The octopus’s tentacles: Hatred of Jews worsens in Britain

British Jews have generally been a patriotic bunch.

Those of us who grew up there were frequently served reminders as to why we should be proud to be both British and Jewish. Ours was the country that bravely repelled the Nazi invasion while the rest of Europe found itself under German occupation. Ours was the country where politicians of all stripes – from the great wartime Conservative Party Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the distinguished Labour Party Speaker of the House of Commons Richard Crossman – not only declared their sympathies with Zionism but understood the historical and moral impulses behind it.

Ours was the country where, as George Orwell put it, “antisemitism as a fully thought-out racial or religious doctrine has never flourished.”

None of this meant that Britain