Thread by @SCynic1

Thread (11): why the new @PeoplesMomentum initiatives are inadequate for the Jewish community.
I agree we should try & create allies. But that is precisely why so many distrust this intitiative. Speaking exactly as I would to a client seeking to settle a case, I say that so far,

it hasn’t worked. Why?
Overall these initiatives seek to make the jump from enemy to ally in one go. That’s over-extending hope, sense and ability.
First, they lack much of a mea culpa.
The reality is that these very people fought against the basic steps urged upon them by the

Jewish community. Walker - the man in the video - said the IHRA definition was a tool used to restrain criticism of Israel. Jews were shut out from that conversation unless they were members of the approved group of “good” Jews who reflected what these people wanted to hear.

There’s no recognition of that at all. Since when is that sincerity?
I was involved in Naz Shah’s journey back to respectability and I was happy to say she was truly sorry and wanted to understand the real issues. We’ve met since as well. Where is anything to compare with that?

Similarly, the Jewish community doesn’t believe that this spontaneous recognition of the absolute correctness of everything we’ve said for 3 years without anyone agreeing, is divorced from MPs leaving and more threatening to leave. The policy has failed (and we do believe that it

was a policy whereby energetic people could be attracted to Labour - and the hard left are nothing if not energetic - in exchange for making sport of us). The public don’t like hatred. They hate bullying. They’ve convicted Labour of both. The party can’t win. So, suddenly, it’s

“full speed about turn!”. The pretence that this isn’t what’s happened isn’t simply laughable. It undermines everything now being said. And it feeds into the failure to admit any personal wrongdoing. “We got it wrong” isn’t the same as “I was a stupid vicious bastard” if you’re

talking to your victims.
Next, if you seek allies then why wasn’t this a joint project with your “allies”? That would be some evidence - at least - of good faith. Naz Shah went to her local community, took the hammering and answered the questions. It remains a model that works.

This doesn’t include the Jewish community as a body. It lacks any element of public engagement with us. You tell us “this is what we’ve done” and then we have to fall down and be grateful. That’s entitlement speaking.
Finally, the reliance - still - on the figures to “prove” the

problem is tiny is both stupid and undermines any claim to genuineness. “We got it wrong. We allowed it to flourish (always by others, never by us). We didn’t judge it properly (not because we shut out the Jews but because we just missed it somehow)”. Fine. But then to say the

scale of the problem can be assessed by looking at the statistics produced by the operation taking place as you got it wrong is insulting to the intelligence.
I’ll not ally with that. I want real allies who listen to me.