When my father, the son of a rabbi, went in the 1930s to Oxford University from Edinburgh, he encountered antisemitism for the first time. It was sometimes overt; more often implicit (The unanswered question: why do antisemites think Labour is the party for them?, 4 March). From the time he arrived in Scotland a century ago, my grandfather worked hard and successfully to break down barriers and establish a role in the wider Scottish community. He believed – as did my father and as do I – that a dual identity as Scot and Jew was not only possible but beneficial, for individuals and for society generally.
It is heartbreaking to see the re-emergence of hostility to Jewish identity. It has no doubt been latent for decades, but that leading public figures, through silence and ineptitude if not active encouragement, should now be endorsing the vilification of Jewish life and individuals is appalling. That this endorsement is emanating from a political party that my parents, I and my children have supported all our lives is distressing beyond measure. That it is clearly linked to wider hostility to all forms of difference makes it all the more disturbing and dangerous.
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