This week CUFI stood alongside the Jewish community at a grassroots ’emergency summit’ in UK Parliament. We were pleased to partner with GPS Network for a ‘Victims of Antisemitism’ event which gave a platform inside Parliament for individuals to share their personal stories of Jew-hatred that they have experienced here in the UK. College students, health professionals, parents of schoolchildren – we heard some shocking accounts of antisemitic abuse, and an increasing failure among institutions to support victims and prosecute antisemitic behaviour.
In the largest committee room in Westminster Palace, CUFI joined the GPS Network, TV presenter Rachel Riley and Lord Daniel Finkelstein in addressing the room. Priority was given to the victims. We heard harrowing first-hand accounts from ordinary Jewish people encountering this racism every day, across every part of the country.
Earlier in the day, our team and a number of CUFI supporters joined with our Jewish friends in crisis talks with constituent MPs from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and tabled policy proposals that would greatly assist in combatting antisemitism in the UK.
Rachel Riley reminded those gathered that these incidents were happening to normal people, “Behind soaring antisemitism statistics are real children, families, nurses, teachers — ordinary Jewish people experiencing levels of hate we’ve never known before in the UK. Regular Brits stand for fairness and equality. Were they to know the true extent of this crisis, they would demand something be done.”
Lisa Lamkin, a local government worker from East London: “My son was abused for nearly two years at school, called ‘yid’ and ‘Jewish scum’. He was followed home by a child shouting, ‘f*** the Jews, kill the Jews’. The headteacher told my son to ‘be more resilient.'”
Victoria, a recruitment manager from Ilford: “At my synagogue, people scream abuse at worshippers. My son’s bar mitzvah was ruined by someone hurling racial slurs. I had to teach my children an escape plan in case of an attack.”
Zoe, a waitress from Hastings: “I’ve had work events cancelled, death threats made to my face, been called a baby killer and a terrorist. I’ve had my religion removed from my medical records because I no longer feel safe having it there.”
Ryan, a social media manager from Manchester: “A colleague who knew I was Jewish made death threats, told me she was Hamas, and said she was going to gut me like a fish.”
Asher, a student from Bangor: “Since October 7th, I and members of my community have been physically assaulted multiple times. The only Jewish-owned business in my university city has been repeatedly vandalised — with no action from the CPS.”
CUFI’s Alastair Kirk spoke about Christians standing in solidarity with the Jewish community. “I speak on behalf of tens of thousands of Christians across the United Kingdom, when I say that we will not be silent as Jews in this country are targeted. We will not be by-standers. We will not be simply observers of this hatred. We will stand with you shoulder-to-shoulder, until antisemitism is expelled from our midst.”
He continued, “This is now a critical hour; it is the hour for urgent action. For the sake of the Jewish community; for the sake of our nation; for the sake of the values that we share.”
Speaking of the need for Christians to be active in speaking out against antisemitism, Alastair said, “As we all know, Christians outnumber Jews significantly in the UK. One of our goals at CUFI is to mobilise as many Christians as possible to provide the practical support that is needed. Support not only in words, but in action; which is why the policy proposals put forward by the GPS Network are so important, timely and have such potential for change.”
Speaking to CUFI outside Parliament, Jeremy Wootliff of GPS Network said: “Thank you everybody for being with us in this desperate journey, not just for the Jewish people, for the Christian people and for the whole country. It is terribly important that people realise that first they came to the Saturday people, and then they came for the Sunday people.”
“And so the crisis that we now have is that antisemitism has become pervasive across the whole of society…The oldest hatred has resurfaced and Jews are now eight times more likely to be attacked per capita than any other racial or ethnic group,” he said.
“We just want to be regular British people,” Jeremy continued, “We’re just regular folk from Britain. We welcome the Christian alliance and helpfulness.
“We Jews, we need your help. We are only 270,000 people. We’re not enough; we cannot win this on our own. We have an equal right to go about our daily lives in peace and without distress.”
Together, we complemented existing proposals from established organisations with new grassroots suggestions to push beyond what seems to be insufficient government action. Among our ten proposals: create an Independent Antisemitism Ombudsman, prosecute those who use Israel as a pretext to target Jews, and enforce existing anti-terrorism and anti-racism laws in full.
