Israeli friends feel it is safer for Jews there than in the UK

THE VOICE on the other end of the line was freighted with concern: Was I OK? Were the family holding up? Had we thought about leaving? You might assume I was the one asking the questions given I was calling a friend in Israel from my home in Manchester. Actually, the opposite was true —she was worried about me.

- Angela Epstein

But this is what happens when the UK, the country where you were born and have lived your whole life, starts to feel hostile because you are Jewish. There’s something profoundly wrong when those living in Israel — with the ever present threat of missile strikes from Iran, the Houthis and Hamas — feel they’re in a safer place. But certainly, I have never felt more vulnerable as a Jewish person living in the UK than as I do today.

These are times of spiralling antisemitism. Mainstreaming Jew hatred has become commonplace, seeding itself on campus, within public bodies and hitherto trusted institutions such as the NHS and BBC.

Look at last weekend’s Glastonbury outrage, when punk-rap duo Bobby Vylan called for “death to the IDF” and the crowd chanted along with them. Hate marches flood our cities every week, with parts of London described as “no-go zones for Jews”.

Among Jewish friends, there are constant discussions: Should we remove our Stars of David or other signs of our identity (as Jewish schools have instructed pupils to do)? These are not abstract fears. They’re real.