Where were you?

I was in London at 1pm this afternoon standing at the rally against antisemitism. I travelled into town with my brother and sister-in-law – the three of us born in England as were our parents and most of our grandparents. The tragedy for all of us is that we love Great Britain, expected to live out our days in this country and now we are fighting for our right to work and live as other citizens of this so-called liberal democracy without fear and without increasingly high walls and ever-stronger security.

A stranger – a non-Jewish woman who had come to give her support to British Jews

On my other side another non-Jewish man who came in solidarity (he had once lived in Golders Green).

When I thanked him for being there he said I shouldn’t have to thank him. That brought tears to my eyes.

There were speeches from, amongst others, Kemi Badenoch, The Bishop of Willesden, other politicians and rabbis and community leaders including the brave Muslim Fiyaz Mughal and even a colourful video message from Boy George. Where were the anti-racists, the trade unionists, those who took the knee for black brothers and sisters? There were a large number of Iranians in exile at the rally and many calls from some of the politicians and community leaders for the banning of hate marches, the calling out of the IRGC as a terrorist organisation and the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood and hate preachers.

Saul Taylor, the new young president of The United Synagogue gave the final, rousing address saying loudly that we Jews will not be pushed out of our homes and country. Now it’s down to our politicians and you, the silent majority, to decide.

We left singing God Save the King and thanking the police for keeping us safe as we walked to the station