Tackling modern antisemitism and the role of employers
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Tackling modern antisemitism and the role of employers

Ariel Chapman, Senior Inclusion and Diversity Consultant at Inclusive Employers, discusses his lived experience of modern-day antisemitism and what it is like to live, work and be Jewish in today’s society.

Read on to learn more about this topic and how to tackle antisemitism as an employer.

Life as a modern day Jew

For some, it’s the fear of wearing a kippah in public. The anxiety whenever Israel is mentioned on the news. The worry of having to explain why you need certain days off work to go to synagogue.

For me, it was being pushed in the street after walking back from synagogue with ‘Jew!’ shouted at me. It was the man asking me for money online because ‘you’re Jewish so you must have lots of it’. It was being called a Nazi on social media because I wrote about Israel, the Jewish state.

I am of course talking about antisemitism. We may like to believe that since the Holocaust, antisemitism surely must have gone away but unfortunately that is far from the truth. In a 2021 report, the Community Security Trust (CST) who monitor antisemitism in the UK recorded their highest ever total of antisemitic incidents. They recorded 2,255 incidents (a 34% increase on 2020). We know that antisemitism is widely under-reported and the true figure is likely to be significantly higher. CST also identified that antisemitism sharply rose at the start of the Israel-Hamas war in May 2021 with a 300% increase in antisemitic incidents in May and June alone. After the fighting ended, reports of antisemitism did not decline at the same rate and continued to contribute to an unprecedented number of antisemitic attacks in the UK.

The level of antisemitism witnessed online indicates that there is now an established culture of overt antisemitism, more prevalent than it has been for decades. This increase is part of a global upward trend in antisemitism including mass shootings across the US and Europe and even within Israel itself.

Globally, antisemitism is present in almost every country with over 1.09 billion people in the world harbouring antisemitic attitudes. A report by the American Jewish Committee in 2021 found Covid-19 conspiracy theories and the Israel-Hamas war of May 2021 to be major contributors to the global rise in antisemitism.

And antisemitism isn’t confined to social media or the streets, 44% of British Jews do not display visible signs of their faith according to CST’s 2020 report. In 2017, TUC found that 1 in 3 British Jews are considering leaving the UK due to antisemitism and employees often felt unable to even talk to their union about the extent of antisemitism in the workplace.

More than just numbers

It feels hollow to only discuss antisemitism in figures. We use figures to talk about the six million murdered in the Holocaust and yet this hasn’t stopped the wave of antisemitism we face as a society.

On a personal level, antisemitism means that I have to always think twice when I walk down the street. Is it okay to wear my kippah? Should I hide my Magen David necklace? It also means that when I celebrate Jewish festivals throughout the year I wonder if my neighbours will say something when they see the menorah in the window for Chanukah or hear the shofar at Rosh Hashanah. Whenever I visit Israel or talk about Israel I have to always prepare myself, already defensive just in case an antisemitic remark is made. Often those remarks are unintentional in their antisemitism, but they hurt just the same.

In 2022, the Royal Court Theatre staged ‘Jews In Their Own Words’. A play based on the experiences of British Jews and the racism they have experienced over the past few years in the UK. It carefully linked modern experiences of antisemitism with antisemitic libels which Inclusive Employers cover in our new Antisemitism in the Workplace Guide (watch this space). The play itself was well-received and well-attended by Jewish audiences, yet those who probably needed to see it, the ones spouting antisemitic hate, were unlikely to see it. In fact, the theatre was inundated with antisemitic hate just for staging the play which only reinforced why it was needed.

Schrodinger’s Jews

Despite being one of the world’s smallest minorities we appear to be Schrodinger’s Jews – simultaneously small enough to be deemed irrelevant when it comes to inclusion yet also somehow powerful enough to be controlling the world.

The stereotypes and antisemitic libels that follow us through the centuries paint us as both oppressors and a minority not worth caring about. As David Baddiel so eloquently put in his 2021 book ‘Jews Don’t Count’, antisemitism is a form of racism that is often excluded from anti-racist work. Because of the stereotype of being wealthy, Jews are then not considered an oppressed group. Jews are considered white and so by this logic antisemitism is not considered racism. This is despite Jewishness being an ethnic group.

Jews make up 0.2% of the worldwide population and yet in the United States, Jews are the most targeted group when it comes to hate crimes. Unlike other minority groups, Jews are often not trusted to define what racism against them is. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism was written by antisemitism experts and the Jewish community. It has been adopted by the UN, the UK government and multiple world governments and yet non-Jewish groups have called for it to be rejected. Jews are not being trusted to identify the very racism they experience.

In Dara Horn’s ‘People Love Dead Jews’ we come to realise that the wider world is much more comfortable talking about the Holocaust and past Jewish tragedies than considering the experience of Jews today. It’s important that we mark Holocaust Memorial Day but why are we not also celebrating Jewish festivals and achievements? Why are we not talking about wider Jewish history and the world’s culpability when it comes to antisemitism? It’s too easy to accept the Jewish people when they are the victim in need of pity but much more difficult for the world to recognise that the scourge of antisemitism has not gone away and is in fact getting much worse.

Addressing Antisemitism in your organisation

No organisation is immune from antisemitism and all organisations need to work at identifying and addressing antisemitism. It’s easy to believe that antisemitism is a thing of the past but Jewish employees need to see all organisations taking a stand against this oldest form of hate.

This year marks the launch of new dedicated resources from Inclusive Employers on tackling antisemitism. The Guide will provide you with useful resources, the latest research on global antisemitism and the tools you need to stand up to antisemitic hate in your organisation.

We also now offer training sessions both in-person and online in identifying and addressing antisemitism in the workplace. These sessions are available for both members and non-members of Inclusive Employers. Through interactive tools, historical insights and the latest research we will inform and empower your teams in tackling anti-Jewish racism regardless of your organisation size or sector. You can contact us for more information, or if you’re already a member ask your account manager for details.

In addition to committing to training, one of the best ways you can show support for Jewish staff is to ensure their experiences and celebrations are part of your annual inclusion activities. Do not just rely on Holocaust Memorial Day but instead celebrate Jewish joy throughout the year by talking about different festivals, showcasing Jewish role models and incorporating the Jewish experience into all of your inclusion activities.

Finally…

I am incredibly proud to be Jewish and I will not allow the continued rise of antisemitism to dim that pride. However, as proud as I and millions of other Jews are…it isn’t enough. We need to be included in your inclusion work and we need our voices, experiences and celebrations to be heard to help fight continued hate with hope. Then maybe one day I can walk down the street wearing my kippah without having to think twice.

How Inclusive Employers can help you to tackle modern antisemitism