Jews Making Allies Locally
I work for a Jewish community organisation in Scotland. I am currently carrying out a Scottish-government-funded research project that involves me listening to Jewish people all over Scotland about how it feels to be Jewish at this moment. I managed to get my organization to agree to me pretty much1 asking the RC panel questions—“What’s good about being Jewish in Scotland? What’s not so good?” and so on—which meant that today I was the go-to person2 to speak on Scottish national radio in response to Netanyahu3 saying that all European Jews should go to Israel.
So thank you to this list4 for helping me make my response. It was entirely about needing to make allies locally, building connections and community, and giving people a chance to voice their feelings of terror but also reminding them of how safe they are in this country where they are entirelyat home. And local people need to know that we are not about to leave to go to Israel. And yes, I was shaking all afternoon, but I managed to say what I wanted to say.
Fiona Frank
Lancaster, Lancashire, England
Reprinted from the RC e-mail
discussion list for leaders of Jews
1 “Pretty much” means mostly.
2 “Go-to person” means expert.
3 Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel
4 The RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of Jews