Three days after the worst atrocity committed against their people since the Holocaust, Glasgow’s Jewish community elected to abjure bitterness and hate. Around 300 of them lit candles in memory of the 1400 Israelis and their friends who had been slaughtered with such ruthless savagery by Hamas.

Those few of us not of the Jewish religion were there to stand with our friends and colleagues in the time of their worst suffering. And then we all sang the bleakly beautiful Israeli national anthem.

It’s since been suggested to me that if Israel hadn’t immediately launched retaliatory air strikes then many more of us would have turned up to show solidarity. But let’s not kid ourselves: there are no circumstances in which thousands would have attended any event organised to show sympathy for Jews. Such has been the fate of the children of Israel for centuries.

A few days after this quiet candlelit vigil many thousands more turned up on the same spot to convey their support for the people of Gaza and for Palestine. We should, of course, be very careful about condemning that which is merely critical of Israel’s right-wing and reactionary government as outright anti-Semitism. Almost as insidious as anti-Semitism is deliberately to misrepresent something which isn’t. Yet, there were several aspects of the pro-Palestine demonstration which - if not anti-Semitism - seemed to occupy dangerous territory. As the crowds swelled, there were chants of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”. The river is the Jordan which is on Israel’s eastern border. The sea is the Mediterranean on Israel’s western border. Effectively, the chant suggests that the area which is currently Israel should become Palestine, thus eliminating Israel and all its citizens. I suspect though, that most of those joining in with this were ignorant of its implications.

There was something much more callous and chilling than this though. Less than a week after Hamas butchered entire families, including infants and the infirm elderly, there was barely a mention of this in speeches that grew steadily more incoherently shrill as the afternoon proceeded.

Read more: Middle East: Grief and solace replaced by sound and fury

Countless columns and analyses - including those written in good faith - have been devoid of even a scintilla of empathy for those Jewish families who live peacefully among us and who feel threatened about mass displays of hatred towards their spiritual homeland. And, as we’ve seen in London and many other cities across the world the sheer volume of pro-Palestinian protesters has provided cover for groups and individuals channelling naked anti-Semitism.

The October Declaration, signed by more than 13,000 prominent people in British public life, points to a deeply troubling rise in anti-Semitism across the UK. “The Community Security Trust recorded at least 533 anti-Semitic incidents across the UK between 7-20 October 2023, representing an increase of 651%, compared to the same period in 2022. Children have not been spared. Four Jewish schools in Britain felt compelled to close …”. As ever, in matters of the Middle East, there are inconsistencies; deep conflicts of conscience and outright hypocrisy - especially on the Left. Many of those presently expressing horror about Israel’s response to the mass murder of its citizens will refuse to brook any criticism of Vladimir Putin for doing something similar in Ukraine.

Immediately following the Al-Ahli hospital blast, it seemed that the horror of some on social media was matched by a sickening glee at the prospect of blaming Israel for it. Others who purport to embrace women’s and gay rights choose to overlook Islamic regimes which routinely oppress, torture and execute these minorities. Four years ago, a report commissioned by then Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, highlighted the ongoing mass persecution of Christians in parts of the Middle East which it said was tantamount to genocide. The report said that that it was an “inconvenient truth” that “the overwhelming majority (80%) of persecuted religious believers are Christians”. Yet not a flag has ever been raised in protest.

There is though, one terrifying consistency running through each generation of the Jewish community: they never have to wait long to be targeted. In the words of the American writer, Bari Weiss: “anti-Semitism is the hatred that never dies”.

It travels on old lies disseminated by those who have sought to avert the public’s gaze to other malfeasances. Others have simply hated the idea of them: their appearance; their faith and their culture. Thus, in the Middle Ages, some Catholic leaders and their warlords held them responsible for killing Christ. It was often a convenient means of stigmatising and scapegoating. Their persecutors were secure in the knowledge that few would come to the aid of this stateless and thus defenceless people.

The predominant libel though, is that the Jews have always controlled the movement of money and were the chief cause of wars between Christian nations whom they had corrupted. This was ruthlessly exploited by Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, whose malevolent propaganda produced films showing how the Rothschild banking family had exploited the Napoleonic wars to enrich themselves.

The truth, according to the historian Niall Ferguson, was almost entirely the opposite. Mayer Rothschild had been assigned by Wellington to use his family’s banking connections to amass gold, this being the world’s most respected commodity and thus ideal for paying allied armies. Wellington’s victory at Waterloo which brought the war to an unexpected end actually jeopardised the Rothschild fortune as gold began to diminish in value.

No matter: to the ancient fear and loathing of the Jews could be added envy and all of it proceeding on the caricatures and defamations of the global newspaper industry. Elements of this nasty old libel remain evident in suspicions about George Soros and the Jewish business community.

In its introduction to a list of 267 Jewish billionaires published last year, Forbes magazine cited the real factors underpinning their success: “innovation, initiative, charisma and intelligence”.

Read more: Fragile peace breaks out at House of Commons as MPs debate Gaza

It was ever thus with this clever and industrious people. Shorn of any rights to own land and businesses; to attend university or pursue respected trades and professions they were then crammed into ghettoes “beyond the pale”. They had nothing but their resilience; their faith and their ingenuity.

This is what impelled the Rothschilds to emerge from the Frankfurt ghetto at the beginning of the 19th century. Long before the Holocaust they’d been despised and hunted down by every other earthly authority.

It’s possible, I think, to lament Benjamin Netanyahu’s collective vengeance and also to express empathy for the Jewish communities living in our midst. It won’t happen, of course and this will have little to do with the policies of the Israeli Government.