To wonder if there has been a rise in Anti-semitism the UK?

[TheSoulCakeDuck]

This is a genuine question, I have no wish to start a fight or upset anyone.

I was watching Question Time last night and there was a very heated debate on whether there had been a rise in anti-semitism in the UK and the panel were talking about the police protecting synagogues etc.

This shocked me as it genuinely hadn't been on my radar at all but then I'm not a member of the Jewish community and a quick look at the census data shows in my town of just over 105,000 population 45 people identify themselves as Jewish and just over 2000 identify themselves as Muslim, Sikh , Hindu, Buddhist or other religion, so we are not exactly a diverse place.

So, is there a rise and is it across the country (QT last night was from Finchley)? If so what has changed (if anything)? If it is the case that this kind of thing is on the rise it dismays me hugely as we have so much to gain from being a tolerant society.

Watched last night and also wondered about this, but again i'm not really in a place where it would be on my radar.

it is always there, I'm afraid.

this question is more likely to come up in North London which has a big Jewish community - sounds rather dissimilar from where you live! Obviously you won't see it in an area where there are no visible Jews.

my usual story; surprise at finding that after attending a christening, there was no reminder that everyone should disperse quickly at the end of the service. As Jews are recommended to do after each synagogue attendance, and it has been like that for decades to my personal knowledge.

no, most decent people are not anti-semitic, or anti-anyone. But there are enough, and it peaks when the haters see certain news items.

the Paris supermarket murders were of course pure anti-semitism. The Charlie Hebdo staff were murdered for what they did, the Paris Jews for what they were. Both atrocities are equally appalling.

I think there's a rise of everything-ism these days.

Social media encourages people to spout so much bile and crap, that it becomes the norm to vent and be aggressive with complete strangers. I've noticed people are more aggressive in everyday life anyway.

Its not helped with wars and atrocities abroad, and again, social media encouraging thickoes to get all burned up by injustices to the degree of hatred and violence (as opposed to actually doing something positive in the world).

Same here.
I did wonder if that was some kind of pre-planned attack on George Galloway. I have absolutely no time for him btw, he's a dickhead.
The Jewish audience members went straight for him and the Jewish Guardian journalist on the panel seemed to have ready made notes and quotes to refer to. (They aren't supposed to know the questions in advance so I thought that was strange)

I think GG can hold his own. I don't have much time for him but think he was set up, and he must've known beforehand.

The mealy mouthed comment about GG being on a talkshow where he tore a new one for an antisemite caller, was very grudging and accompanied with a comment along the lines of 'I will be in trouble for saying he did this'.

It was a very slanted audience who didn't want to hear about the activities in Palestine. Very loud and shouty. No willingness for anyone to listen or debate. Just a shouting match.

Well, I agree. Even here, every time somebody talk about anti-semitism, you have a twat (or twats) bleating about Israel and Palestinians, as if whatever is happening over there is "justification" or "counter-balance" to any hateful event blights the European Jewish community.
This shows more about the mindset of the person than anything else...

Thank you all for the responses. Chocolate I agree with you with regard to social media in that it is an echo chamber rather than a debating chamber and sadly some fairly nasty messages are dressed up as patriotism or encourage the nastier end of tribalism. At best, a lot of the time these messages encourage the keyboard warriors into thinking their bile is the "voice or reason" at worst we end up with something far more sinister

Happily sometimes my faith in human beings gets restored when you hear about social media crowd funding a new house for an attached pensioner or a car for someone who walks 20 miles to work but sadly it often doesn't get restored for long.

I think there has been a rise in anti semitism, but we need to know why that is. When one group of people is aggressive and oppressive to another group of people, then it's normal for opinions against the first group of people to rise.

Jews and Israel are not the same thing, Ptolemy

BTW the Egyptians have also closed their Gaza border, and there is hardship for the Palestinian civilians due to this. Comments?

Ptolemy have you just proved OfaFrenchMind's point? Or am I misunderstanding you?

I'm sure there has been a rise. There was an article on 'More or Less' (Radio 4) explaining why it was difficult to quantify and compare that rise (to rises in hate crimes towards other groups) but I can't remember the details.

I think it can be pretty invisible unless you are a member of that community, though, or live in a largely Jewish area - I personally come across far more anti islamic sentiment in day to day life.

Maybe I have proved a point, and that's fine by me. I won't be quite about the atrocities in Palestine just so that I'm not seen as 'some twat bleating on about Israel and Palestine' by a random on the Internet. The Palestinians have little enough voice as it is thanks to the phrase 'anti semitism'.

I'm well aware that Jews and Palestine are not the same thing thank you, unfortunately that fact escapes some violent idiots that think it's ok to be aggressive towards Jewish people. I am not one of them.

Egypts actions are irrelevant, Egypt is not the country that has been stealing Palestinian land and creating creating Palestinian refugees for decades.

In a word OP - 'Israel'. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a key political issue of our time.

I know that Israel and it's oppression of the Palestinians might seem as remote to Jewish people living in the UK, (or anywhere else in the West), as it does to most people.. But we are force fed this idea by the media, that the violent maniacs from Arab background's that have attacked Jews in the West. That these are simply religious fundamentalist nutters who've been "radicalised". But I'd suggest, many are fired up by the injustices and the massacres carried out by the Israeli's against the Palestinians. As well as the West's actions in the Middle-East in general. This is not to justify violence towards Jews in any way, but it cannot be ignored as a motivating factor.

I know Galloway has a rather bombastic way of expressing himself. But I think he makes some excellent points, and asks questions that our politicians, news media and those that wield power in general don't want us asking.

Yes, I think there has been a rise.

There has been a story recently about a case in Gateshead where some young men decided to go out "Jew-bashing" and attacked a Jewish man on the street.

There is also this thread on the same theme during the last few days by the way.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/2285700-Anti-Semitism-in-the-UK?

Although anti semitism in the UK spiked during the summer the number of anti semitic attacks in the first half of 2014 was significantly higher than in previous years so it isn't just because of Gaza, not to mention that anti semitism has been around for centuries in this country alone. Blaming it all on the Palestinian issue is just convenient for some IMO.

There is a twitter and FB account called "The New Antisemite" which chronicles anti semite attacks in Europe. This shows that the UK is still nowhere near as bad as mainland Europe, but the fact is it is happening here a lot more. It's far more low level here (no Jewish children have yet been murdered) but those who don't live in Jewish areas (as I don't) or know any Jews may not notice but just check out a few websites and look at the JC and you will be kept up to date. Pesonally i don't notice Islamophobia much either, but I don't live in a Muslim area, know any Muslisms or buy a tabloid paper.

With regard to Quesiton Time, I would imagine that the Guardian journalist may well have asked people there what sort of questions they had submitted; I know that the panel are aware in advance as GG himself said that one of the questions was changed in the last minute.

I don't feel any sympathy for him. He knew where he was going and that his reception was likely to be hostile, bering in mind his views.

Sourdrawers - GG isn't just bombastic. What about saying he wants no Israelis in Bradford? That's lunacy - suppose someone said they didn't want any Indians in Radlett because of India's policies in Kashmir? They'd be rightly labelled as racists and not certainly not invited onto Question time.

And GG presents a program for the Iranian Press TV, run by a government which cheerfully hangs gays, rape victims and apostates. So he's not a man of principle....

The Palestinians have little enough voice as it is thanks to the phrase 'anti semitism'. You are kidding, right? We have been force-fed over-emotional "journalism" about the conflict from the Palestinian's side since the 90's.

When one group of people is aggressive and oppressive to another group of people, then it's normal for opinions against the first group of people to rise. I have seen group of Arabic people harass and threaten my jewish friends, mostly when they were alone or with me, a single female, so I guess you will totally understand if I foster hatred against Arabs? I don't. From you POV, it would be legitimate, but I don't.

But I guess that however you dress it, you are anti-semitic, if you cannot make a difference between a country and people sharing the religion of this country.

No one on the panel was prepped but they were all were expecting a question on that subject as GG going to Finchley was considered provocative

You are kidding, right? We have been force-fed over-emotional "journalism" about the conflict from the Palestinian's side since the 90's.

You could say the same about anti semitism, it would be equally as inappropriate.

While I am pro-Palestine, I don't think that Israel is a legitimate reason for anti-semitism. I don't believe that most people who are actually anti-semitic have enough going on in their heads to actually give a shit about what Israel is doing to Palestine, but they are still happy enough to use it as a "reason".

People who are anti-semitic are (I would like to think) different from those who are anti-Israel. My own feelings about Palestine don't have any impact on my attitude towards Jews in general.

Oh come on. Of course there's been a rise in anti-semitism. But what people, and the BBC in particular, aren't saying is that it's almost exclusively amongst Muslims.

You don't have to wonder. The facts speak for themselves. There has been a huge rise in antisemitism in this country...and Europe in general.

oh and fwiw GG called for a ban on any Israeli going to or staying in Bradford. nice bloke not.

do not conflate what is happening in israel with attacks on European jews and their property, gravestones, businesses, synagogues l, schools etc please.

But what happens in Israel/Palestine does indeed have an impact on behaviour abroad. It shouldn't but it does.

No-one ever said that antisemites/racists are rational, logical or especially bright.

It did feel last night like an attack on GG was pre-planned. There were two rabid young Jewish men but there was certainly enough people in the audience speaking up for the Palestinian side. I am no fan of George Galloway but he made great effort last night to show that he separates the actions of Israel from Jews yet he was repeatedly called anti-Semitic. This makes absolutely no sense to me. It seems certain people try to silence criticism of Israel by accusing people of being anti-Semitic. It is very unhealthy in a democratic society.