October 7, 2023, marked a watershed in Jewish life. The Hamas attack on Israel on that date, and the wars that have raged in the Middle East ever since, brought anti‑Jewish hatred from the fringes of society to the mainstream, making it a daily experience for Jewish people in Britain and around the world. Murderous attacks on Jews and the burning of synagogues became, once again, a feature of Western societies, with old anti‑Jewish myths and libels repackaged for a smartphone audience. This rise in antisemitism was driven by fervent hatred of Israel and demonisation of Zionism: what began at Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7 led, eventually but inevitably, to the massacre of Jews on Bondi Beach two years later. From Be’eri to Bondi tells this story through articles, essays and talks written by the author over that period, brought up to date with a fresh perspective three years on: a real-time account of how it has felt for Jews as their sense of safety and belonging in their own countries started to crumble. It provides an explanation for why this happened, and a programme of action for how to stop this most ancient of hatreds from spreading even further.
Table of Contents:
Introduction Part One – Kristallnacht 2023 1. The Politics of Protest 2. Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism 3. Delegitimising Israel Part Two – Antisemitism Today: The Permitted Prejudice 4. Terrorism and Other Harms 5. Culture and Media 6. Political Polarisation after Gaza 7. Israel and Jewish Identity Conclusion. Where Are We Now? Postscript. What Is To Be Done?
About the Author :
Dr Dave Rich MBE is one of the UK’s leading experts on antisemitism. He has worked for over thirty years for the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity that protects the UK Jewish community from terrorism and extremism, and has advised the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, football clubs, political parties and many other organisations on how to tackle anti-Jewish hatred. He has written two previous books about antisemitism: The Left’s Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Antisemitism (Biteback, 2016 and 2018), and Everyday Hate: How Antisemitism is Built into Our World and How You Can Change It (Biteback, 2023 & 2024). Dave is a Research Fellow at the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism. His academic work includes chapters and articles about hate crime, conspiracy theories, the abuse of Holocaust memory, anti-Israel boycotts, campus antisemitism and the campaign for Soviet Jewry. He appears regularly in national and international media and writes about antisemitism and related topics at his personal Substack, https://everydayhate.substack.com.
Review :
"Dave Rich is the most sophisticated and acute analyst of the new antisemitism that overshadows Britain today, but he is also excellent writer, a consummate storyteller, and an enormously knowledgeable historian of British politics, policing and Jewish life, as well as an expert on security and intelligence work. That is why I recommend these essays, that are fascinating as well as terrifying – and, not just for Jewish people but hopefully politicians too, essential reading for these troubling times.”
Simon Sebag-Montefiore
“These are not normal times. The level of antisemitism is unprecedented, Dave Rich, in this series of insightful and analytical essays, helps us understand, as much as one can possibly understand an illogical phenomenon, this tidal wave of hatred. In the fight against the antisemitism, this book constitutes crucial reading.”
Deborah E. Lipstadt, Ambassador (ret.), Ph.D. Distinguished University Professor, Emory University
“We are so lucky to have Dave Rich. His writing and thinking about antisemitism is unsurpassed. Anyone who cares about this subject should be sure to read what he writes.”
Lord Daniel Finkelstein
“If you read Dave Rich as a thoughtful, rational, articulate, knowledgeable spokesperson for UK Jews on the topic of antisemitism, you would not go far wrong.”
David Hirsh, Professor and Academic Director, London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
"We live in unsettled, unsettling times.As readers of Everyday Hate know, Dr. Dave Rich has a gift for shedding light on dark, difficult subjects.
In this new collection of essays, Dr. Rich brings that clarity to some of the most challenging and contentious issues facing us today. And, perhaps even more importantly, he offers hope that things do not have to be this way.
This collection of essays is brilliant, bold, and brave and is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand what is happening politically, both domestically and globally."
Dr. M.E. McMillan, Author
