Stand against Britain's Dreyfus moment
Mark Birbeck describes Monday's parliamentary debate about Israel's influence in Britain, as a watershed moment. He argues that Britain's institutions are moving from tolerating anti-Semitism to hosting it, and consequently that this is our Dreyfus Moment; it must be challenged.
What connects the Nazis with Matthew Collings, and Sally Rooney with Hamas? Simple. They all believe—or believed—that the Jews are running the show, and they're to blame for everything.
The Nazis used the anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as their foundational text. The document claims to outline a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, and despite being exposed as a forgery in the 1920s, Hamas were still more than happy to adopt it as part of their founding charter. But its ideas run far more mainstream; artist Matthew Collings produces endless childish drawings suggesting Israel controls America and Britain, Sally Rooney tells us that it's Israel that is to blame for rising fascism in Europe, protestors stand outside Parliament with banners depicting puppets.
This isn't new. Across the years, and spanning the globe, they and many others peddle these and other libels.
But what is new here in Britain—and what makes this our 'Dreyfus moment'—is that our institutions are now absorbing and amplifying these prejudices.
In the late nineteenth century, French Colonel Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of espionage. He spent five years on Devil's Island while the French army, courts, media, and government conspired to cover up the truth; institutions were prepared to ignore core values of the French Republic rather than admit they were wrong—because it was a Jew that was paying the price.
And today in Britain we are witnessing something comparable. But this time it's not one Jew on trial but an entire community; our civic institutions from top to bottom, are compromising themselves rather than confront the growth in anti-Semitism, and as a consequence they are fuelling it.
Last year, West Midlands Police, Birmingham City Council and the Home Office worked together to ban Jewish football fans from Aston Villa's match against Maccabi Tel Aviv, taking the word of local Islamists that Jewish fans are inherently violent. And despite our Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying that the ban should not stand, it did.
The previous year, after the Labour Party won the 2024 election, the Foreign Office implemented arms embargoes against Israel. Although they lacked teeth, the message was clear—that Israel could not be trusted with weapons.
And this Monday, Parliament will debate whether there should be an enquiry into Israel's 'control' of British politics. The government's response to such a bizarre debate has not been outrage or even a calm and measured statement that such libels and conspiracy theories are dangerous for our Jewish citizens. They have said instead that there is already an 'existing framework for transparency', and that a review is under way concerning 'access to government'.
No mention of the rabid anti-Semitism that is driving this; if you wanted to create fertile ground for the propagation of a conspiracy theory, you could do no better.
So we have a serious problem. We know that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Britain—ambulances firebombed, stabbings on the streets of Golders Green and murders outside a Manchester synagogue to give just a few examples. But our institutions are now helping to accelerate this process, and that is deeply disturbing. The debate in Parliament this coming Monday is the most serious manifestation of this to date.
Whether we pass through this moment unscathed is down to all of us.
Will members of Parliament attend this debate and treat it with the disdain it deserves? Will our political parties and their leaders make strong statements that we will not allow wild conspiracy theories to go unchallenged? Will the media expose each occasion of manipulation as in Birmingham?
Whilst we hope they will, we cannot wait. It is also down to each of us to show that those who peddle these libels and try to take advantage of our institutions, do not represent the mainstream view. We need to post on social media, challenge the libels we see, and turn up to show solidarity.
Monday's parliamentary debate is a watershed moment. Britain's institutions are moving from tolerating anti-Semitism to hosting it. This is our Dreyfus Moment and it must be challenged.
On Monday we will be outside Parliament at 3.30pm, talking to the public and politicians. Please come and join us.
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