AIBU to believe antisemitism is being ignored by the left wing in politics.

[OpheliaWasntMad]

The anti Israeli/ pro Palestine marches have created an environment that encourages antisemitism. The Green Party is colluding with extremists. British Jews are right to feel angry and afraid .

Maybe the far right are too busy hanging flags,targeting Muslims and anybody who might look like an asylum seeker.

It all goes back to politics. All sides will stir up any sort of hatred if they think it will improve their chances of securing votes from a particular demographic.

Quite. There are issues on both sides of the political spectrum. Calling out the Israeli government for very evident genocide isn’t antisemitism. Waving a Palestinian flag also isn’t antisemitic. You can be anti Zionist and not antisemitic, the two shouldn’t continuously be conflated. I’m half Jewish for reference, my family partially blame Netanyahu for the rise in antisemitism.

I'm going to deregister. The anti Jew sentiment on here amongst some posters is disgusting.

Yes and we can be concerned and vocal about the treatment and threat to Muslim communities too. Funny thing is we don’t see many threads full of concern about them. Interesting.

I was once accused of being a tory mole on here because I thought Labour were shit. It’s an extraordinary blindness to think that any expression of dissent must have sinister motives or be some sort of co-ordinated campaign rather than normal people looking at something and thinking “well thats a bit shit isn’t it”.

I forgot to add conspiracy minded to moral licensing in my post.

I know several Jewish people and you are not representative of any one of them.

You just said anti-Semitism is just right wing propaganda.

This is evidently not true.

I am Jewish and it has always been those on the left in politics who I have personally experienced antisemitism from. They're the ones who demanded I speak out against Israel as a tween with zero interest in any kind of politics, specially politics of a country I hadn't visited since I was a toddler.

It was people on the left who tried explaining to me two days after the event that people celebrating 9/11 was because many people in NYC are Jewish so it makes sense to celebrate.

It was someone on the left wearing a keffiyeh who happily skipped along In Golders Green last year singing a little ditty about how all Jews love genocide.

It was keffiyeh-wearing thugs who drove past a local primary Jewish school with megaphones screaming "Free Palestine" in 2021.

It's only ever people on the left of politics who have told me personally to go back to where I came from. Not even far left, just left. When I have said that I don't think Iraq will have me back, I've been told it's because Jews can't be trusted and that's why we were expelled.

Far-right antisemitism has been well and truly drowned out by the much louder, more vocal and more persistent antisemitism on the left in my lifetime. In my grandmother's lifetime it was the other way around. That change happened quite a few decades ago though.

It is currently the left and their rhetoric that I fear over the right and their violence. Because the left rhetoric is much, much more prevalent. It is the left and their rhetoric that is much more likely to cause actual physical consequences to me and my children. Their words are more likely to encourage terrorism directed at me and my children. Attacks from the left are not lone-wolf. They have support. Attacks from the left are never effectively condemned and are always justified by large groups of people.

I'm finding this thread all a bit bizarre. Starmer has done quite a lot to remove anti semitic elements from Labour. At least from my perspective. Look at how Dianne Abbott was dealt with after her comments? His wife is also Jewish?

I mean I didn't vote for the guy but it feels like this is a little unfair.

It’s a trendy cause Palestine , lots of (probably) well meaning white left wing people protesting with other people who would, in a heartbeat, have them eradicated along with all Jews.

I agree. I’m horrified by it. I never thought I’d see things like the current attacks on Jewish people and synagogues in this country

And the silence of the left and the chattering classes on this sickens me

I am not Jewish, just a bit of a middle aged liberal lefty type I guess. Very disappointed with society on this

People have their tribes, it seems, and must not deviate from “Palestine good, Israel bad” with no actual thought or understanding of how this affects people just going about their lives

It's not the right. I repeat it's not the right wing.

I live in a very middle class, almost totally white town. There is a sizable working class population too. I tried being middle class, I wasn't very good at it.

Drinking in pubs, going to football, etc all i hear from the right wing is it's "the Muslims ""the small boats " "the immigrants "and someone i know who back in the day was involved with the NF said " it's not the Jews we have to worry about, it's the Muslims .

The hatred for Jews is from the left. Contrast reforms response "the attacker would have been deported and had his citizenship removed after previously attacking a policeman and his dog". The Green/Communist Party "it's dreadful how they were kicking him in the head"

Exactly this. Where is the hatred for the leader of Israel carrying out atrocities, war and igniting hatred and war around the world?

Jewish communities in the UK are being played to combat a threat to the far right from the Greens.It’s vile.

Mothin Ali.

I suppose there are lots of things where I don't agree with the people being harmed, nor with their cause but I can disagree with the harm.

So, for example, if there was a proposal to bring back capital punishment in the UK, I would join a march in protest.

Does this mean I support criminals? No. It means I am against the policy of judicial killing.

The same for me can apply with the actions of Israel. I can be against the policies of Israel without being against Judaism as a race or religion. I do think some people attacking Israel conflate the two but I also think some people seeing protests are assuming all protesters are against Jewish people, when they're not.

There is too much hate in the world. And people of all faiths and races have suffered from it. Some are more targeted and it's been an awful fact of history that Jewish people have faced that more than most. But not protesting against what Benjamin Netanyahu has done in his leadership I don't think will change any of that. I can see the argument that it normalises dissent against Jews but criticism is allowed, especially against someone who has behaved in the way that he has. Much as criticism is allowed of Donald Trump and given very frequently. Does not mean everyone hates Americans.

🤨

this might seem far-fetched to you but maybe people are just appalled by a group being targeted for stabbing and arson? Is that beyond comprehension? If you support the Greens and are mentioning Israel/Gaza then that says a lot about you. That has nothing to do with UK Jews.

The hatred of Netanyahu, which I feel strongly, has not protected me from experiencing antisemitism.

Jewish communities in the UK are not being played 🤦🏻‍♀️ We have our own minds and we don't all have one opinion. Yet despite our personal opinions, we are all under attack because the attackers don't give a flying fuck about our personal politics. Even the 'good Jews' who the left love tokenising so much are in danger because of left rhetoric and subsequent actions.

The current threat to Jewish people in the UK is from the left.

Zionism is the belief that Jews should have a homeland. There are 56 muslim countries, and 1 Jewish country.

Being 'anti-zionist' isn't being anti-bombing-of-gaza. It's being anti-Jews-having-a-homeland, and many/most jews strongly feel they need a homeland so theyhave somewhere to go if the holocaust were to happen again, and to give them a powerful voice.

People who casually say they are 'anti-zionist', well what do they mean by that exactly? Because it sounds a LOT like being anti-jew. Why shouldn't the Jews have a homeland? Some extreme muslims strongly believe Jews shouldn't have a homeland, not because they have no claim to the area of Israel, but because they should be wiped from the earth.

Both the far right and far left have elements of antisemitism and have had for decades, as per the horseshoe theory.

At the moment, these elements are creeping into both the more central left and right wing, largely because of people's dissatisfaction with the performance of Labour and the Conservatives, which has made people more open to the alternatives. Those alternatives (the Greens and Reform) have capitalised on this but in doing so have allowed in people with extremist views (as well as plenty of people who feel pushed out of the centre).

As far as I'm aware, the recent attacks have not been linked to either the left or right, but the right have strongly, and without equivocation, condemned them, whereas far more of the condemnation from the left seems to include reference to Israel or the experiences of other minorities.

Jews are being harassed, abused, and killed. This should not be an opportunity for point scoring but rather for each and every one of us to look at the people we associate with and support and challenge any and all antisemitism.

Genuine question. I’m quite left wing. Can anyone give a few simple examples that “the left” in the uk anyway supposedly display antisemitism? And how the right differs? Im honestly struggling, and as for the greens, what and why whatever is happening there?

I am not a big Starmer supporter but I feel he is getting unjustified criticism when by all accounts he had been pretty strong on the issue since he became leader.

Brilliant post