Scared to be Jewish

[WibbleWobbleFlop]

I am not pro-IDF or pro-Hamas, in fact I am very strongly against both. Netanyahu's government is an ultra-right wing aggressive shitshow and Hamas is an "elected" group of cowardly murdering terrorists. I am horrified for all Israeli and Palestinian civilians. I can't even begin to imagine how those poor innocent people of Gaza are carrying on, nor how the hostages and families are coping. I want nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace side by side in a democratic two-state solution.

I am a secular Jew. I live in the UK. I am supposedly safe, as are my children.

But I don't feel like we will be safe much longer. Hamas wants the annihilation of all Jews, not just the destruction of the state of Israel. It's not about freeing Palestine to them. It is about eliminated an entire ethnicity. My ethnicity.

When Jews were targeted in the Holocaust, it didn't matter if they were religious, Orthodox, or secular. It didn't matter if they were in Poland or Germany or Russia. Jewish blood meant "evil".

Jewish ancestry is traceable. If Hamas gains further popularity in the Middle East (incredibly likely, given their links to Iran and Qatar), there is a real danger for literally every Jew in the world. I am seeing more and more Europeans and Americans leaning so far to the Palestinian side that they want Israel to stop being an accepted state. This gives so much more power to Hamas because any aid sent to Palestine is being spent on weapons and rockets being used against the Jews.

I'm sure I will be told I am overreacting. But I am scared. And I think I have every right to be.

It's awful when blame/hate is aimed at a group because of (often involuntary) association with a group doing awful things. It's not confined to this conflict, but that doesn't make it better or ok.

Muslims got it after 9/11, London bombings etc
Catholics got it during The Troubles
Germans abroad didn't exactly have a good time during WW2.

I think it's a combination of lack of trust, discrimination based on race/religion, and world events triggering situations where bigots feel more confident to act.

It doesn't make it right. It's wrong when a random Jewish person is blamed for Israel's actions. It's equally wrong when a random Muslim person is blamed for the actions of a country or group.

I'm also married to a non-Jew but up until now, my children have always been openly proud to be Jewish. Not any more. I wore a Magen David necklace to a friend's mum's funeral last week. Only took it out from inside my dress at the actual service. Not a chance I'd wear it outside now.

It is slightly different due to nearly 2000 years of European history of massacring, annihilating, persecuting, villifying, exiling, imprisoning and murdering its Jewish population.

I'm not also looking into historic islamaphobia etc either. I'm just saying that it's the norm (not a nice norm or a 'right' norm) that instances of abuse go up right after things like war/terror, where individuals who have no ideological link, but are tangentially linked (ie by religion, nationality, race) are unfairly blamed. It doesn't make it right.

Gabor Mate? The one who took just a few too many 🍄?

You'll be better off watching this

Both sons of the Hamas founder have denounced Hamas. Hear what they have to say.

Mate is a nut.

@SeeReality
What are you doing here? This is what you said on a Palestine support thread the other day, in response to somebody who was doing what you are doing now:
Back off with the intrusive questions and show some respect for the people we love. They are our children. Back off from our private mourning space. This is not yours. Do you get it ? Not everything is yours to enter. Stop intruding on what is not yours. Back off from my psychological private space. Not yours. Do you understand people's private space integrity?
Constant intrusion is harassment.
We are saying no. Do you understand the word No? Back off from our private psychological space

Link

@Seereality you talk about both sides but only seem to be condemning Israel. Israel's response has to be seen in the context of the attacks of October 7 combined with Hamas's charter which demands the eradication of the State of Israel and the murder of all Jews worldwide.

Is because we are watching entire population being erased and children murdered precisely

Children murdered
Bingo!

We are watching entire population being erased
The entire population? Really?

The entire population? Really?

Quite. I am not undermining the devastation of the losses, one is too many, but realistically the numbers, sad as they are, are a very long way away from the over two million that is the Gazan population.
The IDF could also have caused far higher civilian casualties had that been the genuine intention, as so many posters here insist.

Please go start another thread. This is not the place to debate the Israel/Palestine conflict, take sides, blame people, or find solutions to problems in the Middle East.

Children murdered
Bingo!

Please don't say that, or make light of the killing of children, wherever those children are or whatever race they might me. It's just horrible.

@LovePaleGreen thanks for that. Very interesting.

I was taken with an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali last week in which she described her childhood in Somalia where she was brought up to viscerally hate Jews. When she eventually saw her first Jew in the Netherlands she was amazed to see they just looked like an ordinary person, not the hideous monster she had been inculcated to believe they were. Extraordinary to raise children with such hatred.

Please tell that to the posters using the phrase 'dead babies' and 'killing all children' to incite hatred of Jewish people. It's ok to point out how manipulative and basic these posts are.

Good Lord, it appears that @feralunderclass has a far better understanding of the Gaza tunnel network and Hamas hideouts than the Israeli government. Get on the phone to Netanyahu quick Feral, I’m sure your specialised info (that no one else knows) will bring a speedy resolution to this conflict. I’m sure we can find you a medal.

Back to the thread. OP, I’m so sorry that you and many others feel fearful currently but absolutely understand why. The rise in incidents is sickening, however most people I know are appalled by this. Small beer I know but we stand with you.

@feralunderclass
I think you know what I meant: Free Palestine is for Palestine, ie Pro Palestinian.

@feralunderclass
Just reading your comments. You obviously do understand the hate you are promoting.
Nice.

The imbalance of power? There are over 50 Muslim majority countries in the world with a global population of around 1.8bn, 25% of the world’s population. There are around 16m Jews worldwide and of course just one Jewish nation. Is it any wonder that Israel takes self defence so seriously?

Have left this thread out of respect for the OP but need to address this. Where is the hate I'm promoting?

I'm a Jewish mum in London currently shitting myself with fear about what my daughter in year 8 might have experienced at school today.

But we are not allowed to share our fears or our experiences. There are a lot of beet vociferous, vicious antisemites who succeed in shutting down any thread where we try to support each other.

No idea what 'beet' was meant to say there