'Political football': How U.K. Jews are caught between Britain's racist far-right and the anti-Zionist far left

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges faced by Jews in the U.K. amid rising political extremism and antisemitism during local elections.

Jews in the United Kingdom watched voters in their country gravitate to parties on the extreme right and left in the country’s local elections – following a campaign where antisemitism was used as a political football, and controversies over the government’s relationship with Israel, pro-Palestinian protests and free speech factored into voting.  On the Haaretz Podcast, London-based correspondent Hagar Shezaf and senior analyst Esther Solomon discuss the impact of the results, which have been described as an “earthquake” for its rejection of the Labour Party led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. While covering the campaign, Shezaf said, she encountered a voter who told her “I voted for Labour my whole life. I won't be doing that anymore because of Gaza and Iran.” The surge in support for the far-right anti-immigrant Reform U.K. party, Solomon observed, “leaves Jews in a very, very difficult position” as the party and its leader, Brexit architect Nigel Farage, made multiple bids for Jewish support during the campaign – including in the aftermath of the stabbing attacks in the Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green on…

People in this episode

Guests: Hagar Shezaf, Esther Solomon

Topics covered

• antisemitism
• political extremism
• U.K. elections
• Jewish community
• far-right politics
• Labour Party
• pro-Palestinian protests

Keywords

• antisemitism
• far-right
• Labour Party
• U.K. elections
• Jewish community
• political football
• pro-Palestinian

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Reform U.K.

Places: Golders Green, United Kingdom, Britain

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