke about his hatred of “Israelis”, except he used the word “Yahud”, which means “Jew.”[127] He mentioned Jews three times, but the BBC opted to use ‘Israelis’ instead of the more accurate ‘Jews’.
3. In 2022, the BBC reported that an antisemitic attack on Jewish students on a bus was due to their use of an anti-Muslim slur, despite no evidence suggesting this. The article remained unedited for eight weeks.[128]

Sir Michael Ellis, former attorney general for England and Wales, told MPs in February 2024 that the BBC’s reporting of the Israel-Palestine conflict suggested a “moral equivalence between a democratic state whose leaders are elected by their people, and a genocidal terrorist group that oppresses its people and murders children and civilians.”[129] As a supporter of the BBC, and a believer in state funded somewhat impartial news with the freedom to report on anything, it pains me to say that the BBC is complicit in perpetuating anti-Jewish biases, influencing public perception in ways that are harming Jewish communities in the UK and beyond.

Similarly to the al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza has been a focal point of controversy in the Israel-Palestine conflict due to its status as a medical facility and storied history with Hamas. It is the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, and it actually started out as a British Army barracks. In the 1980s, it was renovated and expanded by Israel to benefit Gazans and help peace talks. Most people today however will know of it only because Israel raided Shifa hospital in early November 2023.[130] The raid was immediately criticized by governments and organisations from around the world.[131] Social media was full of posts suggesting Israel had categorically committed war crimes, and even my own feed, with posts and stories from my friends, echoed this assumption. At the time of the incident, I was vaguely aware of the hospital’s chequered history, and I was also aware of Hamas’s tactics, but still, I thought it would be best to do some research on the hospital itself before jumping to any conclusions:

1. The first major story came out in 2006, when PBS released a documentary showing Hamas terrorists walking around Shifa hospital, intimidating staff, and blocking off access to wards.[132]
2. In 2007, HRW reported that Fatah gunmen attacked Shifa hospital to combat the Hamas fighters that were hiding within.[133] That same year, the US government reported that hospital staff made complaints about Hamas militants inside the hospital.[134]
3. In 2008, the NYT reported on Hamas militants in civilian clothes walking around the hospital.[135]
4. In 2009, the head of Israel’s security services reported that Hamas militants were hiding in Shifa hospital knowing that it would not be targeted by Israel.[136] Later that year, the Palestinian Health Ministry itself, that is run by the Palestinian Authority, accused Hamas of commandeering multiple hospital wards to torture and interrogate prisoners.[137]
5. In 2014, an independent Finnish correspondent witnessed rockets being fired from inside Shifa hospital[138], and in the same year, the Washington Post released an article about a protest at Shifa from citizens who were unhappy with the government; they were protesting at the hospital because it had “become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders.”[139]
6. In 2015, Amnesty International released a report that specifically highlighted Shifa hospital for being used as a location for Hamas to detain and torture dissidents.[140]

When I went back to check on the news stories being released, there were no references to the Hamas-laden history of Shifa hospital. There were only pictures of babies in incubators, or unverified stories about corpses being eaten by animals. As far as the world could see, the IDF attacked a hospital. While trying to ascertain the validity of some of the quotes I saw online from doctors inside the hospital, I came across a report written by an independent investigative journalist who focuses on anti-Zionism and antisemitism. The report was commendably thorough, and found instances of major news outlets quoting doctors who were just students or seemingly random people online. Many of the social media accounts shown in Twitter/X screenshots had previously posted celebratory posts about the October 7^th attack. He even found that the Shifa hospital director, Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, had a brother who was the former chief of logistics and weapons procurement for Hamas – it has since been proven that the Salmiya, who was quoted as saying patients at Shifa were “screaming from thirst,”[141] allowed Hamas to operate from his hospital. Also, the Director of the Palestinian Health Ministry is often quoted in the media, but he is an outspoken Hamas supporter.[142] With all these people being quoted by respected media outlets, it is hard to ignore the fact that the media has become Hamas’s puppets. You can read his full findings here.

In the days and weeks following the initial Shifa raid, the narrative began to shift as clear evidence of Hamas activity was shown; the IDF even released footage from inside the hospital of hostages being forced through the facility.[143] The EU published a statement condemning the “use of hospitals and civilians as human shields by Hamas” but urged Israel to exercise restraint.[144] The IDF ended up delivering incubators, baby food, and medical supplies to Shifa hospital a few days after the initial raid.[145]

The presence of Hamas operatives near or within the hospital complicates Israel’s military response. International law prohibits attacks on medical facilities, but with the hospital being used for military purposes by Hamas, it has become a necessary target to neutralise threats.

Both sides present conflicting narratives about the event, making it difficult for observers to understand the full truth. Shifa is a poignant example of the attribution dilemma because Israel claims that Hamas has embedded its military infrastructure within the hospital (and other civilian areas) but then Palestinian authorities and other observers claim that the raid resulted in major civilian casualties or the destruction of vital health infrastructure. Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating international law, both claim the target is legitimate or illegal, and both try to control the narrative using their own sources. Internationally though, the media is only interested in one side.

No Jews, No News

It’s no secret that news outlets, and the public, love the Israel-Palestine conflict. Hating Israel allows people to be morally outraged, and also morally superior, with the added benefit of it being to the Jewish people. It’s socially risk free. As Aldous Huxley put it in ‘Crome Yellow,’

“The surest way to work up a crusade in favour of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behaviour ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”[146]

Protestors have been completely silent whilst hundreds of thousands of civilians have died in places like Syria and Yemen, but with Palestine, as the Jews are involved, they have decided to leave their homes and march against Israel. They aren’t marching for Darfur, Myanmar, or the Yazidis in Iraq. Consider the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; more deaths than Israel-Palestine, major ethnic cleansing, no media attention. The same goes for the Tibetans, Uighurs, Native Americans, Aboriginal Australians, and Rohingya.

In August 2022, there was a large explosion at the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The explosion was near an elementary school and not far from the Nasser Medical Centre. A nine-year-old girl and her uncle died.[147] The IDF released a statement that the explosion was due to “weapons stored unsafely in the house”[148] and even the Shebab News Agency (a Palestinian news agency affiliated with Hamas[149]) admitted it was an accidental explosion. When researching this story, it was hard to find any major news outlets having reported on it. The reason for this? No Israeli involvement, no story. A year prior to this, Hamas demolished dozens of homes in the southern area of the Gaza Strip, displacing at least 23 Palestinian families.[150] Residents had been living there for more than four decades, long before Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, and before they were even founded. Again, it was hard to find reports of this story because with Israel not doing the displacing, there simply isn’t a story.[151]

During the Gulf War, over 300,000 Palestinians fled Kuwait during the Iraqi occupation.[152] After the Gulf War, the Palestinians were forcibly removed after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat aligned himself with Saddam Hussein, from whom Kuwait was liberated from in Operation Desert Shield/Storm[153]. In 2011, there was a civil war in Syria. Eight years later, over 120,000 Palestinians had been displaced[154], some within the country and some who outright fled. Today, an estimated 160,000 Palestinians have attempted to make the journey towards Europe[155] as Middle Eastern nations are hostile to Palestinians[156], and yes, not just Israel. Thousands died during the war, hundreds of thousands were displaced, and all were victims of bombings, sieges, and the resulting famines/starvation. Palestinians have suffered in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia – where they are the only foreign peoples who aren’t allowed to apply for citizenship[157] – and Iraq. All this trouble, but where were the marches? The unwavering pro-Palestinian crowds I see marching through the streets of London today have been silent up until now.

HRW, in a report condemning Israel for war crimes, admitted that a Gazan apartment building housed members of Hamas; they even had a quote from a civilian living in the area who confirmed a member of the al-Qassam Brigades was hiding inside the building at the time of the attack.[158] Coincidentally, this rather important fact was buried deep within their report and not expanded upon – I assume because it might validate Israeli actions. This is not the first time HRW has shown their hatred of Israel though[159]. The root of this problem is likely that HRW received millions of euros of funding from the Qatari government[160], you know, the human rights abusing regime with a strong anti-Western and anti-Israeli stance.[161]

The United Nations as an institution is worth writing another essay on, but for this essay, I will focus on the UN’s problematic relationship with Israel. Since the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was created in 2006 (having replaced the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR)) it has passed as many resolutions condemning Israel alone than on issues for the rest of the world combined.[162] Statistically, in terms of human rights, the UNHRC has discussed Israel four times more than Syria, and seven times more than North Korea. You can read all the resolutions from 2006 until today here. Judging by these numbers, it would be fair to assume Israel must be the most dangerous and inhospitable place on the planet. It’s a miracle the average life expectancy is 82 years old in such an unsafe country, compared to 61 in Zimbabwe or 72 in Egypt.

The precursor of the UNHRC, the UNCHR, had the same noble goals of protecting human rights, but its effectiveness was hindered by the participation of countries with atrocious human rights records, just like the UNHRC today. It became a forum for political theatre, where some of the worst offending countries could shift the narrative into a different direction. In 2002, Anne Bayefsky, a professor of International Law, wrote that the commission avoided criticizing states with genuine human rights violations in favour of “focusing on Israel”[163] which at that time took up 15% of all UNCHR discussions and at least a third of all resolutions. One of the UNCHR’s most controversial moments was when they approved a resolution that declared the “legitimate right of the Palestinian people to resist Israeli occupation”[164] which the then US ambassador to the UNCHR said was a vote in favour of “Palestinian terrorism” considering that the UN had just sanctioned violence against Israel. The Commission was discredited, and shut down in 2006.

In its first year, the UNHRC voted to make a review of Israel a permanent fixture of every single council session, and it passed. Each session of the UNHRC featured a dedicated period to discussing Israel known as Item 7; it does not dedicate a specific item to any other country[165]. It is a clear sign of the anti-Israel bias of the UNHRC as even Ban Ki Moon, then UN Secretary General, raised concerns about Item 7 by saying it was “disproportionate.”[166] The view of the UK government is that Item 7 unfairly suggests Israel requires more scrutiny than any other country, therefore obstructing efforts for peace.[167] The previous Secretary General, Kofi Annan, said that the UNHRC needed to “give the same attention to grave violations committed by other states”[168], also calling their focus on Israel disproportionate. Between the 2008 appointment of the antisemitic Richard Falk[169] to the supposedly independent position of ‘special rapporteur’, and the 2012 UNHRC hosted event featuring a Hamas politician[170], there are clearly valid reasons to raise concerns about the UNHRC, and the UN, in terms of an anti-Israel bias. Whilst a concerted approach to Israel-Palestine is most definitely needed, there is an imbalance. In order to foster a more effective and equitable approach to human rights, the anti-Israel bias must be addressed.

A more up to date display of this bias can be seen when Canada led an effort to formally condemn Hamas for the “deliberate cruelty”[171] of the October 7^th terrorist attacks. The UN chose to instead endorse a call for a humanitarian pause in hostilities and did not approve the condemnation of Hamas.[172] Surprisingly, Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, delivered a powerful speech at the UN where he did in fact condemn Hamas and their actions.[173] He talked about the terror attacks, and the indoctrination of the population of Gaza:

“We’re talking about a religious group that does not believe in political borders and wants to annihilate an entire race in order to build an Islamic state. I don’t know what else can be said about this – and I don’t know why it is not obvious to everybody.”

“Hamas’ first crime against children in the Palestinian societies is not arming them or encouraging them to carry suicide bombing attacks – it’s the religious ideological indoctrination that I had to go through with one intention in mind: to annihilate the State of Israel. This is Hamas’s primary goal.”

“As a 10-year-old child when I disobeyed Hamas, I was tied up to a post and I was whipped by a Hamas top leader. My father was in prison at that time and this leader thought that he was my mentor. This is Hamas discipline. This is how they wanted me to be… to become a violent savage like them.”

Mosab, with his unique perspective as a Palestinian child embedded within Hamas culture[174] expressed some important truths about Hamas, and I could not find one major news outlet story covering his speech at the UN – nor did it result in the UN condemning Hamas. Interestingly though, my research did lead me to a UN report from 2017 that claimed when Palestinian men physically attack their wives, it is due to Israel.[175] The report suggested that the “pressure of occupation” led to things like domestic abuse, child marriage, and honour killings.

The failure to hold Hamas accountable for their actions shows a clear anti-Israel bias. The calls for a ceasefire, as discussed previously, merely lock in all of the gains Hamas has made so far.[176] It shows Hamas that they can repeat this tactic until they have achieved their ultimate goal of the destruction of Israel. Rewarding a violent terrorist organisation whilst preventing Israel from fighting back shows the world that it is permissible to attack Israel. There is a clear parallel to Russia, in the sense that in 2008 when Putin attacked Georgia, the world stood by.[177] In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and the world again stood by. This is what led to the invasion of Ukraine, and it could have been stopped 15 years ago. Hamas and Iran want to chip away at Israel, and the UN is helping them achieve their goals. If that seems like hyperbole, just remember that Iran voted for the ceasefire. Iran, who supports Hamas and Hezbollah, being involved in the call for a ceasefire, surely suggests that the ceasefire must work against Israel.

As discussed earlier in my essay, Hamas has a history of violating ceasefires, which undermines my faith in their potential effectiveness. My scepticism extends to anything arranged with UN involvement too. In 2006, Hezbollah militants launched rocket attacks at Israeli towns near the border, killing three soldiers and capturing two. This led to the 34-day long Lebanon War.[178] With over 1,000 Lebanese casualties and 165 Israeli casualties.

Despite gaining the upper hand militarily, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed resolution 1701, enforcing a ceasefire.[179] The resolution called for Hezbollah’s disarmament, and tasked a dedicated United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as well as the Lebanese Armed Forces with maintaining security along the border.

On October 8^th 2023, one day after the terrorist attack that reignited the Israel-Palestine conflict, Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel.[180] There have been dozens of attacks on Israel since, reaffirming their long-standing goal of eliminating the state of Israel. The violence has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the UN in maintaining peace and enforcing its own resolutions. As an IDF spokesperson admitted, “if 1701 had not failed, [Israel] would not be in its current situation.”[181] The instability suggests either incompetence on the part of the UN, or a lack of fairness in its approach to Israel – I am not sure which possibility is more troubling.

In February 2024, a video was released showing a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) worker removing an Israeli man who had been shot at the festival on October 7^th, and driving away with his body[182] after rummaging through his belongings. The video was first published on October 10^th, but it has been part of a larger case against dozens of UNRWA workers who participated or were involved in the terrorist attack, such as the UNRWA teacher in Gaza who published a video of Hamas terrorists shooting Israeli cars.[183] 12 members of staff have been revealed, and there are 30 who are involved all together.[184]

The UN’s bias against Israel can be attributed to the influence of member states, particularly those in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which vote as a bloc on anti-Israel resolutions. This systemic bias is seen in the disproportionate focus on Israel compared to other nations with far worse human rights records, as seen with Item 7 uniquely targeting Israel for scrutiny. Whilst I acknowledge and understand the UN’s broader mission of maintaining peace, its approach to Israel must be re-examined for its imbalance.

The same complexity is evident when examining the support of LGBT+ groups for Palestine. Whilst I can make sense of these groups standing up for human rights and oppressed communities, the reality of LGBT+ treatment in Palestine is at odds with their values. Hamas has strict laws that limit LGBT+ rights immensely, and these individuals are often imprisoned, tortured, or killed.[185] Israel on the other hand has a highly progressive stance on LGBT+ rights.[186] It is no secret that the Middle East is one of the most dangerous areas in the world for LGBT+ people[187], and though I won’t call Israel a haven for the LGBT+ people of the Middle East, it is certainly the safest[188] – Israel also hosts the largest pride festival in the Middle East, and even Asia.[189] In 2021, a study was carried out at the University of California regarding 175 nations and their acceptance of gay and gender-non-conforming people.[190] Israel was ranked 44, Palestine was ranked 130; other ME nations included Iraq at 94, Saudi Arabia at 108, Iran at 164, and Egypt at 159. Yet for some reason, in a November 2023 poll, 25% of people asked believed that Hamas allowed gay people to live together openly, and a mere 60% believed Israel allowed gay people to live together openly.[191] It is worth pointing out that the 18 – 24-year-old respondents were almost 50/50 on believing Hamas or Israel is supportive of gay rights[192], which is interesting because only a year prior to that poll, a 25-year-old gay Palestinian man, Ahmad Abu Marhia, was beheaded in the West Bank[193] after having been kidnapped from inside Israel where he was being protected awaiting an asylum claim to flee.[194] And yes, the BBC did report poorly on this story, making sure to add that “homosexuality is rejected in (…) Israeli society” before adding an amendment after complaints that “gay people in Israel can freely lead their lives.”[195]

It is vital to protect the rights of LGBT+ people around the world, and part of this means standing up for those who are being oppressed. The LGBT+ community understands more than most how important it is to have the right to self-govern, and to be free from oppression, so why don’t they believe in these rights for Jews?

Let’s look at Dr Mika Tosca. She is a self-described transsexual climate scientist and activist[196], and she is also an associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Ten days after the October 7^th terrorist attack, she tweeted that “Israelis are pigs. Savages. Irredeemable excrement”[197] and that she wanted them all to “rot in hell.”[198] This confused me, because I assumed being part of a highly marginalised group who is frequently attacked and demonised would have given her an idea of what the Jewish people have gone through and continue to go through, but apparently not.

The seemingly unwavering support the LGBT+ community has for Palestine is baffling, especially considering the stark contrast in the treatment of LGBT+ people in Palestine and Israel. This paradox is addressed in Palestinian academic Sa’ed Atshan’s book ‘Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique’ where he argues that within leftist and progressive circles, “anti-imperialism gets privileged above everything else”[199] in reference to why the opposition to perceived colonialist actions overshadows other important issues, in this case, LGBT+ rights. The broader anti-imperialist narrative, which frames Israel as a colonial oppressor, leads to this strange situation where the moral necessity is switched from LGBT+ issues to the Palestinian cause. The prioritisation works to further undermine the LGBT+ cause in Palestine and the wider Middle East area, which again, is why I cannot make sense of it.

Whilst the severity of anti-LGBT+ laws are being slowly reduced in some areas of the ME, we should recognise that LGBT+ people are still being persecuted within most ME nations. This takes the form of outlawing expressions of LGBT+ identity and culture, imposing stigma, and discriminating in employment, housing, or even access to healthcare.[200]

The situation for women in these regions is equally as troubling. Alongside pro-Palestinian LGBT+ movements, there have also been actions from groups like Sisters Uncut[201], an organisation of women and gender-variant people who live under the threat of domestic violence. They claim to fight for all those who experience domestic, sexual, and gendered violence in their daily lives. Their manifesto states that “[they] are fighting for [their] lives.”[202] This is a commendable cause, and I support their mission, but I do have questions about the alignment of their support with the realities of life for women in Palestine. In 2019, over 30% of married women in Palestine between 18 and 64 experienced domestic violence.[203] Additionally, the child marriage rate is alarmingly high, with 13% of girls under the age of 18 being married.[204] Sisters Uncut dedicate themselves to combating domestic violence, yet support a nation where such issues are as widespread as they are unaddressed. I am trying to understand the dissonance of these groups, especially when Sisters Uncut was quoted as saying “The violence of the oppressed must never be equated with that of the oppressor.”[205] It’s convenient that a terrorist group with deeply held misogynistic and homophobic beliefs who will stone women for being raped outside of marriage[206] have the full support of these groups.

For these reasons, when I see my LGBT+ friends reposting anti-Israel statements, it feels deeply troubling and contradictory. They are aligning themselves with groups that, if given the chance, would persecute them harshly – locking them up and throwing away the key, or worse. My diverse friends, people who I love, are overlooking the most extreme forms of homophobia because of their stance on Israel. My friends tolerate groups that fundamentally oppose their existence as gay people, because they must tolerate homophobes more than Jews.

Seeking Understanding

The Jewish experience, both culturally and religiously, is often overlooked. Our history, struggles, fears, and future are disregarded and ignored in mainstream discourse. As David Baddiel poignantly writes in ‘Jews Don’t Count,’ antisemitism is seldom treated with the same gravity as other forms of racism. At the time of publishing this essay, it has been one year since the October 7^th attack, and the past 12 months have reinforced how correct Baddiel was.

Despite centuries of immense persecution, the Jewish status as an oppressed minority is dismissed outside of the context of the Holocaust, and even that is beginning to lose meaning in the 21^st century. The dismissal stems partly from the perception that Jews, in Western society, have achieved economic success, obscuring the ongoing struggles they face. Many of the world’s wealthiest people and families are Jewish, and 22% of all Nobel Prize winners are Jewish – despite being only 0.2% of the world’s population. Academically and economically, Jews have performed rather well, and thus there is this perception that we must therefore not be subjected to the same systemic racism or discrimination that other minority groups are.

Additionally, the refusal to recognise the Jewish people as an ethnic group in favour of a religious group has serious implications when it comes to discrimination laws, as well as public perception. Jews have a long history filled with cultural traditions that extend beyond religion, but we are not given the same level of cultural recognition afforded to other ethnic groups. In 2018, Sajid David was promoted to Home Secretary, which led to several articles claiming that he was the first Home Secretary from an ethnic minority background.[207] If we ignore the fact that there have been three Jewish Home Secretaries in the UK then yes, he would be the first; Michael Howard in 1993, Leon Brittan in 1983, and Frank Soskice in 1964. Anas Sarwar was also declared the first ethnic minority leader of a political party in the UK[208] in 2021, but everyone forgot about Jewish Conservative leader Michael Howard, Jewish Labour leader Ed Miliband, and Jewish Conservative leader and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. Maybe we’re a victim of our own success, or as historian Joseph Finlay put it, “Jews could assimilate into Britishness while maintaining a distinct cultural identity.”[209]

The Israel-Palestine conflict has long been a flashpoint for global tensions, but following October 7^th, antisemitic incidents have increase drastically worldwide:

1. In December 2023, Harriet Bradley, former Labour councillor, posted that “someone [should] blow up the venue”[210] when the Jewish Labour Movement was hosting their one-day annual conference[211]. Her apology was not much better, after she claimed her “joke” was simply an “expression of grief” over the “takeover” of the party by a “Zionist faction”[212].
2. In February 2024, a woman opened fire in a church in the US whilst displaying antisemitic sentiments. Her rifle featured a Palestine sticker on the barrel.[213]
3. In May 2024, a man set a synagogue on fire in France, and was shot dead by the police.[214] The BBC initially reported that the man was killed trying to burn down the synagogue, when he had already set it on fire and caused significant damage.[215]
4. The Anti-Defamation League’s audit found nearly 9,000 antisemitic incidents in the US in 2023, up 5,400 from 2022.[216]
5. Community Security Trust, a charity who provides safety and advice to the Jewish community in the UK, found over 4,000 instances of anti-Jewish hate in the UK in 2023, the highest ever annual report and a 147% rise since 2022.[217]

As the conflict continues, I see no sign of antisemitism disappearing. In examining the Israel-Palestine conflict in more depth than I have in the past, I have learned the disturbing reality that despite the progressiveness of modern Western liberal democracies, antisemitism remains as much of a threat now as it has throughout history. The media is quick to show Israel as a singularly malign false nation, and the people are quick to dismiss the Jewish experience, right to security, and identity. The increasingly popular anti-Zionist/anti-colonial rhetoric, prevalent in both conservative and liberal spaces, masks what is essentially just a denial of Jewish self-determination.

Though modern expressions of antisemitism are not as obvious as antisemitism of old, they are more insidious because they are protected by a banner of social justice. People can march in the streets of London in the name of tolerance, yet at the same time be completely unwilling to acknowledge Jewish history or the need for a Jewish homeland. Progressive causes that call for ‘justice’ or ‘freedom’ seldom include Jewish voices, revealing the paradox that I have struggled with for years; crying for equality whilst alienating one of the world’s most historically oppressed groups.

This essay has also shown how fervent anti-Zionism within British left-wing circles has further fuelled the hostile environment Jews in the UK are facing. Israel is criticized to no end with a total disregard for the broader context of Jewish historical trauma. When slogans like “from the river to the sea” are chanted with impunity, the meaning grows beyond Palestinian rights, and straight into denial of Jewish existence. I have witnessed selective moral outrage when groups march for Palestine yet remain silent about all the atrocities committed against Jews or Israelis. No one marches for the struggles Palestinians face in other Middle Eastern countries; and this silence tells me that people care less about the rights of Palestinians and more about opposition to Israel, and by extension, the Jewish people.

At the global level, organisations like the UN disproportionately target Israel, while regimes with abysmal human rights records are not just overlooked but even supported in their condemnation of the Jewish state. Structural biases marginalise Israel on the world stage, and help contribute to the narrative that Israel is an illegitimate state.

The world is either unable or unwilling to recognise what the Jewish people have been through, and why the Jewish homeland is so vital. Our need for self-governance and security is not a matter for gentle political debate, but a response to generations of oppression – it is a survival mechanism learned through enduring endless persecution. Do I have a purpose for this essay? If there was one, it would be for more honest conversations that start by understanding Jewish rights are as non-negotiable as those of any other people. Until then, Jews all over the world must be as vigilant as we always are, not relying on anyone else in the world to step in and support us. The lessons of history have shown us that ultimately, we can only rely on ourselves to ensure our survival, lest the events that happened on October 7^th 2023 happen again and again, until there are simply none of us left.

---

[1] https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/

[2] https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-slavery-index-2023

[3] https://geneva-academy.ch/galleries/today-s-armed-conflicts

[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ -europe-67512204

[5] https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/study-reveals-people-most-likely-to-hold-antisemitic-views

[6] https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/lemba-tribe-in-southern-africa-has-jewish-roots-genetic-tests-reveal

[7] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-refugees-from-arab-countries

[8] https://www.vox.com/2023/10/7/23907683/israel-hamas-war-news-updates-october-2023

[9] https://www.workersliberty.org/files/2020-11/thatsfunny.pdf

[10] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-36802075

[11] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36177333

[12] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/15/labour-suspends-activist-vicki-kirby-over-antisemitism-claims

[13] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-candidate-vicki-kirby-suspended-for-antiisrael-tweets-9746713.html

[14] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-43655793

[15] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/sep/04/labour-adopts-ihra-antisemitism-definition-in-full

[16] https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/the-chakrabarti-report-failed-again-and-again-e9rh2h14

[17] https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/jewish-leaders-tell-jeremy-corbyn-enough-is-enough-amid-antisemitism-row

[18] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/29/labour-suspends-jeremy-corbyn-over-ehrc-report-comments

[19] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/17/labour-reinstates-jeremy-corbyn-after-suspension-over-antisemitism-remarks

[20] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/04/jeremy-corbyn-says-he-regrets-calling-hamas-and-hezbollah-friends

[21] https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/jeremy-corbyn-accuses-israel-war-crimes-2688179

[22] https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/pro-palestine-protesters-cheer-as-corbyn-accuses-israel-of-war-crimes/

[23] https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/palestine-protesters-london-dont-believe-hamas-attacked-israel/

[24] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/14/jeremy-corbyn-hamas-terrorists-piers-morgan-talktv-israel/

[25] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/14/jeremy-corbyn-is-still-hamass-useful-idiot/

[26] https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/two-arrests-made-hundreds-stage-193910186.html

[27] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/03/two-arrested-at-kings-cross-london-after-pro-palestinian-sit-in-banned

[28] https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics-interview/2023/11/jon-lansman-what-the-left-gets-wrong-about-israel

[29] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/04/thousands-demonstrate-in-trafalgar-square-for-gaza-ceasefire

[30] https://twitter.com/Urban_Pictures/status/1720894454754591205

[31] https://twitter.com/Daniel_Sugarman/status/1723798828925558823

[32] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/palestine-protest-israel-gaza-war-hamas-b2453462.html

[33] https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-776005

[34] https://www.timesofisrael.com/pair-of-swastikas-spotted-at-pro-palestinian-rally-at-nyc-christmas-tree-lighting/

[35] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/greenwich-islamic-centre-mosque-antisemitism-gaza-israel-b1116253.html

[36] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/26/london-imam-sermon-denounced-greenwich-anti-semitism/

[37] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/28/london-mosque-investigates-speaker-allah-curse-jews/

[38] https://twitter.com/mtpennycook/status/1717489453801890049

[39] https://gicuk.org/history/

[40] https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/no-offence-says-police-after-curse-the-infidels-hate-speech-at-london-mosque/

[41] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/10/28/mosque-chairman-praised-hamas-leader-advises-cps/

[42] https://www.newarab.com/news/mcb-could-be-designated-extremist-under-government-plan

[43] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/04/mod-to-cut-ties-with-muslim-council-of-britain/

[44] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/22/police-pressure-cancelled-pro-israel-rally-london/

[45] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/metropolitan-police-israel-rally-golders-green-safety-fears-b1115263.html

[46] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/embassy-protester-demanded-jewish-blood-fmqhb8fxc

[47] https://metro.co.uk/2023/11/05/met-police-adviser-led-controversial-palestine-chant-in-unearthed-footage-19775576/

[48] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67327496

[49] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/04/attiq-malik-met-police-adviser-from-river-to-the-sea-chant/

[50] https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-mets-strange-approach-to-protest/

[51] https://www.unaoc.org/repository/Esposito_Jihad_Holy_Unholy.pdf

[52] https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/antisemitism-and-its-metaphysical-origins/islamic-jihadism-religious-fanatic-antisemitism/E78031F7835A32007C501DBFEAF144F0

[53] https://www.memri.org/reports/egyptian-cleric-muhammad-hussein-yaqoub-jews-are-enemies-muslims-regardless-occupation

[54] https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/not-all-calls-for-jihad-are-antisemitic-say-met-police-jr06qsbm

[55] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67327496

[56] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Abdul_Bari

[57] https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/police-stopped-pro-israel-rally-081657212.html

[58] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/here-s-why-the-police-appease-islamists-zkw9dqrj6

[59] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/havering-council-hanukkah-candles-antisemitism-judaism-b1123759.html

[60] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67601261

[61] https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/savage-nihilism-free-palestine

[62] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians

[63] https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/world/middleeast/25mideast.html

[64] https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/world/africa/14iht-15gaza.17839437.html

[65] https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/world/middleeast/02gaza.html

[66] https://abcnews.go.com/International/rockets-fall-silent-gaza-cease-fire-israel-hamas/story?id=17779331

[67] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28939350

[68] https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0FI044/

[69] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/palestine-gaza-israel-latest-fighting-border-air-strikes-death-toll-a8632036.html

[70] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/06/palestinians-say-gaza-ceasefire-reached-with-israel.html

[71] https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/hamas-agreement-to-end-escalation-in-gaza-reached-with-israel-640632

[72] https://www.oxfam.org/en/open-call-immediate-ceasefire-occupied-palestinian-territory

[73] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-airstrikes-incendiary-balloons.html

[74] https://press.un.org/en/2022/sc14994.doc.htm

[75] https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-770746

[76] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-israel-idUSTRE53Q2ZU20090427

[77] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22442052/israel-palestine-two-state-solution-gaza-hamas-one

[78] https://www.resetdoc.org/story/why-a-one-state-solution-wont-work/

[79] https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/world/middleeast/04assess.html

[80] https://time.com/6324221/hamas-origins-history/

[81] https://www.britannica.com/topic/intifada

[82] https://archive.ph/20231011135511/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/hamas-covenant-israel-attack-war-genocide/675602/

[83] https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

[84] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izz_ad-Din_al-Qassam_Brigades#:~:text=List%20of%20the%20Al%2DQassam%20Brigades%20attacks

[85] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/01/27/hamas-sweeps-palestinian-elections-complicating-peace-efforts-in-mideast/8a4a4412-5f9b-4583-8607-51c7dd3781f4/?itid=lk_inline_manual_14

[86] https://2001-2009.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/59870.htm#:~:text=Those%20aspirations%20can%20only%20be,and%20the%20other%20in%20terror.

[87] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/24/gaza-election-hamas-2006-palestine-israel/

[88] https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-palestinian-solidarity-marchers-in-the-west-dont-understand-about-hamas/

[89] https://emetonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Pay4Slay_Fact-Sheet-FINAL.pdf

[90] https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/S._____Taylor_Force_Act.pdf

[91] https://www.euronews.com/2023/10/09/live-death-toll-continues-to-climb-as-israel-pummels-gaza

[92] https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/09/27/no-incentives-for-terrorism-u-s-implementation-of-the-taylor-force-act-and-efforts-to-stop-pay-to-slay/

[93] https://www.memri.org/reports/palestinian-authority-tv-lauds-president-abbas-holocaust-denial-phd-thesis-terror-attacks

[94] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/palestinian-leader-abbas-accused-antisemitism-holocaust-comments-rcna104024

[95] https://unitedwithisrael.org/german-chancellor-slams-mahmoud-abbas-holocaust-remarks/

[96] https://apnews.com/article/hamas-middle-east-science-32095d8e1323fc1cad819c34da08fd87

[97] https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231022-gaza-war-heaps-pressure-on-palestinian-president-abbas

[98] https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/24/the-pointlessness-of-mahmoud-abbas/

[99] https://nationalpost.com/news/world/israel-middle-east/nearly-75-of-palestinians-polled-say-hamas-was-right-to-attack-israel-on-oct-7

[100] https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/fp_20180601_after_oslo.pdf

[101] https://cat-uxo.com/explosive-hazards/ied/quassam-1-rocket-projected

[102] https://justvision.org/glossary/rocket-attacks-israelis

[103] https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/08/12/palestinian-rockets-may-killed-civilians-israel-gaza

[104] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/palestinian-rocket-and-mortar-attacks-against-israel

[105] https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/06/30/indiscriminate-fire/palestinian-rocket-attacks-israel-and-israeli-artillery

[106] https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/world/middleeast/19mideast.html

[107] https://www.haaretz.com/2014-07-16/ty-article/word-of-the-day-azaka/0000017f-dc2d-d3a5-af7f-feafd1a70000

[108] https://www.indexmundi.com/factbook/compare/gaza-strip.israel/demographics

[109] https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/gaza-strip/

[110] https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25993-the-reasons-why-gazas-population-is-so-young/

[111] https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-771783

[112] https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-troops-found-hamas-rocket-launchers-near-playground-swimming-pool-in-gaza/

[113] https://www.npr.org/2023/10/19/1207173798/fake-accounts-old-videos-and-rumors-fuel-chaos-around-gaza-hospital-explosion

[114] https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-interior-ministry-social-media-activists-always-call-dead-innocent-civilians-dont-post

[115] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67216929

[116] https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/21/middleeast/cnn-investigates-forensic-analysis-gaza-hospital-blast/index.html

[117] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67216929

[118] https://nypost.com/2023/11/01/news/hamas-official-vows-to-repeat-israel-attacks-again-and-again-until-its-destroyed/

[119] https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-official-ghazi-hamad-we-will-repeat-october-7-attack-time-and-again-until-israel

[120] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-hospital-evidence.html

[121] https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/bbc-apologizes-israel-hamas-war-misreporting-shifa-target-medical-staff-1235791281/

[122] https://www.politico.eu/article/bbc-says-sorry-to-israel-after-reporting-it-targeted-medical-staff/

[123] https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/primacy-effect

[124] https://x.com/KattyKay_/status/261550954183282688

[125] https://www.timesofisrael.com/bbc-correspondent-slammed-for-jewish-lobby-tweet/

[126] https://honestreporting.com/bbc-documentary-almost-gets-gaza-right/

[127] https://www.meforum.org/58500/bbc-mistranslates-yahudi-as-israeli

[128] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63541437

[129] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/27/bbc-is-institutionally-anti-semitic-says-sir-michael-ellis/

[130] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/al-shifa-doctor-says-staff-hiding-gunfire-during-israeli-raid-2023-11-15/

[131] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/15/hospitals-are-not-battlegrounds-the-world-reacts-to-al-shifa-attack [note: I do not enjoy referencing Al Jazeera]

[132] https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/by-geography/middle-east/gaza-er-introduction/971/

[133] https://www.hrw.org/news/2007/06/12/gaza-armed-palestinian-groups-commit-grave-crimes

[134] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1906608/

[135] https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/world/africa/29iht-gaza.4.18986499.html

[136] https://www.haaretz.com/2009-01-12/ty-article/sources-hamas-leaders-hiding-in-basement-of-israel-built-hospital-in-gaza/0000017f-f5ba-ddde-abff-fdffb4dd0000

[137] https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3668018,00.html

[138] https://web.archive.org/web/20230529141259/https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4553643,00.html

[139] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/while-israel-held-its-fire-the-militant-group-hamas-did-not/2014/07/15/116fd3d7-3c0f-4413-94a9-2ab16af1445d_story.html

[140] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/05/gaza-palestinians-tortured-summarily-killed-by-hamas-forces-during-2014-conflict/

[141] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/al-shifa-hospital-patients-screaming-from-thirst-gaza-b2448924.html

[142] https://david-collier.com/doctors-shifa-hospital/

[143] https://twitter.com/IsraelMFA/status/1726319317728256026

[144] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/eu-condemns-hamas-using-hospitals-human-shields-urges-israeli-restraint-2023-11-12/#:~:text=%22The%20EU%20condemns%20the%20use,to%20leave%20the%20combat%20zone.%22

[145] https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hamas-israel-launches-targeted-raid-on-al-shifa-hospital-13008524

[146] https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/16335152-crome-yellow

[147] https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-deadly-gaza-blast-caused-by-improperly-stored-weapons-at-terrorists-home/

[148] https://twitter.com/LtColRichard/status/1562107460994977792

[149] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shehab_News_Agency

[150] https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/01/gaza-hamas-rafah-expropriate-destroy-lands-homes.html

[151] https://honestreporting.com/media-diplomats-silent-when-hamas-violently-evicts-dozens-in-gaza/

[152] https://www.jstor.org/stable/45331560

[153] https://www.meforum.org/3391/kuwait-expels-palestinians

[154] https://www.un.org/unispal/document/palestine-refugees-in-syria-a-tale-of-devastation-and-courage-unrwa-commissioner-general-op-ed/

[155] https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/2328

[156] https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/forgotten-and-without-future-syrias-palestinian-refugees

[157] https://www.arabnews.com/node/262342

[158] https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/27/gaza-apparent-war-crimes-during-may-fighting#:~:text=the%20Israeli%20military.-,One,-civilian%20living%20in

[159] https://honestreporting.com/human-rights-watch-peddles-war-crimes-accusations-in-biased-anti-israel-report/

[160] https://www.firstpost.com/world/human-rights-watch-under-fire-for-accepting-millions-in-qatar-funds-report-13426442.html

[161] https://www.meforum.org/65251/human-rights-watch-under-fire-for-allegedly

[162] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Nations_resolutions_concerning_Israel

[163] https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/22/opinion/ending-bias-in-the-human-rights-system.html

[164] https://webarchive.archive.unhcr.org/20221023182151/https://www.refworld.org/publisher,UNCHR,,,3b00f22d34,0.html

[165] https://unwatch.org/item7/

[166] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/ban-kimoon-united-nations-disproportionate-israel-focus-resolutions-palestinians-human-rights-danny-danon-a7481961.html

[167] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/human-rights-council-40-uk-explanation-of-vote-item-7-resolutions-regarding-israel-and-the-occupied-palestinian-territories

[168] https://web.archive.org/web/20110604123740/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sgsm10788.doc.htm

[169] https://www.thejc.com/news/world/uns-israel-apartheid-report-written-by-9-11-truther-who-promotes-antisemitism-oudw1f2q

[170] https://www.haaretz.com/2012-03-19/ty-article/un-cancels-hamas-official-visit-to-human-rights-council-after-israeli-complaint/0000017f-e643-da9b-a1ff-ee6f4f870000

[171] https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/un-rejects-canadian-push-to-call-out-deliberate-cruelty-of-hamas-attacks-1.6620444

[172] https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142847

[173] https://unwatch.org/u-n-clash-son-hamas-chief-calls-pa-enemy-palestinian-people/

[174] https://www.christianpost.com/news/hamas-co-founders-son-warns-of-hamas-indoctrination-of-children.html

[175] https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/un-israel-to-blame-for-palestinian-men-beating-their-wives/

[176] https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4290273-why-a-ceasefire-in-israel-would-backfire/

[177] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/the-2008-russo-georgian-war-putins-green-light/

[178] https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/lebanon0907/7.htm

[179] https://peacemaker.un.org/israellebanon-resolution1701

[180] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-strikes-lebanon-after-hezbollah-hits-shebaa-farms-2023-10-08/

[181] https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/12/26/the-united-nations-completely-failed-in-lebanon/

[182] https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/02/16/unrwa-video-oct-7-israel/

[183] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/unrwa-united-nations-gaza-israel-hamas-war/

[184] https://www.timesofisrael.com/video-shows-unrwa-social-worker-abducting-body-of-israeli-on-oct-7/

[185] https://unwatch.org/rights-group-exposes-palestinian-torture-ahead-of-first-un-review/

[186] https://www.keshetuk.org/uploads/1/3/8/6/13861493/keshet_uk_factsheet_israel_mar13_v3.pdf

[187] https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9457/CBP-9457.pdf

[188] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/09/queers-for-palestine-must-have-a-death-wish/

[189] https://eu.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/travel/2019/06/10/pride-2019-worlds-biggest-lgbtq-festivals/39552479/

[190] https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/global-acceptance-index-lgbt/

[191] https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/HHP_Nov23_KeyResults.pdf

[192] https://www.stagwellglobal.com/november-harvard-caps-harris-poll-80-of-voters-continue-to-support-israel-over-hamas/

[193] https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/israeli-columnist-calls-out-lgbtq-activists-who-back-palestine-i-welcome-you-to-go-to-gaza-hillel-fuld-west-bank-lgbt-gay-lesbian-rights

[194] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63174835

[195] https://www.thejc.com/news/bbc-unfairly-criticises-israel-in-report-on-palestinian-gay-beheading-jctmz4ri

[196] https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/chicago-art-professor-under-fire-for-calling-israelis-irredeemable-excrement-in-wake-of-hamas-invasion-school-institute-mika-tosca-israel-palestine-terrorism-terrorist-middle-east-conflict-chicago-illinois

[197] https://nypost.com/2023/10/18/dr-mika-tosca-chicago-professor-slammed-for-antisemitic-posts/

[198] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trans-professor-apologizes-after-calling-israelis-irredeemable-excrement

[199] https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/originals/why-the-lgbtq-community-should-care-about-palestine/

[200] https://www.fairplanet.org/story/death-penalty-homosexualty-illegal/

[201] https://www.sistersuncut.org/2023/11/01/hundreds-of-pro-palestine-activists-shut-down-liverpool-street-to-demand-ceasefire-on-the-eve-of-the-bombing-of-jabalia-refugee-camp/

[202] https://www.sistersuncut.org/feministo/

[203] https://palestine.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/violence_survey_preliminary_results_2019.pdf

[204] https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/learning-resources/child-marriage-atlas/regions-and-countries/palestine/

[205] https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/sisters-uncut-pro-palestine-protests-feminism-oppression-london-32qcf0s5g

[206] https://islamqa.info/en/answers/72338/punishment-for-rape-in-islam

[207] https://news.sky.com/story/sajid-javid-announced-as-new-home-secretary-after-amber-rudds-resignation-11353529

[208] https://news.sky.com/story/scottish-labour-anas-sarwar-becomes-new-leader-10-weeks-before-holyrood-elections-12230362

[209] https://novaramedia.com/2021/03/22/if-jews-dont-count-as-an-ethnic-minority-its-because-we-havent-always-wanted-to/

[210] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/07/police-investigate-academic-blow-up-jewish-labour-venue/

[211] https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/ex-bristol-university-sociology-professor-posts-call-to-blow-up-jlm-conference/

[212] https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/emeritus-professor-says-zionist-takeover-of-labour-led-to-her-call-to-blow-up-jlm-event/

[213] https://abc7chicago.com/genesse-ivonne-moreno-mental-illness-lakewood-megachurch-shooter/14419218/

[214] https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/05/17/police-kill-man-trying-to-set-fire-to-synagogue-in-rouen-france_6671737_7.html

[215] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3g8kl8dd5o

[216] https://www.adl.org/resources/report/audit-antisemitic-incidents-2023

[217] https://cst.org.uk/public/data/file/9/f/Antisemitic_Incidents_Report_2023.pdf