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The deadly attack on a synagogue in California on Saturday, the last day of Passover, was intended to intimidate America’s five million Jews, the world’s largest community outside Israel. A

60-year-old woman was killed while shielding the rabbi, before the white supremacist’s semi-automatic weapon jammed. This second assault in eight months, following last September’s massacre

in Philadelphia, reminds us that anti-Semitism remains a lethal threat even in the United States, which has welcomed Jews fleeing persecution since its founding fathers. Just how ubiquitous

the “oldest hatred” has become even in American media was illustrated when a viciously anti-Semitic cartoon appeared in the international edition of the New York Times last Thursday. In the

words of the paper’s own columnist Bret Stephens, “here was an image that, in another age, might have been been published in the pages of Der Stürmer”. It showed a blind Donald Trump in a

skullcap, being led by a dog with the face of Benjamin Netanyahu, a Star of David dangling from its collar. It seems incredible that such a vile caricature — combining classic anti-Semitic

tropes with the utterly false yet endlessly repeated claim that the US is subservient to the interests of Israel — could appear in America’s most venerable newspaper. Yet even though many of

the readers, writers and even the owners of the New York Times are Jewish, it has been highly critical of, even hostile to, Israel. Bret Stephens blames the cartoon scandal on “the

mainstreaming of anti-Zionism, including by this paper, which has become so common that people have been desensitised to its inherent bigotry”. Like the Democratic Party, some of whose

leading figures now regularly deploy anti-Zionist rhetoric, the media bears responsibility for creating an atmosphere in which Jews now have to fear for their security in America almost as

much as they do in Europe. Whether anti-Semitism comes from the political extremes of Right or Left, or from Islamist terrorism, it must be fought relentlessly. Yet in practice, as the New

York Times cartoon shows, illiberal liberals turn a blind eye to anti-Semitic words and images that would never pass muster if they were directed against any other target. Here in Britain we

have witnessed the descent of the Labour Party — which like the US Democrats was once the political home of most Jewish voters — into the abyss of anti-Semitism. Not only has Jeremy Corbyn

failed to address this descent: he is its principal cheerleader. His latest response to criticism was to put one of his staff, Laura Murray, in charge of complaints — an appointment that

caused outrage, since this Corbyn loyalist and daughter of a union ally has herself been the subject of complaints. The veteran MP Margaret Hodge described it as “both mad and deeply

insulting” to Jews like herself. Unbelievably, the Conservative Government is now considering adopting a definition of Islamophobia as racism, which would render the struggle against

Islamist terrorism impossible to prosecute. According to Scotland Yard’s former head of counter-terrorism, there is a real danger that the police, security services, prosecutors, judges and

prisons would all be labelled “institutionally Islamophobic” if the Government were to accept the recommendation of the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims. The latter claim

that Islamophobia is “a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”. These MPs have already persuaded the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as well as the

Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, to adopt their Orwellian redefinition. According to Crippling Counter-Terrorism, a Policy Exchange report by Richard Walton and Tom Wilson, to give

legal protection to any expression of “Muslimness” would means that bans on terrorist organisations and hate preachers would be impossible. Even Isis could claim to be a legitimate

expression of “Muslimness”. It should be obvious that such a catch-all definition of Islamophobia poses a threat, not only to Jews and Christians, but to moderate Muslims and indeed British

society in general. Yet a government led by Jeremy Corbyn would enshrine it in law. This determination to appease extremist demands is only one of many facets of a Labour Party that has

itself become institutionally anti-Semitic. No wonder polls suggest that nearly half of British Jews would consider emigration if Corbyn came to power. From Washington to Westminster, from

Sri Lanka to New Zealand, the West must stand united in solidarity with the victims of terrorism, whether they are Jews, Christians, Muslims or anybody else. But this is a war in which words

and images are the most powerful weapons. We must be vigilant against insidious attempts to legitimise hatred — especially the oldest hatred.