What did they expect? That was my gut reaction to those who expressed surprise at the murder of Jews at a Manchester synagogue today. This may have been the first murder of Jews as Jews on British soil for hundreds of years but, tragically, it was unsurprising.
Admittedly the motivation of the murderous individual who slaughtered two members of the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation and injured others is not yet known. But there were signs that such an attack was imminent. For example, in May the Israeli embassy in London was reportedly the target of an attempted terror attack by Iranian nationals. Mercifully it was thwarted with a few hours to spare.
It was also less than two weeks ago that the British authorities more-or-less gave the green light to violent Islamist attacks. A man attempted to stab someone for burning the Koran was spared a jail sentence.
In addition, there have been attacks and attempted attacks in other European countries. As recently as this Tuesday three suspected members of Hamas were arrested in Germany for allegedly planning terror attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets.
Even leaving aside the attempts at murder the whole drive of anti-Israel activists, including BDS, is to purge the world of any Israeli influence. They want to remove Israel from football tournaments, banish it from the Eurovision Song Contest, boycott Israeli academics and much more. Another prong of the attack is to try to get firms, particularly those with iconic brand names, to distance themselves from Israel.
What starts in the cultural and economic sphere easily morphs into broader attempt to expunge Jews. It is not such a leap to move from wanting to purge the world of Israeli influence to attempting to eliminate flesh and blood Jews.
Those who maintain there is a fundamental distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are kidding themselves. Both share the fundamental premise that Jews collectively are the embodiment of evil in the world. As such, for anyone who accepts this warped premise, it is easy to draw the conclusion that Jews must be eliminated.
Just look at the reaction to the 7 October pogrom in southern Israel. So many supposedly humanistic leftists insisted it was justified by the ‘context’. If they criticised it at all it was in the most grudging and cursory way.
At this point it should be noted that ‘from the river to the sea’ is not a metaphor either. Many activists either naively or dishonestly claim that it expresses an aspiration for a democratic Palestine for all. Perhaps in an alternative universe that is true but in this one it is certain that is not what it means. ‘Free Palestine’ in this context means free it of Jews.
Hamas has said many times – including in its never-revoked 1988 covenant - that its goal is to destroy Israel and slaughter Jews. Any serious person would do well to take it at its word.
For those who want to stand up against the wicked trend to expunge Jews there is much they can do. Most notably to vehemently oppose any attempts to banish any Israeli connections from public life.
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), one of the greatest German writers, famously wrote prophetically “Where they have burned books, they will end up burning people”. A 21st century version could be “Where they have boycotted Israel, they will end up murdering Jews”.
PHOTO: "Free Palestine from the river to the sea, Schiedam (2023) 01.cut" by Okin is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.