Neviim Tovim, blogs by Gillian Gould Lazarus

There’s a trick sometimes used on adversarial social media wherein one person tries to get another to seem to admit to something.

Tarquin @Horace Have you stopped beating your wife?’

Horace @Tarquin I’m not married.

Tarquin @Horace Don’t try to change the subject. Have you stopped beating your wife, yes or no.

Horace @Tarquin: I can’t say I’ve stopped beating my wife as I haven’t got a wife and, if I did have one, I wouldn’t beat her.

Tarquin @Horace You can’t say you’ve stopped. So you still beat your wife. Thought so.

My horse enters this race when I am accused of genocide, which is quite often. I regret that I used a profanity in the conversation shown, but it indicates how tiresome it is when someone uses this line of argument. I had shared an article in The Times by Emma Barnett who wrote about attending Heaton Park shul as a child, Heaton Park being the synagogue in Manchester which was attacked by a terrorist on Yom Kippur, resulting in the death of two people and the injury of several others. My adversary on X has the avatar of a baby and makes reference to Peace in their X handle. However, their words to me ‘You commit genocide,’ are not particularly pacific; neither is their suggestion that the synagogue had it coming, for being ‘pro-Zionist’. Does one explain that it’s possible to be a Zionist without supporting the settlements? Does one say that the word genocide is misused in the context of Israel’s war with Gaza? That could lead to a very long and bitter conversation, each side citing different authorities and rejecting the other’s citations. Should one point out that people residing in the settlements may not wish for civilian deaths in Gaza – and probably do not. Why would they?

I take a risk, using the phrase ‘our blood’ which the pacific baby may think smacks of race supremacism; however they come back with the direct ‘So you support a GENOCIDE??’ [sic] It has to be capital letters, unlike the mere genocide which killed six million Jews in World War Two. I then swear and you see their reply, ‘Is that a YES. So you accept that its a GENOCIDE.’ [sic] This being the end of the conversation, they appear to enjoy an X win, by pretending that I called the war a genocide. They have forgotten only to add the words, ‘Thought so.’

It is not enough for the pacific baby to call me genocidal; they must also assert that I agree with this proposition.

I may as well take the opportunity to say here, I desire peace above all things; I will not even say that the hope of a Two State Solution has vanished for ever. Certainly I do not fancy it with Hamas in control of the neighbouring state, or of Mohammed Abbas resuming pay-to-slay in what is currently called the Palestinian Authority.

Well, following the terrorist attack on a Manchester shul, covered extensively by the BBC and arousing words of sympathy even from Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Burgon, normal service has been resumed. Corbyn is planning a big Palestine rally next weekend to mark what he calls two years of genocide. For us, this week is the second anniversary of 7 October 2023 and it is Sukkot. The rage of the pro Palestinians is exacerbated by the death of two Jewish men in the terrorist attack. They chanted in Whitehall on the night of the killings, for Greta Thunberg to be released from custody in Israel, although the Swedish campaigner opted out of instant deportation. A cadre of antisemitic doctors continue to post about ‘global Jewish supremacy’ which they think is to blame for all ills, including the Manchester terrorist and the time spent reporting on the event on UK news channels.

These are hard times but the year, 5786, is young. There is talk of the hostages being released in a peace deal. May it be God’s will.