How insidious Jew-hate is becoming the norm in the arts world

Although she says she will never hide the fact she’s Jewish – “it’s so inherent in my being. I’m ethnically 100 per cent Jewish, with my first and last breath I’ll be a Jew” – she admits that it is something she has massively downplayed over the past 15 months. “I am very reluctant about doing Jewish stuff any more. I used to do a recurring Jewish sketch on social media, but I haven’t done it for over a year because of Israel.

I’ve totally dialled down Jewish stuff in my set. I only say the world Jewish once now, and I say it very quickly. It’s tricky because you need to hear it to get the joke, but I need to say it quick enough no that nobody shouts ‘free Palestine’

“I’ve totally dialled down Jewish stuff in my live set too. I only say the word Jewish once now, and I say it very quickly. It’s tricky, because you need to hear it to get the joke, but I also need to say it quick enough so that nobody shouts ‘free Palestine’.”

It’s a similar story with the two people I speak to in the fashion world. “Right now I’m in a situation where I can’t disclose anything that I’ve experienced publicly because I rely on non-Jewish support systems in my industry,” one tells me. “As messed up as it is, the situation is that a lot of emerging Jewish creatives are unfortunately in the same boat, where we risk not being able to pay rent if we put our names on exposés, as much as we would really want to.”

[Missing Credit]

Likewise, a Jewish producer who works across the music and film industries explains: “I don’t feel I can be overt about where I stand on things, especially not on social media, because I’m terrified that I’ll lose work, lose colleagues, lose even more friends that I already have. I feel like there’s definitely a fear in the air among me and my Jewish peers, that this kind of latent antisemitism that’s come out of the woodwork again… it sort of feels like, we’re just kind of a bit shocked that we’ve seen this again in our lifetimes. I feel unable to speak freely is the headline, really. Especially Israelis [can’t express who they are].”

Unsurprisingly, paranoia is rife. Even though most of the Jewish creatives I spoke to had no proof that they had been blacklisted, almost all suspected that they had lost out on work since October 7 – whether they have been open about their support for Israel, or not.

“You know, nothing has been confirmed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were venues that won’t book me because I’m Jewish, or if there are creative teams that won’t bring me in because I’m a Zionist. I don’t know, I don’t have proof, but it wouldn’t surprise me,” says Broadway performer Ari Axelrod.

“The situation right now for Jews and Israelis in fashion is that we’re sort of all heavily aware of the enormous efforts to blacklist us, and the focus has shifted to constantly dodging BDS efforts,” I’m told. “This happens by removing support or sponsorship, refusal to cover our work in the fashion press, and making threats or smear campaigns towards us.” It is clear from everyone that I speak to that this discrimination is not happening on a personal level, but a communal one: Jewish creatives are being shut out of the conversation, simply because they are Jews.

“It feels like our very existence is ‘out’ right now,” says the comedian. “I was looking at a club who always used to book me but haven’t for a while, even though last time I performed there it went really well. Just looking at their line-ups – one of the guys that performs there loads always wears a Palestinian scarf; my friend who performs there wears a hijab.

“I just don’t think I’m being looked at to play that space because it’s probably just seen as more hassle than it’s worth. That would be my guess. It just feels like for now Jews, especially Jews who aren’t anti-Israel, are just not welcome.”

It’s not just individual Jews who are struggling, but Jewish arts organisations too. In October last year Michael Etherton, chief executive of UK Jewish Film, wrote an article for this paper about the “deafening silence and avoidance tactics” that his organisation had experienced for years: “Emails and chasers remain unanswered, phone calls are never returned.” From America, Naomi Firestone-Teeter, chief executive of the Jewish Book Council (JBC), tells me: “We’ve faced a wide variety of issues directly, but most ongoing is the consistent digital spam and harassment online. We’re also, of course, more limited in, and cautious about, partnership opportunities outside of the Jewish community for a number of reasons.”

Artist Zoe Buckman[Missing Credit]

While many Jewish creatives find themselves in a grey zone, unsure to what extent they are being discriminated against, for some the situation is far less opaque. One such person is Zoe Buckman, a UK-born artist now living in New York. “I’ve seen myself on boycott/ black-out lists, I’ve had people tell me that they’ve been told not to work with me, and my last solo show was cancelled,” she tells me. “It was couched as if they were doing it for me, in that they said: we are going to wait until antisemitic hate in the UK has died down, because we would hate for you to put effort into this show and then to receive potential hostility about you and your work. But for me that’s equivalent to a gallery essentially asking me to hide who I am.”

For Buckman, it’s not the lack of exposure that hurts, but the betrayal by a community she once called home. “I’ve never been in spaces, around people who have known me for over a decade, where I feel unsafe before now. Not knowing who’s put me on these lists, who’s been boycotting me, who wants me dead in my own community,  well, that requires a new type of hyper-vigilance. There’s a new type of vulnerability that we’re all finding our way with,” she says. “It’s really damaging for our wellbeing, for our day-to-day lived experience in the arts.”

The level of cognitive dissonance is off the scale – having to speak to people that you work with closely, having to champion and support them, while they kind of hope your family die

“The level of cognitive dissonance is off the scale,” agrees the music/film producer. “I think that’s really the most common experience, isn’t it [seeing people you know liking hateful, antisemitic posts on social media]? People that you work with closely, knowing how they feel about it, but yet having to speak to them every day and champion them and support them, while they kind of hope that your family die.”

“The whole thing is different. Being in the industry is different,” shares one of the fashion insiders. “You know, you want to know who you’re working with, you want to know that the people don’t hate you before you go into a job. And you don’t know for sure, but you want to at least have a look at their social to check that they’re not actively antisemitic. So, yes, everything has shifted.”

The landscape is, undeniably, bleak – but thankfully that’s not the whole picture. As Jews have found themselves increasingly on the outs in their wider creative communities, they’ve found solace and support in each other. Or, as one of them puts it: “This cabal that everyone thought existed is now on its way to existing thanks to October 7 because we’ve all reached out to each other. We need each other.”

“I think it’s been a trigger into positive action,” says artist Bruno Grad. “There’s less complacency and more taking responsibility for the positive things we can do to help uplift and support each other… I know so many people, myself included, who’ve just wanted to move deeper into Jewish life and Jewish community, and I think this has strengthened our community. For me, it is something really positive.”

For Grad, moving forward with Jewish pride and positivity are key to his outlook. “I don’t mean to in any way downplay how hard it is, but I want to respond with light where I can, I’d rather put my energy towards positive responses and thinking about how to be the solution.” He is particularly excited about an artists’ development scheme that was recently launched by Jewish Renaissance magazine. “There is a real lack of these kind of opportunities for Jewish artists in this country. I think a lot of funds aimed at minority groups often leave Jews out, so I think this is a really good response,” he tells me. “It’s a really positive way of bringing the light to a dark period in our collective experience, it’s really hopeful, and directly helps people who need the help the most.”

Thankfully this response is far from unique. In the days and weeks after October 7, new and existing Jewish arts organisations sprang into action – to provide immediate support for Jews working in the arts, and try to establish positive paths forward.

Artists Against Antisemitism UK (AAAUK) is one of a number of arts organisations that formed in response to October 7 and the ensuing hostility (not to be confused with the similarly named The Artists Against Antisemitism). AAAUK’s first course of action was to survey Jewish creatives about their experiences, but in the months since their focus has been on helping UK arts organisations navigate this new terrain.

“We have operated very discreetly to provide cultural leaders with consultation, advice and support, in light of the challenges they face within their roles,” explains AAAUK co-founder Liat Rosenthal, a creative director and former senior creative producer at Tate Modern. “This might be reviewing staff training, thinking about internal communications, developing staff networks, approaches to specific crisis management incidents, or thinking more broadly about how to ensure Jewish staff and audiences feel included, and don’t experience a hostile environment.”

The JBC has been similarly busy. “We are focused on a mix of providing immediate support, identifying how to create a healthy Jewish book publishing pipeline and distribution partnerships moving forward, and widening promotional support and events for Jewish books and authors. This means working with both the secular and Jewish community,” says Firestone-Teeter.

As well as a witness platform “to share first-hand accounts, fiction, and poetry by our Israeli authors” which they launched three days after the Hamas pogroms, last spring JBC created a hotline for Jews working in the literary world to report antisemitism. So far, it has received several hundreds of calls concerning everything from online harassment to literary journals and agents saying they won’t work with Zionists. Somewhat depressingly, Firestone-Teeter admits: “While the level of discrimination and bias is at heights we couldn’t have imagined – and the level of comfort that people and organisations across our industry have speaking out against Israelis, Zionists and Jews is shocking – the general issue is not new to us.”

Direct harassment and exclusion are only the tip of the iceberg though. Far more insidious is the quiet erasure of Jewish visibility, in all areas of the arts.

“Curatorially it’s definitely about trying to tone down Jewish identities, and not even mentioning any links to Israel, if possible,” the RCA graduate explains. “Toning down of Jewish identity in exhibition texts is a real issue too.”

Broadway performer Ari Alexrod (left) and artist Bruno Gad[Missing Credit]

Axelrod calls out a similar situation when it comes to casting. “I would see all these groups being championed. So you would see breakdowns looking for black, trans, queer X, Y and Z. And then for a Jewish role: white, eastern European – and it just didn’t make sense to me,” he explains. “And so then I started seeing the double standard at play, and I know that double standards are at the core of the antisemitic template.” To put it simply: “Things that apply to Jews don’t apply to other people, and things that apply to other people don’t apply to Jews,” he says.

It’s a conclusion that all of the creatives I spoke to have reached. “There’s this double standard about being open-minded and cool and being in the arts, but the actual reality is that it’s not the case,” the RCA graduate shared.

While one of the fashion insiders reflected: “A creative community should be open… but our creative community has been politicised, and it’s been politicised against us.”

While understandably, many creatives are trying to lay low, hoping the storm will soon blow over, those who have chosen to speak out publicly have no regrets. “It’s very Tevye,” says Axelrod. “On one hand, I understand wanting to have a career and speaking out might make that impossible. On the other hand, you have to be alive to have a career, and there are people who want us dead.

“On the other hand, you might need health insurance, and in order to get health insurance as an actor in New York you have to work a certain amount of weeks.

“On the other hand, how can anyone stay silent when there are hostages in Gaza? So I understand why people want to stay silent, but I don’t understand how they can.”

If you are someone who stands with different communities when they need you, why wouldn’t you stand for your own community right now?

Buckman is equally defiant, telling me: “If you are someone who stands with different communities when they need you, why wouldn’t you stand for your own community right now?

“I want other Jewish artists to know that this has absolutely not been a career ender for me,” she adds. “My work has never sold as well as it is now. So it’s an interesting time. Me being vocally Jewish, me making work about the Jewish experience, is closing a lot of doors, but it’s also opening a lot too.”