Judith Moritz

No problem.

I think, you know, the fact that you just called it the oldest hatred, that when we made the programme, we were looking at all of the ways in which anti-Semitism resurfaces, it's reborn, it mutates, all of the tropes, all of the stereotypes, which have always been there, you know, for generations.

It doesn't take a lot for them to come back.

So, you know, as you say, quite rightly, certainly since the 7th of October 2023, when the situation in the Middle East escalated with the Hamas attack and the Israeli response, there has been a spike, a continued spike, we know, in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK.

But when we looked at what they consist of, you know,

on the streets in extreme examples that we all know about, these attacks you've just listed, but plenty of other examples of what was described to me as ambient anti-Semitism, people talking about being spat at or shouted at or targeted because they're wearing a kippah, a skullcap, you know.

Relatively low level, but very upsetting everyday experiences for plenty of people.

That has been at a peak since October 23 as well.

And the other thing is, you know, we looked online and that is, it doesn't take more than, I don't know, a few seconds to pick up when you look for this stuff.

An incredible number of these tropes, you know, the old stereotypes, Jews being wealthy, Jews controlling the banks, the media, Holocaust denial.

All of that gets wrapped up as well.

It's omnidirectional, this.

It comes from the left, from the right, and it never goes away.

But I think what we're looking at at the moment, it is a real moment in Britain.

I think lastly, I should just say, you know, everybody I've spoken to in the community has said, this is not a surprise to us.

We've been watching this happen, certainly over the last couple of years, but actually over a generation security has been tightened.

You go into synagogues, you go to Jewish schools, the fencing, the CCTV, the security guards, that's not a brand new thing.

That's something that's been happening almost like mission creep over, I would say, you know, 15, 20 years or more.

And it's become normal, actually, for members of the Jewish community.

That's what they live with.