A quick note to Banter readers: I’m making this video free because I think it’s a super important topic.
If you’re not a video person here’s a lightly edited transcript:
by Ben Cohen
I wanted to talk a bit today about the attacks on the Jewish synagogue in Manchester, because we have a big anti-Semitism problem in the UK. Is this a problem about Islam? Is it a problem about the Israel–Gaza war? This is a complicated topic — really, really complicated.
I’d really like to get some feedback from everybody watching, and all Banter listeners and readers.
So what do we know about the anti-Semitic attacks thus far? This is from CNN:
At least two Jewish worshippers were killed and several others injured in a car ramming and stabbing attack outside the synagogue in the English city of Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer flew back early to the UK from Denmark to chair an emergency meeting, condemned the attack, and warned that hatred is rising once again and Britain must defeat it once again.
He used his address to reassure Britain’s Jewish community and vowed to do everything in his power to guarantee their security, starting with a “more visible police presence protecting your community.” UK authorities announced heightened security measures at synagogues across the country after police declared a terrorist incident against the backdrop of rising anti-Semitism and other forms of religious hatred worldwide following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza.
The framing of this is extremely interesting. A lot of people were saying they blame Benjamin Netanyahu for attacks on synagogues and attacks on Jews. And I can understand that, I really can.
I think Benjamin Netanyahu is a terrible, terrible human being who has done more to inflame tensions in the Middle East than almost anyone outside of Hamas, obviously, and Iran. He’s a despicable person, and I can’t wait for him to go. He should be in prison on corruption charges.
But I want to express some concern I have about blaming Netanyahu — or blaming Israel — for attacks on Jews worldwide. This is something Jews have had to swallow for years. The fact is that anti-Semitism spiked, particularly in the UK, after October 7. This was after Israel was attacked and before the Israeli government had declared war on Hamas. Anti-Semitism spiked to a ludicrous degree.
Jewish schools and synagogues in the UK do active-shooter drills. English kids don’t — because there aren’t many guns in the UK — but Jewish kids do, because of fundamentalist Islamic extremists and their threats against synagogues. There is some anti-Semitism from the far right too, but it’s less so. Way less than from fundamentalist Muslims. That needs to be spoken about.
Look, being Islamophobic is terrible. I have a lot of Muslim friends in the UK and I don’t like seeing them discriminated against. But there is a serious problem with fundamentalist Islam, extremist Islam, in the UK, and the UK government has not dealt with this at all.
Two people have been killed in a synagogue. And the statistics are staggering. From the BBC: reports of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK in the first half of 2024 reached another record high, according to a Jewish security charity. From January to June 2024, there were 1,978 anti-Jewish hate incidents. No other minority has to put up with this. None.
If you think it’s about the war in Gaza, then where are all the attacks on Russians? Where are the mass killings of Russians in the diaspora? Are they being shot in the streets like the two Israeli embassy members in Washington, D.C.? Do Russian places of worship have to do active-shooter drills? I don’t think so. But the Jews do.
This is my issue with holding Jews accountable worldwide for what the Israeli government is doing. I know about this firsthand. My uncle, for a long time, did security in synagogues in North London because of constant death threats and security threats. A lot of it stems from the assumption that all Jews are responsible for Israel, which they are not.
As somebody of Jewish heritage, I find this pretty scary. Really scary. I get death threats. People send me horrific anti-Semitic messages — people saying they wish my kids were dead. I had to pull my kids out of school on the “Day of Vengeance” after Israel launched its war in Gaza. Most Jews I know are just scared. They don’t condone what’s going on in Israel. They hate Netanyahu. I don’t know a single Jew who thinks he’s good for Israel or for the world. Most think he should be in prison.
Yet Jews pay the price whenever Israel acts. That’s not fair, and that’s a double standard other minorities don’t face. This speaks to the innate anti-Semitism that exists worldwide. I’ve experienced it directly — even playing online chess with people from Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia. They send me anti-Semitic abuse just because of my last name.
I know the left thinks these attacks are about Zionism, about Israel. But maybe it’s just about anti-Semitism. Maybe it’s been normalized to the point where people excuse it by saying it’s about Zionism. It’s not. The casual anti-Semitism I’ve seen recently is shocking.
I even watched a video of a famous UK boxer making a casual anti-Semitic “joke” about money — and nobody blinked. On the left, this is normalized.
This is why I don’t spend much time speaking out about Israel. I care about what Israel is doing to Palestinians — I think it’s terrible. But Jews already have enough problems with anti-Semitism.
And why is everyone more focused on Israel than, say, the Uyghurs in China? Or the civil war in Sudan? There are deadly conflicts all over the world. But as they say: if there are no Jews, there’s no news.
Is this going to get better? I don’t think so. There’s a peace proposal happening in Israel right now, but will it go through? Doubtful. Netanyahu isn’t interested in peace. The longer the war goes on, the more he’s protected from criminal trial. He has a vested interest in keeping it going.
Again, no love here for Netanyahu or his government. But why do Jews in Manchester have to be murdered for this?
Why does the left struggle so much to confront fundamentalist Islam and Islamic terrorism? I think it comes from identity politics: Muslims are seen as “brown people” and Jews as “white people.” Therefore, Jews must be oppressors, Muslims oppressed. It’s reductive and stupid.
The left tries to force the Israeli–Palestinian crisis through the lens of colonizer vs colonized, oppressor vs oppressed. It’s not a great way of looking at it. I’ve written about this before and I’ll do more. I may even bring in contributors for a Substack Live to expand on it.
But let me know what you think. I’ll post this to The Banter and would really appreciate your comments.
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