'Why can't people separate Israel from Judaism?'

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]As a leftist person who most of his friends have blue hair hair and are on pro-Palestine marches, I want Jewish people to feel very welcome in the UK.

[00:00:08]I'm horrified by what has just happened.

[00:00:11]I was speaking to a Jewish writer friend of mine the other day.

[00:00:15]I was saying so she was going on I'm going to leave but it's the people around me on the left who I align with completely in so many ways politically and in terms of attitude. I don't feel welcome amongst those. I mean it's I still have to hide that I'm Jewish. If I say that I'm Jewish, I'm immediately getting grilled about it as well.

[00:00:35]I mean I met another Jewish woman who actually goes out to the West Bank and protects Palestinians against settlers.

[00:00:43]And so the idea that everybody who's Jewish would be pro, you know, what's going on in Israel is not true. So I just think um Yeah. But but I think that's part of the problem, isn't it? That some people seem to be incapable of distinguishing between the state of Israel and what it means to be Jewish. Yeah, I think everybody should be judged as an individual not as a member of a larger group that you might have a lot of stereotypes about. And one thing I noticed from living in Northern Ireland is the one thing that seems to like really help with these kind of problems is cross-community projects.

[00:01:21]So um you know, and I think that might be something that needs to be looked at.