This is really upsetting. Have been ill in bed today (thanks @limmud!) but we were talking about taking the kids to Hampstead today. Would have been a seriously awkward conversation if they saw the graffiti
It has been a difficult few years for British Jews. A tiny community (300,000) having to face down a rise in anti-Jewish racism, exacerbated by factionalism and conspiracy theories which are on awful display here - 911 probably refers to a conspiracy theory that Jews caused 9/11
It has been illuminating to see who has stuck up for Jewish people and who has not. The fusion of political factionalism and anti-semitism has been a pernicious development as a sizeable group of people now believe it is inherent in their political identity to mistrust Jews
I think there have been some positives too - some people who had no reason to think about antisemitism have now got a more sophisticated understanding of it. I have certainly experienced that myself.
But the thing which worries me is that there is still a sizeable group (often self-described as “socialists” on twitter though I do not recognise much actual socialism) who have been radicalised to believe, wrongly, that Jews are to blame for what happened to Corbyn.
When we look back at this period I think that some people will wonder how they got caught up in a genuinely antisemitic narrative, which is nothing much to do with ‘left and right’ and more to do with intolerance, conspiricism and factionalism.
I have no idea who did the graffiti or why. It may be one of those random, disgraceful things which has nothing to do with wider trends. Or it may be just another IRL manifestation of what’s been going on for the past few years and which Jewish people have been warning about
I want 2020 to be about dialling down the polarisation. Time to remember how much we share, that people we disagree with politically are not evil or suffering from some kind of affliction. Enough with politics being bound to identity, and therefore compromise being impossible
Hope that this is possible. God knows we don’t need more radicalisation and extremism. Hope that my kids never have to experience antisemitism like I and other British Jews do on a regular basis. Hope that we can build a society based on good faith and common humanity.
