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Michael Gove is delivering a hard-hitting speech warning the country is “descending into darkness” following a rise in antisemitism.
The communities secretary is speaking in London amid concerns over a 147 per cent increase in antisemitic incidents since 2022.
He has labelled pro-Palestine university encampments as ‘antisemitism repurposed for the Instagram age’ which have caused hostility towards Jewish students, he says.
Mr Gove has accused organisers of pro-Palestinian marches of not doing enough to stop some demonstrators spreading anti-Jewish messages.
He has also outlined new legislation to tackle hate across the Jewish and Muslim communities announcing new government advisers to tackle antisemitism and islamophobia.
Two-thirds of the 4,103 anti-Jewish hate incidents occurred on or after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.
It comes as Mel Stride has warned MPs involved in the infected blood scandal could be prosecuted following the publication of the damning 2,700-page report.
The work and pensions secretary said: “There are many questions and many short failings that have surfaced, and they all need to be looked at very carefully.”
Key Points
- Infected blood scandal: Ken Clarke faces backlash
- Gove announces new legislation to tackle antisemitism
- Gove condemns pro-Palestine organisers
- More countries to join Sunak’s Rwanda plans
- Politicians involved in the infected blood scandal could face prosecution
‘Decolonisation’ calls only benefit UK’s adversaries, says Gove
Speaking from north London, the levelling up secretary said the notion among activists that West prosperity was built on exploitation and empire was “inherently flawed” and only benefited the UK’s adversaries.
Mr Gove said: “But these ideas are deeply congenial to those authoritarian states who are increasingly arrayed together against us. For Iran, for China and even for Russia the decolonisation narrative is meat and drink.
“The idea that the success of liberal Western nations is based on plunder and exploitation… is central to their efforts to advance their goals.”
Salma Ouaguira21 May 2024 11:13 1716285430Gove announces new legislation to tackle antisemitism
The communities secretary is outlining government’s new steps to stop rising numbers of hate.
He urges leaders to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Mr Gove also promises to set out a government independent adviser to tackle antisemitism and a parallel one on anti-Muslim hatred.
Salma Ouaguira21 May 2024 10:57 1716285093‘Antisemitism repurposed for the Instagram age’
The Conservative MP claims student protests across the country have caused hostility towards Jewish students.
Slamming the pro-Palestine university encampments, he says it is “antisemitism repurposed for the Instagram age”.
He then urges university and leaders to punish antisemites on campus and to “listen to the Jewish community”.
Salma Ouaguira21 May 2024 10:51 1716284874Meanwhile in Vienna...
Rishi Sunak says the arrest warrant for Netanyahu is unhelpful.
Speaking from Vienna, the PM says: “Of course it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless.
“There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self defence and the terrorist group Hamas. It is wrong to conflate and equivocate between those two different entities.
“What I am very clear is that this will make absolutely no difference in getting a pause in the fighting, getting aid into the region, or indeed the hostages out.”
‘The BDS movement is antisemitic,' Michael Gove says
“From the river to the sea,” is a chant for the erasure of the Jewish home, Michael Gove claims.
He says the phrase is directed at Israel and any endorsements are explicitly antisemitic.
Mr Gove goes on to attack the BDS movement and says it stresses the need to “eliminate the state of Israel.”
Salma Ouaguira21 May 2024 10:40 1716284221Michael Gove says antisemitism is the common currency of hate
He says the far-right and the far-left are equally undermining UK democracy.
The Tory MP condemns figures from both spheres and claims BANP Nick Griffin, Patriotic Alternative, Britain First, have been invited to share space with Islamists with the common ground of concern the Jewish state.
“Antisemitism is a virus that evolves,” he adds.
Salma Ouaguira21 May 2024 10:37 1716283958Gove condemns pro-Palestine organisers
Michael Gove claims organisers deny participation of Jews in marches.
He ads the pro-Palestine marches have been a source of intimidation for the Jewish community and they haven’t been able to take part due to “antisemitic tropes”.
The communities secretary says: “It’s an ironclad law of history that countries which are descending into darkness are those which are becoming progressively more unsafe for Jewish individuals and the Jewish community, the Spain of the Inquisition, the Vienna of the 1900s, Germany in the 30s, Russia in the last decade.
“It is a parallel law that those countries in which the Jewish community has felt most safe at any time are the countries where freedom is most secure at any time.
“The Netherlands of the 17th century, Britain in the first decades of the last century, America in the second half of that century.
“So when Jewish people are under threat, all our freedoms are threatened. The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine. Growing antisemitism is a fever which weakens the whole body politic.”
‘We’ve seen an explosion in antisemitism'
The levelling up secretary says there has been a skyrocketing spurge in hate against the Jewish community.
He claims there have been a recorded 4,103 incidents since the 2023.
He claims there have been svastikas and Hamas banners portrayed during the pro-Palestine marches.
Mr Gove says many protesters are “thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people”, they are “side by side with those who are promoting hate”.
Salma Ouaguira21 May 2024 10:30 1716283616Michael Gove is now speaking from London
The Conservative MP is delivering a keynote speech on rising antisemitism to the Jewish community.
He starts saying: “Since the Hamas attack, we’ve seen a shadow spread in the UK.
“There is growing evidence of a remarkable phenomenon...a questioning of the fact a blaming the victims, a campaign of hate redirected not only to the Jewish state but Jews everywhere.”
Salma Ouaguira21 May 2024 10:26 1716283300‘MPs could be prosecuted over various criminal offenses'
Although corporate manslaughter charge cannot be used, Max Hill, a former director of public prosecutions said there are other options.
He told Times Radio: “If the evidence is there, there is no bar to an investigation and a prosecution.
“Now, sadly, corporate manslaughter came into force as a criminal offence on April 6, 2008 – much too late to deal with this case.
“However, there are other criminal offences which pre-date corporate manslaughter, where individuals have a duty of care and [if] they breached that duty in a gross way – that’s a legal term – they can be held liable.
“Gross negligence manslaughter comes to my mind and also misconduct in public office.
“It’s not for me to know whether either of those are feasible in these circumstances, but the criminal law does provide answers such as this even decades after the event.”
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