Secret consultation documents finally released after the Morning Star’s two-year freedom of information battle show the Home Office misrepresented public opinion, claiming support for policies that most respondents actually strongly criticised as dangerous and unfair, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

WITH the war on Gaza and the continued refusal of the Israeli government to accept international demands and law to negotiate a settlement there has been an increased tendency by some to conflate the actions of Israel with all Jews. This is wrong and as we know anti-semitism has been around for centuries.
The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by Edward I on July 18 1290, expelling all Jews from England by no later than November 1 of that same year. This edict remained in place during the Middle Ages and was a culmination of over 200 years of anti-semitism.
Medieval England was particularly anti-Jewish with many images and tropes which exist today arising from that period such as tales of the Wandering Jew as a diabolical figure and allegations of ritual murders becoming widespread. In 1190 over 100 Jews were massacred in York.

TONY CONWAY assesses the lessons of the 1930s and looks at what is similar, and what is different, about the rise of the far right today


