Antisemitism isn’t a left-right debate – it’s a crisis

Fighting antisemitism cannot be a partisan game: Learning from America’s mistakes

Diaspora Jews face a choice: allow the fight against antisemitism to become just another front in the culture wars, or learn from America’s mistakes before it’s too late?

Across the Atlantic, American Jews are discovering a painful lesson: when combating antisemitism becomes a political weapon, everyone loses.

Two recent competing initiatives expose this dangerous divide. The conservative Heritage Foundation’s “Project Esther” focuses exclusively on radical left and Islamist antisemitism, whilst the more liberal left-leaning Nexus Project created “The Shofar Report” in response to it. In its own words, it is concerned about the “trivialisation and weaponisation” of antisemitism by the likes of the Heritage Foundation. Both initiatives began after the Hamas attacks of October 2023. Both identify real threats. Both are incomplete. And therein lies the problem. Project Esther is designed to influence the policy of the Trump White House, whereas the Nexus Project was established as a policy initiative to influence the Biden administration. Both focus on different appearances of antisemitism while ignoring or minimising it in their own camp. The fact that they compete at all makes them part of the problem.

Antisemitism mutates, both on the left and now on the right

For too long, liberal and left-leaning Jews dismissed antisemitism festering within progressive movements. What began as intersectionality metastasised into something uglier: a worldview where Jews became acceptable targets and the ultimate oppressors. The post-October 7th explosion of antisemitism at the nexus of the radical left and radical Islam wasn’t spontaneous; it was years in the making, ignored by those who didn’t want to see it. I, too, have been guilty of underestimating this problem.

Right-leaning and politically conservative Jews risk repeating this mistake in reverse. Former Fox News superstar and major conservative influencer Tucker Carlson’s embrace of Holocaust revisionist Darryl Cooper and Hitler-lover Nick Fuentes should be alarming to every Jew. Yet some conservatives minimise these dangers because they come from political allies. Some have simply taken the opportunity of blaming the left for these problems.

The same dynamic may ultimately threaten the community in the UK.

The recent controversy over Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli’s antisemitism conference illustrates both the problem and a potential solution. The conference’s narrow focus on one side of the political spectrum rightly drew criticism—and here’s what matters: many Diaspora Jewish leaders, including British ones, regardless of their political leanings, called it out. This cross-political consensus on what constitutes unacceptable bias offers a model we must embrace.

Jews everywhere face a precarious moment. Toxic antisemitism masquerading as pro-Gaza activism demands constant vigilance. Our campuses have become hostile. Our streets have witnessed calls for intifada. None of this should be minimised. And now years of conspiracy theories on the fringes of the right are exploding into antisemitism.

But aligning with one political tribe offers no safety. History teaches us antisemitism is promiscuous in its political affiliations. Today’s ally becomes tomorrow’s antagonist when winds shift.

The American experience offers us a clear lesson: fighting antisemitism effectively requires keeping it toxic across the political spectrum. This means calling out Jew-hatred wherever it appears, in progressive activism and conservative media, and in political movements left and right. It means refusing to give passes to antisemites who share our other political positions. It means building coalitions on principle, not partisanship.

We must resist letting combating antisemitism become another front in the culture wars. The moment we do, we’ve lost. Our safety depends not on political allegiance but on making clear that hatred of Jews is unacceptable—full stop, no exceptions, no matter the source.

America’s warning is clear. British Jews would do well to heed it.

• Daniel Goldman is the founder of The Institute for Jewish and Zionist Research, and former chair of Gesher and World Bnei Akiva. Daniel is the founding partner of Goldrock, a multi-family office, and lives in Israel with Debralee and their 5 children.