Thread by @adammaanit

I’ve been watching in quiet horror and with increasing anxiety as the Labour Party sinks deeper by the day into an antisemitic cesspit of its own making. Recently revealed details of Corbyn’s troubling past associations means I can no longer remain silent. This is personal. 1/18

Last week, a day after Jeremy Corbyn insisted to the BBC: “I don’t share platforms with terrorists,” @TheGolem_ revealed details of his 2012 trip to Doha where he shared and hosted platforms with numerous high-ranking terrorist leaders. 2/18

Among these was Husam Badran – a man connected with the murder of my 16-year old cousin. 3/18

Badran is a former leader of Hamas’ military wing and its current international spokesperson. He is widely regarded as the man who orchestrated some of the most horrific suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians in the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict. 4/18

Badran was released from prison as part of a controversial deal when 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were exchanged for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. As part of the release agreement, Badran was exiled to Qatar where he now oversees funding and operations for Hamas. 5/18

At the “remarkable” Doha conference, this supposed ‘man of peace’ Corbyn described contributions from recently released “brothers” like Badran as “fascinating and electrifying”. I felt sick to my stomach at these words. 6/18

Badran’s targets included restaurants, discotheques and a Passover seder. The killings were as indiscriminate as they were cowardly. An Israeli-Arab restaurant was considered fair game. It was at this restaurant that my 16-year old cousin Orly Ofir was murdered. 7/18

Orly was having lunch with her sister and mother at the popular Israeli-Arab restaurant Matza in Haifa, when the Hamas suicide bomber detonated his explosives. Packed with screws and debris for maximum carnage, 16 people were fatally wounded. 8/18

The bomb blew the roof off the building as deadly shards of glass and metal pierced flesh and bone. The blood spattered into the street. Orly didn’t die immediately. 9/18

With her mother and sister, wounded but alive, there was hope she too would pull through. She was rushed to hospital where surgeons tried desperately to save her. After 2.5 hours of agonising wait, my uncle Yossi was given the grimmest news a loving parent could ever get. 10/18

According to a 2002 New York Times report of the bombing, “Hamas ignored the presence of Israeli Arabs in the restaurant and celebrated the bomber for exploding ‘his pure body in a crowd of the thieves of our homeland.’” 11/18

Badran, and many others like him behind these terrorists acts that have destroyed families like mine, Corbyn associated with, sat on panels with, ate takeaway meals with, taken selfies with, praised and called ‘brothers’ and ‘friends’. 12/18

Many of my Jewish friends are terrified about what’s happening. My daughter is nervous to speak Hebrew in public. I have been afraid to speak out for fear of censure from my own Left community. But after I learned about Corbyn’s Doha trip, I could stay silent no longer. 13/18

I know it’s hard for many of my friends who came out in support of Corbyn and who want to see a Left government come to terms with all this. But what are principles if we only ever apply them when it’s easy? 14/18

How can anyone on the Left sit idly by while this infectious strain of antisemitism takes hold. I’ve written about this over a decade ago in New Internationalist magazine, and it feels like it has only gotten worse since. old.newint.org/features/2004/… 15/18

And now, since Corbyn’s leadership, it has gone mainstream. I hold Jeremy Corbyn and his enablers in the highest contempt because of this. 16/18

I will never forgive Corbyn for providing moral cover to the man who orchestrated the murder of my cousin and the pain and suffering her family carry with them over her loss. He is no ‘man of peace’ and I will no longer stay silent. 17/18

RIP Orly Ofir - May her memory be a blessing to all. 18/18

ADDENDUM: Thank you to everyone who's reached out and shared this. My concerns about Corbyn have to do with his responsibility for the antisemitism crisis ('socialism of fools') and his ideologically adolescent Manicheanism ('anti-imperialism of idiots').

This is not about the rightness or wrongness of each side in a complex decades-long conflict in Israel/Palestine. This is about a man who supports terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and lends them moral legitimacy despite their immoral tactics and ideological extremism.

Do not use my words to bash Muslims or Palestinians. There are many heartrending stories of Palestinian children victims of this conflict too. As my old friend @markballard27 wisely said, "there is no way to peace over the bodies of dead children."

If there is one good outcome of the antisemitism crisis in the Labour party, it is the solidarity between Muslim and Jewish groups and individuals and other minority groups who understand the dangers and effects of othering and demonisation.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and solidarity. If there is one thing I will agree with Corbyn on (even if I don't think he embodies it), is that he is right that we would all benefit if political discourse and disagreement were kinder and gentler. Peace.