The Prime Minister said:
Yesterday, Britain's Jewish community suffered yet another vile
terrorist attack. Two men stabbed in broad daylight on the
streets of Golders Green because they were Jews. I've just come
back from Golders Green where I expressed my sadness and
solidarity with that community but also my determination to act
because the truth is this attack is not a one-off.
There have been a series of attacks including an arson attack in
Hendon, an attack on the Jewish
Ambulance Service Hatzola, the fireball at Kenton
United Synagogue which I visited last week and on top of all this
Heaton Park in Manchester last October where two Jewish men were
killed in a vile Islamist attack on their synagogue. And so
people are scared, scared to show who they are in their
community, scared to go to synagogue and practise their religion,
scared to go to university as a Jew, to send their children to
school as a Jew, to tell their colleagues that they are Jewish,
even to use our NHS. Nobody should live like that in Britain but
Jews do.
And so yesterday this anxiety that is always there went to
another place, to terror frankly. That is the right word. I want
to thank the Jewish Security Services who wrestle with this every
day and who alongside the police prevented a much greater tragedy
yesterday.
I met some of the first responders today and on behalf of the
country I thanked them for their bravery. We will strengthen the
visible police presence in our Jewish communities. We will
increase our investment in those Jewish Security Services. We
will introduce much stronger powers to shut down charities that
promote antisemitic extremism. We will prevent hate preachers
from entering our country, bar them from our campuses, our
streets, our communities. Work with our justice system to speed
up sentences on antisemitic attacks so there is a stronger
deterrence factor as we do with riots.
And we need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by
states like Iran because we know for a fact that they want to
harm British Jews which is why we will fast-track the necessary
legislation. And yet the truth is while we can and we will bring
the full power of the state to bear on this, this is about
society every bit as much as it is about security. At moments
like this we often say this is not Britain, that these attacks
are an afront to British values, to British tolerance, British
decency but they keep happening.
And so today instead I will simply say that our values are not a
gift handed down generation to generation. They are something we
earn each day through action. They come from us.
Antisemitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots
are deep and if you turn away it grows back. Yet far too many
people in this country diminish it.
They either don't see it or they don't want to see it. Take the
marches that happen regularly across Britain. Of course we
protect freedom of speech and peaceful protests in this country
but if you are marching with people wearing pictures of
paragliders without calling it out you are venerating the murder
of Jews.
If you stand alongside people who say globalise the intifada, you
are calling for terrorism against Jews and people who use that
phrase should be prosecuted. It is racism, extremely racism and
it has left a minority community in this country scared,
intimidated, wondering if they belong. So, I say again this
government will do everything in our power to stamp this hatred
out.
We will strengthen our security and protect our Jewish community,
but I also call on everyone decent in this country to open their
eyes to Jewish pain, Jewish suffering and Jewish fear. I call on
everyone to come together and fight antisemitism and I call on
everyone to fight for the decent, respectful, tolerant Britain
that I and millions of people love so that our freedom and our
values can still speak loud and true to a community that can no
longer take it on faith. Thank you.
