Last night, at the annual dinner of the Community Security Trust (CST), the Home Secretary confirmed over £13 million Government funding to help protect the Jewish community. The funding will be used to provide security measures including guards at Jewish schools, synagogues and community centres.
At the dinner, attended by around 1,000 including MPs, police chiefs and community leaders, Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP said: “No one wants the school where they send their child to need security guards, or have their place of worship to be fitted with security alarms and blast resistant glass. But until that changes, the Government is clear we will stand by the Jewish community”.
She underlined: “I am determined, and the Government is determined, to stand by our Jewish Community, now, and for the years to come”.
The Home Secretary praised the work of the CST in “leading the way in showing how a community can safeguard itself”. She said that “if we are to beat extremism, we must all work together”.
She continued: “We must also do more to tackle the causes of those threats and prevent damaging and destructive narratives, because undoubtedly the biggest challenge we face today is extremism”.
CST Chairman Gerald Ronson also addressed those gathered: “Just like the Nazis, the Jihadists are trying to provoke a race war. They want us to hate all Muslims. So, let me be very clear. Yes, there is far too much anti-Semitism within Muslim communities. But it is certainly not all Muslims versus all Jews. CST has always worked with Muslim allies and we always will. I only wish that more Jews appreciated the commitment and the courage of our Muslims friends”.
He said: “Some people have learned not to be anti-Semitic, but to be anti-Zionist instead. Maybe that is what they think at Oxford University. They might be fooling themselves, but they certainly don’t fool me. They used to say that Jews are rich, that we run the banks, the media and the politicians, that we cause wars and spread hatred. Now, they say it about Zionists instead. Some clever people call this the new anti-Semitism. To me it’s just the old Jew hatred in modern packaging”.
David Delew, Chief Executive of the CST, said: “CST deeply appreciates this latest financial commitment from the Government towards securing British Jews”.
