My upcoming annual Scotland Visit in the Wake of the Current Climate of Widespread and Extreme Hatred Against Jews

My upcoming annual Scotland Visit in the Wake of the Current Climate of Widespread and Extreme Hatred Against Jews

This week in Australia, on the eve of the festival of Chanukah (14th December), we saw one of the most heinous Muslim terrorist attacks upon Jews since the Yom Kippur (2nd October) attack in Manchester this year and of course, Hamas’ massacre of over 1,200 Israelis and others - a real genocide, on Simchas Torah (7th October) in 2023.

This didn’t happen in a vacuum and has everything to do with incitement to hatred and violence directed at Jews coming from the Muslim and Arab world, Islamists within the rapidly growing local Muslim communities, the activist radical Socialists and Greens, and the almost never reported tens of billions (yes, billions) of pounds, euros and dollars being "invested" into Western governments, Western medias, city projects, corporate businesses and universities by terrorist supporting countries such as Qatar, Iran and Turkey.

Screams of “Globalise the Intifada”, “From the River to the Sea” and “Jihad” are not just empty slogans. As we saw on Bondi Beach on Sunday, they mean what they say, yet the police stand by and do nothing in the face of this blatant Jew hatred.

Moreover, much of the population of the Western world including their governments have already been brainwashed by the universities and schools and the Main Stream Media like the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, CNN, Sky News UK, The Guardian, The New York Times, etc., who are pumping out on a daily basis, totally false accusations, pure lies that amount to blood libels of so-called genocide and forced starvation in Gaza, demonising Israel, the only Jewish state in the world and the only democracy in the Middle East, as well as the Jewish communities outside Israel, all without any consequences.

Praise is due to Sky News Australia, Talk TV and GB News for pushing back against the rest of the Anti-Semitic media mob (at least most of the time), and reporting the truth (more or less).

Jewish communities around the world are battening down the hatches and keeping their heads down, waiting for the next blow to hit.

Many in the UK, North America, Europe and Australasia are actively planning their aliya. We welcome you all!

In the midst of all this, I am planning a family trip to Scotland early next year with my adult sons, to visit some of my favourite distilleries and to refresh my whisky knowledge.

With my large black Kippa on my head and long white Tzitzis dangling down, you can appreciate that when I travel around Scotland, I am very visibly an Orthodox Jew. British Jews have advised me to wear a hat in order to cover my kippa and to tuck my Tzitzis in. However, I find wearing hats uncomfortable (unless it’s bitterly cold), and as my late Rav, Rabbi Goldberg zt”l, used to say, “you don’t shove a mitzva down your trousers”. So, even in the current climate, I won’t be hiding my Judaism!

Up until now, I have always been received very warmly by the locals I meet in the street, self catering chalets and cottages and in the distilleries in Scotland. But now, in today’s hostile climate, for the first time in more than 30 years of visiting Scotland, I am, I have to admit, feeling slightly apprehensive over what we may encounter in Bonny Scotland. Be’ezras Hashem everyone we meet will be as warm and friendly as I have known the Scots to be in the past.

I wish all of you a Chanukah Sameach.

I’d like to hear from everyone but particularly from any Scots reading this, Jewish and non-Jewish who could describe their experiences. I'd prefer that you use the Comments section below rather than contacting me on Whatsapp or email, so that we can share your thoughts with other readers.