Statement on antisemitism and proposed crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism

The recent spate of violent antisemitic attacks shows the extent to which antisemitism can impel deadly violence. But we do not agree with the conclusion some have reached: that the government should crack down on pro-Palestinian activism.

Free speech and the right to protest are already under threat in Britain. That’s why we opposed the proscription of Palestine Action under anti-terror legislation, and that’s why we are taking this stance now.

The national demonstrations that some want banned have been one of the main spaces for the expression of public opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza, including for British Palestinians and Palestinians living in Britain. UK Friends of Standing Together has participated in these demonstrations to promote Standing Together’s efforts to build co-resistance for peace and equality between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel. The demonstrations are themselves contested spaces, with a range of political approaches present. To ban them would be a grave restriction on freedom of expression.

Antisemitic narratives and ideas have been present at a number of these demonstrations. Some slogans can have antisemitic implications. These must be confronted. We believe the way to do so is for such ideas to be challenged by better ones, not repressed by the state. Participants in demonstrations and the wider movement must be alert to this issue and call out antisemitic narratives, slogans and imagery whenever they encounter them.

The views of British Jews (imagined or real) can never justify violent terrorism. The belief that attacking individual Jews or Jewish community institutions can ever be a legitimate response to the actions of Israel is itself antisemitic. The state can and should arrest and disrupt those planning attacks.

But safety for Jews in Britain cannot be assured merely with more security measures. It needs cross-community social activism committed to equality and to fighting the underlying prejudices and neglectfulness that normalise violence across society. The power and the duty to act lies above all with us, activists committed to social change and defeating all forms of racism.

We commit ourselves to fulfilling that duty. We call on all other progressive organisations to commit themselves likewise. Handing over this heavy responsibility to the state would be a serious mistake.