Is the West in denial about its antisemitism?

After the horrors of the Holocaust, it was widely held that the systematic murder of European Jews might go some way to inoculate future societies against such atrocities ever happening again. But, says Mary Dejevsky, the curious evaporation of sympathy after the 7 October attacks means the state of Israel no longer looks as assured as it once was

A man stands in front of Budapest’s Memorial Wall of Victims on International Holocaust Memorial Day (MTVA – Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund)

Of all the reverberations, large and small, from the Hamas massacres of 7 October last year, one took me by surprise; another did not.

The surprise was how quickly the near-universal sympathy for Israel was eclipsed by militant expressions of support for Palestinians. In the UK, or so it seemed to me, popular sentiment had turned against Israel within 24 hours – almost as soon as its prime minister vowed to destroy Hamas, but long before Israel mounted its first military assault on Gaza.

The Israeli flag, hoisted on UK government buildings just hours after the Hamas killings, was lowered within a day, in favour of the Ukraine flag it had displaced.