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.

Many Jews are not religious. We are not a pure religion or an ethnoreligious group. We are a people and belief in a god isn't a prerequisite. Being Jewish means having Jewish heritage (because Karaite and Reform Judaism also recognizes patrilineal descent) or being a convert to Judaism and the former doesn't mean you are necessarily religious.

@MumsDailyNap This is not a thread for that, there are many over there >>>>

Your comment is vile.

Well, people are getting eaten by crocodiles, but I'm still scared of spiders.

Seriously, how the Hell does one thing negate the other?

WibblewobbleFlop: There are many Jewish FB books where you might feel more comfortable discussing these issues. I also suggest joining the PJ Library who will send a monthly book for your children which will help you to teach them about their Jewish heritage. Personally, I think Jewish children need to understand their heritage and be proud of it as there is no escaping it!

I’m so sorry. I was born in Poland , I know about the holocaust too well. I’m not surprised that you’re scared at all, I am too. Sending all the love and support I possibly can. It’s a complete madness, as it was then.

@LovePaleGreen how is it vile? I just said children are being killed in their thousands?

What did I say that was vile?

You said that the OP ought not to feel frightened of antisemitism because children are being killed somewhere else. That's at least stupid, if not vile.

Are you Jewish?

@LondonMummer Do you believe only Jews notice antisemitism? History would tell us otherwise.

@AgingDisgracefullyHere @LovePaleGreen it's not stupid! I live in north London in Stamford Hill, one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities in Europe, Muslims and Jews walk along side by side daily with no issues. So long with blacks, Indians, turks etc A NO ISSUES!!!

Stop trying to use your privilege making something out of nothing

What privilege YOU have to never have experienced antisemitism. What ignorance and sheer arrogance to so confidently claim those who have experienced it and who fear an upsurge are making "something out of nothing".

What privilege, specifically, do you think I have?

I feel scared for the first time. I live in a Jewish area in a very multicultural city. According to ancestry.co.uk I am 100% European Jewish. Im non practising but look very typically Jewish. We have had information about not letting anyone tailgate us into our flats, to keep gates closed, not take post in for others and to report anything suspicious.

Since the response to the terrorist attack on 7 October, I look at people of Muslim heritage and wonder if they can tell I’m Jewish and think they must hate me. I’m horrified by Hamas and Netanyahu making innocents pay the ultimate price for their refusal to work towards peace. What Hamas did was vile. What is happening to Palestinians is vile. There was a Pro-Palestinian rally here yesterday with over 1k people praying and shouting. I understand the anger but I understand Jewish communities around the world being very unnerved.

Are you actually joking?

just because you haven’t seen anti semitism doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. I haven’t witnessed racism towards black people or homophobia to gay people but that means nothing, I can’t say it isn’t happening. People from those groups say it is, so it is. End of

Anti semitism is the highest it has been since WW2. I don’t particularly want to go into some of the cases I’ve heard about this week because there is currently police involvement and it’s not fair on the people affected but it has shocked me to the absolute core.

until you have your own lived experience. Don’t comment on something you know nothing about

@AgingDisgracefullyHere @etmoietmoietmoi at this moment yes very privileged! I bet she has a roof over her head without the fear of it being bombed. Maybe she has children who she tucks into bed at night without the fear of them being killed. She has running water, electricity access to medical care, food, WiFi! The Palestinians do not have this!!

Just to mention I'm not pro-hamas nor am I Muslim, I can't sit here and watch innocent children being murdered by the IDF

I'm so sorry, OP (and other Jewish people). It's awful that you feel like this and completely unjustifiable for peaceful British citizens who have nothing to do with Israel to be feeling frightened.

https://cst.org.uk/news/blog/2023/10/27/antisemitic-incidents-27-october-update

sobering reading here and people shouldn’t be scared.

of course it’s nothing like what’s going on in Israel and Gaza. Not even a tiny fraction but to belittle it as something irrelevant. Words fail me

Are you just as worried about the children still being held hostage in Gaza?

just checking? Because you should be bothered about both of them

@MumsDailyNap What makes you think Jewish women aren't feeling that too? I mean, plenty of us have been commenting on it for weeks now, both online and to friends and family.

I can't sit here and watch innocent children being murdered by the IDF

So instead of watching it you thought trolling Jews on MN do would help you (and children in Gaza)? A woman is expressing her genuine fears and mocking her makes you feel better?

Mumsdailynap. And the Jewish parents who tucked their kids into bed and the young people at the music festival on 7th October, weren’t fearful that day of being shot, raped, dragged through the streets, have their loved ones taken hostage. I can’t stand back and see innocent people being murdered either. A child is a child is a child.