A few years ago, on #HolocaustMemorialDay, I was lucky enough to be present at a talk given by the venerated Prof. Yehuda Bauer, one of the world’s greatest Holocaust historians, at which he tackled the question of whether the Holocaust was unique among genocides. /1 The answer surprised: It was unique-but not in numbers killed, or the proportion of a people annihilated, but this: that genocides are often instigated as a result of rivalries over land, resources or perceived threats, but that once it is clear that the targeted community is /2

My brother (Maurice Glasman) the Labour Peer, is back in the spotlight-on Newsnight tonight. Which is unsurprising-I’ll explain why: he evolved an entire political philosophy, #BlueLabour. I’m not going to expound or advocate for it here, but explain the relevance to Labour now/1 His thinking was based on earlier ideas which informed the reconstruction of post-war Germany, based on what skills people contribute to society, rather than their market price. That’s why vocational quals are prized in Germany; Workers sit on company boards;.../2

For me, @LordCFalconer ruled himself out as an investigator of #LabourAntisemitism when he excused Jeremy Corbyn’s defence of the Brick Lane Mural, saying ‘he hadn’t looked properly at it’. It betrayed how unsuitable he is for the job. <thread> However, I needed to confirm what I remembered of the incident for an article I was writing - so I decided to go back to the #Marr interview of 23rd September, in which Corbyn was asked about the mural in interview for the first time.

A thread on #LabourAntisemitism: We now see @UKLabour ‘moderate’ MPs who formerly opposed @jeremycorbyn’s leadership, led by former front-benchers such as @hilarybennmp and @YvetteCooperMP fighting to prevent a ‘No-deal’ #Brexit. 1 We see that on an issue where they hold principled views, they will explore all avenues: defying party policy; working across party lines; exploiting parliamentary loopholes and even defying constitutional conventions. They have demonstrated great resourcefulness 2

.@jeremycorbyn is suggesting he will 'trade' the remaining IHRA 'examples' in order to continue to omit 'Israel as a racist endeavour' from the list. A thread about why this 'Israel oriented' example is so fundamental to him and also unacceptable to Jews jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/corbyn-ready-t… Zionism is movement created by Jews, for Jews. Their authentic conception of Zionism is as a movement for legitimate national self-determination for Jews, realised in a homeland in Israel. It is simple. Any non-Jew who believes in this idea is also a Zionist.

The Labour Party’s new guidelines on antisemitism are to include the requirement that “evidence of antisemitic intent” must be demonstrated. A short thread before Shabbat on how that will work in practice, by someone who is dealing with incidents daily. <thread> At CAA @antisemitism we have been evolving methodology to be able to carefully assess and quantify antisemitism. It soon becomes clear to those who do such work that-excepting in very extreme cases-proving antisemitic intent is not only problematic, but also misses the point.