This piece is inspired by a Times article written by journalist Deborah Ross, 'How to be an antisemite (don't worry, it's easy)'. So that my effort is a little more than reporting her own insights, I am adding a few thoughts of my own, through some knowledge of the Jewish community.
Why write this, and why now? Simple. At this moment Israel is suffering the greatest degree of negative world perception since October 7th 2023, as it launches Operation Gideon's Chariot in Gaza. At times like these it is an important balance to understand how the Jewish community can feel, as antisemitic incidents in the UK have risen rapidly over the last eighteen months or so.
Emulating Deborah Ross's ironic tone, you don't have to daub swastikas on walls - soft antisemitism can be achieved through much easier means.
Here are her themes:
'Oh, you don't look Jewish'
Said on meeting someone and learning that they are Jewish.
There is much to unpack here, and more than is manageable in this piece. First, is there a Jewish look? I assert that you could have a set of 20 faces put up, with, say, 15 of the people being Jewish, and you would not be able to work it out. Of course at sub-GCSE level you might be looking for the schnozzle, the big nose. So then you are saying that anyone with a big nose is Jewish? Ha ha.
You would of course be helped by other clues, principally mode of dress. Thus eg the ease of recognition of an orthodox Jewish man with his kippah (before we note modes of dress for religious Jews such as the Hasidics). A factor not of course special to Jews - reference observant Muslims (for whom, to be fair, there could also be a skin colour factor, depending on race). We Christians (lapsed one speaking) have it easy - a crucifix can be sported under everyday dress.
Clues can be contextual. If I travel through Stamford Hill and see a woman of plain dress wearing what looks like a wig, and pushing a pram, my basic knowledge tells me that she is an Orthodox mother. I don't need to be clever to clock that. Encountering someone of no obvious religious-driven dress in the West End or the City, how would I know?
So it's about stereotyping, which as Ross points out goes back to the 13th century.
[It is screaming out at me that I am not addressing what it means to be Jewish. Again, far too big a subject for limited scope here, but it is about ethnicity and not religious belief or practice. Enough for these purposes.]
'I know you are Jewish, but could you pick out the prawns?'
Ross cites American academic Deborah Lipstadt (whose defamation case where she was sued by David Irving was the centrepiece of my History Masters dissertation) giving this as an example of 'dinner party antisemitism'. Of course again context is relevant, and tone, but in antisemitic mode it is cruelly poking fun at someone's eating requirements.
Would one say to a vegetarian: 'Sorry, I know that there is lamb amongst the vegetables in the stew, but could you pick out the meat bits?'
Admittedly some of the strict eating requirements for Jews who follow this path can seem a touch esoteric eg types of fish you can and cannot eat, based on interpretation of the Old Testament. But being brought up as an RC did I think I was odd because back in those days you did not eat meat on Fridays? Think of the myriad of dietary requirements that are out there, however based. Why make a big thing of what certain Jews require?
Turning to a Jew at the dinner party and asking how to get the best deal on a carpet
This is the stereotype of Jews being cunning and clever and good at business. How daft that is. There will be Jews who are hopeless at business, indeed in some cases hopeless as members of society. There are many non-Jewish people who are brilliant at business. Where is the intellectually sustainable link between business acumen and being Jewish?
If you dig in you may start to see the prejudiced view of Jews coming originally from 'trade', and in our country there are undoubtedly historical factors, such as Jews once being unable to be members of a City Livery Company (a trade guild) as they could not swear on a Bible containing the New Testament. But at the simple level of stereotyping, the absurdities become more and more clear: 'Because X is a Jew then X must have these characteristics.....'
The 'Jews are tight with money' thing
Ross relays a story of a contractor doing a job for a customer. The customer refused to pay as the job had been done badly. The contractor told another person that the refusal to pay was being 'Jewish'.
Personally I think being careful with money and not accepting being screwed over by someone else is admirable. Why is it essentially a 'Jewish' quality? I made my legal practice career in a large law firm, eventually becoming Managing Partner. The firm had strong Jewish origins. It also had high ethical standards. Why do I need to point this out? Because of a stereotype I came across that Jewish lawyers behaved unethically. But on the topic here, the partners taught me commercial awareness, a quality that is sought out by aspiring City lawyers as if it were the Holy Grail.
There is one other issue I want to cover, touched on in Ross's article but not discussed in any detail, but first I will turn to her words for an eloquent summing up of what is covered above:
'Some people intuitively get that antisemitism is not the hatred of people who happen to be Jewish but the hatred of people because they are Jewish'.
The last issue? It is where we started - Israel. Ross's short comment refers to '...holding every individual Jew responsible for every single thing that Israel does'.
My background helps on this. I remember my auntie saying how uncomfortable she felt as an Irish-born person when the IRA started bombing England in the 1970s. She felt that people would think that she was an IRA supporter. Totally irrational, of course, but that's not the point. I suggest that there will be many Jews excruciatingly uncomfortable with the extremities of Israel's actions in Gaza in the guise of 'defending itself', and worse still, if that is possible, at the thought of Netanyahu's right-wing Cabinet colleagues having their way - deporting Gazans elsewhere, anywhere, so that some at least of the land can be given to Israeli settlers.
But if you are antisemitic, you can ignore this, as it is convenient to denigrate any Jewish person in sight. As Ross wrote about antisemitism at the beginning of her piece:
'It's not hard. It's not taxing. It's not rocket science. People have been quick to pick it up throughout history.'
Unfortunately that looks set to continue.
The author is a writer, speaker, and former Managing Partner of a City law firm
'