Ambulances Set on Fire in Suspected Anti Jewish Attack

[StartingStar]

Horrible news that ambulances run by a Jewish charity have been set on fire in Golders Green today.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyj1p49gdpo

AIBU to feel it's got to to with the rise in anti Jewish hate since the allowance of horrible slogans on the weekly marches and in everyday society? What on earth makes people commit such a horrible attack.

I'm 100% with the Jewish community and pray for peace.

With all respect, it is important to remember that Jews did not live continuously in Britain for many centuries. After severe persecution—including the massacre in York in 1190—the entire Jewish population was expelled in 1290 by King Edward I. This expulsion remained in force for over 350 years.
A small number of Sephardic Jews began arriving in the 17th century, but the substantial Jewish presence in Britain developed much later, mainly in the 19th century, when large numbers of Ashkenazi Jews fled pogroms and discrimination in the Russian Empire.
So while it is technically true that Jews have been in Britain “for centuries,” the historical reality is far more complex, especially political decisions made during IIWW. This is why I often feel frustrated when people claim that Jews have always had it “good” in the UK or that antisemitism was never a significant issue here. Some even suggest that only Muslims are antisemitic (obviously not true).
It is also worth noting that some of the earliest anti‑immigrant laws in Britain were directed at Jews.

I agree @sellador does appear to be doing their best to deflect from antisemitism.

It’s an attack in the UK and the background is very much international unfortunately. I’m sorry but that’s the truth. Framing this as a dishonest chance for me to state an opinion does not diminish that. As an aside, I don’t hold an opinion ‘on the country’.

That is neither very original nor true!

Sadly a lot of people cannot separate Zionism from Judaism.
Like all religions, there are extremist factions that come into power (like the USA turning white Christian nationalist), but its not ALL the followers.

People also need to realize you can be against extremism in all forms, and not against a religion and a people.

I just wish that it would all stop. All the hatred.

But it never will, and that is so depressing.

I think the arsonists have scored something of an own goal in actually reminding the world of one of the ways Jews support our wider communities.

@smooththecat We can’t just blame the war in Gaza for the anti semitism though can we. This research paper by the well respected Henry Jackson Society, shows that the rise in anti semitism predates the Oct 7 attacks and that anti semitism amongst Muslims in Britain is significantly higher than in other faith groups (and those with no faith). There needs to be significant re- education to halt and reverse this rise.

No really- reading through this thread there are plenty of posters whilst not overtly agreeing with the arson and seeking to justify or deflect from the real anti semitism evidenced here.

Israel has brought the world to an incredibly dangerous moment
Gaza war - wouldn't have happened if Hamas hadn't carried out a massacre, complete with rapes and kidnaps.
Iran war - wouldn't have happened had Iran's proxies not been lobbing missiles at Israel, and had Iran not been threatening to expunge Israel from the map for the past several decades.

But it's ALL Israel's fault, yeah?
(That's sarcasm, in case anyone missed it.)

Look at what you made me do.

Antizionism is a hate movement. Its quite easy to spot this by the prefixes and suffixes that anitzionists put before Zionist, such as ' dirty Zionist' ' Zionist scum' ' Zionist bitch' Or in whole sentences such as ' Zionists off our streets' ' Zionist free zone.'

If you think the only way Jews deserve to be safe is if they can prove they are not Zionists, and if you think Zionists deserve to hated or harmed, then you are part of the problem.

Zionism is a belief that Jewish people have a right to self-determination in their own country.

I am a Zionist and I am not Jewish.

I just wanted to highlight that ‘muslims’ come in all forms of belief and we all don’t follow exactly the same ‘culture’. So Muslims are not one homogenous extremist violent group. Genuinely

I've taken the quote in isolation from one of your excellent posts, @JobDunn, but wanted to say that I sincerely believe most decent people know this

It's also why there really should be no problem in singling out the factions who support and commit violence, the trouble being that whenever it's attempted there's an outcry from the supporters of violence themselves - plus too many useful idiots - insisting that the entire community's being targeted and that everyone's being Islamophobic

And sadly some are doing exactly that, but it seems no more appropriate to claim it's everyone, any more than it would be to say all muslims support atrocities

The ‘far right’ as you have called them have never had an issue with Jews. Most Jews vote for right minded parties.

This is interesting. Not only do a higher percentage of British Muslims than the general population have anti-Semitic views, but British Muslims have the less favourable view of Jews than they do of other faith groups. Though an even less favourable view of atheists! Fascinating!

Exactly this.

Rubbish.
Why rubbish? Because there’s been a consistent rise in racism against Jews over the past decade.

Why rubbish? Because this particular attack is an attack on UK ambulances owned by a UK charity. If the attackers believe that’s due to the international situation, they’re so very racist that they’ve lost touch with reality.

Why rubbish? Because racism doesn’t need an ‘international situation’. But it does like an excuse. The ‘international situation’ is just the latest excuse.

‘Yeah, they torched an ambulance in Barnet because of the international situation.’ I’m sorry? They’re living on Planet Racism. They picked that particular target because of the charity’s ethnic background. It’s racism.

So what can we in the UK do about a situation in the UK?

Or do you only want to give an opinion on ‘the international situation?’

There was one guy. He had a funny moustache.

Perfectly said.

What a beautiful message of people of all faiths living and being neighbourly to each other.x

I'm not sure about this one - certainly not true for my friends and family (though of course there's selection bias there) - where does this information come from? Personally depressing if it's true!

And the more highly educated and more religious a muslim is, the more likely they are to hold anti-Semitic views according to that survey.

People like you are more than welcome in the UK and don’t let anyone bet tell you any different.

No, of course not. Someone upthread posted an interesting potted history of antisemitism in Britain.

I’m not going to read the paper but I have no doubt that both antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise. I don’t know if there’s any research on whether Islamophobia is on the rise amongst Jews in Britain. It feels urgent to me to countenance hatred, wherever it is. No group is more deserving of hatred than another. No group is more justified in their hatred than another and unfortunately those are the arguments and exceptionalism I see all through these threads. The threads are generally all the same.

The thread was about whether antisemitism is the background to the attack that took place. It is, and then there’s the more immediate background of current events.

The London nail bombings 1999 - David Copeland.
The IRA bombings.

The difference is other religions don’t get upset over shortening names. Being called a Christo would not affective me in any way.