This article by Abigail Buchanan was published by The Telegraph
19 February 2024
Fiona Sharpe has grown used to the “constant daily drip feed” of anti-Semitism in her day-to-day life.
As someone who works in politics (a spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism), the 57-year-old from Brighton has noticed the abuse get immeasurably worse since the Hamas terror attacks against Israel on Oct 7 last year. But the build-up started long before.
“It has been happening for years,” says Sharpe. “But now even more so. I have regular daily staring competitions when people notice my Star of David, which I wear prominently.” She has been harassed on X (formerly known as Twitter), with one user stating that she “wanted Palestinian children killed,” and has been shouted at in the street.
“What has happened since Oct 7 has pushed things over the edge; where people used to whisper these comments, now they feel emboldened, and that is frightening.”
Holocaust survivor Agnes Grunwald-Spier is an avid social media user, and since October has been bombarded with abusive messages. “I’ve been on Twitter since 2015 and I have certainly noticed that the abuse is much worse. Bearing in mind I’m a 79-year-old woman, there are a lot of F’s in the language, and [I’m called a] bitch,” she says. “I did complain, and it’s remarkable what offensive stuff they feel doesn’t breach their terms and conditions.”
More troubling still is when online trolling spills into real-world hate. Esther*, who works at a London synagogue, and wants to remain anonymous for her safety, has had “more [abusive] calls since Oct 7 at the synagogue than I’ve had in the 12 and a half years I’ve been there.” She has grown used to “calls saying, ‘kill the Jews’, and emails saying that they’ve put bombs in the building”.
“In the first couple of weeks after Oct 7, we had red paint thrown over the doors of Jewish schools, graffiti on synagogues,” says Dave Rich, the Community Security Trust (CST)’s director of policy.
Photos circulated on social media of ripped and defaced posters of Israeli hostages. “There have been physical assaults, although most of the incidents aren’t violent. It’s that drip-drip [effect]; for a lot of Jewish people, it’s the fear of whether you can actually walk around your neighbourhood being visibly Jewish.”
Those in London’s Jewish community have found the city has become increasingly hostile. Daniel*, a 42-year-old software engineer, has experienced two incidents of harassment while on public transport in the capital. On both occasions, he was wearing his kippah, and describes himself as “a visibly Jewish man”.
In November 2023, a man got on his train and sat down opposite him. He interrupted the conversation and demanded to know Daniel’s position on the conflict between “Israel and Palestine”. He then continued to harass him with questions even after being asked to to move away – including whether Daniel supported “genocide”.
“At the time, I was nervous that the aggressor would indeed follow me home and potentially become physically violent, because he was quite tall and strong,” says Daniel. “I was shocked that a person would have the nerve to harass someone else with anti-Semitic tropes, particularly at rush hour.”
After the incident, Daniel said he was “keeping more aware of my surroundings. Being targeted has always correlated when things heat up in the Middle East and they heat up here as well, but it really feels like there has been a proliferation of hate speech recently.”
These incidents, horrifying in isolation, point to a grim upward trend. Recent statistics published by the CST, a charity that monitors anti-Semitism and provides security to Jewish communities in the UK, show that 4,103 instances of anti-Jewish hate were recorded across the UK in 2023 – the highest annual total on record and an 187 per cent rise on the previous year. In all, 66 per cent of these were reported on or after the Hamas terror attack in October.
The incidents reported included 3,328 cases of abusive behaviour, 305 threats, 266 assaults, 182 incidents of damage and desecration and 22 of anti-Semitic literature. James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said the rise was “utterly deplorable”. And while the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported has skyrocketed in recent months, Dave Rich says that this crisis has been steadily building for years.
“If you look at the picture year on year, this has been building over a much longer period – the trend line on the graph has been going up steadily for a decade or more,” he explains. “You’ve had years with these big spikes where there have been conflicts in Israel, but even between that, it went up year on year.”
There are several reasons for this. “Historically, anti-Semitism always increases at times of major turmoil: economic turmoil, wars, pandemics. We have had all these things over the last 15 years or so. Plus the rise of social media as this all-consuming vector through which anti-Semitic ideas can be shared so easily.”
In the face of this, Israel expects a wave of immigration from Western countries, according to the Jewish News Syndicate. It has reported a significant increase in aliyah applications – the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to Israel – from France, Canada, the US and the UK.
The face of anti-Jewish hate is changing too, according to Rich. “This is a reflection of the fact that anti-Semitism is more common among younger people than older people – this is very worrying, and hasn’t been fully recognised yet.”
Opinion polling conducted by Ipsos last October found that 18 to 34-year-olds are more likely to want the Government to support the Palestinians (23 per cent) than the Israelis (just 7 per cent). For those aged 55 to 75, these figures are almost exactly reversed. It is for this reason, he argues, that anti-Semitism is a growing problem on university campuses and in schools.
On Monday, Feb 12, a Jewish chaplain at Leeds University was forced into hiding after he was targeted with death threats and anti-Semitic protests over his role as an Israel Defense Force reservist.
Lisa*, a mum of two whose daughter is in her first year at university, was horrified to hear that she had been verbally harassed by two male peers and told that “Jewish people drink the blood of babies.”
Before starting university, Lisa says her daughter had moved from a Jewish school to a state co-ed sixth form, where she had discovered anti-Semitism on school corridors was alarmingly commonplace. “She would be sent lots of memes saying ‘Hitler was right’ and other really unpleasant things,” she says. “She was just 17 at that point and so it was just a bit of a shock, you don’t expect it at school. But we shouldn’t expect it anywhere. She ended up leaving and going back to her Jewish school because it was so bad.”
Hannah Curtis, 20, is a second-year student at City University, London where she is also president of the Israeli Society. There has “definitely” been a rise in the number of cases of anti-Semitic abuse and intimidation since the Israel-Gaza conflict began, she says.
Curtis says students are avoiding attending Jewish Society meetings over safety concerns, especially those wearing religious clothing such as the kippah. Her predecessor at the Israeli Society stood down because he could no longer deal with the challenges of the role.
“I don’t think it’s actually safe for me,” she says. “It’s a very weird atmosphere, being part of such a minority. People point me out and stare at me in the corridor.” She was shouted at and called a “dirty f---ing Zionist” on Oct 9, by an individual linked to the Socialist Worker newspaper, who had previously run a stall at the University Freshers’ Fair.
It was reported to the University, but “nothing happened” because there was no CCTV footage of the incident. She alleges that anti-Semitic stickers and artwork have been placed over Jewish Society posters, and pro-Hamas leaflets have been handed out just outside campus.
Curtis – who will be joining the National Union of Jewish Students (UJS) as a representative next year – says the university and student union have not taken concerns over anti-Semitism seriously. “As a collective, Jews aren’t feeling safe on campus, and people are feeling demoralised and intimidated.”
A spokesman for UJS said: “The targeting of Jewish students is of deep concern and has included calls made by their peers for ‘death to Zionists’, targeted attacks on Jewish property and abuse of visibly Jewish students. Nonetheless, Jewish students have remained resilient in ensuring that Jewish campus life thrives. Jewish students are more determined than ever to fight hatred.”
Sharpe says that, depressingly, anti-Semitism is “part and parcel of daily life”. For many people in the Jewish community “it is a constant,” she says. “It’s draining. It’s exhausting. And it’s deeply painful.”
In a statement, City University said: “There is no place for anti-Semitism, nor any other form of bullying, harassment or discrimination at City, University of London. City’s Student Charter and our Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech clearly set out the expectations to be inclusive, respectful and supportive of one another. Unacceptable behaviours will not be tolerated at City and students can report incidents at any time.”
They add: “Our central London location means that there are occasional instances of people, who are not members of City’s community, handing out leaflets in the public spaces near our buildings. We know this has caused members of our community to feel unsafe or insecure. These incidents were reported to the Metropolitan Police who attended to investigate, and we are continuing to monitor this and other events that are reported to us.”
*Names have been changed
About StandWithUs UK:
StandWithUs is an international, non-profit and non-partisan Israel education organisation that works to inspire and educate people of all ages about Israel, as well as challenge misinformation and fight against antisemitism. Founded in 2010, StandWithUs UK has become a recognised support system and leading resource for students on UK campuses. We empower and energise students and communities with leadership training and educational programmes on both school and university campuses. StandWithUs informs through social media, printed materials, digital platforms, film and newsletters. The StandWithUs flagship Emerson Fellowship programme seeks to raise students into future leaders, equipped to stand strong in the face of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. We believe in the right of the Jewish People to self-determination in their historic homeland of Israel. We educate the facts in an unbiased and holistic manner, with an open mind, reflecting on views from all sides of the political, social and humanitarian spectrum whilst promoting peace. StandWithUs UK believe the current discourse surrounding Israel on campus all too often crosses the line between legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies and the dangerous, mainstream, antisemitic rhetoric which stands contrary to the IHRA definition of antisemitism. We work to educate on that distinction, encourage civil discourse on legitimate criticism of Israel, and to fight antisemitism wherever it emerges.
