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Hadley Freeman

ByHadley Freeman, Hadley Freeman

Opinion

Get a grip Britain, you don’t need to copy America’s campus hate

Oreos are fine, but antisemitism on campus is an American import too far

February 13, 2024 11:14
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Supporters of Palestine gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 2023. Thousands of Palestinians sought refuge on October 14 after Israel warned them to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip before an expected ground offensive against Hamas, one week on from the deadliest attack in Israeli history. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
3 min read

The horrific antisemitism on Leeds and Birmingham university campuses raise many questions, starting with “WTF??” and ending with “Is this 2024 or 1934?” I have a further question, relevant to my very specific interests, which is this: “Bloody hell, UK. Do you always have to copy America?”

I moved to this country from the US in 1990 and, WOW, it was a weird culture shock. For one thing, I was the only Jewish girl in my class at school. Out of 20 girls! For a New York kid, this was inexplicable, like being the only girl in school who could read. I actually had to explain to my classmates that “bat mitzvah” was not some crazy American spelling for “birthday” when I sent out my invitations.

Even more annoying than that was the weird time lag it took for things to come from the US to the UK. Movies and TV shows specifically. Man, the wait for Beverly Hills 90210 was painful, although not as bad as the one for Green Card, the 90s rom com starring — of all people — Gerard Depardieu and Andie Macdowell, which fully lived up to the promises of the trailer. “Hurry up, UK!” I’d think. “Get that American stuff quicker!”

Well, we all make mistakes when we’re young. I started to regret my wish in the early 2000s when Tony Blair — my once clever and cool PM, became, seemingly overnight, a war-mongering Christian, in the vein of the very unclever and cool President George W Bush. Argh, go away American influence! Then in 2016, Britain was apparently so keen to catch up with America that it beat its brother to the stupid punch that year, voting in Brexit four months *before* America voted in Trump. But we quickly returned to the status quo when, three years after America got a liar and charlatan with stupid blonde hair as a leader, Britain got exactly the same. ‘Enough with catching America’s cold, Britain,’ I thought. But little did I know that a bout of pneumonia was coming our way.