UK: Jewish National Fund chief denounced as ‘Islamophobic’ for noting Islamic antisemitism

T. Belman.  Hayek is right of course. But where can Jews run to? Israel is the safest haven even though its not that safe.

Remember, The Middle East Monitor is very  antisemitic.

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The measure would establish a special envoy position at the state department to monitor and combat crimes against Muslims worldwide. It is unlikely to advance in the Senate

By Robert Spencer, JIHAD WATCH         DEC 30, 2021 

Everything Hayek said is perfectly true and readily demonstrable, but it is not acceptable to enunciate today. Fantasies of multiculturalism must trump reality, no matter how ugly reality gets as a result.

“Calls for JNF UK chief to resign over incendiary Islamophobic remarks,” Middle East Monitor, December 24, 2021:

British Labour MP Alex Sobel has called on Samuel Hayek, the chairman the Jewish National Fund (JNF UK), to resign or be removed from office for offensive anti-Muslim remarks.

Speaking to the Jerusalem Post in early December, Hayek said Jews should start planning to leave Britain because “Jews who are unable to protect their assets, Jews being discriminated against badly is something that could quite easily happen – that is happening.”

Hayek claimed one of the reasons for the rise of antisemitism in the UK is shifting demographic patterns and that Muslim immigration threatens the future of Jews in the UK and Europe as whole.

“I am not against any minority or against Muslims in the UK or Europe, but against anyone who spreads hatred that harms Jews,” Hayek said; adding, “That is how I see the near future evolving.”

The JNF official’s remarks were widely condemned across the religious divide.

Alex Sobel, the MP for Leeds North West, has called for Hayek’s immediate resignation or removal from office.

A Jewish News report quoted Sobel as saying: “If this doesn’t happen then the Charity Commission must investigate.”…

‘Jews do not have a future in England’ JPOST

According to Hayek, it is time for Jews to plan to leave the Britain – not because there would be another Holocaust, God forbid, he said but because “Jews who are unable to protect their assets, Jews being discriminated against badly is something that could quite easily happen – that is happening.”

The 2019 British election highlighted the challenges for Jews in the country, Hayek said, when it appeared for a brief window that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could win it – though ultimately the party suffered one of its worst general election results in living memory, losing dozens of seats to the Conservatives.

In London, Corbyn’s antisemitism and his lack of apology for it were cited among the reasons for his defeat. But until nearly election day, Jews were on the edge of their seats in fear.

“Let’s assume that Corbyn would have become prime minister,” Hayek said. “We all know our lives would have changed without recognition. We cannot even understand it fully.”

During the time, many Jews said that if Corbyn won they would leave England. But Hayek said thousands of Jews emigrating from the country would be much harder than it sounds.

“Is it easy to sell their businesses?” he asked. “Could they do it quickly? Where would they go? To South Africa, the United States, Canada – hopefully, Israel.”

None of those questions ultimately had to be answered as Johnson took the win. Now, said Hayek, “Jews feel more comfortable that Corbyn did not win. But the underlying issues have not gone away.”

No doubt, antisemitism would have accelerated dramatically in England if Corbyn would have been prime minister. But antisemitism has been constantly rising anyway and is only expected to grow.

One of the reasons is shifting demographics. The population of individuals who are anti-Jewish and anti-Israel, most significantly Muslim immigrants to the UK, is increasing and their influence on the government is too.

The Muslim population in England has been growing consistently. An article published in the Telegraph in 2017 stated that the Muslim population could triple in the two decades and is likely to number around 13 million by 2050.

There are only an estimated 290,000 to 370,000 Jews in England, according to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

“I am not against any minority or against the Muslims in the UK or Europe, but against anyone who spreads hatred that harms Jews,” Hayek said. “That is how I see the near future evolving.

“Anyone who tells us that Corbyn is not the prime minister and therefore antisemitism is gone, they don’t know what they are talking about,” he said. “It did not go away, it is growing. And it will not stop growing.”

THE STATISTICS backup Hayek.

A report published last month by the Community Security Trust (CST) found an increase in antisemitism in nearly all areas – including in political discourse and on college campuses.

Beyond the Labour Party, the report highlighted examples of antisemitism in the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National parties. In 2019-2020, CST recorded the highest number of antisemitic incidents on campus in a single academic year – despite so much less time spent on campus due to COVID-19.

The organization said it recorded 58 incidents in the 2018-2019 school year versus 65 last year, including abusive behavior, swastikas and other antisemitic messages being graffitied on Jewish-owned property or property associated with the Jewish community, and even assault.

“Whereas some institutions provided strong support to Jewish students, some universities failed in their duty to investigate and adjudicate complains about antisemitism fairly, objectively and quickly,” it said in the report.

The May 2021 war between Hamas and Israel led to a record number of antisemitic incidents being recorded in the UK since 1984. CST said some 460 incidents were reported to the NGO between May 8 and June 7, with 316 happening offline and 144 online.

During the war, the BBC interviewed a number of Jews who expressed fear of being outwardly Jewish. Rabbi Nicky Liss told the news outlet in an article leading up to the Shavuot holiday that he was nervous to walk 25 minutes from his home to a local synagogue to deliver a holiday address.

“This is the first time I’ve felt physically threatened,” he told the BBC. “I can’t believe that in 2021, I was thinking, was it safe for me to go on the street and walk to another synagogue to give a talk. It was incredibly worrying.”

One mother said that she took her son’s kippah off as they walked to a friend’s house for Shabbat lunch.

Jewish day schools have guards at their entrances and barbed wire fences around them to ensure children’s safety.

“From this we need to draw some conclusions,” Hayek said: “Where do we want our children to be?”

HE SAID THAT the situation is compounded by a leadership crisis in the Jewish world, including in England – leaders, Hayek feels, who are afraid to take action to protect their people.

“Antisemitism has gone up and up and there is deafening silence,” he said. “Good leadership would go to the British government and say, ‘You are not doing enough to get us our protection.’

“You expect real leadership to gather the people, tell them what is happening and help them make plans,” Hayek continued. “Instead, they don’t want to make the government angry. They say, ‘Let us talk in private.’ The era of private talks is gone.”

He noted that antisemitism is growing not only in the UK but in many Western countries, including the US.

On Thursday morning, the Stop Jew Hatred nonprofit disseminated a new set of numbers via email from the FBI, showing that in 2020, 55% of all religiously motivated hate crimes were against Jews, who make up just 2% of the US population.

One in every four American Jews has been targeted by antisemitism over the past year, the email read, and nearly four in 10 report changing their behavior for fear of being identified as Jewish or for their safety or comfort as Jews.

One solution, Hayek said, would be for these Jews to consider aliyah. However, here too, he said that the Jewish state is not doing enough to help ensure a soft landing for British Jewry in Israel.

“You cannot come to Israel and have a successful absorption without learning Hebrew,” Hayek said. “So, maybe Israel needs to send many more envoys that go into Jewish families, go to Jewish schools and teach them Hebrew.”

There is also a housing crisis in Israel that has made the cost of buying prohibitive for many families. Hayek said the Israeli government should be working on a plan to provide cheaper housing for new immigrants. He suggested a program where more affluent Jews purchase properties and rent them to new immigrants at reduced cost. JNF UK has already invested some NIS 100 million in buying apartments and renting them at a discount to new olim.

Finally, he said, the COVID-19 crisis highlighted how Israel has become at least partially disconnected from its role of being a homeland and safe haven for all the Jewish people. The country shut its airports to foreigners, including Jews and even first-degree relatives of Jewish immigrants, to help keep the virus out of Israel. But Hayek said this sent the Diaspora the wrong message.

“During COVID, many Jews wanted to come here, and they did not have Israeli passports so they could not come,” Hayek said. “People were desperate in many places to have a vaccine. Israel was the first and so many people wanted to come and have a vaccine – and without an Israeli passport they could not come.”

HOW LONG until the situation implodes?

Hayek said that although he is not a prophet, one only has to look at France, where record levels of antisemitism have driven the community out, to predict.

About a third of the French Jews who have moved to Israel since the country’s founding have done so in the last 10 years, according to data reported by the Jewish Agency to National Geographic in 2019. And aliyah from France was up by nearly 60% in the first half of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.

“What is happening in France today could happen in Britain in a few years,” Hayek said, noting that if one had said even 10 or 15 years ago that the Jews of France would be in the situation they are in today “no one would have believed you. But look how quickly it deteriorated.”

He said, “There is a crisis that is now being swept under the carpet. It won’t take too long to come out.”