It’s now been two days since the Golders Green terror attack, so if the response to previous such incidents is anything to go by, it’s time for the political class to forget about it and move on to something else.

In recent weeks we’ve had – as well as the low level ‘ambient anti-Semitism’ of shouts of ‘dirty Jew’ and such like – arson attacks on synagogues, ambulances firebombed, a video of a Jewish building inspector being harangued and threatened with assault and, last October, two deaths at Heaton Park synagogue over Yom Kippur. The response is always the same: cliches about solidarity and standing together, and sometimes – as after the Golders Green attack and before that the Yom Kippur deaths – the promise of more money for security. 

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Zack Polanski’s shameful reaction to the Golders Green arrest

Extra money spent on security is all well and good, but it’s not even enough to tackle the security issue, let alone providing a serious response to escalating Jew hate. A greater police presence – an armed presence – on the streets of northwest London, where much of the Jewish community is concentrated, would certainly help, but even if we are looking only at short term security issues, we should learn from France where the levels of anti-Semitism are even worse. The French authorities deploy the army in response to serious incidents. Given limited police manpower, we should do the same. Other communities might take fright at the presence of the army in its midst; believe me when I say that for Jews, who have long had to have permanent security guards outside synagogues, schools and other buildings,........

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