Is what we hear every time there’s an election coming up, a terrorist attack, any form of
disaster, and yes, even a global pandemic. Known as “the oldest hatred”, antisemitism is, once again on the rise. The past decade has seen a huge surge in antisemitic hate crimes, from far-right neo-nazis, from left-wing anti-zionists, Jews are being attacked and violently killed now more than ever. Look at the United States, where ‘Jews will not replace us’ has become a common slogan of Virginian demonstrators, to attacks on Swedish synagogues, to arson of French Kosher restaurants, to the 34% increase in violent assaults against the UK’s Jewish population, to things as ridiculous as Harvey Weinstein’s sexual predation being blamed on his Jewish heritage. In Germany, Jews are attacked almost 3 times a day. Here in the UK, that number is over 4 times a day, as of 2017.
From the Roman Empire to the middle ages, to now, Jews have been systematically oppressed, killed and blamed. Every time a disaster happens a short term spike of antisemitic hate crime occurs. However, over the past several years, a clear and sustained increase in hate incidents has been observed. Here in the UK, from both parties blaming Jews for the EU referendum to a right-wing of antisemitic political leaders such as Boris Johnson to Labour’s refusal to acknowledge the rampant antisemitism within their party, to Holocaust memorials being actively opposed, Jews in the UK and globally are under threat.
As Silverman, director of the Campaign against Antisemitism put it:
‘Jews are singled out disproportionately and with increasing violence due to the spread of antisemitic conspiracy myths’ while ‘society refuses to address it’, and ‘the Crown Prosecution Service refuses to prosecute’.
What can you do to help the Jewish community?
Check out relevant charities, such as the Campaign Against Antisemitism and their petitions (linktree in bio).
Call out antisemitic myths, such as the pervasive belief that Jews are greedy, sneaky and
powerful behind the scenes, despite our systematic persecution.
Call out hate speech, from neo-Nazis to anti-Zionists (the latter is not inherently evil, but
often spills over into antisemitism, an attack on the whole Jewish state is an attack on Jews).
Ask your Jewish friends about their experiences with AS.
Accept that AS is on a huge rise.
Stay tuned for more articles on antisemitism!
Noah Mitchell
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