Aidan T. A. Varney

Queer Christian socialist steeped in critical & cultural theory who somehow manages to oppose antisemitism (and gentile anti-Zionism). And instant 'coffee'.

[Sofia Afonso Ferreira @sofiafonsoferre]

🇬🇧 Jew hunt in the streets of Woodseats Sheffield today. This mens were knocking on doors and taking a note of addresses not supportive of their anti-Jew leaflets.

[habibi @habibi_uk]

This could be a catchy Green Party campaign ad. "The Britain We Want."

Is it the Britain you want?

[Aidan T. A. Varney @aidantav]

@MelanieLatest You tell them, Melanie!

[Adam Zivo @AdamZivo]

Pro-Palestinian activists often hate the Free Iran movement. They don’t actually care about human rights, and are fixated on the destruction of Israel at all costs — no matter how nauseating.

#freeiran #standwithiran #digitalblackoutiran #kingrezapahlavi #cdnpoli

[Zac Goldsmith @ZacGoldsmith]

Why is his ‘right side of history’ always the violent side (in this case a woman emergency worker’s spine being smashed with a sledgehammer)?

[Julia Hartley-Brewer @JuliaHB1]

I had no idea that my civil liberties included the right to smash a sledgehammer into someone else's spine.

[habibi @habibi_uk]

Your daily evening hate from London. Ghouls dressed up like terrorists are abusing King's College and the police. "From the river to the sea!" "Zionism no more!"

Why are they angry? Because a film about the Hamas atrocities of 7 October 2023 is being shown.

Had enough yet?

[Aidan T. A. Varney @aidantav]

@EwanHarvey @BBCPolitics Unfortunately, when you are a guest - including a paying, contributing guest - you don't get to make the rules. It's annoying, yes, but the reality is that governments do change policy and change rules. Grant's own US government does it plenty.

[Aidan T. A. Varney @aidantav]

@OwenJonesStan @BBCPolitics @DaleVince @Daddy__c0o1 @simonmaginn @HavetStorm A nation is trying to repel those who have attacked it. That is not necessarily the same as genocide. Last I heard, Dale Vince did not sit on a court in The Hague. He does not get to decide what is and is not genocide. It is just slander against the only Jewish-majority nation.

[The Free Press @TheFP]

Why are figures like Greta Thunberg—who have been demanding a ceasefire for years—silent now that a deal has been reached?

@HavivRettigGur: The idea that Israel and Israelis would only be satisfied by the complete genocide of Palestinians “has taken over the moral imagination of the Western left.”

“They need all the bombings to begin again because if the bombings don’t begin again, they were wrong on the fundamental article of the great morality play. And it’s weird watching these people be so traumatized by the possibility that this war is—maybe—actually over.”

“It speaks very poorly to their moral compass, and frankly, to their understanding of the conflict.”

[Ahmed Al-Khalidi @khalidi79397]

I find myself deeply puzzled by a certain Western phenomenon: the climate activists, human rights advocates, and self-proclaimed progressives who somehow end up echoing Hamas talking points.

What drives that contradiction? How do people who fight to “save the planet” from harm find moral comfort supporting a movement that glorifies violence, suppresses women, persecutes minorities, and burns its own children’s future?

Let’s look beyond politics and explore the mental model behind it.

1. The Need for a Simple “Good vs. Evil” Story

These activists often think in binary moral categories: victim vs. oppressor, colonized vs. colonizer.
It simplifies a chaotic world into a clear moral map, a comforting illusion of “knowing who the bad guys are.”
In that story, Palestinians automatically play the victim role, and therefore Hamas becomes “the resistance,” not a tyrannical regime.
They don’t need facts, they need moral clarity, even if it’s false.

2. Projection of Guilt and Desire for Redemption

Western societies carry deep historical guilt: colonialism, racism, environmental destruction.
Supporting a cause that appears “anti-imperialist” becomes a psychological cleansing ritual.
They see themselves as allies of the oppressed, but in truth they’re not helping us - they’re washing their own conscience.

3. The Attraction to Emotional Intensity

Movements like Hamas weaponize emotion: pain, rage, sacrifice, “resistance.”
For young activists raised in digital comfort, this intensity feels authentic.
They crave moral struggle the way others crave adventure.
They mistake destruction for depth.

4. Moral Narcissism

It’s not about the truth, it’s about feeling virtuous.
Many Western activists are driven less by compassion and more by the need to be seen as compassionate.
The Palestinian cause becomes a theater stage for their self-image - they cry for Gaza online, but never once ask how Hamas treats Palestinians inside Gaza.

5. Cognitive Dissonance and Selective Empathy

To maintain their worldview, they must filter reality, ignore Hamas executing dissenters, silencing women, stealing aid, or building tunnels under schools.
They can’t hold both truths at once: that Palestinians suffer and that Hamas is their main tormentor.
So they delete one truth to keep the comfort of moral simplicity.

6. The Cult of “Resistance”

Climate activism teaches “act now or we all die.” Hamas propaganda echoes that emotional urgency: “resist or be erased.”
It taps into the same psychological fuel: panic, purpose, identity.
Except one fights to preserve life; the other glorifies death.

When I see these activists marching with slogans that defend Hamas, I don’t see solidarity, I see psychological confusion dressed as morality.
They don’t understand our reality.
They project their fantasies of rebellion onto our tragedy, and in doing so, they become useful tools for the very forces that keep us oppressed.

If they truly cared about Palestinians, they would stand with those of us who reject Hamas, reject the cult of death, and dream of a future built - not burned.

[Ed Abrahamson @abrahamson_ed]

And one of the most shameful episodes of Irish govt performance in its history.

There was no famine, no genocide.. And all along Israel said release the hostages and war will end.

Hamas used their captives to ensure Israel kept fighting.. 915 brave IDF soldiers lost their lives.
Hamas celebrated their people's suffering. Martyrs to their cause. They won the PR battle.

They thanked Ireland leadership for its friendship.

Ireland did nothing to help a major Western democracy through the long period of brutal terrorist assaults.

This will never be forgotten.

[markkemp マークケンプ @markkemp]

@sirwg202110

[Mary 🇺🇸 @MaryRoss815]

@joshxhowie Bravo Josh!!!

[Nicole Lampert @nicolelampert]

‘Murdering bitch’.

‘Jews deserve to die’.

‘You are all filth.’

This is what happened today in the nice middle class area of London we both live in (written by the lady it happened to).

I haven’t posted on Facebook for years.

But something happened today that I can’t stay silent about.

I was out walking in Muswell Hill with my daughter when we saw a friend of mine’s daughter crying.

She had just witnessed a group of people cutting down the yellow ribbons — put up with consent from the community — that symbolise the hostages still held in Gaza.

I went over to speak to them.

They were all wearing keffiyehs. And they immediately launched into abuse — calling me a “murdering bitch,” saying I was “complicit in genocide,” and that “Jews deserve to die.”

I asked if they understood what the yellow ribbons were for. They didn’t care. I suggested we put up more — with pictures of Palestinians held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, alongside the ribbons — to create something humanitarian, something that acknowledged everyone’s suffering.

They laughed in my face.
Said they didn’t want peace with ‘Jews’.
They didn’t want understanding ‘with Jews’.

They wanted to dehumanise anything ‘Jewish/ related to Israel and the genocide’.

When someone looks you in the eye and says “no one wants to exist with Jews — you are all filth,” it stays with you.

That hate, that poison, it didn’t come from nowhere.

And it’s being legitimised, fed, and spread. And it’s getting bolder.

I know some people will say “don’t give them attention” — but that’s not an option anymore.

Silence isn’t safety.

This is the reality some of us are living with right now.
And it needs to be called out.

Continuously associating the Palestinian narrative with violent slogans/ rhetoric does a major disservice to the just and urgent aspirations of the Palestinian people for freedom, self-determination, and independence.

STOP. THE.HATE

#Free Palestine - from Hamas
#Free the hostages
#Free Iran from radical Islam

#Co exist

Peace

[Aidan T. A. Varney @aidantav]

@Muqadaam How many more elections do you want to lose?

[Aidan T. A. Varney @aidantav]

@CriticalMind08 @HenMazzig History books written by Nazis

[Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis @chiefrabbi]

Every week, we receive messages from people of all faiths and backgrounds. This one, from a British Christian of Iraqi heritage, moved us deeply:

Dear Chief Rabbi,

I hope you will permit me, as someone outside the Jewish community, to write with humility, sorrow and a deep sense of shared humanity.

I am an Iraqi Arab Christian of Chaldean heritage, from the Aramaic-speaking tradition of Christianity. My roots, like yours, lie in lands that once carried the weight of holiness and coexistence and now too often bear the burden of suffering and despair.

There was a time when Jews, Christians and Muslims lived not in perfect harmony, but in shared neighbourliness, intertwined, familiar and bound by common ground.

Having lived in the United Kingdom for over 45 years, I have witnessed how societies can thrive when they embrace dignity, plurality and mutual respect. These are not abstract ideals; they are lived realities, deeply embedded in the moral fabric of British life at its best.

It is precisely because I have seen what is possible that I feel such pain at the cruelty unfolding across many of our ancestral homelands. What should be places of spiritual richness and cultural generosity are now known too often for war, persecution and loss.

I cannot express strongly enough mine and my family’s revulsion at the evil committed on 7th October.

The calculated murder and terrorising of innocent lives is not merely an outrage; it is a desecration of everything sacred.

As a Christian, I recognise how deeply our tradition is rooted in Judaism.

Our understanding of justice, of mercy and of the sanctity of life are all drawn from your ancient faith.

And through lifelong friendships with Jewish colleagues and friends, I have come to value not just the spiritual depth, but the intellectual rigour and moral clarity that continue to define Jewish life.

It causes me profound sorrow to witness how antisemitism, sometimes subtle, sometimes explicit, has resurged in public life.

We know too well that what begins in rhetoric can (does) end in violence. History has, very sadly, taught us that silence in such moments is complicity.

The recent scenes at Glastonbury, where chants of “death to the IDF” were not only uttered but amplified and cheered, struck me with a profound sense of moral unease.

That such language could be broadcast on national television and momentarily pass as acceptable public expression is not just alarming, it is degrading.

This was not protest, it was incitement.

The failure to immediately recognise and reject it reveals how blurred the lines have become between legitimate political critique and outright hate.

I share your view that this is a moment of national shame.

When calls to violence against Jews or Jewish institutions are dressed up as cultural commentary, it is not only the Jewish community that suffers. It is the integrity of the society we all share. Integrity no longer has a front-row seat in society.

Please accept this message as a personal expression of solidarity, from one who recognises the sorrow, fear and pain that your community has endured and who stands with you.

If any of my dear Jewish friends happen to read these words, I hope they feel seen, respected and not alone.

If there is ever any way I can be of help in promoting understanding between our communities, I would gladly do so with a full heart.

With the deepest respect and warmest wishes.