Stop (Using) Antisemitism

Every year has its fads and buzzwords.

Aside from Brexit and MeToo, the word that seems to have dominated for us is, sadly, Antisemitism.

The exposure of Labour’s rotten underbelly has put our small community of British Jews into the spotlight as never before.
At something like 225,000 we are barely 1/3rd of one percent of the UK population – and yet, listen to the clamour!

In such small numbers, we’ve always minded our own business without drawing attention to ourselves. We’ve never made demands on the state like other ethnic communities. We are, as often described by Margaret Thatcher, a model community in Britain in terms of family life and moral standards.

And we’ve been content with the rights and privileges we have enjoyed in terms of religious observance and education which are the hallmarks of the beneficent nation which welcomed Jewish kindertransports and our other refugees from Nazi tyranny, including my own parents.

We are not used to this kind of attention. We don’t like it.

And the trouble with buzzwords is that they soon go out of style or lose their impact. Look how the word Holocaust has been devalued. Darfur was a holocaust, then Syria – now America’s southern border is likened to a Nazi concentration camp.

Besides, why should Jew hate have its own special word? Antisemitism.

People who hate Blacks aren’t called AntiBlacks. Neither is there a word like AntiPaki or AntiFrench.
All these are simply called racists!

The sad truth is that for many Corbynites, antisemitism is a virtue – a badge of honour.
And for the rest, ‘antisemitism’ will inevitably be devalued and cheapened just like Holocaust and concentration camp.

So, let’s make a New Year’s resolution for 5780.

Let’s not call the likes of Corbyn, Livingstone, Galloway and Williamson anti-Semites.

Just call them RACISTS! - plain and simple.

And the same goes for any Jew-baiter you may pass in the street or on campus.

Don’t use the A-word. Use the R-word.

See how different the reaction is.

Antisemitism was OK, but being called out as racist, they just can’t stomach.