Hatred in our schools by Keren David

 When I thought about what to write this month, I looked back at my post of  October 8 last year, written as I was just beginning to learn about the horrors unleashed by the Hamas attack on Israel. 
I wrote about my 2021 book What We're Scared Of, and in particular the character of Noah, a boy who has suffered violent antisemitism in France, and believes strongly that he will only be safe in Israel. 
I still don't know the answer to that one -  hard to, when the world's only Jewish state is under attack from at least four fronts, and Noah by now would probably be in the army -  as most Israeli teenagers are conscripted.
What I do know is that the other characters in my book, sisters Evie and Lottie, and Lottie's friend Hannah would almost certainly have had a dreadful year too.
Jewish schoolchildren in Britain -  especially those in non Jewish schools -  have been subject to antisemitic attacks all year.  A report in February by the Community Security Trust recorded 325 incidents in the schools sector in 2023, an increase of 232% on the year before. The vast majority of incidents, 70%, took place after 7 October 2023.
According to the Guardian: "Most involved abusive behaviour, but there were also 32 cases of assault and 10 of damage or desecration to property. Twenty-four of the incidents took place in mainstream (non-Jewish) primary schools."
This week's Jewish Chronicle carries an account by a schoolboy who said that after October 7 he felt he was 'drowning in hostility'. No one was interested in hearing his point of view, or supporting him in a traumatic time for all Jewish people. He gratefully switched to a Jewish school -  but pupils at Jewish schools are now advised to take off their blazers outside school, and try and hide their identities. 
I would like to say that teachers and librarians in the UK have responded to this tide of hate by using my book as a teaching aid, or inviting me in to speak. Perhaps a publisher would like me to write a follow up, or a non fiction guide to antisemitic tropes and the history of Jewish people? I'm joking, alas. There's been nothing but a big, fat silence from the world of children's publishing, and to be honest, I'm not sure I'd say yes if I was asked. I worry enough about my own personal safety as it is. 
The title of my book 'What We're Scared Of' was an attempt to reply to a friend (a children's writer as it happened) who felt unable to see why Jewish people found antisemitism scary. We weren't actually being herded into concentration camps after all. All the time I was writing it I worried that I would be accused of over stating the problem. Well, it is bitter indeed to discover that I was right all along. 
Children's books need a hopeful ending, and I'm trying to find one for this bleak post, I hope and pray that the voices for peace will prevail, that the hostages will be saved, that the bombing will end and that evil will be defeated. I remain stubbornly optimistic that things will get better. This is the secret of Jewish survival, and it has got us through thousands of years of violent hate.