An Apology Would Be Nice, But It Isn’t Enough

By Seth Mandel

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

 

When Australian authorities announced they would restrict the routes that pro-Palestinian marches were allowed to follow two months ago, it was because of the impending visit of Israel’s head of state. When UK officials suggested today that they support heavily restricting pro-Palestinian marches, it was because they don’t know how to get “anti-Zionists” to stop constantly trying to murder Jews.

 

The explanations were slightly different, but the underlying problem was exactly the same: not one of these so-called protests is free of foaming-at-the-mouth pogromniks. Their slogans unambiguously call for violence against Jews anywhere in the world, and violence against Jews almost inevitably follows.

 

In America, where even anti-Semitic lunatics have free-speech rights, the institutions of democracy—universities, political bodies, etc.—had a responsibility to counter the Hamasniks’ bad speech with good speech. Instead, they ceded the field to Beijing-backed terrorism supporters. Joe Biden said the demonstrators “have a point.” University administrators invited lawlessness, and their faculties went on teaching anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.

 

The result was that commencement ceremonies had to be canceled or live student speeches had to be removed from the programs, restrictions that will continue at many of this year’s ceremonies. That is, school administrators reached the same conclusion that institutional authorities reached in Britain and in Australia: Every single time so-called anti-Zionist activists are given the floor, they will whip up anti-Jewish bloodlust.

 

Jonathan Hall, a UK government adviser on anti-Semitism policy, reportedly told Times Radio today after the stabbings in Golders Green: “It pains me to say this, but I think we may have reached a point where we need to have a moratorium on the sorts of marches that have been happening. It’s clearly impossible at the moment for any of these pro-Palestine marches not to incubate within them some sort of anti-Semitic or demonizing language.”

 

I’ll leave the legal aspects of this suggestion to UK law experts, but as for the cultural aspects: By pretending there is such a thing as “just Anti-Zionism”—that is, anti-Zionism that isn’t merely a flavor of anti-Semitism—the West has saddled itself with a massive hate movement. And now the realization sets in. (To be clear, Jonathan Hall isn’t guilty of this. The lawmakers who seem ready to implement Hall’s suggestion are guilty of this.)

 

Among other reactions, I can’t help but think that so much time and energy and political capital was wasted denying something everyone always knew was true. No one marching among Abu Obeida t-shirts and Globalize the Intifada banners was making a good-faith distinction between anti-Israel activism and anti-Semitism. If such a distinction existed, someone would find it. But they cannot find such a distinction. They thought it was there, but oh well. Mistakes were made!

 

We were told that it was unfair to accuse the mobs of supporting Hamas just because they were taking Hamas’s side in a war against the U.S. and Israel. So the demonstrators started showing up outside synagogues yelling “we support Hamas” and at Jewish shops wearing Hamas headbands to make sure that everyone knew the truth about them.

 

The point of this isn’t to say “We told you so.” That much is obvious. It’s to say that merely acknowledging, finally, that there is no difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism isn’t enough anymore. Those who tried to characterize these protests and this protest movement as peaceful, as comprised of people genuinely concerned about human rights, or as “having a point” owe society more than an apology—though an apology is the proper place to start.

 

Rather, they should invert the activism they so stupidly rationalized. Consider it a kind of community service. Individuals should organize rallies in support of Jewish self-determination. Institutions should hold seminars and literary events and panel discussions and cultural festivals that celebrate the Jewish people.

 

If you’ve enabled tent cities or occupations, go sit now at a government building and tell them you’re not leaving until they take action against violent anti-Semitism. Organize a fundraiser for a local shul or children’s school that now needs to pay for increased security. Lobby your government to undo anti-Israel embargoes.

 

You did this. Not all of it or even most of it. But you are part of the reason this is happening. You were part of the problem. Now go be part of the solution.