JNS
Amid rising Jew-hatred, Britain turns its sights upon Israel
September 11, 2026
Ben Cohen

“I don’t go to synagogue.” So said the British Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, during an interview with the BBC the day after he announced a package of sanctions and other punitive measures against Israel, sending relations between London and Jerusalem into a nosedive. Miliband, who is Jewish, made this admission when the BBC presenter Justin Webb asked him whether he would be attending synagogue over Rosh Hashanah, “as many British Jews will be, many of whom will feel less safe. … What do you say to them, to individuals. Are you going?” When Miliband responded that he wasn’t, Webb countered: “Isn’t that then the point? That actually for a lot of British Jews, they really feel this; they have to have security duties at synagogues. They know that there have been violent attacks, and that is why when [UK Chief Rabbi] Ephraim Mirvis uses those words they mean an awful lot to them and perhaps, frankly, less to you.” READ MORE