During an anti-Israel rally in London on Saturday, some participants were heard to scream, “F— your Jewish state”. On the face of it, this may seem alarming. In a way, though, I think we should be grateful to them.
After all, their words should help awaken more people to what so much anti-Israel activism is really about.
Most of the time, anti-Israel activists remember to employ the handy euphemism “Zionist”: a crucial tool in their efforts to persuade the public that they definitely, unequivocally, 100 per cent aren’t anti-Semitic. But on this occasion, it would seem, some of them were so rabidly incensed by the arrival of a small band of pro-Israel counter-protesters, they forgot – and accidentally blurted out what they always really mean: “Jewish”.
Afterwards they must have been kicking themselves. What a careless lapse. Luckily for them, their words don’t seem to have been reported by the Left-wing newspapers that so many of their sympathisers read. But on social media, where users are constantly exposed to stories from newspapers they don’t normally read, there’s a grave danger that the sympathisers will catch sight of the Telegraph’s story, which quoted the words “F— your Jewish state” in the headline. Think how disgusted those sympathisers will be, at seeing the activists so foolishly give the game away.
Of course, this isn’t the first time an anti-Israel activist in Britain has made this unfortunate slip. At a rally held a mere month after October 7, 2023, a speaker disparagingly referred to Suella Braverman’s “Jewish husband” – before hastily correcting it to “Zionist husband”.
The anti-Israel movement surely can’t afford too many more little slips of this kind. Of late, though, we appear to be seeing more and more of them. At the weekend, video footage circulating on social media showed a man on a bus in Ireland ranting about “genocidal Jews”. Then, when a woman tried to intervene, he accused her of “white-knighting for the Jew”. The man’s manner suggested strongly that he’d been drinking. Sober, perhaps he would have been able to control himself, and remembered to say “Zionists” instead.
Meanwhile, the NASUWT teachers’ union has just published the results of a survey, revealing that more than half of Jewish teachers in Britain have experienced anti-Semitism over the past two years. One teacher reported hearing a pupil shout, “F— the Jews”. You can readily imagine the frustration of anti-Israel activists. (“It’s ‘f— the Zionists’, you teenage idiot! Honestly, how many times!”)
At this rate, hitherto unsuspecting members of the public are bound to start asking some awkward questions. Are these endless protests really just about the actions of the Israeli government, and nothing more? Is “anti-Zionism” definitely about ideology, and not ethnicity? And how come the people marching so righteously in solidarity with innocent Palestinians appear to have so little interest in the slaughter of the Druze by Syrians, just across the Israeli border?
Naturally, therefore, anti-Israel activists will be anxious to avoid making the same mistake again. To that end, perhaps they should try using some form of aide-memoire. Before setting off on their next march, they could write the word “ZIONIST” on the backs of their hands.
Then again, there may be one small flaw in such a plan. Their fellow travellers might misunderstand, and beat them up.
At last, the England team get off their knees
The England women’s football team – who play Italy in a Euro 2025 semi-final tonight – have decided to stop “taking the knee” before matches. In a statement, they said football needs to “find another way to tackle racism”.
A sensible decision. The mystery is why they kept on doing it for so long.
The players may have meant it as a protest against racism in general. In the eyes of most people, though, the gesture will always be inextricably linked to the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020. In short: it was an American response to an American crime committed by American police.
It felt a touch odd, therefore, to see it adopted by sports teams in countries thousands of miles away. And it felt odder still when they continued to do it, long after American teams had stopped. Hence the bizarre spectacle before the match at the men’s football World Cup of 2022, between England and the US. The England players took the knee – yet the US players (more than half of whom were black) didn’t.
Goodness only knows what viewers in America made of it.
“Say, honey? Remember that whole ‘taking the knee’ thing that was big a couple years back? Looks like the limeys have just got into it. Bless ’em. I know they always like to copy our trends. But I never thought they’d start mourning our murders.”
Way of the World is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 7am every Tuesday and Saturday
During an anti-Israel rally in London on Saturday, some participants were heard to scream, “F— your Jewish state”. On the face of it, this may seem alarming. In a way, though, I think we should be grateful to them.
After all, their words should help awaken more people to what so much anti-Israel activism is really about.
Most of the time, anti-Israel activists remember to employ the handy euphemism “Zionist”: a crucial tool in their efforts to persuade the public that they definitely, unequivocally, 100 per cent aren’t anti-Semitic. But on this occasion, it would seem, some of them were so rabidly incensed by the arrival of a small band of pro-Israel counter-protesters, they forgot – and accidentally blurted out what they always really mean: “Jewish”.
Afterwards they must have been kicking themselves. What a careless lapse. Luckily for them, their words don’t seem to have been reported by the Left-wing newspapers that so many of their sympathisers read. But on social media, where users are constantly exposed to stories from newspapers they don’t normally read, there’s a grave danger that the sympathisers will catch sight of the Telegraph’s story, which quoted the words “F— your Jewish state” in the headline. Think how disgusted those sympathisers will be, at seeing the activists so foolishly give the game away.
Of course, this isn’t the first time an anti-Israel activist in Britain has made this unfortunate slip. At a rally held a mere month after October 7, 2023, a speaker disparagingly referred to Suella Braverman’s “Jewish husband” – before hastily correcting it to “Zionist husband”.
The anti-Israel movement surely can’t afford too many more little slips of this kind. Of late, though, we appear to be seeing more and more of them. At the weekend, video footage circulating on social media showed a man on a bus in Ireland ranting about “genocidal Jews”. Then, when a woman tried to intervene, he accused her of “white-knighting for the Jew”. The man’s manner suggested strongly that he’d been drinking. Sober, perhaps he would have been able to control himself, and remembered to say “Zionists” instead.
Meanwhile, the NASUWT teachers’ union has just published the results of a survey, revealing that more than half of Jewish teachers in Britain have experienced anti-Semitism over the past two years. One teacher reported hearing a pupil shout, “F— the Jews”. You can readily imagine the frustration of anti-Israel activists. (“It’s ‘f— the Zionists’, you teenage idiot! Honestly, how many times!”)
At this rate, hitherto unsuspecting members of the public are bound to start asking some awkward questions. Are these endless protests really just about the actions of the Israeli government, and nothing more? Is “anti-Zionism” definitely about ideology, and not ethnicity? And how come the people marching so righteously in solidarity with innocent Palestinians appear to have so little interest in the slaughter of the Druze by Syrians, just across the Israeli border?
Naturally, therefore, anti-Israel activists will be anxious to avoid making the same mistake again. To that end, perhaps they should try using some form of aide-memoire. Before setting off on their next march, they could write the word “ZIONIST” on the backs of their hands.
Then again, there may be one small flaw in such a plan. Their fellow travellers might misunderstand, and beat them up.
At last, the England team get off their knees
The England women’s football team – who play Italy in a Euro 2025 semi-final tonight – have decided to stop “taking the knee” before matches. In a statement, they said football needs to “find another way to tackle racism”.
A sensible decision. The mystery is why they kept on doing it for so long.
The players may have meant it as a protest against racism in general. In the eyes of most people, though, the gesture will always be inextricably linked to the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020. In short: it was an American response to an American crime committed by American police.
It felt a touch odd, therefore, to see it adopted by sports teams in countries thousands of miles away. And it felt odder still when they continued to do it, long after American teams had stopped. Hence the bizarre spectacle before the match at the men’s football World Cup of 2022, between England and the US. The England players took the knee – yet the US players (more than half of whom were black) didn’t.
Goodness only knows what viewers in America made of it.
“Say, honey? Remember that whole ‘taking the knee’ thing that was big a couple years back? Looks like the limeys have just got into it. Bless ’em. I know they always like to copy our trends. But I never thought they’d start mourning our murders.”
Way of the World is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 7am every Tuesday and Saturday