TLDR: thank you for being a support network in these worrying times ❤️ the following message may be incoherent - it is my thoughts and feelings from my overwhelmed mind.
Hi, so I was on here a while ago, (different username) and had to take some time off as it all got too much for me, aka, the cesspit that we are calling the CITME board.
When the war broke out, my heart bled for the families, the hostages, the victims, the people. As other posters have said before; it felt personal. I actually don’t have friends or family in Israel* but as a Jewish woman in the UK it is an important part of my identity. It is my safe space to know there is one place in the world that would accept me for me - and given the current state of things here it’s even more important to me than before. Anyway, the silence was deafening after the atrocities of October 7th. I kept waiting for someone to say something to me. I kept waiting to see more online, a social media push… but of course there was nothing or practically nothing. When I posted about the rise of antisemitism here and the attacks that were happening in the UK, about British Jews being abused, houses painted on, my child’s nursery having to step up the security… I still heard nothing. It really resonated with me that people just didn’t care. But why? I have friends, why would they not care this is happening? Why didn’t they show support? I mean we all know the answer here but the hurt was unpalatable. The truth is people don’t like Jews
How are we living in a world where Hamas have won a social media war and regular people across the world are lapping up the propaganda? So many deaths and attacks and such bias. Why don’t people care that Israelis are being attacked all the time. A poster from another thread said something along the lines of would the world look differently if thousands of Israelis were being killed, aka, if Israel hadn’t of invested in protecting its citizens and instead used them as human shields. So essentially people shouting “but 1000 isn’t comparable to 30,000” just want more Israeli deaths… so if the “homemade” rockets killed 10,000 Israelis it would be fair game?!
I still find it completely, overwhelmingly bizarre, that terroists came into Israel, attacked and did worse to those innocent people, took hostages, declared a war, paraded bodies around, shared footage of some civilians in Gaza celebrating, broadcast their atrocities, and the world turned round and said yeah we blame Israel too. I can’t believe these hate marches have been going on our streets for months.I can’t believe that people are claiming that nothing antisemitic happens. I don’t feel safe going into the city, let alone my local city centre. I feel targeted, I feel hated, I feel alone.
I cheer inside when I see some of the usernames that have been trying to talk sense into those who are determined not to listen on the CITME board. Thank you. I tried, I tried compassion and understanding on both sides, but I couldn’t carry on. I felt I was banging my head repeatedly against a wall. It’s just a board of hate.
I couldn’t be a part of it any more. It was doing my mental health no good. Everything on that board is topsy turvy. Everyone has to have a link to something - only a link they deem okay though, Al Jazeera - tick/ the guardian - tick! No you can’t have an Israeli newspaper as that’s biased, no you can’t have the mail, obviously!! * X is fine and you can have Hamas supporters of course, but If you mention, Rachel Riley lord help you.
Moreover, it’s a playground for tit for tat, pointless points, derailing, just echoing the same thing Israel (ahem - Jew) is bad. Throwing around words like genocide, being facetious, being nasty, being petulant in arguments. It’s is a truly unhealthy place, and I can’t believe mumsnet is allowed to have it up!!!
Anyway, I came to this board in hope to find out I wasn’t alone, and I feel over the past few months I know you other posters. Odd as it sounds! It’s so refreshing to not feel so alone in this, so thank you. You have all given me hope.
I wear my Magen David with pride, I am a Jew. My children are Jews. We are proud of who we are. Israel is significant and important to us and we stand with the people of Israel who live under attack.
what is this strange and offensive obsession for pro-Palestine people to spell Israel Isreal?
** my grandmother always told us to hide being Jewish and to not tell people unless we trusted them - I now see why.
although one regular who usually denounces the mail posted something when the narrative suited them - the irony.
*I’ve reported so much hate on there already
**I find it very testing how people on the CITME board state there is no antisemitism or worse say “it won’t be long till the antisemitism card comes out” it’s like a stick to beat us with.