Former BBC presenter Jonathan Dimbleby has accused Jewish communal leaders of making antisemitism worse through a failure to criticise the Israeli government.
In observations likely to spark criticism, the former current affairs presenter said he “mutually agreed” to walk away from a recent speaking engagement at a Jewish event to mark a Belsen Nazi concentration camp anniversary after the organiser objected to him also wanting to make the”distinction between antisemitism and anti-Netanyahuism.”
The celebrated historian – whose war correspondent father Richard had famously entered Bergen-Belsen with the British liberators in April 1945 -was speaking to Roger Bolton’s Beeb Watch podcast about the rise of populism and parallels between current political trends and historical threats.
Dimbleby, 80, told the latest episode of the podcast of his desire to use the enagement in front of a Jewish audience to make his point on Israel, despite a request for the organisers to offer his thoughts on the notorious camp.
Explaining himself Dimbleby said:”I thought it would be very useful if more of the Jewish community leaders in the Jewish community here made that distinction—not only because, but partially because—one of the consequences of not being critical of the government of Israel today is that it exacerbates that antisemitism, which is so horrific, because it allows antisemites to say, ‘Oh, well, they all—none of them care about the Palestinians. They all want to—they all want to slaughter Palestinians.’
“And that is really dangerous.”
Liberated prisoners interact with the British soldiers on the site of the newly liberated Bergen Belsen Camp. April/May 1945. Pic: The Wiener Holocaust Library Collections
The former BBC current affairs presenter Dimbleby revealed:”“Very recently, I was invited to address a meeting of Jews to mark—associated with—Belsen.
“And I talked to the organiser and said—we talked about how many people likely there, what sort of people, etc.—and it was going to be a Jewish audience. And I said, “I’ll gladly do so, but I want to say something at the end of it.” I wanted to say that it was important to me that distinction between antisemitism and anti-Netanyahuism, if I can put it like that, was made, because they are distinct. ”
But he told the latest episode of Beeb Watch’ podcast that the request did not meet with the approval of the event organiser.
“So I said I wanted to say that, and the organiser said, very courteously—we had a perfectly courteous conversation—’I don’t think that would be quite appropriate for this session’,” revealed Dimbleby.
” So I said, ‘Well, it’s not a religious meeting. It’s a secular occasion, and I know that many Jews share my view.’
“And he said, “No, I think it really wouldn’t be appropriate’.
“We ended up mutually agreeing that I wouldn’t speak at this occasion.
“Well, that is a measure of great, I think, unwisdom on the part of that individual and those he thought he was representing.
“But it’s also a tendency that is reflected in public life generally: we are frightened of speaking because we are frightened of being charged with that heinous offence of antisemitism.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump speak during a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House on 4 Feb 2025. (The White House, via Wikipedia)
Earlier Dimbleby said he had been a long-time critic of the Israel government, including for quite a long time before the current Gaza conflict.
He then added:”But I am horrified by the rise of antisemitism in Europe, not least in Germany which was the cradle of the Holocaust.”
Dimbleby, who recently called the Royal Television Society “cowards” for dropping an award recognising journalists working in Gaza in response to controversy over a BBC documentary on the region that was revealed to have involved the son of a Hamas minister, had earlier expressed his disgust at the rise of antisemitism in the modern era.
He told the podcast:”I look at today. I look at Britain. I look at antisemitism, I look at racism, I look at the urge, this is some rather disturbing evidence—in Britain, of all countries, I want to say, but I shouldn’t—of young people who say, ‘We need a strong leader.’
“Well, the gap between a strong leader and an autocrat is not very great, and we’re seeing that in the United States now.
“I mean, the decisions that are being made by Trump using his executive power—yes, he’s having to row back on things—but the ability to walk into a university and say, ‘I’m going to cut $2 billion,’ his ability to go to the Kennedy Music Centre in Washington, dismiss the trustees, and then appoint himself as chair of this major arts institution is redolent, incidentally, of the kind of thing that Stalin didn’t need to do—because they knew that they’d be executed if they didn’t say what he wanted.”
The historian was last month one of about 300 people who have signed a letter to the RTS criticising its last-minute decision not to award the prize at its prestigious TV journalism event last week, as a result of the fallout from Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.
