(Harlow) (Con)
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home
Department if she will make a statement on recent antisemitic
attacks across the UK.
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local
Government ()
No one could fail to be appalled by the disgraceful scenes of
antisemitic abuse directed at members of the Jewish community in
the past week. In Chigwell, Rabbi Rafi Goodwin was hospitalised
after being attacked outside his synagogue. In London, activists
drove through Golders Green and Finchley, both areas with large
Jewish populations, apparently shouting antisemitic abuse through
a megaphone. These are intimidatory, racist and extremely serious
crimes. The police have since made four arrests for racially
aggravated public order offences and have placed extra patrols in
the St John’s Wood and Golders Green areas.
During Shavuot, as always, we stand with our Jewish friends and
neighbours, who have sadly been subjected to a deeply disturbing
upsurge in antisemitism in recent years, particularly on social
media. Like all forms of racism, antisemitism has no place in our
society. A lot of young British Jews are discovering for the
first time that their friends do not understand antisemitism,
cannot recognise it and do not care that they are spreading it.
British Jews are not responsible for the actions of a Government
thousands of miles away, but are made to feel as if they are.
They see their friends post social media content that glorifies
Hamas—an illegal terrorist organisation, whose charter calls for
every Jew in the world to be killed. Today, the world celebrates
International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
Under Hamas, people are murdered for being gay.
Every time the virus of antisemitism re-enters our society, it
masks itself as social justice, selling itself as speaking truth
to power. This Government are taking robust action to root it
out. We are leading the way as the first Government to adopt the
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of
antisemitism and calling on others to do the same. As a result,
nearly three quarters of local councils have adopted it. I have
written to councils and universities that are still dragging
their feet. They will shortly be named and shamed if they fail to
act. All Members of Parliament, bar one, have signed up to it.
We are also doing our utmost to keep the Jewish community safe
through the £65 million protective security grant to protect
Jewish schools, synagogues and community buildings. We are
working closely with the Community Security Trust to ensure
victims can come forward and report attacks to the police.
We recognise that education is one of the most powerful tools we
have for tackling antisemitism. We are proud to back the work of
the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Anne Frank Trust, among
others, to ensure that we challenge prejudice from an early age.
With the last holocaust survivors leaving us, we are also
ensuring that future generations never forget where hatred can
lead through—I hope—a new world-class holocaust memorial and
learning centre next to the Palace of Westminster. It is
currently awaiting the outcome of a planning inquiry. Some of the
opposition to it has only served to make the case for why it is
needed.
Today, the Government and, I hope, the whole House send a clear
message of support and reassurance to our Jewish friends and
neighbours. We seek a society where the UK’s largest established
religions can live safely and freely, and can prosper, as an
essential part of a nation that is confident in its diversity but
ultimately strong in its unity.
Mr Speaker
I am very disappointed. I said at the beginning that the
Secretary of State had three minutes, and he went on to take four
minutes. Unfortunately, I do not make the rules of the House, but
I have to stick to them. We now go to , who is participating virtually, with two minutes.
[V]
In a 2018 House of Commons debate on antisemitism, I said the air
had grown tighter for Jews:
“you feel very hot, you undo a button on your shirt and your
mouth goes dry.”—[Official Report, 17 April 2018; Vol. 639, c.
262.]
Sadly, after yesterday’s horrific incidents, highlighted by my
right hon. Friend the Secretary of State—particularly the rabbi
being beaten up in Chigwell in Essex—I fear that the air has
become even tighter. I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for
Epping Forest ( ) for her
strong support against antisemitism.
Since 2018, the Community Security Trust has recorded the highest
ever number of antisemitic incidents—more than 1,800 in 2019. In
Harlow just a few days ago, swastikas were graffitied on walls in
a public walkway. Thankfully, they have now been removed.