This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
I have to admit to feeling increasingly depressed these last few days over the revelation of the ‘pockets of anti-semitism’ within the Labour party. It is their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who admitted to these pockets but in my opinion it is his pockets that are full of this poison. It is toxic and is so disheartening to see, hear and read about in 2018.
I feel a particular revulsion as I am Catholic but I have been married to my Jewish husband for nearly 30 years. When we announced our engagement we experienced a small amount of resistance within both families. Some just thought it but others wrote letters. I was shocked that just as I was experiencing one of the happiest moments of my life other people were trying to tell me that I could not love my husband simply because he is Jewish. Since then my own family have grown to love and respect him however he should never have had to face such prejudice and had to win them over. However as time went on I believe that people have become more aware and understanding of what it is to be Jewish. Ethnic cleansing of any kind is deplorable and that instigated by Hitler was so extreme it could be considered industrial. How this religion of people have survived and if you have ever listened to anyone who is an Holocaust survivor then you will know that they have lived their lives with little hatred – they are to me a remarkable people.
Their love of family is so core to their beliefs and my friends are always bowled over at how they will always help others when asked. They believe in human life above all else. Perhaps this is because during the Second World War Jewish lives were considered so worthless and the perpetrators of these beliefs wanted to extinguish them from the human race. If you are not Jewish it is so hard to imagine that a political party wished to rid the world of one religion.
I must add that this is not just a U.K. problem. This manifestation of anti-semitism, racism, ethnic cleansing is revitalised all over the so-called civilised world. Yet I am most saddened by the fact that it is happening in our own country. A country that almost single handedly stood up in 1939 for the beliefs of human values. Yet here we are nearly 75 years later hearing people endorsing the same libel and slander that the Nazi party used in coming to power in Germany in the 1930’s.
Mireille Knoll with her granddaughter
As I write this CNN are reporting that two people have been arrested over the murder of an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor in Paris that is being investigated as a suspected anti-Semitic attack, a French judicial source told CNN on Tuesday. Mireille Knoll was stabbed 11 times in her apartment in the 11th arrondissement of Paris before her home was set on fire.
There are no more words that I can write.
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