Mick Hartley

Stephen Pollard at the JC:

Today’s attack in Manchester was always coming, because the authorities have made it clear to Jew haters that they are effectively free to go about their business. When they chant “Khaybar, Khaybar, Ya Yahud! Jaish Mohammad sawf ya’ud!” on the hate marches, (“Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews! The Army of Muhammad Will Return!” – a reference to the battle of Khaybar in 628, when Mohamed’s army besieged and destroyed a thriving Jewish community) the police stand and watch. When they call for global intifada – the murder of Jews – no one does a thing.

The message sent by the authorities could hardly be clearer – Jew hate is fine. And the Jew haters take that message and run with it. They run with it when they parade through the streets of our cities. They run with it when they desecrate memorials to those killed on October 7 and tributes to the hostages, as in Brighton. They run with it when they scream abuse at Jews. They run with it on social media, where antisemitism is so open and common that it barely even registers any more. And they run with it when they commit atrocities as in Manchester today.

We have already heard that awful lie today, that there is no place for antisemitism in Britain. It’s a lie because the evidence could not be clearer that there is a very welcome place for antisemitism in Britain, and the more the merrier. Today’s attack will prompt so much more of it. But when hundreds of thousands are allowed to do their worst, and the authorities stand and watch, we know what it means. It means Jew hate. It means attacks. It means Manchester.

Let’s add to that that the government’s sorry record, culminating in the recognition of a state of Palestine – which in the circumstances can only be seen as a reward for the barbarity of Hamas and adds to the perception of Israel as somehow uniquely tainted.

Also the BBC, endlessly recycling Hamas propaganda as news…