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Alona Ferber

@aloner.bsky.social

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thebacklash.substack.com

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · Aug 14

The Backlash is out. This time with reads on the right “protecting” women, moralising and Bonnie Blue, women’s health, western feminism losing its way and care feminism. With links to stuff by @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social and others thebacklash.substack.com/p/thanks-but...

Thanks but no thanks (and four other reads)

Five things on gender (in)equality and the backlash against feminism

thebacklash.substack.com

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 1h

Thank you so much for reading and sharing it

Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 1h

"In two years everything can break. All norms, all decency. In two years you can take a big idea, like shared humanity or international law, and empty it of all meaning"

My attempt at articulating what has happened to us since 7th October

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/israel...

Two years that broke our world

Since the Hamas attack of 7th October, what remains of big ideals such as our shared humanity?

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 2h

The invective that Daisley hurls at Muslims he would have hurled at my great-grandparents when they came here and indeed much of it is still true of the ethnic group he slobbers over. 'Aggressive integration policies' do not work in France and would diminish Jewish life here in the UK.

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 2h

No, it's not. It's all a lie. The blunt truth is across the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them.

Iain Mansfield @igmansfield.bsky.social · 2h

Outstanding piece by Stephen Daisley.

Ethnicity is no barrier to Britishness - it's culture and integration.

That means 'smaller cohorts and aggressive integration policies' - and tackling the institutions that 'have amplified grievance narratives and radical anti-Western ideologies'.

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 2h

Something I touched on in my @prospectmagazine.co.uk piece the other day.

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 1d

Me in @prospectmagazine.co.uk following up on a Substack I wrote earlier this summer. Come for the unnecessary discussion of Crystal Palace in the 1990s, stay for the reference to Jesse Plemons.

Who’s ‘white British’? Who cares?

Politicians seem to be fuelling racist debate about what it means to be British, rather than calling it out

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 2h

Spot on from @stephenkb.bsky.social. And the other aspect of this nasty turn is the eliding of British ‘culture’ with ‘white British’, which will shock anyone who has watched TV or football, or listened to music, or read a book, or indeed breathed since 1980.

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 2h

We also discussed @omerbartov.bsky.social's cover essay for the latest issue of @prospectmagazine.co.uk on this week's episode of the Prospect pod, where he addresses the arguments against calling Israel's atrocities in Gaza a genocide >>> www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro...

Israeli genocide scholar: My country is in denial

Most Israelis refuse to see what their army is doing to Gazan people. This denialism has its roots in history

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 2h

Our latest edition is out, with @omerbartov.bsky.social's magisterial essay on the history of genocide denial and how Israeli denialism over atrocities in Gaza has roots in the country's own history
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/israel...

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Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 9h

Fascinating report just released by DropSite which reveals that David Frum, while working on a profile of an Israeli ambassador to the United Nations for the Atlantic, was also shadow-writing speeches for that same ambassador.

David Frum, Douglas Murray Secretly Drafted Speeches for Israeli Ambassador

Leaked emails from former Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor show David Frum, Douglas Murray offering to write his speeches and a CNN producer fundraising for Israel’s Iron Dome during Israel’s 2014 war

www.dropsitenews.com

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BBC Newsnight @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social · 20h

“You described Reform and other parties across Europe today as among the 'right wing equivalents of the fascists in the 1930s'. Why?”

“Because that’s what they are”

@vicderbyshire.bsky.social asks Lord Heseltine about remarks he made at Conservative Party Conference.

#Newsnight

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 1d

Robert Jenrick, who just said he doesn't want to live in a country filled with non-white faces, begins his speech with a series of jokes suggesting that David Lammy is thick

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 19h

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d

JFC the man has not one ounce of shame in him.

He went to private school and Cambridge. He owns three homes and rents a fourth!

James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 1d

I know plenty of politicians 'working classify' their backgrounds, but this from Jenrick is taking the piss.

His father's linked in is here: uk.linkedin.com/in/bill-jenr...

He was a managing accountant who ended up as the Managing Director of Cannon Industries

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 1d

Such a powerful piece by the incredible Sharone Lifschitz about 7th October, Gaza, and what it means to hold onto our humanity, despite everything

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Two years after 7 October and the kidnap of my parents, hate is in fashion. For all our sakes, we need compassion | Sharone Lifschitz

So many were killed – yet on her release, my mother said ‘shalom’ to her captors. Let’s learn from that moment of grace, says Sharone Lifschitz, London-based film-maker and academic

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1d

If you can't see how this will end, then you're not paying attention (not least to what's going on on the other side of the Atlantic).

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Kevin Schofield @kevinschofied.bsky.social · 1d

Ex-Tory mayor Andy Street slams Robert Jenrick's claim part of Birmingham is "a slum" with "no white faces".

"If you go along the main streets there you will see Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, African and Caribbean ... and of course white people"

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/top-to...

Top Tory Slams Robert Jenrick For Saying Part Of His City Is A 'Slum' With 'No White Faces'

Former mayor Andy Street hit back at the shadow justice secretary on Newsnight.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 2d

Here us an audio version of that conversation too >>> www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro...

What is antisemitic?

As the war in Gaza continues, two experts discuss what people misunderstand about antisemitism, and how it relates to Israel

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 2d

We also recently convened a conversation about antisemitism, with @daverich1.bsky.social and Jo Glanville, which is useful to revisit now, in the wake of the attack in Manchester www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/religi...

What is antisemitic?

As the war in Gaza continues, two experts discuss what people misunderstand about the hatred of Jews, and how it relates to Israel

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 2d

There was a friendship at stake, too

Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 2d

We recently published a letter from a Jew to a friend who had exclaimed "damn Jews" in a discussion about Israel. It articulates what it's like to experience this kind of antisemitism, and why those who do it often don't understand that they are doing it
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identi...

‘Damn Jews’: a letter to my friend

Israel’s actions have nothing to do with the character of the Jewish people

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 2d

It breaks my mind that two British political parties have seen scenes like this and decided to try and replicate it in Britain. Thuggary, lawlessness, state brutality. Farage and Badenoch decided they liked the look of it.

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 2d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 2d

Words like genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes will hang on Israelis’ country—and on many Israelis’ hearts—for generations.

Fundamental parts of Israel’s social compact (eg: that you don’t leave one another behind) have been broken.

Internal division eats like a cancer.

8/

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Alona Ferber @aloner.bsky.social · 2d

"Let’s call this turn what it is: racist. This is racism of a type that mainstream politicians have not encouraged since the early 1980s"

excellent piece by @benansell.bsky.social on the rise of a politicised white ethnonationalism

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/712...

Who’s ‘white British’? Who cares?

Politicians seem to be fuelling racist debate about what it means to be British, rather than calling it out

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 2d

Understandable why lots of people are chuckling away about this but likely response is for Nigel Farage to say ‘see, this is why we need a national Reform government if you want real change’.

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 2d

Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters on.ft.com/4pTvJ62

Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters

Nigel Farage’s party promised to revive local authority finances by slashing wasteful spending

on.ft.com

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