Moral logic that seems crystal clear on paper often becomes murkier on contact with reality. So it is with the question of how to pick a path through the right to protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza, and the rise in antisemitism that has been seen across Europe since Hamas committed the terrorist atrocities of 7 October 2023.

Last week, the focus was on university campuses, as Rishi Sunak convened a roundtable of vice-chancellors at Number 10. In theory, the guardrail is straightforward: people’s democratic rights to protest must be protected, but any spillover into antisemitism is to be loudly condemned. However, putting this into practice has proved more complex.

There is a historic problem of antisemitism in British higher education that – reflecting the pattern of antisemitism across society more broadly – has spiked since the Hamas attack. Last year, 182 antisemitic incidents in higher education were reported to the Community Security Trust, an increase of more than 200% from 2022. The vast majority occurred after 7 October, and the sharp increase in societal antisemitism happened after Hamas had attacked Israel but before Israel launched its counteroffensive.

At Downing Street, Edward Isaacs, the president of the Union of Jewish Students, described how some members have received death threats, been physically assaulted or have had their property damaged in recent months. UCL has felt the need to post security guards around its school of Hebrew and Jewish studies; at Leeds University, the Jewish chaplain has received threats and a Jewish building was vandalised with graffiti. I have Jewish friends who are........

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