It's possible to be appalled by both Gaza and the murder of Jews

No one should jump to conclusions after a terrorist attack. Simple explanations rarely tell the whole complex truth. But neither should anyone be in any doubt that the slaying of Jews in a synagogue in Britain in 2025 on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar was anything other than targeting Jews and crossed a line that should never have been breached. 

Undeniably, this was a dark and depressing moment in the history of our isles. A stain on us all. And personally, left me despairing of where we have found ourselves. 

I write this column on the second anniversary of the October 7 atrocities when hostages, dead and alive, are still to be returned home. When a Scot was among the slaughtered. When antisemitism is rising, and where, distressingly, there appears to be an acceptance that Jews are one vulnerable minority that are simply fair game.

Security guards outside places of worship. Volunteers in protective vests. Children escorted to school. The elderly, with longer memories than most, putting up the barricades. Names being changed. Men removing skull caps and hiding their Stars of David. This is normal life for Jews in Britain, in a country that the Jews first sought sanctuary from risk of elimination. 

And most damning of all, it seems to be met by indifference in a country that proclaims its national values include compassion, tolerance and acceptance. It should shame us all. 

And yes, I hear you: ‘What about Palestine?’, ‘look at Gaza’, ‘don’t you care about the genocide?’ And of course, I do so, yes, to all of the above. But there is no ‘but’ here. There is no ‘whataboutery’ that can possibly justify what happened in Manchester and what is happening every day for a group of people who, by casual accident or by calculated design, have been conflated with the genocidal actions of a foreign state and a fascist leader. 

The rhetoric that whirls around hating the murderous actions of the IDF and conjoining that with all of Israel and then of Jews themselves has, frankly, been aided and abetted by some, including politicians, in their efforts to show just how pro-Palestinian they can be. 

The horrors inflicted on Gaza and on Palestinians are barbaric and it is a genocide. I have no hesitation in saying that, but neither am I a political leader of a western democracy where sometimes diplomacy has to show restraint and caution to get results.

But more than anything, on today of all days, my cri de coeur is for the acknowledgement that you can hold two thoughts – even more – at the same time. And being sickened by the genocide in Gaza while also believing that all Jews are not to be blamed are not contradictory positions – they can both be true. And while I understand the frustration and I sympathise with those looking for quick answers to a hellish situation, apportioning blame by scapegoating a minority is how much of the past evils occurred and should not be entertained.

I am not frightened of much, but I admit I have been afraid to comment on the Middle East a) because I fear my own ignorance on the history, the sides and the complexities and b) because I fear the backlash that demands a simplicity of commentary that this difficult situation does not lend itself to.

I have written one column in recent times that touched on the conflict. A column that in its wider context tried to explore the poverty of critical thinking around so many subjects of today, this one included. My apparent crime was to use irony to illustrate how some people will support a particular view simply because they have attached themselves to a creed on another and for liberals to laud a despotic regime like Iran seemed absurd to me simply because they wish to show their antipathy toward Israel. Despise them both, but don’t feel you have to choose a side. For this, I was labelled a “crypto-Zionist”, whatever that means, by a bunch of self-important men and pseudo intellectuals who spent precious time videoing themselves dissecting what they proscribed as my views. Idiots. They could have just asked me.

Pro-Palestinian marches have been going on throughout my lifetime. I have joined them. When I was at university, we lauded Yasser Arafat as a hero and nominated him to be rector and, yes, we wore the keffiyeh as a symbol of our allegiance. I guess I believed that it goes without saying that I want peace in the Middle East, and that I have always believed in a two-state solution, But the ramping up of the rhetoric that goes with the marches of today has incited violence and Jew-hating. And that is no place for me. And I want our elected representatives to help dial the tension down.

I have spent decades interviewing party leaders about what shaped their politics, and I can honestly say that the only one to ever mention Palestine as being a guiding and early influence was Anas Sarwar, whose mother took him there as a child. And I am not castigating anyone else for coming to this conflict late and ill-prepared because so many of us feel that way, but there is nothing as evangelical as the convert. 

And while I recognise that politicians of all stripes search desperately to find the right words in the wake of a tragedy like Manchester, they too often end up mouthing platitudes in their inability to form the words, to hit the right tone, or to offer solutions because there are no easy answers.

But John Swinney was ill-advised to use a vigil for the Jewish hostages still being held by Hamas to talk about why he chose this time to welcome the recognition of Palestine. Jews are hurting and they have already been ensnared within a trap that blames them for the atrocities that are going on in Gaza. No wonder they booed the first minister. What they are looking for now is solidarity, not political point-scoring.