To stop my son from presenting as Jewish at school

[Wonderberry]

I really wish this wasn't the case.

My son wants to wear his kippah (skullcap) at school. This is entirely his choice, and something that he has chosen to start wearing recently. He just wants to express his religious and cultural background.

Unfortunately, I don't feel like he would be safe to do so. I hate that this is where we are at currently in the UK, but I know it is the reality. He goes to a community school in London, and doesn't understand why he cannot wear his kippah at school. On cultural days, he also cannot share his culture either.

Yet on another thread, posters are clambering over themselves to call out racists. Unsurprisingly, none of those posters made an appearance on your thread.

Absolutely. Very sad on both counts.

On the other thread, quotes include:
Islam is a dangerous ideology
Islamic women are oppressed because they cover their hair
I would never let my child visit a Mosque.

If posters on this thread were saying
Judaism is a dangerous ideology
Jewish women are oppressed because the cover their hair
I would never let my child visit a Synagogue

That would be antisemitic.

In this thread we have unilateral agreement that the OPs son should feel safe wearing his Kippah to school and it is wrong for anyone to make him feel unsafe.
Some posters have suggested that people wanting an end to occupation in Gaza is representative of the threat the OP should fear

Other posters have pointed out that people wanting an end to the occupation and atrocities is no threat to Jews, its a human urge to want an end to pain, death and suffering of innocents, not an antisemitic one.

This is interpreted as saying these people feel it's fine that OPs son feels scared to wear it and that people are just pushing stereotypes/tropes.

On the thread about the mosque people are openly insulting the Muslim culture and faith.
On this thread people are making tenous interpretations of what people say to call them antisemitic if they are not agreeing with everything they say.

It's not the same in the slightest.

Anti semitism has exploded in the UK, if you want to learn a little go on YouTube and watch some Douglas Murray. It’s absolutely insane what is happening with the Pro Hamas and Pro Palestine groups marching everywhere and intimidating , threatening and assaulting Jews ie people of Jewish Faith. We all deserve to live in peace. Sadly the increase in population of the Mus lim faith, (not all Muslims) who are extremist is having a devastating effect on our Jewish citizens.

This is
A) the most blatant lie I have seen here today. free Gaza marches are not pro Hamas or pro Palestine. They are anti genocide regardless of who the fuck is committing the genocide and who is on the receiving end.

B) for all the whinging about antisemitism on here when nobody has said a negative word about the Jewish religion or Jews as cultural group you come on here and say that. The most racist comment on Mumsnet today. I can almost hear you spitting the word 'Muslim' out.

For a long time people who supported the actions of Israel in Gaza (and I am not saying for a second this is all Jewish people, or even a majority, and includes many people who are not Jewish) got away with calling anyone who challenged this antisemitic and that isn't happening anymore.

Whilst I believe the antisemitism is on the rise in the UK, in line with a rise in racism generally (thanks Farage and Suella) I do believe that this is what some people feel that people feel is an increase in antisemitism, and that's not what it is.

"whinging about antisemitism on here", @CleverButScatty . Really? Whinging?

I thought it would be fairly well established that using a rat in reference to people is offensive but even on this board it appears views on that differ

I shouldn't use the word whinging
I apologise for that. That suggests that I am dismissive of antisemitism and I am not.

I suppose the use of the word singing refers to posters making the most laboured and tenuous efforts to misconstrue posts as antisemitic.

Not to the very real antisemitism and broader racism that is sadly creeping across the country.

Indeed 👍

Douglas Murray? Douglas “The Nazis weren’t quite so bad [as Hamas] because they at least felt bad” Murray?

Ok.

I think we really need to start distinguishing between anti-semitism and support for Gaza / Palestine. Two entirely different things.

Thank you for clarifying, because I did interpret "whinging" as being dismissive.
Some of the posts deleted from here, and from the boycott Eurovision have been very offensive indeed.

Douglas is fantastic; a staunch ally of the Jewish community. Nobody ever wins an argument with him. The man is an intellectual genius.

If you are Jewish you will be well versed. Or if you are antisemitic I guess. If you are neither it will be outside your frame of reference.

The reality is that for most people, they know a smattering of information about other people's religions but are not interested or or motivated to become better informed. I guess most of the Jewish posters in here don't give a lot of headspace to what tropes are levelled against Catholics, Muslims, Sikhs etc. why would you? It's not part of your life and never will be.
But when you are part of a religion (or a group who are adversarial to them), it's a big part of the discourse etc and of course you will be more aware.
I only came across some of these tropes at university, studying literature and some of these tropes appearing in texts. Otherwise I would still be completely ignorant of them (and probably still unaware of all)
.

I don’t just mean towards Jewish people but full stop.

In all honesty, I wouldn't compare any group to rats. It's clearly racist. However, at least Gary Lineker had a change of heart. But it just goes to show how quickly poison spreads when people don't bother to think.

It's not a nice image I agree. I do think use of animal depiction in this way is generally aimed at making a group seem less than human and I strongly dislike that in all contexts.

That's the whole point. Everyone knows what the connotation of a rat is. Even Gary Lineker.

I mean that people can be unaware that particular language or imagery is related to a trope. For example rats. I would always have understood it as insulting, but not have had any awareness of it being an antisemitic trope.
To be fair I wouldn't call, or depict anyone of any religion/culture a rat.

That's fine, you wouldn't use it. Nobody should. It doesn't matter how well versed you are on "tropes".

But what I mean is, he might not know that there is a history of that being specifically used as an insult against Jewish people.
To be fair, in such a public role I think you have a greater responsibility than Joe Average to research your posts etc.

He's a very influential man. He ought to be more circumspect. To be fair, he did remove it.

It's widely used in other contexts. In Liverpool and the north west particularly, the phrase 'little rat' is used to describe working class kids who are out in gangs etc. along with other choice adjectives such as scrotes and scumbags.
People will call their kids Ratbags (apparently this has Australian etymology) if they have been particularly cheeky (this is used affectionately).
Definitely unpleasant language that I don't use, but absolutely no connection to Jewish history etc.
If you are Jewish, the connotations around the use of the word rat might be immediately obvious, but other people have different frame of reference. (Refering Lineker here).
If you have been on the receiving end of antisemitism of course that is where your mind will jump, but that is not everyone's frame of experience).
I think that has happened on this thread. People are feeling vulnerable and scares. There have been some antisemitic posts on here which have been deleted, but a great many more where that accusations is there and you have to really make a tenuous link to find it.

"a tenuous link to find it"?
Are you suggesting that Jewish posters on here are being oversensitive?

🙄

Just because you think some of the posts have only a "tenuous link" to antisemitism, doesn't mean that they are not, to Jewish people, @CleverButScatty