10 Comments
User's avatar
David Jay's avatar

Harry. It saddens me to read your article, but I am not in the least bit surprised that you have written it. I won't try to pretend that I know how you must feel. What I will say though, for now at least, is that as a non-Jewish friend I will always stand with you.

Harry Richer's avatar

Thank you, David! It really means a lot!

Colin Wilson's avatar

I hear you Harry. It feels more alarming than has been the case at any time since WW2. I employ and work with wonderful, caring British Jews among others. Their safety in Britain must be re-assured by British culture and by British Government - as fact, not just by being offered slippery platitudes.

Harry Richer's avatar

Thank you, Colin!

Mark Gerth's avatar

Horrible and disgraceful. No person should live in fear in a free nation. Watching the metastasizing of antisemitism in Britain and the West should alarm us all. It has always been a sign of rot in the societies that it exists and grows in.

Harry Richer's avatar

Thank you so much, Mark!

Glodi  Ntoya's avatar

Great article Harry, we have work to do as a country

David's avatar

Harry, this is a good and heartfelt article, just like Eve's article was recently.

However, I can't help but feel that in both articles there is a reluctance to name where all this anti-semitism is coming from?

It's similar to what we saw on Question Time a few weeks back. The man in the audience asked a direct question repeatedly. "Where is this anti-semitism coming from".

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BAtLDfxVocU

The green party candidate pretended not to understand. She pretended she hadn't heard correctly. She looked to Fiona Bruce in alarm to help clarify the question. Then, finally, when pushed she pursued the clear misdirection that it was coming from "rip off Britain and that people were having a really tough time".

As if, because of food price inflation and rising rents everybody was becoming anti-semitic.

I wonder if we could have more honesty about the source? The kind of honesty that somebody like Melanie Phillips has on the subject?

I'm sure you don't need me to prompt you on each of the attacks - Golders green, Manchester synagogue, Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Aston Villa, the burnt out ambulances. Where is the threat coming from?

David's avatar

By the way, it also saddens me to read your article. Jewish people are our friends, we love them, we stand by them, we recognise and value the contribution they have made and continue to make to our great country. You will see plenty of British flags at Israel solidarity marches.

Harry Richer's avatar

Thank you for your comments, David. I really appreciate your words in your sub-comment. They mean a lot.

I understand your concerns. The point of my article was to purely focus on trying to explain to my non-Jewish friends, colleagues, and readers like yourself just how much fear the Jewish Community is currently feeling. Rather than any further analysis, this was purely my aim with this piece.