Terrible but not surprised - Jewish community under threat

Not sure they're "disguised" at all 😅

Usual suspects with their usual tropes disguised as helpful comments

I'm definitely not an expert, but I would have thought that Israel's response is not primarily about revenge or hostages, but about destroying as much of Hamas, its fighters & its infrastructure as possible so that they cannot repeat Oct 7th.

If it were just about punishment or genocide as many like to claim, I suspect the already tragically high civilian death toll would be many many times higher. (Shocking as that sounds. )

I understand why it feels helpless and this thread has been quite heartbreaking. But it is still possible to change minds. I was once a classic 'left/progressive' sort of person and part of that was being anti-Israel. Of course I never considered myself antisemitic - I genuinely had too many Jewish friends. But I came to realise that I was being antisemitic, thanks to slending time with a couple of (non-Jewish) people who really opened my eyes & I've been educating myself ever since. I don't know whether you can change minds on MN but people talking to each other in real life, step by step can still make a difference. I hope so anyway.

@EllaDisenchanted yes yes yes. That’s why there’s no point engaging because it’s wasted energy . You’ll never change it . It’s called the world’s oldest hatred for a reason .

We were not Aryan, now we are white oppressors. To the communists we were capitalists and to the capitalists we were communists.

Be less Jewish , be more like “us “ , dress less Jewishly , just stop being so Jewish

Nothing’s changed😞pre holocaust it was the age of the Haskala (the enlightenment movement), and the Jews were so assimilated they were said to be “more German than the Germans”. Those Jews were murdered with all the rest.

"They hated us for being stateless and now they hate us for having a state"

Not sure where I saw that, but it rings true.

It absolutely bloody stinks . No point engaging , really there isn’t . You’ll never change their minds and you just come banging up against the oldest hatred in the world time and time again just wearing different disguises

The world was silent during the holocaust - the only good Jew being a dead Jew and do go quietly pls without too much of a fuss - so why expect it to be different now . There wasn’t an Israel then so heaven knows what the anti semites expect we could have done to avoid being killed then ?
Be less Jewish , be more like “us “ , dress less Jewishly , just stop being so Jewish

@Bicyclethief - I'm not a military strategist but if Israel wanted revenge (which is feels like they wanted more than they wanted the hostages back) then, God, even a month of that kind of onslaught they launched would have been enough. They could have stopped there and said, and there'll be worse than that to come if you don't surrender and give back the hostages. Instead they've earned the world's revulsion in a way that has sadly totally overshadowed the horrors of October 7th for many and feels grossly disproportionate. I've no idea what they way out of this is as of course neither does it feel right now to make concessions to the Palestinian people because that would feel like rewarding Hamas outrages like October 7th.

Personally I am pretty angry that the Israeli government has behaved in a way that shows utter disregard for the diaspora and has put us in the line of fire of extremists and in a very difficult position ethically for many, but I guess that was the least of their concerns.

Ok so you don't think that Jews need to speak out against Israel in order to avoid a rise in anti-Semitism? In that case, I'm sorry for misinterpreting.

so I don't think you need to worry about me or anyone else thinking you don't mean it. Thank you for standing with us.
agreed

You're one of only two posters I know of on this board who is very pro-Palestinian, very critical of the Israeli government and the war in Gaza, but has spoken out against anti-semitism previously, without being asked to, so I don't think you need to worry about me or anyone else thinking you don't mean it. Thank you for standing with us.

Fingers crossed other posters actually learn from this and stop posting about how it's the fault of the bad Jews that anti-Semitism is once again on the rise🤞🏻🤞🏻

Thank you @Parkingt111 I edited my comment as I’m not sure she would want to be identifiable right now :(

Terror attacks are scary but still extremely rare. Jews and Muslims both experience racism to varying levels.

I don’t see protesting about Gaza as related though. That’s about the political government of Israel, not British Jewish people who may or may not support the Israeli government’s decisions (I’m ethnically & recognisably Jewish and don’t).

Thank you for apologising,

I was brought up ready to flee, as my grandparents and their grandparents did. I am the descendant of the ones who survived because they fled. We are always vigilant and asking ourselves, “where could we go?” Yet so many people want to casually give away our right to a homeland. To me it is clearer than ever why Israel needs to exist and why it can never rely on allies. They will not be there when our backs are against the wall.

@Humdingerydoo I wrote a long message but it got deleted somehow before I posted it. In short ofcourse it's not on to expect or demand that Jewish people need to condemn the actions of the Israeli government to be the 'right sort of Jewish people'. I doubt it would make a dot of a difference to the attackers anyway.
I do think you asking people to say this makes the response seem as not genuine though. I'm not good at articulating myself but it could come across as I only said it because it was expected of me rather than my actual thoughts.

@EllaDisenchanted gosh Ella how scary. Yes I remember those threads very well. That article was frightening but even more so knowing it could have affected somebody I had interacted with even if only online.
I'm so sorry for what you and your community are going through and I really do hope things improve. Nobody should be in a position where they have to hide their identity to feel safe.

NO I AM NOT!

please stop

You are simply another person who has misunderstood my post. As you are not me, you have no idea as to my intentions or what I meant by my post.

I was not saying that Jews and others need to try harder in order to not be targets. I was not even implying it. That is twisting both what I said and my intent.

As I wrote, it was an observational comment on changes in behaviour that tend to happen in this sort of circumstance and have again happened in the context of the current Gaza war.

It was not advice, or telling anyone to do any behaviour of any sort or saying anything to avoid being a victim. Nothing in my post even hints at that.

@Cherryon I meant to quote this gem of a post rather than yours!

@Cherryon so sorry...I just looked back and saw I had quoted your post. I didn't actually mean to...I thought I'd quoted someone else. Apologies

edited