Anyone have experience with being Jewish in the ME?

PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@ap410

If your kids are going to be loud and proud Jewish than dont go. The kids can be worse than the parents and nothing will happen to the child aggressors if something does happen, ownership will just tolerate it and they arent going to put Jewish kids before Muslim kids not with what is likely an affluent fee paying parent compared to a IT employee. The parents views are that you work for them and your their employee and they can do whatever they want.
adminpaul
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Re: Anyone have experience with being Jewish in the ME?

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FV2020
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Re: Anyone have experience with being Jewish in the ME?

Post by FV2020 »

I’m interested to know people’s’ thoughts, predictions, or current experiences since Israel recently established diplomatic ties with the UAE and Bahrain. If you are there now, has there been antisemitic backlash and/or a rise in resentment of Jews and Israel in those countries due this? Does it seem like the people of these countries are receptive to the diplomatic agreements? If you were gazing into a crystal ball, do you think these countries will become more viable options for Jewish international teachers?
mamava
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Re: Anyone have experience with being Jewish in the ME?

Post by mamava »

ap410 wrote:
> Thank you very much! My fear is not so much filling out the forms. I was
> more concerned with my children being subjected to discrimination, hatred,
> etc. I have no problem not telling people that I'm Jewish -- I do that now
> for the most part in the US because there is just as much anti-semitism
> here as there is in other parts of the world. My children, however, are a
> different story. They are happy and proud to be Jewish, except in December
> when they want to celebrate Christmas. They sing Jewish songs all the time
> and I'm more concerned that they will encounter problems because children
> don't hide who they are. The Israel thing isn't a problem for me at this
> point. I've never been and don't have an overwhelming desire to go. Again,
> thanks!

If you live a life based in faith, that means not hiding behind another religion (Christianity) to get something. I worked in Saudi and there wasn't much said about Israel or Jews, but that's probably because the resentment/dislike is so deep-seated as to be no necessary to talk about. However, as a Christian, we were told not to talk about our faith or proclaim it for fear of being caught out proseltyzing. Children would routinely ask me if I was a Christian and then proceed to tell me that they knew all about Christians because "they eat pigs." Normally, I would correct or clarify misconceptions, but not in my Saudi classroom. I would never want my children to sing Christian songs or advertise their faith--it would cause hardships. Our kids were middle/high school, so they had a different understanding, but I'd feel strange telling them they had to hide their faith--unless, of course, it's a life or death situation. I would avoid most of the ME.
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