It's hard being a Jew

I've just sent an email to a friend, and in doing so it has really helped me clarify how I'm feeling about what's going on at the moment, in the UK, so I thought I'd share (some of) it here (slightly reworked to make sense as a blog) too; it's raw, heartfelt and very personal.

Words matter. I know you can't understand why I'm not calling for a ceasefire right now. Here's why: the word "Ceasefire" is too simple. I hear it as asking for the Israeli army to stop it's operation in Gaza. When its chanted with only Palestinian flags being waved at these marches, it is very much setting the story of Israel being solely in control of the situation (and I'm not even referencing some of the placards and chants that are seen/heard at these marches that are so far from the reality as far as I can see it, and are calling for the annihilation of the State of Israel which just isn't part of the solution at all - Israelis and Palestinians aren't going anywhere. To call for one or the other to cease to exist is hugely problematic to say the least).

But we have to remember that this current round of violence started with the most brutal barbaric sickening acts of violence on children, women, men, elderly etc on Oct 7. Whilst there are still 132 innocent Israelis (including 4 Muslim Arab Israelis) in captivity in Gaza  - its now been 140 days - and the evidence is increasing that UN and schools and hospitals and churches and mosques were used by Hamas for the planning and holding of these people, and whilst Hamas could just right now release these people and return them to Israel, so whilst that hasn't happened, I can't put my name to simply calling for Israel to stop their operation in Gaza.

Inspired by a TED talk I listened to this week which I suggest is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to forming a view on what's going on, I call for a "CEASE-CONFLICT". This suggest a much broader complicated situation with responsibility from the Palestinian leadership, and from Hamas (are they the same thing I don't know) and the Israeli leadership to agree a sustainable, dignified, respectful long term solution to the living arrangements of Palestinians and Israelis.

But the bigger issue for me, and increasingly so as the days go on, is that this whole situation is a breeding ground for Jew hatred (I'm not calling it anti-Semitism any more as that feels too removed from me and my community right now. It's Jew hatred. It's close and it's scary). A few examples:

I've seen footage of individuals in my city, Leeds, at a pro-Palestine march shouting "F$*k the Jews". Whilst the march itself is not problematic per se  it is becoming increasingly intimidating and filled with Jew hatred and as a Jewish person in the UK right now it's ugly and intimidating.

Free Palestine was graffitied at Hillel House - the Jewish student centre  - on the Leeds University campus, 

A sticker of the Palestinian flag in the shape of the State of Israel was posted over the star of David necklace on the Amy Winehouse statue in Camden (yes, she was Jewish).

The Labour MP in Rochdale caught saying awful conspiracy theory against Jews.

Pro-Palestine sentiment is repeatedly slipping into Jew hatred - whether intentional or not, it is. The denial of it being so makes it even worse. A white person using language that is intimidating and derogatory towards a black person is always racist,, whether the white person knows it or not, or whether it was intentional or not. We would never tolerate the final decision being in the hands of the white person, yet it seems so when deciding if something is Jew hatred or not.

Buildings where Jewish people meet and statues of Jewish celebrities being vandalised with images over a complicated issue in the Middle East, is Jew hatred, regardless of what the perpetrators say.

Pedalling theories that Jewish people run the media and the world (yes, the Rothschilds are Jewish and yes this is classic Jew hatred that's been going on for centuries whether you realised this or not), that Israel knew about the attacks but didn't do anything to prevent them because it suited their bloodthirsty interest to kill as many Palestinians as possible in retaliation, is Jew hatred regardless of what the perpetrators say.

Please see what's going on here in the UK right now from my and my family and my community's point of view. We have never felt more fragile. Jew hatred isn't an issue in the Jewish community;   it's an issue in the wider British community and we need the wider British community to see it and be vocal in standing against it. Please be part of the solution. Please help me and my family and my community feel safe again in Britain.

To reiterate - I am not asking you to take a stand or a view on the incredibly complex issue in Israel / Gaza / Palestine / the West Bank, between Israel and Hamas. If you want to discuss that, I am always happy to continue dialogue and important conversations with people on this issue too; expanding our understandings, listening to people's stories that disrupt our own narratives, being open minded, curious and seeking to see the humanity everywhere.

And if that's not your interest, or you don't want to get involved in that, that's fine. We don't have the ear of the decision makers in Gaza or Israel or the West Bank. But we do have the ear of the leaders in our own communities, and the responsibility to help make our own communities safe for everyone who lives in them. So please call out the hatred towards a minority community here in the UK. Please see what is happening to us in the Jewish community in the UK right now and stand with us against it.

Thank you.

Sir Ben Helfgott, one of the Windermere Boys who fled Poland to safety in the UK during the Holocaust.

This sculpture is on display in the National Portrait Gallery, London.