I'm a scared British Jew

[Elladisenchanted]

As I'm writing this, I've had another whats app messagw asking for prayers for a rabbi in London hospitalised, who has just been beaten up. I'm scared.

I'm getting messages from my synagogue and kids schools about walking in groups for safety. Neighborhood group posting pics of cars where I live smashed up. People driving by waving Palestinian flags and screaming anti semitic abuse and entering shops intimidating people. This is Manchester not London, where it's even worse.
I've been sent screenshots of Facebook posts with comments like rape Jewish women. Rape their mothers. Rape their daughters. Not rape the Israelis. Rape the Jews. British Jews.

I'm preparing for the shavuous festival and at 8.50 pm I'll be turning off my phone for just over two days and be cut off from social media and news. But I'm dreading what I'll see when I go back online on Tuesday night. I'm sending my husband to the synagogue with my heart in my mouth. This isn't the first time. It won't be the last.

I'm the last of my British family still here and as much as I love my country I don't know how much longer I want to stay here.

Not sure why I'm posting this. Just feeling despair that this never ends.

FightingtheFoo spot on

So depressed reading parts of this thread. I fear my children and I will have to spend the rest of our lives battling invidious anti Semitic tropes.

@BellaTheDog

Well I am neither racist NOR anti-Semitic. However, I cannot keep quiet whilst Palestinian people are being killed, having their land seized and made stateless.

And @FightingtheFoo’s disgusting post shows how much we NEED to be talking about Israel right now.

You are both Nobody is asking you to keep quiet on your views on Palestine. Everybody is entitled to their views. You are a racist and an anti Semite because you link these views to harassment of British Jews as you quite clearly did in your deleted post.

@BellaTheDog - those who use events in a foreign sovereign country as an excuse to attack British Jews - shame on you.

Elladisenchanted and the other Jewish women on here. I am so sorry that this has happened. My husband's family lives in St John's Wood and the street (a lovely, diverse bunch, who have been so kind to my MIL whole lived alone during lockdown) are shocked at such vile, racist abuse on their doorstep. I completely understand why you are afraid, and it saddens me that this happens again and again. Jewish friends have felt less and less safe in recent years, and I've heard dreadful, anti-Jewish narratives parroted by people convinced they are on the 'right' side of some argument or another. It's heart breaking to hear. We mustn't let these narratives take hold and Jewish and non-Jewish people must call it out, when they feel they can. There is no context, social, religious or political that makes what went on at the weekend ever okay.

I don't see an issue with a teeny bit of land won in a war in 1967 and it is tiny, Israel is about the size of Wales. I somehow doubt BellaTheDog would be crying for Israel if it had lost land.

Antisemitic racism out and proud in the UK in 2021. Something has gone so badly wrong here.

It is astounding because it is so ‘out and proud’. BellatheDog probably sees herself as one of ‘the good guys ‘ though. Something has gone terribly wrong.
I do think it is important it is constantly challenged as otherwise we see situations such as this and nobody should feel afraid in modern Britain.

@Blackberrycream 100% agree. it shouldn't matter whether you agree with Israel or not. Plenty of Jewish people do, plenty want the state but don't agree with govt actions, some support every action and some none. All are equally worthy of protection from harassment and threats.

I would never dream of asking my Muslim friends their views on the syria or the Manchester bombings before i decided if they were worthy of protection.

All people should not be subject to fear or harassment. People using the I/P conflict are just finding an excuse. We can debate a political issue and still be civil but for this post its irrelevant.

No one should fear racial hatred (or any other kind) in their own country.

Sadly antisemitism is as old as the religion itself. We will never escape it no matter where we go or what we do.

@KarenMarlow3

I'm so sorry that you can't feel safe in the UK. It's a dreadful state of affairs. Unfortunately there will always be some vile people who hold anti semitic views. The only thing you can do is to keep as safe as you can. Sending hugs.

This.

Afternoon, everyone.

We've had to delete a lot of posts here so we wanted to post a reminder that this began as a support thread about personal experiences of antisemitism and the events in London over the weekend; it's not really the place for political discussions, which can come across as victim-blaming, or expecting Jewish people to be somehow responsible for the actions of governments. We'd regard both those as antisemitic.

There are plenty of political threads about this issue already ongoing on the boards where a different kind of discussion can take place, so please take any political posts there and be mindful that people posting here are, as they say, pretty fearful at the moment, so it's more of a support thread than anything, and we hope posts here will be thoughtful and reflect that.

Thanks.

@FightingtheFoo

Every person here who has mentioned Israel/Palestine in response to a British Jew talking about antisemitism is a racist.

You are wrong

I'm so sorry, it must be scary.
I don't know what to say tbh, the racism in this country never ceases to amaze me.
It is racism as these people can't be bothered to learn, or fail to understand.
Some are looking to cause trouble with any minority, I know this.

Thank you @HebeMumsnet

@Hoppinggreen are you Jewish? Because I am, and I agree that conflating the Israeli government and individual Jews is anti-Semitic.

If you're not, what exactly gives you the authority and right to tell someone what constitutes anti-Semitism?

It took precisely 7 minutes between when the OP first posted and said she was scared about a current racist threat and a response trying to legitimise this due to the actions of a foreign government. This simply doesn't happen in any other context and is why David Baddiel is spot on when he points out #JewsDontCount

@GrumpyHoonMain

It happens on the other side of the spectrum a lot more frequently. Hindu woman who lived in an Israeli Jewish area for quite some time - I was spat on, called racist names, women of my background go pushed out into the main road by rabbles of orthodox teenaged boys so often our local community even told us to avoid certain areas at certain times. But this was never taken seriously by the council. I guess they thought White Jewish people couldn’t be racist.

I'm very sorry that happened to you. What point do you think that you're making on this thread in particular?

@GrumpyHoonMain it happens on the other side of the spectrum a lot more frequently
What do you mean? Jews are perpetrators more than victims? I'm sure you can't mean that?!
Don't report assault and harassment to the council, report it to the police.

@GrumpyHoonMain

It happens on the other side of the spectrum a lot more frequently. Hindu woman who lived in an Israeli Jewish area for quite some time - I was spat on, called racist names, women of my background go pushed out into the main road by rabbles of orthodox teenaged boys so often our local community even told us to avoid certain areas at certain times. But this was never taken seriously by the council. I guess they thought White Jewish people couldn’t be racist.

What do you mean, an Israeli Jewish area?

Was this in Israel?

There aren't any Israeli areas in the UK.

As above, sorry if you experienced racism in another country, but not really sure what it has to do with this thread?

I've experienced racism in lots of countries in the past, but I don't mention it here as this is a thread about British Jews facing antisemitism at the moment.

Oh, and Jews aren't 'white'. The majority of Israeli Jews are Mizrachi ie Middle Eastern/N African. Ashkenazi Jews aren't white either. That's rather the point - it was because the Nazis thought they weren't 'Aryan' that 6 million were murdered.

@GrumpyHoonMain your experience sounds awful and is totally unacceptable. However why do you say "it happens on the other side a lot more frequently". More frequently than what? More frequently than my community face racism?

a) when did racism become a a competition and

b) how on earth are you able to benchmark the extent of anti Jewish hatred faced by the UK Jewish community in order to claim this

@GrumpyHoonMain I am so shocked to hear this. The jewish community in general has an excellent and close relationship with the Hindu community. There aren't any israeli jewish areas in the UK and certainly most israelis in the uk are secular. My own experience of being jewish in london is that many of the areas are both jewish and hindu, my own street only has jewish and hindu families and there has never ever been any awareness of racism between the 2 communities. The same goes for many of the schools,, i have always had hindu friends as have my children and both sides have been extremely welcoming and inclusive. If this is the case then it needsreporting to the police and dealing with by them because it's unacceptable.

@GrumpyHoonMain

It happens on the other side of the spectrum a lot more frequently. Hindu woman who lived in an Israeli Jewish area for quite some time - I was spat on, called racist names, women of my background go pushed out into the main road by rabbles of orthodox teenaged boys so often our local community even told us to avoid certain areas at certain times. But this was never taken seriously by the council. I guess they thought White Jewish people couldn’t be racist.

What's an "Israeli Jewish" area?

Cause I think you mean "British Jewish".

Suggesting Jews who were born and raise in the UK aren't British is pretty racist.

No @Hoppinggreen. I'm not.

Quoting someone from another thread about male violence, which joked about throwing all men into a Volcano, I can't help but think, that if women ruled the world, there wouldn't be half as much of this crap. You don't see women throwing grenades at each other and roaring like monsters.

Men no longer have to hunt for food or fight to protect their families (in the Caveman sense), but all that Testosterone has to go somewhere, doesn't it? Then add the mob excitement and it just escalates beyond control.

I don't know what the answer is. But this whole situation is terrifying. I feel for the women and children caught in the crossfire.

Of course NAMALT, I have lovely men in my life.