OPINION: Should Jews be turning towards Douglas Murray?

One of the strange phenomena that has arisen in the aftermath of 7 October is the arrival of Douglas Murray into many Jewish family Whatsapp groups. I’m pretty certain most of those posting and liking videos of Murray, often wearing a flak jacket and delivering rousing soliloquies from southern Israel, had little knowledge of his previous work as a columnist for The Sun and The Spectator. 

In fact, I’d wager many of Murray’s new fans had never heard of him before 7 October. But the strength of his conviction and the elegance of his rhetoric, as he crops up on TalkTV to dismantle the arguments of ill-informed critics, has won him plenty of supporters in the Jewish community. Murray’s role as a leader in pro-Israel discourse was cemented earlier this month, when the Apollo Theatre pulled out of hosting an event with him to raise money for Israeli students serving in the IDF.

Is this a problem? Well, not necessarily. I often disagree with Murray politically, but I don’t subscribe to the caricature of him as nothing but a race-baiting fascist. I think his support for Israel is genuine, not simply a vehicle for a dislike of Muslims, and his ability – as a non-Jew and talented polemicist – to put the beleaguered case for Zionism makes him a powerful asset. I can see why he’s become popular.

However, I do think Jews who laud Murray as their new tribune should also be aware of his broader political outlook.

Murray operates at the sharp end of the culture wars and his language towards Muslims can be ugly. He recently described Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf as having “infiltrated” the British political system and, in a speech back in 2006, called Islam in the West an “opportunist infection”, arguing that “conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board”.

I don’t know if Murray still holds these latter opinions, but his overall stance – that we are in a war for western values against Islam and its self-hating leftist allies – remains unchanged. And, in truth, many Jews will agree with this perspective.

My concern is people absent-mindedly buying into a set of broader right-wing culture war positions that don’t actually fit their world view, because they are fearful, in an emotional ferment and yearning for allies.

Even many Jews who do not agree with this perspective, who consider themselves more liberal or moderate in their politics, will have had their views shifted at least partially by 7 October and what happened next.

I’ll always remember seeing the group of protesters outside Sydney Opera House on 9 October, chanting antisemitic slogans, and feeling as though something had gone horribly wrong. A conservative, as the old saying goes, is a liberal who has been mugged by reality. And what could be more real than Kfar Aza?

But the danger here is that, in a forlorn search for friends, some Jews end up swinging further to the right politically than they would otherwise have wanted to go.

People who feel as though they are drowning in a sea of hatred will grab onto the nearest life raft available. But feeling alienated from swathes of the left on Israel doesn’t mean one has to feel alienated from the left on every issue – politics shouldn’t be a team sport.

I’ve focused on Murray because of his fame, but he is just one obvious example of such a life raft. Suella Braverman is another figure whose unabashed support for Israel has won her supporters who might not necessarily agree with her sharp rhetoric on migration. Chris Rose, a prominent online culture warrior who made his name in the Brexit wars, has also emerged as a committed Israel-booster on Twitter/X.

Unless you’re explicitly anti-Zionist, and willing to loudly say so, progressive politics are a no-go zone for Jews.

My concern here is not people sharing Braverman or Rose’s politics. I don’t object to anyone supporting Brexit or wanting to cut immigration.

My concern is people absent-mindedly buying into a set of broader right-wing culture war positions that don’t actually fit their world view, because they are fearful, in an emotional ferment and yearning for allies.

Admittedly, the left is not a comfortable place for most Jews right now. All the way back in 2015, before Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party, I wrote a piece for Tablet Magazine arguing that it was increasingly impossible to be even a liberal Zionist on the progressive British left.

That story is finished today. Unless you’re explicitly anti-Zionist, and willing to loudly say so, progressive politics are a no-go zone for Jews.

I think the key for liberal or centrist Jews, who, let’s be honest, this column is aimed at, is not to give up on a lifetime of political convictions amid the current tempest.

The leadership of today’s Labour Party has, in my view at least, been steadfast and fair-minded throughout the current conflict. Progressive spaces may be off limits, but moderate left-wing politics are not.

As the war continues to scramble people’s emotional and political radars, that is one life raft worth clinging onto.

• Josh Glancy is News Review editor at the Sunday Times