Antisemitism

[bubbleandsqueak1976]

I read the posts on here with interest and often the subject of anti semitism comes up. I was brought up in a town in the South East. My mum gave me a book about Anne Frank when I was around 8 and I can remember asking ' what is a Jew?' as I had never met one. When I was about 14 a girl from northern Israel came to my school and I was asked to befriend her and help her settle in. I can remember being fascinated about her life in a Kibbutz and she used to show me
Hebrew writing. I don't recall ever hearing anything anti semitic about her or her brother as the only two Jewish kids - to my knowledge in the school. I also remember in my twenties encountering a group of lads from North London - white something and them having an absolute hatred for Jewish people. I can remember feeling utterly shocked as I'd never heard anti Jewish speak prior to this. Reading some of the recent posts on here it has made me wonder wherever there are pockets in the Uk with Jewish communities that experience antisemitism where the rest of the UK it does not occur as people simply have never met a Jewish person just their life- to their knowledge.Where I live I have only met 4 Jewish people in the Uk in my life and I am 47. The most Jewish people I have met were in Israel when I visited in 2000.

Does the UK have any indigenous people?
I joined my work's BAME (yes still using that term) group last month. They sat me next to a Roma lady as we were the only white people there. Didn't exactly bode well, but actually wasn't too bad.

Sometimes I feel it is almost worse to 'pass' as you hear what people, often people who you thought were your friends, really think.

What a time to be alive!

Is it rapidly becoming indistinguishable from all those other times? I can't tell any more.

@Bunnyasmyname Ugh, no kidding. My DF was a German-Jew who left at age 17. He worked in international sales and marketing and traveled globally. He didn't read like a Jew as he grew older. He would often, of an evening, go the Rathskellers in various parts of Germany. He said what he heard there into the 80s would curl your hair.

I don't know! It seems unlikely given what a mix the UK has been historically. But the point is that we're not like the US, ie a colonial nation with an original indigenous population that was treated badly on our arrival. Obviously we have been a colonising nation and done exactly that elsewhere, all over the world. But the BIPOC thing doesn't translate well here is what I mean. It's just thoughtlessly added.

@Hélène79 I went to a zoom talk by Einat Wilf about 3 weeks back. I am really really hoping she vastly overstated it but three things really stood out.

First, she said that it starts with antizionism, because people think it has better optics than to be antisemites. But a
antizionism basically still always ends with no Jews left. She gave a few examples, including the example of Poland in 1968.

Secondly, she said that when you look at the stops on the way to things being really bad, posters suggesting the world 'Should be cleaned of Zionists/Jews' are the last stop. And she gave the example of people using posters like that in protests in the last few months.

Thirdly, she reinforced that we are in a time of great peril and everything is changing politically, we don't know what will happen next.

Some people are leaving Israel for the west to be safer, some are leaving the west for Israel. Nobody knows what is next and where will going to be safe, but that we should have a Plan B.

Needless to say I didn't sleep well!

Apologies, have cross posted but my post above was in reply to @Bunnyasmyname

Also totally agree with what you said re you hear when people don't know your heritage - most of the antisemitism I've heard in real life has been that way.

Yes, the only violence on that march was the police trying to get him to leave!

Yeah I totally agreed with you. Not appropriate as we don't have indigenous people here.

Maybe Finchley used it to make sure they haven't missed anybody out to hate us. Got to be inclusive.

That's the problem. No matter how many times I/we refute it 😡

Oh God that's so depressing isn't it.

Apparently we financed the riots with all our JeWiShMoNeY.

Don't go to Sweden if you want to live safely as a Jew 😳

I was wondering about the Jewish safety in Sweden thing. I haven't heard good things! Denmark sounds a bit safer to me?

I would go to Germany to be honest. Wild!

Yes. Who'd have thought it. I really like Berlin actually.

I liked it too when I went. It really surprised me.

I've heard Berlin is great.
Actually met a couple in Corfu who went there as their annual summer holiday the year before and loved it.
Def on my list.

Sweden didn't create a great impression with the way they treated the Israeli Eurovision singer, I have to say.

Agree that Germany is pretty switched on to antisemitism from what I see - much better than other places in Europe. I wonder whether other European countries defined themselves as being against the Nazis, thus totally letting themselves off the hook for any collaboration and home-grown AS - whereas Germany had no choice but to face up to what it had done.

Sweden is definitely not a good place to be Jewish, specially not if you're even remotely practising.

And with regards to Denmark, I'll never forget hearing about Dan Uzan, the guard outside the Jewish community centre who was murdered almost 10 years ago 💔 Murdered while guarding outside a Bat Mitzvah party.

A Polish Holocaust-survivor relative always said she had absolutely no problem with Germans and would have no issue with ever visiting Germany. It was the Polish people and country she could never forgive as she felt they actively chose to hate and murder Jews whereas the Germans were made to do it.

I'm not saying she was right but that's how she felt about it anyway, even quite soon after WW2 ended.

And with regards to Sweden - Malmö (where Eurovision was held) is basically a permanent no-go zone for Jewish people. It's awful. Which is a shame, as it's meant to be an otherwise lovely city!

Yes I very much feel like an indigenous person. Can trace my family to 1600s but so what? Why do people feel they have to trash other's identities? If there are no indigenous in England that's area no indigenous anywhere. We are not the US and have only recently had large levels of immigration.

In Finchley the counter-protestors are actually protesting against Zionism - in a predominantly Jewish area. I am actually more sickened about this than the actual riots. The far left scare me much more than the far right at the moment.
Been to Stockholm recently and it was fine, saw one persons/family with pally flags, however I have heard Malmo is no-go for Jews.

Fed up seeing the responses to actual evidence of antisemitism with 'stop lying, because look at those Jews protesting'.

A few people actively demonstrating this tonight on 'Chat' of all places.

Like a stuck record.

I can only offer support as a non Jewish person. These leftist idiots think that Jews are white so don't suffer from racism. I had no idea until recently and thought the fears about Corbyn were overstated - so sorry. Why is KS so weak on this despite being married to a Jewish lady? I suppose he is putting his political career first?