Germany has outlawed the chant "From the River to the Sea." I think this is deeply misguided and, in my alcohol- and food-coma induced Christmas insomnia (it's 3am here), I want to tell you why. 🧵1/ First of all, yes, I think the chant is inherently genocidal, since it presupposes the obliteration of Israel from the map (though I don't think all of those chanting it realise this). I'm a strong supporter of Israel. Let me first detail why. 2/

I was ambivalent about Israel a d fairly supportive of the Palestinian cause before 7 October. But the events then & the response to them from the Muslim world, the aid agencies, many academics & journalists, many Palestinians themselves ... it's changed my mind. Completely.

https://twitter.com/HenMazzig/status/1732455757583409194

I'm not Jewish. I've never been to Israel. I'm not a fan of the Israeli right & I want the West Bank settlements dismantled. But I cannot be on the side of people who minimise, relativise, condone & reward (by trying to secure a victory for Hamas) 7 October.

Expelled from ancestral lands?

You can wallow in your victimhood for generations; enthusiastically support murderers & rapists if they'll help you get revenge on the usurpers
OR embrace your new diaspora home & make extraordinary contributions to its art, culture, science. Obviously, this is not a choice you can make as an individual. History, culture, politics, perhaps even genetics, will nudge people in one direction or the other. World events are contingent; history can turn on a dime. I'm just saying, there are two alternatives.

A gracious explanation, but wrongheaded in 4 respects. Thread. (1) The idea that we need a strong welfare state to combat economic equality & that we should use people's economic status, not their skin colour when deciding who needs that help: that is NOT "right-wing." 1/

https://twitter.com/TEDchris/status/1707817509905187143

The idea that we cannot have a multicultural (by which I think he means multiethnic) society without positive discrimination, quotas, identity politics & race consciousness is wrong. In fact, such things mitigate against multicultural harmony. 2/