Anti-Israel door-to-door campaigns in UK draw accusations of 'Jew hunting'

Activists campaigning for a boycott of Israel have been going door-to-door in British cities asking people to join their cause, provoking concerns that pro-Israel homes are being marked.

Seeing Zionism as “an apartheid ideology” that should be eradicated, a group based in Bristol believed their door-knocking was “no different from the actions of a political party like the Conservative party or the Labour party, who also go door to door and ask people how they feel,” according to a Sky News interview.

The campaigners insist that they are polite and anti-racist, saying they take issue with the State of Israel rather than Jewish people, but the fact remains that the two are largely intertwined.

"Any campaign against Israel is a campaign against British Jews. You can't separate it," said Vicky Bhogal from the organization Jewish and Proud, saying the anti-Zionist movement was “the modern face of antisemitism." 

Concerns have been raised about what could happen once anti-Israel activists have the home addresses of those who support the Jewish state. 

Labour Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle expressed his strong opposition to the campaign to create an “Apartheid Free Zone,” telling Jewish News that it “should not be happening.” 

The MP said he immediately thought of “the appalling scenario of a vulnerable Jewish resident being door-knocked by a gang of people wanting to harangue them,” a scenario that has troubled many others. “It’s an upsetting thought and should not be happening in 2026 (in) Hove,” he said.

Kyle, whose constituency covers the Brighton and Hove area, said he had alerted the police over the matter. “The moment I became aware of this campaign to door-knock residents under the banner of ‘Apartheid Free Zone,’ I contacted the police and asked they investigate under the hate crime and the incitement laws which the Government has recently brought in.”

However, another MP for the same area publicly supported the “Apartheid Free Zone” movement when it began last year, describing it as a “brilliant grassroots community organised campaign in solidarity with the people in Palestine.” 

Carla Denyer, who was co-leading the Green party at the time, announced, “They’ve already got 5,000 households already signed up to boycott apartheid goods from occupied Palestine and I’m one of those people who’ve signed up.” 

"It makes me feel sick to my stomach," said Bhogal. "Because I feel that it's a targeted campaign to turn the people of Brighton against Jews who support Israel. They know they can get away with this. They know they can go door to door, eliciting support."

Community liaison for the Sussex Jewish Representative Council, Fiona Sharpe, believes that the campaign is a form of bullying. “For too long these xenophobic anti-Jewish racists have been allowed to bully the Jewish and Israeli communities in Brighton and Hove,” she said. 

”They do so under the guise of humanitarian anti-racism. But the reality is that they want to make Jewish people feel uncomfortable in our own city and now even our homes. The idea that we should have to sign a purity pledge is obscene.”

“The Jewish community, along with our friends and allies, are calling on all decent people to stand with us on Sunday and go to your local supermarket and buy some Israeli products. Take a positive action to counter their hateful discrimination. Tell them, show them, that Brighton really is a City of Sanctuary for all people, not just those they deem worthy.”

A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies added a statement: “The ‘Apartheid-Free Zone’ door-knocking campaign in Brighton is deeply troubling for many Jewish residents. Political debate is legitimate. Coercive, purity-style pledges that have an intimidating effect (on) Jewish communities are not. Going door-to-door asking neighbours to sign ideological pledges creates a hostile and divisive atmosphere. We call on political leaders to reject this divisive politics.”

Sharpe said the Jewish community was facing the worst antisemitism she’s ever experienced, and sees the recent campaign as part of that. "I think increasingly we see Jewish communities and individual Jews almost forced to take what I call purity pledges – to say 'Yes, I'm Jewish, but I don't support the state of Israel, the situation in Gaza or whatever.'"

"I'm a British Jew. I don't need to justify my existence and my place in my city to anybody," she added.

The group Campaign Against Antisemitism alerted its followers about these tactics.

“This past weekend, a woman in Sheffield was allegedly headbutted by a pro-Palestine extremist after challenging those involved in a similar campaign of intimidation. Anyone who harasses people at their homes – demanding they pledge to boycott the Jewish state under threat of having their addresses recorded – should be under no illusion: we will always take action to ensure those responsible are held accountable.”

“I ask with genuine concern that the campaign group rethink their actions and that instead of creating an environment of fear and intolerance, they join us in solidarity with all religious communities in working for peace and the resolution of conflicts around the world,” said Kyle.