Share this page!

Yair Wallach Profile picture
Twitter logo
1 Nov, 4 tweets, 1 min read
On the "dramatic overstatement" of Labour's problem, two points:
Firstly, "the assumption that the number of complaints dealt with by Labour’s disciplinary apparatus reflects the real level of antisemitic incidents in the party is not credible...
2/
 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
"The one thing we know about reported hate crime figures in general is that they represent the tip of an iceberg. It is special pleading to think that Labour’s data are in some way different." (Gidley, McGeever and Feldman, "Labour and Antisemitism: a Crisis Misunderstood") 2/
Secondly, the issue is not only the number of complaints but also the roles of the people involved.
I don't know what dramatic overstatement means. I guess it's subjective. Depends what your expectations are. For me, a problem encompassing a former London Mayor, a key MP, a central NEC member, and various councillors or candidates, sounds bad enough.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Yair Wallach

Yair Wallach Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @YairWallach

Yair Wallach Profile picture
3 Nov
In July 2018, Britain's three Jewish newspapers published a joint editorial to speak against Labour antisemitism. With the conclusion of the EHRC enquiry, we can go back to that editorial and see if it bore out. Thread.
jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/voice-of-the-j…
The editorial used strong alarming tone, going far beyond previous condemnations of Labour. We can now say that the alarm was justified. According to the EHRC, Labour leadership "at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it". 2/
The EHRC found that Labour was responsible for discrimination and harassment against Jews. This is serious enough. Does it justify the newspapers' statement that a Labour government was "existential threat to Jewish life"? I didn't think so then and I don't think so now. 3/
Read 15 tweets
Yair Wallach Profile picture
30 Oct
The EHRC report is a vindication of the struggle of Jewish activists who rightly called the Labour party on antisemitism. But it couldn't have been won without the struggles for equality of other minorities - let's not forget this. Thread:
1/
The EHRC report vindicates many Labour members and activists who consistently argued that Labour had a serious problem on Antisemitism, and that the party failed to deal with it.
2/
Yes: there was a political weaponising and media fetishism of Jews. But there were also Jewish activists who had to deal with unacceptable levels harassment and discrimination. And that's what counts. Read accounts here 3/
Read 10 tweets
Yair Wallach Profile picture
30 Oct
There's a narrative that sometimes people get so excited about their Palestine activism and their principled objection to Zionism that they get "carried away" and drift into antisemitism. I think that's wrong. /1
Whatever your position on Palestine/Israel, there's no reason why you would "drift into" antisemitic terrain if you weren't there already, or if it did not appeal to you in the first place. It's true that we do encounter antisemitism among some Palestine activism.... 2/
... for two reasons IMO: there are some (not many) people who are driven by antisemitism and use Palestine activism as a cover. It's easy to recognise these types and to see through them, they care very little about Palestine and actual Palestinians. 3/
Read 8 tweets
Yair Wallach Profile picture
29 Oct
If you say that "of course there is antisemitism in the Labour party, as part of society" but there is no track record of you speaking out clearly against *specific* examples of that problem, then it's difficult to take seriously your views on the matter. /1
Without such track record, it is difficult to understand what you think does or does not count as antisemitism. And yes it's not always obvious. So it is important to understand what for you is a clear case, black and white, example that you think needs calling out. /2
Without such track record, it's difficult to determine that you actually care about this issue. We can all make platitudes. We are all against racism. At least everybody says they are. But without reference to real life examples, it's meaningless. /3
Read 5 tweets
Yair Wallach Profile picture
7 Oct
Was the Oslo agreement designed to achieve permanent Israeli occupation over the West Bank and Gaza, to prevent meaningful Palestinian sovereignty, and foil a meaningful two state solution?

(A thread)
Critics of Oslo have long argued that the agreement was a charade, which was never going to end Israeli occupation. These arguments were made forcefully during the recent debate on Rabin's legacy, amid the controversy over AOC's cancelled talk. 2/
This piece by @aj_iraqi, concludes that "Oslo was never derailed by Rabin’s death — it achieved exactly what Rabin had set out to do." ... "a cloak of “peace” to disguise the next stage of colonial rule". 3/
972mag.com/yitzhak-rabin-…
Read 17 tweets
Yair Wallach Profile picture
21 Aug
I want to explain something that perhaps isn't clear to some people.
Jews deported to Auschwitz were told they were sent to a work camp. The "Arbeit Macht Frei" was part of that deception. The sign pretended to say "work hard and you'll survive". But this was a lie.
1/
The sign was part of Nazi deceptive measures designed to ensure Jews arriving to the camps by deportation trains do not riot and cooperate, to get them to obey to the instructions they were given, and to get them to the gas chambers in a quick and orderly manner. 2/
So what the sign says is genocide. Not exploitation, not some "work the poor" ideology. The sign, in its distorted use by the Nazis, says mass murder of people because of their race. Using it in any other context or meaning is disrespectful to the victims. 3/
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get email notifications when new thread is out from this Author!

Check out other threads from this Author!

Read all threads by @YairWallach