‘I’m uninterested in fearing for my life on the varsity run – sufficient is sufficient’
Daily reports of attacks on Britain’s Jewish community has seen tensions and fears rising daily, and the Daily Star’s Adam Cailler has opened up on why he’s had enough
Another day, another attack
The suspected knife attack in Golders Green, London, is approximately 206 miles away from where my daughter goes to school in Manchester – and yet the impact of it will be felt there.
What many people across the UK don’t seem to understand is that when an alleged attack like that happens anywhere in the country (and elsewhere), Jewish people feel it everywhere.
The Jewish school my daughter is at already has two sets of ram-proof gates, two further sets of steel gates before parents can get to the playground, and pairs of security guards a wearing bullet proof vests at every gate.
There’s cameras on every possible angle, ram-proof fences only a giraffe can see over, and a giant siren on top of the building in case the worst should happen, and all parents have to show ID before entering the grounds.
And my daughter, aged just 7, has been taking part in terror attack drills at school since she was aged just three years old… think about that for a second.
The fear we as a community feels right now is being ramped up daily – and this Golders Green alleged attack will only increase that.
For the last several months, since the horrific terror attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester especially, I have listened to politician after politician and “ally” after “ally” repeat comments in public about sharing “solidarity with our Jewish community” and how “antisemitism is unacceptable,” blah blah blah.
“Attacks on British Jews are an attack on Britain itself,” Sarah Sackman, the MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said, and Sir Keir Starmer said “the antisemitic attack in Golders Green is utterly appalling”, adding “attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain”.
It’s tiring, it’s boring, it’s all optics and none of the people who can actually do something about it ever do.
The Prime Minister increases security funding, yet attacks continue to happen. The British community at large (most of them, I hope) express concerns and fear, yet the attacks continue to happen.
At what point will every just say “enough” and deal with the issues, because fearing for my life every time I go and collect my daughter from school is physically and mentally draining – and it’s something that the vast majority of British Jewry are having to deal with.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again . . . at what point is enough really enough for those in power to pull their collective fingers out and just do something, ANYTHING, to stop this?
