Real Israel: 🧵
I’ve just had dinner with my cousin - also my best friend.
He’s lived in Israel since he was 16 - 46 years. Ex tank-commander.
He’s a fairly senior police officer, not in uniform.
He’s “not a Likudnik - probably further to the right”.
He knows I’m way to his left/ On Rafah: military case overwhelming. Diplomatic case bad, except Egypt would be v grateful.
On Netanyahu: useless, finished, only doing what’s right for him.
On Ben Gvir & Smotrich: can’t decide which one I hate more.
On Abbas: useless, finished. They need a new leader.
/

Today I spent almost 6 hours at @LJFSLeeds watching the presentation to students by @ItmakesSNS.
I post this (19 tweet long) thread with the permission of both organisations.
The school is about half Jewish. The current conflict directly effects all involved, & is agonising.
1/ @ItmakesSNS does what it says on the tin. Its programme encourages students to think about what solutions that resolve the current conflict fairly might look like. To do that, it presents students with a young (mid 20s) Israeli & Palestinian speaker, each committed to peace.
2/

From the debate in the Lords yesterday on Israel & Gaza. Guglielmo Verdirame: professor of international law at the King’s College London.
“There has been a lot of talk about proportionality in the law on self-defence. I refer to the words that the noble Lord, Lord Pannick,
1/ used a few days ago on the test of proportionality. It does not mean the defensive force has to be equal to the force used in the armed attack. Proportionality means you can use force proportionate to the defensive objective, which is to stop, to repel & prevent further attacks.

Israel is going to attack Hamas where it resides - in Gaza city. That’s the war aim.
Israel has asked the civilian population to leave.
Hamas is stopping people going.
It genuinely prefers the death of its own citizens to their safety.
Why? Because it excites more condemnation. I am horrified by the civilian deaths this will cause. I unequivocally mourn them all.
Rulers’ primary obligation is to ensure the safety of those they govern. Hamas actively seek the opposite.
Israel actively seeks the wellbeing of its citizens.
The 2 stances are not equivalent.

🧵 Being in Israel to look after grandchildren, I took the opportunity to join my daughter, son-in-law & 100,000+ in Tel Aviv on tonight’s demonstration against the appalling government currently in office. My daughter goes every week: he babysits. Tonight, Mrs M did that 1/13 I was fascinated & inspired. What happened demonstrated to me the lack of nuance about Israel in the U.K. Obviously, I expect that from people who want to abolish a Jewish state - chanting “from the river to the sea” is hardly a position that lends itself to thoughtful inquiry. /

This is the general sentencing guidance.
“For offenders on the cusp of custody, imprisonment should not be imposed where there would be an impact on dependants which would make a custodial sentence disproportionate to achieving the aims of sentencing.” /
sentencingcouncil.org.uk/droppable/item…

https://twitter.com/tonydowson5/status/1668254898725462017

Carla Foster was on the cusp - the judge said an earlier plea would have enabled him to suspend.
On the guidance she met every criteria for a suspended sentence, and none for an immediate custodial sentence, except for length.
The length was arrived at by stating that /

This survey on our attitudes to trans people. A thread. 1/20
moreincommon.org.uk/our-work/resea… A lot of people haven't read it, & the information is also obscured by the spin imparted by @LukeTryl (sorry Luke). To me, the report, articles in the media, & the publisher's spin suggest they wanted it to show something different to the reality.
But judge for yourselves...
2/20

As the Marriage & Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Bill awaits royal assent, I thought - mainly as a service to my own community - I'd do a thread about it. It may interest
@chiefrabbi @UnitedSynagogue @UUohc @UOHCofficial @JewishWomensAid @MrTickle3 @PosenIzzy @spitzer_eli
1/16 We don't know when the Bill will become law, but it merely awaits the Queen's assent - & she will give it. She has to!
Progress and history is here - bills.parliament.uk/bills/2900/news
The text of the Bill (soon to be Act) is here - bills.parliament.uk/publications/4… 2/16

@JW3London hosting @Baddiel & @YehudisFletcher discussing whether Jewish differences between Charedim & others Jews are reconcilable.
DB tells us he disparages religion generally & practices affecting health in lockdown are fair game for public criticism. #reconcilabledifferences YF doesn’t accept flouting lockdown as a religious position but a cultural one, not driven by Jewish values. Nor are Jews - including Charedim - responsible for bigotry against them.
Charedim are diverse. People in positions of power push positions
#reconcilabledifferences

@PNahamu seminar on forced marriage. Hearing from the authors of the paper, @YehudisFletcher & @EveSacks - acknowledging the issues in what seems to me to be a notably balanced way. Proper qs about the extent to which external publicity & pressure can delay quiet resolution.
"We can't timetable people's freedom' (Fletcher).
If I thought quiet chats would help, albeit at the risk of sacrificing individuals, I'd find the q more difficult than I actually do.

1/4 While we're on JVL people and their defence of Ken Livingstone, this is @JonathanRosenh1:
On antisemitism from Corbynistas: "We don’t know if they are members of the Labour Party. We don’t even know if they are supporters of Jeremy Corbyn. If I was the Israeli government, I would be running all sorts of false flag operations getting people to post – & they have hordes of them in Israel doing this sort of stuff on the internet – saying things which would then discredit Jeremy Corbyn."
Whilst appearing on @Presstvuk (the official arm of the Iranian

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi gave evidence on behalf of Ken Livingstone at his disciplinary hearing. Here are the quotes. You probably see the difficulties & the justification for removing her from @UKLabour
If not, you need education - speak to @JewishLabour.
She said:
"I was not remotely offended & I didn’t know what the fuss was. I probably wouldn’t have put it that way but I have myself looked at the history. I’m aware of this very controversial historical record of Zionist leaders making approaches to leaders of the Nazi party, suggesting deals. And

EHRC thread: 1/9
In terms of the debate on social media, the report is devastating. It demolishes every defence. It upholds the accuracy of Panorama and the complaints. It directly finds a failure of leadership. Political interference is clear. There is no basis for asserting that this was the fault of individual employees. That is patently untrue. If Karie "I'm proud" Murphy is really proud then she is proud of this.

1/16. Regrettably it appears that @barstandards has rejected both our analysis and our offer.
Analysis first: Our analysis was that pen and paper exams, whilst they might offer another chance, were ultimately unfair. The less well off you are, and the more employed you are, the harder it is to find time to take exams. The longer the exams are delayed, the more work is required to repeat revision. We forcefully made the point that delay equalled injustice (as ever). It now appears that what @barstandards were telling us would be September will be/

As the battle against Corbyn & his followers is (almost) won - the polls show 94% of @UKLabour members are behind Starmer, the EHRC report will likely say the party was institutionally antisemitic & the Party will adopt its recommendations - the issue is how Jews deal with
1/8 the fight against antisemitism going forward.
It’s time to stop attacking each other for perceived lack of support, daring to dissent or - worst of all - being a convert. I have 5 suggestions:
1. Accept there isn’t only one answer to anything but the most basic questions.
2/8

@PhilR_R @Mendelpol I deleted my first reply, as I don’t want a personal argument.
The problem of abuse has been going on for at least 10 years. It should not take an article in the paper by somebody who’s not a victim to prompt action.
And it’s a misrepresentation to suggest this is prompt action. @PhilR_R @Mendelpol For far too long, the community has been deaf to victims. The contrast between the praiseworthy treatment of black members of the community, & the victims of abuse cries out for explanation.
Pretending everything has been done quickly is an abuse of trust.

A number of key admissions stand out from the leaked report:
1 On any view, the party was mired in antisemitism. When @JVoiceLabour denied that fact, it was lying. How they could be defended by any member of the NEC is extraordinary.
2 The approach to dealing with antisemitism was, as Panorama said, political. In its rather transparent effort to divert blame, the report makes clear the decision to bypass @JewishLabour was a political one, taken by politicians at the top. It was justified by a “need” to consult the “widest range” of organisations within

Advocacy:
About 3 months ago I expressed the sympathy I feel with the need to protect women’s spaces. I received the abuse I expected.
Last night I commented on the need to win those arguments & not behave in a way that alienates support.
The reaction was at odds with the claimed importance of the issue. When a point needs to be won, good advocates spend as much time on the presentation & wording of it as on the substance.
The reaction of those who claimed I was seeking to endanger women, shut down their concerns, & patronise isn’t just cobblers, but it

I’ve now had 4 emails inviting me to return to @UKLabour, 3 from organisations that think I ought to help fight to clear out the shit in the stables, and 1 that seems to think Labour won the argument.
Some thoughts: / This was an abusive relationship. It is something I see professionally. It had a number of the markers of such relationships, particularly the abuse that came the way of anyone who tried to point out the bullying and the unfairness.
Abusive relationships work by exploiting the /

So, at Leeds NE community hustings.
The Tory - suspended for racism - hasn’t turned up.
The meeting is likely to be spicy for @FabianLeedsNE.
There’s a mood of anticipation mixed with depression - you don’t get that right often. We’re being live streamed on You Tube. We’re hosting @marievanderzyl who is @BoDPres. This is me (ok that’s not very political) but it’s my feed

Thread (11): why the new @PeoplesMomentum initiatives are inadequate for the Jewish community.
I agree we should try & create allies. But that is precisely why so many distrust this intitiative. Speaking exactly as I would to a client seeking to settle a case, I say that so far, it hasn’t worked. Why?
Overall these initiatives seek to make the jump from enemy to ally in one go. That’s over-extending hope, sense and ability.
First, they lack much of a mea culpa.
The reality is that these very people fought against the basic steps urged upon them by the