Thread by @shaunjlawson

This is quite a painful thread for me to write. But it needs saying.

We've just lived through a period in which many charged with protecting British Jews have done the exact opposite. I'm referring here especially to the Chief Rabbi, Board of Deputies and Jewish Chronicle.

Completely in the face of the evidence, a narrative was created by the media, and doubled down on by those I mention above. This narrative blamed those who can always be found on the front line fighting AGAINST all forms of racism for antisemitism.

At the same time, as antisemitism on the right and far right rose, rose and rose some more, the response was... nothing. Nothing whatsoever.

The organisations and individuals I've referred to above simply DO NOT CARE about most Jews. That's what their record shows.

And as they do not care about most Jews, the following is likely to happen:

1. Any attacks such as the latest awful ones will be blamed on the left, regardless of reality.

2. This will cause ever more panic among British Jews.

3. If any left wing Jews are attacked, heaven help them. Because as their record proves, those whose responsibility it is to protect them will do not the slightest thing.

4. Antisemitism will continue to rise from the far right: whose existence is being normalised.

Don't expect the individuals and organisations I mentioned in the OP to magically come to their senses. THEY DON'T CARE. Least of all about anyone poor, disabled, vulnerable, or left wing.

Already, we've seen an online campaign to somehow blame these latest atrocities on the left. Already, we are seeing absurd, revolting attempts to paint Bernie Sanders as an antisemite.

This will only get worse. The only cure is education and solidarity. #NoPasaran

When Michael Rosen - MICHAEL ROSEN!! - is persistently attacked and smeared for the crime of caring with all his heart for all his fellow Jews (and for humanity itself), what's going on here couldn't be clearer. Not least when the person insulting him is followed by blue ticks.

The past 3 years or so have seen the most hysterical, disgusting campaign of smears and lies I have ever known in British politics or British public life. That's not going to magically stop now. Facts no longer matter. Evidence no longer matters.

Those responsible for this are interested only in the following:

1. Attention (in the case of celebrities)

2. Clicks and newspaper sales (in the case of the Jewish Chronicle)

3. The defeat of the left

None of them are remotely interested in the defeat of antisemitism. They couldn't be less so. And you know how I know that? Because Britain has a prime minister who personally profited from antisemitism for YEARS... and these organisations rejoiced in his victory.

The House of Commons, meanwhile, has a leader who has repeatedly propagated horrendous antisemitic tropes; as has the prime minister's special adviser. Again: none of them say a single damn word.

The Jewish Chronicle has been referred by IPSO for sanctions due to its false, evidence-free demonisation of a Labour activist, after an investigation with which it refused to cooperate. This is far from the first time it's been in trouble either.

And the Chief Rabbi himself makes an outrageous intervention into an election campaign to inquire about Britain's 'moral compass'... while the poor get poorer, disabled people take their own lives, and austerity claims hundreds of thousands of victims. Under the party he backs.

Sam Kriss refers to all of this as the war against the Jews. He's right. And what he had to say should be read by all.

samkriss.com/2019/11/08/the…

But as Sam Kriss is a left wing Jew, for these people and these organisations, he's therefore the wrong kind of Jew. Or even, a non-Jew. Because goodness knows, voices like his, Rosen's or so many others must at all costs be drowned out by nonsense and hysteria.

Down this road lies absolute catastrophe. When so-called civilised societies abandon evidence, abandon reason, abandon any sense whatsoever of community, solidarity or the ties which bind us all, catastrophe is always what results.

And when it does, those responsible for this disgusting campaign will, I'm sure, continue to blame the left... even as the left does everything in its power to help. Orwell and 1984, eat your heart out.