Sir Mark Rowley’s recent comments that some pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London send a message “that feels like anti-Semitism” are the latest sign of a dangerous trend in British public life: the conflation of anti-Semitism with criticism of the Israeli state.The Metropolitan Police commissioner suggested that some protest organisers deliberately route marches near synagogues in ways that intimidate British Jews. Any genuine intimidation of Jewish communities should, of course, be treated seriously. Anti-Semitism is real, dangerous and rising in Britain and across parts of Europe. It must be confronted clearly wherever it appears.But Britain is entering troubling territory when protests against the destruction of Gaza, opposition to Israeli state violence, or expressions of Palestinian grief are treated as inherently suspicious, even anti-Jewish, political acts.The issue is no longer only how Britain combats anti-Semitism. It is whether the country can still distinguish between hatred of Jews and opposition to the policies of the Israeli government.That distinction matters enormously, not only for Palestinians but for Jewish communities, too.For Palestinians, there is something painfully familiar about this moment. Many grew up being told that their dispossession was tragic but necessary; that the destruction of their villages, the loss of their homes and their transformation into refugees were justified by somebody else’s need for safety and statehood.Entire generations of Palestinians were raised inside this logic. Their cat …
