{"id":11090,"date":"2023-11-14T10:36:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T05:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/david-baddiel-says-british-jews-are-living-with-dread-amid-anger-over-israel-hamas-conflict-ents-arts-news\/"},"modified":"2023-11-14T10:36:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T05:06:37","slug":"david-baddiel-says-british-jews-are-living-with-dread-amid-anger-over-israel-hamas-conflict-ents-arts-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/david-baddiel-says-british-jews-are-living-with-dread-amid-anger-over-israel-hamas-conflict-ents-arts-news\/","title":{"rendered":"David Baddiel says British Jews are ‘living with dread’ amid ‘anger’ over Israel-Hamas conflict | Ents & Arts News"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]\n<\/p>\n

\n

Comedian and author David Baddiel says there is a sense of “race deja vu” being experienced by British Jews as a result of the “febrile, angry nature” of reactions to the war between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Sky News about his new animated film, My Father’s Secrets, premiering at the UK Jewish Film Festival, Baddiel<\/strong> said it saddened him that numerous people had asked him if the annual festival, aimed at reflecting the Jewish experience, was going to be cancelled.<\/p>\n

“That’s sort of awful, really, said in a sense of, you know, [how] it might be dangerous to host such a film festival at the moment,” he said.<\/p>\n

Based on a graphic novel by acclaimed cartoonist Michel Kichka, My Father’s Secrets sees actors Elliott Gould, Miriam Margolyes and Tracy-Ann Oberman all lend their voices to the feature, with Baddiel narrating.<\/p>\n

Set in 1960s Belgium, it is the story of two brothers in a Jewish family, who struggle to communicate with their silent and discreet father, Henri, a Holocaust survivor. Intergenerational trauma is a key theme.<\/p>\n

“I thought it was a really sweet project, important and moving\u2026 Sometimes you get ideas of Holocaust survivors as slightly angelic. That’s not real,” said Baddiel.<\/p>\n

“What’s real is that it’s traumatic and it leads to psychological damage. I saw that in my own mother, that’s how it’s passed on.”<\/p>\n

While the festival is now in its 27th year, the 2023 preparations have had to be different.<\/p>\n

Taking place in the shadow of divisive debates about pro-Palestinian protests<\/strong>, you’d struggle to know it was even on with no signs or posters outside of London<\/strong> cinemas.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"David\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n My Father’s Secret is premiering at the UK Jewish Film Festival
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Baddiel is concerned about how the gap between perception and reality is becoming worse for British Jews.<\/p>\n

“There’s an assumption that Jews are powerful, privileged and oppressive. And actually, at the moment, there’s a very strong feeling that Jews are anxious and living with a kind of dread, and there’s a kind of race deja vu that comes with a constant sense of, you know, the febrile angry nature of what’s going on out there.”<\/p>\n

Michael Etherton, chief executive of UK Jewish Film, told Sky News how, in recent weeks, security around their event has had to increase.<\/p>\n

“Security is really tight this year. We are in regular contact with the police, but we are determined to go ahead,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We are a tiny ethnic minority in the UK, so we do feel vulnerable and isolated at this time\u2026 It’s been a terrible few weeks and as a community we really need to come together and to be able to share our stories.<\/p>\n

“We can’t be forced behind closed doors by a situation which is many thousands of miles away\u2026 we won’t become an invisible community.”<\/p>\n

\n