Jewish soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women are a vivid contradiction of the antisemites' most vicious libels

The Jewish relationship with HM Armed Forces is a hidden jewel of our community's history.

After disembarking from the ships which carried them during the Resettlement of the 1650s, many Jews decided to simply stay where they landed. Eight of the eleven earliest non-London Jewish communities were seaports. And a relationship with the Royal Navy was soon established.

In 1984, the Jewish naval historian Geoffrey Green wrote: “Jews and sailors, therefore, were not an unlikely association. Contrary to popular belief, there was a certain affinity between them; both knew hardship, public disparagement and contempt. Economic circumstances brought them together.”

Despite the Test Acts, which stood until 1828 preventing anyone not confirmed in the Church of England from taking public roles, including in the armed forces, Jews found a way to serve. During the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. The Seven Years War. The Napoleonic Conflicts. Crimea. The Boer War. And then The Great War. 55000 Jews served in British and Colonial forces between 1914-18.

AJEX – the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen & Women – emerged from the war to represent Jewish veterans and fight rising antisemitism. By the 1930s it was leading the fight against fascism on the streets of Britain. At the Battle of Cable Street, it was a be-medalled, standard-bearing AJEX detachment that led the counter-demo to Mosley’s blackshirts. And later mopped up their residue still present even after Nazism was defeated.

In WWII, 70,000 British and Commonwealth Jews served. A further 31,000 Yishuv Jews joined up as well – 26,000 had served throughout the war in the Allied forces before another 5,000 were recruited in September 1944 to form a Jewish Brigade and join the advance through Europe.

AJEX continues to ensure welfare for Jewish veterans of WWII, National Service, the Cold War and its hot conflicts - including Korea - and the Troubles, Falklands, Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and any service in uniform.

Jewish soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women are a vivid contradiction of the antisemites' most vicious libels: the claim of dual loyalty and of somehow standing apart. So we remember their service, to honour their sacrifices. At AJEX, we promote their stories, across the country and in all communities, so that our friends and us can stand up with pride, against lies and hate.

Dan Fox is chair of AJEX