Is the penny finally starting to drop about anti semitism and hate marches?

[mids2019]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/04/starmer-c al l-society-response-rising-antisemitism

I think we are now seeing the cumulative impact of the anti senitism that has built up over the last 3 years where there has been a permissive environment with politicians hesitant to intervene in events in the streets that have incubated anti Jew sentiment.

All political parties apart from the hate apologist Greens are now waking up to the fact we need better policing and perhaps legislation. I for one will acting a vote for a party that recognises hate marches for what they are and also willing to tackle the vile posts appearing on social media (and Labour have reacted too late too little). Enough is enough for a Jewish community that lives in perpetual fear.

Do the people who attended the pro Palestine marches give a fuck about Muslims?

The pro Pal marches have generally been attended in the 100's of thousands.

The Stop the Hate pro Israel attended in the thousands to 10's of thousands.

Do you feel this refutes your statement at all?

Whataboutery.

That is patently untrue. No mosques or community hubs for Muslims need 24 hour protection as Jewish synagogues, schools, businesses etc do. Jews are a tiny minority in Britain (around 250K, only 0.04% of the entire population) and yet they bear the brunt of now constant attacks IRL and on social media by antisemites including posters on MN.

My view is this:

I'm half middle eastern - mums a marinate Christian - and I've got Muslims in my immediate family, my brother actually converted.

Muslims are NOT under seige in this country. Sure, many of them face bigotry, but they're not scared to go out showing that they're Muslim.

I live in London.

There's loads of Muslim restaurants, businesses, mosques and community centres. Nobody is graffitiing them, nobody's setting them on fire, nobody is standing in mobs outside them harassing them and calling them terrorists.

When I get on a bus or walk down my street there's dozens of visible Muslims everywhere. They're not cowering or covering up.

The Jewish people I know can't walk around London with their kippah on. They can't get on the tube or go to their schools or businesses without being under constant threat.

And, I'm sorry to say, the aggressors often are Muslim themselves, which makes it particularly grating when people try this whataboutery.

Britain has really let itself down. Of course racism and bigotry exist everywhere but we've allowed one tiny minority to be bullied across every aspect of British life.

It's awful.

Theres a thread at the moment which is talking about whether someone should be convicted of GBH or not given the assault involved a sledgehammer on a police officer who was trying to stop criminal damage from 'protesters' who were causing damage in a company they felt were supporting arms to Israel.

But instead of focusing on the violence and thresholds in court, the thread has deteriorated into 'but Israel'.

In Britain. To a British police officer

On several threads recently I’ve seen people claim nobody cared about Muslims and Islamophobia.
How do people come to this conclusion?

Because they can't bear Jews? They blame British Jews for Israel? Who knows what goes on in their tiny minds. I despair of some of the posts I read on MN.

I really wonder about this too.. 🤷‍♀️

It's contrary to very visible facts.

It's obvious they need to fit it into a larger narrative but I honestly can't see what that is?

Can you point me in the direction of that thread please? I've searched and can't find it.

I agree. It seems like the whole premise of the debate is off.
I’ve seen perfectly reasonable, left-leaning people talk about Zionism as if it were comparable to white supremacy.
Israel is portraited as uniquely evil, baby killers, white colonisers, launching unprovoked attacks on their neighbours in order to grab land.
There’s usually not much talk about the other side of the conflict, the security concerns of Israelis, the constant rocket fire or the stated goals of Iran-backed proxies to destroy Israel.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5526467-it-wasnt-planned-he-didnt-mean-it-seriously-what-did-he-think-would-happen-if-he-hit-a-police-woman-with-a-sledgehammer?page=4&reply=152151683

Or that Israel is the only country in the world (I think) where other countries talk about annihilation quite freely and Israel is not allowed to retaliate against that

I don't think some people on the conflict in the middle east threads would realise they are antisemitic even though they clearly are. Its very ingrained in their thinking. They don't even appear to understand what antisemitism is.

I agree with this. They seem unable to comprehend that believing just one country out of all the countries in the world shouldn’t exist, and that country being the world’s only majority Jewish state, are linked.

Of course, it’s just a coincidence that big bad evil Israel is majority Jewish. And their laser like focus on Gaza as the expense of any other place where people are suffering, is just how it is…

I’ve been reading a few threads, it’s like some people have to pick a “side” Muslims or Jews, Palestine or Israel. It makes no sense to me, just causes more divide. I am no fan of the Israeli gov, but I don’t understand trying to make excuses for a person who carried out an attack on Jews.

Surely any decent non racist person is appalled by anti- semitism and Islamaphobia, there shouldn’t be “but xx has it worse” Any kind of racial attack is appalling.

Yes, it’s like when people say 'Is it really antisemitic or is it just anti-Zionist', seemingly without understanding what Zionist actually means.

Here's my take:

I don't think Jewish homes, schools, places of worship, businesses or facilities should be attacked.

I don't think Muslims should either.

I don't think Jewish people should be verbally abused in the street, attacked, stabbed or harassed.

I don't think Muslims should be either.

I think the elephant in the room though is that not only are we pretending this is happening equally to both (it isnt) but we're also pretending the people doing those things to Jews aren't often Muslims themselves.

I visited my sons university a while back and there's some mob outside screaming 'zionists not welcome' and other stuff that must have made any Jewish student feel very threatened.

Those doing it were almost all in a hijab.

It's a difficult conversation to have in Europe because we've been conditioned to think that racism is a thing white people do.

It isn't.

People are racist everywhere. And when we see it, we have to tackle it head on no matter who's doing it.

Very few people have had the balls to say this because- insanely - saying 'I see a really big problem with Muslim antisemitism' will be portrayed by some as Islamophobia. It isn't.

Everyone in the UK should be free to go about their day without feeling threatened.

Good points.

Anyone can be antisemitic and anyone can be hate filled racist.

Currently the major problem is antisemitism and attacks on Jewish people. So many excuses for what is simply hatred of people because they are Jewish. The belief that 'but Palestinine' makes all this hatred acceptable, it doesn't, it just makes the people that excuse it hate filled racists.

All racism is abhorrent. It shouldn’t be like playing Top Trumps with people’s lives. It’s not about who is suffering more. Racism can be insidious, hidden and leave you doubting yourself, or overt, but always cruel and ignorant. No matter your faith or skin colour.

I can’t imagine what it’s like for children to not feel safe demonstrating their faith, but I can see that applying to all children whether it’s because they wear a Star of David, a head covering, or a turban.

I do not think Israel’s actions have created racists- because those who oppose racism won’t engage in it.

Equally, I don’t see the marches in creating racists. There is a difference between opposing Israel’s actions and being antisemitic.

As for the idea people are holding Israel upto a higher standard? No - the marches were there as people were unhappy with what their own governments were or were saying/ doin or not.

People marched against the Iraq war, and no one said that was because they were anti- Christian because they were unhappy with what the U.S. and the UK were doing.

That's probably, @Islandsofsand because the marches against the Iraq war didn't routinely contain chants for the UK to be wiped off the map, pleas for people to rise up globally and murder Brits, or cheers for a terrorist group whose slogan includes calling down a curse upon the English.

The pro-Palestine marches, however, do routinely have those chants against the world's only Jewish state, and about Jews.

People who pretend that they don't must be be very surprised to see people taking them at their word and attempting to murder Jews.

Then marches definitely need to be adequately policed. There is no room for hate speech.

Well yes, no 'From the River to the Sea'. No 'Globalise the Intifada'. No 'Yemen, Yemen make us proud...'.

How utterly saturated have the marches been with those chants for years?

And yet you compare them to the marches against the Iraq war. How oblivious are you?

If these phrases were not used at marches and instead just concentrated on the plight of Palestinians would you still have an issue with the marches.

As I said - they should be adequately policed. Tens of thousands marched. Those who carry out illegal acts should be penalised but it should not prevent the right to legally protest.

They haven't been adequately policed for years though, have they? And people who have reasonably requested that the absolutely routine and regular chants that I described be stopped have been absolutely shouted down. People bullshitting that they're not antisemitic. 'There are Jews at the march who have no problem with them' yadayada.

So your 'they're the same as the anti Iraq war marches' is just bullshit. They're not at all. And even suggesting that they are is naive at best.

I don't have a problem with peace marches. I do have a problem with marches calling for people's deaths and for countries to be wiped off the map.

I'd have thought that all reasonable people would have, but you wouldn't believe the amount of special pleading that has gone on for these ones.