Since the atrocities of 7 October in southern Israel, one of the most disturbing developments has been the increasing slide—among some anti-Israel activists—from criticism of Israel into overt expressions of anti-Semitism. What once required dog whistles now appears increasingly unfiltered and unapologetic.
Take, for example, Gary Lineker, a leading sports presenter, who has just announced he is leaving the BBC after sharing an anti-Zionist video. The clip featured a graphic of a ‘Jewish rat’—an image lifted directly from Nazi propaganda. Although Lineker quickly deleted the post and issued an apology, the incident was not isolated. It is part of a broader pattern: a recurring drift into racialised Jew-hatred by those who otherwise see themselves as champions of equality and social justice.
This prompts a pressing question: why do so many well-meaning anti-racists fail to recognise anti-Semitism when it surfaces within their own ranks?
The answer lies, I would argue, in the way anti-Semitism now functions as a form of cultural capital among sections of the radical middle class. Pierre Bourdieu, a prominent French sociologist, famously defined cultural capital as the non-economic assets—such as tastes, values, education, and language—that signal social status and enable social mobility. Traditionally, this might include fluency in high culture, academic credentials, or a command of niche political theory.
Today, for a certain segment of radicalised middle-class activists, unwavering alignment with the Muslim cause—both in the Middle East and in domestic British politics—has become a key signifier of one’s progressive credentials. The more uncritical and absolutist the support, the more authentic one’s anti-racism appears.
This dynamic creates a moral hierarchy. Muslims are cast as permanent victims of imperialism, Islamophobia and racism. In contrast, Jews, especially Zionist or culturally-identifying Jews, are increasingly portrayed as privileged, powerful and suspect. Criticism of Israel has taken a symbolic leap from political opposition to a repository of anti-Jewish tropes, revealing a deeper, unspoken logic at work.
In radical middle-class circles, refusing to criticise regressive or violent actions by groups like Hamas becomes a badge of ideological purity. It demonstrates that one is not seduced by ‘mainstream’ or ‘imperialist’ narratives. To raise concerns about Islamist violence or anti-Semitic hate crimes is viewed with suspicion—as if it were a betrayal of the anti-racist cause.
A notable early example came from Lindsey German, then a leader of the Socialist Workers Party. Writing in The Guardian, she said: “I'm in favour of defending gay rights. But I am not prepared to have it as a shibboleth”. The term shibboleth here signalled her resistance to making gay rights a litmus test—particularly if it risked alienating conservative Muslim allies. This approach, once about pragmatic coalition-building against imperialism, has since bled into a broader reluctance to confront anti-Semitism.
More recently, Lucy Powell, a Labour MP, accused Tim Montgomerie, a conservative commentator, of “dog-whistle racism” for raising the grooming gang scandals. Similarly, Emily Maitlis, a prominent journalist, levelled the same accusation at Rupert Lowe, an independent right wing MP. In both cases, questioning uncomfortable issues was framed not just as politically incorrect, but morally suspect—tantamount to siding with the ‘wrong sort’: Brexit voters, white working-class populists, or tabloid readers.
In this climate, dismissing anti-Semitism is no longer an oversight—it is a calculated move that elevates ‘Islamophobia’ as the only legitimate form of racism worth opposing. This was starkly apparent during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, when Momentum-aligned supporters responded to investigations into anti-Semitism with the hashtag #ItWasAScam. The idea that Jews could be victims of racism was rebranded as a political conspiracy—a manoeuvre that would be unthinkable if applied to inquiries into anti-Black, anti-Asian or anti-Muslim bigotry.
This is not just ideological confusion; it signals a shift in class identity. Just as earlier generations of the middle class displayed their refinement through opera or organic food, today’s radicals perform their status through what might be called woke austerity - a posture of hardline anti-imperialism and cultural guilt.
Within this posture, uncritical pro-Muslim sentiment becomes a proxy for moral virtue. Anti-Semitism becomes its inverse: a coded rejection of those seen as powerful, western-aligned or insufficiently oppressed. Jews have become the unfashionable minority—too affluent, too secure, too connected to the state of Israel to count as authentic victims.
This is not the anti-Semitism of the far right. It is a cosmopolitan anti-Semitism—found among well-educated radicals, cloaked in the language of liberation. It wears keffiyehs, cites Edward Said and quotes Judith Butler. It does not generally call for pogroms (though some have). Instead, it shrugs at hostage beheadings and blames the victims for ‘occupying’ the moral high ground.
Today’s radical middle classes do not merely ignore anti-Semitism—they sometimes deploy it, consciously or not, as part of their moral identity. In their eagerness to appear on the right side of history, they have created a hierarchy of victimhood that demotes Jews and makes hostility towards them permissible—even fashionable—under the banner of justice for Palestine.
In doing so, they betray the core principle of anti-racist politics: that all people, regardless of history, religion, or ethnicity, deserve protection from hatred. Anti-Semitism is not a relic of the past. It has become a present-day prejudice—part of the moral currency of those who mistake radical chic for moral clarity.
That is how Gary Lineker ended up posting ‘Jewish rats’ on Instagram.
Neil Davenport is a writer based in London.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Radicalism of fools project.
PHOTO: "Gary Lineker, North East Blynes" by David Woolfall is licensed under CC BY 3.0.