Mirror T

Imagine an Iranian bomb had slaughtered 165 Israeli school kids. Imagine the response of the Western media and politicians. And note the lack of outrage and disgust here.

I don’t follow hockey, but this had me tearing up. They brought their teammate’s (who was killed by a drunk driver) kids out onto the ice with their dad’s jersey to celebrate the moment. 🥹

I know it’s 12:20. But please take your time and listen to this Vincent Kompany statement about the racism incident around Vini Jr. against Benfica. Succinct, differentiated and absolutely on point. Brilliant words.

Ash Sarkar tries to ‘correct’ Dr Myriam Francois as she says that Jews are privileged and wealthy. “Individuals” prompts Ms Sarkar? “Group” doubles down Dr Francois. It is part of her argument that Government funds are being unduly spent defending a minority against a secondary racism, using a classic antisemitic trope about Jewish wealth. It might be ironic were it not so darkly dangerous too. She is effectively arguing that because there are some Jewish billionaires in Britain, all Jews are therefore wealthy and privileged and they cannot possibly be as vulnerable or maligned as is being claimed. It is hard to know where the ignorance ends and the prejudice begins. Were Dr Francois to spend any time in Britain’s Jewish community, she would see families struggling with poverty, families that are comfortable, and families that are wealthy – just like any other community. In any event, nobody deserves to be maligned for their ethnic or religious background, regardless of their wealth. According to our analysis of Home Office figures, Jews are more than nine times more likely to be the targets of hate crime than any other religious group – and these figures are not even complete, such that the true scale is likely to be even worse. It is insulting that Dr Francois dismisses the reality that British Jews are living through – to the point that a majority of them no longer see a future in this country – because she found some Jewish names on the rich list. The fact that she was even looking is telling. This is the face of ‘educated’ discourse about Jews in Britain, from an Oxford-educated doctor of philosophy and broadcaster for the BBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera and the Islam Channel.

The Super Bowl halftime show didn’t feel like a protest. It felt like a homecoming. Bad Bunny could have gone another route. He could have used the stage to confront. He could have named names. He could have turned the moment into a culture-war headline. Instead, Benito chose something far more powerful: a celebration of Latino identity as it actually lives and breathes in the United States, and in AMERICA.