"a Half Of Britons Hold An Anti-Semitic View...."

[DTCwordfan]

So says the Telegraph headline on page 2.

The on-line is slightly different...but that we are returning to the 1930s with our perception of Jewish folk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11343209/Survey-shows-antisemitic-views-are-common-among-Britons.html

Is this true and, given that the profile of AB is probably not that much different to UK society at large, which half of ABers ascribe to these views?

[Prudie]

And I'd suggest that's based on our geographical areas to some extent.

[ummmm]

One shocking comment when the subject of Hitler and Jews came up in conversation was he didn't kill enough of them. I'm amazed people actually hold such views

[-Talbot-]

The people I know who come out with Anti-Semitic comments are the ones who support a football team with a Jewish chairman/board.

Of course most football fans think that their board don't spend enough money on the football team but if the board happens to be Jewish...............

[DTCwordfan]

who do you have in mind, Talbot, Wigan perhaps?

[Gromit]

// I have often wondered why the majority of ABers lean towards the Left. //

Odd. Because they don't.

[Gromit]

I know very few people who are against jews. But they are the same people who are against muslims as well.

[-Talbot-]

I don't know have any particular team in mind, but if you know your football you will be aware of the teams that have been run by a Jewish owner or board.

[ludwig]

It's a microcosm of society in that all the right wingers think there's too many left-wingers in it, and all the left-wingers think there's too many right wingers.

[Gromit]

Come to think about it, people who are jewish are probably afforded more leeway than a lot of other groups. They are probably decendants from recent immigrants and have a different religion and strange eating habits and customs than the indigenous people of the UK. But you do not get the same rallies against them or newspapers attacking them or posts on AB about pandering.

[Retrochic]

I can understand why Muslims would not like Jews but why are they not liked in other countries? They get on with their lives and Religion, without disrespecting other Faiths, without trying to convert anyone to Judaism, without expecting others to conform or change their way of thinking as it 'offends them'. Can anyone explain?

[jim360]

No idea if this is true or not, retrochic, but one possible answer is that the very act of keeping themselves to themselves, getting on with their lives etc, allows people to draw the impression of Jews as a closed society. And as soon as that happens, it becomes fertile breeding ground for conspiracy theories or distrust. "They must be hiding something", people think. No doubt the same people who'd complain if the Jewish community did start to try and be more active/ imposing. With some people, I guess, you can't win.

More concretely, in the past, some of the larger banking organisations were first created by Jewish people (in particular, the Rothschild family). And, again, if you control, or are perceived to control the money then it just becomes ripe for conspiracy theories and distrust.

[BlackadderV]

Converting to Judaism is a long and arduous process and is discouraged. It normally happens when a Jew (usually male) "marries out" and the wife converts.

[ChillDoubt]

I don't know of anyone with anti-Semitic views, I know plenty with anti-Islamic views though.
Can't quite put my finger on why but I'd guess it's because you don't hear of Jews flying planes into buildings, blowing buses and trains up or beheading aid workers, but that's just my opinion.

[jourdain2]

I don't know anyone with anti-semitic views either. I oppose ritual slaughter by both Jews and Muslims, I hope that doesn't make me anti-semitic etc..

[Retrochic]

Jim - Thank you for that reply which seems to make sense. Maybe jealousy has a part to play as there are a lot of wealthy Jews.

[Sqad]

Well, what one admits in public is often quite different to what one thinks and sometimes says in public.

My feeling is that of a wave of anti-Semitsm on the UK and certainly across Europe, but particularly Germany.
Anecdotal i appreciate, but gleaned from friends and associates from all parts of Europe (well nearly all.)

[Sqad]

\\\\sometimes says in public.\\\\.....private.

[whiskeryron]

All I know is the Jews were given a chance to have a nation of their own (Israel) & they have shown how greedy they are by constantly stealing land from the Palestinians which does not belong to them & they will not admit they have done anything wrong.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Here's an article by a well-known racist bigot and knuckle-dragger (and for those reasons one of my personal heroes). http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/rod-liddle/9286532/its-ok-to-mention-anti-semitic-attacks-but-not-who-commits-them/

[FrogNog]

I am definitely not anti-semitic, any more than I am anti every other religion anway.
I can't say as I particularly like Israel's way of behaving, but that is a dig at policy, not belief