British anti-Semitic attacks rose in July to unprecedented levels of hatred.
BRITISH Jews are facing a wave of anti-Semitic attacks prompted by Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Synagogues have been daubed with graffiti, Jewish leaders have had hate-mail and ordinary people have been subjected to insults and vandalism.
On Thursday an all-party parliamentary inquiry will state that anti-Semitic violence has become endemic in Britain, both on the streets and university campuses. The report will call for urgent action from the Government, the police and educational establishments.
Mark Gardner, of the Community Security Trust, said: “In July, when the conflict in Lebanon began, we received reports of 92 incidents, which was the third-worst month since records began in 1984.†In 2000 the monthly average was between 10 and 30 incidents.
Gee, let’s stop to wonder why. Hm. Think. Oh, that’s right. The anti-Israel British press would be a reason. General British anti-Semitism would be another. You want to see an example of the average Brit’s anti-Semitism, go take a peek at any post on Harry’s Place that mentions Israel. The haters are always out in force there, replete with “We’re not anti-Semitic, we’re just anti-Zionist” refrains.
The former minister Denis MacShane, who chaired the parliamentary inquiry, said: “These figures confirm the evidence given to us that anti-Semitic attacks are a very real problem.â€
Gee. Ya think?
The July incidents “were more dispersed than usualâ€, Mr Gardner said. “It is usually a small number responsible for a large number of attacks, but these were very widespread across the country and included graffiti attacks on synagogues in Edinburgh and Glasgow.â€
The attackers, when visible, are from across society, he said. “When it’s verbal abuse, it’s just ordinary people in the street, from middle-class women to working-class men. All colours and backgrounds. We hardly ever see incidents involving the classic neo-Nazi skinhead. Muslims are over-represented.â€
Gee, that’s a shock. Well, no, not really.
In hate-mail to senior Jewish figures, ordinary Jewish people were being blamed for the deaths of Lebanese civilians. “There are also references to the Holocaust, saying that Hitler should have wiped out the Jews.â€
Mr Gardner said that the rise in attacks reflected increased hostility to Israel and Jews in the media and across society: “The number of anti-Semitic attacks reflects the mood music around Jews and Israel.â€
Yes, and we’ve been saying that for years. And it’s gotten worse, because the media are either willing stooges or actively abetting the demonization of Israel. And the portrayal of the Israel in the media allows some assholes to justify—in their warped little minds—an attack like this:
Ms Cohen, 34, said: “They asked if it was a Jewish restaurant. They said they were going to kill me and called me a ‘dirty Jew’, a ‘stinking Jew’. One of them had a knife. A colleague came out. They started punching him and throwing chairs.â€
Funny, isn’t it, how when the words “Islamic terrorists” are used, the world screams in protest that you are collectively punishing all Muslims for the actions of a few, but when Jews in Britain are attacked because of something going on in Israel, the world blames them for supporting Israel’s actions. It’s Israeli Double Standard Time, of course, applied to Jews.
Jon Benjamin, of the Board of Deputies, said: “The problem is the spin that Israel is an irredeemably evil regime, and we are concerned that it may become common currency to connect British Jews with this.â€
It already is common currency, and has always been. Muslims have jumped on the “Christ-killer” bandwagon, finding it another way to vilify Israel (but it’s not anti-Semitism, it’s anti-Zionism, remember that). And may I once again make a quick a shout-out to Mel Gibson, anti-Semite whether drunk or sober.)
And just for kicks and giggles, let’s look at al-Guardian’s take on this issue.
Critics of Israel ‘fuelling hatred of British Jews’
A group of prominent MPs, alarmed at the rise of anti-semitism in Britain, will accuse some left-wing activists and Muslim extremists this week of using criticism of Israel as ‘a pretext’ for spreading hatred against British Jews.The charge is made in a hard-hitting report – by MPs from all three major political parties – which will be unveiled at a Downing Street meeting with Tony Blair on Thursday.
Notice how the spin in the article is not that anti-Semitic attacks are up sharply in Britain. The spin is that the report is going to blame “some left-wing activists and Muslim extremists” for them. The Guardian rushes to defend the academics:
Pro-boycott activists have angrily rejected allegations of anti-semitism and accused their critics of using the charge to ward off political criticism of Israel.
Yes, and that’s a familiar refrain.
In the town of Billings, Montana, in 1993, neo-Nazis threw a cinder block through the window of a Jewish home that had a menorah stenciled on it. The police chief advised the family to take down any religious signs relating to Judaism. Tammie Schnitzer and her neighbors decided instead to confront the haters, and menorahs sprang up all over town—in Christian, atheist, and Jewish households. It didn’t stop the hatred completely—but the message was sent.
I don’t believe you will see any such action in Britain. I think you will see a revilement of the report, even though it was performed by a non-partisan inquiry commission. I think you will see editorials insisting that the reasons for the anti-Semitic attacks are Israel’s policies, and if only Israel would stop oppressing Muslims, she would be loved the world over. Or you will see utter denial that there is a problem with anti-Semitism in Britain, or perhaps a mixture of excuses.
One thing is sure. 350 years after Britain let Jews return to England, I’m still wondering about those Jews: “What the hell were they thinking?”
Color me ecstatic that my great-grandfather left Scotland for America in 1914. Thanks, Rabbi Mendelson. You died before I was born, but you left me a legacy of freedom to pursue my religion—something that is not guaranteed, apparently, in the U.K.
I was born in London in 1957, of Czech parents, my father (1916-1984) having been a Jewish WW2 veteran. Jews & Jewishness were his favorite topics of discussion, much of it negative – he insisted on having me baptized, and twice it actually caused him delusional episodes when someone made the mistake of thinking that my mother or I were Jewish! I have wanted to be Jewish all my life, but the severely Orthodox rabbinical authorities here make Gerut extremely difficult. I have also known that this is a strongly antisemitic country, with Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred particularly embedded in humor and in the youth culture and counter-culture. The only condition of real tolerance for real Jews, for most English people, is the prospect of their later complete cultural and genetic assimilation (what my father intended for me), e.g. playing a lot of cricket, fading into the background in a “sweet little village” in the Cotswold Hills, and marrying a pure Anglo-Saxon. I have always wanted to leave England – for the much less antisemitic Czech Republic, the US or most “heroically” Israel – but having a severely handicapped younger sister, this isn’t a real possibility open to me.
By the way, I didn’t want to be anonymous. My name’s Charles, I’ve sometimes posted on Little Green Footballs and elsewhere, and work for the BBC (go figure!) though as a systems engineer not a journalist.
Unfortunately it’s not only in London, here in Buenos Aires (Argentina) we had some problems last weeks.
For example, a group of Jews organized a rally against Iran near the embassy, and a violent group armed with sticks(controlled by the secret service) along with islamic groups.
Also in some universities (state not private) they had meetings saying this like “They [jews] are not enemy of the church, they are enemy of the life”
Very worrying.
The Brits have all sorts of issues which is why they are issuing spit kits to bus drivers, let alone the racism.
And belated thanks to my grandfather, Morris Meyers, who considered going to England in 1912 but wound up in Omaha. Thanks, Grandpa, for making sure I hit the jackpot of history by being born American.
Even in South America! Now what cause would South Americans have for sharing in such sentiment? What’s their excuse, colonialism, militarism, capitalism, who knows? It’s the political left. Look where the Left holds sway throughout the West, and there, you can find the strongholds of Western anti-semitism. The media, the BBC, Reuters, the universities. It’s a theme that David Horowitz develops at length.
I saw a story months ago that related how bad it was getting in South America.
Even reading these things, it’s difficult to believe. And yet in truth, it’s much worse. We see only the ripplings on the surface. For every event that is reported to the authorities, or finds it’s way into print, how many do not.
I’ve just finished rereading Herman Wouk’s great works, “Winds of War,” and “War and Remembrance.” I haven’t read them since the early ’80s. And at that time, they simply struck me as powerful historical pieces.
BUT now, it was very ominous reading those works. One can’t help but see the parallels to present day affairs.
The fact that attacks against DIASPORA JEWS increase when ISRAEL is involved in a conflict certainly puts the lie to the belief that one can be anti-Zionist (ie oppose Israel) without being antisemitic.
Came across this today and it might interest some:
Thank the Beeb for Jew hatred
and there is also a criticism by George Orwell:
AntiSemitism In Britian
“# david Says:
September 4th, 2006 at 8:21 am
The fact that attacks against DIASPORA JEWS increase when ISRAEL is involved in a conflict certainly puts the lie to the belief that one can be anti-Zionist (ie oppose Israel) without being antisemitic.”
David, the irony is you are falling into the exact same trap as the antisemites! Conflation and generalizations are the problems.
People who oppose some of Israel’s policies may or may not be antisemitic. More to the point, to suggest that those opposing Israel are attacking diaspora Jews is not a sensible or logical comment.
John, go read the Arab press, and you’ll see that sentiment echoed exactly. In fact, an article in the Turkish press centers itself around the idea that Israel is causing attacks on Jews worldwide because of her policies.
You need to read more. And it is hardly just the Muslim/Arab press that excuses anti-Semitic attacks by blaming them on Israeli polcies.
In fact, you’re not even taking into account the news articles that have all come out showing that attacks against Jews worldwide went up during the war with Hezbullah.
Zionism was the movement for the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel. It is now the movement for the continued survival of Israel. If you are anti-Zionist, you are against the existence of the Jewish state.
Sounds pretty anti-Semitic to me.
Just because “anti-Zionists” have perverted the meaning of the word (they seem to mean “anti-Oppressors Of The Poor and Downtrodden Palis Who Would Otherwise Have A State If The Israelis Weren’t So Racist And Fascist” doesn’t mean that we have to agree with their perversion.