OPINION: Jews knew this day would come. Britain chose not to listen
Jews have been dreading an attack like today's for years. All of our warnings about the hate that was being allowed to fester were ignored
In the last few minutes, thousands of religious Jews in this country have been ending the fast. They will turn on their phones – and then they will know.
They will know what the rest of the country has known all day. Some of them will have heard rumours in their synagogues that something terrible happened, but now the full details will hit them, all at once.
Across the country, phones will ring. Family members will speak to one another. “Who was it? Who was killed? Who is hurt?”
Our community is a relatively small one – the chances are high that everyone will know someone who goes to that Synagogue in North Manchester which was marked by terror today. I know I do. I’ve been waiting all day to make that phone call to see if he’s alright.
The one thing that all British Jews knew – and this sentiment has been expressed, again and again today, by those of us writing, or giving media interviews – is that this was inevitable. It was not a case of if, but of when.
The only reason, in fact, that this hasn’t happened sooner is because the security services, the police and the Jewish community’s own security organisation, the CST, have worked tirelessly to stop dozens – yes, dozens – of attempts to target the UK Jewish community in recent years.
But as another terrorist group which has been rehabilitated by “anti-Zionists” in recent years once infamously said – “we have only to be lucky once, you will have to be lucky always”. And today what we have long been dreading finally happened. On the holiest day of the Jewish year, a terrorist attacked one of our synagogues, seeking to murder, maim and desecrate.
What do you think was going to be the result of describing Zionism – the belief that Jews have a right to a country in their historic homeland, subscribed to by an overwhelming majority of Jews worldwide – as Nazism, the ultimate evil?
This has happened in an atmosphere in this country where, under the guise of protest against the terrible suffering in the Gaza Strip, antisemitic hate has been allowed to flourish virtually unchecked. Any “pro-Palestinian” rally which marches through the streets of this country contains two groups of people – those who are horrified at the death and suffering in Gaza and wish it to end, and those who are using this tragedy as an excuse to air their disgusting Jew-hate, using the Palestinians as a pretext. And the first do little, if anything, to curb the disgusting sentiments publicly aired by the latter.
The overwhelming majority of the UK Jewish community has been warning about this for years.
What do you think, we have asked, is going to be the result of describing Zionism – the belief that the Jews have a right to a country in their historic homeland, subscribed to by an overwhelming majority of Jews worldwide – as Nazism, the ultimate evil?
What do you think is going to be the end result when people receive absolutely no censure or comeuppance for openly ranting about how “Jewish supremacists” control this country and stating that there are no anti-Zionist synagogues or schools in the UK?
What do you think is going to be the end result when a band which called for ‘death to the IDF’ at the UK’s most celebrated music festival this summer follows that up at a performance two weeks ago by saying “”F**k the Zionists! Get out there and fight them! Get out there and meet them in the street. Get out there and let them know that you do not stand by them”?
What do you think is going to be the end result when an Islamist preacher talks about “the white man” carrying out genocide in Gaza and goes on to say, “Take up arms and defend yourself and do pre-emptive strikes wherever those pre-emptive strikes – which is offensive Jihad – is needed”?
What do you think is going to be the end result?
We all knew. Jews have two thousand years of experience of what such words and sentiments inevitably lead to. But somehow, few politicians, far-left political rent-a-gobs or “anti-racist campaigners” seemed to want to know. Some of the same people who have directly contributed to the inflammatory atmosphere which led to today’s terror attack have suddenly switched into “thoughts and prayers” mode, standing with their heads bowed next to the burning pyre, hoping that no one will notice the still-smouldering match next to their feet.
We all know what is going to happen next. Instead of politicians actually taking the necessary steps to combat that bigotry, we will hear flowery speeches about how ‘this is not the Britain we know’ or how ‘love is stronger than hate’. The same far-left politicians who have expressed their condolences today will go right back to fomenting the climate that leads to such attacks tomorrow.
There will be no real soul-searching, no attempts to understand how or why this was enabled. And meanwhile we will live with the fear and the fury, no longer waiting for that inevitable first terror attack but for its inevitable successor.
We are heartbroken. And we are filled with fury, because we know that there is no plan, no strategy, to stand up to the bigotry and hate which led to this horrendous attack.
Prove us wrong.
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