‘The British [Jews] Are Coming!’

Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride in 1775 is remembered as the battle cry on horseback that alerted the Minutemen of Massachusetts Bay that “The British are coming!”

Now, 250 years later, another former subject of the United Kingdom, President Trump’s personal lawyer, Robert Garson, wishes to set off another alarm—this time, however, to the great benefit of the United States:

“The British Jews are coming . . . to America!”

Garson was quoted in The Telegraph, stating grimly that the U.K. is “no longer a safe place for Jews.” The solution: With well over 11 million people in the United States illegally, and the Trump administration determined to deport the criminals among them, why not offer British Jews political asylum?

It’s a great idea. Unless you are fixated solely on the browning of the American population, with white privileged Europeans disqualified from entry, British Jews are a fine fit and an attractive pool of future citizens. After all, they already speak the same language as Americans. That’s not so true anymore in England, where more recent arrivals don’t see the point in learning the Queen’s English, or even the Cockney, Welsh, Scottish or Irish English, either.

British Jews tend to be highly educated, possess manifold skills in medicine, law and culture, have access to investment capital and a wherewithal with markets, and know how to run businesses. Very few are gang members, drug traffickers, public assistance scammers, or suicide bombers. That’s a relief.

Garson, himself British born and educated, knew President Trump would be intrigued. Unlike some of his predecessors, when it comes to immigration, Trump prefers successful people who obey the laws. The next step is receiving State Department approval.

That shouldn’t be an obstacle. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is an unabashed philosemite. Back in 1956, his parents traveled from Cuba to Florida legally, during a time when immigrants chose the American dream over providing devious assistance in its decline.

British Jewry would most definitely arrive with a similar mindset—the old-school idea of making America great.

For its part, Britain deserves the Jewish brain-drain. They’ve done next to nothing protecting Jews from violent, Israel-hating Muslims who have been handed a blank check to break public safety laws.

Just this past Yom Kippur, Jews in Manchester were attacked by someone with the first name of Jihad! (You can’t make this up.) He rammed his car into worshippers standing outside the synagogue, then bolted with knife in hand to stab as many as possible.

Two Jews lost their lives. So much for the Day of Atonement. The rabbi of the synagogue had been receiving death threats. And he was not alone among British Jewry. Since 1984, the Community Security Trust has recorded antisemitic incidents in the U.K. In 2023, there were 4,103 hate crimes against Jews—the highest number in 40 years, representing a 1,353 percent increase.

The rest of Europe has not fared much better in safeguarding Jews. Ever since Hamas’ slaughter in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, law enforcement has permissively allowed Muslims to threaten and attack Jews carte blanche. When surveyed, 82 percent of British Jews find life in England increasingly intolerable owing to antisemitism. A majority have given serious consideration to leaving.

How bad are the danger signs and feelings of fear? Jewish day schools in the U.K. have alarm systems not to evacuate the building, but to warn students to remain inside. Street violence gravitates to wherever Jews happen to be. The entranceways to schools are soft targets and easy marks. Nearly all synagogues have armed guards stationed outside.

The spike in antisemitic violence throughout Europe follows a familiar pattern—the fear of domestic Muslim populations and Islamic extremism. This explains laws that could protect Jews and punish Muslims, that are simply not being applied.

In the U.K., Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006 criminalizes acts that promote or glorify terrorism. Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 punishes any expression of support for a terrorist organization like Hamas. Section 18 of Public Order Act 1986 outlaws threatening behavior intended to provoke racial hatred.

The United States has less flexible anti-terrorism laws, and yet it is much safer for Jews to live in America than in the U.K. Our First Amendment protects expressive activities that would carry a 15-year prison sentence in the U.K. Since October 7, over 600 Muslims have been arrested at street protests in Great Britain. Nearly no one had actually been prosecuted or served time, however.

The message: British law won’t be enforced to protect its Jews. Insult a Muslim, however, and Allah help you.

The failure to prosecute only emboldens more anti-Jewish violence and criminality.

England’s history has never been favorably disposed toward Jews. In 1290, King Edward I (the same monarch who made life miserable for the Scots in the film “Braveheart”) issued a royal decree banishing all Jews from his kingdom.

Jews didn’t return for another 350 years, which means that when the groundlings at the Globe Theatre jeered at Shylock in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” no one had ever actually seen a Jewish person.

Speaking of British writers, some who were active after the Bard were actually Jews who Anglicized their names and hardly ever produced a work with a Jewish character or plot conceit. The list of literary luminaries include: Harold Pinter (the first draft of “The Homecoming” had a Jewish family), Peter Shaffer, Mike Leigh (one exception, “Two Thousand Years”), Alfred Sutro, Arnold Wesker, Ronald Harwood (“Taking Sides,” an exception), Peter Barnes, Patrick Marber (one Jewish play, “Howard Katz”), and the late Tom Stoppard’s solo venture into his own Holocaust legacy, in “Leopoldstadt.”

Predictably, not a Jewish surname among them.

Imagine cultural life in the U.K. without these dramatist Jewish Brits. This pattern of success and secrecy pervaded other areas of British life, as well. Victorian Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli converted to Christianity to make a public life possible. The first professional athlete to market his name was Mendoza the Jew, who boxed in the late18th century. If he could have done so without the shtick, he most assuredly would have. Sprinter Harold Abrahams walked away from the 1924 Olympic Games as the world’s fastest man, but never licked the prejudice that tailed his entire career.

American Jews have seen their share of antisemitism since October 7, but unlike the U.K., France, Belgium, Spain and Sweden, Jews still have allies and a favorable federal government in the United States. In Europe, Jews are largely friendless.

The U.K. government, for instance, has showered its Jews with all the amenities of the Tower of London. But would moving to America guarantee a life in Trump Tower?

The U.K. government has showered its Jews with all the amenities of the Tower of London. But would moving to America guarantee a life in Trump Tower?

Before British Jews give up fish and chips for Chick-fil-A, Israel will no doubt have something to say about this proposed mass migration. If the diaspora is going anywhere, they should choose their ancestral homeland over a country that may very well present, at best, only the latest in the chain of inhospitable pit-stops.

This is no longer the America of Ellis Island, the Melting Pot and the Pursuit of Happiness. This is a new era of America First, anti-ICE and Muslim mayors. The Statue of Liberty’s torch, nowadays, may be more symbolic of arson than enlightenment.

This is no longer the America of Ellis Island, the Melting Pot and the Pursuit of Happiness. This is a new era of America First, anti-ICE and Muslim mayors. The Statue of Liberty’s torch, nowadays, may be more symbolic of arson than enlightenment.