Much of the reaction in Britain to a crisis that has yet to acquire a specific designation, has concentrated on words used, and not used – their significance amplified by what their use, or non-use, may be held to mean.
“Pogrom is one not much heard outside the classroom or lecture theatre. But it was among the first words spoken when prime minister Rishi Sunak addressed the House of Commons to give a statement on the catastrophic situation in the Middle East. The word – meaning an organised massacre of Jews – was one with which even those regarding the actions of Hamas on October 7 as self-defence, would agree. It distinguishes this moment in the most intractable conflict on the planet.
No other foreign affair has such serious domestic ramifications for the UK. Britain entering Iraq, and leaving the European Union, inflamed public opinion, but briefly. Israel-Palestine has been incendiary for over 50 years, and is itself, for Janna Jihad Ayyad Al-Tamimi, an activist at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s fringe event at the Labour party conference in Liverpool last week, part of the "aftermath of British imperialism”.
