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I'm Glad We're Finally Talking about Anti-Semitism

(Cosmopolitan-UK) Arielle Tchiprout - I'm a 25-year-old British-Israeli Jewish woman, and I have experienced anti-Semitism my whole life. Anti-Semitism existed long before World War II (in the form of expulsions, pogroms and blood libels) and it continues to exist now, although now it's often skillfully disguised behind criticism of Israel. I was the only Jew in my year at school, and I experienced anti-Semitic comments regularly. Kids would sing Borat's parody "Throw the Jew Down the Well" song when I entered a room. I remember a group of boys staring and giggling at me during a Holocaust Memorial assembly, while another boy leaned behind me and whispered "synagogue monkey" into my ear with such venom I felt faint. When tensions flared up in Israel, my classmates would raise this with me at any opportunity, as if I - a 13-year-old girl - was somehow responsible. During these times, I'd feign sickness to avoid going in. My mum gave me strict instructions not to wear my Star of David necklace above my clothes. She felt it wasn't safe. My parents received late-night phone calls saying, "die Jew, die." One of my sisters was called a "baby killer" on her personal Facebook page, and when she called in to a radio station to tell a prominent politician about her experiences, he told her that anti-Semitism doesn't exist in this country anymore and if she is experiencing it, she should leave (which she did - she now lives in Tel Aviv).
2020-08-06 00:00:00
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