Thread by @Finkley1

So. 'Labour antisemitism'. Yes, parentheses. Why? Because the whole 'argument' has been spun, twisted, argued and 'debated' into peak inversion. I suspect I am not alone in being curious as to how low it would go. I think we're nearly there. Today I saw someone accuse

someone else of being antisemitic. They used the expression 'Jew hater'. Their proof of the accusation was that they had issued the accusation. In other words, proof, or anything approaching proof, is no longer needed. This, for me at least, has chilling contemporary historical

echoes. If simply making the accusation is enough to condemn, then reason has left the building. This has been building for some time. Early in the 'crisis' I saw (and was subjected to) dogpiling with the barked 'sealioning', an expression I had not encountered before.

'sealioning' is a pejorative used when the target asks for evidence of an accusation, or proof. If they ask more than once (generally because no proof is offered) they are 'sealioning'.

the feeling I came away with was that accusations must be accepted without question. To question the accusation, or to ask for proof, is to be further accused. Showing support for the accused, or solidarity with them, is 'proof' of guilt by association. If this seems Kafkaesque

to you, that is because that is exactly what it is. The 'crisis' has been driven by a number of different actors. The initial escalation, I believe, occurred when Jeremy Corbyn was elected and made the recognition of Palestine a policy. Despite his winning two leadership

elections (the second with an increased majority), the rumbling of antisemitism started. His friends and colleagues rose to his defence, and the Kafkaesque process shifted up a gear. Very quickly, it seemed, social media was being trawled, extensively and deeply. Anything that

could be interpreted as antisemitic, or antisemitism adjacent, or even mentioned Jews, was doxxed, copied, in some cases edited, and presented as 'proof' of institutional antisemitism in the Labour Party, which had exploded under Corbyn's Labour. Much of the 'evidence' was

presented either context free, or 'trimmed' to engender the maximum outrage. As the 'crisis' rumbled on, more and more people, the great majority of whom were on the left, as self described socialists, were swept up by this McCarthyite wave of righteous indignation and found

themselves, as lifelong anti racists, being accused of hating Jews and Judaism. Many of those accused are Jewish. Many of them have put their heads above the parapet and called out the Israeli government and her actions in relation to Palestine. And this, I believe, is the nub of

the problem. In parallel with the campaign to paint Jeremy Corbyn and his comrades as antisemites, strenuous effort has been made to conflate Israel and Judaism. The adoption of the (flawed) IHRA definition of antisemitism, which was criticised for the potential to chill

legitimate criticism of the Israeli government only added ammunition to the campaign. First by dint of being a useful cudgel to reinforce the 'crisis' - by accusing Labour of 'dragging their heels' in adopting it; then the furore over the adoption of the examples, and finally

(as expected) being told that it simply wasn't good enough. Or that it was just paying lip service to acting whilst concealing the writhing 'sewer of antisemitism' (I quote) that Labour had become under Corbyn. Throughout all of this, one question has been nagging at me. Why?

Why would Jeremy Corbyn and his friends and colleagues, for many years stalwart anti racism, anti bigotry socialists who believe in freedom and equality, have been concealing an overwhelming hatred of Judaism. And if they were, what did they hope to gain from it? There are other

questions too. When has Jeremy Corbyn explicitly demonstrated his hatred for Jews and Judaism? For that matter, when has Chris Williamson done the same? As hard core racists and antisemites, surely their lifestyles, their speeches, their writings would betray them? Such deep

rooted hatred would be impossible to conceal for as long as they apparently have done. But as I said, way back at the beginning of this thread, we have reached peak inversion. On both sides of the Atlantic, antifa (literally Anti Fascism) have been recast as fascists, Nazis even.

Efforts have been made to co-opt National Socialism as a weapon to accuse actual socialists of being Nazis. Peaceful protesters have been bullied and intimidated for standing up for Palestine by people who claim to represent the 'only democracy in the Middle East'. There has even

been a court case (quickly dismissed and ignored) in which the defendants were found guilty (though not of assault, which was one of the charges). Meetings in support of Palestine have been loudly disrupted, and when the agitators were ejected the expected accusations of

antisemitism were quickly and loudly vocalised. Supporters of the Israeli government have been very vocal about being refused admission to meetings to which they were not invited (in some cases because they have been identified as being disruptive and bad faith actors),

inevitably leading to more accusations. In this maelstrom of anger and hatred every effort to address the issues made by Labour has been traduced and twisted to create yet more ammunition. Another sadly too common theme has been for left wing Jews to be targeted. Dismissed as

cranks, 'self hating Jews', 'Kapos' and worse, when they challenge the narrative, their legitimacy and status is attacked, insulted, denied and dismissed. Any evidence they bring that defies the campaign is either sneeringly dismissed or just completely ignored.
Equally

depressingly, a common accusation that left Labour is ignoring, or in denial of the tsunami of antisemitism in Labour is routinely trotted out as further 'proof'. The depressing thing is that no socialist I know has denied the existence of antisemitism, both in Labour and in

wider society. What they do object to is the overwhelming focus on Labour, which clearly undermines the fight against genuine antisemitism in other quarters. Left Labour has been on the back foot since the start. Its reactions have been defensive, peppered with a sense of

disbelief and confusion, in my opinion justified. At least one fact (that had been twisted out of all recognition) is the study that showed that antisemitism in Labour is the lowest of all political parties in the UK, and significantly lower than in society at large. Another is

that Labour has done more than any other party to combat antisemitism. But I know it will never be enough. There is nothing Labour can do, short of lurching way back to the right, that will satisfy the campaign. In a world where BDS is described as a terrorist organisation,

where paramedics and reporters are considered legitimate targets for snipers, where three year old children are imprisoned without trial, where black people and committed anti racists are described as racist, the inversion is almost complete. Orwell, Kafka, Niemöller saw or

predicted much of this. I am saddened that we have come to this. I am a humanist. I bear no ill will towards any other human on the basis of their faith, their lifestyle or their life choices. Oppression is oppression, regardless of religion. I have zero doubt that someone

reading this will either quote tweet me or just right out accuse me of hating people I don't know, have no connection with, or whose life has zero interaction with mine. This is simply not true. One final thought, though. The elephant in the room is the political hue of the

Israeli government. Their government is extreme right. Their prime minister is actively endorsing antisemitic far right leaders (Orbán) and proud fascists (Bolsonaro). A recent election campaign saw one of the candidates standing on a platform based on how many Palestinians they

have killed, or been responsible for the deaths of, as a function of protecting the Israeli people. An Israeli minister made a passionate speech about the need to ensure every Palestinian was killed, because if they weren't, they could give birth to more 'little snakes'.

Othering as a psychological propaganda technique has disturbing twentieth century echoes. Much of the rhetoric around Israel/Palestine has disturbing echoes in recent history. I have seen tweets baldly stating that Israel does not kill civilians, and their policy of firing

slightly less lethal munitions at buildings minutes before the more lethal weapons are launched is an example of Israeli humanitarianism. And that live rounds used on demonstrators are a compassionate and proportionate response to demonstrators armed with rocks 200 metres away.

There cannot be an end to this thread, because this is not going to end. And that is the saddest thing of all. 😔

In another tweet exchange I saw, a Rabbi stated that Corbyn and Labour are antisemitic. He was asked to prove his accusation. His proof was to repeat the accusation with the codicil that as a Rabbi, he knows. Effectively (again), 'they're antisemites because I said so'.

CORRECTION. NOT parentheses, quote marks. Deepest apologies to anyone I have triggered. 😔