Robert Rinder writes about “the tragic reality of being Jewish in London in 2022”
Robert Rinder has written about “the tragic reality of being Jewish in London in 2022” in a new article, published yesterday.
In the article for the Evening Standard, the barrister and television personality has written about how antisemitic insults were hurled at his friend’s children whilst they were at a falafel restaurant in Golders Green, despite them not being Jewish.
Mr Rinder wrote: “But as she told me this awful story, I realised — with a profound sadness — that I was completely unsurprised. Because it’s happening to Jews all the time.”
“It’s completely shattering to think how the grimy tendrils of anti-Jewish hatred have spread over so many aspects of life in the UK, whether it’s being spat at or accosted in the street or any of the countless other acts of abuse,” he continued. “For example, many in the Jewish community send their children to Jewish schools, and I think it’d break your hearts to see the precautions they have to take.”
Mr Rinder went on to state that he believes that the vast majority of the people in the United Kingdom are appalled by anti-Jewish racism, “but this is the tragic reality of being Jewish in London in 2022. Not in some far off time or place, but right now and right here; in the greatest, most cosmopolitan city in the world.”
Mr Rinder called on people to “stand up to every instance of cruelty, big or small, because the descent into human depravity never begins with grand acts of violence, it starts with murmured insults and grows from there,” and added that “It’s the subtle way horror gets going — not with a bang or people screaming hate in broad daylight, with whispered comments everybody else tolerates.”
Robert Rinder has said in the past that he believes that there is an existential threat to Jews in Britain, but that he has “an enduring belief in the British public. That ultimately, for every one loud antisemite, there are hundreds, no, thousands of people that have the courage to stand up to it.”
In 2019, Mr Rinder spoke at the #TogetherAgainstAntisemitism rally in Parliament Square.
