Vanessa Feltz has shared the horrifying abuse she received after discussing the anti-Semitic terror attack in Golders Green on her Channel 5 show. The Jewish broadcaster, 64, revealed she had personally received anti-Semitic trolling calling her 'vile' after speaking out on the issue.
The presenter took to her Instagram page this week to talk about the 'heartbreaking' experience she had endured after raising awareness on her self-titled programme. In a video, Vanessa read out some of the messages she had received, one of which said: 'She's vile, isn't she? Just like the rest of her ilk.'
Rising Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes in London
Anti-Semitic hate crimes in London are the highest they have been in two years, with the most in the borough of Barnet, where the Golders Green stabbings happened last week, figures from the Met Police have revealed. Some 140 offences were logged across the capital in April, up from 98 in March and 67 in February, according to the new data. The borough of Barnet saw the highest number, accounting for 51 of the 140 (36 per cent).
Vanessa Feltz Speaks Out on Abuse
Vanessa had previously spoken about the Golders Green stabbings on the show, but the topic of antisemitism was touched on again following the onslaught of abuse. Speaking on Wednesday, she said: 'It is quite personal. It's not much fun to talk about really, but I did think it's important to speak honestly to you at home because otherwise what is the point in doing any of this really..'
'About what antisemitism is really like at the moment for Jewish people in Britain today. This morning, Keir Starmer the Prime Minister declared antisemitism a crisis for all of us as he hosted an event in Downing Street which bought leaders across all areas of public life together to address the problem.'
'And you might remember, you might even be thinking well hasn't Vanessa just talked about this, why is she talking about this again? Because I did talk about it on this programme following the appalling terror attack in Golders Green. Two Jewish men, one 34 and one 76 years old were stabbed. Why? Because they were Jewish.'
'What followed though, was really heartbreaking because when we post little parts of the programme on social media, very often you message. Usually you message kindly, sometimes you disagree with somebody's opinion. But in this instance because we had been discussing antisemitism the messages that appeared on our social media, which is public anyone can read it, were shocking.'
'Some of them were absolutely vile. Some of them were so vile we can't even show you them. But I thought I'd just tell you about a few so that you see what's really going on. And I must say that we did also receive some really wonderful messages of support as well for which I thank you very much indeed.'
'But you can see here what some trolls said in response to the show we did about antisemitism.' Giving examples, she read out: 'Jews are not more important than anyone else and don't deserve any special treatment. They are the most entitled people on earth.'
'Here's another one: "Jewish people always play the victim". Addressing me, this was directed at me personally: "She's vile, isn't she? Just like the rest of her ilk."'
'Here's another one, "dear madam, this is to inform you that your Zionist victim card has expired and cannot be renewed. Thank you for your attention."'
'So I just thought we'd bring this to your attention.'
