When banning anti-Semites fuels anti-Semitism

"Not conducive to the public good."

It's a phrase from the 1971 Immigration Act, which gives the government the power to deport someone from the UK — or even prevent them from entering — if their presence might be a risk to national security, result in serious crime, or give rise to extremism. This week the phrase was in the news because these powers were used by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, to keep out anti-Semitic social media figures Hasan Piker and his uncle Cenk Uygur.

As a democrat, I'm all for the elected government of the day being entitled to use its laws to enforce and keep order. And I'm pretty sure that no-one would be disappointed if our leaders finally showed some decisiveness, boldness, backbone and leadership.

But is that what we've seen this week?

Challenging libels

If the Home Secretary had explained exactly why Piker and Uygur had been prevented from entering the country I'd be more sympathetic to her actions; is their exclusion due to their relentless repetition of the genocide myth, or the claim that Israel seeks to 'kill babies'? If Mahmood had come out and publicly said that these things were lies — and consequently that these bigots are not welcome because they are putting a target on the backs of Jews and Israelis — I might be able to muster a cheer for this authoritarian ban.

But instead of clarity, we have a technocratic government that prefers to hide behind bureaucratic actions, and vacuous phrases like "not conducive to the public good". By leaving the important part unsaid they have achieved nothing beyond fanning the flames under the wildfire that is anti-Semitism. Uygur and Piker have gone from motor-mouth bigots to martyrs in barely a few hours. They are claiming to have been blocked from attending the hipster SXSW conference, speaking at Oxford University, and meeting with Zack Polanski and Jeremy Corbyn not because Piker said he prefers Hamas to Israel, or because Uygar said that the US is 'in the pocket' of Jewish lobbyists, but because repeating lies and libels like these is — in their words — 'criticising Israel'.

Community tensions

But if we did not see a pushback on the lies, could it be that at least our government was acting to ease 'community tensions'?

Unsurprisingly, its record on concern for the Jewish community in Britain remains a poor one. Last year, Prime Minister Keir Starmer failed to step in decisively on behalf of the Jewish and Israeli communities when Maccabee Tel Aviv fans were excluded from their match against Aston Villa, despite saying the ban should be reversed. And ex-Foreign Secretary, David Lammy instituted arms embargoes against Israel the moment Labour took office — a symbolic gesture that achieved nothing in material terms, but stoked the narrative that Israel could not be trusted with weapons in Gaza. And when Labour MP Joe Powell repeated in Parliament the preposterous claim by Tom Fletcher that 14,000 babies would die in Gaza "in the next 48 hours", David Lammy did not push back, or draw attention to the bizarre mindset that it takes to believe such an accusation; instead he noted that the gullible Powell was 'clearly an expert'.

Which leads us to the unavoidable conclusion that the events of this week have left us in much the worst of all possible worlds. The government clearly hoped it would appear to be resolute in the face of anti-Semitism, but its managerial, technocratic approach has made the situation immeasurably worse. It has left us with two self-promoting, narcissistic anti-Semites that will be dining out on their martyrdom for months, and it has fuelled the myth that 'you can't speak out about Israel'.

The Hasan Piker Ban Exposes the Power of the Israel Lobby

The decision to ban Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur from the UK marks further escalation in the clampdown on critics of Israel.

Karl Hansen

And worst of all, it is yet another illustration that when it comes to serious social problems, our government has nothing to offer but bans.

It has been a dark week indeed for anyone concerned about rising anti-Semitism or attacks on free speech.