Tony Blair says left's 'unholy alliance with Islamists' is endangering UK
The former Prime Minister said some of the Left were reluctant to confront antisemitism due to pressure from activists and parts of the Muslim community
Tony Blair has warned that some "progressive" politicians are failing to tackle left-wing antisemitism because they are unwilling to confront what he called an “unholy alliance” with hardline Islamist groups.
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The former Prime Minister said that Jews had become “fair game” because parts of the Left had cast the Jewish community as supporters of the government of Israel.
Even those “who do sincerely reject antisemitism” were reluctant to confront the issue due to pressure from activists and sections of the Muslim community, he added.
Sir Tony argued that this failure had contributed to a wider climate in which antisemitism can “flourish”, citing a rise in incidents across the UK and Europe following the October 7 attacks on Israel.
He pointed to recent incidents, including an arson attack on ambulances linked to a Jewish charity in Golders Green, north London, saying such events were part of a broader pattern rather than isolated cases.
Writing for The Free Press, he said the “death and destruction” in Gaza was "undeniable" and that criticism of Israel’s tactics was "legitimate" but argued such criticism must also be accompanied by condemnation of the October 7 attacks.
He said political leaders needed to make these arguments “loud and clear”, warning that failure to do so risked allowing antisemitism to grow.
He added: "You cannot pretend that Israel does not face a substantial terrorist threat from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Iranian regime and other groups that do not recognise Israel’s right to exist".
Sir Tony also cited polling from during the Gaza war, which suggested that only 24 per cent of British Muslims believed the October 7 attacks had happened in the way it was reported, describing this as “unacceptable”.
He warned that "without a challenge to the ideology that encourages antisemitism, while clothing it in indignation at the human cost of war, incidents like the one with the ambulances will continue to shame our society".