OPINION: For Coren, anti-Jewish racism is just piddling violence and faeces

I am sure that my fellow British Jews will rejoice in the news that antisemitism in the UK has been solved! Well, not exactly solved, but at least held to be not important enough to make a fuss about.

Such appears to be the view of Giles Coren, writing in today’s Times. He was at the rally against antisemitism in November 2023, he informs readers of Britain’s paper of record – apparently it was a “fun afternoon”, which might mystify those who went because antisemitism had soared in Britain in the immediate aftermath of Hamas having murdered 1,200 men, women and children in Israel. But now the fun, it would appear, is over. Giles did not attend last Sunday’s march, along with many others, he believes, who did attend the first.

Why? “Maybe, like me, they thought that, set against the horrors visited upon Gaza in the past two years, a bit of name-calling and some rude graffiti look, frankly, a bit piddling,” says Giles. “Perhaps, like me, they did not want to risk being associated, at any level, with the killing that has gone on, the targeting of doctors and journalists, the double-taps, the forced evacuations, the blocking of aid and the apparent policy of forced starvation… Perhaps, like me, they thought that the single most important thing the Jews, some Jews, can do to mitigate global antisemitism is to stop the assault.”

Well, personally I didn’t attend Sunday’s march because I had prior family commitments. But I can’t believe I hadn’t thought about Giles’ point before. If only I had realised that I could have just flicked through my phone contacts until I reached the one named *Oh God, not him again*, given Bibi a call and ended this thing right now. Mind you, given that Netanyahu has no problem ignoring the hundreds of thousands of Israelis – larger than the UK’s entire Jewish population – who regularly march calling for an end to the war in Gaza, I’m not sure that my efforts would have tipped the scales. But who knows?

I’d just like to point out some of the things which have been taking place in the UK over the last ten days, just to bring them to Giles’ attention. Jewish News has covered them all, but I doubt he reads us too often:

–        Over the last ten days, a man has been smearing faecal matter and throwing urine over the entrances to Jewish buildings in Golders Green. So far he’s targeted two synagogues, one Jewish school, and a private residence.

–        A Chabad rabbi walked out of his house in Bournemouth on Shabbat morning to find that a swastika had been painted on it. Later that day, a Jewish boy in the city was targeted and shot in the head with an air rifle.

–        A man on a scooter rammed into Jewish women on Clapton Common in two incidents minutes apart, allegedly screeching “f***ing Jews”. One was taken to hospital with a fractured arm.

There have been more examples, of course; this is just a snapshot. Now, perhaps Giles would still dismiss this as “a bit of name calling and some rude graffiti”.

Certainly he could say, perfectly reasonably, that none of these incidents is anywhere near as horrific as the situation in Gaza. But why, one has to wonder, is this an either-or situation? Absolutely nothing has been stopping Giles from attending the regular marches through central London deploring Israel’s actions in Gaza – there have been more than 30 in the last 23 months, as opposed to the two which have been against antisemitism.

There should not be anything controversial in being horrified by the situation in Gaza and being deeply disturbed by the rise in antisemitism here. In the American parlance, you can walk and chew gum at the same time. Except that some highly intelligent people suddenly seem incapable of doing so.

Giles’ diary piece then cites the magical affirmation friend, the beloved rhetorical device of opinion writers everywhere. This friend told Giles in a phone call that, and I quote: “Not only am I not going; but I don’t even know what antisemitism is any more. It used to be making up lies about the Jews to incite stupid people to kill us. But they don’t have to make up lies any more. The shit we really are doing is bad enough.”

In pretty much any other context, wider society would agree that holding all members of an ethnic group responsible for the actions of a section of that group is hideous racism. In fact, that is exactly what those who loathe Israel claim it is doing to Gazans – holding them all responsible for the actions of Hamas. But let us take another example.

There should not be anything controversial in being horrified by the situation in Gaza and being deeply disturbed by the rise in antisemitism here

In 2016 there was an infamous case of a British individual who tweeted that he had confronted a visibly Muslim woman in south London and asked her to explain a terror attack carried out by Jihadists in Brussels. She said that the attack had nothing to do with her, which the man condemned as a “mealy-mouthed response”. There was a very large, and entirely correct, outpouring of criticism against the man, who was ultimately arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred on social media.

Nowadays, however, we have NHS doctors ranting openly on social media about “Jewish supremacy” controlling this country – yesterday Jewish News wrote about the latest example – a paediatrician and a child safeguarding doctor at a major north London hospital – and the collective response of British society is to shrug.

I can only imagine that racist relics of the National Front are kicking themselves. If only 40 years ago they’d had the sense to claim that their campaign of hounding Pakistani migrants to this country was due to their anger at Pakistan’s genocide in Bangladesh, in which between 300,000 and three million Bengalis were being murdered and significant attempts made to exterminate the country’s Hindu population.

Perhaps Pakistani immigrants to the UK were telephoning each other and sagely opining that Pakistan’s actions meant that they somehow had it coming when graffiti was being scrawled on their walls and front doors and they were being racially abused by skinheads. After all, that was nothing compared to the mass murder which was being inflicted in Bangladesh.

But no, they obviously weren’t – nor should they have been. Pakistani migrants to this country were not then and are not now being urged to disavow a country which they had profound religious and familial ties to because of what those country’s forces had carried out – to suggest that they should have then or should be now would seem grotesque to many of us. But that is exactly what Jewish people in this country are being expected to do, daily. And apparently some Jewish people believe that to protest against the racism or discrimination they are encountering is in poor taste, considering a conflict thousands of miles away. Jews, it seems, should be seen and not heard – although perhaps they shouldn’t be seen either.

I don’t know Giles Coren. Maybe I’m misjudging his thought process and life experiences. And I think it’s only fair to let you, the reader, know that this morning, after an appalled response from a number of British Jews, he has since written on social media: “I thought I had something or [sic] say but I expressed it clumsily and regret the effect it’s had.” That’s something, I suppose, although his original thoughts are now being read by hundreds of thousands of Times readers and subscribers around the country.

But even so, I think it’s worth reiterating: the horrific situation in Gaza does not mean that the UK’s Jewish community should have to keep their heads down about the antisemitism they are experiencing. And they deserve better than being the punchline of a glib diary piece in the Times so that the writer can establish his bona fides as someone Shocked and Appalled™ by Israel’s actions.