The rising threat of right-wing populism: how should the Jewish community respond?

HIAS+JCORE Executive Director Rabbi David Mason has issued a warning against the “honeytrap of right-wing populism”, and urged the Jewish community to avoid embracing radical right movements.

Speaking at a panel organised by HIAS+JCORE at 2024’s Limmud festival in Birmingham, Rabbi Mason also questioned the populist right’s seeming support for the Jewish community.

Joined at the session by Lord Mann, Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg, and Rabbi Sybil Sheridan, David stressed that the Jewish community should be deeply concerned about the populist right’s “very negative and problematic” view of other minorities and “use of Islamophobic tropes”.

The event, titled ‘Threat or Comfort? Jews in Britain Running from the Left to the Right’, discussed how – and why – Jewish communities must counter the increasing trend of populist right movements courting the Jewish vote.

Delivered to a packed audience, speakers discussed how a sense of abandonment from the political left could push UK Jewish communities towards the radical right. But the panellists emphasised the dangers of this move, with Phil Rosenberg highlighting candidate issues in Reform UK, and Lord Mann calling for solidarity between communities against prejudice.

Speaking after the session, Rabbi Mason said: “It’s dangerous to unquestioningly go with the Popular Right as they could turn against us. As Brits, we should want to be part of a society that is safe for all minorities, including our own.”