British Jews Are Fighting Back – And Starmer Didn’t See It Coming

Right, so in the Britain of Keir Starmer in 2025, it seems you can be Jewish, but only if you are the right kind of Jew. If you are Zionist, pro-Israel, and in lockstep with the state’s line on Palestine, you are welcome. But if you are Jewish and oppose apartheid, question the conflation of Judaism with Zionism, or dare to show solidarity with Palestinians—it appears that you might do well to prepare to be criminalised, debanked, and silenced. Keir Starmer's Labour Britain is a place where the government's fight against antisemitism now targets Jewish anti-racists, and where dissent itself is policed as extremism.
The apparent persecution of Jewish anti Zionists, anti racists therefore, as we have seen two significant examples of in just the last couple of days and more precedent than that set before that reveals a disturbing contradiction: that in supposedly defending Jews from antisemitism, the British state has begun persecuting those Jews it views as being insufficiently Zionist. The UK is now witnessing a dangerous convergence of counter-terrorism law, pro-Israel lobbying, and political suppression—with Jewish dissenters as some of the first casualties.
Right, so the Labour Party of Keir Starmer is one that had been gutted of its socialist left, following that sustained media and political campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, antisemitism weaponised against a lifelong anti-racist as that was. Central to this purge was the alleged antisemitism crisis—not a genuine reckoning with bigotry, but a coordinated effort to redefine antisemitism in terms of political loyalty to Israel. Under Starmer, this realignment has accelerated, reshaping Labour into a party that enforces ideological discipline on the Palestine question.
The adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, includes all of its controversial "examples" equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, that laid the groundwork for this shift. By collapsing anti-Zionism into antisemitism, Starmer's Labour have created an expansive weapon to purge anti-imperialists, anti-racists, and especially Jewish leftists from the party.
The most damning evidence of Labour's authoritarianism is its treatment of Jewish anti-Zionist members. Rather than protecting Jews from antisemitism, the party has expelled and silenced Jewish voices who dissent from Zionism. Here’s a few examples.
A founding member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Tony Greenstein has been a vocal critic of both Zionism and the Israeli state's crimes against Palestinians. In 2018, he was expelled from Labour. In 2023, he was handed a nine-month suspended sentence for criminal damage during a protest at an Elbit Systems facility. In December 2023, his home was raided by police who seized his devices over alleged "support for Hamas" on social media [WSWS, 2024]. And just this month, it would appear that he is now being debanked, as all of a sudden his First Direct, Santander and Nationwide accounts have mysteriously all come up for review. [Skwawkbox, 2025].
Then there has been the case of Graham Bash, a Jewish socialist and veteran member of Labour, Bash was expelled in 2022 for his anti-Zionist views and his involvement in Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) who were originally Labour Jewish affiliate, but now are no longer exclusively so thanks to Starmer, you just need to be Jewish. Yesterday, he was arrested in London during a protest against the banning of Palestine Action [Skwawkbox, 2025]. A Jewish anti Zionist protester now being treated as a security threat. Bash's case is a perfect and current example of how the state is now criminalising Jewish protest in the name of fighting antisemitism.
Jackie Walker, Bash’s partner incidentally, a Black Jewish educator and long-time anti-racist activist, was one of the earliest high-profile Jewish figures targeted by Labour's antisemitism purge. As a former vice-chair of Momentum, Walker faced repeated suspensions and was eventually expelled from the party as detailed by Electronic Intifada. Her offences? Questioning the narrow focus of Holocaust Memorial Day and challenging the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Despite her deep roots in both Jewish and Black liberation traditions, Walker was smeared as antisemitic—exemplifying how dissenting Jewish voices are vilified when they challenge Zionist orthodoxy.
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, a founding member of Jewish Voice for Labour and a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights, was also suspended and later expelled from the Labour Party. She had long warned of a creeping McCarthyism within the party, where Jewish critics of Israel were treated as traitors rather than as members of the community. Her expulsion followed her participation in events deemed inappropriate by the party leadership, including meetings that expressed solidarity with those expelled, all rather conveniently happening right after she got elected to Labour’s National Executive Committee, Starmer’s Labour seeing her off before she ever attended a single meeting. Her case underscores the impossibility of meaningful Jewish dissent within Starmer’s Labour and the crackdown of anti Zionist Jewish voices.
These expulsions and sanctions expose the grotesque inversion at the heart of Labour’s antisemitism policy: that Jews who fight racism and apartheid are cast out, while those who defend a regime of occupation and ethno-nationalism are welcomed. It is not antisemitism that determines guilt, but one’s stance on Zionism. In Starmer’s Labour, Jewish identity is no longer a shield—it is a weapon to be used selectively against political enemies—and in many cases descendants of Holocaust survivors—only highlights the grotesque inversion at work: Jews being accused of antisemitism because they oppose a settler-colonial regime.
Antisemitism is real. But in the hands of the Starmer government, it has become a political weapon—not a shield. The adoption of the IHRA definition has enabled a chilling crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech, with anti-Zionist views treated as prima facie evidence of bigotry. The result has been expulsions of Jewish members who refuse to toe the pro-Israel line, censorship of Palestine solidarity on campuses and in unions and legal attacks on protest movements like Palestine Action.
This weaponisation undermines the fight against real antisemitism. It turns antisemitism into a loyalty test, while shielding those who support Israeli apartheid from scrutiny. It is not antisemitism that is being fought, but anti-Zionism. And that distinction is crucial.
Jewish anti-Zionists pose a unique threat to the narrative constructed by Starmer and his allies. They prove that being Jewish does not necessitate support for Israel. They expose the lie that anti-Zionism equals antisemitism. And they carry the moral authority of Jewish traditions rooted in justice, diaspora, and resistance to racism.
This makes them dangerous. Unlike gentile critics, they cannot be dismissed as bigots. Their presence dismantles the ideological scaffolding of the pro-Israel consensus. That is why they are targeted with such intensity—not despite being Jewish, but because they are Jewish and refuse to be silent.
The arrest of Greenstein and Bash must be understood in the context of a broader authoritarian crackdown. Last week, the UK government proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. Founded to disrupt arms companies supplying Israel, the group used non-violent direct action to expose complicity in war crimes. Its banning has made it illegal to express support for its aims—even symbolically.
According to France 24, over 70 people were arrested at protests in London supporting Palestine Action. All detained under terrorism legislation for exercising their right to protest, because the object of their protest was a protest group now labelled as terrorists. Graham Bash being among them, even his medication being taken off him.
This escalation represents a clear violation of civil liberties:
Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, under which these arrests were made, is being used not to target violent actors but peaceful demonstrators. The misuse of this law to criminalise protest reveals a deliberate strategy to blur the lines between civil disobedience and terrorism.
What we are witnessing is not reform. It is a purge. Much like the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s, McCarthyism, Labour under Starmer has instituted a political loyalty test. To remain in the party—or indeed, to avoid arrest now as well—one must be silent on Palestine or overtly pro-Israel. That is the truth of it is it not?
Internal party democracy has collapsed. Jewish Voice for Labour has been sidelined in favour of the Jewish Labour Network, where you don’t even need to be in Labour or even Jewish. Constituency Labour Parties are tightly controlled. Free speech has been replaced by factional discipline. Starmer has built a Labour Party that is less a movement and more a managerial elite—in lockstep with NATO, Washington, and Tel Aviv.
The primary beneficiary of the crackdown on anti-Zionist voices in the UK is the Israeli state. By silencing critics and outlawing groups like Palestine Action, the British government effectively shields Israel from accountability for its ongoing violations of international law. This suppression of dissent protects Israel’s reputation on the world stage and ensures continued diplomatic and military support from the UK, regardless of Israeli policy.
Zionist lobbying organisations within Britain, such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Community Security Trust (CST), also gain power and influence through this silencing of dissent. By championing an expansive definition of antisemitism that includes criticism of Israel, they marginalise Jewish voices who reject Zionism and promote themselves as the sole legitimate representatives of British Jewry. This monopolisation of Jewish identity strengthens their political hand and allows them to influence party policy and public discourse unopposed.
Another beneficiary is the UK’s arms industry. Companies like Elbit Systems, which supply weapons to the Israeli military, have faced ongoing protest from groups like Palestine Action. With the group now banned and its supporters criminalised, these companies can operate with far less difficulty and public scrutiny. Government contracts continue to flow, and the profits of war are protected from ethical challenge.
Meanwhile, the broader British security state accrues new powers to surveil, arrest, and silence political opponents under the guise of national security. This reinforces the growing infrastructure of domestic authoritarianism, normalising the suppression of protest and the erosion of our civil liberties.
The persecution of Tony Greenstein and Graham Bash is emblematic of a wider shift in Britain’s political culture—a shift toward authoritarianism that is masked by claims of anti-racism and public order. Under the current regime, peaceful protest is reframed as extremism, and political disagreement becomes a pretext for surveillance and coercion.
Surveillance of activists is no longer limited to known threats but extends to individuals engaged in lawful, nonviolent political expression. Protestors are subjected to facial recognition technology, metadata harvesting, and predictive policing techniques. The aim is not just to monitor, but to intimidate—to create a chilling effect that deters participation in public life as our right to protest forms a part of.
Legal overreach is now routine, with counter-terror laws applied to criminalise solidarity movements. Section 12 of the Terrorism Act has been weaponised not against terrorists, but against those who express moral outrage at the oppression of Palestinians. The result is the effective outlawing of conscience itself.
Cultural spaces are not immune. Artists and academics who speak out against Israeli apartheid are disinvited, defunded, or discredited. Public institutions face pressure to cancel events or censor content deemed too controversial, such as a showing of the Jeremy Corbyn film ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’, or a book signing on antisemitism, by investigate journalist Asa Winstanley, or the banning of Kneecap or Bob Vylan from performing. A culture of fear takes hold, where self-censorship becomes the price of professional survival.
This authoritarianism disproportionately affects Muslims, Palestinians, and racialised communities. Islamophobic narratives cast Palestine solidarity as a gateway to radicalisation, justifying surveillance and policing in schools, mosques, and community centres. The targeting of Jewish anti-Zionists, then, is not an exception—it is a continuation of a broader logic of repression that treats dissent as danger.
The net effect is a profound narrowing of political space. Where once Jews, Muslims, and anti-racists stood together for justice in Palestine, they are now divided, surveilled, and punished. The solidarity that once fuelled mass mobilisation is fractured by fear.
The arrests of Tony Greenstein and Graham Bash, the banning of Palestine Action, and the financial and legal harassment of Jewish anti-Zionists are symptoms of a deeper sickness. Britain is criminalising dissent. Under the banner of fighting antisemitism, it is repressing anti-racists. Under the guise of national security, it is banning solidarity.
So the point needs to be made abundantly clear: this is not about antisemitism. This is about control. This is about erasing the Palestinian cause from British political life. And it is about punishing Jews who refuse to let their identity be weaponised in defence of apartheid.
The struggle ahead is not just to defend Palestine. It is to defend democracy, speech, and the soul of Jewish tradition itself—one that is rooted not in nationalism, but in justice.
And now we have the spectacle going on of Keir Starmer seeking to define Islamophobia, but those same groups as mentioned above, the Board of Deputies and the Community Security Trust are the ones invited to add input into this process, whereas Muslim groups like the Muslim Council of Britain are not allowed to take part in the process. Make that make sense? But of course its all part of that broader pro Zionist agenda. Get all the details of that farce in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch.
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