Keir Starmer calls on nation to ‘open eyes to Jewish ache’ in impassioned plea
In a Downing Street address Keir Starmer vowed to use the full force of the state to tackle antisemitism as he urged Brits to ‘open their eyes to Jewish pain’
Keir Starmer vowed to use the full force of the state to tackle antisemitism(Image: Sky News)
Keir Starmer has vowed to use the “full force of the state” to tackle hatred against Britain’s Jewish community.
In an impassioned Downing Street statement, he branded antisemitism an “affront to British values” as he called for the country to stand together. It follows Wednesday’s harrowing terrorist attack in Golders Green, which saw two Jewish men stabbed.
Mr Starmer stated: “I also call on everyone decent in this country to open their eyes to Jewish pain, Jewish suffering, and Jewish fear. I call on everyone to come together and fight antisemitism, and I call on everyone to fight for the decent, respectful, tolerant Britain that I and millions of people love.”
He said too many people “diminish” the existance of antisemitism as he hit out at the “extreme racism” that British Jews face. He said marchers at pro-Palestinian demonstrations who do not call out people wearing pictures of paragliders – used by Hamas in the October 7 attack – are “venerating the murder of Jews”.
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The Prime Minister said: “Antisemitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots are deep, and if you turn away, it grows back.
“Yet far too many people in this country diminish it. They either don’t see it or they don’t want to see it. Take the marches that happen regularly across Britain.
“Of course, we protect freedom of speech and peaceful protest in this country. But if you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews.
“If you stand alongside people who say globalise the intifada, you are calling for terrorism against Jews. And people who use that phrase should be prosecuted.
“It is racism, extreme racism, and it has left a minority community in this country scared, intimidated, wondering if they belong.”
Mr Starmer said: “People are scared, scared to show who they are in their community, scared to go to synagogue and practice their religion, scared to go to university as a Jew, to send their children to school as a Jew, to tell their colleagues that they are Jewish, even to use our NHS.
“Nobody should live like that in Britain. But Jews do.”
It comes just hours after the PM vowed to stand with the Jewish community after the Golders Green attack, and that the fight against antisemitism was an issue for “everyone in this country”. He made the comments shortly after the Home Secretary unveiled £25million for security to boost police patrols and protections around synagogues, schools and community centres.
Mr Starmer was speaking at an event in Downing Street to discuss how to respond to the incident, which is the latest in a series of attacks against the Jewish community. He said: “An attack on our Jewish community is an attack on all of us, and we have to approach it in that way. We are fast tracking legislation to deal with malign state actors and of course, we must absolutely deal with the root causes of both anti-semitism, and extremism.
“I do think there’s a wider duty on all of us in terms of the confidence in the criminal justice system to be able to deal with appalling attacks like this, to show that it can act in a swift, agile and visible way. It is often said that we stand with our Jewish community, but we do stand with our Jewish community, of course we do, but it’s our fight as well. It’s the fight of everyone in this country, because it’s about what sort of a country that we want to live in.
“We’ve got to make this a bigger fight, it is a fight for what we believe is the kind of country that we ought to and want to live in.”
Two Jewish men, aged 76 and 34, were stabbed in a terrorist attack in the area on Wednesday. They are in a stable condition in hospital. Jewish leaders called for tougher action on anti-semitic violence after the double stabbing at around 11.15am which has been declared a terrorist attack.
Mr Starmer added: “What we saw last night was people being targeted because they are Jewish, I’m absolutely clear about that. There’s no getting away from the fact that this was not a one-off. This has been a series of attacks on our community, particularly in recent weeks, and there is a very deep sense of anxiety, of concern about security, about safety, about identity frankly.”
