Why the Vicki Kirby case made me tweet about antisemitism

The left-leaning comedian recently tweeted his thoughts on antisemitism, offering a six-point “guide” on how to check if you were prone to Jew-hatred or not. Here he explains why he was moved to act

“I’d been mulling it over for a while and I know there’s a debate around the Labour Party about this at the moment but it has been an issue I’ve noticed for a while on Twitter, where I live.

I suppose it was the Vicki Kirby case which made me feel I should write something about it now. It’s important for me to tackle it.

I’m someone who certainly welcomed the arrival of Jeremy Corbyn and was appalled that he was painted as an antisemite; I don’t think there’s a prejudicial bone in his body. But although I’m on the left, I do find that otherwise rational people will suddenly let slip an outrageous belief. I’ll be in a debate and they’ll say that 97 per cent of the world’s media is controlled by Jews. I just wonder: what, including China and Africa? That’s extraordinary!

It’s odd to realise that a lot of “fellow travellers” are carrying some odd luggage. I feel like asking them “What’s that bag you’ve got? Oh, I see it’s a neo Nazi one from Nuremburg 1933.”

I think it’s important to separate condemnation of Israel from condemnation of Jews, and we, as Jews, need to separate it out too. So, maybe point six in my tweet [that supporting Palestinians does not make you antisemitic] is more for us Jews than others. More and more I now realise there should be many hundreds of sub points.

Point three, about using the Rothschilds to describe Jews is something I find jaw-dropping. I just wonder: is it 1905? These are the sort of people who will never upgrade their phones; they’re still on the 1905 version of the antisemite app. That tweet [which has had over 2,300 retweets] has caused a lot of debate. Much of it has been supportive, although there has been some really depressive offensive stuff. I’ve found that sometimes people don’t understand when they’re being antisemitic.

I know that many think that antisemitism’s become more out in the open since Corbyn became leader, though perhaps it’s because the eyes of the media have moved towards it.

Of course the vast majority of the left is not antisemitic (same with the right), but prejudice is prejudice and shouldn’t be ignored solely if it’s aimed at Jews.”

David Schneider's tweet: "Are you anti-semitic? A personal guide for fellow lefties and others."