Thread. Not a short one, neither!
What I think depresses me most at the heart of antisemitism in Labour is the ready assumption that Jews would so readily sell short millennia of persecution for an easy political hit. /1
What I think depresses me most at the heart of antisemitism in Labour is the ready assumption that Jews would so readily sell short millennia of persecution for an easy political hit. /1
This history is not a bargaining chip. It is a threat we have faced from generation to generation in some form or other. In the last century, most calamitously. So, not a game, not a tactic. /2
And not something - as @JewishLabour constantly argues - that any other minority group would be expected to tolerate. Not believing the victim (as per Macpherson) but second-guessing their motivation. /3
(And, of course, such undermining helps reinforce antisemitic tropes about power and control. Look at their clever misdirection). /4
Yet all we've had is 2 years of hard-working ppl, dedicated to Labour values & winning power to help those who need it the most, being trolled, heckled, marginalised, deselected, for challenging the hateful charge that our motives are so base, we can't possibly be victims. /5
I'm just so sick and tired of it. /6
I'm sick of having to explain that I'm not a spokesperson for the Israeli govt or defend a PM I wouldn't have voted for. That I don't support the occupation but I do believe in the same right of self-determination for Jews, as all minority communities should enjoy. /7
I'm equally sick of explaining that I know my Jewish values are Labour values and I shouldn't have to compromise either. /8
And that many parts and people in the party support me, support @JewishLabour, understand the hurt caused to Jews and want it end. Big shout out to lots of @BarnetLabour people on that front, especially. /9
I know the kind of replies I'll get to this overly long thread. Like most times, I probably won't read them, because that just seems to be the best way to get on with your life. But it doesn't excuse them. /10
So this is the frustration which has erupted this weekend and this is why a moment has now arrived. And - frankly - it isn't helped by people who have no reason to have ever experienced antisemitism to say that in eleventy decades of membership they've never seen a thing. /11
If you wouldn't dismiss a woman's claims of misogyny or a LGBT person's account of homophobia, don't you dare dismiss antisemitism out of hand. The fact some people think this OK to do may help you understand why it's called the oldest hatred of all. /12
For me, this is not about undermining the fact that Jeremy Corbyn is Labour's leader. That is beyond doubt. His mandate is beyond challenge. But with great power comes great responsibility. /13
No, this is a challenge to him to *lead* the Labour party - and the wider movement - out of this toxic situation and make all parts of Labour safe for Jews. /14
Our party is so much better than this. So many follow him; now he must lead. /ends
