Standing With Our Jewish Colleagues

I write this on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, when Jewish people around the world fast, pray and attend services in synagogues.

This morning, yet another murderous, terrorist atrocity has taken place against Jewish people, this time at a synagogue in Manchester, UK. At the time of writing, two innocent victims have been murdered and three others are in a serious condition. The religious and political ideologies of the murderer are at present not being communicated to the public, and it is also unclear as to whether he was wearing a ‘suicide bomb’. What is clear is that this was a deliberate and unprovoked terrorist attack on innocent Jewish people on their most holy of days, with the objective of causing as much murder, injury and terror as possible.

Almost exactly two years ago, on 7^th October 2023, around 6,000 Palestinians stormed into Israel from Gaza and another 1,000 Palestinians, using fellow Palestinians as human shields, started indiscriminately firing rockets at Israeli civilian populations. The objective of all this was, as with today’s attack in Manchester, to murder, maim and terrorise as many innocent Jewish people as possible. As well as mass murder (1,139 people will killed), this attack, instigated by the proscribed terrorist organisation, Hamas, included horrific gang rape, torture, mutilation and the abduction into Gaza of 251 hostages, including men, women, the elderly, Holocaust survivors and very small children. Today, two years on, there remain 48 hostages being held in horrific conditions in the terror tunnels under Gaza.

The barbaric 7^th October 2023 terrorist atrocity was the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Immediately following the massacre, in London, as around the world, thousands upon thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate the barbaric attack on Israel and its civilian population, with praise of Hamas and calls to “Globalise the intifada”. That is precisely what has happened, with today’s attack in Manchester, being one of many examples. According to the Community Security Trust¹, there were “1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2025, the second-highest total ever reported to CST in the first six months of any year”. In the same period in 2024, following the immediate aftermath of the 7^th October Hamas terror attack on Israel, 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded by CST. This “was the highest figure ever reported to CST for the first half of any year”.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism² cites that:

“80% of British Jews feel that recent political events have resulted in increased hostility towards Jews”;
“42% of British Jews considered leaving Britain in the past two years due to antisemitism, 85% of them due to antisemitism in politics”; and
(only) “26% of British Jews think the Crown Prosecution Service does enough to protect the Jewish community”.

It is the CAA’s conclusion that the research shows, “that Britain is at a tipping point; unless antisemitism is met with zero tolerance, it will continue to grow and British Jews will increasingly question their place in their own country”.

According to Inclusive Companies³, “Antisemitism is currently the fastest-rising form of racism in the UK. This alarming trend has led to an estimated 70% of British Jews feeling the need to hide their identity. The situation has grown so dire that nearly 50% of British Jews have considered leaving the country since October 7, 2023. This rise in antisemitism highlights a critical need for increased awareness, understanding, and proactive measures to combat anti-Jewish racism and foster a safer, more inclusive environment for all.”

On the Monday following the 7^th October massacre, I spoke to an acquaintance and we exchanged pleasantries and asked after each other’s weekends. I explained that, for me, it was a dreadful weekend, witnessing as I did the news reports coming out about the atrocity. The other person’s response utterly shocked and appalled me: “Ah well, it’s just a distraction from the real issue which is climate change”.

Let that sink in. The other person had seen the same news reports and did not know if I was Jewish (I am not) and whether therefore I may have had family and friends in Israel who were impacted, or how I may have felt at the outpouring of antisemitic, racist Jew-hatred on British streets. Since the massacre, I have spoken to a number of Jewish friends and contacts, and it is clear that little or no support is offered to them by their employers or non-Jewish colleagues at work, even though they are known to be Jewish and do not hide their Jewishness. Far too often, nothing has been said about the 7^th October massacre or the multifrontal war and existential threat Israel has been facing over the last two years. No mention is made of the very obvious surge in antisemitism in Britain and on its streets and campuses, and the very real dangers Jewish people face, simply by living in Britain.

They are bewildered by the silence and indifference of their colleagues and, in certain cases, toxic, anti-Israel and antisemitic cultures. On this holiest of days, and in light of the dreadful events in Manchester, just imagine for a moment how your Jewish colleagues may be feeling right now. Imagine what it must be like for a Jewish colleague, walking into an office that is draped, as some are, with Palestinian flags. Imagine how you would feel as a Jewish person, if today’s terrorist terror attack in Manchester is callously dismissed by colleagues as, “just a distraction from the real issue which is climate change”.

So, what, as non-Jews, should we do in light of this? There are two alternatives. The first is to do what many across Europe did during the 1930s during the rise of Nazism and a surge in antisemetism; remain silent and let the rise of antisemitism go unchecked. We know where that ends; it will be no different now. What we learn from history, to paraphrase Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, is that we don’t learn from history.

The second alternative is for non-Jewish people to reach out in support to their Jewish friends and neighbours and to establish networks in their places of work to:

stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Jewish colleagues in solidarity, irrespective of religious and/or political affiliation;
encourage Board and CEO commitment to establishing and reinforce a zero-tolerance culture in their organisation for antisemitism, based on the IHRA definition;
provide solidarity to those who are experiencing or fearful of experiencing antisemitism either in or outside of work;
provide solidarity to those Jewish colleagues who are affected directly or indirectly by the events of 7^th October and the ongoing attacks on Israel;
provide solidarity to those Jewish colleagues who are affected directly or indirectly by the antisemitic protests and attacks taking place across international cities and campuses;
develop processes, tools and learning to support colleagues experiencing or witnessing abuse, harassment and microaggressions; and
educate all colleagues concerning antisemitism, what it is, and how to recognise and counter it.

The goals of such Jewish solidarity networks include:

organisations having a demonstrably zero-tolerance culture for antisemitism, based on the IHRA definition;⁴
all participating Jewish colleagues feeling connected in and supported by their employer and participating non-Jewish colleagues; and
increasing numbers of non-Jewish colleagues having understanding of antisemitism and how to recognise it and call it out, and being supportive of their Jewish colleagues.

Referring to those individuals and groups who claimed to support equality but failed to act or speak out against racial injustice, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”.

There are only two alternative courses of action regarding the Jewish people and the antisemitism they face, with two very different outcomes: silence or demonstrable support. Decide, today, on which side you will be of history, and what you will say and do tomorrow when you go back into the workplace

Philip Wallace is Founding Director & Principal Consultant of Veracity Energy Limited

www.veracityenergy.co.uk

https://cst.org.uk/research/cst-publications/antisemitic-incidents-report-january-june-2025 ↩︎
https://antisemitism.org/information/
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https://www.inclusivecompanies.co.uk/event/understanding-antisemitism/ ↩︎
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” – https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism
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