Mick Hartley

A kind of silent, slow-moving Kristallnacht

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Mick Hartley

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; friends….

Everyone who contributed to this article said they’d had “the conversation” about leaving the UK. “I’m a very British Jew and I always saw my home being here,” says [Marc] Phillipson. “Now I’m not convinced it will be. More for my children’s generation, I’m worried about being such a tiny minority. Even after October 7, Israel might be the safest place to live.”

“When I go to Israel I feel like I can breathe,” says [Steven] Steyn. “I was in a war zone the last time but it felt safer than London.”

In the film Chariots Of Fire, the sprinter Harold M Abrahams says something about anti-Semitism in 1924 that applies to 2024. “Sometimes I say to myself, ‘Hey, steady on, you’re imagining all this.’ And then I catch that look again. Catch it on the edge of a remark, feel a cold reluctance in a handshake.”

“Sometimes in the Jewish community we miss the fact that most people in Britain are horrified by anti-Semitism,” says Rich. “We need the help of public organisations who are rightly quick to address other forms of racism but have rarely thought about anti-Semitism before. And from liberal educated people who would not say prejudiced things about other minorities but think this is the one hatred you’re allowed to have. People need to speak up about it and recognise the impact it’s having.”

The representative "nice, decent, progressive" British institution would be the BBC. I wonder how much their coverage – every Hamas claim featured as main headline news, every Hamas death statistic religiously repeated – has contributed to this antisemitic surge.

Comments

  1. Joanne Avatar
    Joanne

    It must be somewhat surreal these days for Jews living in Britain.
    The familiar streets, offices, classrooms, and shops always seemed so normal and safe; and the friends you’ve had for years seemed so grounded, sensible, so like you. But now your familiar world has shifted into a sort of Twilight Zone. What was once comfortable, even banal, now has a chilling aspect.
    Meanwhile, others ignore or deny what you’re going through, almost as if there were a mass gaslighting going on. Instead of feeling safe, you now feel exposed, with few allies willing to stand up for you. This is not how anyone living in 21st-century Britain is supposed to feel. But there you are.
    If I were, say, a middle-aged British Jew, I’d probably stay in the hope that this will all blow over. Also, starting again in a new country may be difficult at my age. But I might encourage my children to consider leaving for Israel or the USA; in Israel, at least, I could then join them when I retire.
    If I were in my twenties, I might think of starting my career overseas, or of getting some good work experience for a couple of years and then emigrating.
    In any case, I’d be torn between two unwanted outcomes: (i) drawing negative conclusions about Britain too hastily, and leaving everything behind unnecessarily; and (ii) losing valuable time by remaining in a country where I could never feel fully at home.

    Reply

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