Relative of murdered rabbi stresses need to tackle extremism driving violence
Fifteen people were killed in the shooting on Sunday at one of Australia's best-known beaches during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration
A relative of the British-born rabbi killed in the Bondi Beach terrorist attack has said the debate on Jewish security must move away from being about higher walls around synagogues and more guards outside schools and focus on the root causes of antisemitic violence.
Listen to this article
Tory shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson of Tredegar argued the need to tackle extremist ideologies as he responded at Westminster to the Sydney atrocity.
Fifteen people were killed in the shooting on Sunday at one of Australia's best-known beaches during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration.
Among the dead was a 10-year-old girl and Eli Schlanger, 41, who grew up in Temple Fortune, north London, and was assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi.
Speaking in Parliament, Lord Wolfson declared his interest as a relative of the murdered rabbi.
Read more: Bondi Beach’s terror attack shattered a place of joy, and its security lessons are painfully clear
Read More: 'I ran towards the gunshots, it was carnage", British witness to Bondi Beach terror attack tells LBC
Referring to a charity which provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK, the Conservative peer said: "While we are always grateful for support for the Community Security Trust, the debate about Jewish security needs to move away from being about higher walls around our synagogues and more guards outside our schools, and on to the root causes of why we actually need such security.
"So will the minister explain what the Government is actually doing, in practical terms, to counter the extremist ideologies which are driving this antisemitic violence, and to remove them and their proponents from our social media, out of our universities and off our streets?"
Expressing his condolences, Home Office minister Lord Hanson of Flint stressed steps were being taken to crack down on the scourge of antisemitism.
He added: "We need to ensure that we encourage... tolerance, understanding and knowledge about different religions."
The minister said this needed to start "from very early on to ensure that people live their lives in an open, tolerant way, where their religion doesn't require armed guards at synagogues, that doesn't require armed guards at schools".
Earlier, Lord Hanson told peers the UK Government was "appalled" at the terror attack.
He said: "It's particularly horrifying that it happened at a Hanukkah celebration.
"My thoughts are with the victims, their families and all those affected."
He added: "There is no specific intelligence of a linked threat to the UK at this time, but we must remain vigilant and are working with the Community Security Trust and police forces to support Jewish communities, including Hanukkah events here in the UK.
"The United Kingdom stands firmly with Australia and with the Jewish community of Sydney and those here in the UK at this terrible time."
Raising the atrocity with an urgent question in the upper chamber, former navy chief Lord West of Spithead praised the bravery of fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed who tackled one of the terrorists.
The 43-year-old is seen fighting a gunman in a video shared widely on social media shortly after the attack.
Lord West, who previously served as a security minister, said: "He's clearly a better human being than me in that he took the rifle and then put it down because I would have shot him (the terrorist)."
The Labour peer added: "I'm afraid it appears that a small portion of our British people are under serious threat, and I don't think it's any good in pretending otherwise.
"Could the minister confirm that there is positive recognition of that fact by the Government and what action can we take to make that proportion of our population safer?"
Also praising Mr Ahmed, Lord Hanson said: "The UK Government does recognise that there are real threats to the Jewish community, which is why we've invested £28 million this year to protect Jewish places of worship, schools and community centres."
He also pointed to measures being introduced to ensure police can take action against community harassment.
The minister said: "This action that took place in Sydney is simply unacceptable, and our thoughts are with the Jewish community in Australia at this time, but also we need to be vigilant about the threat to the Jewish community in the United Kingdom."
But Tory peer Lord Polak said: "I'm tired. I'm tired of listening to people saying 'Stand shoulder to shoulder with the community'.
"It means nothing when there are dead Jews on the ground, whether in Manchester or in Sydney.
"If members are not clear what globalised intifada means, it was on our TV screens yesterday.
"So I ask the minister to act. Such hate speech must be outlawed."
He also called on the Government to ban both Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organisations.
Lord Hanson said action was being taken to support the Jewish community and tackle antisemitism.
He said: "We will not tolerate antisemitism and we will continue to keep under review organisations that pose a threat to the safety of members of the United Kingdom community, the Jewish community, but anybody else."