How do prevent the rise of anti Semitic feeling in the UK?

[mids2019]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12705139/Jewish-ambassador-says-London-feels-safe-Israel-jihad-ideology-exploded-capitals-streets.html

Will the continuous marches in London lead to an environment where anti semitism becomes acceptable? There has been a massive rise in hate crime against Jews and surely in the UK we have a duty to prevent any platform which may lead to unjustified hatred of a group in the UK?

I feel we should feel pride we have a diverse society with a while range of ethnicities and religions but we should always act to encourage social cohesion by not allowing events that could contain messages of hate.

Although the support of the Palestinian people is absolutely reasonable in terms of free speech in a democratic society and it is reasonable to comment on the actions of the Israeli state at times the marches in a lot of major British cities have the danger of including terrorist apologists.

Weren't you going to stop reading the DM for the sake of your mental health?

On your other thread yesterday you volunteered that you'd be moving to the BBC for future reading

From my perspective, it's up to the organisers to make sure the people attending behave themselves. If they aren't able to do that I think they should openly say "they do not speak for me when they say XYZ", name and shame them and help police track down the offenders. Take an actual stand against it.

I think Israel should do the same with the settlers in the West Bank. This current government won't, but I hope the next one will.

Personally I think I can only say something when I see it.

The majority of blatant antisemitism I've seen (I mean properly blatant, not implied, and not merely anti Zionist) has been from people who are Muslim, and I feel uncomfortable getting into it with them. I'm a white woman with an American accent and I don't feel like I'd be heard even if I felt like I had the right to say something to a person of colour.

I would have fewer scruples about confronting another white peer. Although I may not take up the issue at that time due to not wanting to start a quarrel. Any white person who says blatantly antisemitic stuff is pretty obviously unhinged and unlikely to be shamed. I only see that stuff in the media - most antisemites I see are able to choose their words more carefully and thus have some plausible deniability.

Would you challenge a secular white person? If so you are being racist. You're assuming that the Muslim making comments isn't worth your time. They are. Everyone is. No bystanders.

But what good will I do? They won't hear me. They'll just think I'm part of the conspiracy. I will only reinforce their belief.

I think a lot of people are afraid to say anything to Muslims. There's some sort of hierarchy of oppression at play and I rank second from the bottom in that hierarchy, so I have no authority.

@AgingDisgracefullyHere .

I think I am in a fairly similar demographic and I do think there is an element of protecting religious sensitivities when tacking anti semitism but it needs to be challenged.

It is the scale of the marches as well as the content that is a concern. I want a country where all religions and ethnicities are respected and I do think that when an ambassador to our country from a friendly nation expresses concerns about the safety of a certain race we should listen.

In a way we are lucky in the UK to live in region without geopolitical turmoil and we don't want any tensions from the middle East transplanted here unwcessarily. Jews in this country have no influence over the actions of the Israeli state and we have a duty to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all members of British society.

I agree with everything you said and I think I should look for things that I can do that won't embroil me in a nasty argument with someone who just thinks I'm an American imperialist and possibly a "secret Jew." (There are a lot of people around the world who believe that George W Bush is a Jew lol)

Can you not say "a Jew" please. Jewish people is fine.

There is a massive difference between anti semitism and criticism of the actions of the Israeli government.

There's nothing wrong with being a Jew. Changing it to "a Jewish person" doesn't change anything about my meaning, but it does sort of imply that there's something wrong with just saying "So-and-so is a Jew". It's not any different than saying "... is a Muslim." What may be the implications of such identity is down to the speaker and has to be construed from context.

Err, nobody said there was anything wrong with being Jewish thanks! It's is however considered offensive by many Jewish people when people use the term "Jew" or even worse "a Jew" as you did. Please don't. You wouldn't (I hope) use the phrase "a Black" you'd say "a black person" so please don't use the phrase "a Jew". We don't like it.

I actually fully agree with this - I hate the term 'a Jew' 'the Jews'. It's been used historically as an insult to 'other' and abuse Jewish people, but has become normalised somehow. I use the term 'Jews' myself on here (I never actually say it) but I do feel my toes curling a bit when I put it in writing.

David Baddiel made that same point about 'Jew' versus 'Jewish person'. He refers to himself as a 'Jew' https://twitter.com/Baddiel

Surely “Jew” refers to religion not race in the same way we use “Muslim”, “Catholic” or “Mormon”. All these are applicable to a variety of races.

Really??

You realise that Islam is a religion and not a race right?
You have Muslims who are white, Asian, black.

It can’t be about racism sorry.

Actually being jewish is also being part of race. Not just a religion.
I imagine this is linked with the very strict rules linked to how you can become Jewish (aka your mother and otherwise quite hard work unlike most other religions).

But other more knowledgeable posters might want to clarify if need be.

@Angrymum22 I'm ethnically Jewish, not religious. Judaism isn't just a religion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnoreligious_group#

I wouldn't say "the Jews" and in most instances it's easier to say that someone "is Jewish." But in my post, I was following up on the idea of someone being "a 'secret Jew'" - I'd put it in quotations for a reason. That's what some people think George Bush is, so that's how I phrased it in that context. I didn't say "think *** is secretly Jewish" because that's not how they put it.

In some contexts I think it's completely neutral. "The Jews killed Jesus." "But Jesus was a Jew!" I don't think has any different implication than "Jesus was Jewish." To say "Jesus was a Jewish person" would somehow go a bit too far in the direction of finding the word "Jew" distasteful.

@CameleonAreFightingBack you're right, I should have said islamophobic.
You are right Judaism is a race, Islam a religion. Apologies

Um. I'm a Jew and I have no problem with that post.

I have a problem with your post.

Please don't pretend to speak for us while actually trying to detract from the real issue here.

It's not uncommon for British people to use "race" for something other than race. You can be accused of racism when you say "Pikey" even though Irish Travellers are not a race. I have seen anti American slurs called "racist" which strikes me as even more absurd. I think some people just mean "bigoted against a particular group."

I know they know that American isn't a race and don't bother correcting them. I just kind of roll my eyes.

Yes, it's mostly antisemites who think that the word 'Jew' is itself pejorative. It tells you a lot about what they really think.

Er, it's massively antisemitic to demand that Jewish people say something at your command before we are deemed worthy of security, safety or freedom from racism in our own country.

I'm fine with it. I am a Jew and while at the moment I wouldn't advertise thst in public, I am proud to say it here.

I think most Jewish people probably have expressed their abhorrence towards what was done to Israeli citizens, although I don't see why they should have to.