Matt Dias

Husband to one, Father of three, Managing Director (Procurement Leaders), tweeting about all things Procurement and Spurs! (all views my own)

[Josiah Geoffrey ✡️ @JosiahForYeshua]

I’m not interested in being anyone’s “Good Jew” friend. If you ask questions to test me to see if I’m “like those other Jews” or “one of those Zionists” or whatever, I won’t play your game. I won’t disavow anything you want me to disavow (even if it’s something I don’t believe in), because I refuse to submit to the religious tests of antisemites. If you want me to “disavow the Talmud,” I refuse to do so—not because I follow the Talmud (I don’t), but because I would thereby give legitimacy to your false conspiratorial delusions about what the Talmud is and says. The Talmud as it exists in your mind does not exist in real life, so there is nothing for me to disavow. I refuse to acknowledge your pseudo-reality, and I refuse to bow to the demands of the enemies of my people.

I am a Jew. I will never do anything to soften or qualify that, and I will not be a token Jew for your cause. Am Yisrael Chai.

[Benedict Spence @BenedictSpence]

No, it isn’t. If it was, things would work.

[AP @Average_NY_Guy]

People often say that religion is a major factor in Israel’s wars, actions, and in the conflict itself. But these people don’t understand what Judaism actually is.

There are two parts to Judaism. There’s the ethnicity, the nationality, and then there’s the religion.

Judaism is DNA. It’s a reality. It’s a fact. It’s something you can touch. It’s passed down, it’s lived in bodies. Religion, on the other hand, is a mindset. It’s an idea. It lives in someone’s brain. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it, and you definitely won’t find it in a DNA test. When archaeologists dig up a body and run tests, they can find out if the person was Black or white, male or female, African or European, Ashkenazi Jew or Arab. What they can’t see is whether that person was a Christian or a Muslim or a Buddhist or an atheist. Just like they can’t see if that person was a Yankee fan, a Lakers fan, or just liked golf or didn’t like sports at all. Those things don’t leave a trace. They die with the person.

Judaism doesn’t die with the person — because Judaism is also an ethnicity. There has been a group called the Jewish people for over 3,000 years. You can trace it, see it, study it. That’s what people don’t get. Judaism is not just a religion. It’s a people. And yes, many Jews believe in the religion called Judaism. But Judaism — the religion — is centered around the Jewish people, not the other way around. Meaning: Judaism says God chose one group. Not because they believed in Him, but just because He wanted them. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That’s the foundation.

That’s why not all Jews are even “Jewish” in the same way. Like when someone converts, they may be religiously Jewish, but a DNA test won’t show “Jew.” It’s not in their body. It’s in their belief.

The Nazis understood this. Nobody asked my grandfather when he arrived in Auschwitz what the weekly Torah portion was. Nobody asked him if he believed in God or if he had put on tefillin that day. It didn’t matter. Being Jewish was enough. That was the crime. That was the category. And they made sure that was all that mattered.

Israel wasn’t created to defend Judaism the religion, it was created to defend the Jewish people. Not so that Jews could put on tefillin or keep Shabbat or daven in peace — but because Jews in Europe realized that if they stayed in Europe, there would be no more Jewish people at all. And they were right. The Holocaust proved it. Jews were seconds away from being wiped out. So they came back to Israel — the land they came from — and rebuilt it. And to this day, Israel will defend Jews. But not the Jews people think they’re defending. They are defending Jews as a people, as a nation, as a group — as a species.

Yes, they will do everything they can to make sure religious Jews, in Israel or anywhere else, are safe and can live their lives. But that’s not the core mission. The core isn’t religion. Unlike Islam, which fights Israel because of religious doctrine and belief, Israel doesn’t fight for religious reasons. Israel fights because it must survive. Because it must defend the Jewish people — the actual, physical, historical Jewish people — from disappearing.

And by the way, many of the so-called anti-Zionist Jews fail to understand this too. They reject the state because they see it as a contradiction to their religious beliefs. But they fail to understand that Israel wasn’t created for religious purposes. It wasn’t established to build the temple etc. it was built because Jews were hunted down and needed a place to survive. Israel exists so there will still be Jews in this world — religious or not.

[Matt Dias @diasm]

@AweidahNasser @CherylWroteIt If that Arab was an Israeli and had the best of intentions for every single person is Israel then 100% yes! Not a single Jew in Israel or the world over has a problem with a single Arab and/or Muslim with a good heart and good intentions of living in peace IMHO

[Hillel Fuld @HilzFuld]

An incredible letter written by a non-Jewish Scottish professor to his students who voted to boycott Israel

It's a response from Dr. Denis MacEoin to the motion put forward by The Edinburgh Student's Association to boycott all things Israeli, in which they claim Israel is under an apartheid regime.

Denis is an expert in Middle Eastern affairs and was a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly. Here's his letter to the students.

TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.

May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain 's great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University . Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote.

I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel .

That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel . I'm speaking of a hatred that
permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is
this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel , precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.

It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of.

Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.

That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).

In Iran , the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why
aren't your members boycotting Iran ? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa . They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa .

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.

On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

In Israel , women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid.

Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran , where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it's better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the
Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel . I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.

Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya , Bahrain , Saudi Arabia , Yemen , and Iran . They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that
protects the Bahai's.... Need I go on?

The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side.

Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and
that is to protect them from one-sided argument.

They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence.

It's up to you to find out more.

Yours sincerely,

Denis MacEoin

[Efficio @Efficio_Ltd]

We’re pleased to share that we’re joining the Americas Procurement Congress 2024 as an Exhibition Partner.

We're excited to exchange ideas on how organisations can leverage procurement to navigate disruptions and maximise growth. Make sure to stop by Booth 10 – see you there!

[Noa Tishby @noatishby]

Instead of asking why are you so outspoken against antisemitism, it should be asked why have others chosen to be silent amid the deadliest days for Jews since the Holocaust. Dr Martin Luther King Jr once said, “History will record that the greatest tragedy is not the strident clamor of the bad people, but it’s the appalling silence of the good people.” And Elie Wiesel once said, “The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.” The appalling silence that we’ve seen in the aftermath of October 7th, is a shame on our society. @RitchieTorres @RepRitchie

[Jake Wallis Simons @JakeWSimons]

I’ve watched this a couple of times. It’s no exaggeration to say it’s one of the great speeches of our time. It would be wonderful if it was shown in every school and university. Bravo @RitchieTorres

[GCN | Global Conference Network @GlobalConfNet]

'Best New Awards Event' finalists at the #AwardsAwards are:
➡️ @RewardBusiness
➡️ @ctlcomms
➡️ @FestivalofMedia
➡️ #NEXTCIO
➡️ @alfinsight
➡️ @broadcast_sport
➡️ @World50

Find out more: https://t.co/4UReNlzpZI

[GCN | Global Conference Network @GlobalConfNet]

'Awards Event of the Year (over 600 attendees)' finalists at the #AwardsAwards are:
➡️ @CN_Awards
➡️ @bbexawards
➡️ @InsuranceWomen
➡️ @broadcast_sport
➡️ @ProcurementLDRS #PLWPA
➡️ @sounds_comm

Find out more: https://t.co/4UReNlzpZI

[Holocaust Memorial Day Trust @HMD_UK]

Today is #HolocaustMemorialDay - the international day to remember the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups, and in more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. #HMD2023

[Matt Dias @diasm]

@Sullivanbuses any idea of the location of the B77? Kids at school saying it hasn’t arrived

[Rishi Sunak @RishiSunak]

80 years ago, Parliament listened in stunned silence as the truth of the Holocaust was spoken in the House of Commons for the very first time.

Today, in the presence of survivors, we stand together to remember and to reaffirm that truth.

[Matt Dias @diasm]

@Sullivanbuses Any updates????

[Matt Dias @diasm]

Being a good parent in the eyes of your children is nothing to do with showing them love, support and guidance, it’s just about buying them a bottle of @PrimeHydrate

[Matt Dias @diasm]

Twitter after watching #jewsdontcount is like driving down the motorway when there has been a terrible accident. I know I shouldn’t look, but I just can’t help myself.

[Matt Dias @diasm]

Yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!

[Nicole Behnam @NicoleBehnam]

When non-Iranians stick up for women in Iran

When non-Jews loudly stand against antisemitism

When a free man stands up for an oppressed woman on the other side of the world

When a straight white man stands up against racism, bigotry, homophobia

This is how we will win.

[Sustainability Leaders @SusLeaders]

Who will take home a World Sustainability Award this evening? Your host @CarlNasman is set to unveil winners live in Munich. Take a look at the shortlist: https://t.co/inVYPxiguZ #WSA

[Sustainability Leaders @SusLeaders]

A traditional German breakfast is served to kick off the World Sustainability Congress 2022! #WSA

[Matt Dias @diasm]

I just visited @WeAreFairgame. This is what I thought: #feeditback https://t.co/hiM5st7VzB