While Pete Willsman remains on the NEC I have no confidence that Labour is dealing with antisemitism. Here he is denying antisemitism while literally using an antisemitic trope (that it’s all a conspiracy, in this case orchestrated by the Israeli embassy).

https://twitter.com/theousherwood/status/1134365276227735552?s=21

This conspiracy constantly rebadges itself.
In medieval times it was “the Rabbis” who pulled all the strings.
Then Rothschilds and Jewish bankers.
Then Jewish-controlled media.
Then Israel.
It’s an antisemitic trope.
At best Willsman doesn’t get it, at worst he’s an antisemite.

This is good on how, unlike in 2016, we need to make the positive case for the EU. So here’s a thread with some of the benefits of the EU. Feel free to add any I’ve missed. #ThankEU

https://twitter.com/sturdyAlex/status/1128343620216590340

1 in 10 doctors in the NHS
The right to live, love, work and retire in 30 other countries
Clean air
Clean beaches
Clamping down on tax avoidance
Workers’ rights
Disability rights
LGBTQ+ rights
70 years of peace
EU citizens contributing to our society and our economy
#ThankEU

I don’t see how it’s possible to avoid the conclusion that Corbyn simply doesn’t (or at best: didn’t) understand antisemitism. I don’t know how you can write a glowing foreword to a book which includes references like this:
thetimes.co.uk/article/corbyn… How can we end antisemitic thinking in Labour such as Rothschild conspiracy theory or Israel pulling all the strings when Corbyn has endorsed a book containing Rothschild conspiracy theory and mused about Israel being behind a terrorist attack in Egypt? jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/corbyn-suspect…

No Deal Brexit.

DOWNSIDES:
Actual deaths due to lack of medicine
Food shortages
Collapse of manufacturing and businesses
Violence back in Northern Ireland
Soaring prices
Kent becomes lorry park

UPSIDES:
Blue Passport
Brexit 50p

CONCLUSION:
Worth it Never mind actually going through with No Deal, it’s unforgivable of the government even to use the idea of it to frighten people. People who are now worried they may die as a result.

https://twitter.com/beloved_black_c/status/1080711261254492161?s=21

Warning: thread incoming.
A neo-Nazi kills Jews at prayer while an enabler President who defended neo-Nazis as “very fine people” blames the Jews for not having AK-47s under their prayer shawls. But this thread isn’t about this grimly inevitable act. It’s about us on the left. The support and outrage from so many for the Jewish community has been heartening. But it has shocked me (why am I still surprised?) how many on the left responded to Pittsburgh by linking it immediately to Israel/Palestine.

https://twitter.com/davidschneider/status/1056205649992916994

David Davis & co have no alternative plan. Everything they promised has turned out to be lies and unicornology. Yet still they press on. Our country has been taken over by a cult. Facts have now surrounded the compound and so the cult is forcing us all into mass national suicide. They are happy to sacrifice peace in Ireland, the union, our manufacturing industry, countless jobs, our prestige and prosperity. They know more about making cars than people who make cars. They know more about importing and exporting food than people who import and export food.

OK. Brace yourselves. It’s time for yet another thread about anti-semitism. (How I pray for a time I will no longer have to write these). Labour people. Can we stop saying that anti-semitism is worse in the Tory party. Or society at large. It’s like cooking a meal for a vegetarian and saying it has some meat but not as much as other meals. Labour is the party of anti-racism. There should be zero tolerance of AS.

I rejoined Labour in 2015. I was inspired by Corbyn. I'm inspired by so much of what he stands for. Yes, some are weaponising anti-semitism. But also there’s a problem with AS on the left. I don’t think Corbyn’s an anti-semite but what he said in that 2013 video is anti-semitic. You may say he didn’t mean “Jews”, he meant a specific group of Zionists. I’m sure he didn’t mean all Jews. But sadly people sometimes conflate Zionist and Jew, either in error or to hide anti-semitism behind anti-Zionism. Remember what Shami Chakrabarti said about it:

Yesterday was a depressing day to be a Jewish member of the Labour party. Too many still deny, diminish or simply can’t see anti-semitism (JC's problem in the past, I believe, which he’s trying to rectify). So important to continue to point it out, explain and above all educate. JC = Jeremy Corbyn not Jesus Christ. Just to be clear. And brace yourself, this may become a thread.