During the week Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Manchester known as the “King of the North,” took office as Britain’s prime minister, the Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) documented 34 antisemitic incidents in London alone. That amounts to nearly five incidents a day.
According to the CAA, many of the incidents were linked to a large protest held in London and organized by a coalition of groups opposed to Israel, the day after Burnham took office as prime minister last month. Demonstrators condemned former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s handling of the war in Gaza and called on Britain to adopt a hostile stance toward Israel, including imposing a full arms embargo.
The material documented by the ARC at the protest highlighted not only the continued presence of antisemitism in Britain but also the growing adoption by the British left of classic antisemitic tropes historically associated with the far right. Signs carried by demonstrators claimed that senior British government officials had been “bought” and were “owned” by Israel, including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and others. Other banners and signs read “End Zionist control over the UK” and “UK sold out to Zionists.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said that in a street interview, a protester holding a sign reading “End the power of the Zionist lobby” used language that clearly echoed Nazi-era propaganda. She claimed that “tentacles go everywhere… our governments are owned, all the businesses are owned, Hollywood is owned, you name it, it’s owned by the Zionists.”
(Photo: REUTERS/Jack Taylor)
Overall, according to the report, most of the 34 incidents documented in London between July 16 and July 23 were essentially repackaged versions of the antisemitic “ZOG” conspiracy theory — “Zionist Occupied Government.” The theory claims that Western governments have been secretly infiltrated by “Zionists,” a term that report authors say is used as a disguised substitute for the word “Jews.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism noted that the term ZOG was coined in the 1970s by American neo-Nazi activist Eric Thompson, a fact that, according to the report’s authors, underscores that the rhetoric derives directly from white supremacist ideology, even when it appears today in other political contexts.
“Antisemitic conspiracy theories of this sort are nothing new, of course. But their now open popularity among far-left activists points to a troubling ideological convergence that should concern all who are committed to combating hatred, regardless of where it surfaces across the political spectrum,” the Campaign Against Antisemitism said.