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.

I’m of Jewish origin married to a non-Jew. More people definitely now know that I’m Jewish than have ever known in my adult life, because I want people to know where I’m coming from when we discuss this. I am especially keen for people to know that no, not all Jews think it’s anti-Semitic to condemn the appalling behaviour of the Israeli government.

What happened? I didn't think security guards were allowed to be armed in the UK?

Israel is not aiming to kill of citizens of Gaza, they are going after Hamas tunnels, Hamas leaders residences, rocket launch sites etc. Israel is fighting for its existence, and for now it means eradication of Hamas. Its horrible that the area is so densely populated and there are children there, but Hamas are deliberately using civilians as human shield. I would never say the carpet bombing is acceptable, but preventing evacuation and positioning military targets in hospitals, schools and mosques is also vile.

im sorry you feel this way , the world doesn’t make sense anymore ,

Maybe not now, but in a few years if Hamas gathers more support across the Middle East and extremist supporters in the West

sorry that’s inaccurate , nowhere in ME has given support to Hamas, people just feel for the innocent civilians , also Qatar did not just take them in, The Obama administration specifically asked them to be placed there.
Dr Kristian Ulrichsen on X explains it so well ,

and Iran is just all talk and no action,
also it’s the only country that openly express hate for the US and the west yet the US never went into war with. Wonder why 🤔
maybe because Irans continuous threat to the ME is lucrative for the US government ? It’s just a thought .

Statistically Muslims are at much higher risk of attack than Jews in the UK, not that that is going to make any Jewish people feel any better. The whole situation has made the lives of so many so much harder, and that's so unfair 😢.

@feralunderclass do you have the evidence for that please because news reports are saying differently

"LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - London police said on Friday they had recorded a 1,353% increase in antisemitic offences this month compared to the same period last year, while Islamophobic offences were up 140% in the wake of the attack by Hamas on Israel."

The percentage increase doesn’t tell you anything unless you know the starting points obviously

I’m so sorry you feel like this.

I’ve signed the declaration

I'm almost exactly the same background and practise as you, watered down non religious, Christmas celebrating. Except we have an obviously Jewish last name and look just a little bit Jew. I don't feel in the slightest bit worried for our safety, or at least I didn't until I read this thread.

I could have written this. I’ve always been critical of Israel’s politics and choices, and I certainly don’t agree with them but somehow I’m held personally responsible for the actions of a country I’ve never been to by some people who can’t separate Israel and Judaism.

There is something chronically exhausting about knowing there are groups of people who want to kill you purely based on your heritage/beliefs- I know lots of people can relate to that feeling.

I hate people making assumptions and stereotypes about my political views because of my heritage.

Yes if you look at hate crime incidents, Islamophobic and Antisemitic, the former absolutely giants the latter. None of it should happen obviously.

I think the risk increases if you are at an obviously Jewish location like a school or synagogue, or if you are visibly Jewish (ie wearing obvious signifiers, clearly on your way to a synagogue or Jewish school), although even then it's still small.

I genuinely don't believe anyone is at existential risk just for being Jewish or having Jewish heritage or a Jewish name. I have no worries on a day to day basis, but fair to say I might be a more alert than usual walking to or from synagogue and when I'm there these days.

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

You are not overreacting and everyone knows it even though they might pretend otherwise.

I’m sorry that you feel like this. Could you find strength in your faith?

I am so sorry, and I don’t think you’re over reacting.

people need to remember that people were celebrating the 7 October massacre before there was any retaliation by Israel and it was justified by many. A few years ago men drove around N London yelling “kill the Jews! Rape their women” through a megaphone and nothing happened.

every Jewish person I know is worried. It seems even worse in the US.

Hamas wants the annihilation of allJews, not just the destruction of the state of Israel.

Hamas is currently being flattened by Israeli bombs so they aren’t the long term problem.

There will be hostility from Palestinian Territories and surrounding countries as long as Israel believes it has more right to exist than Palestine does.

Jewish schools all over the world routinely have security guards, not to prevent violence amongst the students but to prevent terrorist attacks. We wouldn't find that situation acceptable for any other type of school. I cannot forget that little seven year old Jewish girl who was executed (there's no other word for the way she was killed) at a school in France. It's not just about the number of attacks but the extremity of the violence and the inhibiting effect they have on the way people live their lives. Hadley Freeman wrote an article the other week detailing how her young children are already versed in security procedures when they go to the synagogue.

My teenage children know about their Jewish heritage, we're proud of it and have never felt the need to hide it. Although we don't, and never have, gone to synagogue or do any 'Jew things' I live in a very white British part of the country, if that might make a difference? This thread is making me worry. My children have a Jewish name, know they have Jewish heritage, and have probably told all their friends they do.

I'm in pretty much the same position as you, OP. I have daughters too. I don't know what else to say. You are not alone

Israel is not aiming to kill of citizens of Gaza, they are going after Hamas tunnels, Hamas leaders residences, rocket launch sites etc. Israel is fighting for its existence, and for now it means eradication of Hamas. Its horrible that the area is so densely populated and there are children there, but Hamas are deliberately using civilians as human shield. I would never say the carpet bombing is acceptable, but preventing evacuation and positioning military targets in hospitals, schools and mosques is also vile.
They're trying to make Gaza basically inhospitable and are deploying collective punishment.

They've told people to move south and them bombed targets in the south.

The only people responsible for the IDF's actions are the IDF (just like the only people responsible for Hamas' actions are Hamas before the inevitable whataboutery begins!)

Hamas are a despicable terrorist organisation. Very few rational people would say otherwise.

The IDF and their band of supporters don't get to flatten areas full of civilians in a highly densely populated area and then abdicate responsibility for murdering thousands of civilians. The oh we aren't wiping out civilians, it's such a shame that Gaza is densely populated, don't mind us whilst we deprive people of power and water and then cut contact to the outside world is absolutely bollocks. How many thousands of civilians, a large number children, are considered simply expendable?

This is the problem. The IDF and Hamas don't give a fuck about the hostages or innocent civilians. They're just interested in seeing who can play Billy big dick whilst people suffer and die.

OP. I'm not Jewish, I'm a Christian. But I think the Jewish culture and religion is beautiful, and I find the historical persecution of Jews very upsetting 😔
Re the current crisis, like you I feel extremely sad for innocents on both sides. I haven't picked a side at all. I feel equally sorry for innocent Israelis and Palestinians who are caught up in the current horror.
Sending love. I long for a day when the whole human race sees one another as family, and these crazy divisions are a thing of the past. You take care x

@Kendodd - if it's any help, as far as I've observed, people at large have been very good at recognising the difference between the Israeli government and Jewish people. Very few seem to be falling back on a simplistic idea that Jews are responsible for or must automatically agree with the actions of Netanyahu's government.

Maybe she's scared that her or her family will become yet another victim of being attacked by terrorist supporters. Lots of Jews in the UK have been attacked recently.

Echobelly
I agree with you. I think most people understand that your average Jewish person is not automatically agreeing with Netanyahu's government.

What really concerns me is that there's some people who don't understand much about the issue, who then see people shouting anti-Semitism to shut down criticism of Netanyahu and the IDF, and then that furthers any existing small antisemitic views they might have held and fuels increases in antisemitic incidents. It's scary.

I'm scared too.

I'm one of the few observant Jews in my city, and my husband and I stick out like sore thumbs. Thus far, I've refused to cover my Magen David necklace, and DH still wears his kippah openly. But that might change.

I wear a headscarf rather than a wig, so I pass for other religions when out alone. Our surname could just as well be Polish as Hebrew, so in that way we're safer than a Cohen or a Rosenthal.

It feels like we're in Berlin in the 1930s.