The prime minister has warned there will be “consequences” if foreign actors are found to be behind the recent spate of antisemitic attacks in the UK
Addressing government ministers, police chiefs, and community leaders in Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer confirmed officials were investigating whether foreign states were responsible for stirring up the hatred behind attacks like Golders Green.
“Our message to Iran or to any other country that might seek to promote violence, hatred or division in society is that it will not be tolerated,” Starmer said.
“We are clear that these actions will have consequences if that proves to be the case.”
The prime minister also announced a series of measures and additional funding to tackle rising antisemitism after a series of recent attacks and arsons targeting the Jewish community.
Among these are new expectations for universities and arts bodies, as well as additional funding to support community safety projects.to allow it to take action against state-backed groups amid calls for the proscription of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
At a roundtable of senior figures from the police, representatives from the arts, higher education, trade unions and businesses, Starmer also promised new action to implement a “zero tolerance” approach to antisemitism on university campuses and action in the arts.
Universities will now be expected to “demonstrate action” to tackle antisemitism among students, the PM said.wake of apparently rising antisemitic attacks.
Explaining the decision to fast-track hate crimes, Parkinson said: “Its purpose is to ensure that charging decisions are made swiftly and efficiently, with prosecutors focusing on the core evidence required to determine whether the evidential test is met.
“Where that threshold for prosecution is satisfied, then a prosecution decision should not be delayed – any supporting evidence can be obtained subsequently.”
He added, “only a fraction” of antisemitic crimes are referred to the Crown Prosecution Service, saying the Jewish community faces “extreme acts of violence and criminal damage”.Addressing the concern of antisemitism growing in education settings, Starmer said: “We already expect universities to set out clear disciplinary consequences for antisemitism and to enforce them, and so we will hold them to account on that.
“Today I can announce that we will lift the bar higher. When abuses take place, we’re calling on universities to demonstrate action.
“We will now expect them to publish the scale of the problem on their campuses, as well as the specific steps they have taken to clamp down on it. There will be zero tolerance for inaction.”
The government has already committed £7 million to tackle antisemitism in schools, colleges and universities, and Starmer said they want to make sure that Holocaust education is taught in all schools.Louis Danker, the president of the Union of Jewish Students, told those in Downing Street, “Britain has an antisemitism crisis” and “many young Jews now despair for our future”.
The University of Edinburgh graduate said: “I was lucky to have supportive non-Jewish friends at university.
“I say lucky because the Union of Jewish Students’ recent report found that one in five students are reluctant or unwilling to share a house with a Jew.
“Old fashioned prejudice is becoming entrenched in the next generation.”
Ahead of the meeting, the government announced a further £1 million of funding for Jewish communities, aimed at supporting community safety and countering antisemitic narratives.
This is on top of the additional £25 million funding increase for security announced in the immediate wake of the Golders Green, bringing the total funding of Jewish community security primarily in London and Manchester to £58 million this year.
Shortly before Starmer’s announcement, the Metropolitan Police announced that counter-terror police are investigating an arson at a former synagogue in Tower Hamlets, east London.
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