The UK’s Special Envoy for post-Holocaust Issues, Rt. Hon. Sir Eric Pickles emphasised that Britain would be a “diminished” country without its Jewish community, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Sir Eric made the comments in response to a Jewish Policy Research study published in September 2017, which found that 30% of the adult British population showed “antisemitic attitudes at different intensities”.
He said: “We need to address the casual acceptance of some of the old (antisemitic) tropes. I feel strongly about this because Judaism is a fundamental part of the British identity”.
The former CFI Parliamentary Chairman added: “If we were to see, as France has seen, Jews starting to leave the country, we would be diminished – we wouldn’t be Britain anymore. It’s about what makes Britain tick – and without Jewish people, Britain would not tick properly”.
Sir Eric said that the situation of the Labour Party is “deeply worrying”, adding that “there is a big battle going on for the soul of the Labour Party, which the extreme Left seems to have won”.
While acknowledging the wave of antisemitism across Europe, he said “it would be a gross exaggeration to say that Jewish people in Britain are unsafe”.
He underlined: “We will beat the antisemites”.
Click here to read the interview with Sir Eric.
