I have just spent 2 minutes scrolling the #defyIHRA hashtag and have found not a single tweet which would be antisemitism, in the context, under the IHRA. What an ignorant and ugly outpouring by people who plainly don’t have a clue about what they think they are defying
If people spent their time reading up on the definition and listening to Jewish people (rather than accusing them of smears and falling down their student politics rabbit hole) they would know that themselves as it has plenty of room for fierce criticism of Israel and context
I am sorry if this is slightly more angry than my usual style but it makes me mad that people are treating Jews as if they are liars and exaggerators more deserving of childish trolling than empathy.
1/ For a moment, please try and put yourself in the shoes of that little girl. Imagine she is a British Jew she knows little about politics but senses her parents have been a little more anxious recently. She knows little of Israel but knows... 
2/ she is connected to it and has cousins who live there. She walks to school and sees a poster calling Israel racist, with no context, anonymously posted and starkly designed. I imagine this would make her feel bewildered and anxious. I just hope my kids don’t see one
3/ And if any bright spark says ‘well how do you think Palestinian children feel’ you have answered better than I could. Because British Jews aren’t Israeli and we have a right to feel safe just like the rest of people here.
4/ and if your answer is that frightened British Jews is worthwhile collateral damage to stand up for Palestine, in the UK, you have lost all perspective
I know this is a minority of people and most are sensitive and grown up. If you got to this tweet you probably aren’t my target. But there are only 300,000 Jews in this country of 65m, so I just wanted to give an insight into what will be a typical reaction
One of the things that worries me most about the current debate is that navigating the boundaries between antisemtism and political speech requires sensitivity and good faith, exactly the things missing, as demonstrated by people ‘defying’
I think a significant minority of people see no issue, as it’s all smears. I am not sure how they handle the cognitive dissonance (as these aren’t bad people) of seeing the torrent of Holocaust denial, conspiracy and dual loyalty accusations which have nothing to do with Israel
But I suppose cognitive dissonance is part of who we all are
