Neviim Tovim, blogs by Gillian Gould Lazarus

Galut is the Hebrew word for exile. It mean the Jewish diaspora outside the Land of Israel and, in the bible, it is used of the captivity in Babylon from about 587 BCE until about 537, when the Persian emperor Cyrus permitted the return of the exiles.

This article, however, is about Finchley and the anti racist demonstration which took place there last night.

It is August, when even the supposedly placid Brits have been known to take to the streets and riot, last time in the dog days of 2011. The trigger in the present case is the tragedy of a murderous rampage by a teenager in Southport, killing three small children and injuring many others. The falsehood that the perpetrator was a Muslim immigrant was circulated on social media and the riots began, populated by self-styled patriots who set fire to vehicles and attacked mosques. Even when the identity of the killer was made known, and he was revealed to be neither a Muslim nor an immigrant, the riots persisted, spreading to many cities in the UK, including Belfast. There was a clearly racist impetus against Muslims and it put at risk all people of colour.

In Southport, residents gathered together after the riot to clear up the mess and to repair damage to the mosque, and the other cities followed, attempting to repair not just the physical but also the civic and social wreckage.

This became a moment for the left to formulate their response and assemble their activists. Professor David Miller was not alone in asserting that Zionists had caused and directed the anti Muslim riots. The far right Nick Griffin, former leader of the British National Party, took exactly the same view. Tommy Robinson, in recent years more at the forefront of the far right than Nick Griffin, has designated Islam and immigration as the enemy but he is not anti Jewish. On the contrary, he wanted to participate in a march against antisemitism but was turned away by the organizers, rightly in my opinion, as his presence would have been used to characterize the march as Islamophobic. Boris Johnson’s presence among the marchers was hardly remarked on, but Tommy Robinson would have damaged the brand of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which had brought out a hundred thousand people, marching to Westminster.

Yesterday was Wednesday. It was widely reported by social media that the far right were going to attack specific immigration centres and other vulnerable targets, related to asylum seekers. The anti racists swiftly organized counter demonstrations and, in the event, many thousands gathered to defend the designated locations, while there was no show from the far right. In almost every way, it was a good outcome.

However, this leaflet was distributed concerning the anti racist assembly in Finchley, just a mile or two from where I live.

The inclusion of Zionists among the categories of the far right was a racist solecism. I am only too familiar with the argument that Zionism is separate from Jews and Judaism, which is invariably the response of those accused of antisemitism on the basis of a fanatical or violent anti Zionism. And yet, it is often the same people who substitute the word Zionists for Jews in highly anachronistic ways, claiming that ‘Zionists’ killed Jesus, sank the Titanic, were readmitted to England by a malfeasant Oliver Cromwell and -one I saw for the first time yesterday – had King Charles I beheaded.

In practice, most Jews I know hold liberal Zionist views, severely tested for some by reports of right wing bigotry among members of the Knesset or delinquent behaviour from some West Bank settlers. Where their Zionism is not crushed into non existence, they tend to repose hope still in the Two State Solution and the cessation of settlements in the disputed territories. They excoriate Prime Minister Netanyahu without reserve although some, like myself, have too often seen Netanyahu portrayed in antisemitic iconography as a blood soaked monster to want to add my voice to his demonization. Those of my generation tend to have histories of activism with the Anti Nazi League and to have demonstrated in the past against the National Front, the BNP and South African apartheid.

I can tell you that when I was on a counter demonstration against dockers who marched in support of Enoch Powell in 1968, the antisemitism I heard that day came from some of the Powellite dockers, not from the counter demonstrators.

Be that as it may, it appears that Zionists are now not welcome at anti racist demonstrations, so I count myself as excluded.

The CEO of a Jewish organization posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he had attended the Finchley anti racist demo, feeling bound to show solidarity with the Muslim community. When I replied that I would not feel welcome with my Star of David and yellow ribbon pin, which alludes to the Israeli hostages still captive in Gaza, he replied that he had worn these signs and not encountered hostility. So far so good, but others appeared on my timeline, thus:

I have concealed the names, apart from my own, but ‘A’ is the Jewish man who was at the demo.

I read statements from some Jews who are anti Zionist activists, saying that they found nothing but goodwill on the anti racist demos, but they say the same about the weekly pro Palestinian marches and indeed failed to spot a shred of antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

It has often seemed to me, perhaps wrongly, that Jews – my family and my friends – are Zionists unless they state otherwise. These days, more state otherwise than used to. They may be unhappy with Israel’s part in the wars it has to fight or they may simply not want to be excluded from political movements which they and I have always supported: anti racism, Gay Pride, civil rights, women’s rights.

It is not a pleasant thing to be exiled from political activity which has always been part of one’s life. It is this feature of the present day UK which makes England exilic for me as never before.

There is a new video of a Labour councillor making a speech from the midst of one of the demos. He calls for fascists and racists to have their throats cut and the crowd cheers wildly. Visibly powered by adrenalin and serotonin, he then roars ‘Free, free…’ and the crowd chants back, ‘Palestine!’