Michael Rosen & Rachel Riley

[StBrides]

This sounds quite sensitive so apologies to anyone who's affected by it but can someone please tell me what the argument between these two is about?

Seems to be a big twitter spat about which one's antisemitic..? There's an article that apparently sheds lights but it's in Google drive which I can't access.

TIA

He is indeed!

Though I'd never heard of Rachel Riley. I thought you were talking about the famous London clothes shop owner.

you're not. No jewish person would ever say "I am a jew" they'd always say "I am jewish"

It’s a classic line that anyone opposing the views of pro-Israel spout. I’m not denying the existence of anti-semitism. But what I do not like is when someone expresses a view to someone about Israel’s disproportionate actions to someone who is pro-Israel and in order to shut down debate and they accuse the other person of anti-semitism.

@Jobalob No, that’s incorrect. There are many different types of Jews as you well might know . I have friends who will say “I am Jewish”, or “I am a/an xyz Jew” (xyz would have course been replaced with other labels), or “I am of Jewish descent” etc.

you're not. No jewish person would ever say "I am a jew" they'd always say "I am jewish"

I don't think you can tell someone they're not Jewish based on how they describe themselves. My ex sometimes used that wording.

This. Generally people who get into spats on twitter are both knobbers. I don't know who this woman is, but I think he's a knob.

That doesn't mean I'm anti-Semitic.

^^ This a 100 times over.

Michael Rosen came to our local primary school years ago and was reading his funny early poems to the children, most of which featured Eddie, his son. The children loved them, of course, and one little boy asked him "Is Eddie a really big boy now?" There was a moment's silence, the teachers were unsure what to say, but Michael explained in the most beautiful way that Eddie was no longer here, and I know neither the children nor teachers will ever forget it.

I am half-Jewish and have inherited my mothers Jewish looks. My brother doesn't look Jewish. We talk about it in our family all the time. Ditto cousins, other famous people of Jewish heritage, etc.

It's always a constant surprise to families like myself to look up famous celebrities on Wikipedia and read that one parent or another was Jewish to which we often are surprised, especially, if like Rachel Riley, they don't look "typically" Jewish on account of their blonde hair and blue eyes. Michael Rosen knows this so there is a touch of mischief in his retort in my opinion. Don't blame him, he's making a fair point. If you are going to claim anti-Semitism on one hand, you then can't yourself be shown to be anti-Semitic on the other.

Rachel Riley is just speaking honestly but it's now considered to be anti-Semitic. Haha. Michael Rosen, being Jewish himself, is well aware of this and uses it to point score as his advantage. Very clever. I like both of them very much. Both are entitled to their points. Cancel culture like this is a bit of a shame as I wish they would both sit down and discuss rather than a public spat on twitter.

Really if discussing whether or not you look Jewish is now considered the most shockingly newsworthy story then it really shows how little is going on in our lives. It's a non-story.

As for Jeremy Corbyn. I like him. Him being a raging anti-Semitic is thrown completely out of proportion.

I’m a Jew, the anti Corbin thing is fabrication from start to finish. I am also Jewish and 'the anti Corbyn thing, as you put it (and you can't even spell his name!) was not a fabrication at all.

What? They are both Jewish aren't they? Has everybody lost their minds these days?

Them both being Jewish doesn't mean they must agree

Though it's true the nazi regime would have treated Rosen,Riley, Newbon AND Corbyn exactly the same.

I agree. But one calling the other anti semitic seems a stretch.

Honestly, there has so obviously been a smear campaign against Corbyn/certain parts of the Labour Party.

That would be spell check.

You what????

More importantly, use of the English language isn’t a criteria generally used to define race or ancestry

Absolutely right Jobalob ignore the trolls. Shalom.

Ok, so I’m not a troll but I am a Jew and that’s how I’d say that. What was said to me was bad taste but not trolling. Let there be no confusion

It was an open goal with regards to antisemitisms, hence the ehrc finding, I doubt you are going to proved the 'Bug Lie' documentary as proof.

The horshoe theory proved correct with Corbyn, a die hard anti EU politician who has now been expelled from the labour party along with most of his shadow cabinet as just being smears, maybe deflect into his policies polled well in isolation and ignore the general public understood basic costings and that he lost to the worst tory gov in decades, maybe we could go down the route of being a life long lexitier.

Corbyn was a a trump like figure, it was rampant on MN with threads full when parts of Glastonbury did the cringe chant, it would be easier to blame right wing smears if he didn't come out with the atypical response to the meme of anything involving russia, but that is where we are at, anyone still supporting him is just as intelligent as the Maga crowd.

SuperiorM · 04/08/2023 23:01

I’m a Jew, the anti Corbin thing is fabrication from start to finish. Obviously, Michael Rosen is brave enough to stand up and say so.

There were quite a few Jewish notables who know Corbyn and spoke in support of him. Miriam Margoyles and John Bercow spring to mind; Bercow said that he'd known him for 20 years and never had a hint of AS from him.

The 85% of British Jews thinking he is anti Semitic came from a Jewish Chronicle survey, IIRC. It's a very conservative publication, which has been sued for defamation many times, after accusing people of being anti Semitic.

To be honest, I don't really know if Corby is AS, he seems half in, half out.

As for Rachel Riley, she's not very bright; she called Noam Chomsky an anti Semite, for goodness sake!

As for Rachel Riley, she's not very bright; she called Noam Chomsky an anti Semite, for goodness sake!

She accused Chomsky of promotion of antisemitism rather than antisemitism, and went into details about why she said that. You might disagree with her, but why call a woman with a maths degree from Oxford 'not very bright'?

I think Corbyn may or may not be antisemitic but he's certainly more than happy to associate with dyed-in-the-wool antisemites, so it amounts to the same thing.

That said, Rachel Riley, David Hirsh et al (Victoria Freeman?) are nasty trolls making a martyr of a man who died in tragic circumstances and jostling to identify themselves as his bffs and publicly blame and attack Rosen. After doing this they play victim and double down on discussing how evil Rosen and his supporters are. It's so nasty, the man is in his seventies, lost his son, nearly died from covid and seems to be a decent person. Disingenuous bullies.

I agree with you.

And, having read some of her nonsense, Rachel Riley might have a maths degree from Oxford, but she doesn't come across as very bright at all in other areas.