jessica MAHN retweetledi
On @BBCr4Today, the Chief Rabbi made a direct appeal to the country. "The silent majority of the UK is with us," he said. "They're with the Jewish community… But the time has now come for the silent majority to raise its voice."
He was clear about what is and isn't enough. Letters of support, he said, arrive in abundance. What is needed now is "an outright public condemnation." And he asked the question that hangs over this moment: "If this was happening to any other minority in the UK right now, I presume there would be a very different response from the nation and from the government. Why is it different for the Jewish people?"
He is right. Jewish life in Britain is facing a level of threat not seen for generations. Going to synagogue, walking children to a Jewish school, wearing a kippah, shopping in a kosher store - ordinary acts that increasingly feel like acts of defiance. In the past five weeks, four Hatzola ambulances have been firebombed, synagogues attacked and two Jewish men stabbed on the sreet. The terror threat has been raised to severe.
Some have spoken. HM The King, politicians from across the parties, faith leaders and others have rightly condemned these attacks. But the response the Chief Rabbi is asking for - and that this moment demands - must be broader than that.
Prominent Muslim leaders and organisations - the imams, mosque federations - must speak out clearly and publicly against this hatred. The unions and the vice-chancellors of our universities, given what Jewish students are now living through on our campuses, must raise their voices. Our football authorities, cultural institutions, bishops and anti-racism charities must join in condemning these attacks.
Too many have said nothing. That silence is being heard, in every Jewish home in this country.
The Chief Rabbi has spoken for British Jews. The rest of us must answer him - clearly, publicly, and now.
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