Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win
A few weeks ago, my teenage son was in a library revising for his exams. A woman sat down opposite, looked at the star of David necklace he has recently started wearing and glared at him. Then she placed her water bottle between them with its “Boycott Israeli Apartheid” sticker turned to face his way.
She didn’t speak to my son. She didn’t ask what he thinks about Israel, Gaza, Netanyahu or Hamas. She doesn’t know whether he has friends or relatives who have been taken hostage or killed (he doesn’t), or if he has been on any pro-Palestine marches (he hasn’t). Whether it is antisemitic or not to boycott Israel is beside the point. She seemed to be triggered by the simple sight of a Jew. There’s no more basic expression of racism than that.
The idea that Jews are local proxies for Israel, answerable for its deeds and suitable targets for the anger it attracts, can be lethal. In Zurich, a Jewish man was stabbed repeatedly in the street. In Berlin, a synagogue was firebombed. In Canada, shots were fired at Jewish schools. In London, a group of Israelis were attacked by a gang who heard them speaking Hebrew and asked “Are you Jewish?” Perhaps my son was lucky it was only a sticker.
These violent episodes are the exception. But hostility towards Jews is there in the daily abuse, threats, graffiti and online posts that make up a record rise in the UK in antisemitic hate incidents that began the moment Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October. For younger Jews at school or university, you can throw social isolation into the mix. Fears that Jewish life in Britain is becoming untenable are overblown but, for a community numbering about 300,000, the mood music is full of foreboding.
www.theguardian.com
She didn’t speak to my son. She didn’t ask what he thinks about Israel, Gaza, Netanyahu or Hamas. She doesn’t know whether he has friends or relatives who have been taken hostage or killed (he doesn’t), or if he has been on any pro-Palestine marches (he hasn’t). Whether it is antisemitic or not to boycott Israel is beside the point. She seemed to be triggered by the simple sight of a Jew. There’s no more basic expression of racism than that.
The idea that Jews are local proxies for Israel, answerable for its deeds and suitable targets for the anger it attracts, can be lethal. In Zurich, a Jewish man was stabbed repeatedly in the street. In Berlin, a synagogue was firebombed. In Canada, shots were fired at Jewish schools. In London, a group of Israelis were attacked by a gang who heard them speaking Hebrew and asked “Are you Jewish?” Perhaps my son was lucky it was only a sticker.
These violent episodes are the exception. But hostility towards Jews is there in the daily abuse, threats, graffiti and online posts that make up a record rise in the UK in antisemitic hate incidents that began the moment Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October. For younger Jews at school or university, you can throw social isolation into the mix. Fears that Jewish life in Britain is becoming untenable are overblown but, for a community numbering about 300,000, the mood music is full of foreboding.
The 7 October Hamas attack opened a space – and antisemitism filled it. British Jews are living with the consequences | Dave Rich
The enduring myths find new ways to be relevant. They underpin the targeting of Jewish people, whatever their views on the conflict in Gaza, says author and campaigner Dave Rich
www.theguardian.com
