The Jewish community in Britain has suffered a collective and profound trauma since Hamas's barbaric attacks on Israel last October
The Jewish community in Britain has suffered a collective and profound trauma since Hamas's barbaric attacks on Israel last OctoberCaption: Flyers and posters showing the names and faces of Israeli hostages seized by Hamas are seen after being damaged, torn and defaced in Waterloo, London in celebration of Hamas’s attack on southern Israel, British Jews could be forgiven for thinking it was an aberration.
For some Jewish families, the marches opened deep divisions, pitching parents, some the children of Holocaust survivors, against children unfamiliar with the long and complex history of Israel. Long-term friendships have been broken as Jews tried in vain to explain to their non-Jewish friends why they might deplore Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu but held deep-rooted affection for a country the size of Wales, some 5000km away.
This experience was not confined to Oxford. Jonny Ross, a Jewish student at London’s City University, said that he had been prepared for hostile comments after October 7 but had been shocked at how open antisemitism had been on campus. “On one occasion I was accused of being a Zionist simply for wearing blue and white trainers,” he said. “On another, students openly praised Yahwa Sinwar when I passed them in the corridor”.
“Along with the regular protest marches and the extremism and division stirred up online by the conflict, it has left many British Jews wondering if this country has changed.” “I was really scared after October 7. On the other hand, I feel that the bombing of Gaza is unconscionable and the British government should not be supporting it.”
That is a sentiment which resonates with many British Jews, whatever their religious and ethnic backgrounds.
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