We’ve seen in the past desperate efforts by BBC Scotland to remind Scots that things are no different here when the rest of the UK suffers surges in crime generally, knife crime, drug gang activity, domestic abuse and, of course, hate crime.
Today BBC Scotland headlines:
The brother of a British-Israeli man murdered by Hamas has told the BBC he has never been more fearful of antisemitism in the UK. Bernard Cowan, from Scotland, was killed by Hamas gunmen in his home on a kibbutz in Southern Israel during the 7 October attack. The 57-year-old left his family in Glasgow when he was just 19 to move to Israel. His brother Colin says he “is filled with dread” as a Jew living in Britain.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67404606
Is there any evidence in the report that violent antisemitism, even non-violent antisemitism, is prevalent in Scotland? The report has no evidence and only at the very end of the report do we see this crucial information:
The Cowan family has received support from Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf, whose in-laws were recently trapped in Gaza. Last month, after the attack in Israel, the first minister attended a solidarity event at a synagogue in Glasgow and hugged Bernard Cowan’s mother as she mourned outliving her son. “You could feel his empathy… but a lot of people don’t believe what he believes,” added Mr Cowan.
So, is there any actual evidence of the level of antisemitic crime in Scotland to provide the reader with the context they might reasonably expect from journalism?
You know there is. Here it is again:
Research from CST published yesterday [November 4 2023], reports 1 019 antisemitic incidents across the UK in thje last 28 days. Of those , 17 took place in Scotland.
The UK population of 67.3 million is 12.3 times greater than that of Scotland at 5.4 million so, all things being equal, the UK figured might have been expected to be around 12.3 times 17 or 210. It was 1 019, nearly 5 times higher.
The nature of the incidents is not broken down . There were 47 actual physical assaults across the UK. I can see no reports of any in Scotland.
https://cst.org.uk/news/blog/2023/11/03/antisemitic-incidents-3-november-update
However, the BBC report, the image, the headline and the positioning of the story do the damage.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Shocking that this publicly funded tv channel
Is ALLOW BY GOVERNING BODIES
TO LIE INCESSANTLY ABOUT SCOTLAND AND ITS GOVERNMENT
WHY ARE THE GETTING PUBLIC MONEY
BETTER SOENT SUPPORTING OUR POOR
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Good – That contrived article by Lucy Manning has been doing the rounds, yet despite the fact she hasn’t a clue of what makes Scots tick, yet BBC Scotland specifically promoted it as yet another deflection to public opinion being heavily sympathetic toward the plight of palestinians…
If Colin Cowan is daft enough to take his nephew’s view from Israel of antisemitism in the UK, that is up to him, but that doesn’t make it an assertion Scots have to answer to.
I’m not for a minute denying antisemitism will exist in the UK as well as Scotland, most all religions have suffered intolerance – Not so long ago in Scotland it was ‘Kafflicks’ getting the bigots backs up, and it’s still a thing in isolated pockets.
Yet there is no regime deliberately conflating Catholicism with attitudes toward any particular nation state, that is limited to Israel, who have been deliberately promoting ‘antisemitism’ around the globe for many years as defence to criticism.
Slightly OT, there was an interesting piece on Novara Media relating to the London march, but examining the merits of “it’s complicated” explanation of Israeli/Palestinian affairs.
Pivotal to it was commentary from an american author on his personal experience from visiting the West Bank for the first time – Well worth a listen for a wholly different perspective on what is hiding in plain sight, quite the inverse of antisemitism..
His take is absolutely spot on from my own experience there, bigotry with a big gun…
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That “no different” argument really annoys me. One of the most obvious differences is that Scotland hasn’t elected a Tory government since the 1950s. In fact they didn’t win a single general election in Scotland in the whole of the 19th century. The only reason we get landed with them is because we are in a union with England. I’m in my 60s and in my lifetime the Tories haven’t won a GE in Scotland but despite that we have been governed by them for over half of my life. The way to get rid of them is obvious…independence.
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Am I reading this wrong , a Scottish man Bernard Cowan moved to Israel when he was 19 and was killed by Hammas in Israel at the age of 57 , he is referred to as a British Israeli .
His brother Colin Cowan in Scotland says “ he “
“ is filled with dread living as a Jew in U.K.”
Who ? …
Who is filled with dread living as a Jew in U.K. ? It’s not clear who they are referring to.
Do they mean Bernard was filled with fear living in U.K. ?
Do they mean Colin is a Jew and filled with fear living in U.K. ? If they do mean Colin why say living in U.K. ? Why not say living in Scotland ?
What an oddly written story.
Of course it’s a terrible waste of life Bernard being killed by Hammas especially I think given that he would have been treated as a second class citizen by the Israeli government and their laws having not been born in Israel but he must have enjoyed the life there to stay so long .
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