Celebrity centrists and Katie Hopkins unite to attack left-wing Jews on Twitter

Giles Coren, the Labour Left Voice logo, and Katie Hopkins


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Celebrity centrists have united with far-right hate preacher Katie Hopkins to attack a Jewish, left-wing Twitter account, for blocking them. They whipped up an entire antisemitism-related conspiracy theory about it. The reality was quite different. But the case says a lot about the sense of entitlement among the UK’s celebrity centrists. They believe even those they abuse owe them their attention. And they’re willing to engage in antisemitic conspiracy theories to get it.

A Twitterstorm in a teacup

The Labour Left Voice account is a widely-read, left-wing Jewish voice in UK politics. Some love it, some hate it, some have never heard of it. Sally Eason, the account founder, spoke to The Canary. She described her ethnic origin as “coming from a Near East line of Sephardi daughters. I am very proud of my Iberian Jewish origins”.

The account has come under attack from Jewish and non-Jewish zionists for criticising apartheid Israel. And it has been supported by Jewish and non-Jewish anti-racism campaigners on the same basis. Judaism – as a religious, cultural or ethnic identity – is not the issue here. This is politics.

Labour Left Voice used Twitter’s Blockchain app to protect themselves from ongoing harassment. Madness ensued.

Food critic Jay Rayner kicked things off. He ‘noticed’ he was blocked by a Twitter account he claimed never to have heard of. Perhaps this came after noticing the general noise from the accounts harassing Labour Left Voice in the first place. This likelihood increases when we see he immediately assumed this was an act of antisemitism.

The thing is, it would make sense that Corbyn supporters would mute or block Rayner. Because he has a history of branding them antisemites.

Tweet by Jay Rayner

Labour Left Voice even put out a clear statement on their blocking policy, which they are under no obligation to do.

Centrist meltdown

But no one seemed to care about the truth. Centrists spent the rest of the day declaring their outrage on the #NotJewish hashtag. Celebrity centrist after celebrity centrist queued up to complain:

Jewish News even ran a story on it:

But the case peaked with the intervention of one Ms Katie Hopkins, who’s anti-racism credentials are precisely zero. Hopkins regularly engages in hate speech. She refers to migrants as “cockroaches”, channelling the racist propaganda of the Third Reich. So who’s side did Hopkins come down on? Have a wild guess.

Hopkins was able to use a made-up conspiracy about left-wing Jews to promote hatred against not only left-wing Jews, but Muslims too. All thanks to centrists; once again gifting the far-right a racist narrative legitimised by so-called ‘liberals’.

This is a running crisis, with prominent left-wing Jews being denounced by the usual suspects. In the same week, we heard this from writer and campaigner Andrew Feinstein:

Not Alone

But solidarity from the left came thick and fast. Jewish and non-Jewish left-wingers flocked to support Labour Left Voice.

Enough

Shall I tell you what I did when I found out a random Twitter account I’d never heard of blocked me? Absolutely nothing. Because no one is obligated to consume my Twitter musings. It’s how most grown adults without a planet-sized sense of entitlement would react.

This entire tantrum was fuelled by the idea that the blue-tick specials of Twitter are owed our attention. So let us be perfectly clear. No one is entitled to anyone’s attention. And no one should be forced, through threat of public attack, to suffer a daily barrage of abuse. End of story.

Featured image via YouTube / YouTube / Twitter

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  • Show Comments

    1. As someone who has witnessed the vile attacks on Labour Left Voice firsthand, and also been a victim of ‘dogpiling’ by celebrity centrists and their followers, I have to say the behaviour of certain ‘celebrity’ centrists has been appalling and utterly disgraceful. Despite numerous reports to Twitter about targeted harassment and hate speech these centrists and their followers have not been penalised by Twitter in any way. On the other hand we left wing Labour supporters and/or left wing Jews are being suspended left, right and centre. Did you know that Twitter has blocked this article so it cannot be shared on their platform? Disgraceful. No wonder the new social media platforms are becoming popular. Censorship is rife on Twitter and Facebook.

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