State of Jews in Britain

Melanie Phillips writes in Ha'Aretz on the Tory selection of Michael Howard says anything positive about the state of anti-semitism in Britain.

The British Conservative party has elected Michael Howard as its first Jewish leader - and potential prime minister - since Benjamin Disraeli led the Tories in the 19th century.

This has occurred when much of the Jewish community in Britain feels besieged by an upsurge of anti-Jewish hatred. So how can a country whose deep vein of prejudice is once again open and flowing be sanguine about the possibility of a Jewish prime minister?

Some Jews see no problem in Britain - quite the reverse. Howard's rise demonstrates, they purr, that Britain has changed, that it has developed a new maturity, that British Jews have finally become truly accepted. From which Panglossian optimism, one can only marvel at the infinite human capacity for self-delusion.[Emphasis mine!]

For Britain is where the veteran Labour MP Tam Dalyell claimed a "cabal" of Jews was controlling Tony Blair and George Bush - and was then promptly excused as a lovable eccentric. Where the following day, the BBC TV current affairs show "Newsnight" concluded that Dalyell had a case, and a "tightly knit" group of Jews really did control U.S. foreign
policy.

Where Israel is repeatedly dehumanised and delegitimised as an apartheid or Nazi state. Where almost two thirds of the public believe it is the biggest threat to world peace. Where attacks on Jews have increased. And where friendships between Jews and non-Jews founder over claims by the latter that the Jews are all-powerful, and that the establishment of Israel was a terrible mistake.