We are all immigrants

However, I would like to put the record straight in terms of Jews not fighting in the British Army during World War 2, though I cannot comment on their participation in World War 1.

As a non-Jew, but having had Jewish friends from my time spent in Israel when I was in my early twenties in the late 60s and early 70s, I was made very aware at the time of the part Jews had played in terms of fighting in the British Army during World War 2.  I also lived with people who had fled to Palestine/Israel before the war, had been in concentration camps themselves or had family members die in the camps.

It isn’t helpful to say that “Moslems fought for Britain in WW1 and WW11 whilst the majority of Jews fled (with their money) rather than stand and fight for freedom”.  In fact, 30,000 Jews fought in the British Army, including the special unit called the Jewish Brigade from Palestine. In truth, where it was possible to not be one of the six million who died in the concentration camps along with those who survived, 1.5 million Jews fought in the regular Allied armies; in many cases the percentage of Jews fighting was greater than the percentage of Jews in the population.

The Jews in their turn have taken the racial bashing that the Moslems are now enduring. Many Jews were actually killed in the pogroms of the 12th century and onwards, and branded as ‘Christ killers’. From the Jews returning to Britain in the 17th century they are reputed to have integrated well.

The Jews in Israel in the present time is another issue — but an issue that I feel vividly colours the emotions of both Jews and Moslems in Britain and Europe. Quite recently, a taxi driver brought this up in conversation whilst we were travelling in his cab. What is important is that Moslems do not bring their understandable anger over Israel to the difficulties they are experiencing in Britain and elsewhere — and my heart goes out to the vast majority of Moslem families. It is important to remember that many Jews inside and outside of Israel do not agree with the situation of the Palestinians or the internationally condemned building on the West Bank by the right-wing Israelis.

I would want to reassure Nasser Alam that as a family we aim to be non-racist; a member of my family has a Moslem friend who has been nothing less than an incredibly positive force in his life.

As a retired teacher I have always striven to remind the young that we are all the ancestors of immigrants. I would love to have a DNA test (along with all UKIP members and those who vote for them) to see the trail of my ancestry.

Throughout our history the emotion that has caused so much concern in the ‘tribal mind-set’ of groups such as UKIP is the fear of a divided society. We have to work together so that no one culture is providing a threat to the freedom of the others.  We are a nation that has endured subjugation and subordination from conquerors, monarchy, the feudal system, and where sections of society treated the white working classes as semi-slaves throughout history and used Africans as slaves in the colonies for a couple of centuries.

Surely, we should have gained some sort of wisdom by the 21st century from all of this horrendous human behaviour, in order to be to be able to sort the current problems with immigration. I certainly won’t feel proud to be British if we can’t.