Danny Williams

Husband & father, IBMer, IT Architect, runner, snowboarder and general troublemaker
(My views are my own and do not represent IBM's )

[Simon Schama @simon_schama]

Well if you're at all serious about protection, stop hate marches chanting for the globalized intifada and river to sea and give Jewish demonstrators the same rights of free speech. Do it. We've had it with crocodile tears.

[Nick Robinson @bbcnickrobinson]

The news from Bondi beach is grim.
For many it will have terrible echoes of the massacres on October 7th.
For Jews living here it will feel painfully close to the murders at a synagogue in Manchester.
It is a reminder - if one was needed - that Jews all over the world now live in fear.
If you struggle to understand that fear - you may not have any Jewish family or friends as it is a very small community - I urge you to think of the impact on the Muslim and, indeed, the wider community of the Christchurch mosque attack in New Zealand.
Tonight Jews everywhere will light candles to mark the start of the festival of lights - Hanukkah. Few will feel able to
celebrate. Many will be worrying about what might happen next.

[William Shatner @WilliamShatner]

Day 2: When we share our light, no one sits in darkness; instead, the world becomes a festival.

[Tottenham Hotspur @SpursOfficial]

Given today’s horrific events in Sydney, we recognise wishing our Jewish fans a happy Hanukkah may seem hollow at this incredibly difficult moment.

The story of Hanukkah reminds us that even in darkness, we can find the light. We stand alongside our Jewish communities and pray for peace and unity across the world, while sending our deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones 🤍🕎

[William Shatner @WilliamShatner]

As sunset falls & the Festival of Lights also known as Hanukkah begins we light the Menorah. We light the center candle: the Shamash & with that candle we light the others from right. They teach us that the small things: courage, kindness, faith are what keep the world glowing.

[Rachel Moiselle @RachelMoiselle]

Hello, all. An important post.

Please read this document. This is what institutional antisemitism looks like.

In Dublin, there is a park named Herzog Park. It is named after Chaim Herzog (1918-1997), an Irish-Israeli man, born in Belfast and raised in Dublin, who went on to be Israel’s 6th President.

Chaim was the son of Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland and Israel’s first Chief Rabbi. He was a firm friend of Eamon De Valera, Ireland’s most famous political leader, and strongly supported the Irish Republican cause during our War of Independence.

Dublin City Council has made an antisemitic decision to change the name of Herzog park, a blatant attempt to erase Irish-Jewish history.

Last year, I wrote in the Irish Times: ‘now that the Jewish population in Ireland has been reduced to the smallest fragment, my great fear is that in 20 years it will be reduced to nothing at all: due to this lack of welcome in a land that purports to offer a thousand of them. Irish people will follow the well-paved path of the citizens of so many nations before them: walking through quarters where the whisper of Jewish memory lingers, a memory that may, over time, also be erased.’

This erasure has not come gradually over 20 years as I anticipated. No—it has come a mere 1 year later, purposefully and maliciously by Ireland’s political class.

Ireland is an institutionally antisemitic country. To deny it in the face of such overwhelming evidence is pure folly.

[Ambassador Michael Herzog @AmbHerzog]

It is sad to see how the fact that one of Ireland’s prominent Jewish figures became president of the State of Israel, turned from being a source of pride to Dublin to being a source of denial.

Chaim Herzog, my late father, grew up in Dublin and fought the Nazis in WW2 as an officer in the British Army. His father, Rabbi Isaac Herzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland and a strong supporter of Irish Nationalism.

So painful to see how Ireland, once home to a proud, thriving Jewish community, has become the scene of raging antisemitism. Ireland is now one of the most virulent anti-Israel countries in Europe, blurring the line between criticizing Israeli policies and questioning Israel’s right to exist.

It is high time that Jewish organizations in the U.S. and around the world sound a loud and clear voice in denouncing this shame and clarifying its consequences. Have we not learnt anything from history?

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

In polling conducted shortly before the attack in Manchester, one third of Jews said they felt unsafe, up from just 9% in 2023. Synagogues up and down Britain had already beefed up security, fearing such a day would come https://t.co/vHBrl9JGQg

[Danny Williams @willidh]

@jamesvogl How much did you ask for?!

[Danny Williams @willidh]

@jamesvogl Did they give you any? 🙂

[Ant Middleton @antmiddleton]

This man must be arrested. If he hasn’t already then if you see him I would strongly suggest a citizens arrest and an immediate handover to the police! This is where the power of the public comes into play! 🫡🇬🇧

[Board of Deputies of British Jews @BoardofDeputies]

Our comment on the “hate-filled messages broadcast in BBC coverage” of @glastonbury today

[Heidi Bachram @HeidiBachram]

A much stronger statement today from @glastonbury. Yet they brought this on themselves by signalling tacit approval and keeping Kneecap on the bill. Now there’s Hitler flags and Hamas red triangles at their “peace” festival. What now?

[Kosher @koshercockney]

World is watching @ASPolice

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

I have written to Tim Davie, Director-General of the BBC, calling on the broadcaster to withdraw future BBC coverage of Glastonbury.

[Eve Barlow @Eve_Barlow]

Is there an act onstage at Glastonbury screaming DEATH TO CHINA, or DEATH TO RUSSIA, or DEATH TO IRAN, or DEATH TO NORTH KOREA?

No there is not. If there were, it wouldn't be broadcast to millions of people. But for the one Jewish state, it's fine. Go fuck yourselves.

[Danny Williams @willidh]

@kushielx3_sarah @AjaTheEmpress I think that chanting death to anyone crosses the line from free speech to incitement to kill. It doesn't matter who the target of the chant is. Encouraging anyone to kill another person is not acceptable in any free society. Freedom from being killed is fundamental.

[Aja ♀️🇬🇧 @AjaTheEmpress]

I’ve been to a lot of protests over the years — across different sides of the political spectrum.
I’ve also been to far more music festivals and gigs than I can count, covering every genre you can imagine.

I’ve stood in crowds watching some of the most deliberately provocative bands around — death metal, doomcore, black metal, grindcore — whose entire thing is to shock the audience.

And yet, not once, not once, have I ever been asked to chant “death to” anyone. Not at a protest, not at a gig, not even as some twisted bit of irony.

If it had happened, I’d have walked away. I’d have been genuinely freaked out. Because there’s something deeply sinister about that. There’s a line between protest and hate — and when people start chanting for death, that line isn’t just crossed, it’s obliterated.

That’s why what happened at Glastonbury this year has left me chilled. British people, on British soil, waving foreign flags while chanting “death to…” — it doesn’t matter who the target is, it’s unacceptable.

How did we get to this point? How did that become normal at a supposedly progressive, peace-loving music festival?

And what makes it even more grotesque is that many of the people doing this are the same ones who spend the rest of the year lecturing everyone else to “be kind.” They’re the ones banging on about inclusivity, about tolerance — and yet the moment a woman stands up to defend her sex-based rights, they’re the first to call her a bigot, a fascist, a TERF. The hypocrisy is staggering.

It’s not inclusive to chant for the death of others. It’s not kind to silence and vilify women for speaking about their own lives. It’s not progressive to foster a climate where hate is rebranded as virtue, and rage is mistaken for justice.

I don’t know where we go from here. But I do know this: this kind of extremism needs challenging. It needs calling out.

Because if you find yourself in a crowd chanting for death, and you’re still convinced you’re on the side of good — then it’s time to take a long, hard look in the mirror.

[We Believe Alliance @WeBelieveA]

https://t.co/OdGgdo0EAb