I am the one with the big personality around the Friday night dinner table. I have spent my whole life being told to ‘stop it with the dramatics’ as I sip my chicken soup. A day does not go by where my family – proud Jewish Brits – long for me to lower my voice or roll their eyes at my overexaggerating tendencies. So you can only imagine my horror when my friend – one of the most rational people in our social circle – said exactly what I was thinking: that Britain is no longer safe for British Jews. If Green party leader Zack Polanski made it to Number 10, my friend said that he would leave immediately. He told me in candid detail that he would stay in Israel until a visa was accepted for him to go to America. I was startled. Is the situation for the Jewish community really that bad? The latest attack in Golders Green shows that my friend – and many other British Jews – are right to be afraid.
When Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party, members of the Jewish community started to explore the idea of leaving the UK. Who could blame them when faced with the realities of living as a Jew in 21st Century Britain? A lot of my non-Jewish friends were somewhat surprised when I told them that it was standard protocol that synagogues are heavily guarded. Being educated in two Church of England schools, I had the luxury of assimilated protection from outside threats in that regard, although I still felt the danger when going to my place of worship. But when I think back to my old school days, memories flash before me of being told to ‘get in the oven’ by ignorant classmates. When meeting another Jew at university who was also educated at a private school, we bonded over similar shared experiences. It’s a reminder that the scourge of antisemitism is always present, but now war in the Middle East has enabled it to float to the surface and into the mainstream.
Childhood memories include skipping the children’s service at my synagogue to chat with my dad as he was on guard duty, only for him to tell me to go back inside for my own safety. Should any place of worship in the UK even be in such need of security? This is a proud country which has freedom of religion. And why do Jewish schools in the UK need prison-like walls? So why do synagogues need to be so heavily guarded? Jewish children in Britain have been forced to hide their blazers in public for fear of putting a target on their backs. These issues aren’t confined to schools, of course; a friend working in the media told me she was scared of even outing herself as Jewish to her colleagues.
The rate of people leaving the UK to emigrate to Israel hit a 40-year high in 2025, with an increase of 20 per cent over the previous year. That was already on top of an increase of over 70 per cent in 2023. This is not necessarily just members of more orthodox denominations, but young adults who are feeling the impact directly on the streets and in the workplace. I spoke to one of my friends in Israel – a 29-year-old living in Tel Aviv, who told me in explicit terms that they feel safer in a warzone than on the streets of the UK. “We moved to Israel with the security of knowing we would feel secure in a war zone rather than in a country who has abandoned its most loyal yet petrified minority group, the Jewish community,” she said.
“The future is no longer secured for the Jewish community in the UK. We caught a glimpse of the uptick on the streets of St John’s Wood in 2021. In October 2023, the surge (of hatred) had increased to a point where we are actively removing our Jewish symbols from our clothing and jewellery.” Feeling helpless, she added: “We were realising that we had been ghettoised into a community who would no longer exist and thrive in the UK. We moved to Israel and watch on in horror.”
Every time there is an attack, we hear the same words: ‘We stand with the Jewish community’
As two visibly looking Jewish men were stabbed in London this week, it seems that there is more horror on our streets than in a Stephen King story. If you were to approach the majority of the Jewish community, they would tell you that, although they are shocked, the latest terrorist incident comes as no surprise. The fact I write the word ‘latest’ is a travesty in itself, but again it is not a surprise.
My job has meant that I have had to travel into London to cover premieres and events, sometimes on a Saturday. One day in 2023, I was walking alone through Waterloo Station on the day of one of the hate marches. The station was full of people holding placards as they made their way home. As I moved away from the escalator, I overheard two men – decked in keffiyehs – speak to each other as they were partially huddled over their phone. Looking at what I presume was social media content, one laughed out loud saying the words ‘Jewish scum! Zionist pigs!’. I was alone, there were no staff or police anywhere in sight. I froze, hoping that somebody, anybody would call them out. Nobody did. In that moment, the feeling of isolation sunk in. Although I come from a traditional Jewish background, I do not wear traditional symbols. But what if I wore my yellow pin for the hostages that day? Or what if I did have a Star of David necklace on?
When I walk through the streets of Oxford Street, Soho, Mayfair and London Bridge my senses are heightened. I think to myself: ‘How many people in London want me dead?’ A number of friends have confessed to having similar thoughts. There are only 300,000 Jews in Britain. We make up 0.5 per cent of the population. Is this why politicians don’t listen to our fears or seem to care? Those in charge do not need to worry about which way the community sways.
And so, every time there is an attack, we hear the same words: ‘We stand with the Jewish community’. Politicians feign surprise, but then swiftly move on. Nothing is ever done. Hatred against Jews has become either completely normalised or is excused as ‘criticism’ of Israel. Somehow, commentators who compare Israel to Nazi Germany are shocked when Jews are left fighting for their lives. Attacking British Jews on the streets of their country will not ‘Free Palestine’, it is just blatant Jew hatred. Is it any wonder that people want to leave?
