Is It Time to Make Aliyah?

After October 7th, it became impossible to be a Jew online without experiencing some degree of antisemitism. Suddenly, every Jew worldwide was forced to either denounce and condemn Israel or be branded a ‘Zionazi’ across social media.

For myself and many others, though, the outcome has been the opposite of what was intended: a renewed, stronger love for Israel.

I will be the first to admit that before the war began, I didn’t feel a deep pull towards Israel. As I think of it now, it’s clear that it’s become an intrinsic part of my soul – my Neshamah. Two years of hatred online and abusive comments took Israel from being little more than a country I visit to a safe haven.

Considering making Aliyah has become like second nature to me. To say those words now, with a ceasefire in place and all living hostages home, feels a lot easier, but they’ve been true throughout the war, not only towards the end of it.

That’s an unsavoury truth that many British Jews have had to face: a country at war has often felt safer than the one we grew up in.

I don’t think I know a single Jewish person who hasn’t experienced antisemitism in the past two years. From online, to our major cities, and even to our university campuses, it has become inescapable. Synagogues are being attacked and vandalised, Jewish schools and nurseries require extra security, and students are left feeling unsafe on campuses.

A single glance at a social media post covering any one of these instances will show you that the far-left are blaming Israel for the rise in antisemitism in the UK, as if it isn’t their own continuous anti-Israel and antisemitic narrative that has put British Jews in danger.

Whilst these actions are intended to make us hate Israel, to make us view it as some evil, genocidal entity, for myself and others, it has only driven us closer.

I don’t claim to see Israel as perfect, though; there are many things in the past two years of war that I have disagreed with, but I do see it as being significantly safer for Jews than the UK has been.

Our Prime Minister sometimes feels like an ally, but often doesn’t. It’s hard to believe he is when there’s so much antisemitism being bred across the country, because hatred like this doesn’t just happen; it’s allowed to happen.

When antisemitic chants are allowed at protests without consequences, when hate speech is donned as ‘free speech’, when being pro-Palestine becomes anti-Israel becomes anti-Jew – that’s when violent hatred is allowed to grow.

After the attacks at the Manchester synagogue took place over Yom Kippur, I saw for the first time my own views being spoken loudly: we knew this was coming.

How could we not? The history of the Jewish people has told us time and time again that these things don’t happen overnight; they happen gradually. It starts small, but eventually, antisemitism is ingrained so deeply into society that people no longer notice it.

I would like to say that I see hope for things changing in the UK now that there is a ceasefire in Israel, but to do so would be untruthful.

The protests haven’t stopped, the antisemitic onslaught online hasn’t stopped, the danger hasn’t stopped – and that only proves that this was never about Palestine, it was simply centuries-old antisemitism taking a new form.