‘A test of our values’: Starmer to call for whole-society response to rising antisemitism

View image in fullscreen

PM will say responsibility to stand with Jewish communities lies with ‘every one of us’ at event on Tuesday

Keir Starmer will call for a whole-of-society response to rising antisemitism on Tuesday, saying that it is not enough simply to condemn the scourge, but people “must show it” through their actions too.

Before a roundtable event at Downing Street, the prime minister will call for action on all forms of antisemitism, after a knife attack against the Jewish community in Golders Green last week, a spate of serious arson attacks and the terror incident in Heaton Park in October.

Sarah Sackman, the Labour MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said there had been a “lack of vocal solidarity” from parts of the liberal left, including some anti-racist organisations, in the face of rising antisemitism across the UK.

No 10 will host representatives from across society including business, charities, health and culture, higher education and policing, for talks with the Jewish community. Starmer is expected to say they all need to refuse to platform hatred or turn a blind eye to extremism.

“Last week’s terrorist attack in Golders Green was utterly appalling. But it was not an isolated incident. It is part of a pattern of rising antisemitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry, and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them,” he will say.

“These disgusting attacks are being made against British Jews. But, make no mistake, this crisis – it is a crisis for all of us. It is a test of our values. Values that are not guaranteed, but are earned. Every single day, through our actions.

“So, it is not enough to simply say we stand with Jewish communities. We must show it. And that responsibility lies with each and every one of us.”

Starmer will also convene minsters for the latest Middle East response committee, this time focused on the domestic security implications of the conflict, in particular the heightened threat to Jewish communities.

The government has announced an additional £25m in funding to increase police patrols, enhance security at synagogues, schools and community centres, and place specialist and plainclothes officers in communities.

The Golders Green stabbings have intensified calls for action, coming within weeks of other antisemitic incidents in the same area. The police are investigating whether these incidents involved criminal proxies acting for Iran.

Sackman, who is also the courts and legal services minister, said there has been an outpouring of support since last week’s knife attack in her constituency, with messages from Christian and Muslim faith leaders. The incident had “clearly resonated” with people, she added.

“For a minority community to come under this sort of sustained level of threat and attack purely for our identity, you would expect in the normal run of things for anti-racist organisations, for trade unions, for cultural leaders to speak out,” she told the Times.

“I think what has been notable is, for some time now, a lack of vocal solidarity from the moderate majority. You would expect our anti-racist movement, who quite rightly come out vocally, regularly for other minoritised communities to have responded in kind.”

Last week she wrote for the Guardian saying Jewish people wanted to go about their daily lives – working, taking their children to school and practising their faith – free from fear. Sackman wrote that she now finds herself gripping her daughters’ hands more tightly, adding that many British Jews feel exhausted and afraid.

“Where are the marches in solidarity and support of our Jewish community? Where is the response of the liberal left? Where are the anti-racists, the trade unions, civil society, our friends and neighbours?” she wrote.

“Where are the leaders of the powerful tech platforms who have allowed hate to proliferate via their algorithms? Where are the university chancellors, the leaders of our cultural sector and the NHS managers who must urgently root out hate in their institutions?”

• Politics
• Keir Starmer
• Antisemitism
• Labour
• news