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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that antisemitism now needs to be tackled in the strongest possible way?

993 replies

LucyWestenra · 15/12/2025 11:30

The Bondi thread in chat was eye opening.

Forty pages and a lot of it whataboutery, excuses and vile antisemitism.

It’s disgusting.

It needs to be called out. It needs to be rooted out.

I feel so sorry for the Jewish communities everywhere. How can they possibly feel safe?

OP posts:
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17
singmoon · 16/12/2025 18:28

LucyWestenra · 16/12/2025 18:23

A good thing to do?

Even during the week of the anniversary of the 07 October attacks?

Yes

Kingscallops · 16/12/2025 18:27

singmoon · 16/12/2025 17:28

Because of the regular insistence that the protests and support for Palestinians are anti semitic. I refuse to be called anti semitic as I see it as the gravests of insults.

You see it as the gravest of insult! try being a Jew.

LucyWestenra · 16/12/2025 18:23

singmoon · 16/12/2025 18:21

Also, I would never argue that no protestors were anti semitic. My argument is that protesting against Israeli war crimes is not anti semitic, and is a perfectly reasonable and indeed good thing to do.

A good thing to do?

Even during the week of the anniversary of the 07 October attacks?

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noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 18:23

singmoon · 16/12/2025 18:21

Also, I would never argue that no protestors were anti semitic. My argument is that protesting against Israeli war crimes is not anti semitic, and is a perfectly reasonable and indeed good thing to do.

Is marching alongside people chanting support for highly antisemitic terrorists a good thing?

singmoon · 16/12/2025 18:23

noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 18:21

That’s not what I said, I said chanting support for the Houthis whose slogan contains those words.

Do you think chanting support for the Houthis whose slogan contains ‘A curse upon Jews’ is an issue?

Wow you are stretching here.

singmoon · 16/12/2025 18:21

singmoon · 16/12/2025 18:17

I have not heard a single chant of death to Jews. Of course that would be highly anti semitic.

Also, I would never argue that no protestors were anti semitic. My argument is that protesting against Israeli war crimes is not anti semitic, and is a perfectly reasonable and indeed good thing to do.

noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 18:21

singmoon · 16/12/2025 18:17

I have not heard a single chant of death to Jews. Of course that would be highly anti semitic.

That’s not what I said, I said chanting support for the Houthis whose slogan contains those words.

Do you think chanting support for the Houthis whose slogan contains ‘A curse upon Jews’ is an issue?

singmoon · 16/12/2025 18:17

noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 17:54

Elements of them are. Have you not noticed? Chanting support for the Houthis, for example, whose slogan starts with Death to Israel and a Curse upon Jews. What’s your opinion of that?

I have not heard a single chant of death to Jews. Of course that would be highly anti semitic.

noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 17:54

singmoon · 16/12/2025 17:52

There is in fact regular insistence that the protests are anti semitic

Elements of them are. Have you not noticed? Chanting support for the Houthis, for example, whose slogan starts with Death to Israel and a Curse upon Jews. What’s your opinion of that?

LucyWestenra · 16/12/2025 17:53

Lindos1 · 16/12/2025 17:46

I read today that Matilda's Ukrainian parents gave her that name, as they thought it was the most Australian name that has ever existed.

It's worth checking out too what Reuven Morrison's daughter has written about a wonderful man, & the Chanukah massacre. Rightly eviscerating about the Australian leadership.

And just like that, the Australian government falls back on the playbook; it's the gun/ the knife/ the car/ the far-right...

I just googled Reuven Morrison…apparently he was the one who threw something at the gunman after he had been disarmed.

May they all rest in peace.

I am watching Sky News and they just interviewed an eye witness who was very critical of the Australian government.

OP posts:
singmoon · 16/12/2025 17:52

There is in fact regular insistence that the protests are anti semitic

25milesfromhome · 16/12/2025 17:49

singmoon · 16/12/2025 17:28

Because of the regular insistence that the protests and support for Palestinians are anti semitic. I refuse to be called anti semitic as I see it as the gravests of insults.

No-one is saying that objecting to the actions of the Israeli government is antisemitic. There is no regular insistence that the protests and support for Palestinians are antisemitic.
The issue is that there are worryingly regular elements of the protests and support shown for Palestinians that stray into antisemitism, dangerously and sometimes fatally. Rather than preemptively refusing to be called antisemitic because you consider it the gravest of insults, maybe consider how actual antisemitism is affecting Jews all around the world in the gravest of ways.
May I ask what you've been doing to vigorously tackle antisemitism?

Lindos1 · 16/12/2025 17:46

I read today that Matilda's Ukrainian parents gave her that name, as they thought it was the most Australian name that has ever existed.

It's worth checking out too what Reuven Morrison's daughter has written about a wonderful man, & the Chanukah massacre. Rightly eviscerating about the Australian leadership.

And just like that, the Australian government falls back on the playbook; it's the gun/ the knife/ the car/ the far-right...

noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 17:37

singmoon · 16/12/2025 17:36

Objecting to Israeli actions is anti semitic ...always the same.

Literally no one has said that.

singmoon · 16/12/2025 17:36

noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 17:34

Antisemitism is bad. But Israel…

Always the same.

Objecting to Israeli actions is anti semitic ...always the same.

noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 17:34

singmoon · 16/12/2025 16:43

I absolutely 100% agree we need to vigorously tackle anti semitism, which is a horrific form of prejudice and hatred. I equally vigorously refute that protests against barbaric indefensible Israeli action in Gaza is anti semitic. These two beliefs that I hold do not contradict each other.

Antisemitism is bad. But Israel…

Always the same.

Yuja · 16/12/2025 17:33

singmoon · 16/12/2025 16:43

I absolutely 100% agree we need to vigorously tackle anti semitism, which is a horrific form of prejudice and hatred. I equally vigorously refute that protests against barbaric indefensible Israeli action in Gaza is anti semitic. These two beliefs that I hold do not contradict each other.

and here in lies one of the key problems. You didn't need to say anything at all about Israel and Gaza. The first sentence alone would have made you look like a true ally to Jewish people.

singmoon · 16/12/2025 17:28

LucyWestenra · 16/12/2025 17:20

Why does Gaza always have to be mentioned?

On every single thread?

Because of the regular insistence that the protests and support for Palestinians are anti semitic. I refuse to be called anti semitic as I see it as the gravests of insults.

LucyWestenra · 16/12/2025 17:20

singmoon · 16/12/2025 16:43

I absolutely 100% agree we need to vigorously tackle anti semitism, which is a horrific form of prejudice and hatred. I equally vigorously refute that protests against barbaric indefensible Israeli action in Gaza is anti semitic. These two beliefs that I hold do not contradict each other.

Why does Gaza always have to be mentioned?

On every single thread?

OP posts:
singmoon · 16/12/2025 16:43

I absolutely 100% agree we need to vigorously tackle anti semitism, which is a horrific form of prejudice and hatred. I equally vigorously refute that protests against barbaric indefensible Israeli action in Gaza is anti semitic. These two beliefs that I hold do not contradict each other.

LucyWestenra · 16/12/2025 16:12

EllaDisenchanted · 16/12/2025 07:55

I started this thread in 2021 back when i still lived in the UK.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4246745-Im-a-scared-British-Jew
it was after a horrific incident where men were driving through the Jewish areas of London in cars draped in Palestinian flags with megaphones, screaming fuck the Jews, kill the Jews, rape their daughters. (Jews, not Israelis. Not that that would be ok either, but it was very very clear that they were screaming abuse against Jews not Israelis). This was caught on video*. There were other pro Palestinian protests going on at the same time, and in Manchester where I lived protestors also drove by waving Palestinian flags and screaming antisemitic abuse, and some came into the Jewish shops intimidating people, and cars were smashed up in our area. A rabbi (I think in London) was beaten up and hospitalised.

I was very very scared when I posted and felt very alone. Within precisely 15 minutes of posting, a poster had justified the antisemitism because of Israel and Palestine, blamed the “Jewish government” and a number of others did the same. there were messages of support and care from many wonderful non Jewish people on the thread, but there were also comments like this “If a Jew believes that their government is right to excute genocide (you cannot call it war because one side doesn’t even have an army) then they shouldn’t be totally surprised - not saying that it’s right at all btw - at the feelings of some of the public right now.”
Bear in mind this was in 2021.
And I was British, born in Britain, and both my parents were born in Britain too.

Forgive me for being a little cynical at this point of the motives of people saying criticism of Israel/its government is not antisemitism, when posting in the context of a horrifically tragic terrorist attack. Israel has been used as a stick to beat Jews and justify antisemitism since long before October 7th, and this valid criticism idea doesn’t hold water when it’s being used as a tool to silence Jews.

*sickeningly, the charges were dropped by the CPS, despite witnesses and video footage. The lawyer for one of the men claimed he was not antisemitic and had nothing against Jewish people 🙄

I have only just read the first page of that thread from 2021 and I have to admit to my shame that I am shocked things were so bad back then already. I had no idea.

I’m so sorry you had to leave.

💐

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LucyWestenra · 16/12/2025 16:00

Yuja · 15/12/2025 21:23

I’m Jewish and I am so upset by the anti-semitism creep that has been tolerated in this county. My grandmother is in her late 90s - still alive and very much with it. Her father was killed at Auschwitz and she escaped to the UK on the Kindertransport -one of the last living Kindertransport children here. And here she is, living through an uprising of Jewish hatred again, having people throw things at the window of her Jewish care home and shout threats outside. Almost a century of being hated for her race and religion. Reading this thread just shows that anti-semitism is going nowhere

This brought tears to my eyes.

I’m so sorry. 💐

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noblegiraffe · 16/12/2025 13:45

@Echobelly you always say how you never saw any antisemitism on the marches. There are many, well-documented instances of antisemitism on those marches, so what do you think of the antisemitism you didn’t personally see?

And what do you think about people dismissing these problematic marchers with ‘the marches are fine, there are Jews there who don’t have a problem with it’?

Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself · 16/12/2025 13:42

TidyCrow · 15/12/2025 11:36

I've been concerned about antisemitism for a while, and made that clear on other threads.

But I don't think "Forty pages and a lot of it whataboutery, excuses and vile antisemitism" is an accurate description of that thread.

I agree, the vast majority of people on that thread were condemning the terrorist attack and saying anti semitism needs to stop if it's the one I'm thinking of?

Maybe because I don't live in London/ near big Jewish communities but I've not observed any anti semitism myself, we tend to get lots of anti immigration rhetoric/ protests here. I have read some awful stories on here though and my heart goes out to people who feel threatened just going about their day to day lives.

SisterTeatime · 16/12/2025 13:34

littleburn · 16/12/2025 12:03

It’s just the same old hatred reforming itself. When people say of course it’s awful but Gaza is the explanation, I just think do you rationalise the Nazis anti-Semitism in the same way? What was the ‘cause’ of that? What was the cause of Oswald Mosley and the black shirts? The cause of the Russian pograms? What was the cause of the Jews being expelled from England in the thirteenth century? What was the cause of the massacre at Clifford’s Tower in the 12th century? People can find a ‘rational’ explanation, but it’s the same hatred that underpins and runs through it all.

This is so true. Persecution, and scapegoating, follows the fashion of the time. The old iterations remain, layered over by the most recent version of the lie.