The Guardian protest was about more than Gail’s

In his column for Jewish News, Josh Glancy doubled-down. In long-form he echoed his statements on X a few days ago, that there was no need for a protest outside The Guardian about Jonathan Liew’s article about Gail’s and that perhaps this isn’t how British Jews should do things.

I have two substantial issues with his commentary.

The first is the protest was not organised by British Jews. While numerous newspaper reports covering our protest frequently referred to “Jews and their allies'” – and it’s true to say that the majority of people at the protest were Jews – the protest was organised by Our Fight, the campaign group founded by non-Jews in the shadow of 7 October.

We created the banners and placards, made the announcements on social media, contacted the press and corralled everyone to deliver Gail’s cups and bags to The Guardian‘s editor Kath Viner, via the wonderfully patient security guard outside.

This was an Our Fight protest, organised by non-Jews shocked at the response to rising antisemitism in Britain.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, our activity did not begin with Liew’s article. This particular campaign asks the question, ‘Are We Really Here Again?’ and began when Palestine campaigners picketed the Jewish-owned restaurant Miznon to try to “drive the Zionists out of Notting Hill”.

We created the banners and placards, made the announcements on social media, contacted the press and corralled everyone to deliver Gail’s cups and bags to The Guardian’s editor Kath Viner, via the wonderfully patient security guard outside

We stood up to this, and the imagery on our placards — the same placards used outside The Guardian — drew attention not to the parallels with Kristallnacht in 1938, but with the Nazi ‘Boycott Day’ in April 1933, when the Brownshirts encouraged people to boycott Jewish shops. The attack on Miznon in the heart of London evoked parallels.

After leaving our counter-protest at Miznon I was attacked for being a ‘Zio’, then spent most of the night in A&E with a broken nose, swollen eye and having multiple scans for widened pupils.

A few months later Gail’s in Archway had its windows smashed and was daubed with antisemitic graffiti twice within a week of opening.

For Our Fight, the proposition is straightforward. We would be historically illiterate if we didn’t acknowledge that we are not at 1938 or even 1933. But when people organise national, weekly campaigns to knock on doors to ask you whether you will support their anti-Israel stand, when a bakery is attacked twice for being connected (how?) to “corporate Zionism”, when the Green Party seeks to incorporate into its charter that all Zionists are racist, when seven Jewish men are arrested for challenging the slogan “globalise the intifada” just days after two Jews are killed outside a Manchester synagogue, and yes — when a national newspaper says that anyone who thinks there is a whiff of antisemitism in the air is overreacting, then it’s a reasonable question to ask: ‘Are We Really Here Again?’

Jews in Britain feel threatened. That’s a sad and despairing reality. A not insignificant number of Jews I speak to are planning to leave. And until the rest of society provides reassurance that they will stand alongisde this minority — as a civilised society should stand for all minorities — then they are entitled to be concerned.

We will continue to campaign to convince non-Jews to take a stand against antisemitism. And we welcome anyone — Jew or non-Jew — to join us.