Thread on the spotlight:

Jews are a tiny minority: around 0.3% of the British population.

99.7% of Brits are NOT Jewish.

Historically, in this country and all others (with the exception since 1948 of Israel) Jews have largely survived by not drawing attention to ourselves.

Even so, Jews have periodically had the spotlight shone on them across the centuries and what has followed has always been political, cultural and physical attack and violence.

This is our history and we both know it and feel it intensely and viscerally.

And yet over the last 4-5 years (since the events in Gaza of 2014 and the election of Corbyn) British Jews have seen that spotlight seeking us out and increasing the glare.

The Chief Rabbi’s intervention is therefore more meaningful than non-Jews could possibly know.

This is a step that has risk attached, but largely it demonstrates that the risks of not intervening have now, for the Chief Rabbi, been out-weighed.

And Jews are overwhelmingly grateful to him for showing such leadership and strength.

But let us be clear: no British Jews feels anything other than horror at finding ourselves in the headlines and all over the airwaves. It makes us feel deeply unsafe, as it should given both our history and the fact that we are only 0.3% of the population.

History shows us that the spotlight lands on us when society and/or governments are in turmoil. And the results have always been bad or catastrophic.
Only the most arrogant amongst us would imagine that this time is any different.

So i’d ask you (not with any confidence of being heard) to remember this when you see us in your paper, on your social media feed, on the radio or on your TV.

We don’t want to be there and are merely in the same spotlight that our people have always ended up in eventually.

Ends