Jon Lenson

Arsenal-supporting CEO of Milltown Partners and early-stage investor; formerly @WPP and @bainalerts. Views are my own.

[Hadley Freeman @HadleyFreeman]

Perhaps they could be identified by being made to wear - and I don't know, I'm just spitballing here - a yellow Star of David?

[Charlie | 🏆 @afccharlie]

I’m not one really to blame referees or call em cheats. Bar a few incidents.

normally just think they are crap and rely on VAR too much

But I genuinely think this ref on Saturday at the time in the ground was against us, this confirms it for me

[Ian Austin @LordIanAustin]

Last night PSG fans rioted during and after the Champions League final.

57 police officers were injured.
Cars and shops set alight.
One mob even tried to storm a police station.
Police arrested 780.
22,000 police were deployed.

Presumably, if they are drawn to play an English club in next year’s Champions League, all the people who claimed they wanted Maccabi Tel Aviv banned on grounds of public safety (and not because they were in fact a bunch of anti-Jewish racist obsessives), will be demanding the French fans are banned too?

[Oren Barsky @orenbarsky]

The fact that Ireland calls for boycotting Israel while playing friendly matches against Qatar the main sponsor of Hamas —

tells you everything you need to know about the moral decay that has taken hold in Ireland.

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

This belongs to all of us.

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

The Arsenal. Your Premier League champions.

[Dan Neidle @DanNeidle]

When I reported on Zahawi I got a handful of abusive messages. When he apologised & it turned out I was right, they all stopped.

But Polanski? Wild levels of abuse, which just ramped up when Polanski apologised & it turned out I was right.

Does the Green Party have a problem?

[Simone Rodan-Benzaquen @srodan]

There is a claim that keeps circulating, presented as sophisticated analysis: antisemitic violence is caused by Israel’s actions. If Israel behaved differently, Jewish communities around the world would somehow be safer. This argument is not analysis. It is a moral inversion. And it collapses the moment you apply it consistently.
When China imprisons Uyghurs, does anyone warn Muslim communities in Paris to expect attacks? When Russia invaded Ukraine, did anyone tell Russian restaurants to brace for violence? No. Never. The causal chain between a government’s actions and violence against a diaspora is only ever constructed for Jews. Every other minority is extended the basic moral courtesy of being treated as individuals rather than proxies.
Now look at what the data actually shows. The SPCJ, which tracks antisemitic incidents in France in coordination with the Interior Ministry, has documented a consistent and damning pattern: it is antisemitic violence that inspires more antisemitic violence, not Israeli policy. After Mohamed Merah murdered Jewish children at point-blank range at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse in 2012, antisemitic acts surged by 200%. There was no Gaza operation. No Israeli military action. The massacre of Jews in France produced more attacks on Jews in France.
The same logic held after the Hypercacher attack in January 2015: antisemitic acts increased by nearly 300%. Massacres of Jews do not shock antisemites into restraint. They embolden them. They signal impunity. They normalize hatred. And everyone in a position of responsibility knows it.
Which brings us to October 7. From the day of the Hamas attack, antisemitic acts in France increased by over 1,000%. A daily average of approximately 25 antisemitic acts was recorded in the 30 days that followed, reaching nearly 40 on some days. In the three months after the attack, the number of antisemitic acts equaled those recorded over the previous three years combined.
And here is another detail that makes the “Israel causes antisemitism” argument impossible to sustain: the spike began on October 7 itself, the very day of the attack. Israel had not yet responded. Not a single soldier had entered Gaza. Interior Minister Darmanin sent an urgent message to prefects that same day asking them to immediately reinforce protection of Jewish community sites. Synagogues. Schools. Community centers. By October 10, 10,000 police officers had been deployed to protect 500 Jewish sites across the country.
Before any Israeli response existed, the French government already knew that Jewish communities needed protecting. Not because of what Israel was about to do. Because of what had just been done to Jews.
Antisemitic violence has one cause. Antisemitism.

[Luke Tryl @LukeTryl]

Just looking over some data ahead of our elections webinar later and Zack Polanski’s net approval rating has fallen by a fairly chunky 14 points over the last week. Still far ahead of Starmer but also puts him now well below the top three of Badenoch, Davey and Farage.

[Ben Brittain @BenABrittain]

Profound and moving monologue from Trevor Phillips - one of Sky’s greatest assets and the country’s increasingly bravest journalist.

[David Collier @mishtal]

@rachelmillward This party is run by liars, who deliberately stoke division, hate and antisemitism.

They pander to people who seek anarchy - to Islamist extremists - and to Jew haters - all to get them more votes.

They are a danger to the UK.

https://t.co/m8pRSv97FA

[robert shrimsley @robertshrimsley]

The biggest tell of the moment are those people desperately trying to argue that Golders Green wasn't really an antisemitic attack.

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

You may not agree with me, but you will always know where you stand with me.

Today in Billericay, a heckler tried to shout me down as I spoke about the normalisation of hatred towards Jews. I did not back down, because it needs to be said. British Jews are being targeted and too many people are pretending this is the same experience of other minorities. This lady implied Muslims are being similarly targeted. This is simply not true.

Let's be honest about what is happening. Certain groups (in particular but not solely Islamic Extremists) are creating a climate of fear and intimidation that is normalising Jew hatred. I will never stand for that. Governments have spent too long hand-wringing, making excuses and hoping it would go away. It is time to call this what it is: a national emergency in our attitude, our urgency and our response.

I will always engage with people who disagree with me. That is politics. But there is a difference between argument and intimidation. Shouting does not make a bad case good. It's done to silence others. And it certainly does not change the truth.

The truth is that British Jews have been made to feel less safe in their own country. Our country. They are being singled out, threatened and harassed in ways that should shame everyone in public life. If we do not stand up now and stop this rise in antisemitism, then why bother saying "Never Again" at Holocaust Memorial Day? Because this is how it starts.

I am not prepared to play along with the pretence that this is normal, or manageable, or just another example of tension between groups. It really is not. It is targeted hatred and it is getting worse.

So my message is simple. Not here. Not in Britain. And not on our watch. We need to stop the hand-wringing and start doing the right thing. That means standing with British Jews openly, unapologetically and without fear.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

The man who's spent years talking over and attacking women for defending their rights has now decided that you must belong to a protected group to express an opinion on the threats facing it.

[Etan Smallman @EtanSmallman]

It took four days but Gary "Germany in the 30s" Lineker has finally posted about the Golders Green stabbings...

...to complain that the Jews are hogging the limelight to detriment of a Muslim man who was stabbed earlier in day (zero evidence he was targeted for his ethnicity)

[Nicole Lampert @nicolelampert]

The deputy leader of the most antisemitic party in Britain can fuck off.
(I’m so tired of this gaslighting).

[Judea Pearl @yudapearl]

Maureen Lipman is the first lady of the British theatre, a proud Jew and a champion of humanity. The Palestinian cause will be stained forever by this ugly poster.

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

God bless @AndrewMarr9 for this extraordinary monologue about the contributions of British Jewry.

[Sajid Javid @sajidjavid]

On @BBCr4Today, the Chief Rabbi made a direct appeal to the country. "The silent majority of the UK is with us," he said. "They're with the Jewish community… But the time has now come for the silent majority to raise its voice."

He was clear about what is and isn't enough. Letters of support, he said, arrive in abundance. What is needed now is "an outright public condemnation." And he asked the question that hangs over this moment: "If this was happening to any other minority in the UK right now, I presume there would be a very different response from the nation and from the government. Why is it different for the Jewish people?"

He is right. Jewish life in Britain is facing a level of threat not seen for generations. Going to synagogue, walking children to a Jewish school, wearing a kippah, shopping in a kosher store - ordinary acts that increasingly feel like acts of defiance. In the past five weeks, four Hatzola ambulances have been firebombed, synagogues attacked and two Jewish men stabbed on the sreet. The terror threat has been raised to severe.

Some have spoken. HM The King, politicians from across the parties, faith leaders and others have rightly condemned these attacks. But the response the Chief Rabbi is asking for - and that this moment demands - must be broader than that.

Prominent Muslim leaders and organisations - the imams, mosque federations - must speak out clearly and publicly against this hatred. The unions and the vice-chancellors of our universities, given what Jewish students are now living through on our campuses, must raise their voices. Our football authorities, cultural institutions, bishops and anti-racism charities must join in condemning these attacks.

Too many have said nothing. That silence is being heard, in every Jewish home in this country.

The Chief Rabbi has spoken for British Jews. The rest of us must answer him - clearly, publicly, and now.

[Neil Blair @NeilBlairTBP]

This. Sick of hearing bs explanations that it’s all about Netanyahu or Israeli actions. The same haters hated when Bennet and Lapid were PM, and calls to ‘end Zionism’ and at the same time, for ‘Zionists to go home’ (where’s that then btw?!) seem pretty clear to anyone paying attention what they really want? 👇👇👇