Defined as the state of being kept as a prisoner in one’s own house, in some ways, as absurd as it sounds, it almost seems to be the preferred social preference under which local governments are choosing to operate when it comes to their Jewish communities.
Take the recent example of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who initially “attempted to block the London vigil for Jewish victims of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre. The event in Parliament Square was intended to commemorate the tragedy in Australia and the second night of Hanukkah. However, Khan tried to stop the vigil.”
Security reasons were cited by the mayor as the reason Jews were prevented from publicly lighting their Hanukkah candles, while also honoring the dead, whose lives were summarily ended the night before.
As a precautionary measure, the Metropolitan Police closed the road leading to Parliament Square.
At least one person, Gideon Falter, the CEO of Campaign Against Antisemitism, saw the double standard of the frequent pro-Palestinian London demonstrations, “appearing to be condoned or inadequately challenged by authorities.”
But this was not the first planned event canceled by authorities. In March 2024, a Jewish film festival in Hamilton, Canada, was canceled due to security concerns. Concerts, book talks, and other cultural events on Jewish themes have also been increasingly canceled over officials’ worries about security.
In May 2024, the annual ceremony marking Israel’s Independence Day, scheduled to take place at Ottawa’s city hall – an event that has been marked since 2007 – was also canceled due to fears concerning how raising an Israeli flag would be received by pro-Palestinian residents. The mayor apologized, citing security reasons.
In June, a pro-Israel conference, featuring former US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, was scheduled to take place in Dallas. It was also postponed, due to security concerns.
Other Jewish-themed events that were canceled, due to safety concerns, include:
• A Krakow concert, Shalom on Szeroka Street
• Performances of British Jewish comedians Philip Simon and Rachel Creeger, scheduled to appear in Edinburgh
• A London concert featuring hassidic singer Benny Friedman
• A Baku Conference of European Rabbis
• Israeli Memorial and Independence Day at two New York City colleges for Jewish students
• A Jewish International Film Festival, celebrating the 250th anniversary of Jews in Sweden
This is not an exhaustive list, but just some of the more recent cancellations that have taken place – all citing security concerns.
As noted by UK’s Lord David Wolfson, in the House of Lords: “The debate around Jewish security needs to move away from higher walls around our synagogues and more guards outside our schools, to the root causes of why we need such security.”
With highly charged, vile profanities being permitted to be uttered against Israel and the Jews, is it any wonder that communities in London, Sydney, and elsewhere have these concerns for the welfare of their Jewish populations?
When the intimidation and threatening of Jews is allowed to occur with impunity on campuses and in world capitals by pro-Palestinian marchers, why wouldn’t things escalate to the next level of full-scale attacks?
Rather than clamping down on this type of blatant persecution of Jews, in the towns where they live and at the places they frequent, Jews are being told to avoid gathering because it represents too much of a danger.
When security becomes segregation
Basically, Jews are being told to shelter in place. Stay home, because we can’t guarantee your safety. Doesn’t that amount to a sort of house arrest?
No one is saying that to the other side, because they aren’t faced with bullying, angry threats, or mob assault. Let’s face it, the tactics employed by pro-Palestinian demonstrators are also a cause of worry and intimidation to local authorities who want to avoid any kind of showdown. Their lack of backbone and courage is all too transparent, so the way they deal with it is to deny peaceful Jews the same rights and freedoms granted to others.
As Moroccan journalist Amine Ayoub wrote, in his recent article, “Lessons from Bondi Beach” (Jerusalem Post, December 15), this was a receipt – the bill coming due to years of Western complacency, bureaucratic cowardice, and a suicidal tolerance for the intolerant.”
Ayoub’s advice to leaders struggling with this kind of radical takeover in their nations is to follow US President Donald Trump’s lead: “seal the border, deport the hate-mongers, and stand unapologetically with Israel.”
Of course, doing those things would demand the courage to admit that placating these extremists has led to the inability to guarantee the safety of their citizens. At the moment, it’s happening to the Jews, but does anyone think that this won’t spread to other vulnerable groups? Perhaps Christians will be the next in line to face such intolerance.
Will local authorities also suggest that each persecuted group stay home, so that their job can be made a little easier? If so, in the end, everyone will be under house arrest, while violent activists and agitators run the streets.
These thugs just have to use fear tactics to get everyone to comply with their demands. After all, it has successfully worked until now. But how long can they bully an entire population into appeasement before people feel the bondage under which they are forced to live each day?
It’s not just the Jews and other potential groups who will be told to stay home, feeling as if they are under house arrest. It will be the authorities who will be forced to confront their own cowardice, acknowledging that they, too, are under a type of house arrest, no longer free to act as the leaders they were elected to be.
As the saying goes: what starts with the Jews doesn’t end with the Jews. This type of ethnic and religious intolerance has a domino effect, keeping everyone who refuses to fight against it under a perpetual lockdown, of one kind or another.
The writer is a former Jerusalem elementary and middle school principal. She is the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, based on the time-tested wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs, available on Amazon.