Linda Petty 🇺🇦

Labour activist. Sidekick/glamorous assistant of IYAWO Animation. Granny. Volunteer. Retired Tech & Data person. I’m for digital inclusion. #Xdissenter

[Roy K. Altman @RoyKAltman]

Professor Ruth Wisse always famously said you should never talk to people about Israel without a map.

And that's because if you just look at it in the prism that the Palestinians and their supporters want you to look at it through, you see an army with F-35 jets and tanks, and you see the Palestinians in Gaza without those things, and you say, "Okay, one is the more powerful, the other is the underdog. We'll root for the underdog."

That's a common theme in Western society.

But when you look at a map, you can see the reality: Israel is a teeny, tiny country surrounded not just by some of the largest countries in the world—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq—huge land masses filled with hundreds of millions of people, but also by some of the wealthiest countries in the world, with hundreds of billions, and sometimes trillions, of dollars in oil and natural gas resources that Israel does not possess.

So you have some of the largest countries in the world, some of the most populous countries in the world, and hundreds of millions of Muslim Arabs, many of whom have been raised from childhood to hate the Jewish state and to see its very existence as a deep wound in the substructure of their souls—one that must be corrected if they are to fulfill their mission on this earth—all arrayed against the one tiny Jewish state in the world.

When you see it in that prism, I think the lens is very different.

[Sam @SamCKx]

A democratically elected British Prime Minister has been driven from office by a relentless campaign of propaganda and misinformation; funded, amplified and perpetuated by foreign billionaires and elites whose interests bear zero resemblance to those of ordinary working people.

A noble gesture from an emotional Keir Starmer, entirely consistent with his conduct in office.

A truly sad day for British democracy.

His full resignation speech:

[Miatta Fahnbulleh @Miatsf]

Keir Starmer leaves the Labour Party stronger than he found it and our country better off than it was two years ago.

From lifting children out of poverty to strengthening renters' rights and restoring stability after years of chaos, this Government has delivered real change for working people.

Politics is always bigger than one person, but history will record the role Keir played in bringing Labour back into Government and putting public service back at the heart of national life.

[David Aaronovitch @DAaronovitch]

@_Leyanelle_ i'm not going to defend Starmer from the charge of his making big mistakes. Timidity most of all. But the amount of shit poured over him has been out of proportion. And I think bodes badly for any successor. I hope I'm wrong.

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

Seeing some of the embarrassingly hateful reactions to Starmer's resignation today, I thought it was worth resharing this.

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics.

Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues.

Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence.

This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness.

The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives.

There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting.

None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals.

A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

[Melanie Ward MP @melanie_ward]

Together with almost 140 fellow Labour MPs, I have written to the Foreign Secretary to call for a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements. Our group includes every Labour select committee chair.

It’s time to be clear that settlements have no viable economic future

(1/2)

[David Aaronovitch @DAaronovitch]

well worth your time

[Maeve Halligan @MaeveHalligan]

"No, I don't subscribe to this 'kindness' - I'll tell the truth instead."

I spoke at the Cambridge Union last night about LGBs, children's safety and women's rights. Full video here:

[Labour Friends of Israel @_LFI]

Cabinet member and former LFI vice-chair @patmcfaddenmp at yesterday’s rally against antisemitism:

Britain’s freedom is right now “not enjoyed by a section of our society — the Jewish community, and that diminishes us all."

[David Aaronovitch @DAaronovitch]

And it turns out that no one cares

[Simon Schama @simon_schama]

This is deeply depressing

[Linda Petty 🇺🇦 @yeye_o]

@TimesRadio @_LFI 👏👏

[David Taylor MP @DavidTaylor85]

Their own deputy leader...let that sink in.

[Robert Peston @Peston]

Jews, like all British citizens, should not have to hide their (my) identity to feel safe. This is a crisis.

The elision in so many minds between Jews and Israel - Jews and support for the Israeli government - is pure cancerous antisemitism (and of course violence against Jews would never be justifiable even when they do support Netanyahu, and I feel slightly sick this needs saying).

If you have ever suffered prejudice because of the colour of your skin, or your sexuality, or your gender or your faith, you will presumably empathise with what I am saying. We are one family.

Antisemitism, like a toxic proliferating weed, needs digging up by the roots. As one part of its eradication, leaders of all faiths and all political persuasions must stand up and call out this most pernicious and ignorant of hate ideologies

[Rachel Reeves @RachelReevesMP]

I am horrified by the events in Golders Green today.

The poison of antisemitism has no place in our country. Those responsible will be brought to justice.

My thanks to Shomrim, Hatzola and our emergency services who put their safety on the line to help others.

[Dan Jarvis MP @DanJarvisMBE]

The terrorist attack in Golders Green was abhorrent.

An extra £25 million will be invested to increase police patrols and security to help keep Jewish communities safe.

We will now fast track legislation so we can further combat the activities of malign state-sponsored groups.

[Labour Friends of Israel @_LFI]

Extreme anti-Zionism serves only those forces - Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah - who want this conflict to continue forever. (2/2)

[Labour Friends of Israel @_LFI]

It's time to tackle the root causes of antisemitism in Britain. (1/2)

[Mark Sewards MP @MarkJSewards]

The PM is absolutely right to say we need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran because “we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews.”

I welcome his announcement that this legislation will be fast-tracked.

https://t.co/2eQWeRsjtB