Thread by @AdamWagner1

1/ Just want to talk about something that has been happening since last night. I am not sure if talking about it will make it any better - knowing Twitter, it will probably make it worse. But here goes.

2/ Yesterday morning I tweeted about Jeremy Corbyn on the #Marr show on antisemitism. I have been commenting on this issue for many weeks, as many of you know. I don't think my comments in this instance were unfair although reasonable people might disagree

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/1043815614769442816

3/ Just for background - I decided to start tweeting about Corbyn and antisemitism in a deeper way a few months ago as I felt there was a serious problem in the Labour Party. I am in a fairly unique position as I am Jewish, on the left, have a human rights law background

4/ I felt that the mainstream Jewish orgs were closing their minds to an extent to the many reasonable people in the Labour movement who are not antisemitic but equally may not know very much about the issue, and also will be scared off if they feel they are being called racists

5/ Anyway, I have tried to build bridges and add more light than heat. I have not always succeeded, and being a personal issue it has not always been easy to keep calm and balanced. But I have tried to do that and to give people the benefit of the doubt as good faith actors

6/ I believed - and still do - that the only way to come out of our silos is to listen. And listening involves giving something of ourselves, and taking risks. The problem is that when the issue is partly personal, that can open you up to risks, reputational and I guess personal

7/ Anyway, it has been a genuine journey. I have tried to listen and speak truly, whether that means criticising Jewish communal figures or Corbyn. But being open isn't the same as being non-committal. Where I have seen a spade (e.g. over English irony) I have called it a spade

8/ I have a thick skin, and relied on it over the past few months as never before. I spent 8 years tweeting about human rights issues but it is only in the past few months that people have really gone for me, and - ironically - that I have experienced real regular antisemitism

9/ Yesterday, I started receiving what I consider to be deflection tweets. The kind of rhetorical uni debating points that you get to when you tweet about Corbyn (not from everyone, obviously, but from a lot of people)

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/1043818906312478720

10/ One of the things I said was to someone who tweeted at me, in response to my comments about what I saw as Corbyn's evasive answers, "will [Marr] give Sajid Javid the same treatment on Windrush". I think that is whataboutery. I tweeted back that this was another deflection

11/ Because of what followed, I have looked at that tweet again and again. Because what followed was the editor of the Canary picking it up and beginning an almighty pile on which amounted to calling me a racist, an apologist for Windrush, and anti-black

12/ My phone has been off today as (ironically!) it is a Jewish festival. But when I switched it back on, the pile on had predictably continued, with all the usual suspects getting involved. They sensed blood and I was on the mat.

13/ I admitted before that entering this debate, which is both personal and political, has sometimes led me to saying things which I regret. I don't regret anything I have tweeted in the past few days, though, as often, I find myself regretting putting myself in the firing line

13.5/ The biggest issues have arisen when I have taken a stand against a tactic (eg what I saw as bullying @Dannythefink) and have been sucked into the underlying issue (Gatestone). All I can say is that I try to be honest, and sometimes that doesn't come off in a way I meant it

13.75/ It's not always easy to know exactly the right thing to say, and some issues blow up in a way you don't expect. And there are always people who will refuse to give you the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps that's fair, but I'm not sure how else to address it

14/ I honestly don't know where I am going with this - perhaps just to say that I find it depressing. I don't want to spend 30 minutes defending myself from being a racist, though I also feel that I need to think this through properly and ensure I don't have a case to answer

15/ Even as I type this, I know that for those who have been tweeting at me, this will look like I am playing the tiny violin. I am not looking for sympathy. But I am trying to puzzle out whether it is possible to act in good faith in this environment.

16/ Bringing this back to the core issue - I have reached a fairly firm view that the kind of behaviour which the Canary and the Twitter hunting packs exhibit - and inspire - goes to the heart of Labour's antisemitism problem as well. The two are inextricably linked

17/ As I have said a number of times before, institutional racism takes different forms but I believe that it exists in the Labour movement. I believe it is linked to the tribal politics where everything is seen as good or evil, smear or cheer.

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/1043161237926883329

18/ Finally, on Windrush. It is a huge, ongoing scandal. I have tweeted a lot about it, way before it was in the news I was tweeting about the hostile environment and my experience of navigating it as a lawyer. If people think I have been insensitive then I am sorry for that.

19/ I just don't see why it has to be one or the other. I realise there aren't many UK Jews and some people think we're not worth worrying about. I have tried to show why that isn't the right approach

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/1030483408093437952

20/ I wish that this issue had never been politicised but I don't tihnk Jews are to blame for that. I am certain that Labour has a serious case to answer, and people will look back in years to come and be ashamed of how they have acted and reacted.

21/ I take strength from the people who have put their heads above the parapet and not been intimidated. I am not intimidated, but the past 24 hours has been unpleasant.

22/ I don't think I will help myself or you by saying anything more about this - but I will be back on human rights, antisemitism - whatever I think is worth tweeting about. If you want to unfollow me, please go ahead and save me the worry of being misrepresented.