OPINION: Israel just become even more important to many Jews

Just before Rosh Hashana, I spoke to one of the senior team at the European Commission involved in combating antisemitism. We were mainly discussing some work we are doing together, but I mentioned that I would be very surprised if the Jewish holiday period would pass without a serious attack on a Jewish target. I didn’t know where or when it would happen. But it felt almost inevitable.

We now know where and when. Manchester, Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, 9.31am, Yom Kippur morning. Now forever etched in Jewish minds not simply as a shul, but as yet another dark spot in the long history of antisemitism. And for the family and friends of the two victims and the injured, the shock and devastation is only just beginning.

We knew it was coming. It wasn’t simply that several attacks on Jewish targets in Britain have been foiled by the police and security services in recent years. It’s because the wider atmosphere surrounding Jews has been febrile for at least two years now, since the October 7 attacks.

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JPR’s most recent data show that more British Jews think antisemitism is a “very big” problem in the UK than ever previously measured: 47% reported that in summer 2025, compared with 21% before October 7, 2023. And 32% – one in three adult British Jews – reported personally experiencing at least one antisemitic incident in calendar year 2024.

Jews have also been experiencing ‘ambient antisemitism’ – small acts that feel antisemitic, even if not intended in that way. Israeli hostage posters torn down,

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microaggressions in the workplace, feeling the need to conceal their Jewishness for fear of the hostility or isolation it may bring. 45% of British Jews have these experiences ‘regularly’ or ‘frequently’ today, compared to just 8% before October 7. And 35% report feeling unsafe as Jews in Britain today, compared to 9% before October 7.

And those figures pre-date Manchester. But, argue some, reaction to the war in Gaza hasn’t been antisemitic: “It has just been anti-Israel, or anti-Zionist. We did nothing wrong. We just called out the Israeli government. And rightly so. We are the community of the good.”

People argue endlessly about whether anti-Israelism is antisemitism. The empirical answer is nuanced: it both is and is not. Anti-Jewish and anti-Israel attitudes certainly correlate – those who hold one type are more likely than average to hold the other. But not in all cases. It’s possible to hold extreme anti-Israel views without being anti-Jewish, and extreme anti-Jewish views without being anti-Israel.

But in reality, it doesn’t matter. Because when extreme anti-Israel ideas become normalised in parts of government and society, they give cover and legitimacy to extreme acts. Not deliberately – at least not in most cases. But that, I’m afraid, is how antisemitism works.

Antisemitism has existed for over two thousand years. It has become so embedded over time in multiple systems of thought and belief – in Christianity, Islam, Fascism, Communism, Marxism, Socialism, Nationalism (the list goes on), and through these systems, into the realms of science and human rights law – that it is extraordinarily easy to ignite. Like the beginnings of a forest fire, it only takes a puff of air and the wind to be blowing in the wrong direction.

Small acts: Anti-Israel graffiti in Jewish neighbourhoods. Media reporting that dismisses or ignores Israeli realities. Social media posts decrying Israel as a racist, ‘settler-colonialist’ state. Calls to ‘Globalise the Intifada.’ Rejections of applications for scientific collaboration with Israeli universities or academics. These are all ok, right?

No. Not if you understand antisemitism. Not if you understand Jewish history. And I mean really understand it, from the inside. And certainly not if you understand Jewish nightmares.

It’s that atmosphere that explains why two harmless, innocent Manchester Jews are dead. It’s why their families and the entire British Jewish community is devastated. And it’s why Israel just became even more important to many Jews everywhere.