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Source: https://institute.global/insights/news/tony-blair-antisemitism-the-challenge
Why the West Fails to Stop Antisemitism
(Tony Blair Institute for Global Change-UK) Tony Blair - Last year in the UK there were more than 3,700 incidents of antisemitism, with a sharp increase in attacks on visibly Jewish people and public figures, including the attack on a Manchester synagogue in October. France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands have seen similar spikes in antisemitic attacks and incidents following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assault on Israel. Jewish people in the UK and in Europe are genuinely fearful. Some have already left the countries they were born and grew up in, because they know these countries are not dealing with the roots of modern antisemitism and the environment of tacit permission that stalks parts of Western politics. So we end up in the bizarre situation that a community, relatively small in the case of Britain, which on the whole works hard, does well, and gives proportionately more philanthropically than any other, is targeted by bigotry - and in any other case would provoke not just firm action but a concerted attempt to challenge the ideology behind it. Antisemitism is not new. It rolls on through the centuries with some in each generation seemingly finding new reasons, justifications, explanations, or excuses for it. But today it has new forms, on the right and on the left. The left-wing version is a pernicious and novel development in progressive politics: the alliance with Islamists. And the war in Gaza has allowed it full rein in pursuing it. Parts of the left cast the Jewish community as supporters of the government of Israel. And Jews become "fair game." The suffering of Gaza, the death and destruction, is undeniable. But you cannot engage in criticism legitimately if you do not also condemn the terrorism of Oct. 7. You cannot pretend that Israel does not face a substantial terrorist threat from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hizbullah, the Iranian regime, and other groups that do not recognize Israel's right to exist. You should not diminish the charge of genocide by a barb particularly aimed at Jewish memories of the Holocaust, which was a genocide. I don't know what the response of the people of Britain would be if we woke up one day and found 1,200 of our citizens were murdered, including young people at a music festival, with women raped and others taken hostage. But I suspect it would be total determination that those responsible were going to be removed as a threat, and nothing would deter us from doing so. I know some say that defending the State of Israel is not the way to defeat antisemitism. But there is more at stake than simply defending Israel. It's about defending reason. Defending facts. Standing up to the noise and intimidation to assert the truth. The writer is former Prime Minister of Great Britain (1997-2007).