Antisemitism in schools

[mids2019]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c623d7z1rxg5o

So sad that the anti semitism brought about by an anti Israel non mentality is now impacting schools and the government is having to act to protect pupils.

Why couldn’t you have said that - instead you had to imply motives were Islamaphobic (without any evidence)

Seeking clarification, that is all. Is that ok ?

You shouldn’t need to clarify whether people are Islamaphobic just because they are concerned about antisemitism?

If you have seen a poster here who has posted things of an Islamophobic nature on other threads (in your opinion) the sensible option would be to have challenged the actual poster on the actual thread concerned. Or reported the post and hopefully got it deleted.

Not to disrupt this very important thread about antisemitism in UK schools and upset people on it by bringing up comments other people allegedly made on other threads

To everyone posting in good faith, let's make a renewed effort to stick to the topic and not get drawn into side discussions that are used to divert from talking about antisemitism in schools. That is what this thread is about.

There is also the matter of what people consider the risk to be. Or who is the risk. In this case the PP clarified, it was 50/50 Muslims/others in the case of incidents experienced.

I did not ask who the other 50% is.

I think it is an important point to clarify, and I am sure the report will cover this.

As other posters have said, antisemitism does go back a long way. I myself posted an essay by Orwell, from 1945 about it. But anyone reading about it today might be led to believe it is 100% Islamicists, or " Free Palestine" folk.

Take the Catholic Church for example. It took them to 1965 to say that Jews did not kill Christ, and denounce antisemitism. And that Church applied a collective guilt to all Jews for that. See Spanish inquisition etc.

The report has been published @RedTagAlan

Maybe take a read and tell us your thoughts after that.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ad78a9f5eadc3d6e8a10839/Independent_review_antisemitism_in_schools_and_colleges_in_england.pdf

I don't think you can use Islamaphobia as some sort of her out card a giant those who do genuinely fear for Jewish children and the spread of anti semtism. I would argue against anyone wishing to have one sided distorted debates about Gaza with the intent of further demonizing Israelis and by extension Jews globally. The majority of Paelstinians are Muslim and a significant number of pro Palestinian supporters in much the same way a significant number of supporters of Israel are Jews....that is simply factual. It is also factual to state Muslims outnumber Jews. The Islampahobia card does seem one of desperation when the prime concern is the safety of a subgroup of children.

Pro Paletine marches should not migrate to our schools and we should not allow them to be a platform for the spread of hatred towards any group of ethnicity.

This is really terrible and it doesn't surprise me at all.

Yes, I agree. This is not just an intellectual game, like 'should teachers pretend the earth is flat, for fear of upsetting the Flat Earth community?'

No, this is happening within the context of Jews being killed in Britain. Jews having to organise security rotas for their synagogues. Jewish students having to hide their identity.

In this context, I don't trust schools to manage discussions on these controversial topics with sufficient balance and impartiality.

This

”Take the Catholic Church for example..”

I’m Catholic. We know the Catholic Church has done good things and bad things. In Europe Christianity has been a power base for a millennia.All our morality is informed by Christianity. It is the sea we swim in.

We can put antisemitism into the bad things list. And when you say "All our morality is informed by Christianity.", I daresay that that can go towards explaining why antisemitism is so ingrained.

Personally, I don't go with that morality coming from Christianity thing. There are plenty of non Christian nations/ societies/civilizations that manage just fine without it.

That’s fine. Christianity grew out Judaism and our understanding of morality owes so much to the law of Moses.

No society that I can think of has managed “ just fine” without the law of Moses. That’s what the Jews have given us.
No society is perfect. But we are a product of Judaic morality.

Quote "No society that I can think of has managed “ just fine” without the law of Moses. That’s what the Jews have given us."

Asia disagrees. As does pre Columba Americas.

And to say " That’s what the Jews have given us." is probably not accurate. More like taken from the Jews, and then they were persecuted for it for Millenia, The Church put a collective guilt on Jews for the death of Jesus. That stood till 1965.

And the laws of Moses ? The Mosaic laws? Approx 635 of them. Such as the slave laws of Exodus 20.? The anti gay law of Leviticus 18:22?. The joys of the anti witchcraft laws, eg Exodus 22:18. The laws that many Christians say that Jesus cancelled with a "new covenant".

Historically it seems the West were progressing along nicely. There was the Bronze age, then the Iron age. The Greeks done good philosophy, the Romans and others were inventing stuff, then boom, along came Christianity then that all stopped for 1500 years or so. And then of course it was used to conquer and subjugate the world.

As Desmond Tutu said, "When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land."

I suppose it could be coincidence that the Industrial revolution kicked off relatively soon after the Reformation. But I don't think it was. Look at the printing press for example. It was invented in about 1450, and it was used... to print Bibles. And the Church banned versions that it considered heretical translations. And no wonder really, because the Reformation started 100 years later.

So yeah. You can probably tell I am not in the "we owe it all to Christianity" camp. And I am defo not in the "we owe it all to Moses" camp either.

There is zero evidence he even existed. Not an iota.

Yes . I completely agree about antisemitism and Christianity. It was utterly shameful. And it still remains in the extremist elements. It’s very troubling.
Ironic as Jesus was a Jew and Christianity grew out of Judaism. Which was the point I was trying to make ( very ineptly)

( Edited to add - I was referring to the 10 commandments- not the 650 commandments. But anyway- let’s not get sidetracked. )

What version of the ten commandments ? There are 3. Exodus 20, Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy 5. This one is my favourite -

Exo 34:26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. (KJV).

Anyway. Good that you agree with me on Christianity and antisemitism. And that is one of the reasons that I debate against the evermore popular concept that it is only a Muslim thing. Because it's not. I would call that political revisionism to now say it is purely a Muslim thing, and that everyone else was against it.

I am working my way through the report, and it looks good to me. I thought it would be, cos these things usually are. On page 30 for example :

"A lower estimate of 13% of the population could be classed as anti-Jewish and 33% as anti-Israel, based on holding consistent negative attitudes. 18 The size of both groups has increased since 2020, especially amongst younger age groups. 19

Although anti-Jewish and anti-Israel attitudes are widespread, certain groups are disproportionately more likely to hold them. These include those with ‘very left’ or ‘very right’ political views and those identifying as Muslim. 20"

That last sentence there. Yes, communists have historically been anti Jewish. Cos atheists of course, and also they tend not to like anyone who are not communist. I simplify of course, and yes I know about the USSR progroms and propaganda. There is the very right mentioned, we know about them, then Muslims. But that middle one, the "very right", that is being revised out these days it seems. Now the far right are selling themselves as friends of Jewish folk. But to me it's a ploy, common enemy and all that.

I am not saying there is no Muslim antisemitism. Of course there is. But the far right are being painted out of the picture, and I do object to that. It is good to see the report mentions it.

Obviously anti semitism was never just a Muslim thing but I don't think we should shy from the fact in 2026 UK a lot of anti semitism is originating from the Muslim community. This is not Islamophobic but I think accepting a reality when it comes to exploring tensions (including the classroom ) in the UK. Personally I wouldn't start saving an Israeli flag in some areas of our larger cities.

We are talking about a specific instances of anti semitism within the school setting and I am concerned we can embed and enable ànti semitis m by perpetrators saying they have rights to pro palestinian views which morph into genral anti Semitic views (if not there already)

Antisemitism is definitely not only a Muslim thing.Extremes of pretty much all political shades or religions are guilty of it. Atheists also.

Agree that any group in society can be antisemitic. It’s not a “gotcha” to say so.

As an atheist I can easily accept that atheists are not magically exempt from being antisemitic. No group is.

I totally agree.

Do you understand why I keen on attention to detail on threads such as this ?. Because it is not "just the Islamicists", as is often painted on MN. Or "Islamicised lefties". That is another common one.

And it's a difficult debate, technically I mean, because if someone was to post " It's not just Muslims, there are the Nazis too", they would be accused of whataboutism, or deflection. How to put it? Hell, don't know how to do it politely, for a good serious discussion to be had, the Islamophobes need to be filtered out. And I am not directing that at anyone.

And that's why I knew this would be a good report. Because these authors know what they are doing, and can filter so much of that out.

On far right revisionism, prime example here -

'Hitler Was a Left-Wing Socialist': Elon Musk Labeled a 'Moron' Over Egregious Historical Claim | IBTimes UK

This is the guy funding and promoting the far right all over Europe. To me, it is bloody important to remember what the far right done. What they say, what they promote. And in fact, we can go back to the report, page 62, we get this -

"This concern is reinforced by evidence that social media platforms recommend and amplify content to young users. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s Amplifying Antisemitism research has shown how quickly young people can be exposed to antisemitic content on TikTok due to algorithms.

For instance, a 15-year-old boy interested in male lifestyle influencers was served antisemitic conspiracy theories within an hour.60 The research found that algorithms can escalate from harmless content to antisemitic conspiracy theories, Holocaust distortion and denial, and far- right tropes within hours of use.61"

For me, it is very important that it is not all put on one group. All need to be tackled.

Except no one on this thread had said it was “Just the Islamists” so you’re arguing against something you made up.

I agree.