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?

Yes, Jeremy Corbyn, despite being the most useless person in the world, has managed to singlehandedly causes the massive rise across the world in anti semitism, despite the fact 80% of it comes from the Right yeah whats youre evidence of this.

I can’t understand how this was allowed to rise again. I really thought it was buried. About 20 years ago in central London I was out with 2 friends, one of whom has a Jewish father . As we walked past a club, the doorman started to make hissing noises and made some reference to ww2. I was shocked, naively, but I just can’t get over the fact that he had to put up with that. He wasn’t wearing a kippah or anything identifiable. I just don’t know what to say and feel angry that we are so smart at identifying signs historically yet we have walked society into this.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Anti-Semitic crime rose by almost 20% in Germany last year, the interior minister said on Tuesday, blaming most incidents on individuals espousing far-right world views.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said around 90% of the 1,800 recorded incidents were perpetrated by supporters of far-right groups. The main offences included hate speech, anti-Semitic graffiti and displaying banned signs like the swastika.

www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-politics-seehofer/germany-sees-20-rise-in-anti-semitic-crime-in-2018-blames-far-right-idUSKCN1SK1QX

Yes, Jeremy Corbyn, despite being the most useless person in the world, has managed to singlehandedly causes the massive rise across the world in anti semitism, despite the fact 80% of it comes from the Right

Firstly, I’m not Jewish, but I have a surname that makes people assume I am, and have been on the receiving end of more than a few antisemitic remarks over the years as a result.

Without exception, this has come from people on the left.

Just one example - in 2014 during that particular Israel-Gaza conflict a male colleague (incidentally, an active Labour member - he never shuts up about it) came up to me out of the blue and started talking at me very aggressively, saying how disgraceful it was that I supported ‘Israel murdering children’.

I had never discussed my political views on any matter with this colleague, and certainly not on Israel/Palestine, nor had I made my views on it publicly known. But he (having mistakenly assumed I was Jewish) clearly felt he knew what any Jewish person’s opinion on Israel was and felt entitled to berate them for it.

You can bandy around statistics all you like, but antisemitism has got worse under Corbyn’s leadership among the sort of people who support him. I have Jewish friends with children currently at university, and they have experienced horrendous antisemitism. From lecturers & fellow students similarly assuming their views on Israel/Palestine, to student protests trying to get kosher food removed from campus (because a few items happened to have been produced in Israel), to students and a lecturer trying to prevent the formation of a Jewish society. These aren’t the sort of things that make it into police statistics, but they affect the everyday lives of young British Jews and often limit them - I know of Jewish teens who’ve adjusted their university choices for fear of the antisemitism they’ll experience.

You think people should conclude things from you anecdotes rather than actual data? how about no

The problems in Israel are a lot to do with the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia doing b all to help the Palestinians integrate /set up their own state/ get out of refugee camps. Instead they are funding terrorist action as it suits their agenda - with complete disregard for the Palestinians. The 'Israel' problem could be sorted if they'd not fan the flames.
And didn't Brits/ Europeans etc form the USA using genocide of the local populations in the 1880s, it's not that long ago, Australia not much better. So condemning the formation of Israel seems a bit rich.
Religion is the real problem, any religion, as it stops people intermarrying and integrating properly.

@Patroclus You do know most anti semitic incidents never get reported to the police? I assume you know that about racism and don't tell black people they are wrong when they talk about racism because the police reports say otherwise?

Long article today on exactly this topic. It's worth reading right to the end, as it covers left and right-wing aspects.

'There was a swastika in the library': The truth about anti-Semitism at university
Anti-Semitism at UK universities has increased in the past five years, but what's causing it, and how are students fighting back?
www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/09914b55-a6b8-43a0-a619-71507c7fa71b

See, a symbol like that in a public library should surely have been dealt with straight away? They would have had cctv. If it was many other groups (not all) it would have attracted much more attention and action. That to me is an example of as.

Yes I know that. How does the fact they are under reported at all change the nature of the people 90% of the crimes are coming from?

Rapes are massively under reported. Does that change the fact that the vast majority of them are commited by men?

This is part of my job as well as my heritage. Im not going to ignore the fact theres been some weird twisting of established history over the last year or so for political ends. Its disgusting. Just look at Hunt with his 'jewish best friend' ffs.

There's a general atmosphere of hate.

They would soooo like it to be right-wing anti-semites wouldn't they. But the truth is the anti-israel lobby is left wing "intellectuals", and anti-israel, anti-semites are one and the same, however hard you dance on the eye of the needle. Labour is now a anti-Isreal, anti-Semite party.

This may be partly because it now has a large inbuilt muslim consensus, but it may just be that the country is anti-Semitic anyway.

Are you referring to the article, Gth1234?

That covers both left and right wing anti-semitism.

Your posts, on the other hand, are coming across strongly as though you would sooooo like it to be left-wing anti-semites.

(BTW, did you really, truly, just describe Russia as "hardly right-wing"?
Have you been living under a rock for the last few decades? Or immigrated from the moon and are getting all your information from a 1980s travel guide?)

and anti-israel, anti-semites are one and the same

What about the Jewish people that are anti Israel?

This is exactly like anyone who questions the protection women's rights in relation to transwomen immediately being labelled "transphobic".

If anyone questions Israel and/or supports Palestine then they are immediately labelled "anti-Semitic" and treated as a bigot.

People are increasingly incapable of having intelligent and nuanced conversations about sensitive issues. Its quite depressing.

If anyone questions Israel and/or supports Palestine then they are immediately labelled "anti-Semitic" and treated as a bigot.

yep. And it's generally the truth.

Your posts, on the other hand, are coming across strongly as though you would sooooo like it to be left-wing anti-semites

Well, Labour are the party that demonstrate their anti-semtitic qualifications on a daily basis. But no, I think the UK is every bit as institutionally anti-semitic as it is institutionally anything else.

If anyone questions Israel and/or supports Palestine then they are immediately labelled "anti-Semitic" and treated as a bigot.
Not actually true, in my experience. Questioning Israeli government policy and action is fine, provided that a) you don't deny Israel the right to exist and b) you are capable of getting just as agitated about the activities of, say, the Sudanese government in south Sudan, or the Chinese government in Tibet.

But if you say the Jews have no right to national self-determination, and you don't give a shit about the Tibetans and the south Sudanese while holding Israel up as uniquely wicked, I'll call you an anti-semite. And a bigot. And quite a few other things as well.

Jews and Israel are held to a higher standard than others. For example, the furore about Eurovision being in Israel this year when there was v little fuss about it being in places like Azerbaijan

Oh my god I was about to type this. The BBC did a whole expose of how Azerbaijan had a horrible human rights record, were destroying people’s homes to build the venue, were dragging people into the police station for Voting for Armenia.

Yet there was no where near the outrage over their hosting it than there was over Israel. And we can’t even use the excuse that people didn’t know about Azerbaijan as there was a whole expose made by the BBC.

If anyone questions Israel and/or supports Palestine then they are immediately labelled "anti-Semitic" and treated as a bigot

🙄 Again why are you questioning ISRAEL. It’s the Israeli Government. People don’t jump to “I hate America” when they slag off Trump.

GTH, you didnt realise that the USSR no longer exists. You dont know a thing.

You also clamied (without irony) that people throwing milshake should be executed.

@Patroclus

how do you know it was without irony? There ought to be more severe punishments for a lot of things, including execution. Execution for throwing acid certainly, but not milkshakes. This thread isn't about milkshakes though.