Rising anti swmtism in the UK....do we really need to crack down I n the Iran regime Hamas supporting mobs?

[mids2019]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyxxjgdn94o

It is now being increasingly reported that there are multiple threats against Jews in this country as a result of wars in the middle east. How do we go about defusing tensions? Should the police take a more active role? Should we look at social media more closely for stirring up hate? Maybe we should be educating children more about anti semttism in schools as well as importantly saying the right of Israel to exist as a state. The tide needs to turn.

But HOW on earth has that got ANYTHING to do with the rise in antisemitism in THE UK? It has NOTING TO DO WITH BRITISH JEWISH PEOPLE.

I'm shouting because you don't appear to hear. What's happening in the middle east, in Gaza has nothing to do with British Jews it's NOT their fault at all, therefore no excuse or whataboutery needed. Nothing to do with them, again, nothing to do with them.

When people scream 'Free Palestine' at Jewish people in the UK it doesn't help people in Gaza at all, it's pure hate. Marching past synagogues in the UK doesn't affect what happens in Gaza. It only harms people in the UK. Terror attacks on Jewish people or synagogues doesn't help anyone. It's all just hate, by thick racist people.

Obviously, I agree that what’s happening in Palestine has nothing to do with British Jews. However, peaceful, inclusive marches against war crimes and human rights abuses becomes about British Jews when they centre themselves as a reason why the Palestinian cause should be silenced.

I acknowledge that there are a minority of outlying idiots who will use ‘Free Palestine’ to intimidate people because they are racist bullies, but they are not a reason for protest against the British government’s involvement in genocide and ethnic cleansing to be entirely shut down and condemned as antisemitic.

Who are you if you object to protest about killing innocent children?

I absolutely believe in the right to protest and the right to have a say and the right to have an opinion. I do not believe in taking that right to the lengths it has done. The protests started as the massacre of the 7th October was still unfolding. The signs and chants to “globalise the intifada” and “death to the IDF” are chilling and the confusion, regularly, by marchers and supporters about the difference between Zionism, Judaism and Netanyahu supporters have created an atmosphere of fear and violence that is being seen every single day by my children and anyone else who cares to look.

My 9 year old son came home from school today and said the Palestinian children all hate him. An older child asked him if he was going to try to not be Jewish anymore because it’s the worst thing anyone can be. That doesn’t happen in Scotland, thousands of miles from the Middle East, in a vacuum.

So of course I’m not a monster and I hate death and violence - for anyone - and am certainly no Netanyahu supporter, but something has gone terribly wrong with how these protests and conversations are happening if my children are this scared to go to school. They have never been to Israel, they don’t talk about Israel, they are just openly and proudly Jewish and that’s all it takes.

"They centre themselves" maybe don't march past synagogues and Jewish areas shouting 'Free Palestine ' when they have NO CONTROL OR INFLUENCE over what happens in the middle east 🤔. Maybe standing protests where the aim is not to intimidate others might be better....

Do you actually think shouting 'Free Palestine ' or 'Globalise the intifada' at people actually helps the people of Gaza?

Those awful UK Jews 'centering themselves' by feeling unsafe in the face of intimidation, what are they thinking 🤔 😕 This is the UK, where they live, they should feel safe.

👏 Couldn't believe what I was reading. Actually I can, sadly. The empathy gap for Jews is profoundly chilling.

I think the rise of Islamophobia is far more alarming and yet the media doesn't seem to cover this. Any kind of racism is abhorrent but there seems to be more coverage of one kind. And now I'll get called an anti-semite, no doubt.

Well I hope you also think the neighbouring countries shouldn’t have spent the last 80 years bombing Israel. Obviously I don’t actually think more violence is the answer but this story didn’t start on October 7th.

Yes, I know. There has been savagery behaviour from other countries towards Israel and Israel has carried out savage acts against Palestinian people, before October 7th.
They’re all blood thirsty murderers imo. I feel for the innocent people trapped inside these corrupt countries.
I don’t know how anyone can defend either side when they’re drenched in blood, blackmail and mistreatment, just dressed up differently.

The rise in Islamophobia is also concerning.

However, according to the latest Home Office figures for England & Wales in the year ending March 2025, Jewish people experienced more than eight times as many hate crime incidents per head of population than Muslims.

Source is the BBC.

Yes. It was ever thus. Same story over and over again all around the world. Humanity is filled with amazing creativity and wonder - while also having the ability to be truly horrible to one another.

My point really is that plenty think that those in charge in Israel (and America and China and Afghanistan and Iraq and and and) are awful. It’s difficult for me to then make the leap that Israel is the worst. I despise Netanyahu and his cronies, I think they’ve done terrible things. But I also have no idea how to get out of this situation. Hamas (and all their friends across the Middle East) will not rest until Israel is destroyed and all Jews worldwide are dead. How do you negotiate with this? What does that conversation look like and who can have it? Clearly no one as it ended up with Trump and here we are.

I go to work and am surrounded by the ‘student intifada’ and my children go to school to learn about all the Israeli companies they should boycott while being scared about being in the hallways thanks to repeated incidents, and I have another conversation with Police Scotland about my synagogue or my kids’ schools or my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah and my father’s synagogue has yet another metal detector installed and my brother’s school issues bulletproof vests to teachers and I think how incredible it is that it was actually much, much worse for Jews worldwide before Israel was established. At the end of the day, I have an option if it’s time to leave, I have somewhere to go if this gets worse. My grandmother and great grandmother and all those before didn’t have that.

My deepest fear is that I’ll be Anne Frank’s family - waiting too long in sheer disbelief and getting trapped. I want to make sure I’m her friends and cousins who left in time.

In what way? Quantify it. What is it that the media isn't covering? The Jewish population is tiny. The surge in antisemitism is affecting almost all practising Jews not just in terms of actual attacks - murder, fire bombings and abuse but the shrinking of opportunities in public life, in colleges & workplaces, in culture and the arts.

I think they are both alarming, one is not more alarming than the other.

Also that MN allow the comment to remain.

You miss the point that Muslims do not need the security that the Jewish Community does - I've yet to see any mosque or place of Islamic education or community or business needing 24/7 protection as synagogues, Jewish schools, community hubs and businesses do. No other ethnicity, race or religion other than Jewish needs this amount of security.
There are approximately 6 million Muslims in the UK (6%) 2021 Consensus
By contrast there are fewer than 300,000 Jews (0.5%) 2021 Consensus - the 5th largest Jewish population in the world - in other words, a tiny minority. And yes if you seriously believe that the British Jewish community is not under threat then perhaps you are being antisemitic.
For those who still don't get it - British Jews are not responsible for what the Israeli Government does.

Exactly. I am involved in interfaith work. When visiting a church there is no security. When visiting a mosque there is none other than a security guard. When visiting a synagogue the security is extensive. The Jewish cultural centre JW3 revealed recently they spend 600k a year on security, which I expect will have increased in the light of the heightened threat recently which involves state-sponsored surveillance and fire bombings. The figures quoted above were for year ending March 2025. We have seen an increase in antisemitic incidents since.

Your comment that British Jews ‘centre themselves’ is a remarkable one.

Your post stands as a nice example of the weaselly antisemitism of the left in Britain today, and indeed the circular arguments of antisemitism since time immemorial. Victim of antisemitism? Afraid for your community and wider society? Better not say anything about it - that proves you’re a typical self-centred Jew, not a victim of antisemitism at all. Maybe you just have a ‘perception’ of not being safe. There is no threat to Jews! And if there is, well it’s their own fault (as usual).

When Jewish people talking about antisemitism is more of a problem for you than the antisemitism itself, maybe you should take a step back and think about what you are saying.

Why is it more alarming?

I agree that the rise of Islamophobia is alarming , but I am struggling to see why you think this is "far more alarming " than anti semetic attacks on Jews.

Is this perhaps because you think that attacks on Jews matter less than attacks on Muslims? Or if not please explain why you think that attacks on Muslims are "far more alarming " than attacks on Jews.

As a Jew I'd say I'm more alarmed by the Islamophobia than then antisemitism because the Islamophobia is much more thoroughly institutional than the antisemitism. Mainstream politicians and media are frequently and openly Islamophobic. If we get a Reform government we will have a openly Islamophobic government and I worry about the immediate impact of that on British Muslims, and, downriver from that the effect on Jews.

A Reform government would mean more antisemites in power but at the moment we are too useful to them as a justification for Islamophobia. It would take some time for them to work their way down to us, but we're on the list to blame when things don't go to plan. They're not going to campaign on a front of antisemitism, but they'd 100% use it if it becomes a useful tool.

Ultimately, we all need to concerned about both Islamophobia and antisemitism and fight them for everyone's sake.

Not sure about your first sentence (but of course it's your opinion so valid).

Definitely do agree with your last sentence though that ultimately, "we all need to concerned about both Islamophobia and antisemitism and fight them for everyone's sake".

Who wants to live in a racist society? I don't but unfortunately it feels like it's getting more not less racist in the UK.

Oh no how’s that happened.

Not sure I agree. Antisemitism is thoroughly institutionalised in universities and the art world and in parts of the political world too. I agree Reform politicians are using antisemitism to jusrltify islamaphobia and there are undoubtedly antisemites in Reform and on the right more generally. Of course there are. Its the horseshoe theory. If we get a Green government we will certainly have antisemites in power too.

Islamophobia is much more thoroughly institutional than the antisemitism.

Sorry to disagree with you @Echobelly but this just isn't true. The government appears powerless to prevent the rise in antisemitism since 7/10/23. It has got even worse this year with the ambulances set on fire and four London synagogues targeted last week, too.
Other posters have detailed on MN how their children are regularly targeted in school and there is no doubt that universities are making Jewish students lives a complete and utter misery. If teachers and tutors who have young people's minds in their hands are subtly and not so subtly targeting their Jewish students, how much more 'thoroughly institutionalised' can it get?

It makes me very upset. My poor dgps escaped from Eastern European countries last century