Antisemitism will “not be tolerated,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said during a press conference on Tuesday to mark the start of his emergency 10 Downing Street antisemitism summit.
Starmer has convened the summit in the wake of the terror stabbing attacks in Golders Green last week, which followed a spate of arson and IED attacks on Jewish institutions in London in the last few months.
The summit was attended by senior ministers, as well as leaders from the business, civil society, health, culture, higher education and policing sectors.
All were asked by Starmer to reflect on the forms antisemitism takes in their sector, the work they are already doing to tackle it, and how they can go further at pace. Each sector spent the morning in an individual roundtable meeting, chaired by a minister.
In his opening speech, Starmer acknowledged rising antisemitism and the fact that Jewish communities were “frightened and angry.”
'No obvious action'
“It is not enough to say, ‘We stand with Jewish communities,’ of course we do, but we must show it and act it,” he said. “We can’t accept a future where communities feel safe only behind higher walls.”
Starmer summarized the government’s recent measures to tackle Jew hatred, including last week’s announcement of an additional £25 million in funding to boost police patrols, specialist officers, and protective security for Jewish communities. This took the total funding to £58 million, as well as £7 million to tackle antisemitism in schools, colleges, and universities.
Starmer also spoke of the commissioning of independent reviews into education and health services and the fact that antisemitism training for staff is being rolled out across the National Health Service (NHS).
The prime minister then announced new measures.
“Today, I can announce, we will lift the bar higher,” he said. “When abuses take place, we’re calling on universities to demonstrate action. We will now expect them to publish the scale of the problem on their campuses, as well as the specific steps they have taken to clamp down on it. There will be zero tolerance for inaction.”
“In our cultural venues and spaces, we will also expect more. Where public funding is being used to promote or platform antisemitism, the Arts Council must act, using its powers to suspend, withdraw, and claw that funding.”
Starmer said that his government was “strengthening its ability to disrupt extremism,” including “stopping those who spread hatred from entering the country and giving the Charity Commission stronger powers to act against organizations that enable it.”
Additionally, the government is holding technology companies to account, requiring them to remove illegal extremist content or face serious penalties.
The prime minister also informed the press that the government was mandating an independent audit into how allegations of antisemitism are handled.
He then revealed a new £1 million support package to target antisemitism in high-risk areas, along with the immediate allocation of £500,000 to Barnet Council, the home of high-population Jewish areas such as Golders Green, Edgware, Finchley, Hendon, and Mill Hill.
The government has also announced funding for the newly launched Jewish Culture Month, which will begin on May 16.
‘No obvious action’
Following the summit, the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD) and the Jewish Leadership Council released a joint statement saying that it was an “important moment to demonstrate a change in approach.”
They announced that they had presented the government with three steps that must be taken immediately to show the Jewish community that the government is committed to action. These are split into three sections.
The first is “Protect British Jews against harm,” which involves recommendations for an increase in police resources, proscription of the IRGC, and the restriction of incitement at pro-Palestinian protests where antisemitic hate speech is frequently taking place.
The second regards prosecuting those inciting hatred through the swift application of the law. This involves ending the “postcode lottery” on inciteful chants. Despite this issue being known for months, it continues to be the case that saying “Globalize the intifada” results in arrests in London, Manchester, and Birmingham but not elsewhere. BoD also recommends accelerating the criminal justice system to fast-track the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for inciting hatred against Jews.
And thirdly, to partner with the Jewish community by recognizing and challenging modern manifestations of antisemitism in Britain. This focuses on identifying who is responsible for propagating hate.
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) praised Starmer for adopting some of its language and his acknowledgment that antisemitism comes not just from the far Right but also from the far Left and Islamism.
“But most of what is being announced is merely a program of telling the authorities to do the jobs they were supposed to have been doing for years,” CAA added.
“The police have had the powers to ban marches all along, and it should not have taken a spate of stabbings and arson attacks for the Charity Commission to act against extremist mosques or for the Arts Council to stop funding venues that spread hate.
Like the BoD and JLC, CAA lamented the fact that Starmer did not announce the proscription of the IRGC or the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador.
“We all know that Iran is a malign influence in this country. Why is he merely pointing to ongoing reviews of indeterminate length, without taking obvious action right now, for example banning the Muslim Brotherhood?”
“We suspect that avoiding these questions is why the prime minister did not invite the UK’s largest antisemitism campaigning charity to his event at Downing Street today. He probably knows that we would play no part in any choreographed spectacle that puts words before action. Now is not the time to be avoiding uncomfortable truths and hard questions.” CAA was not invited to the summit.