'Jews need to fight back' Shock and sadness in Israel at overseas protests

At the Jerusalem theatre, concertgoers and staff expressed a mixture of anger, sadness and defiance as weeks of proPalestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses reached a tumultuous climax 6,000 miles away.

- Jason Burke

The noisy demonstrations have been closely followed in Israel, reported by major media and discussed by public figures.

Idan Degani, a security guard at the theatre, said many in Israel looked at the demonstrations in the US with confusion and anxiety, seeing them as an attack on the country, not just its government.

"We didn't know so many people hated Israel. I don't think these young people know a lot about Israel or about the conflict," the 28-year-old said, as he watched late arrivals hurry for a programme of Haydn and Schubert. "I certainly don't think it will change how anyone here sees the war."

Such feelings appear widespread among the Jewish majority in Israel, seven months after war was triggered by surprise attacks launched by Hamas in which around 1,200, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 taken hostage.

"We thought we understood how much hate there was out there. I mean, I'm a child of Holocaust survivors. But it's still such a shock," said Danae Marx, a public relations specialist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Many are deeply critical of Benjamin Netanyahu and the far right ministers in his coalition government, but Jewish Israelis interviewed by the Guardian this week blamed outrage overseas on misinformation, ignorance, global "double standards" and entrenched anti-semitism.