UK Antisemitism/Antizionism: Personal Testimony

Carol Gould throws in the towel.

Q: Why, after nearly 30 years, are you planning to leave London?

A: I am leaving because I find the level of Jew-hatred and America-loathing too much to handle now. Over the years I have allowed the nasty comments from British friends and work colleagues to roll off like water off a duck’s back, but since 9/11 the comments have been tinged with a visceral anger. I feel that ugly ‘You damned Jew; you bloody Yank’ hatred rising to the surface to such a degree that I could see myself being physically attacked very soon.

This is not paranoia; just this past week I was told by a man at my storage facility that he had taken a visiting American friend into a London pub and that the verbal abuse from ordinary English people was so severe that they had to leave. To be specific, this abuse takes the following shape: ‘How does it feel to be responsible for our British lads dying every day in Iraq so your friends in Israel can have some more guns to kill Palestinians?’ or ‘ How many Americans can spell ‘dog?” or ‘Who are you and your Israeli friends going to slaughter next?’

Q: What kind of life did you have there, culturally, politically, professionally, and socially?

A: In my early years in the UK I have to say I had a rich life. I worked in the top echelons of theatre and TV and was highly respected by my colleagues. In recent years, however, I have found work hard to come by; when I have been in the workplace I have been at the receiving end of nasty comments about my Jewishness, about Americans and about being a ‘Zionist.’

When I defend my heritage, otherwise intelligent media colleagues tell me to ‘get that Holocaust chip off your shoulder.’ I was asked to leave a high-profile women’s video collective way back in 1999 when the Board - women from Britain and Africa — decided I was ‘too Zionist’ to be a ‘trusted member of the team.’

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