United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for tougher action on pro-Palestinian marches and rhetoric, which he blamed for increased antisemitism.
Following the stabbing of two Jewish men in London this week, the Jewish community has called on the government to do more to protect it. Starmer, speaking with the BBC, blamed the rise of certain pro-Palestinian activism since Oct. 7, 2023, in part for the rise in antisemitic attacks. He suggested that repeated pro-Palestinian marches had a “cumulative effect” on antisemitism in the U.K.
“When you see, when you hear some of those chants — ‘globalize the intifada’ would be one I would pick out — then clearly there should be tougher action in relation to that,” he said.
Starmer’s comments risk angering many within his party, who will take issue with his linking of antisemitism with pro-Palestinian activism. His government has previously vacillated between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian positions.
The war in Gaza has radicalized many within the U.K.’s Islamic community, leading to an unparalleled surge in anti-Semitic hate crimes and planned terrorist attacks against Jewish targets.
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On Friday, Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley sought to draw equivalence between the threat to Jewish communities from Islamic terrorism and other types of terrorists, though the only notable attacks have come from Islamic terrorists.
“The ghastly fact is that Jews are on everybody’s list, all of those hateful groups, whether you’re extreme right, whether you’re extreme left, whether you’re Islamist terrorist, whether you’re right-wing terrorist, and some hostile states as well now with some sort of Iranian-related threats,” he told The Times. “There’s a ghastly Venn diagram that they’re at the middle of.”
