The UK government this week presented a new policy document aimed at combating antisemitism across the country. The document details how the government is implementing, and will continue to implement, its commitment to eradicate all manifestations of antisemitism, in every form and in every place throughout Britain.
The policy prioritizes government action in the following areas:
Security: Providing improved support for the protection, security, and safety of Jewish communities.
Education: Addressing antisemitism in schools and higher education institutions, to ensure that Britain’s children and young people grow up with acceptance and respect for people of all backgrounds and faiths.
Institutional action: Confronting antisemitism within key state institutions, particularly the National Health Service (NHS), as well as in cultural institutions, sport, and the voluntary sector.
Alongside continued efforts to combat antisemitism, Britain will roll out, during the coming calendar year, a broader action plan to strengthen social cohesion and counter extremism across British society as a whole. This will require a significant deepening of efforts to examine and address the drivers of hatred and prejudice within the UK.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote a special foreword to the policy document on combating antisemitism:
“We are a decent, tolerant, respectful nation where people of all faiths and backgrounds stand together under the same flag as neighbours and friends. Our shuls, Jewish charities, communal organisations and Jewish schools, among our institutions, have long been an integral part of British society.
“Yet for British Jews, security at the gates of their community institutions has now become part of what it means to be Jewish in Britain," he continued. "Antisemitism has been rising in recent years. The horrors of October 7, 2023 - the most serious attack on Jews since the Holocaust - and the war that followed in Gaza have intensified divisions in Britain. At the heart of this antisemitism, for some, lies hatred of the world’s only Jewish state, Israel. On our streets, while some have legitimately exercised their right to protest against the actions of the Israeli government, others have exploited this as a despicable pretext to threaten British Jews and to sow division and hatred within our communities.
“When I was informed of the attack on the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, I was horrified," said the PM. "My thoughts remain with the families and friends of Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby. At the same time, I have been deeply shaken by what members of the Jewish community have told me repeatedly over recent months. Again and again, I heard the sense that antisemitism has become normalized - in schools and universities, in workplaces, and even within our National Health Service. I heard that people feel they must hide their Jewish identity in modern Britain, and that while the attack was shocking, it did not come as a surprise."
“And this is true around the world. There has been an alarming rise in antisemitic attacks against Jews, the latest occurring during a candle-lighting ceremony in Sydney, where Jews were brutally murdered in front of their families and friends."
Starmer was adamant, “Our first response is one of solidarity. We stand with British Jews and with Jews everywhere. We unequivocally condemn the hatred and poisonous extremism that led to these attacks. And we reaffirm that defending the Jewish way of life is part of defending the freedoms that define the British way of life."
“But words alone will never replace action. Eradicating antisemitism from my own party was the most important task I undertook when I became leader of the Labour Party. I am just as determined to uproot it from our country. The policy document we have published details some of the significant steps we have taken, both before and after the attack on the Heaton Park Synagogue. We will continue this work, listening to our Jewish community and working closely with them."
“Britain has a bright future ahead, one in which opportunity is shared and pride is restored. But I know that standing between us and that future is a growing hatred that we must confront and overcome. If we act together, united in this common cause, we can and must succeed. Together, we will defend our shared values and uphold the country we want - and need - to be," he concluded.