The UK’s Chief Rabbi Begs Government to Take Anti-Semitism ‘More Seriously’ After Warning Country Isn’t Safe for Jews

Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, discussed his chilling warning for Jews living in the U.K. with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday.

Blitzer began the segment with the following introduction:

New this morning, authorities laid attempted murder charges on a suspect after two Jewish men were stabbed in North London. Authorities are calling it an act of terror, and British officials have now raised the domestic terror threat level. London’s Jewish community was already on edge following a string of attacks, including the burning of Jewish ambulances, ambulances belonging to a Jewish health service.

With us now is Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. He’s the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. Rabbi, welcome, I wish we were meeting under different circumstances, but after this stabbing, this latest stabbing, you said, “If you are visibly Jewish, you’re not safe in Britain.” Is that something that’s clearly on the minds of so many Jewish people in the U.K. right now? Are people taking steps not to be easily identified as Jewish in public?

“Lovely to speak to you, Wolf. We are deeply concerned. These are very troubling times. And the point that we are reinforcing all the time is these are troubling times, not just for the Jews of the U.K., but for the entire U.K. And there has been a sustained attack on Jewish buildings and on Jewish people. Starting on Yom Kippur, our holy day, second of October last year, when a terrorist broke into the compound of the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester and murdered two people who had come to pray together, injuring many others,” replied Mirvis. “And then, since about two months ago, we’ve had a string of events and, you know, we’re going through such a traumatic period. People are asking well where and when will the next incident be, and therefore we are calling on our government and on our authorities to take the situation more seriously. But together with this, I must add, I’m so proud of our Jewish community here in Britain because we’re resilient, we’re strong, we’re standing tall, we’re proud of our values, and we will get through this all right. However, right now, there is cause for deep concern.”

Later in the interview, Mirvis praised the government for raising its domestic terror threat level, but argued it’s not enough, saying:

We cannot only address the symptoms, We have to go right to the root causes. And we have for a long time been calling for zero tolerance, zero tolerance on hate marches which take place on a weekly basis. They have for a long time since the 7th of October, less frequent now, but they still exist. We want zero tolerance within our criminal justice system, zero tolerance on our university campuses and in our schools, zero tolerance within our National Health Service, and throughout all areas of endeavor within the U.K.

However, anti-Semitism has sadly-, has become the case in many places around the world, it has become normalized. And it is being tolerated and the time has come for the silent majority to raise their voices. It’s not good enough just to lend moral support. We need people in large numbers to come out and to publicly condemn and we would like to see these root causes.

Do you know, Wolf, on Tuesday of this week the Iranian embassy here in the U.K. called on Iranian citizens living here in Britain to be loyal to their country and to do what they can in the U.K., even if it means putting their lives on the line for the sake of Iran. Effectively, this was a call to martyrdom. And one day later, you have a terrorist on the streets of our capital city trying his to murder Jews. And that is why I have issued a call for the Iranian ambassador to the U.K. to be expelled. Australia has expelled its Iranian ambassador. Lebanon, of all places, has expelled its Iranian ambassador. And I have asked, why is it that the ambassador of Iran to the U.K. is still here? Why is it the IRGC has not yet been banned? We desperately, urgently need it to be banned in this country. And why is that there is a tolerance of so much anti-Semitism?

Watch above via CNN.

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