meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Newscast

Is Being Jewish Unsafe in the UK?

Newscast

BBC

News, Daily News, Politics

4.36.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2026

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today we look at how safe Jewish people feel and the political response to a string of violent incidents in which they’ve been targeted.

It’s prompted a national conversation about antisemitism in the country among politicians and the public.

Two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London, on Wednesday and there have been multiple cases of arson on Jewish properties in recent weeks.

Special correspondent Judith Moritz is on to talk about what the community has been telling her, and Paddy’s been to a synagogue in North London to talk to young people about their experiences.

You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.

You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord

Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.

New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd

Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenters were Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O'Connell. It was made by Chris Flynn. The social producer was Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was Michael Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Pbcc Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:05.0

Paddy, we are days away from what I've ridiculously been calling Mega May for ages, which is a huge set of elections on Thursday.

0:13.0

So you might at this moment in the news cycle expect that all we would be talking about is the particular ward of a particular council where some controversy is meant that a

0:22.4

particular councillor might not win his seat. However, due to the terrible events of the week

0:27.9

and the attack on Jewish men in a North London suburb, all eyes politically have been on hatred

0:35.2

and racism against Jewish people, otherwise known as anti-Semitism.

0:38.9

Yes, the stabbing of two men in the street. And then words matter. So when a political leader

0:45.4

happens to be Zach Polanski reposted on X, a remark about the behavior of the police, the

0:53.1

suspect and everything else, he had to apologise

0:55.1

because stepping into the public arena without briefing yourself at the moment is really not

1:00.3

the actions of a leader, says the Prime Minister.

1:02.7

And says the boss of the Met Police, the most senior cop in the country, who did a very

1:08.0

unusual thing. He put a letter in public to Zach Polanski,

1:12.5

essentially really slapping him down hard for criticizing the behavior of his officers,

1:19.5

who, as the Met believe, put themselves into the line of danger to try to stop this attacker

1:24.2

who's now facing charges doing any more harm. So we had a terrible event

1:29.8

happening in a Jewish community. There was then a terrible political row in the aftermath of that.

1:35.9

And we'll get into that, but also hear the first-hand experiences of some young Jewish people

1:40.6

on this Saturday's edition of Newscast. Newscast from the BBC. Humanity's next great voyage begins. We are in the midst of a rupture. Nostalgia will not bring back the old order. Sixth seven. Yeah. It's supposed to be me as a doctor. There he has also a special connotation. Ooh la la,law. Thinking about it like a panto helped.

2:02.0

Do we play music now, or what do we do?

2:04.2

Hello, it's Patty in the studio.

2:05.6

And it's Laura in the studio.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.