I thought I understood antisemitism. I've been married to a Jewish man for 17 years. I've visited Auschwitz and felt the visceral horror of that place. But there's knowing and there's *knowing*. My understanding will always deepen but here's some of my learning. /1
Antisemitism didn't stop after the Holocaust. In 1946 42 Holocaust survivors were massacred in Poland. Jewish ppl were restricted in the USSR and 1.2 million left. A million fled Arab home countries after violence. AS is on the rise in Europe again. /2 bit.ly/2RXu7Mc
One of the most common antisemitic tropes is the ‘greedy Jew’. Its origins are in the Christian Church that deemed money lending ‘sinful’. One of the few professions Jewish ppl could practice and they were often expelled from countries to avoid payment of debts. /3
The first pogrom was in 58 AD in Alexandria. Yet it was the early Christian Church that really birthed the longest hatred. ‘Blood libel’, ‘host desecration’, ‘wandering Jew’ and the first trope, ‘Christ-killer’. They were all constructed in Christianity to demonise Jews. /4
Karl Marx was antisemitic. He wrote about Jews, “What is his worldly God? Money.. In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.” His AS can infect socialist movements. /5 bit.ly/2Vzys5N
Jewish ppl are the blank slate that non-Jews scrawl their anxieties onto. To capitalists, they are communists. To communists, capitalists. Both ‘enemy within’ and other, apart. Greedy and poor, lazy and all-powerful. AS peaks at times of economic or political crisis. /6
I've seen ppl on the left of politics deny the Holocaust. Progressives who accuse Jewish ppl of ‘dual loyalty’. White supremacists that declare themselves ‘anti-Zionist’. The left and right begin to resemble and reflect each other. /7 bit.ly/2sJUOVP
Antisemitism is everywhere and it can cross contaminate. A Muslim leader was the first to force Jewish ppl to wear yellow stars in 807 AD. European colonisers spread Christian AS. Russian tsarists invented the Jewish ppl as ‘puppet masters’ which Henry Ford brought to the USA. /8
Conspiracism is the lifeblood of AS. Conspiracies operate in very narrow confines, with few ppl and strict time limits. Those that are long lived or involve huge numbers of ppl are false and can easily veer into AS. /9 bit.ly/2GXLyXi
Antisemitism is about us non-Jews. Our anxieties, our failings, our bigotry. We need to learn our history and our present. We need to stamp on any AS we see in ourselves and around us. It is our need, our shame. If we can accept that, we can change it. /10 bit.ly/2NLuPqQ
This thread was made in collaboration with amazing hubby @adammaanit and amazing friend @benmfreeman. It's nowhere near comprehensive so you're welcome to add good, reliable and rigorous info to it. My learning continues.
Palestine Action thugs took a sledgehammer to police officers. Smashed up Jewish businesses and caused millions in property damage. They are DEFINITELY violent.
“Two British Police officers and a security guard were wounded by vandals armed with sledgehammers, axes, whips, and other homemade weapons in an attack on a Bristol area defense firm facility.”
“The Palestine Action protest group has targeted a Jewish business in Stamford Hill, claiming that it operates as landlord for an Israeli defence company.“
This Scottish Palestine Action person is putting Hamas red triangles over the heads of pro-Israel ppl in Glasgow. This is a THREAT.
Do something please @PSOSGreaterGlas @PoliceScotland
He is wearing the logo of the terrorist group PFLP on his jacket quite brazenly and seems to have been arrested before. I would suggest the police take this seriously.
@PSOSGreaterGlas @PoliceScotland
@PSOSGreaterGlas @PoliceScotland We must start realising that there are many violent Hamas supporters among us. They are shouting it loud and clear and the authorities are not responding strongly enough.
Last night this pro-Pal Hannah Chick went straight from a protest calling for “any accomplice to genocide” to be “isolated and destroyed” to a Jewish area to abuse Jews. They have decided who the ‘enemy’ is and are acting. What’s next and will the authorities stand by?
Does Hannah Chick believe she’s fighting the good fight by abusing Jews?
Here’s Hannah last month making the symbol of the Hamas inverted triangle at other Jewish and Israeli ppl. A death threat. Yet she gets away with it time and time again.
The worst pro-Pals came to a Jewish area of London, intimidated ppl, chanted genocidal slogans, taunted Jews who protested. Then they finished up by ripping down yellow ribbons and holding them aloft like a trophy to cheers. They really are the NASTIEST ppl.
This is not a valid protest. Wearing this T-shirt in a Jewish neighbourhood is racism and a call for violence. It should never have been allowed. @metpoliceuk
@metpoliceuk Of course Kneecap fans were the ones to invade a Jewish area and be hateful and call for violence.
One of the awful pro-Pals who marched through a Jewish area of Southend was this woman Ani. She makes clear her intentions. Not to win “hearts and minds” but to aggressively demand submission. Her middle finger covered in a Hamas red triangle. I wonder who she stuck that up at.
These ppl don’t care about Gazans. They don’t go to Jewish areas with terrorist symbols on them to stick up for innocents. They go to harass and intimidate and threaten. Painting themselves in the shapes of murderers and rapists. I am sick of them plaguing us.
It’s not her first rodeo of course. It likely won’t be the last.
A violent pro-Pal just walked behind a line of peaceful Jewish ppl making a shooting gun gesture at their heads. We asked he be arrested but no action by @sussex_police. I CANNOT understand why. This is a threat and exactly what this hate movement encourages.
Enough.
The pro-Pals deliberately started their march next to our 7/10 memorial in Brighton. For the 4th time. The police refused to move it so Jewish ppl came out to defend it. They chanted their racist slogan “from the river to the sea” at the faces of those murdered by Hamas. Vile.
A pro-Pal came out of the march to block the face of a kidnapped Israeli that a brave Jewish woman held up. Tried to cover it with the flag belonging to those to hold him captive in the tunnels. He held a sign saying “stop neo-colonialism”. Just bizarre and disgusting.