Anti-Semitism

David Burrowes Excerpts

Tuesday 9th December 2014 Westminster Hall

[John Mann]

Without question, the recorded number of incidents is a significant underestimate. It is valuable in itself and as a benchmark for comparing trends, because the basis of recording by the CST is without question the world best. It is renowned across the world for being so. Trends can be easily identified from those figures, and the trend this year has been a huge increase. That is why I applied for this debate.

I will give hon. Members some examples of what I am talking about. On a march through central London, demonstrators verbally abused a Jewish woman who was with her two children, telling them to “burn in hell.” The reality for British Jews is that most are Zionist, with various levels of emotional and familial attachment to Israel, so the communal concern about Israel and conflict-associated anti-Semitism is significant. Of course, supporting the Palestinian cause is not anti-Semitic, but when someone shouts “Child murderer” at a British Jew, or daubs that on a synagogue, that is anti-Semitism.

Open anti-Semitism is rare in mainstream politics and media, but hateful expressions and ideas that would not be publicly directed against Jews are now publicly directed against Zionists. Zionists are depicted in the same way as Jews are by the anti-Semites: malevolent, all-powerful, all-controlling, covert and inauthentic. Hate speech against Zionists leads to the demonisation and hatred of all suspected Zionists—in other words, Jews. That may not be intentionally anti-Semitic from a perpetrator’s perspective, but it has a negative impact on most British Jews. The same is true when Members of this House speak in such a way. They are not simply being irresponsible; they are being potentially dangerous.

[Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)]

I agree with the chair of the all-party group on anti-Semitism, of which I am a member, on the need for proper care in relation to the words that we use. It is possible to foment anti-Semitic thoughts and actions, particularly when people talk about Zionism and a financial lobby. Does that not raise concerns about going down the path of anti-Semitism?

[John Mann]

The hon. Gentleman is active in the work of the all-party group and in Parliament, and he is absolutely right. It is easy to see where the dividing line is and what is inappropriate. One of our big successes in recent years is that each political party in the House has been prepared to deal with issues involving its own Members. That approach, if it can be maintained, is precisely the way in which such things are most effectively challenged. In other words, it is important not to make offensive remarks—whether they are made out of deliberate prejudice or ignorance—into issues of party political point scoring, but to get each party to sort its own house out.

That is easy to say, but I think we underestimate the power of that model and the power of the cross-party consensus that we have built in this House. Let me and my party deal with those who are anti-Semitic or who ignorantly cross the threshold in what they say, do or write, and let the Liberal Democrats, the Conservative party and other parties in the House do the same. That is an effective way of taking a lead in tackling anti-Semitism. I would call it the British model, in the sense that others across the world are increasingly convinced that that is how anti-Semitism should be dealt with at high levels in Parliament and Government.

The Minister will know well of the all-party group’s inquiry into anti-Semitism in the UK in 2005-06, which made 35 recommendations for Government, Parliament and civil society. I am pleased to report that, in my judgment, we have worked successfully with the Government, Ministers and other partners to implement the inquiry recommendations and to go beyond them.

Our successes have included the establishment of a unique Whitehall Government working group on anti-Semitism; an agreement for all police forces to record anti-Semitic hate crimes; the publication by the police of the first official anti-Semitic hate crime statistics; a funding agreement for the security needs of Jewish faith schools in the state system; a Crown Prosecution Service review and action plan; the creation of a Government-backed school-linking programme; research into modern discursive anti-Semitism funded by the Government; the appointment of a UK envoy for post-holocaust issues; two ministerial conferences and international action plans on internet hate, and I believe that there will be another one in the near future; the highly effective international replication of the all-party group inquiry model in countries such as Germany and Canada; a full inquiry into electoral conduct and resultant action from key agencies; and work with Government that has led, among other successes, to the publication of a guide by the Society of Editors to editing online newspaper comment boards. Those successes are significant, but they leave no room for complacency, not least because of the increase this year in the scourge of anti-Semitism.

In September, I instigated a parliamentary report on anti-Semitism emanating from the conflict in the middle east, with a number of events across the country to meet Jewish communities and better understand their anguish. There is a further such event this Thursday in Manchester. Evidence has been submitted by individuals, organisations, the police, Government bodies and others, and MPs have visited France, Germany, Holland and Ireland to undertake comparative analyses. We intend to launch the report in the new year with an event at Lambeth palace, courtesy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which in itself is significant in crossing faiths to stand up to anti-Semitism. I congratulate the Church of England on its openness to such work, including with our group.

The recommendations are the most important issues emanating from the report, and I want to be sure that they will be carefully considered by Ministers and referred to the cross-Government working group on anti-Semitism for action. I would like a commitment from all parties that, whoever wins the next election, in whatever combination, the next Government will work on anti-Semitism throughout the next Parliament, because the problem is not going away.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)]

It is pleasure to take part in the debate, but as other hon. Members have said, it is always a shame that we have to have such a debate. I pay tribute, as other hon. Members have done, to the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) for his great leadership on the issue, to which we need always to return. It is something for which we hang our heads in shame, particularly when there is such a spike in the number of anti-Semitic incidents.

It is a given that we are against anti-Semitism, and many people would want to belong to a group that was against it, but it is also important to address the issue of what things we are for. Obviously, we are for proper respect for and treatment of Jewish people, but it is more than that. This gets us to the heart of why it is right for the country, Parliament and the Government to take a lead in tackling anti-Semitism: the thing that we are for is human dignity. We know from history that the litmus test for our valuing of our fellow human beings has, sadly, been our attitude to anti-Semitism, which recurs over periods of years, and has recurred this year as well. We can show ourselves to be tackling the issue of human dignity, and to be in favour of human dignity, in the way we deal with anti-Semitism. That is why it is important that as we take the lead on issues such as modern slavery, we do so also for human dignity, by the way we deal with anti-Semitism.

I am concerned about the fact that in recent times there has been almost a double discrimination, or double anti-Semitism. It is not just the anti-Semitic words and actions, but the cause. The situation is almost worse when the cause of the spike in the number of incidents is the Gaza conflict. The particular reason why I am taking part in this debate is the things that have happened in my constituency. Sadly, a brick was thrown at a schul during the Gaza conflict, and the Norwood charity shop on Southgate High street was daubed in relation to Gaza protests; a Jewish charity shop was targeted.

For the first time in my nine years in Parliament, constituents have come to my surgery saying that the concern is so acute that they are concerned about their children wearing any insignia on their uniforms if they go to school on a public bus, and about giving any identification of their being Jewish people. It is appalling for that to be on their minds. They are also concerned when their children go to the Southgate Asda or to Tesco in Potters Bar—concerned both about the looks given and the words said to them. Those incidents are not reported. I am concerned that that is taking place and concerned and ashamed that there is such a climate of fear, but I want to take appropriate action, to ensure that we are doing all we can to counter that. That action involves all of us—cross-party, cross-cultural, cross-faith—standing up against such incidents in a responsive, timely and meaningful way, because they affect us all, in terms of how we value human beings.

We should recognise history; indeed, we have made reference to it. When I heard about the incidents in my constituency, I was on holiday with my family in Normandy. We went to the cemeteries and saw the star of David marking the grave of a Jewish person who died on behalf of Britain and freedom, alongside a gravestone with a cross for a Christian soldier who died for the same freedoms. Those are the freedoms that we are concerned about. We need to work on and be vigilant in tackling those issues. I welcome the Home Secretary’s vigilance and leadership, and that of the Mayor of London and others, who are very much aware of the issues; their attention has been drawn to them by colleagues here.

I want to ensure that, from a definitional point of view, we are getting it right. The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia’s definition of anti-Semitism includes equating the actions of the state of Israel with Jewish people as a race. It will be interesting to see whether the Minister recognises such a definition, because when debate includes references to “a Jewish lobby”, “a powerful financial lobby” and indeed to Zionists, there is often, sadly, anti-Semitism behind it. That must cause us concern.

The responses worry me as much as the actions. For example, the Sainsbury’s store in Holborn responded to the protest by clearing the shelves of kosher food. That was originally thought justifiable in order to deal with antisocial concerns, but the store did not realise what it was doing by responding with an anti-Semitic act.

There are concerns about social media, too. Just this weekend there was an anti-Semitic tweet from a north London branch of a political party. I will not attribute it, because it has since been suggested that it was not an official party branch tweet. It said:

“UKIP has evil money grabbing Jews…in their party”.

The response to that tweet reveals a lot: the justification for it was that the person was upset about the Palestinian conflict. That was thought to be a justifiable excuse, but that is unacceptable. That is another example of double anti-Semitic discrimination, and it is why, as we go into election mode, the report of the inquiry on electoral conduct, for example, needs to be heeded; why we need to hear the Minister say that the Equality and Human Rights Commission is actively providing local authorities with the guidance that was promised in debate in the other place; why the Electoral Commission needs to be active in ensuring that there is proper engagement with political parties; why local authorities need to ensure that they are correcting false information; and why all political parties need to get to the minimum standard for disciplinary processes.

We need to get cross-party agreement, and we all need to ensure that we support education and the Holocaust Educational Trust. Good work is being done by Near Neighbours, which is stepping up to the plate; all of us are involved because we are all near-neighbours; I am, with my neighbours in my constituency. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder to make sure that we tackle anti-Semitism because we believe in human dignity.