Horrified by the spread of anti-Semitism in the UK

[Nancydrawn]

I read the article today by Richard Zimler, where he says that two different UK cultural organizations turned him down for a talk because he was Jewish.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/29/ive-never-met-antisemitism-in-britain-until-now

Not because he said anything controversial, not because his politics place him at an extreme, not because he's a public supporter of anything, but merely because he's Jewish. As his publicist said, "[he] told me that the final conversations he had with the two event co-ordinators convinced him that they weren’t antisemitic themselves but they feared a backlash – protests by their members and others – if they extended an invitation to a Jewish writer."

Again, this has nothing to do with Israel. There's no political cover here. It's just because he's Jewish, and it's straight up racism, and it's fucking horrific.

I don't really have an AIBU other than to say: what the fuck?

The Nasty party and Corbyn trying to get votes from Muslims, in a nutshell. I am part Jewish and would never voter for Magic Grandpaand his nasty supporters

I think the "little boy that cried wolf" effect has completely desensitized a lot of people to accusations of prejudice.

Where people would have been "never darken our door again" in the past, when the last 100 times you heard an accusation of prejudice it was just shit from someone trying to win an argument, iteration 101 is most likely not worth closing candy crush for.

just I think so. My family are Black though and I could give lots of examples of racism, prejudice, covert and overt that we have experienced over the years.

I know nothing about anti-Semitism. I know only a handful of Jewish people, who haven't spoken of it in my presence. I am interested to understand. But I don't think opposing the situation in Israel is anti-Semitism. And the only example on this thread is people assuming you are rich, as a disgusting stereotype.

YANBU to be horrified. And like me never to vote Labour again whilst they do not act on anti-semitic remarks when made by some of their members.

Re people assuming you're rich. This isn't like seeing someone with a nice handbag and thinking they look nice, they must be well off.
It's part of the long anti Semitic tradition of casting Jews as greedy money grabbers. Its origins lie in the time when the only profession open to Jews was money lending, and the trope continues today in e.g. the (again, racist) stereotype of Jews controlling the banks.

YY @MrsBrill

My father was Jewish. I've heard the "greedy money grabber" trope all my life. I would say that British society has always been extremely anti-Semitic, I don't think it's any worse than it was when I was growing up in the 70s, but it seems to be more "ok" to voice the prejudice now.

I work with a lot of Polish people. Now they are really, really, openly and unashamedly anti-Semitic (the people I know; I can't speak for the Polish nation as a whole obviously!). My Polish colleague has an old painting of a Jewish man counting his money (!) above her desk - she says that everyone has this picture in Poland, as it's meant to bring luck and prosperity to your business .... It's your typical hook-nosed caricature, it's really horrible, and she honestly cannot see what is wrong with it.

YANBU. It's appalling and the Labour Party has a lot to answer for.

@mrsspensergregson my dad too :)

That picture sounds awful.

Again, I have heard/read a lot of people SAY that the Labour party are anti-Semitic. I have never read/heard any anti-Semitic comments issued by the Labour Party?

@Hebdenbridge I'm not sure if you're deliberately being disingenuous. Of course the official Labour Party is not going to issue an official election (or whatever) statement damning all Jews to Hell - but you must have seen the news reports of the abuse faced by Jewish MPs such as Luciana Berger and Margaret Hodge, and nothing has been done about it? Or seen reports about how complaints of anti-semitism from individual Labour Party members have been hushed up by Corbyn's cronies? It's been front-page news for months.

YANBU but sadly, this is not unique to Jewish people. There is a rise in intolerance towards minority groups. The whataboutery on MN is grim but I’ve seen it on many other threads. It’s like the ignorant people who say “I don’t see the colour of skin” and completely deny and belittle systemic oppression. People flat about deny anti semitism on here and also deny that BAME individuals also experience daily oppression and discrimination. I’m embarrassed for the disingenuous posters on here sometimes.

@Hebdenbridge “Religion is a pain in the arse isn't it.”

No, people are a pain in the arse. There are many British Jews who identify as Jewish but are not practicing. You tell me who is the pain in the arse - the teenager who happened to be born to a Jewish mother and is ethnically Jewish or the teenager who throws stones at them for the crime of being born to a Jewish mother.

mrsspencer no I'm not being obtuse, honest. I go months without reading news tbh. But any I have read, hasnt specified what has been said. I shall go and Google the examples that you give

www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/anti-semitic-attacks-last-year-killed-most-jews-in-decades

Agree with you EarlyModern about the coded AS. It drives me mad, because people think you're being a professionally offended conspiracy theorist when you object to the usual crowd ranting about 'globalists' and 'cultural marxism'. They exploit the fact that there a huge swathes of people who believe you cant be racist if you havnt used a 'bad' word. I cant believe what Farage got off scott free with saying. For people with even a little bit of familiarity with AS, this is the oldest one in the book...

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/us-jewish-lobby-nigel-farage-power-anti-semitism-ukip-leader-a8031191.html

Thaks for the Umberto Eco and other book ideas. I've enjoyed some of his other stuff so will get it ordered. I really enjoy Kafka's weirdness and the Jewish Prague setting as well.

The stereotype isn’t just that Jews are rich. It’s that we are one big secret money club - that we are so rich we can pay our way to anything we want which means we control the government, the media, Hollywood, international politics and are therefore responsible for every shitty thing wrong with the world. So yes, it’s a pretty horrible stereotype. Off to change username again as I prefer to keep my Jewishness quiet so as to avoid these ridiculous but sadly very common assumptions.

I have a thousand things to say re: Israel but as PPs have correctly stated, this is neither the time nor the place for that.

The problem with anti-semitism is, along with other migrant/refugee groups - we are not seen as British. People routinely say to me "oh you're Jewish, so were you born in Israel? Where are you from?" My family have been in the UK since the early 1900s but that's not enough to separate Nationality from Religion.

It is the secret cabal controlling the world, which is the anti semitic trope I come across the most, and sometimes the blood libel.

The Russian empire, and associated nations including Poland committed pogroms against Jewish people. As far as I am concerned Israel and Jewishness are synonymous. Israel would make peace with all their neighbours in a heartbeat. The trouble is that those neighbours are implacably opposed to Jews and the state of Israel.

The British media bends over backwards to maintain an anti-Israel/anti-Semitic stance. They could just as easily report in a favourable way to Israel. This is all because of institutional anti-Semitism which now pervades left-wing attitudes in this country. It wasn't always thus. Many years ago, the labour party was the natural home for Jews. Jews are struggling to come to terms with the fact this is no longer the case.

The people who go around saying how much they “hate Israel” are usually antisemetic

You never hear “I hate Egypt” or “I hate Iran” when both have extremely anti humane governmental policies.

So long as campaigners devote their attentions to Israel and ignore (say) the actions of China in Tibet, I'll reckon I have a fair idea of their underlying motivations.

So long as people claim that 'antizionism isn't anti-Semitism' but allow every other national/ethnic group to have a country or nurse aspirations for one, except the Jews, I'll reckon I have a fair idea of their underlying motivations.

The anti-Semitism of the Left of the Labour Party isn't surprising when you consider that Marxist theory doesn't have space for those pesky Jews.

The rampant anti-Semitism in Labour depresses me totally. I'm not Jewish, but I have long-standing Jewish friends and I am utterly appalled at what is going on.

That isnt really true about marxism. I've heard a lot of weird ideas like this recently, when it used to be that jews were accused of being automatically Marxists, communists, bolsheviks. It is actually true that there were disproportionately large numbers in socialist movements from centre to far left. All the way from Trotsky, Goldman and Lenin to the centre left with the Millibands and Bernie Sanders now. Half of the Soviet Central committee were jewish members in a country were jewish were supposedly a 3% minority. But the right ran away with this as a way of legitimising their natural jew hatred. Hitler endlessly talked of 'Judeo-bolshevism' and Churchill had a similar belief.

Israel has a right to exist. However, it also has a responsibility to abide by international laws. One of those is that it should not be building Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories. It should not be walling in and segregating Palestinians.

Israel has a right to defend itself. However, it should not mean that that it has a right to exert overwhelming and disproportionate military force on areas such as Gaza.

Having those views is not being anti-semitic. Criticism of some of the actions of the Israeli government is justified just as criticism of of some of the actions or policies of the Chinese, North Korean, UK, US, etc governments would be.

However