London is the ‘world’s most antisemitic city,’ says Israeli minister

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JERUSALEM – Israel’s minister for Diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that London is the world’s most antisemitic city.

Chikli, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said he believes London is the “most antisemitic city” because “The atmosphere created by pro-Hamas supporters across London is something that we have not seen in other cities.”

The center of London has been immersed in mass rallies that are filled with what some observers claim include Islamist extremists and antisemites since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7. Hamas brutally murdered 1,200 people on Oct. 7, including more than 30 Americans.

Chikli explained that when the anti-Israel slogan “from the river to the sea” is projected on Big Ben, it is a “call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the state of Israel.” The slogan, “From the river to sea, Palestine will be free,” is widely interpreted to mean the eradication of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian Muslim nation.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters hold a banner and chant at an anti-Israel protest in London on Dec. 9, 2023. (Photo by: Andy Soloman/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The Israeli minister cited another example of the British MP Mike Freer “who left office due to pro-Hamas attacks, including setting fire to his office.” Chikli said he was “not aware of a member of Parliament who resigned from office in other parliaments” due to pro-Hamas violence.

He continued that “Most of the antisemitic incidents are not being reported. Most of the students on campuses know the system is totally against them. There is nothing to gain for complaining against harassment.” He also pointed to antisemitic attacks in the London subway system and the anti-Israel activist who vandalized the portrait of Lord Balfour at Cambridge University.

Balfour famously issued a letter from Nov. 2 1917 stating that the British government looked favorably upon “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”  

People attend a Campaign Against Antisemitism rally outside New Scotland Yard in central London seeking police action amid a rise in antisemitic incidents. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images)

Chikli argues the core feature of modern antisemitism is to strip Israel of its right to exist. He said the “3D Test of Antisemitism” formulated by the human rights expert and former dissident in the Soviet Union, Natan Sharansky, best captures the hatred targeting Israel. Sharansky uses the litmus test of demonization, double standards, and delegitimization against Israel to classify contemporary antisemitism.

The Israeli minister said “The annual report from his Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism shows a 235% increase in antisemitic incidents in 2023 compared to 2022.”

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Pro-Palestinian Muslim protesters hold a banner saying “From the river to the sea,” in London on Dec. 9, 2023. (Andy Soloman/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

He said “45% of the incidents in 2023 occurred in the USA and 39% in Europe, with a 33% increase in violent incidents. 16% of the violent incidents were recorded in the U.K., many following the ‘Iron Swords’ war.”

Chikli’s report noted that “The U.K. is among the top 10 countries for online antisemitic discourse. In 2023, 4,103 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the U.K., a 147% increase compared to 2022. A dramatic increase in London, with 2,140 incidents (52% of the total). 66% of incidents were recorded after October 7, with a 589% increase compared to the previous year.”

According to the report, “Nearly half of British Jews considered leaving the country due to the documented antisemitism. 60% of British Jews experienced or know someone who experienced an antisemitic incident after the war. Large pro-Palestinian protests were recorded in the U.K., with hostile calls against Jews and Israelis.”

Antisemitic incidents have risen in the U.K. since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on Oct 7. (The Community Security Trust)

Jonathan Hoffman, a former vice chair of the Zionist Federation in Britain, who has campaigned for Israel and against antisemitism in London, told Fox News Digital that “The Minister is correct. Jews who are openly pro-Israel have no future in the U.K.. In academia, humanities are a write-off. Such Jews are openly discriminated against in many professions.”

Hoffman, who has written extensively about British antisemitism, said “Things will be even worse, if as seems likely, Labour is elected at the election due before end January 2025. What needs to happen? Water cannon at Israel hate demos. All the recommendations of Shawcross about Prevent need to be enacted.”

Sir William Shawcross published a report last year that the British government’s anti-extremism Prevent program said “Prevent’s first objective – to tackle the causes of radicalization and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism – is not being sufficiently met. Prevent is not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism.”

A boy holds the British flag at a march against antisemitism in London on Nov. 26, 2023. (REUTERS/Susannah Ireland)

Hoffman believes that “The Courts need to accept that Judaism and Israel are inseparable. But mostly it’s too late. For one thing, the proportion of Muslims in the population continues to grow, and they are far more antisemitic than the rest of the population.”

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Stuart Appleby, a spokesman for London Mayor Sadiq Khan, told Fox News Digital that “We are now in the pre-election period – please contact London Labour for comment requests during this period.” Fox News Digital approached London Labour for a statement asking for a reaction to the Israeli report.

On Thursday, the Community Security Trust, which provides protective services to the British Jewish community, wrote on X that an arson attack in London might have been animated by antisemitism.

Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal.