Antisemitic Attacks

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar Excerpts

Monday 27th April 2026 Lords Chamber

Antisemitism has existed in its many poisonous forms for centuries, but there is no doubt that we find ourselves at a critical juncture as fellow members of our society feel forced in some cases to live a smaller Jewish life. Our response must be unflinching, and I assure the House that under this Government it always will be. We will work relentlessly to ensure that antisemites and those who threaten the Jewish community here have nowhere to hide, and to show British Jews that we stand with them and will do everything in our power to keep them safe. I commend this Statement to the House”.

[Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (Con)]

My Lords, I know that the Minister takes this matter very seriously and he knows that I have the highest personal regard for him. However, the problem with taking questions on a Commons Statement entitled “Recent Antisemitic Attacks” a week later is that, since the Statement was made, there have been further attacks and further threats. Indeed, we are approaching a position where one of those electronic counters that measured days since the last antisemitic attack in the UK would struggle to register double figures.

On the same day that the Statement was made in the House of Commons—and at almost the same time—a Jewish man working in Slough was subject to appalling antisemitic abuse and threatening behaviour. That incident, unlike most incidents, was caught on video. The perpetrator has now admitted racially aggravated assault and is awaiting sentence, so I will say nothing more about that specific case, except that, according to newspaper reports, the victim of that attack has now decided to stop wearing his kippah, his religious head covering, in public. No further comment is necessary.

As I have said before, while the Jewish community is grateful to this Government and previous Governments—this ought not to be a party-political issue—for increased funding for security, and especially to the Community Security Trust, the response to the current spate of anti-Jewish violence has to move beyond building ever-higher walls and buying more stab vests for yet more security guards and on to the root causes of the problem.

When asked a very specific question by my honourable friend Matt Vickers in the other place about the link between Islamist extremism and these antisemitic attacks, the Security Minister said:

“The honourable Gentleman also made an entirely reasonable and important point about extremism. As I said in my previous remarks, the Government are doing a lot of work led by the Secretary of State … There is also a lot of work co-ordinated across Government to target the threats we face from extremists”.—[Official Report, Commons, 20/4/26; col. 68.]


I find that reply odd. The Security Minister responded by talking only about general extremism. If the Government cannot bring themselves to use the phrase “Islamist extremism” and to recognise that the problem that we currently have is with Islamism, how can we have faith that they grasp the enormity of the challenge?

You cannot solve a problem if you cannot even identify what the problem is. It is clear what the problem is. It is demonstrated on the near-weekly marches where attendees still praise Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are proscribed organisations. It is the chants of “Globalize the Intifada”. We all now know what “globalising the intifada” looks like in practice. The Metropolitan Police have belatedly said that they will intervene if such chants are made—but why did it take blood on our streets for that change of position, which some of us have been demanding for months?

Last night, I and my daughter were dining at a kosher restaurant on the Golders Green Road. Half way through our dinner, two uniformed police officers popped into the restaurant. They explained that they were “just doing their rounds” and wanted to check that everything was okay. I am sincerely grateful to the rank-and-file police officers for all the work they do. However, I would like to live in a country where I do not have uniformed police officers securing my synagogue, guarding my community’s schools and now, it seems, patrolling kosher restaurants too. I used to live in that country; I would like to live in it again.

The late Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks reminded us that antisemitism is a mutating virus. When I was growing up, most Jew-hatred came from the far right. Today, that has changed. Can the Minister demonstrate that the Government do recognise that Islamist extremism is now the root cause of the majority of rising antisemitism and set out the steps that the Government are taking to address this? We know that a number of groups operating within the United Kingdom are actively stoking antisemitic hatred. I hope that the recent promise to ban the IRGC will be enacted speedily in the next Session, but the Muslim Brotherhood and Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya—the group that has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks—have not been banned and are active.

The United Arab Emirates has warned its citizens not to study at British universities for fear of radicalisation on our campuses. Yesterday, the United States Embassy in London issued an extraordinary security warning instructing American citizens in Britain and elsewhere in Europe to “exercise extreme caution” in the vicinity of Jewish institutions in Britain. Perhaps the most worrying development is the likely influence of the Iranian state in all this. If Iran is found to have co-ordinated these recent attacks, will the Government move to expel Iranian diplomats and step up sanctions against Iran?

There is so much more that needs to be done to stamp out antisemitism in Britain. Walls, guards and stab vests are the equivalent of palliative care. They are not a cure. We need to focus on the cure and, as we all know, the first step to any cure is correctly identifying the disease.

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson, for his views. As a member of the Jewish community, I am grateful for all the speeches of sympathy that have been and are being extended to the Jewish community. I am personally grateful that between the First and Second World Wars my late mother was able to move to Britain from Szreńsk in north central Poland. Sadly, her mother and other family members were never heard of again after 1945. Many came to this country to escape antisemitism and were welcomed and made able to make good lives for themselves and their children. This makes it even more horrifying that we have seen recently an upsurge in violence, hate speeches and demonstrations against the Jewish population.

Antisemitism is not new, as explained by the noble Lord, but it is now made more obvious by the attacks on Jewish sites in the UK and elsewhere. I could not previously have imagined a world where many British Jews are feeling very vulnerable and even doubting their long-term security in Britain. As has been mentioned, a pro-Iranian group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin, has claimed responsibility, although I believe that other groups and individuals are involved.

It should influence this debate to list recent attacks. In March there were attacks in Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Then, nearer to home, there was the arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in my local Jewish community. On 15 April there was an arson attack at Finchley Reform Synagogue, again local to me. Also in April there was an arson attack in Park Royal, a drone attack on the Israeli embassy, an arson attack on a Jewish charity and an arson attack on Kenton shul—that is just in April. We must not forget the October 2025 attack on Heaton Park shul in Manchester, which killed two people. We must ask ourselves whether this can be tolerated.

We in the UK are grateful for all this country has done to enable the Jewish community to thrive here and are horrified by the increase in antisemitism and attacks on Jewish premises, synagogues and charities. The answer we hear seems to be an increase in security, as noted by the noble Lord about his trip to the restaurant, and the community is grateful for the efforts of the police and the CST, including extra funds for this purpose. However, no other community needs to have its kids’ schools, places of worship and community behind security-guarded walls—a world where our kids and teens are afraid to show their Jewish identity and are not safe to wear a Magen David or a yarmulke head covering, as has been stated.

I spoke to Rabbi Ben Kurzer, my local community rabbi, who said:

“Whilst the Jewish community is strong and resilient and continues to flourish, this situation is unacceptable for us as a nation. As with antisemitism throughout the ages, this is not a Jewish problem, it is a societal one. The hate that begins with the Jews will not end with the Jews. Jewish tradition teaches that Moses, in ancient Egypt, looked round and realised that there was no one to stand up against the aggressors and that was why he took the lead—to paraphrase our Sages, ‘In a place where there is no person stepping forward, try to be that person’’.


I say we need to go to the source of and incitement to this violence. I would like to hear what the Minister has to say about what they intend to do about what some call hate marches—I think they are; some people do not—and demonstrations that fuel this antisemitism. I keep waiting for it, but when is that dreadful organisation, the IRGC, actually going to be banned as a terrorist organisation? It has been on the cards for such a long time.

Can the Minister say that the Government will seek to explain what Zionism means? It is a desire for a homeland for the Jews in Israel. Surely the rise in UK antisemitism makes the need for Zionism an absolute must for many in the community. The word “anti-Zionism” is being increasingly used as an acceptable excuse for antisemitic sentiments. There needs to be a line between objecting to events outside the UK and terrorising a section of the UK of which I am part. I look forward to the Minister’s response.