Victims of antisemitism speak out
As part of our work making the voices of British Jews heard, we have begun publishing a unique series of powerful testimonials by members of the Jewish community and allies, detailing how they have been affected by the events of the past several months.
In the first of our testimonials, Lysa reveals the precautions that she feels that she must take to maintain her safety as a Jew in Britain.
When nearly 70% of British Jews say that they are less likely to show visible signs of their Judaism right now, this is what that looks like.
The second testimonial features Anatole, a Jewish student at University of Leeds. There are so many students who, like him, do not feel safe right now.
With so little being done by the universities about the intimidation on campus and antisemitic chanting by students and lecturers alike, can you blame them? As Anatole rightly says, this inaction by universities is a betrayal of their Jewish students.
Campaign Against Antisemitism stands up for Jewish students
We are continuing to monitor incidents on campuses across the country, including recently at Newcastle University and Central Saint Martins.
As a community, we can no longer tolerate how vulnerable Jewish students are feeling on campus. That is why we have produced an open letter for students to hold their universities accountable for the rise in hostility and intimidation exacerbated by the campus encampments.
As it is fashionable to make demands of university administrations these days, Jewish students make the following demands of their own in the letter:
- Vice-Chancellors must not accept any of the demands of the organisers of the encampments, and, making it clear that universities will not be pressured into action by this sort of conduct, they must pledge not to begin to consider any policy changes relating to such demands for at least three months after the encampments are removed.
- University policies must be applied on trespassing, property damage, bullying, racist conduct and other relevant provisions in order to bring the encampments to an end and punish participants to the full extent of student codes of conduct.
- The creation of a new paid staff position dedicated exclusively to tackling antisemitism and promoting Jewish inclusion at each university must be announced, where such a position does not yet exist.
- Every university must publicly reassure its community of its commitment to the International Definition of Antisemitism as its sole and unamended definition of antisemitism.
- All staff and faculty members, including campus security and welfare officers, must be required to undertake updated antisemitism training.
We are thrilled by how many students have signed the letter so far and had their voices finally heard. Students can sign at antisemitism.org/studentletter.
We have also visited campuses over the past several weeks, speaking directly to students and offering support. On our trip to UCL, we spoke directly with students and showed Jewish students that they are not alone. You can watch the video here.
If you like the t-shirts that the Jewish students in the video are wearing, you too can make a statement with our ‘Quite Openly Jewish’ and ‘Quite Openly Standing With Jews’ t-shirts. Some people also wore them at the march for the release of the hostages yesterday, which Campaign Against Antisemitism was proud to support.
Join the movement, wear the message, and stand proudly with us. Together, we can combat antisemitism.
Available now at antisemitism.org/shop.
Check out the latest episodes of Podcast Against Antisemitism
In our latest episodes, we spoke to two of the Jewish community’s best non-Jewish friends, the former MP Mike Freer and Rev. Hayley Ace.
Mike Freer announced his decision not to stand for re-election citing the “intolerable stress” that he and his family have been enduring from the several serious threats that he has received to his personal safety, including a recent arson attack on his constituency office. You can listen to our discussion about the impact of these threats and his decision.
Reverend Hayley Ace is the co-founder of the grassroots movement, Christian Action Against Antisemitism, along with her husband Timothy Gutmann. Both Hayley and Timothy have been standing firmly alongside the British Jewish community against antisemitism, using their perspective as Christians to educate people on racism against Jews. You can learn more about their work by listening to our conversation.
You can subscribe to the podcasts wherever you get your podcasts, or receive the podcast straight to your inbox by subscribing here.
With the General Election campaign now in full swing, we are working hard to expose candidates whose records concern us and calling attention to parties who are failing to act. We will have more on this in due course.
Whoever forms the next Government, they must be left in no doubt about what British Jews think and need right now. That is why it is so important that as many of you as possible complete the surveys above, so that we can convey your wishes and concerns to our lawmakers.
Once you have made your voice heard to us, we will stop at nothing to make sure that everybody else hears it too.
