Yossi Mekelberg
Every time that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalates, there is a side effect – a very disturbing and worrying one – of the conflict spilling over and manifesting itself in deplorable acts of antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe and North America, including physical attacks, threats, intimidation or hate speech, vandalism and discrimination. It takes place in the streets, on public transport, at universities and schools, and in the hideout provided by social media.
With fears of the war in Gaza further escalating, it is the task of all community leaders to stand together and show unity in deploring all forms of these ugly phenomena, especially in these difficult times. Expressing care and empathy for the suffering of everyone caught up in this conflict will serve our communities more than acts of hate that could tear up societies and will do nothing for those in the eye of the storm.
The Israeli-Palestinian issue, which can derail good community relations at the best of times, is turning venomous to the extent that the sheer number of flashpoints is testing and challenging multicultural societies. As people are exposed to the gory images of extreme violence and brutality, especially on social media, which are either disseminated uncensored or deliberately edited to achieve a greater impact, our societies are becoming increasingly polarized because people feel the need – indeed, are encouraged – to take sides, and to an extent that legitimizes and encourages extreme views and behavior. Tragically, much of what we see, read and hear engenders a lack of understanding and awareness of the other, meaning that people cannot even see the humanity of the other. Understandably, events such as the Gaza war are bound to divide opinions; however, it is also the case that, when disagreements become entrenched, they threaten society’s cohesion to the point of destruction. In reaction to this most recent war in the Middle East, people are falling back on what they see as their primary identity, which brings to the surface biases and prejudices against other religious and ethnic groups that are, in normal times, hidden beneath a thin veneer of apparently harmonious coexistence.
The level of hate and fear we are witnessing in the streets shows a failure of our capability to withstand such aftershocks from external events. Instead of supporting and encouraging both Israelis and Palestinians to end their conflict, we end up importing that conflict into our daily lives, which is no help at all. Shock, sorrow and distress, first at Hamas’ murderous assault on Israel and then at the wholesale killings of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces in its war against Hamas, are natural human reactions. But why should these horrendous events taking place thousands of miles away result in acts of antisemitism and Islamophobia by citizens turning their anger against each other? It defies logic and is inexcusable. The rise of such incidents in the UK since Oct. 7 is frightening and threatens to leave entire communities helpless and disenfranchised. The Community Security Trust, which gathers reports of antisemitism across the UK, recorded at least 893 incidents between Oct. 7 and Oct. 31. This is the highest total recorded in a 25-day period. Similarly, Tell Mama, which collates incidents of Islamophobia, recorded 515 anti-Muslim incidents, a sixfold increase on the same period last year.
In the UK, where multiculturalism is a source of pride, instead of a show of unity in the face of the horrors that are being inflicted on innocent civilians from both sides, the entire discourse is becoming tribal, while friendships and good neighborly relations are damaged, hopefully not beyond repair. Incidents such as a youth screaming obscenities at an ultra-Orthodox Jew on the London Underground and showing him images of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas, taunting him with “see what we did to you,” or somebody shouting “Hamas terrorist” at a Muslim woman in the street, are examples of hate speech that should be dealt with by the law enforcement bodies. However, these incidents also reflect where we have gone wrong by not bothering to educate citizens from an early age to encourage respectful and thoughtful debate and disagreement, rather than being at each other’s throats. As always, it is a minority that is involved in actual racist attacks, but it happens in a permissive environment that sees the “other” as a legitimate target for verbal and even physical abuse. At a time like this, when we should rally together in seeing the humanity in everyone and express our sympathy and empathy for all those who are being put through probably the worst form of human suffering imaginable in Israel and Palestine, there are those who regrettably and irresponsibly thrive on division and discord. Protesting the bombardment of Gaza is legitimate, but those who pin images of paragliders to their jackets are doing nothing less than endorsing Hamas’ atrocities of Oct. 7. And those who daubed Jewish schools in north London with red paint are the perpetrators of a hate crime, as are those who targeted the Central Oxford Mosque and Islamic Cultural Society and those who called a London bus driver a “terrorist” and “Hamas.”
All this is made worse by less-than-thoughtful and uninformed politicians, who are making irresponsible statements for either ideological or party political reasons. Suggesting that carrying the Palestinian flag is illegal or offensive is factually wrong, aggravates intercommunal relations and makes many people, especially in the Muslim community, feel like they are being silenced. Hamas is proscribed in the UK as a terrorist group and supporting it is different from supporting the Palestinians’ cause for self-determination. However, the slogan popular with many pro-Palestinian protesters, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is open to a range of interpretations, from one that suggests a democratic state for all to one that calls for the annihilation of Israel. Although not illegal, it upsets many. It is a tragic irony that, in times of war and bloodshed, many of those who are not necessarily directly affected tend to oversimplify very complex issues and turn them into a cultural war; and, by doing so, they scar and scare their own societies. We would all do better to resort to our humanity and values as our compass and stand together first and foremost as caring for all human beings and the sanctity of all lives equally. This would be of greater help to all sides involved in what is yet another tragic chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than communities fighting each other abroad. After all, it is sometimes easy to hate, but it takes real bravery to extend the hand of reconciliation, especially in these darkest of days.
