Veteran Labour MP: Tackling antisemitism ‘can’t just be left to the Jewish community’

A veteran Labour MP has warned “we can’t just leave it to the Jewish community” when it comes to tackling the rise of antisemitic hatred in this country.

Speaking to Jewish News after visiting Kenton United Synagogue in his Brent West constituency, MP Barry Gardiner said that while he would not support calls to ban pro-Palestine marches in the capital and elsewhere, he was concerned about a “small minority” of extremists who have embedded themselves in these protests and are “intent in turned anger at actions committed by Israel in Gaza into hate speech against the Jewish community.”

Gardiner added: “The very people who are propagating hate speech come from a culture where they don’t want freedom of speech.”

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The interview came immediately after Gardiner heard members of the north-west London shul express anger and fears in the aftermath of a firebomb attack there earlier this month.

Gardiner, who was joined last Thursday by Keir Starmer and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, said: “The anger and fear were evident.”

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“I wrote to the chairwoman (at Kenton United) on Sunday morning, straight away,” he said.

“It was coming out in the conversation that people had with the Prime Minister—what is fueling this? We all need to be much, much more attentive to speech that dismisses one group or another. Instead of picking up on it, we tend to ignore it. We’ve all got a responsibility for that. This can’t just be left to the community.”

Gardiner spoke both about the positive state of communal relations in north-west London and the underlying tensions that exist. He said, “there are, you know, internecine disagreements and rivalries, and actually different groups that do dislike each other.”

He pointed to tensions between the Hindu community and the Pakistani Muslim community, adding: “There are specific dislikes between the Jewish community and the Muslim community and the Muslim community, and the Jewish community.”

“What has happened is that there has been a blurring of disagreement that has just morphed into hatred and morphed from hatred into violence,” Gardiner continued.

He acknowledged that there are strong calls from the community and communal leaders for the government to ban pro-Palestine demonstrations in an attempt to halt antisemitic attacks.

“It was interesting that people were talking about the hate marches, because I would say that probably 80% of the people on the march, maybe more, I don’t know, whatever, a lot of people on those marches, 90% are not feeling hatred against Jews in this country or the Jewish community in general,” reasoned the MP.

“They have a specific political disagreement with what Israel was doing in Gaza. That’s entirely proper, that they express that, that’s their right, that’s their freedom of speech.”

But he then addressed those who attend the demos in order to whip up hatred: “What has happened is there have been a few people who’ve embedded themselves in those marches, and instead of just making those political points that freedom of speech is, what they’re doing is they’re translating that into hate speech against the Jewish community,” warned Gardiner.

“We need to be able to make that distinction, say, ‘no, you have gone too far. You stepped over the border. You’re not making a political point. You’re not just expressing your freedom to say what you want. You are now into hate speech.’”

Gardiner reiterated: “The very people propagating hate speech come from a culture where they don’t want free speech.”

Significantly, in the aftermath of a spate of attacks in recent months, he expressed concern that some incidents at Jewish synagogues and buildings had been classed as criminal damage rather than terror offences.

“I wish somebody had taken the Prime Minister up on it because of his own background as DPP,” said Gardiner of the meeting that took place at Kenton Synagogue.

“Why are these people being prosecuted for criminal damage? No, this is not criminal damage. This is, this is race hatred, right? It is terrorism.

“Because actually the reason they’re doing this is not to set fire to a building. It’s to terrorise the community.

“I made that point in the House of Commons the other day, and I was very disappointed not to get a decent answer to it.

“But it seems to me that we have to start calling it out for what it is. It is terrorism. It’s not just criminal damage.”

Gardiner rejected the suggestion that he was a Labour MP firmly on the so-called soft-left of the party, pointing out he had served loyally under leaders like Tony Blair. But he accepted that there was a need for MPs from all parties to moderate their language when speaking on incendiary issues such as the Middle East.

“I always believe that MPs have a responsibility to state their position clearly, robustly but courteously,” he said. “Courteously, I try not ever to be abusive, and I don’t think any of my colleagues have the right—I will say things that lots of people disagree with, and I’m happy to do that if I believe—but it should never be discourteous and abusive.

“It should always be respectful, because at the end of the day, you and I may have totally different political views, but you’re a human being, and I’m a human being.

“My own faith is that that means that we are made in the image of God, and that’s what I have to respect, and that’s what I hope other people will respect in me.”