“The Rising Anti-Semitism in Scottish Education” - discuss?

[Dunderheided]

This reads slightly as if written by AI - ‘a part of Scotland called Edinburgh’ and ‘verbal assailment’ - but it’s an interesting perspective on an aspect of Scottish education. I did smile at the description of the Fettes headmistress as ‘obviously leftwing’ (!) but the final two paragraphs are really quite damning, and I’d be interested to hear if anyone agreed with them. (The Times of Israel seems to have a large international audience, but it sounds like the author is still just a young person finding their feet in the world, and this is just a blog.)

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-rising-antisemitism-in-scottish-education/

I think the rise in this attitude is because of uncontrolled mass immigration being forced upon the UK.

If you raise genuine concerns about this some hard line left person immediately lables you racist. The goverment don't listen and John Swinney is actively encouraging migrants despite the fact the country does not have the housing, infrastructure, finances or services to support more people coming into it. Also many of these migrants loiter around towns, do not respect woman,do not work and do not integrate.

This whole situation is reaching boiling point and innocent, genuine, hard working people of other faiths or migrants who contribute and integrate are now facing a potentially dangerous situation.

If the government would listen to Scottish and British people, respect them, reinstate our borders, make it clear that the UK is a Christian country which other faiths are welcome in to practice but not overtake our religion then things would change for the better.

The SNP are probably going to get mainly booted out at the next election because of there woke policies and migrants welcome policy which creates anger and division. Labour are probably going to anilated to at the local elections. I suspect the next general election Rupert Lowe will win because he is listening to British peoples concerns and putting together policies around this.

Hmm. Well obviously if that was the experience, that was the experience and I'm not here to say that the poster's lying. I am assuming he's male - the blog is very careful not to state either way.

Couple of points - it reads very oddly as if he started off at Fettes and then went to Flora Stevenson whereas it will have been the other way round surely. Also the lack of Jews in Edinburgh. This has always been the case. In the 1890s a large number of Jews fled eastern Europe and arrived in the UK, most made their way to Glasgow as their ultimate goal was N America. There has always been a higher Jewish population in the west, and there is a Jewish primary school on the south side of Glasgow.

Parents are permitted to withdraw their children from religious observance in Scottish state schools which is what this lad's parents appeared to do (even though Fettes is very much not a state school). As for being required to go in on Shabbos or other Jewish holy days - well that's different in that state schools here would not allow (for example) all Muslim children to skip school on a Friday, or Hindu children to take time off for Diwali.

The Minecraft incident is awful bu again is this evidence of systemic anti-semitism?

Weird article. But as a Jewish immigrant in Scotland I can confirm my kids have had plenty of unpleasant experiences at school. I don’t really understand this article though as the timeline makes no sense and the writing is pretty awful.

Sorry I don't mean this to come across the wrong way but do you think its got worse recently? What kinds of thing's have happened to them?

Absolutely nothing before October 7th. Since then…

My daughter was surrounded by a group of children on a school bus saying she couldn’t leave until she picked a side. She was 9.

A boy at her school told her he hopes her whole family dies

When she was 10 she was followed around at break time for a few weeks by children whispering Free Palestine

Her first month of high school when she was 11 she was surrounded in the stairwell by a group of teenage boys telling her they were going to follow her home after school so they could ‘get all of you’. The police were involved. She didn’t know them which means someone told them she was Jewish.

a group of boys stopped her in the library and told her Anne Frank was weak. Asked her if she was. She is not, we signed her up for self defense classes after the first high school incident as we had to walk her home from
school for a while so she was able to get past. This might have had nothing to do with the war but it was a terrible thing to say.

some other smaller things but those are the headlines.

my kids are the only Jewish children at their schools - except for when they were both at primary together. And they are very open about it.

Bloody hell OP this is appalling. Your poor kids 😭. One of my kids was bullied because he is autistic and that was bad enough. The police ended up having to deal with it. Its heartbreaking as a parent but whats happened to your kids is worse.

Is it unusal in your area to be Jewish? I genuinely dont know any local families who are Jewish but that's because religion isnt a huge thing in my area (North of scotland) so it never really gets mentioned.

My daughter is autistic as well so sometimes didn’t handle it well. I don’t actually know if anything has been said to my son as he’s super calm about everything and has only said ‘nothing has happened that’s a big problem‘ which isn’t really a full answer.

I live in edinburgh. There aren’t no Jewish families but there are none in our area and no more than a few families in any area I’m aware of from synagogue and such. We honestly never had a moment’s worry before October 7th so this whole thing has been pretty overwhelming.

This is so sad. I wonder what on earth these kids are thinking or how badly they have been brought up to behave like that because someone is Jewish. This is not something I thought would happen in scotland but clearly it does. I worry about how intolerant this country is becoming.

Im really sorry to hear this @PurpleThistle7 I have an aquintance from university who is Jewish and he is the only Jew iv ever known. I went to university in another part of the country so im not really in touch with him now. Im not aware that at that time he got any stick for being Jewish. I cant say i gave him being Jewish any thought. Anyway iv noticed for the past year or so on Facebook he has been putting up posts about him and his kids experiencing difficulties. Its very sad as he was a lovely guy, and of course, absolutely the same as anyone else so I really dont understand the rise in hate. I dont think the snp position on gaza is helping matters.

Well of all the incidents only once has a parent gotten in touch to apologise. Obviously the kids aren’t coming up with it themselves for the most part so it’s generational. I think some of it is because there are so few Jews most Scottish people genuinely don’t think about it at all so other sorts of bigotry is more common. But the last couple years have kept the light on us so all sorts of ugliness is coming out. Which is even more frightening as we are often so isolated.

Are the parents always told? In my oldest dcs primary school (he is now in secondary) the head teacher never told parent's when there kids were bullying others. It was a huge part of the reason bullying was rife in that school.

Ugliness seems to be coming out all over scotland. Its totally unacceptable. Nobody should feel isolated but so many do.

I’m in a Jewish area and hear a lot of casual anti-semitism from people who don’t understand the difference between Zionists and Jews.

That said, there was some pro-Zionist behaviour at school recently and I challenged the school that they had allowed this to proceed. They’re scared of looking like anti-semites.

The Shul and synagogues have additional security measures which is a horrible position to be in but puts some minds at rest.

greater education about Judaism has always been needed but is of great importance now.

Can you explain what you mean by pro-zionist behaviour? Better education is definitely needed.

Bloody hell, sorry your kids are are being targeted, op.
What are these bullying kids hearing at home?

Sorry just to refer to your point towards the end - children absolutely would be allowed a day off for Diwali, or Eid etc - not for something that is weekly though but a major festival. Staff are too. (These days - don't know how recently this started)
That's really interesting about why there are more Jewish people in the west coast

My children have definitely taken time off for Rosh Hashanah or similar. State school.

personally if I was a religious Jew I wouldn’t choose a school that runs on Saturdays. Seems an obvious solution. All state schools in edinburgh finish at noon so very handy for Shabbat.

@Fundays12

I think the rise in this attitude is because of uncontrolled mass immigration being forced upon the UK

The UK does not have "uncontrolled mass immigration", and nothing is "forced" upon the UK by anyone but our own elected lawmakers.

If you raise genuine concerns about this some hard line left person immediately lables you racist

You don't have to be "hardline left" to spot racists espousing racist views and repeating racist tropes. Putting the word "genuine" in front of "concerns" does not turn ignorance and untruth into fact.

The goverment don't listen and John Swinney is actively encouraging migrants despite the fact the country does not have the housing, infrastructure, finances or services to support more people coming into it.

The government was elected by the populace on the basis of the policies in their manifesto, so no, they shouldn't be "listening" to a vocal minority agitating for changes which are completely at odds with those policies.

This whole situation is reaching boiling point and innocent, genuine, hard working people of other faiths or migrants who contribute and integrate are now facing a potentially dangerous situation

"other faiths" as opposed to what precisely? and who is making this situation dangerous? Presumably you are referring to the mobs hanging around hotels shouting abuse at anyone they consider a bit foreign looking, led by people who are continually appearing in court due to their behaviours at these gatherings, whereupon it's revealed they invariably have a string of past convictions for violence and so on. I agree, these people are clearly potentially dangerous, as well as being an utter embarrassment.

f the government would listen to Scottish and British people, respect them, reinstate our borders, make it clear that the UK is a Christian country which other faiths are welcome in to practice but not overtake our religion then things would change for the better

Well for a start our borders have never been removed, so it's impossible to "reinstate" them. The UK is emphatically not "a Christian country" and has not been for some time. The majority of people in the UK have no religion whatsoever, and this is even more marked in Scotland than south of the border. Christianity might be your personal religion, but it is not "our" religion.

The SNP are probably going to get mainly booted out at the next election because of there woke policies and migrants welcome policy which creates anger and division

This is at odds with every single poll going back over a year now, which suggests the make up of the Scottish Parliament post-May is likely to remain pretty much as is, with Reform perhaps giving the Labour party a close run thing for a distant 2nd place to the incumbents.

Just a final point about immigration and Christianity - the overwhelming majority of people coming to the UK since Brexit are coming here on work visas, mainly from former Commonwealth countries, and they are predominantly Christian themselves, much more so than the indigenous population, so contrary to your ill-informed view, they are actually increasing the propensity for Christianity within the UK, not diluting it.

I suspect the next general election Rupert Lowe will win because he is listening to British peoples concerns and putting together policies around this

Currently polling around 7%, so no, I don't believe this is remotely likely.

Ugliness seems to be coming out all over scotland. Its totally unacceptable

Yes, at anti-immigration demos in the main.

I worry about how intolerant this country is becoming

Said without a hint of irony and with an utter absence of self awareness. 🙄

Yes a minority of hard wing lefties do label anyone who raises concerns about the huge influx of males arriving on boats as racist. Why is it racist to question is this safe? Is it appropriate?. Its also even less racist to question why foreign male rapists are allowed to continue to reside in our country because of there " right to a family life". How does there right to a family life superceed someone's right not to be raped? Look at the national news today you will see the situation i am referring to.

John Swinney is stating "migrants welcome" whilst ignoring things like the we have a huge housing shortage in most areas of scotland. Why encourage more people into a country which lacks housing, infrastructure and services for its current population.

By borders I refer to the UK borders. The mass influx of men on boats arriving daily on an island suggests we lack border control as a country.

As for polls do you not realise they are fixed? I genuinely do not know any woman who will vote for SNP now because of certain policies.

Rupert Lowes party only fully registered as a formal party 2 days ago the fact they are already polling at 7 percent should show how much interest there is.

I dislike both anti immigrant demonstrations and those who thugs who hound migrants at hotels. There are far better ways to raise concerns than by shouting in the middle of the street.

Your right. Your quite ironic.

I agree: it’s a strange article and perhaps irresponsible of the Times of Israel to use one data point to publish a blog with such a sweeping headline.

That said, @PurpleThistle7 I am very dismayed to read of your daughter’s experiences.

I didn’t know that Glasgow’s Jewish history had connections with onward migration intentions, that’s very interesting. I do know there’s a Jewish cemetery in Edinburgh’s southside, which seems very old (if small, and always kept locked).

Our children are going to grow up in a different climate than we did, and as a society I think we’re really going to have to try very hard to carve out a sweet spot that combines tolerance, understanding, freedom of speech, critical thinking, respect for human rights and the expression of faith. Honestly, I think it’s not easy: living by your own principles in a pluralistic society, without slipping into either addled relativism or prejudiced intolerance.

My primary school aged children do have some awareness of what’s going on in the world, and perhaps I should have a conversation with them about the differences between between Judaism as an Abrahamic religion, Zionism, and the actions of a democratically elected Israeli government.

Yes a minority of hard wing lefties do label anyone who raises concerns about the huge influx of males arriving on boats as racist

My point was that there are also plenty of people who are in no way left-wing, let alone hard left-wing, who also abhor racism and call it out for what it is, yet the defence of the actual racists is invariably to screech about "the hard left" in attempt to normalise their own views as the mainstream and paint the more moderate view as the fringe extreme, when it is nothing of the sort.

Its also even less racist to question why foreign male rapists are allowed to continue to reside in our country because of there " right to a family life"

"less racist".

So still a bit racist then, just not as racist as some even more racist stuff.

How does there right to a family life superceed someone's right not to be raped?

It does not, and this is a bizarre mangling of logic in an attempt to make a point. Criminals are re-patriated post-sentence where and when it's appropriate. Where it's not appropriate is when the criminal's family are legally resident in the UK, as repatriating them would constitute punishment of the family who have done nothing wrong, at odds with how justice operates in the UK. The "right not to be raped" is rather immaterial after the fact, because even if you repatriated in every instance it would not undo the crime and restore the victim's rights.

Look at the national news today you will see the situation i am referring to

Yes, I'm sure if you look at the usual right-wing shitrags and watch tripe like GB News you'll see and read no end of this sort of stuff, given that they are now not much more than propaganda platforms for right-wing grifters.

John Swinney is stating "migrants welcome" whilst ignoring things like the we have a huge housing shortage in most areas of scotland. Why encourage more people into a country which lacks housing, infrastructure and services for its current population

I don't have an issue welcoming asylum seekers from countries with ongoing civil wars and so on, and wider privations that make the UK's issues seem trifling by comparison. Given that the UK is frequently a protagonist in precisely why some countries have been bombed flat, or are riven with ethnic conflicts that mean it would be certain death for parts of their population to remain, the least the UK can do is welcome in a tiny proportion of the diaspora displaced.

By borders I refer to the UK borders. The mass influx of men on boats arriving daily on an island suggests we lack border control as a country.

And your solution to the age-old problem of islands being surrounded by water is what? Have the RN blow the boats out of the water?

As for polls do you not realise they are fixed?

Even the ones run by former Tories that say much the same thing as the others despite an obvious underlying bias? Ok, playing along for a moment - "fixed" by whom, and to what end?

Rupert Lowes party only fully registered as a formal party 2 days ago

Nope. Formally registered in June 2025, formally launched February 14th 2026.

the fact they are already polling at 7 percent should show how much interest there is

Well yes, 7% to be exact. Not bad for something that is clearly grift intended to push the Overton even further rightwards and make Farage's company look sane by comparison.

The level of hate your kids have encountered really surprised me @PurpleThistle7. My kids are in an Edinburgh primary and my youngest has a Jewish friend. I’ve not heard of any incidents and I talk to the parents regularly at school. I’m anti Israel, but would never treat the kid any differently as I do my kids other friends.

Racism should be called out if that's what it is. However those who use the word to silence anyone with a different opinion to them are an issue.

Actually I will change my wording. Its not racist at all to question if someone from another country regardless of there nationality or colour should be allowed to live in the UK after having broken our laws by raping someone. The rights of the victim and safety of others should always superceed the rights of the perpetrator. Its not right wing nonsense. A foreign man raped a woman, was allowed to stay and raped again. His family should be entitled to stay. As you pointed out they have done nothing wrong but he should not have been allowe to stay in this country long enough to rape a second woman.

I dont have a problem welcoming genuine asylum seekers. However we have to limit the numbers to ensure our housing, services and infrastructure can cope.

I didnt ever suggested bombing them. Thats your comment not mine which in itself is concerning. However more could be done to stop the crossings. A floating sea wall,a large fence, the military turning the boats around. At present they RNLI are offering an escort service which has resulted in a mass drop in funding for them. The government should be managing this not the RNLI having to step in.

All polls can be fixed by asking certain demographics of supporters who they plan to vote for.

Farage is not and will never be sane. The silent majority are those the Mps need to start asking view of. Not that hard right or hard left people but the everyday man or woman who is struggling

I am not surprised, there has been a rise in antisemitism in Scotland and I’ve been on the receiving end of that, so it seeping into education isn’t surprising, especially when you see some of the things being said on social media which kids then parrot.

It's a shame that accusations of anti-semitism is used now to silence criticism of anything Israeli or zionist.

It's about as meaningful a term as transphobia is now. Its just a word that's weaponised

I dont have a problem welcoming genuine asylum seekers. However we have to limit the numbers to ensure our housing, services and infrastructure can cope

But you apparently have an issue with John Swinney saying precisely the same thing. 😐

A floating sea wall,A floating sea wall,a large fence, the military turning the boats around. At present they RNLI are offering an escort service which has resulted in a mass drop in funding for them. The government should be managing this not the RNLI having to step in., the military turning the boats around. At present they RNLI are offering an escort service which has resulted in a mass drop in funding for them. The government should be managing this not the RNLI having to step in

Ok, I'm still going to give benefit of doubt and reply as if this is actually a genuine post.

a floating sea wall

Across one of the busiest shipping lanes on the planet? Good luck with that.

a large fence

Where, precisely? On top of your floating sea wall?

the military turning the boats around

Which is precisely what they do, given that international law stipulates they should be escorted to the nearest safe port. French patrols take boats to French ports, UK patrols to UK ports. Unless you are suggesting the UK should intrude into other sovereign states' territorial waters and take it upon themselves to police them, which would constitute an illegal act of aggression, then I don't really understand what else you are alluding to by "turn the boats around".

At present they RNLI are offering an escort service

They are not "offering" anything. This is the entire purpose and remit of the RNLI, as well as it being a legal requirement to aid vessels on the sea considered to be at risk.

The government should be managing this not the RNLI having to step in

Just unfortunate then, that when France offered to host UK asylum-processing centres on French soil, thereby entirely removing any excuse whatsoever for anyone wishing to seek asylum in the UK jumping into a boat and crossing the Channel, the UK government refused to entertain the idea.

All polls can be fixed by asking certain demographics of supporters who they plan to vote for

So all the pollsters in Scotland are deliberately contriving a majority of SNP voters in their respondents, in order to manufacture an outcome that suggests SNP as the largest party again come May? Err... ok 🤣