Journalist writing about all things arts & politics. Book lover, mother of monkeys, vaccine volunteer, Jewish feminist ✡️ This is a Zelenskyy stan account. 🎗️
This morning I’m at a conference at the House of Lords hosted by Sheryl Sandberg about the rapes of October 7 and the likely ongoing rapes of hostages.
She started with these words that many so-called feminist groups in this country should take heed of:
‘If we can't agree that
At the Tate Modern last night, a group of extraordinary women reminded a feminist crowd gathered about the rapes of Israeli women and the ongoing horror of the hostages.
The tape across their mouths is a reminder of silence of the feminist organisations who have failed to speak
There’s a new campaign to get teenage girls into sport. Called
#strongisbeautiful
it’s been kicked off by Team GB rugby players posing in lingerie.
Feels really regressive and sexist to me.
Maybe I’m old.
Meet Israeli athlete Adam Maraana who will be swimming in
#Paris2024
His father is an Israeli Arab, mother an Israeli Jew and they met on the beach near Haifa, a city which is half Jewish and half Arab.
"I am Israeli and come from a mixed city, and things like this happen
I’ve been writing about entertainment for 20-odd years and I have never seen anything like this year’s Eurovision and this crop of performers.
Some of their behaviour I put down to pure Israel hatred and misplaced wokery but some of it makes clear that contestants are being
Eurovision annually attracts 160m viewers. There are 1.3m Jews in Europe. The idea that somehow we fixed this is laughable.
I could see via my social media last night that a lot of allies voted for Eden Golan because they recoiled against the bullying, they see Israel as being
My boys asked why I was crying and I told them that when I was little girls weren’t allowed to play football (outside than in the garden or park). There’s been such a fight to get here before they even entered the stadium glorious
#Lionesses
When Elizabeth Pitt was told by a colleague that his dog - wearing a dress - was gender fluid she didn’t take this seriously.
As a result, she was disciplined by Cambridgeshire Council, where she worked, for her ‘nasty opinions’.
She was also criticised for daring to have
Two survivors of the Nova festival in which 330 young people were killed by Hamas terrorists were interrogated for TWO HOURS at Manchester Airport by overzealous immigration officials who told them, ‘we are the boss not you’ and they ‘had to make sure that you are not going to do
We have been made aware that survivors of the 7th October terrorist attack on the Re’Im Music Festival were discriminated against by
@UKBorder
when arriving
@manairport
.
We have requested an urgent investigation is commenced and assurances are received to ensure passengers with
Yesterday, to hurt
@jk_rowling
who had defended me, trolls labelled me a ‘Holocaust denier’. Ironically the hateful messages swirled in as I was in the
@UKHouseofLords
at an event celebrating women who fight antisemitism. 1/
There was a vigil for October 7 today in Glasgow - one of the speakers was
@blairmcdougall
.
Unfortunately it was almost impossible for him to be heard as police allowed pro Palestine demonstrators to set up next to the vigil and attempt to drown it out.
PLEASE CAN WE HAVE 24
I feel like I’m living in a parallel universe.
Of course the death of any innocent Palestinian is a tragedy.
This was a vicious gunfight between Israeli forces rescuing Israeli civilians and Hamas terrorists.
It took place in a densely populated civilian area because Hamas
One for Shabbat. Nova survivors Ben and Kfir who are in the BBC film Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again, appeared at a rally with the Jewish community in Borehamwood this morning. After rousing speeches there was a moving rendition of the Hatikvah.
Shabbat shalom.
Could
@BBCNews
have got this more wrong? Every day I am more and more furious about their horrendous bias.
Pro-Palestine supporters weren’t trying to hold a ‘vigil’.
They were trying to stop people seeing a film about the massacre of the Nova festival. They had earlier daubed
The superhero universe was created by American Jews who felt powerless amid the Nazi threat. They saw no countries would stand up for Jews: so they created superheroes who, in a fictional universe, would protect the needy against the baddies.
Often the Judaism was hidden -
The inverted red triangle has come to symbolise support for Hamas.
Based on the red triangle seen in Hamas footage as they killed Israelis, it’s made the move from social media to the streets of London.
Here are two people on the streets of London today proudly showing their
Today marks 19 years since the horrific 7/7 terror attacks where 52 people lost their lives and many more were injured.
Today we remember them, their families and the efforts of our emergency services.
We will always stand united against those who attempt to divide us.
As a feminist, writing about the betrayal of Israeli women by our movement was hard.
Writing about what had happened to Israeli women was even harder.
And the testimony in this piece was some of the most difficult words I’ve ever quoted.
Nearly nine months ago almost 400 people went to a music festival and never came home. Most of them were murdered and some of them remain hostages in the tunnels of Gaza.
Nova remembered by festival goers at
#glastonbury2024
Never forget how this started.
Rescued hostage Noa Argamani buried her mum today.
Lioro Argamani had a long battle with brain cancer but held on until her girl came home.
These are Noa’s words:
‘Against all odds, I was fortunate to be with you in your final moments, to talk with you, laugh with you, and hear
Excellent interview with the brilliant
@harari_yuval
in
@TheAtlantic
‘When I hear people compare Zionism with racism, this itself is a racist statement, because Zionism is simply the national movement of the Jewish people. And if you think that Zionism is racist and is
National treasure Felicity Kendal on why wearing a Star of David necklace has become a brave thing to do (from today’s Times).
“I have always seen this as a kind of protection, but it feels quite the opposite now. I was in a shop in Chelsea when a woman came over and said,
No one understands the perfidy of Islamic extremism more than Iranians which is why many of them are on the pro-Israel demos.
At the meeting of the anti-Israel and pro-Israel demos yesterday this man asks an Iranian ‘how much are they paying you?’ before trying to grab his hand.
Why are the people calling for a ceasefire not demanding:
1) the return of the hostages
2) the surrender of Hamas
3) Qatar arrest Hamas leaders
4) Iran stops funding terrorism?
📢GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION:
#CEASEFIRENOW
🌍
Today, on December 18th, people worldwide are uniting to call for a sustained ceasefire in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Humanitarian organizations and individuals from 90+ countries are coming together - with over 3
This is rather magnificent.
Here is
@OzKaterji
WHO IS FROM LEBANON being patronised by someone who knows nothing about the region but just hates Israel.
His response is perfect.
Very disappointing that an event this morning with
@MosabHasanYOSEF
- the son of a Hamas founder who became an Israeli spy - in London has been cancelled because of security threats.
London should be safe for those who dare to criticise the terrorist group Hamas.
From Gary Lineker’s factless musings to the BBC worker who called Jews ‘Nazi apartheid parasites’. From BBC Arabic having to correct mistakes every 48 hours to headlining stories on OCTOBER 7 as ‘Israeli revenge attacks’: a new report lays out why many Jewish people believe not
Peak peak PEAK Guardian when a TV reviewer asks why Hamas, and the Gazans who followed them into Israel to kill and loot, are made to look like the baddies in a Channel 4 documentary about October 7.
This is an unfunny joke.
The whole world can see this for what it is: bullying of a young woman representing a country fighting an existential war against a terrorist organisation.
So I don’t know about you, but I’m going to vote Eden who has a great song and a beautiful voice.
My interview with the brilliant
#Fauda
co-creator
@issacharoff
who knows more about the Palestinians than almost anyone else in Israel.
Speaking in London about the reaction of some in the West he says: “I can’t get over how ignorant these people are. When they say ‘Free
I know there are many other things going on in the world but I just want to say, in a small voices, the UK is becoming an ever more uncomfortable place to be a Jew.
This is just today’s example - it was doctors. DOCTORS.
‘Dr Joanna Sutton-Klein, a Jewish A&E consultant, was
JUST IN 🚨
According to
@ynetalerts
, citing a senior Egyptian official, Sinwar is reportedly insisting on guarantees for his own safety as part of any agreement to release hostages.
I’m thinking of the 19 young women still hostage in Gaza almost five months after they were stolen from their beds, or kidnapped from a party.
We need them back.
#BringBackOurGirls
A new report into BBC bias on the Israel/ Hamas conflict says the BBC has breached its own guidelines 1553 times.
A team of around 20 lawyers and 20 data scientists contributed to the research, which used artificial intelligence to analyse nine million words of BBC output.
It
I had a sobering chat with a Los Angeles rabbi about the diaspora experience post Oct 7:
‘American Jews and British Jews and Australian Jews are going to have to learn to live differently than they lived for the last 50 years. The bubble has burst. We’re no longer living in our
The BBC issues an apology for not sufficiently challenging antisemitism on
@BBCr4today
.
A reminder that AFTER this had happened the BBC head of news said there was no problem with BBC neutrality.
One of the interesting things about the Israel demos is that they have all had a number of Iranians attending.
Persians - who know what extremist Islamism did to their country - see echoes of their leaders in Hamas. 1/2
This week, with
@JournalistJill
, I’ve been looking into gender neutral changing rooms. Thank you to all who got in touch about your experiences in gender neutral changing rooms; we didn’t have room for all the horror stories 🧵👇🏼
Meet another Israeli
#Paris2024
hopeful (as requested!!)
Judo star Peter Paltchik was born in Ukraine with multiple fractures after a difficult birth. His factory worker grandfather took him to judo to help strengthen his muscles and he became a star at the sport.
The former
So the Guardian writer who hosted Channel 4’s ‘How Not To Be A Racist’ ‘misjudged’ by retweeting antisemitic content. You couldn’t make it up, could you?
Heidi’s family includes an 18-year-old girl murdered on October 7 and the teenager’s dad who is still being held hostage.
Look at how these utter c
@nts
behaved when they saw her.
I just tried to attend my local Labour campaign to see what the MP candidate was about. The pro-Pals blocked me, yelled my name, shouted “shame on you” and “you’ve got blood on your hands”. I didn’t go in. They are schoolground bullies disrupting democracy. Shame on *them*.
WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name! They don’t call us “women” anymore; they call us “birthing people” or “menstruators”, and even “people with vaginas”! Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!
I hate that musicians and some politicians treat the Palestine/ Israel war as a football match where you have to choose sides.
I’m ‘pro Palestine’ in that I want the Palestinians to be freed from Hamas and have their own state and live in peace with their neighbours.
I think
Damon Albarn at Glastonbury: "You have to show how you feel about Palestine, are you pro Palestine? Do you feel like it's an unfair war? The importance of voting next week."
"Maybe it's time we stop putting octogenarians in control of the whole world"
An afternoon in the life of a COVID vaccinator.
I did my first shift today. It was exciting, amazing, to be part of the national effort to give everyone some liquid gold in their arms. I thought you might be interested to learn what it was like.
The couple who were bullied in Edinburgh have spoken to
@SabriSun_Miller
. It’s pretty chilling stuff.
‘For more than five minutes the crowd – conducted by Hunter – booed, hissed and jeered until Shimon and Talia finally decided they had no choice but to leave.
'We didn't leave
This is chilling. All passengers from Israel, almost all Jews. Many British Jews, including children separated and searched.
Passengers from other flights arriving at the same time waved through.
A Palestinian flag flies outside a polling station today. It won’t surprise you to learn that this is a school in Bethnal Green.
I’m pretty sure this breaks election rules.
It shows how ideals of fairness and democracy have broken down in parts of our country.
@TowerHamletsNow
I just got off the phone with a very frightened Manchester University student. These posters have been put all over her university.
The Jewish Society kids are too scared to even go to a vigil for the fallen dead.
This meeting will celebrate heinous violence.
@BritishQuakers
There’s quite an interesting row brewing between press regulator
@IpsoNews
and newspapers where I’ve seen at least two female columnists call Scottish rapist Isla Bryson/ Adam Graham with male pronouns….this battle has been a long time coming.
My interview with a British born IDf soldier:
‘Going into Gaza we also saw the scale of what we were fighting. I would say that 75 per cent if not more of the homes we went into had some sort of affiliation with Hamas. Lots of weapons; we’d find RPGs and grenades on the floor.
The way this story has been framed by the BBC is a masterclass in making the victim the oppressor.
It’s an example of why many British Jews think that the BBC is making record antisemitism in this country worse.
@rburgessbbc
@BBCNews
A deep dive:
If you want to understand how insidious gender ideology is for young people, you don’t need to look any further than the way the Tate Gallery explores the Brit Jewish artist Marlow Moss by retrospectively deciding she was non binary - but only in the information for kids.
👇🏼🧵
Obviously the threats to Israeli contestant Eden Golan are so serious that she has been more or less confined to her hotel. Other Israelis have been told to hide signs showing their country.
On Thursday night there was a mob of 10,000 people outside Eden’s hotel. There were
Every day people send me new examples of antisemitism but it turns out there are consistently new ways to be shocked.
There’s an American holistic travel company offering trips ‘Loaded with Culture and Spiritual Tapas’.
They invite all women except Jewish ones - unless they
It’s all kicking off on the FB Keir Starmer Supporters Forum with a Labour press officer telling women concerned about female safe spaces that they should go and join the Tories. 🧵👇🏼
"She must be saying every day, 'where's my daddy. why hasn't he come to save me?'"
The father of 9-year-old hostage Emily Hand describes his 'nightmare' of trying to rescue his daughter from Hamas terrorists.
If you see this placard tomorrow come say hi.
The photo is of Shani Louk who was murdered by Hamas terrorists, her body paraded around the streets of Gaza and spat on.
You can read more about the challenge to get charities to care about Jewish women in my pinned post.
Yes it makes perfect sense that Adidas - the company which was founded by Nazi members and housed Kanye West - would chose to bring out shoes from the Olympic Games where 11 Israelis were murdered with a model accused of antisemitism. Perfect sense.
Free speech for some but not for others.
This
@metpoliceuk
officer advises a Jewish man to not call terrorist supporters terrorist supporters because they might beat him up.
Meanwhile they can chant for the eradication of the Jewish state just fine.
This is
#TwoTierPolicing
Every diaspora Jewish WhatsApp group I’m in (a lot) is filled with people feeling just a little bit buoyed by the fact that Eden Golan has made it through to the
#Eurovision2024
finals. I don’t think we’ve ever been so united as a people as we are amid this huge rise in
The far right comes in many guises.
Here’s a pro Palestinian bloke doing a Nazi salute in front of the Jewish/ pro Israel counter protest in London today.
It should be no surprise: the Nazis spread their antisemitic messages all over the Arab world.
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical about Jewish shtetl life in Ukraine. Nothing to do with Israel.
That didn’t stop these ‘pro-Palestine’ ‘protestors’ harassing punters in the cafe next to the theatre for being Zionists.
Can pro-Palestinians explain this to me: If your movement isn’t about Jew hatred, why have you turned up outside a theatre in London showing Fiddler on the Roof to attack the patrons? It’s just a Jew hate movement isn’t it? Stop gaslighting us.
#StopTheHate
@EIE2024
On 7/7 we remember how Islamic extremism brought terror and murder to our streets. My school friend Miriam Hyman was among those murdered.
This year on 7/7 I also feel great fear that Islamic extremism has made its way into the House of Commons.
19 years ago today, 52 people were murdered in an Islamist terrorist atrocity in London. We remember those lives robbed and the dozens maimed in the blasts. Islamist extremism remains a clear and present danger to the national security of the UK. That did not *change* overnight.
Gary Lineker has strayed from politics into advocating that Israel should be banned from international football matches.
This is now about the actual job he does as the best paid presenter for BBC television - a sports presenter who is expressing the opinion that a team should