When you’re invited onto national radio to discuss a rise in religious hate crime of a Monday morning, you don’t expect to end up being pursued for the “Jewish figures” for the numbers of dead in Gaza.
But this is the post-October 7 universe, and if the past 14 months have taught us anything, it is this: when it comes to Israel and Jews, you can never underestimate the Left enough.
The story began when I appeared on LBC to be interviewed by a chap called Matthew Wright, a deeply liberal journalist who has previously worked for Channel 5 and as a showbiz columnist for the Daily Mirror. We were due to discuss the fact that some of Britain’s largest police forces have recorded a steep increase in antisemitic incidents after the pogroms of October 2023, as well as a spike in anti-Muslim criminality following the stabbings of three little girls in Southport.
My heart sank before I had even uttered a word. In his introduction, Wright confided that he had already drawn his own conclusions about the reasons for the rise in bigotry. Of these there were two: Nigel Farage and Allison Pearson.
The Reform leader was under suspicion, apparently, because he had been blamed for “inciting” riots with comments after the stabbings. As for Allison Pearson, she was in the frame because the police had knocked on her door to accuse her of posting something intemperate on X, before later humiliatingly dropping their investigation.
I know, I know. But somebody had to wade through this rising tide of nonsense, and it looked like on this occasion it had to be me. I opened my remarks by pointing out, somewhat wearily, that the Southport suspect – whom, funnily enough, LBC had revealed as a “Christian” two days after the stabbings – was later alleged to have been in possession of an Al Qaeda training manual and charged with a terrorism offence. So to pillory Farage for doubting the official account was a bit rich.
As for Allison, well, she hadn’t done anything wrong, had she? That was the whole point. Wright, undeterred, insisted that the media was to blame for the surge in religious hatred. I found myself agreeing, but not in the way he had expected.
The broadcast media, I pointed out, was guilty of parroting Hamas casualty figures without mentioning that at least half of the casualties were terrorists. They also air footage of suffering civilians without acknowledging that Hamas censors it all first, which explains why viewers never see pictures of dead or wounded jihadis.
As a result of this pincer movement of propaganda, the public is given the impression that Israel is targeting civilians. The truth is that the IDF has killed fewer civilians per combatant than any other army in the history of warfare. As Lord Roberts put it earlier in the conflict, speaking in Parliament:
“War is hell, and every individual civilian death is a tragedy, but – I speak as a military historian – less than 2:1 is an astonishingly low ratio for modern urban warfare where the terrorists routinely use civilians as human shields. It is a testament to the professionalism, ethics and values of the Israel Defense Forces.”
But once members of the public feel that they have seen this stuff “with their own eyes” on television, the facts have no effect. It was hardly a surprise that such national media brainwashing had provoked a great increase in hostility towards Jews among those who were already so inclined.
It was at that point that Wright demanded, apropos of nothing, that I tell him how many children had been killed in the war. “How many?” he said. “I just want to know what the accurate Jewish figure is.” Sorry, the... the what?
Now, an uncharitable interpretation of the “Jewish figure” statement might include the words “Freudian” and “slip”. Far be it from me, however, to reach into the soul of a leftist broadcaster and pull out the oldest hatred; but it was a bit, well, a bit odd.
For the next few minutes, it was all I could do to get a word in edgeways, as the man continually interrupted me, demanding that I speak about how many “children” had lost their lives. In the end, I managed to explain that the reason the Hamas propaganda is so effective is that it taps into latent antisemitism that has been embedded in our culture for centuries.
Take the blood libel, which first emerged in Norwich in 1144. William, a 12-year-old boy, was found murdered and a monk by the name of Thomas of Monmouth claimed without evidence that the Jews had done it. So began the conspiracy theory that Jews are possessed of an especial relish for the blood of children.
“I don’t have any animosity towards Jewish people, I just want to know how many children have been killed,” the liberal presenter insisted.
And so the interview ended, with Wright none the wiser about the true causes of the rise in antisemitic criminality which he, of course, so deeply deplored.
When you’re invited onto national radio to discuss a rise in religious hate crime of a Monday morning, you don’t expect to end up being pursued for the “Jewish figures” for the numbers of dead in Gaza.
But this is the post-October 7 universe, and if the past 14 months have taught us anything, it is this: when it comes to Israel and Jews, you can never underestimate the Left enough.
The story began when I appeared on LBC to be interviewed by a chap called Matthew Wright, a deeply liberal journalist who has previously worked for Channel 5 and as a showbiz columnist for the Daily Mirror. We were due to discuss the fact that some of Britain’s largest police forces have recorded a steep increase in antisemitic incidents after the pogroms of October 2023, as well as a spike in anti-Muslim criminality following the stabbings of three little girls in Southport.
My heart sank before I had even uttered a word. In his introduction, Wright confided that he had already drawn his own conclusions about the reasons for the rise in bigotry. Of these there were two: Nigel Farage and Allison Pearson.
The Reform leader was under suspicion, apparently, because he had been blamed for “inciting” riots with comments after the stabbings. As for Allison Pearson, she was in the frame because the police had knocked on her door to accuse her of posting something intemperate on X, before later humiliatingly dropping their investigation.
I know, I know. But somebody had to wade through this rising tide of nonsense, and it looked like on this occasion it had to be me. I opened my remarks by pointing out, somewhat wearily, that the Southport suspect – whom, funnily enough, LBC had revealed as a “Christian” two days after the stabbings – was later alleged to have been in possession of an Al Qaeda training manual and charged with a terrorism offence. So to pillory Farage for doubting the official account was a bit rich.
As for Allison, well, she hadn’t done anything wrong, had she? That was the whole point. Wright, undeterred, insisted that the media was to blame for the surge in religious hatred. I found myself agreeing, but not in the way he had expected.
The broadcast media, I pointed out, was guilty of parroting Hamas casualty figures without mentioning that at least half of the casualties were terrorists. They also air footage of suffering civilians without acknowledging that Hamas censors it all first, which explains why viewers never see pictures of dead or wounded jihadis.
As a result of this pincer movement of propaganda, the public is given the impression that Israel is targeting civilians. The truth is that the IDF has killed fewer civilians per combatant than any other army in the history of warfare. As Lord Roberts put it earlier in the conflict, speaking in Parliament:
“War is hell, and every individual civilian death is a tragedy, but – I speak as a military historian – less than 2:1 is an astonishingly low ratio for modern urban warfare where the terrorists routinely use civilians as human shields. It is a testament to the professionalism, ethics and values of the Israel Defense Forces.”
But once members of the public feel that they have seen this stuff “with their own eyes” on television, the facts have no effect. It was hardly a surprise that such national media brainwashing had provoked a great increase in hostility towards Jews among those who were already so inclined.
It was at that point that Wright demanded, apropos of nothing, that I tell him how many children had been killed in the war. “How many?” he said. “I just want to know what the accurate Jewish figure is.” Sorry, the... the what?
Now, an uncharitable interpretation of the “Jewish figure” statement might include the words “Freudian” and “slip”. Far be it from me, however, to reach into the soul of a leftist broadcaster and pull out the oldest hatred; but it was a bit, well, a bit odd.
For the next few minutes, it was all I could do to get a word in edgeways, as the man continually interrupted me, demanding that I speak about how many “children” had lost their lives. In the end, I managed to explain that the reason the Hamas propaganda is so effective is that it taps into latent antisemitism that has been embedded in our culture for centuries.
Take the blood libel, which first emerged in Norwich in 1144. William, a 12-year-old boy, was found murdered and a monk by the name of Thomas of Monmouth claimed without evidence that the Jews had done it. So began the conspiracy theory that Jews are possessed of an especial relish for the blood of children.
“I don’t have any animosity towards Jewish people, I just want to know how many children have been killed,” the liberal presenter insisted.
And so the interview ended, with Wright none the wiser about the true causes of the rise in antisemitic criminality which he, of course, so deeply deplored.