The Gift of Exposure: What happens when hate stops hiding

Last Friday wasn’t just another news day. It was an x-ray of Britain’s moral condition and the results weren’t pretty.

Six stories, all different, all linked.

-1. Birmingham Police banned Israeli football fans from attending the match against Aston Villa.

-2. Ofcom ruled against the BBC for its Gaza documentary, its gravest editorial breach since 2009.

-3.The Government failed to block a judicial review over the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

-4. British universities were exposed for harbouring open Hamas support.

-5. More than 5,000 members of the TV and film industry, including high-profile actors, signed a boycott of Jews, which Paramount and Warner Bros. have now confirmed is unlawful.

-6. And from Gaza came new footage of Hamas executing dozens of Palestinian Arab civilians, including a ten-year-old child. The world's reaction? Silence.

Different stories, same pattern: silence when Jews suffer, applause when they’re blamed, two reactions that sound different but mean exactly the same thing. Both just as loud in what they say, both from the same crowd.

But here’s the thing: I’m no longer shocked. I’m relieved. Because for the first time in two years, they’ve stopped pretending.

When the mask slips, clarity follows

1. Take Birmingham.

A British Islamic scholar, Asrar Rashid, filmed himself threatening Israeli football fans:

“We will not show mercy to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans traveling to Birmingham.”

He justified it with scripture, invoked divine permission for violence and the police responded by banning Jews from attending. Which as it now turns out and according to the Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philip, was actually on the advice of a former member of terrorist group Hezbollah, a man who is banned from entering the UK for his antisemitic statements.

The logic of appeasement, as old as Europe itself. The ones threatened are the ones removed. And the chorus of approval came loud and proud:

Ayoub Khan, MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, called it “right to take drastic measures.”

Iqbal Mohamed, MP for Dewsbury, said the ban “put political pressure on Israeli hooligans and terrorists who would run riot.”

Mothin Ali, Green deputy leader, blamed “apartheid” and “occupation.”

Zarah Sultana celebrated it as “responsible policing” and called for a blanket ban on all Israeli national teams across all sports.

Not a word condemning the threats. Not a whisper defending Jewish safety. Just satisfaction that Jews were once again the ones restricted.

But at least now they’re saying it out loud. No more hiding behind the language of peace, equality or compassion. They mean what they say and now, so does Britain when it looks the other way.

2. The BBC and the quiet rot of complicity

When Ofcom confirmed that the BBC’s Gaza documentary breached standards, we saw the silence again, this time from those who had screamed “Jewish control” when the film was first removed and there were many in the TV & film industry who did so.

The antisemitic fantasy of media manipulation evaporated the moment the truth landed. No apology. No correction. Just quiet.

The BBC’s gravest breach in over a decade and not one senior head rolled. Because accountability, it seems, is optional when the story hurts Jews.

Again, at least it’s clear now. The pretence of impartiality has gone. They’re telling us who they are through their silence.

3. Terrorists with lawyers

The decision to allow Palestine Action a judicial review is another moment of honesty disguised as process.

This is not a group of peaceful protestors, old age pensioners sat quietly holding carefully handwritten placards. They’ve vandalised Jewish charities, destroyed military equipment, defaced monuments and openly celebrated terror. They chant about blood and martyrdom, not coexistence. Just read what Matthew Syed had to say about their last demonstration.

And yet their supporters, including MPs, cheered the news as a “victory for democracy.”

No. It was a victory for intimidation. A victory for the idea that if you shout “Free Palestine” loudly enough, even criminal damage looks righteous.

But again, at least now it’s obvious. No more pretending this is about justice or human rights. It’s about rage, about hate, and about Jews.

4. The Silence of the Selective

While all this unfolded, new evidence from Gaza emerged of Hamas executing Palestinian Arab civilians, men, women, even children. Not by stray fire. Not in chaos or in war. Systematically. Coldly. A ten-year-old shot in front of his family.

And what did the self-proclaimed humanitarians of the pro-Palestinian Arab movement say? Nothing. No candlelit vigils. No open letters. No outraged hashtags trending on social media.

Because their moral compass points only one way: toward whichever direction blames the Jew. If an Israeli bullet kills, they march. If Hamas executes a child, they scroll past.

And that silence, that selective grief, exposes the truth. This movement was never about saving lives; it was about assigning guilt. It was never about peace; it was about punishment. And now that they’re saying the quiet part out loud and everyone can finally stop pretending not to know.

Clarity Is a Gift

For two years, they wrapped their hatred in language that sounded virtuous.
“Ceasefire now.”
“Peace and justice.”
“Human rights for all.”
The slogans were polished, the tone rehearsed, the mask convincing.

But when the ceasefire came, the marches didn’t stop.
They grew larger.
They grew louder.
They grew honest.

They no longer even pretend to be for peace. We’ve always known what the banners really meant, but have allowed ourselves to be gaslit by denial. The banners still say the same, but now there’s no denial of what they mean.

“From the river to the sea.”
“Globalise the intifada.”

No more plausible deniability.
No more polite disguises.
It wasn’t metaphor; it was manifesto.
It wasn’t about freedom; it was about elimination.

And oddly, thankfully, that clarity is liberating.
We’re no longer debating shadows.
No longer explaining the obvious.
No longer trying to persuade people who never cared to listen.

Now the evidence speaks for itself.
They’ve confirmed everything we said they were.
They’ve done us the service of honesty.

“They’ve stopped pretending, and in doing so, they’ve proven our point more powerfully than any argument ever could.”

The Blessing of Exposure

Yes, it’s ugly and yes, it’s exhausting, but exposure is not defeat, it’s diagnosis. You can’t heal what you won’t name. You can’t fight what you refuse to see.

For years, antisemitism disguised itself as activism, now it marches under its own flag.
It no longer hides behind progressive language; it uses it as a weapon.

And while that might make Britain feel darker, it also makes it clearer. Because only when hatred drops the costume of compassion can decent people see it for what it truly is.

This is what moral clarity looks like, uncomfortable, but essential. The lies have burned away, leaving truth in their place and truth, even when brutal, is always the beginning of strength.

The New Normal - and Why That’s Okay

So yes, this is where we are:

A Britain where Jewish football fans are banned “for their own protection.”
Where the BBC misleads and escapes accountability.
Where terrorist sympathisers win judicial sympathy.
Where universities fund Hamas apologists.
Where the arts flirt with open boycotts of Jews.

That is the new normal, but at least it’s real. At least now, the mask is off. At least now, no one, politician, journalist, or neighbour, can claim not to see what’s happening.

The difference for us this time is that we see it early, we’ve named it clearly and we will not bow to it again.

Because exposure, however painful, is power. It forces choice. It ends excuses.
And in the long story of our people, truth has always been the first step toward survival.

History has unmasked them before. Each generation thinks its hatred is new; each time it ends the same way. Let them speak, let them show the world who they are.

The masks fall. The truth is seen.
And we remain - scarred, wiser, unbroken.

Leo Pearlman is a London based producer and a loud & proud Zionist. His most recent film about the Oct 7 Nova Music Festival massacre, ‘We Will Dance Again’ has won the 2025 Emmy of the 46th Annual News & Documentary Awards for most ‘Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary’.