‘Are you a f**king Jew?’ the male voice at the other end of the phone growled menacingly.

We had been on a half term holiday in Norfolk last May when my son had received the call, with the number withheld.

‘What?’ replied my son, who was then 14.

‘I asked are you a f**king Jew? Answer!’

When my son mumbled ‘yes’, the unknown voice simply said: ‘You better watch your back.’ The phone went dead.

My son was shaking when he came to tell us.

He insisted that we call the neighbours to keep an eye on our house back in London. He couldn’t be positive of who was on the other end of the phone – although he had an idea of who was behind it. And he didn’t want us to alert the police, worried that would make things worse.

This story wasn’t unusual among Jewish people in Britain last year.

2021 year saw the highest number of incidents of antisemitism against British Jews on record, new figures from the Community Securities Trust (CST) have revealed.

The report showed that more than a third of those incidents occurred during May and June at the height of the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

It seems that some antisemites decided to use a conflict thousands of miles away to attack British Jews.

Out of more than 2000 cases of antisemitism, 182 of them happened to people and property in the school sector. 

Things became so bad that I know of some Jewish children who were afraid to go to school. One parent I know told me their daughter was told, ‘I don’t sit next to Jews’ in class by a former friend.

According to the report, 176 of the attacks on British Jews last year were classified as assault, with three extremely violent.

I, for one, have never felt my minority status more

Jews in this country are a minority even among minorities; there are less than 300,000 of us in the entire UK, 15million of us in the world. 

Last year, as we saw antisemitism in our streets, in our schools and workplaces and online, I, for one, have never felt my minority status more.

The brief halcyon period for British Jews that I’ve been lucky enough to experience for most of my lifetime is over.

Antisemitism is back. Perhaps it never went away. But while our children learn about the Holocaust, they don’t appear to be taught that the hatred that caused it is still around today. 

There has been a permanent Jewish community in the UK since the days of Oliver Cromwell but it hasn’t always been easy. 

Fascist leader Oswald Mosley attracted huge crowds as he spat out his Jew hatred.

And when it became clear what was happening to Jewish people in Germany, the UK, like the rest of the world, largely shut its doors to Jewish people fleeing extermination.

The Kindertransport scheme was a rare exception to the rule, allowing for 10,000 Jewish children to find safety here; but only if they came without their parents.

The first time I experienced antisemitism I was about seven. I was uninvited from a new friend’s house when her parents discovered I was a ‘dirty Jew’. 

It was a phrase that the same girl used towards me in gym class.

We moved house and I moved school; as I grew up I’d get the odd comments about the size of my nose (not big, so I don’t look Jewish apparently) and I’d hear comments about miserly Jews, which I’d generally brush off, but most of my life was pretty much hate free.

Sadly, it won’t be like that for my kids. It feels to many of us that antisemitism is now the one acceptable racism. 

How else could you end up with celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg claiming the Holocaust was not racist – even though the Nazis specifically deemed Jews a lower race. 

Many people who normally wouldn’t dare take a side on a foreign conflict they know little to nothing about are happy to use it as a basis to spread hatred when it comes to Israel. 

Then there is the far right, always the far right, who go online fantasising about how they can hurt Jews.

Even the nascent antivax movement is infused with Jew haters; they both appropriate the yellow stars the Nazis once made the Jews wear while claiming that Covid is a hoax created by Jews.

Where does this end? I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that antisemitism, which is called the ‘oldest hate’ as it has been around for more than 2000 years, can never be fully eradicated. 

That’s a depressing thought – but if you have got this far down this article and I’ve made you stop, think, and maybe even change your mind, that has to be a start, doesn’t it?

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