Evidence of antisemitic views within the Labour Party have barely left the headlines in recent weeks, with leader Jeremy Corbyn being forced to apologise numerous times for what he calls the "pockets of antisemitism" within his party. Just this week, leaked papers revealed the shocking extent of the problem and the lengths the party needs to go to overcome it, while Jewish groups have dismissed Corbyn's stance on the issue as weak and insincere.
But such bigoted attitudes aren't just a blight on the political left or in politics as a whole. While the battle against antisemitic attitudes is ongoing, reports of antisemitic abuse in the UK have increased drastically in recent years. The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that works with Jewish community organisations and police forces, recorded 1,382 such incidents last year – the highest total ever – which included 145 incidents classed as "assaults," up from 108 in 2016. Verbal abuse in the street is common place, the charity says, while almost one in five incidents in 2017 involved social media.
“Hatred is rising and Jewish people are suffering as a result," said the charity's chief executive, David Delew. "This should concern everybody because it shows anger and division that threaten all of society. We have the support of government and police, but prosecutions need to be more visible and more frequent; while too many others act in ways that encourage antisemites and isolate Jews.”
With the Brexit referendum contributing to a rise in hate crime in the UK, any examples of discrimination or abuse based on factors like religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability status or anything else, should concern progressives countrywide.
Refinery29 UK asked five women to tell us what it's really like being Jewish in the UK today, here's what they told us...
Miriam Mirwitch, 24, is the national chair of Young Labour, the Labour Party’s youth movement, and a political education officer for the Jewish Labour Movement. She lives in London.
The majority of the antisemitism I experience is online. I receive antisemitic tweets, messages and emails roughly once a week. It tends to spike when I’m tweeting to condemn racism or when I've stood in internal Labour Party elections and at that point I've received hundreds in a day. They tend to be anything from accusing me of being loyal to a country I have no connection to, to antisemitic tropes about my appearance or involvement in ‘conspiracy theories.’
Because I ‘pass’ or don’t obviously ‘appear’ as religious, I don’t tend to experience discrimination from strangers. I sometimes hear antisemitic microaggression s in my non-online life, but the most obvious and frequent antisemitism I experience is online. There's a section of antisemitism that arises from ignorance and misinformation. It can be easy online to repeat soundbites without realising they have antisemitic undertones, especially for young activists. It's vital that we stand firm against all racism and prejudice, including antisemitism.
Antisemitism has existed for thousands of years, but there are spaces on the internet that give it a bigger profile and the terrifying rise of the far-right across global politics is magnifying this. As I’ve taken on different roles within Young Labour, I’ve become more of a target, both from the far-right and the far-left. I’m lucky to have had support from incredible comrades across the Labour and trade union movement. The Jewish Labour Movement is vital in fighting for Jewish voices within the Labour Party and standing against antisemitism.
It's really notable that Jewish women online seem to experience much more antisemitism online than Jewish men. Trolls see us as easier targets and the antisemitic messages I receive are very often also gendered. At the same time, the best thing about a Jewish woman in the UK is the community of other Jewish women. The way we look out for each other and work to lift each other up in the face of discrimination is incredible. Within the Labour movement there are so many inspirational Jewish women. I’ve been so lucky to have their support.
Jade Hadden, 26, a Content Manager at iProspect, a digital marketing agency. Originally from Liverpool, she now lives in Manchester and grew up in what she describes as a traditional household.
I went to a Jewish School which allowed non-Jewish students, but we had some lessons separately to learn more about Judaism while the other students learned world religions. I remember boys in my year commenting that we thought we were “special” as we'd gone on a trip abroad. We'd actually gone to Poland to visit concentration camps during our A-Levels and had rocks thrown at us because we were Jewish. One older woman was hit on the head and injured. Most recently, I was speaking to someone about my finances and how I was looking to get a mortgage but I didn’t really understand it all. The person casually commented, “Well, you’d know a lot about it, I’m sure, I bet you get loads of advice from your family.” My mum has always worked in business admin and my dad’s a builder – no one in my family works in finance. It was a stereotypical comment about Jews and money. I didn’t know how to react apart from smile. The person didn’t know that what they'd said was wrong, it was very casual.
I wouldn’t say I've experienced antisemitism more frequently recently, but I'm fortunate. I know the number of attacks across the UK have really increased. However, I do feel I have to defend myself when things happen in the news to do with Jews or Israel. I scroll through Twitter and Facebook a lot and have noticed some horrific comments, for example, "Hitler should have finished you all off." I always wonder why, what have I done for someone to hate me to so much, for just being myself? Racism on a whole is on the rise and shouldn’t be ignored.
I think I'd experience even more antisemitism if I were a man as they're easier to identify. To an average person, I just look like a normal woman in my twenties, I don’t dress any differently, apart from wearing a Chai around my neck (a Jewish symbol which means “to life”). But if you're a male wearing a Kippah, the skull cap, or Ultra-Orthodox, black garments, you're easier to identify.
I love being able to keep my traditions while mixing in with society. At work, I'm not shy about the fact I keep Kosher and I like talking to my colleagues about my religion. The sense of having a community, all across the UK or the world, is also very comforting. You could go anywhere and meet a Jewish person and they're guaranteed to know your friends, uncles, mums, brother etcetera. Jewish geography is great! Also each year the Jewish women’s community carry out a huge Challah bake. Last year in Manchester, I made the plaited bread with 2000 other women. It’s just a nice feeling.
I've always felt safe in the UK, it’s my home, always has been and always will be. However, it's worrying that there are so many people who seem to hate you for no reason and it's similar across Europe. There has been a rise in Jews leaving France, due to safety concerns. I just hope British Jews don’t have the same problem. I know in America that white nationalism is on the rise and graffiti of Swastikas is appearing all over the place. Personally, I feel safe right now, but if anyone gets into power with antisemitic views, who knows how safe it will be?
Hannah Rose, 22, from London, is the president of the Union of Jewish Students in the UK and Ireland (UJS). She was raised in a Jewish family and attended Sunday school and youth group.
Most of the antisemitism I've witnessed has been in online political spaces, mainly surrounding the Israel-Palestine debate. Many of these comments come simply from a lack of education on how antisemitism can seep in to different political discourses, but what we're seeing increasingly frequently is a malicious re-interpretation of antisemitic tropes, masked behind the guise of being simply ‘anti-Israel’. Nowadays, we see the use of traditionally far-right antisemitic propaganda, for example from the Nazi era, appearing in far-left spaces, such as in the fringes of the Labour Party.
We're certainly seeing an increase in antisemitic discourse in the UK. A recently published Community Security Trust (CST) report found that although the number of antisemitic incidents from January to June has fallen since last year, it remains at the second-highest total for this period ever recorded.
Gendered antisemitism is certainly a distinct form of discrimination. It's clear that women and non-binary individuals receive abuse of a far more violent and aggressive nature than men, targeting their identities rather than focusing on political discussions. I'm fortunate to have never received direct antisemitic or gendered abuse, but I'm appalled at the blatant misogyny that some of my women friends and colleagues receive.
As a Jewish woman in the UK, I'm endlessly grateful to live in such a vibrant and diverse Jewish community. The manner in which the community invests in its youth is truly special. Although traditionally its leadership has been overwhelmingly male, we're seeing huge progress in the investment in women in leadership positions. We should applaud this progress, whilst acknowledging that we still have a long way to go to reach true gender equality.
Shira Suzanne Sandler, 38, is an artist who now lives in South Pembrokeshire but grew up mostly around the Redbridge area of London and lived briefly in Israel. She describes herself as having been "emphatically Jewish" her whole life, having attended Jewish schools and being influenced by her mum's strong beliefs as a child.
Even when I've not been observant, even when I got into paganism for a while in my late teens and early twenties, I was still very much a Jew. Antisemitism did a lot to reinforce that. I've experienced an absolute ton of antisemitism in the UK, from childhood to now. At school it was bullying from students and some teachers. My books would be stolen and returned with swastikas and "go home Jew" written on them, groups of boys would follow me around shouting antisemitic stuff, asking if I liked the smell of gas, that sort of thing. There were quite a few physical fights. One boy pulled a knife on me and the Year Head left us alone in her office, without taking the knife from him, "to sort this out like reasonable people". When she came back and dismissed him, she asked me why I didn't go to a Jewish school if I didn't want to be bullied for being Jewish. It was made clear that I was viewed as foreign.
There have been countless other incidents over the years that I could spend hours telling you about – from hearing people call us "fucking Yids", to my ex-mother-in-law complaining that I "never stopped talking" about being Jewish, despite my having mentioned it to her twice in three years. An abusive ex who incorporated antisemitism into his abuse, even doing seemingly-silly things like laying ham slices on a block of cheese so I couldn't eat it. Since moving to Pembrokeshire I've encountered a lot of antisemitism. I've had all the usual stuff – Jewish jokes complete with hand-rubbing and "Jewish" accent, comments like "Aren't Jews really tight with money", and "What do you think of this theory that Jews control the media and global finance, then?" These days, the conversations I'm having more and more with Jewish friends is that it's hard to trust pretty much anyone who's not Jewish. My family are making plans in case we have to leave – even the ones who used to think I was alarmist – and if I were able to support myself I'd have moved back to Israel years ago.
Antisemitism has definitely become more frequent. I used to only see or hear full-on antisemitic nastiness if I went to places one might reasonably expect to find it – comments on articles about Israel, that sort of thing – but now it's all over the place. I notice when friends allow their friends to spout antisemitic nonsense; I see it several times a day usually, though recently I just don't look at all. A lot of people wouldn't even realise what they're saying is antisemitic, because that's how normalised it is.
I've also experienced antisemitism that was very specifically gendered, such as stereotypes about Jewish women being pushy, domineering, etcetera. Also misogyny and antisemitism often combine to make things even worse. As a woman, my chronic pain and illness was and continues to be dismissed, because obviously we're all imagining everything that's wrong with us. As a Jewish woman it's even worse – Jews have a reputation for loving to complain and being hypochondriacs, and I wouldn't be surprised if a doctor has decided not to help me for this reason.
Other Jewish women are the best thing about being Jewish in the UK. The experience of being Jewish is different if you live in areas with a lot of Jews. I've ended up mostly living in far-flung places where I'm the only Jew anyone's ever knowingly met and the contrast is stark. There's no community but there are always people interested to learn about a culture they've only heard about.
I'm glad to be in the UK rather than France or Belgium, for example, but given how things are going, I don't think Jews are going to be any safer here in the long run. Even some of my Jewish friends in the US are starting to get uneasy. Ultimately we're a dispersed, fractured, and very traumatised nation, and for many of us – especially those of us who actively resist assimilation – life in the diaspora has many of the same elements whichever country you're in.
Jessica Prupas, 26, lives in London and is an editor at DOJO app. She is originally from Montreal, Canada. She identifies more with Jewish traditions and culture, rather than the religion.
I haven't experienced antisemitism directly, but I do think the experience of being Jewish in the UK is different from in Canada. People in the UK are less forthcoming about their Jewishness – I've had to almost 'come out' as Jewish once I get to know someone. The community feels more insulated than in Canada and Jewish culture is less prevalent in general than in, say, Montreal, where there's a larger Jewish population that's been really influential in the city.
Though it's often difficult for me to communicate my experience as a Jew to people who are unfamiliar with the culture, I like being able to share Jewishness with my British friends who don't know much about it. I like telling them about the holidays, traditions and pointing out Jewish celebrities (everyone is always so surprised).
Being Jewish in the UK is very different from North America, where Jews are more visible. They feel a bit like an invisible minority in the UK – partially because most Jews are classified as white and so have been able to assimilate more, and partially because they're coming up against a more homogenous population that has only more recently started experiencing immigration. Jewish culture is ubiquitous in the US and Canada in a way that it's not in the UK.
Jewish culture is also very much part of pop culture in North America – through Jewish comedians and Jewish food. People in North America therefore understand Jewishness in more of an intuitive way. People in the UK seem quieter about their Jewishness – they don’t speak about it with colleagues or acquaintances as much, for example. Everyone is assumed to celebrate Christmas. Everyone is presumed to be Christian unless they're a visible minority. It’s not the same in Canada, at least in major cities.
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