The Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Communities Secretary all reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to tackling antisemitism in the UK this week.
Prime Minister Theresa May in the House of Commons on Wednesday said “There is no place for racial hatred, for hate crime in our society – whether it is Islamophobia, or Antisemitism. This is something we should all stand up against and do our best to eradicate from our society”, in response to Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley.
The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also showed support to the Jewish Community this week, stating in Parliament that it is “absolutely vital for everybody in this House to send out a very clear message that antisemitism anywhere is intolerable”, in response to question from Conservative MP Rachel Maclean about the rally against antisemitism.
In a Telegraph op-ed this Tuesday Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government reaffirmed the government’s commitment to tackling antisemitism and said the “worrying culture” of antisemitism in the Labour Party “cannot be ignored any longer”.
In Mr Javid’s article titled, ‘It’s a sad day when British Jews feel they have to come to Westminster to make a stand’ the Secretary of State underlined: “There is a specific definition for anti-Semitism established by International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and the UK was the first country to formally adopt it. That definition includes ‘mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations’ about the Jewish community – especially the old myth about a world Jewish conspiracy controlling our institutions”.
Praising the Jewish Community, the Secretary of State wrote: “Simply knowing that the perpetrator will be caught and punished will not make people feel safe, or reduce the trauma of being targeted. If we’re going to stamp out antisemitism, we have to change minds and attitudes – and that has to start with education”.
He added “The Jewish community know this more than most. On Friday night, Jews around the world will sit down at the Seder table to reflect on just that. Passover remembers the persecution of the past, as well as the physical journey Jews took to escape it. It’s shameful that thousands of years later that journey still continues. But they should know for as long as that journey lasts, in this country they will never have to walk it alone”.
Click here to read Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid’s article in the Telegraph in full
