ATTACKS on Jews have escalated to become a deadly problem globally and it constitutes a threat to democracy in the UK, the Antisemitism Policy Trust has said.
Trust director Danny Stone said on GB News: “There will be a re-traumatising of the community in Manchester. You spoke about that attack. But this is now global.
“We had Bondi Beach. There have been attacks since October the seventh 2023 on synagogues in Poland, in Russia, in Germany, in France. This is international anti-Semitism. It is increasingly deadly anti-Semitism.
“I think people will be looking for reassurance, which I’m happy to give them. In the UK, we do have good, strong security systems, but they will be fearful. And there is some real rationale for being fearful, given the levels of extremism that we’re seeing, and so far, a failure to get to grips with it.”
He added: “Firstly, the threat to Jews here – this is a threat to our democracy, really. The terror attack on the Heaton Park synagogue, was an attack on democracy, the British community.
“The Jewish community is part of Britain, and rightly so. Specifically on the Iranian threat: we saw arrests the other day in north-west London of individuals linked to Iran.
“There is a specific, tangible threat, a state-backed threat from that regime.
“It is a regime that has proclaimed that it wants to harm Jews. But again, that threat isn’t just to the Jewish community. It has a particular view of the world that it wants to enforce, and Britain is at odds with that view of the world.
“So the threat, at the moment, you’re right, is against the Jewish community, and will continue, no doubt, to be against the Jewish community, but it needs to be seen as a threat to our democracy, and that’s why, when the Government published this week its social cohesion action plan, I want to see that implemented, because this isn’t just about Jews.
“This is about Jews, Muslims, Christians and everyone else, the people who have no religion in Britain, and how we tackle extremism together.”
