THIS is not a good time to be a Jewish person in the UK. In the past week, two Jewish men were attacked and hospitalised. In 2025, there were 170 antisemitic assaults in the UK alone,  with four cases of extreme violence. Jewish people throughout the UK speak of feeling fearful, especially when there are marches in support of Palestinians. 

“Globalize the Intifada” is a phrase used by pro-Palestinian activists that calls for aggressive resistance against Israel and those who support Israel. The most prominent expressions of intifada have been through violence, so this phrase is often understood by those saying and hearing it as encouraging violence against Israelis, Jews and institutions supporting Israel. While the intent of the person saying this phrase may be different, the impact on the Jewish community remains the same. 

Anti-semitism has a long and inglorious history. You probably remember Shylock in The Merchant of Venice: 

“I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions,
senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?”

There were people in Shakespeare’s day who hated Jews and there are people who hate Jews today simply because they’re Jews. 

But Jews are not the only ones subject to attacks in the UK.

Almost 6,000 anti-Muslim incidents were reported in the UK last year, more than double the number two years prior, with men targeted more than women. In 2023-2024, 3866 hate crimes were reported against UK Muslims.

And while they’re alive, how does society treat Muslims? Well, Muslim households in the UK experience persistent very deep poverty at rates around three times higher (9%) than Christian households (2%). Jewish households have rates similar to those with no religion. 

In the UK, Jewish employees had the highest median hourly earnings (£19.22 in 2018), while Muslim employees had the lowest (£9.63 in 2018). And Jewish people live on average five to six years longer than their non-Jewish counterparts. So in some aspects, Jews in Britain do better than the average. 

But violence against Jews in the UK has increased because of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and elsewhere. People who launch these attacks lump together the people of the state of Israel with Jews throughout the world. Many of the voices raised against Israel’s actions – for example Senator Bernie Sanders – belong to Jewish people. So it would be wrong to assume that Jews worldwide support the inhuman assault on Palestinians by Israel. But it would also be wrong to assume that Jews worldwide are opposed to Israel’s actions in Gaza and now Lebanon? 

Six million Jews were  killed by the Nazis, the state of Israel is surrounded by countries who have little love for it, and Hamas triggered the destruction of Gaza when it broke through the Israeli defences and killed more than a thousand innocent Israelis.

An eye for an eye, then? Hardly. Well over 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in response to the Hamas attack in October 2023. On the West Bank, Israel is clearly intent on driving Palestinians from their homes and taking over. It has also displaced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese in order to control part of Lebanon as a buffer zone. 

Here’s the crunch. Regardless of attacks on Israelis or attacks on Jews throughout the world, the Israeli state has been guilty of genocide. In deliberately killing tens of thousands of Palestinians, Israel is guilty of war crimes. Do we accept this, throw up our hands and say "Nothing can be done”? Or do we show that there are international norms, even in wars, and work towards the day when Benjamin Netanyahu appears in a dock in the Hague with his weapons-supplier Donald Trump by his side?

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.