I am shocked and appalled. It has been nearly 70 years since Adolf Hitler ended his life in a bunker, his dream of an Aryan master race that would conquer the world and eradicate it of the Jewish race in tatters around him. That is why I can’t understand why the attitudes of anti-Semitism and ethnic hatred behind that dream are still alive and well in the most unlikely of places: the United Kingdom. That is why I am shocked. That is why I am appalled.
The birthplace of Parliament and many of our beloved Western democratic institutions has seen a 400 percent increase in anti-Semitic acts over the past few months, especially ones of a violent nature. There have been numerous anti-Semitic comments made by British public figures: a member of Parliament, George Galloway, has declared his constituency an "Israel-free zone," characterizing Israel as an “illegal, barbarous, savage state.”
In another incident, a British soccer player threw out anti-Semitic verbal taunts and jabs in a game against Manchester Maccabi, to the laughing approval of the majority of his teammates. Most of these verbal and physical attacks on Jews were in response to Israeli actions during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. But this makes it all the worse; innocent populations of Jews are being terrorized because of the actions of a foreign government.
The worst part is, the U.K. is not the only country that has blatant demonstration of anti-Semitism going on — France and Russia have also joined in. However, Russian action on the issue is to be commended. Though there is still anti-Semitic sentiment, a recent “Miss Hitler” online pageant was canceled because it “calls for violent action” according to George Lobushkin, head of VKontakte (a Russian form of Facebook) public relations. Despite the number of followers the page had, the response by the managers of the social media platform was swift and unequivocal.
In contrast to this strong action that was taken in Russia to combat anti-Semitism, the response to blatant anti-Semitism in the U.K. has been weak at best, which is a great disappointment to me, especially since we in the U.S. share an ideology of freedom and protection of rights with the U.K. Although it is doing better than France to respond to this kind of behavior, the U.K.’s reaction to these despicable hate crimes is not nearly enough.
There have been a few tireless British crusaders against Jewish discrimination, like MP Michael Gove, who points out the shameless anti-Semitism of Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement activists who love Hitler because he hated Jews, shouting slogans like “Hitler was right.” Besides Gove, Prime Minister David Cameron has also come out denouncing this type of anti-Semitism. He calls such actions “unacceptable hate crimes,” which is definitely a good start. However, he has put together no plan of action to demonstrate his unwillingness to tolerate such actions. This has angered a lot of British Jews, and they are calling for action. A public statement is great; action is even better.
I now join thousands who understand the dangers of anti-Semitism everywhere in the world. In the U.K., the center of the majority of anti-Semitic activity in Europe as of late, thousands have rallied in London and Manchester to demand that there be a zero-tolerance for hate crimes and anti-Semitic behavior in the UK. I am adding my voice to theirs, and I call upon all those who are acting in a way which discriminates against Jews to let it end.
Reach the columnist at jbrunne2@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @MrAmbassador4
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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