The stabbing of two British Jews is clearly a hate crime, and the perpetrator, Essa Suleiman, must be held to account under the law and condemned by any right-thinking citizen. The BBC has covered this tragedy extensively and today reported on the Prime Minister’s speech and lecture on anti-Semitism to a broad spectrum of organisations across civil society, including education, health, business, the arts, and policing. Yesterday, the BBC on Politics Live had a trio of politicians showing empathy with the Jewish community and also reported on the Prime Minister speech in which he used phrases like “pattern of rising antisemitism”, make no mistake, this is a crisis,” it is a test of our values”, and “ only by working together, can we eradicate antisemitism from every corner of society”. Noble sentiments from our beleaguered Prime Minister, who seems to have grabbed onto the Star of David as his political shield, supported by a BBC in fear of its public service remit. Starmer also said that the Arts Council should withdraw funding from organisations that promote antisemitism. Firstly, if the council did fund organisations that promoted antisemitism, every member of the board of the Arts Council should be fired. Secondly, if an organisation is seeking funding and is anti-Semitic, it is unlikely it would be on a funding proposal or in its constitution.
Politics Live had the President of the British Board of Deputies of British Jews as a guest. This organisation, not even on humanitarian grounds, has condemned the actions of the IDF in Gaza, let alone called it genocide. This is in tune with their sister organisation, American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which refutes any accusations of genocide or overreaction by the Israeli government. Instead, the Board has generally maintained a position supporting Israel’s actions and suspended members who signed an open letter in April 2025, calling the campaign being conducted by the IDF as “ripping out our soul”. Daniel Grossman, a young student member of the board who was also suspended, reportedly said: “How many more Palestinians have to be killed and Israeli hostages sacrificed before the board speaks out against Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza?” If the Board of Deputies of British Jews are blind to the fact whether they like or not, that the failure to condemn the actions of the Netanyahu government which has seen 75,000 killed in Gaza of which 25,000 have been children and created a landscape that is 70 million tons of rubble is an important factor in the rise of antisemitism, they are void of humanity, are politically naive or simply stupidly arrogant. Also, please note that after the 7/7 bombings, the BBC reported 170 racist incidents within 3 days of the attack, including mosques targeted by arson. These attacks were condemned by Muslim organisations across Europe. I know what will be said by the board: that 7/7 was a terrorist incident, Israel is a democratic state and has the right to defend itself. However, Israel is acting like a rogue state whose human rights violations and crimes against humanity have been condemned by the international community, the International Criminal Court, and the Israeli-based human rights organisation B’Tselem.
Let me be clear: it must be obvious to the dwindling number of Labour supporters and the majority of its MPs that their leader and Prime Minister is “Hanging from a Star” as his only way to remain Prime Minister after May 7th. Why, because he has no other redeeming qualities as a Prime Minister, note what I have said, as a Prime Minister. The reality for Labour MPs is that their leader is catastrophically unpopular and, unlike the lady who was not for turning, he has turned at every opportunity. The political reality is that if Labour is to have a snowball’s chance in 2029, they need a new leader, a new vision for the country, a roadmap and not a Treasure Island one. Most importantly, any new leader must level with the electorate that the journey will not be easy in an interconnected multi-polar world where AI, the climate crisis, defence and growing wealth inequality will be the main features of our political discourse for decades. Finally, a key element of any new economic strategy must be redistribution, replacing growth as the new economic mantra. PS: Send Rachel packing at the same time.
Suneil Sharma
6th May 2026
The Gob 
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