I’m just back from a whirlwind week in London where I met with Jewish leaders, British MPs, print and TV journalists, folks from London’s West End theatre and good friends.
My visit began with a speaking engagement at the Jewish Book Week Festival at Kings Place. It was an impressive production with 100 speakers over the day and 3,000+ audience members.
I also had the privilege to address Members of Parliament as legislation is circulating that could gut the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement there. Fingers crossed.
My last visit to London was in 2015, just two months before Jeremy Corbyn, a radical left-wing anti-Israel politician, was elected Labour Party leader and BDS was in full swing.
Well-known for his association with and praise for Hamas, Corbyn attracted a new and manifestly antisemitic crowd to the party. Labour, like our Democratic Party, had been the political home for Jews for centuries. With Corbyn’s ascent, members charged that it harassed and discriminated against Jews and failed to punish perpetrators.
The Jewish community was deeply concerned. Young professionals felt forced to choose between their connection to Israel and/or Jewish identity and their careers and social circles – a dilemma that took several more years to ripen in the US. Some of my British friends were purchasing a second home in or moving to Israel, afraid that if Corbyn won the general election for Prime Minister in 2019, they “wouldn’t be able to get their money out.”
I took my concerns about the BDS campaign and the Jew-hatred it was fomenting to the Israeli Consulate office in London but left unassured that the tide would turn.
Unlike in the US, where Jewish institutions were up in arms against the threat, the primary Jewish advocacy group in the UK, the Board of Deputies (BOD), had a nuanced, if not downright muted, response. According to several friends, the approach had always been to plead their case privately to government officials and not make a public fuss.
Frankly, I was dumbfounded by the low-key response.
Long ago, when I learned about the Holocaust, I understood that my destiny is entwined with the fate of Jews everywhere. Now, I more fully understand how the Jewish experience can vary depending on our numbers and the history and culture in which we live.
Size matters. There are 7.6 million Jews in the US representing 2% of the population. In the UK, there are approximately 270,000 Jews, representing a mere .5%. If there is strength in numbers, the Jews in the UK have a far weaker hand.
History matters. England was home to some of the worse Jewish demonization in Medieval Europe. Residents believed false tales of Jews murdering Christian children for their blood. Antisemitic lies about evil, greedy Jews were and are replete in English literature (e.g., The Merchant of Venice) and baked into the culture.
In addition to prejudice and exclusion, British Jews, like other European Jews, have also suffered expulsion. In 1290, the Jews were kicked out of England and were not allowed to return for almost 400 years. Anxiety around their permanency continues to this day.
Culture matters. English Jews do not publicly embrace their Jewishness in the same manner as their American cousins. According to journalist Nicole Lampert, the general population probably could not name five famous English Jews. Compare that to the American awareness of the Jewish ethnicity of individuals like Mark Zuckerberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Albert Einstein, Seth Rogen, Steven Spielberg, Larry David, Bernie Sanders and Barbra Streisand. If you are reluctant to identify as a Jew, it is harder to fight for your rights as a Jew.
However, in 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn ran for prime minister, this chapter of Jewish history had a remarkable ending. British Jews found their voices.
A slew of Jewish lawmakers quit the party. A human rights commission launched an investigation. On a single day, the headlines in all three major Jewish publications declared Corbyn an existential threat to Jews. The BOD took the unprecedented step of organizing a large protest in front of Parliament. The BBC aired an expose, Is Labour Antisemitic, by broadcaster John Ware who I had the pleasure to meet.
Jeremy Corbyn suffered a devastating defeat. He lost 16% of typical Labour voters who said antisemitism was one of the reasons they decided not to vote for him.
Did that end antisemitism across the pond? Of course not. Anti-Jewish hate crimes have risen there like everywhere else and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories thrive. However, Corbyn inadvertently raised the consciousness of non-Jews and, unlike in the US, Diversity, Equity and Inclusions (DEI) training includes Jews as a minority.
The biggest takeaway of all, however, is that we can move mountains when we raise our voices.
Lana Melman is an entertainment industry veteran, author and CEO of Liberate Art, Inc. Her book “Artists Under Fire: The BDS War Against Celebrities, Jews, and Israel” is an Amazon Best Seller. Contact and learn more at www.LiberateArt.net
