Thread by @shaunjlawson

This is a fine, important article with which I broadly agree - and has been met with typical bad faith attacks by those who either:

- Couldn't give a toss about Muslims

- Couldn't give a toss about Muslims OR Jews (above all, left wing Jews).

novaramedia.com/2020/11/19/no-…

Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) isn't just fearless. I regard her as THE smartest, sharpest, brainiest commentator in New Left Media. Nothing gets past her. Nothing.

I do have a few points though. These aren't criticisms in any way. They're more like additions.

1. There are plenty of poor Jews. Antisemitism often punches up but it punches down too. And Jews, like Muslims and other minorities, have been disproportionately killed by Covid-19.

timesofisrael.com/jews-other-rel…

Hence my utter contempt for the so-called leaders of British Jewish communities who congratulate themselves on Labour's defeat... and say nothing, zip, about a callous shower of a Tory government under whom Jews have died disproportionately.

Conclusion? They just don't care.

2. Stereotypes also often abound when it comes to the 'whiteness' of Jews. Many Jews are not white. With regard to which, the behaviour of the world's only Jewish state towards Ethiopian Jews has been deplorably racist and unforgivable.

aa.com.tr/en/africa/ethi…

Also with regard to which: the behaviour of the UK government towards Yemeni Jews whose lives were in danger was... equally indefensible and deplorable.

Who tried to help them? That 'evil antisemite', Jeremy Corbyn.

skwawkbox.org/2019/03/06/in-…

3. There is a serious risk of too many people assuming Jews are 'fine' now because of Israel's geopolitical strength. In many parts of the world, Jews are not welcome at all; and continue to be persecuted. Jewish communities in the Middle East and Muslim world have collapsed.

4. This is something which is frequently overlooked but I've mentioned before. Jews are generally very good at assimiliating into Western cultures - but the reason for that is how well most of us 'blend in'. Specifically: by being clean shaven and not wearing religious attire.

The lived experience of a liberal Jew like me and an orthodox or ultra-Orthodox Jew is, even in Britain, hugely different. The latter receive regular disgusting abuse.

So think about WHY so many of us felt the need to 'blend in' in the first place. Think about what that says.

Muslims, indeed, face disproportionate levels of racist abuse compared with Jews purely because racists find it easier to identify them. That's it. That's literally it.

In practice, both the Muslim and Jewish communities should be allies. I find it tragic that too many are not.

But more broadly, Ash is right. "No other minority"? Nope. There's practically an epidemic of Islamophobia in the West which has been completely normalised - and a political discourse which is so vile, so hateful, it openly encourages it.

Jews have long been in that position. We're much less so in the West now; we're just as much so in many places elsewhere.

But the lack of empathy from those who've politicised a problem involving 0.3% of Labour's members towards either Muslims or left wing Jews is staggering.

- If you are against antisemitism on the left but not antisemitism on the right. you aren't against antisemitism at all.

- If you are against antisemitism but not Islamophobia, you aren't against racism at all.

Solidarity with Ash, and with all British Muslims and Jews. 🌹