In January, one month after the Bondi Beach attack, I met with representatives of the British-Jewish community, as I do regularly.
What I heard was sobering. Parents worried about their children at school. Congregants anxious about attending synagogue. Students feeling unwelcome on campus.
But the question beneath was even more stark: Is Britain still truly our home?
I want to address that directly and unequivocally: Yes, it is.
I know that many of you reading this in Israel also want to know whether Britain remains a place where Jews and Israelis are safe, welcome, and able to live openly and confidently.
We have listened and will ensure that our government uses every tool at our disposal to root out antisemitism so that Jews can live, worship, and thrive without fear. Now, and for generations to come.
A rising global threat
In 2025, the Community Security Trust recorded over 3,700 antisemitic incidents in the UK – the second-highest figures since its records began.
This rise in antisemitism is not unique to Britain. It is a global scourge.
Since October 7, 2023, the largest killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust by the brutal terrorists of Hamas, we have witnessed an unprecedented attack on Jews across the world.
Last year, we witnessed the attacks on Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur and on Bondi Beach during Hanukkah – following a long line of attacks experienced by the Jewish community since October 7.
It is a travesty that Jews worldwide must live in fear because they are Jewish.
Strengthening protection at home
Today, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has confirmed MP Jon Pearce’s appointment as the UK special envoy for post-Holocaust issues. He will focus on tackling antisemitism and continue work on restitution. It is shameful that 81 years after the Shoah, Holocaust survivors and their families are still fighting to get property returned that was stolen by the Nazis.
This builds on the government’s announcement in December where we set out our next steps for tackling antisemitism.
We’re funding additional security staff and equipment at Jewish faith sites such as synagogues, community centers, and schools through an additional allocation of £10 million to the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, bringing the total to a record £28m. for 2025/2026.
We are granting the police new powers to protect communities from rolling demonstrations and marches outside places of worship which leave members of the Jewish community in fear.
Tackling the roots of antisemitism
While physical security measures deter, they cannot replace education, empathy, and community confidence.
That is why we have committed £7m. to tackle antisemitism in schools, colleges, and universities, and launched a new Tackling Antisemitism in Education innovation fund. We are tackling antisemitism in our institutions, including the National Health Service and across the culture, sports and voluntary sectors.
Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, is leading a review into how healthcare regulators tackle discrimination, helping us improve zero-tolerance policies across the health service.
I am also proud the UK government has passed the Holocaust Memorial Act, which will progress the construction of the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, to be located prominently beside the Houses of Parliament.
The UK continues to champion the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, and we encourage all countries that have adopted the guidelines to use them as a self-assessment tool.
These actions are just the beginning. We know we must do more.
Britain and its Jewish community: one story
I know you, the Israeli people, are reading this in a moment of profound pain in the shadow of October 7.
And I know many of you hear of antisemitism in the UK and worry that Israelis and Jews are no longer welcome here.
Being Jewish and British are not competing identities. They are complementary parts of a shared story, and one this government is determined to protect.
Britain has been home to Jewish communities for centuries. It will remain so, because Britain without its Jewish community would not be Britain, whether it is contributing to democratic life in the UK – with over 200 Jews having served as MPs – or shaping our society through contributions to culture, business, science, and many other fields.
The prime minister put it best: “Jews are not guests in Britain. They are home.”
The writer is the UK minister for the Middle East and North Africa.