OPINION: Never before has the light and warmth of Chanukah felt so welcome

Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper writes for Jewish News on how Chanukah 2023 comes at a poignant and still very painful time for Jewish communities here and around the world.

By YVETTE COOPERDecember 12, 2023, 

Yvette Cooper and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis

Last week I joined with the Chief Rabbi, Progressive rabbis, the Board of Deputies and other communal organisations to mark the first night of Chanukah here in Parliament.

It was impossible not to be moved by the resonant message of the Chanukah story – of finding light in darkness – as the beautiful menorah in the Speaker’s House was lit and the community joined together in Ma’oz Tzur for the first time this year.   
 
Of course Chanukah comes at a very poignant, and still at a very painful time for Jewish communities here and around the world.

Never before has the light and warmth of this festival felt so welcome, after what has been – and what continues to be – such a dark and difficult chapter following the barbaric terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7th October.  

We have many Jewish families in the UK still grieving the loss of loved ones who were killed, and I know the whole community is still reeling from the horror of what continues to unfold in the Middle East, the ongoing fighting and the fate of more than 100 hostages still held.

Yvette Cooper

It is because these annual moments of celebration with family and friends are so precious that we so acutely feel the pain of those who are being denied them this year.

Here in the UK, that anguish is being compounded by an appalling and intolerable rise in antisemitism on Britain’s streets and online.

I want to thank the CST for the remarkable and tireless work they do, alongside the police, to keep the Jewish community safe and secure, but we cannot relent in our action to stamp out the scourge of antisemitism in all its forms.

We have seen unacceptable antisemitic placards on protests, graffiti on a Holocaust library, Jewish primary schools vandalised with red paint, and last week I spoke with the Union of Jewish Students, who are deeply concerned about the steep rise in antisemitism on university campuses.

We cannot and will not stand for this, not now and not ever.

There is no place in Britain for the hatred and vitriol that devastates lives and corrodes communities, and those who perpetrate that poison must face the full force of the law.  
 
In the coming weeks and months, we must all be vigilant to ensure that events unfolding internationally do not play out in increased tensions here at home.

That’s why we are grateful for the reassurance policing work taking place across communities and why Labour has supported additional funding for the CST.

L-R at the CST annual dinner: Ed Balls, Gerald Ronson, Yvette Cooper MP, Lloyd Dorfman

It’s why we have also called for the Government to go further and strengthen the monitoring requirements around antisemitic hate incidents, to ensure that all instances are properly recorded and monitored by the police.

Alongside that robust enforcement action, we must also act to strengthen the cross- community bridges and bonds that have been built over many years, both so they can withstand – and help to see us through – these complex and challenging times.  
 
A few weeks ago I met with the CST and Tell Mama, which monitors Islamophobic hate crime, together in my office.

It was an incredibly moving and powerful meeting. They started working together almost 12 years ago, as the CST shared the lessons it had learned about protecting the Jewish community with other minority groups, so they could benefit from that experience and protection too.

That day, they met in a period of intense grief for both communities, yet they were united in their call for an end to hate in all its forms. That is the British way – and Labour will always work to keep our communities safe and bring our communities together, rather than let them be torn apart.   

Labour frontbenchers David Lammy, Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper, Rachel Reeves

The last few weeks have not been easy, but the story of Chanukah is one of enduring and lasting hope – of light emerging out of darkness, even in what feels like the most impossible
of circumstances.

We must hold onto that message now, as we seek to bring our communities together, as we hope for the safe and swift return of all hostages, and as we continue to strive for a lasting peace. 

I hope that over these special eight nights of Chanukah, all of you in the community will find moments of peace and joy with family and friends, lighting the menorah in your homes, synagogues and communities, and that celebrating this festival of light will remind us all that a brighter future is possible.

Yvette Cooper is the Shadow Home Secretary and the Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley