Sharp rise in the number of anti-Jewish incidents over the last year
The National Holocaust Museum in Newark says it's time to address this
Last updated 10th Oct 2024
There are concerns about the number of verbal and physical attacks taking place against the Jewish Community over the last year.
Monday marked one year since Hamas attacked Israel.
Tonight a special event is taking place, hosted by the National Holocaust Museum in Newark.
It's being led by Professor Maiken Umbach, who's the Chief Academic Adviser to the National Holocaust Museum:
"So the lecture is called from from Kristallnacht to Kibbutz Be'eri, challenging the ideology of the pogrom. Pogroms are mob violence against Jewish people that have occurred in Europe and the Middle East for two and a half thousand years, literally thousands of them everywhere. They have a scary emotional appeal.
"There seems to be something that mobilises people about the very act of transgressive violence, which is often misconstrued as an act of liberation; challenging a taboo, breaking a taboo, graphic violence, often sexual violence a part of them and strangely, rather than being horrified, a lot of people seem to be mobilised by this, so the aim of the lecture is to expose the long genealogy, if you like, the prehistory of what we saw on the 7th of October, which was then so widely shared on social media and perversely led to more anti-Jewish violence, rather than people standing up to it.
"It takes place in the evening at South Hampstead Synagogue to an an audience of hundreds of people. We want to come together to commemorate the atrocities, but also to explore ways in which we can better come together as a community and stand up to anti-Jewish racism together."
She added that she's seen and heard of these incidents herself:
"My own students on the University of Nottingham campus, my Jewish students are scared. Many of them are too scared to even reveal their Jewish identity. They are too scared to eat kosher food on campus for fear of attacks and harassment by their fellow students.
"This is not an inclusive campus environment anymore, and this is not just true at Nottingham. I've heard the same stories throughout the country.
"This is the challenge that we're trying to address. By helping people to see the error of their own ways, helping them to develop empathy and thinking again about these tropes, these metaphors that have become so second nature that people don't realise their ideological content. Education to uncover the roots can lead, we believe, to more empathetic and positive behaviour."
The National Holocaust Museum seeks to educate school children and the public about the Holocaust. You can find out more on their website.
A new racism response Unit Website has also been launched to support those experiencing anti-Jewish racism and for others to get better informed on the language they use.