This is going to be a short post, the story shown in screen shots. The point is that so called anti Zionists reply abusively to a Shabbat greeting on Twitter. We know that Jewish institutions and organizations and individuals in the UK and the USA are coming under attack, and that an overt connection with Israel is not necessary for a person or building to be vulnerable in the present climate.

On Twitter, the proliferation of anti Jewish hate is alarming.

On Friday evening, I posted this tweet which I didn’t think was controversial or provocative.

There were hundreds of appropriate and civil replies but the hostile replies were numerous, that evening and the next morning.

The following morning, I found these in my notifications.

Those who think the rise in antisemitism is about Israel are not entirely wrong. Any Jew hater who wants a voice knows to put Israel on the charge sheet, along with world domination, wealth, capitalism and communism. Nick Griffin, who was leader of the racist BNP, declares his support for Palestine in his Twitter account.

Antisemites are opportunists, accusing us of whatever is hateful in society: whether deicide, child murder, treason, apartheid or genocide but I hope you will believe me when I tell you that while ‘genocidal maniac’, ‘baby killer’ and ‘apartheid lover’ are almost daily terms of abuse fired at me and other Jews on social media, I have also been accused of personally killing Jesus – as have we all.

I did wonder if there would have been less hostility if I’d said ‘Good shabbes’ rather than the Hebrew ‘Shabbat shalom’. Were the words ‘Don’t be afraid’ a provocation to those who want us to be afraid?

Am I afraid? Not yet.

And still they come, replying to the same ‘Shabbat shalom’…

Imagine if I’d said something controversial?

All these abusive replies were in my notifications, the day after I posted ‘Shabbat shalom’. There will be more but I think I need not add them. These are difficult times, which I didn’t expect to see in my lifetime.