Brendan O’Neill speaks at London synagogue |
Sporting a ‘ZIONIST’ emblazoned hoody, columnist and writer Brendan O’Neill spoke to a crowded hall at north west London’s Mosaic Jewish Community. O’Neill’s punditry is prolific, his columns frequently appearing in The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph and Spiked. It is not just the volume of O’Neill’s writing that sets him apart from the pack – his unequivocal support for Israel alongside his outspoken condemnation of Islamism is bold and heroic.
Based in the suburb of Stanmore the Mosaic Jewish Community, a pluralist union of three progressive synagogues is to be commended for inviting O’Neill to speak. That he spoke on the same day as a rabble of left-wing rabbis published a letter in The Sunday Times that can best be described as toxically problematic, hearing O’Neill address the Mosaic crowd with his blunt, direct and uncomplicated eloquence was a breath of both political and Zionist fresh air.
O’Neill opened his talk with reference to the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7th 2023. He went on to say that what he found most upsetting was not so much the brutal attacks themselves, but rather the celebrations of Hamas’s terrorism that erupted across the Western world on October 8th. O’Neill was to research that vile phenomenon in some depth and his book After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation makes for compelling reading that has been immaculately researched.
A Catholic by birth and of Irish descent, O’Neill revealed to the audience that he is a first-generation Briton, having been born in England to parents who are both immigrants. Notwithstanding his familial ties to the Irish Republic, O’Neill both considers himself, and conducts himself as an Englishman who is proud of his country and its history.
He despairs however at the spread of liberal thinking that has corrupted the minds of so many of the nation’s youth, leading them to bear a contempt for the UK and the West that would have been inconceivable barely a few decades ago. O’Neill referenced his attendance as an observer at London’s recent Al-Quds rally where young British Islamists (O’Neill estimated they were most likely to be third-generation Brits) expressed contempt for the Israel and the current war in Iran and mourned the death of Ayatollah Khameini – the man who had led the murderously tyrannical Iranian regime.
Pride in one’s country means a lot to O’Neill who has been a frequent visitor to Israel, especially since 7th October. Speaking of his take on the typical young Israelis that O’Neill had seen on trains and buses:
“…all incredibly suntanned from either from being on the beach in Tel Aviv or from fighting in nightmarish battles… they have their guns kind of slung over their shoulders… They know who they are. They know what they’re about. They know what they need to do. …These are 19 or 20 year-olds, to me, they look like kids, but they are incredibly switched on. And if you compare them to 19 and 20 year olds in Britain’s universities for example …who ban people like me from speaking because my words might hurt them, I mean, the difference between our young people and Israeli young people is extraordinary.
I was invited to go for a drink in a bar on the beach in Tel Aviv by a group of young IDF soldiers so I went to meet them. Some were British born, others Israeli born and I was just blown away by these people…. Incredibly young, very, very confident, and they had a real sense of peoplehood… they understood that they belonged to a nation, that they owned a duty to that nation, that they had to take care of the older people of that nation, and the people who were less able to fight, by putting their lives on the line. I mean, simply extraordinary”
On the subject of the much vaunted ‘Two-State Solution’, O’Neill was unequivocal. How, he argued, can the Israelis ever live in peace with a neighbouring nation that wants to slit their throats? It is hard to disagree with such an opinion. He was equally blunt in his comments on the BBC:
“I think what the BBC has done over the past two and a half years is unforgivable. Because, what they’ve done on the nightly news, almost every night for that period, is that they’ve given two messages – 1. that the Gaza War was the only war in the world. And 2. that the Gaza War is the worst war that’s ever taken place. The BBC ignores Sudan. They told us about the famine in Gaza which didn’t actually happen and they ignored the famine in Sudan that did!”
O’Neill was scathing of Britain’s failure to create a diverse multicultural society, commenting that illegal and undocumented immigrants can arrive in the UK and immediately be entitled to hotel accommodation and prompt health and dental care, receiving a level of support denied to impoverished native Brits. He was equally blunt about the failures of both the major political parties, adding that he found it impossible to vote for a party [Labour] that had, for more than 30 years, allowed white working-class girls to be raped, going on to add that the Conservative party had been in power for 14 years and “messed up almost everything”. O’Neill had words of criticism for President Trump too, however he added that had he been an American citizen, he would have voted for Trump without a second thought, acknowledging that much of the Trump vote was from working-class people of all backgrounds, white, black, Latino, voting in a way that “was a revolt of ordinary people against this establishment culture.”
But it was for Israel that O’Neill’s support was proudly defined over the evening. Referencing his hoodie, he considers himself to be a proud Zionist. His closing comments were remarkable: “Everyone should be a Zionist. Everyone should be a Zionist in relation to Israel, but [also] everyone should have “Zionist” tendencies in relation to their home country as well, in terms of defending your borders, defending your nation, celebrating your people, then celebrating your history and your culture. So instead of demonising the Zionist entity, we should learn from it, take some of that into our own countries, and defend a kind of Zionist ideal or a Zionist self-confidence for all nations.”
Hours after O’Neill finished his talk, London witnessed one of its most appalling acts of antisemitic hatred with the destruction of four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green. While mercifully there were no injuries from this attack and the arsonists have yet to be identified, it is clear that O’Neill’s message has a timely relevance and importance that cannot be ignored.
The Jewish people’s enemies are many – our good friends are few. Brendan O’Neill is to be saluted as one of the most righteous and noble of gentiles. The Jewish people should bind themselves to him with hoops of steel.