How the Jewish Chronicle weaponises ‘antisemitism’ to fuel a moral panic
JVL Introduction
The Jewish Chronicle seems able to find antisemitism everywhere, except where it is staring it in the face.
But instead of focusing on the real problem, major Jewish groups have followed the lead of the Israeli government in instrumentalising the concept.
Why bother with the real thing when it can instead by used to criminalise and demonise Palestinians and their supporters?
Welcome to the Jewish Chronicle!
Neve Gordon analysed the appearance of the term “antisemitism” in its pages over a hundred-year period to 2024.
In 1938 at the height of Nazi oppression of Jews antisemitism was mentioned in 352 articles. It peaked at almost twice this number in 2019 when Corbyn led Labour into the general election, and again in 2024 during the Gaza genocide.
As Gordon says, “shockingly, in the Chronicle’s apparent view, the antisemitism threat is perceived as greater now than it was in the late 1930s and early 1940s.”
He concludes that “the oldest surviving Jewish newspaper seems dead set on using antisemitism not so much to fight racism, but to defend a racist regime and cover up horrific violations.”
RK
This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Thu 4 Dec 2025. Read the original here.
How the Jewish Chronicle weaponises 'antisemitism' to fuel a moral panic
Articles conflate pro-Palestinian activism with hatred of Jewish people, following the Israeli government’s insidious playbook
Loading article text…
I agree with the main argument in this article. I noticed that before we knew anything about the attacker at the Manchester synagogue both the Prime Minister and the UK Chief Rabbi, within an hour or so, declared it an antisemitic attack. Later statements by people who knew the attacker indicated that he was a disturbed individual, and it was unlikely a political or racist attack. Numerous people have been killed by disturbed individuals in the past year or so, yet they have not been labelled anti-child or misopedist (Stockport), and therefore a danger to all children, or anti-student (Reading), therefore a danger to all students. The reality is that disturbed people who suddenly get very angry and are susceptible to violence choose the nearest place or person to attack, and use whatever is available, a car, a kitchen knife etc. The Chief Rabbi and the Jewish Chronicle need to be careful and not label every attack on a Jewish person antisemitic, although your and my words I fear will fall on deaf ears.
No Jew in UK has had his house bull-dozed or his little children killed by a “moral” army sniper.
Although I’m not Jewish and so don’t experience everyday life as such, I think that Jewish people appear to be generally safe and respected in Britain. Anti-semitism as a weapon against the left seems to have been imported from the US just before Corbyn was elected Labour leader. It was real shock tactics, and hard to know where to begin regarding a response. Anti-semitism now seems to be used by the Zionists to put fear into the hearts of indigenous Jewish people everywhere. How can we challenge that?