Antisemitism and the decline of Commonwealth democracies

The UK, Canada, and Australia used to be the world's most tolerant multicultural societies. Now they are hotbeds of antisemitism. It bodes ill for these nations, not just for their Jewish communities.

Antisemitism is a sign of a sick society and it usually portends a steep decline in prosperity and influence. This bodes poorly for the UK, Canada, and Australia, where antisemitism has reached plague levels.

All three of these English-speaking Commonwealth democracies have left-wing governments. Their prime ministers - the UK’s Keir Starmer, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, and Australia’s Anthony Albanese - do not seem aware that throughout history, bad things follow periods of peak Jew hatred.

In 1492, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I issued the Alhambra Decree expelling Jews in Spain who would not renounce their faith. About 300,000 Jews fled to the Ottoman Empire, various Italian city states, France, and elsewhere.

As Jews were prominent in trade, finance, medicine, textiles, and other industries, the Spanish economy took an immediate hit and voids in these sectors led to prolonged economic stagnation.

By contrast, the Ottoman Empire boomed with the influx of well-connected Jewish merchants and highly-skilled artisans and professionals, who even introduced the first printing to the empire.