| Topic: | Re:British Jews | |
| Posted by: | John Hawkes | |
| Date/Time: | 23/05/24 16:06:00 |
| Ms Grant This may seem simplistic and I do not want to be patronising but to me the vast majority of Jewish citizens are totally British, differing from me only in the religion they adopt. They no more want to change my way of life or attack me than do the Methodists ! I do not think this is the case with Muslims whose religion is a far more circumscribing 'way of life'. It also gives the impression that it decrees it is the duty of its adherents to both withdraw from many aspects of the way the majority lives and to impose its mores on them. I am sure the anti-Israeli pro-Palestine zeitgeist we are experiencing does have antisemitism at its root for why otherwise should the British feel so sympathetic to Arabs ? To be blunt, what are they to us especially since the atrocities of last October and the terrorist attacks Islamists have inflicted on this country in recent decades ? And why do those Arabs that choose to leave their homeland and live here think that any discrimination and disadvantage they might feel is caused by Jews ? Is it that we have so little to complain about concerning our own way of life that we, especially the younger generations, take on the woes of others; suffering by proxy ? Especially ironical in that some might describe Islam as misogynistic and homophobic; attitudes they would certainly abhor. And of course you would know better than me that antisemitism is also founded on shame and jealousy as has been the case for millennia. Again not wanting to take a stereotypical view, Jews have always had the need, attitude and ability to look after each other and 'do well in life'. And some resent this whether it reflects their own inadequacies in not being so successful or shame because of their lack of effort. My own grandmother who, widowed at forty with three children and little if any state support, used to walk miles to clean for Jewish families in north London. Some of her comments were not always 'acceptable' but they were based on class differences and ignorance and the country then was not at all ethnically diverse. Today anti-Israel attitudes come mainly from a so called 'educated' middle class with a guilt complex and are certainly a cover for ongoing anti-semitism. This is bourn out by the increase in anti-semitic attacks you reference. And finally, though it might not be my place to say it, but if your 'friends' can't understand what has happened in the Middle East and distance themselves from you, were they friends worth having ? PS 'Myths and Facts. A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict' ISBN 1537152726 |