UK far left is complicit in antisemitic stabbings

Last Saturday, 45-year-old Essa Suleiman was charged with attempting to murder two identifiably Jewish men on a rampage in Golders Green, a centre of Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox life. Suleiman had been a patient at a London psychiatric clinic and earlier that day, attempted to knife a Muslim friend of 30 years.

It was the latest in a spate of antisemitic incidents during the past couple of months. As someone who lives in the area, I passed by the parked Hatzolah ambulances back in March after shopping locally just a few hours before they were torched. Assailants have thrown petrol bombs through the windows of Finchley Reform and Kenton United synagogues – both places where I have spoken over the years. I have grandchildren at Jewish schools. The synagogue that I attend has a row of bollards in the road in front of it. Burly guards in hi-vis jackets parade the scene.

Do I feel frightened? Am I afraid to go out? The answer is a profound “no”. As a spokesperson for the Board of Deputies of British Jews commented: “This is not the 1930s, it is different.” Naïve and superficial comments from Jews abroad are unhelpful and often ignorant of local conditions. They add fuel to the fire and are fatalistic in troubled times.

Even so, you ask yourself: “How did it come to this?” Many non-Jewish friends have written to me, aghast this could happen in a country which courageously defeated the Nazis all those years ago.

Last week Golders Green became the theatre of the absurd, with visiting politicians expressing their profound remorse at what had come to pass – in advance of this week’s local elections where every vote counts. Imported direct-action Jewish groups suddenly took an interest in Golders Green and came to the area with slogans and rehearsed chanting to harass police representatives and the local MP, herself Jewish.