AS I WAS driving to work early one summer’s morning in 1990, a man stepped out from behind a tree and pointed a gun at me. I accelerated hard and my GTi responded enthusiastically. As the distance to the man reduced I steered straight at him in a hope for vengeance or to disrupt his aim. It was only as I was about to mount the kerb that I realised the man was a police officer with a handheld speed gun. (Back then the police seldom wore hi-vis.)
I steered away from him, slowed and drove to the police station. There I told the desk sergeant what had happened. I explained that I was an Army officer and had thought the policeman was an IRA terrorist. I added that the policeman was lucky to be alive and apologised for giving him a fright. I never did receive a speeding summons.
I recount this anecdote to share the mindset of British servicemen during the Northern Ireland Troubles. We were targets for the IRA, who were running a campaign against off-duty personnel and had recently killed a soldier at Lichfield station in Staffordshire. We got on with our lives, which were mostly spent on military bases. If we were off base we were conscious of the possibility of being attacked, either by a gunman or a car bomb. We never went off base in uniform and routinely checked underneath our cars for bombs. Personal security was a constant, low-level concern.
British Jews find themselves in a similar plight, but much worse. The possibility of violent death lurks everywhere, all the time. Unlike service personnel, they don’t have the safe havens of military bases; they must live in the community, be it at school, shopping or at work.
The British armed forces are generally approved of by society. In contrast, anti-Semitism is rife and much of British society supports the ‘Palestinian cause’. In 1990 we were fighting the IRA and winning; today anti-Semitic extremism is on the rise. In 1990 we had Margaret Thatcher, a decisive leader who was very firm on terrorism. Today we have Starmer.
Last Wednesday’s attack in Golders Green demonstrates multiple failures in the British state, in our society, in our leadership and in ourselves. The alleged attacker was born in Somalia. It’s not clear why he was granted refuge and a passport. Clearly he’s not been an asset to our society.
There has been a large influx of Somalis: the number in the UK has almost doubled since 2010. Their integration is not going well; 2.4 per cent of the prison population are Somali nationals (which of course excludes those Somalis who now have a British passport). The incarceration rate for Somalis is higher than all but Albanians, Afghans, Jamaicans, Iraqis and Iranians. And yet still they come in expectation of a passport.
Many of our current and wannabe leaders are of the left and have long supported Palestine and hated Israel. They go on marches and chant ‘from the river to the sea’ or ‘Death, death to the IDF’ while holding signs saying ‘Globalise the Intifada’. Their wishes are coming true: that’s what happened in Golders Green – two British people stabbed because of their religion. I hope the numpty pensioners clogging up the courts due to their love for Palestine Action are proud of themselves.
This is the problem with the left: they adopt causes, turn them into doctrine and then believe in them to such an extent that they can’t be questioned. Thus, net zero, Marxism and the Palestinian cause. Lefties assume the moral high ground and recite policies as mantras. The ‘Two-State Solution’ is sacred to lefties; they forget that Yasser Arafat turned it down in 2000.
The awful truth is that all Palestine wants is to butcher Israelis, and it is supported in this abhorrent endeavour by Iran. That’s what led to the murderous assault on October 7, 2023, which inevitably led to Israel’s invasion of Gaza. The Israelis found Hamas command centres, weapon stores and the like built under hospitals and schools.
That’s the reality of Gazan Palestine: it uses its own sick and children as human shields for its murder squads. That’s the nature of the state that our own government chose to recognise. Actions have consequences. The Jewish blood on the streets of Golders Green and Heaton Park is part of an escalating level of violence against British Jews; that is, against Britons.
This violence is, literally, a terror campaign being conducted by Muslims, at least some of whom were born overseas. Unlike the Irish Troubles or most twentieth-century terror campaigns, the global intifada lacks a coherent set of objectives, or at least ones that are deliverable by the United Kingdom. Absent a political aim, Golders Green and other Palestinian/Islamist atrocities are beyond terrorism; they are deranged and savage assaults on a peaceful British community. Absent a coherent infrastructure they will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for the security services to penetrate. The murderous campaign is unlikely to end any time soon. The King’s Peace is in peril; what are we going to do about it?
Firstly, we need better leadership. We need practical pragmatists, not ‘progressive’ idealists. We need leaders who are prepared to be unpopular, to speak the uncomfortable truths. In the case of the murderous anti-Semites, that should include the facts. Jews have been welcomed to the UK since Oliver Cromwell. So were the Huguenots and so have countless others, including Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Muslims (particularly post Indian partition). Unfortunately the ill-defined Blairite nirvana of multiculturalism was a delusion and isn’t working. There’s one underlying rule expected of any migrant or immigrant community, which is that they adhere to British law and tolerate other faiths. This must be taught in all schools, preached in all religious assemblies and enforced rigorously.
On the Palestinian issue, we should not be recognising the state (which doesn’t exist). We should be open to any solution that delivers lasting peace and reasonable life chances for all. If the two-state solution isn’t viable (and after nearly 80 years it’s pretty clear that it isn’t), the world needs another approach. We need leaders who can start that conversation and, more importantly, demonstrate impartiality.
On migration, we need someone prepared to take control of our borders by whatever means necessary. The granting of British nationality is a privilege, not a right, regardless of what a human rights lawyer says. That privilege should perhaps be rescindable in the event of criminality. Essentially the trade-off will become between maintaining Britain’s long-established support for refugees and the maintenance of order on our streets. This government seems to think the problem is British anti-migration protesters; most of the rest of the country knows the problem is the migrants (and the government machine).
That rather simplifies the choice of which box to tick in this week’s Senedd elections; those parties that approve of the Nation of Sanctuary are importing violence. It’s a stupid dogma adopted by the progressives of Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Lib Dems and the Greens. Those who value safe streets for all Britons should vote otherwise (which in Wales means Reform, as the Tories are dead – mostly having defected to Reform).
Ultimately defeating terrorism is about refusing to be cowed and not giving in to fear. That’s done not by marching and waving placards; it simply requires keeping calm and carrying on. After the July 7 2005 London bombs everyone commuted home and came back the next day. A fortnight later, after a failed bomb attack and subsequent lockdown, it was the same. Actions speak louder than words; a few Islamic suicide bombers were not going to shut down London.
So how do we defeat these deranged anti-Semitic murderers? On a personal level, I have decided to show my support for British Jews by eating in Israeli restaurants (about which more on another day). You could do the same.
The shameful reality is that British Jews, whose families have lived here for generations, are besieged. Increasing numbers are emigrating to safety in America and Israel. They feel safer in Israel, at war, under frequent attack and existential threat, than in London. Notwithstanding the Iron Dome missile shield, other Palestinian attacks in Israel are all too frequent. The difference is that a British Jewish family in Israel is in a supportive environment, like the one that surrounded British servicemen. In London they’re not. That a family of Britons can feel so vulnerable in their capital city is a very sad indictment of what our society has become.
I am appalled. Aren’t you?
This article appeared in Views From My Cab on May 2, 2026, and is republished by kind permission.
