The state of anti-antisemitism: on the Runnymede Report
JVL Introduction
David Feldman, Ben Gidley and Brendan McGeever of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism recently co-authored a new report on antisemitism in the UK for The Runnymede Trust. It was published in January.
Through the lens of seeing antisemitism as “a reservoir of racist stereotypes and narratives about Jewish people, which are normalised and widespread”, it finds the politics of anti-antisemitism as practiced by the Jewish community, the state, and the left wanting.
It calls on the UK government and wider anti-racist organisations to “move beyond framing and discussing antisemitism in ways that pit communities against one another, prohibit solidarity and encourage division” and to adopt a “360-degree antiracism” that develops alliances between Jewish people and other racialised minorities.
Read Vashti’s interview with the authors of the report below.
You can download the Report, Facing antisemitism: the struggle for safety and solidarity, here.
RK
This article was originally published by Vashti on Fri 23 May 2025. Read the original here.
The state of antisemitism
An interview with the authors of a new Runnymede Trust report on antisemitism in the UK.
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The best I can say about Feldman & co’s report is that it is well meaning but useless nonetheless.
Do they ever ask why a State that is thoroughly racist should be so concerned to tackle ‘anti-Semitism’? Why should the Met, which is a byword for every form of prejudice and racism, be so concerned about Jews?
The obvious answer is that Jews fulfill a key role for the State as the moral alibi for its support for genocide, Opponents of that genocide, Jews included, can be portrayed as ‘anti-Semitic.’
The same goes for the BBC, the tabloids etc. Their concern about ‘anti-Semitism’ is wonderful. The same BBC that at the time of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin barred their most popular sports commentator, Harold Abrahams, from covering them because it would give offence to Hitler.
The same tabloids which campaigned against ‘bogus’ Jewish refugees from Nazism in the 30s with the same vigour as they campaign against the boat people. Gidley et al avoid all these tricky questions because it means drawing some very uncomfortable conclusions such as
a. It is the lack of anti-Semitism as racial hatred today which allows the State to be seen to oppose it
b. It is because Jews are no longer victims of anti-Semitism that they can align with the State in its hostility to other minorities.
c. That anti-Semitism today is a marginal prejudice. What else can it be? It is not a form of racism. Racism in its true meaning is a product of the power relationship between the State and the majority population and its minorities.
Saying that anti-semitism draws on a reservoir of memes, tropes etc. is another way of saying it is an eternal, unchanging phenomenon. It is the Zionist definition in another, essentialised form.
The reality is that the authors of this report don’t have a handle on racism because they have no class analysis and see the State as neutral rather than an active player in fostering racism.
I imagine our Dear Leader will take comfort from this report….’yes it’s bad but on the other hand……..’ Perfect!