Attacks on Jews in America should wake up the West: This is what ‘Globalising the Intifada’ looks like

Perhaps as you’ve walked through your town centre on a weekend or opened a newspaper, passed through a university campus or gone on social media, you’ve wondered what they actually mean. What is an intifada, and what does globalising it look like?

The Palestine protesters who’ve been making all of our lives miserable for a year and a half keep using the phrase, or similar ones like “There is only one solution: Intifada revolution!” Along with the obligatory “Free Palestine!”

For many of us, when we hear the word “Intifada”, we can’t help thinking back to the two actual “Intifadas” that have taken place over the decades, particularly the one in the early 2000s.

That “intifada” was a campaign of antisemitic violence that killed over a thousand Jews. The most notorious of these attacks in Israel – suicide bombings – targeted families at a Passover festival meal, young people at nightclubs, middle-aged people at coffee shops and the elderly on public transport. The enduring image of that era was of one scorched bus after another, or rescue workers peeling flesh off nightclub walls, after an Islamist terrorist had pulled the trigger and murdered as many Jews as he or she could on his or her way to ‘Paradise’.

That is Intifada.

This is what people across the Western world have been shouting their lungs out for, over months and months.

The last couple of weeks in America have shown us that when they call for Intifada, they mean it.

First, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were gunned down in cold blood at a reception at a Jewish museum in Washington, DC. Then, this past weekend, a 45-year-old Egyptian living in the United States was charged with attacking a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado to raise awareness of the Hamas-held hostages. His weapons of choice? A flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, with which he tried to burn Jews alive.

In both cases, the suspects are alleged to have shouted “Free Palestine!” at the scene of the crimes and, in at least one case, even when in police custody.

When our organisation held a vigil in London less than two weeks ago for Yaron and Sarah, it was interrupted by someone shouting “Free Palestine!” – the same phrase that the gunman is alleged to have used.

This is what globalising the intifada looks like: a global campaign of intimidation and ultimately deadly violence against Jewish people.

The truth is that they are being honest and open when they call for ‘intifada’. Yet the authorities have gaslit us, telling us that these are peaceful protesters and that they’re not endorsing murder and terrorism.

They are anything but peaceful, and now they have shed blood twice in as many weeks.

This is what happens when our societies refuse to comprehend what the ‘Free Palestine’ movement is capable of.

These are the real colours of the ‘Free Palestine’ movement. Anybody surprised by the horrific double murder and the flamethrower attack has had their head in the sand. We are locked in a battle for the soul of the West.

It’s long past time that our leaders and police chiefs woke up and took firm action, otherwise these will not be the last lives threatened or taken by these fanatical extremists dressed up as peaceniks.

Two people are dead, never to return to their families. May their memory be a blessing.

Eight victims are in hospital, being treated for burns and other injuries. We wish the eight victims a swift recovery and call for swift justice against those responsible.

The growing extremism of the ‘Free Palestine’ movement has been a ticking time bomb. Will the authorities just keep waiting, or will they finally act?

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Gideon Falter is Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism.

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