Standing up to hatred is the theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day and it’s with that message that I have decided to write this blog.

With the ongoing conflict in the Middle East there have been repercussions across the world. People using their democratic right to protest, to allow their voices to be heard. This is their right; everyone can and should get involved in the democratic process no matter what side of the debate they sit on.

However there has been a far nastier, outrageous and at times violent undertone to this current outpouring. Across Europe Jewish communities have been being attacked. In Denmark just before the New Year, two Israelis working in a shopping mall were shot, in France a burning car was driven into a Synagogue, kosher shops were attacked, and in Belgium Molotov cocktails where thrown at the liberal synagogue.

In the UK the Community Security Trust has reported a massive spike in antisemitic incidents over the last two weeks. There was an arson attack on a synagogue in North West London, on New Years Eve a Jew was pulled out of his car in Golders Green and beaten up and there has been antisemitic graffiti sprayed on Jewish communal buildings across the UK.

The comments on networking sites have been especially vicious. There have been groups where individuals are calling for payback against the Jewish community of Stamford Hill, others where the wall states “the blood of the Jews will pay”. Most disturbing of all some members of these groups have been our members, even some of our own sabbatical officers within the student movement.

What does it mean to stand up to hatred, to combat racism? How safe would you feel if you saw that your elected officer was a member of a group which had on its wall calls to kill you, your family, your friends and your people?

I’m as passionate as anyone when it comes to the Middle East and I understand the emotions felt on all sides of the debate, but in this case some are allowing this to spill over into violent threats and acts against the Jewish community, and it is our responsibility, as a movement that believes in the ideals of anti-racism, to say enough. Of course you can protest against Israel, you can be as critical as you like, but if the person next to you at the protest has a sign that calls for the blood of Jews, or a chant starts calling to kill the Jews, or you are part of a facebook group that calls for violence, you cannot claim that you were not part of this if you did not challenge it. As my fellow NEC member Ben Whittaker said in his election speech for the NEC, “it’s not the words of our enemies that we should be most scared of but the silence of our friends.”

As members of this union we share a duty to stand up against racism wherever we sit on the political spectrum. As term restarts many are returning back to campus worrying what this term will hold for them as Jewish students: will they have to hide their identity in order to have a normal campus life? The emphatic answer is and should always be no! No one has the right to intimidate another due to their identity; everyone has the right to be proud of whom they are on our campuses, everyone has the right to voice their opinions on a conflict that is far from black and white.

I am asking our members to stand up to hatred, to be careful of the company they keep in the debates that I am sure will come, and ultimately to remember there is no excuse for racism or your association with it.

In unity
Joel Braunold ARAF Co-convenor

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