Don’t feed the trolls

One week has passed from the attack to the synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. The police are carrying on the investigations. The community, led by a formidable Rabbi, is coping with the aftermath. American Jews, beginning from the largest denomination, the Reform movement, are trying to learn from the episode. 

For us, on this side of the Atlantic, a problematic period is beginning now. The Far Left will try to use the event to silence you on social media. I have been subject to threats and intimidations from that front and I have some advice for you.

At the moment, the Far Left are in avoidance mode. During the last week, they have avoided discussing whether Jews in the Diaspora are or not safe. This is striking: the alleged safety of Jews in America is one of their favourite topics. Their ultimate goal is, of course, to show that Israel is bad for the Jews, and every other place -even America- can be better. Which is difficult after an attack to an American synagogue. So they pause for a moment and hope you don’t notice. 

Understand this: for the Far Left social media are a space to be filled with their rhetoric (they also use social media for other sinister purposes; see below). After an Islamist attack, they want you to empathise and understand the perpetrator’s motivations. Ideally, they want you to discover some form of causality (“if only we give up supporting Israel, how safer we will be”). Which -again- is difficult in the aftermath of an attack on a synagogue, so for the moment, they limit themselves to filling cyberspace with pieces of information aimed to prove how evil the Jewish State is. This is the reason for the higher than usual (and the usual is high already) number of posts and messages about the sins of the Jewish State, be they Sheikh Jarrah, a mass tomb allegedly discovered somewhere. Or the financial vicissitudes of Beitar Football ClubI. Indeed I have never seen so much interest in Israeli football from the Far Left, like in the past week. 

They also believe that a wave of Islamophobic retaliatory pogroms will hit the mosques in England and the USA. We know it’s a fantasy, but for the Far Left, it is reality, and if it is not happening now, it will happen tomorrow. Remember, these are people who, after a Jew is stabbed, immediately worry about a possible Islamophobic reaction from other Jews.

When European mosques are safe the militants of the Far Left spend their time policing obsessively what you write on social media. Suppose you have written once or twice the word Arab without the capital letter at its beginning (like “arab“). This is definite evidence of Islamophobia: your, your family and the teachers of your niece. Last week you have been confronted by trolls who lament your lack of cultural sensitivity. Now you know why. 

Part of the media, it ought to be said, did not do their best to cover the hostage crisis in Colleyville. Inverted commas appeared around the world hostage. The police seemed to be reluctant to say the word antisemitism. You may find this questionable, but for the Far Left it is a praiseworthy defence of the Muslim community from the above mentioned impending Islamophobic wave of pogroms. Hence you see the Far Left militants praising those sources who engaged in minimisation. Expect some praise to the BBC for its incredible and inspiring documentaries about the bees. At the same time, CNN -that informed about the event more accurately- has disappeared from their retweeted sources. 

While we are at it. The official line is the theory of “the lone wolf affected by mental health who wanted to react to the horror he sees happening in Palestine”. Of course, it’s rubbish. Investigations are still carried on, and arrests have been made. The perpetrator did not show mental health issues and seemed to have quite an obsession with Jews (it’s called: antisemitism). “Palestine” was not the issue. The issue is Jews, us.

But do not dare to question the theory of the mentally deranged lone wolf. Remember, the Far Left already knows. If the findings of the police will be different is because of structural Islamophobia. 

Now, here’s the dangerous bit. At this very moment, while you are reading these lines, some Far Left troll is scanning your timeline on social media. I mean all of it, including comments and likes that you may have left on some comments. They are preparing a dossier on you to use when the memory of the Colleyville attack fades. 

As always, nothing you have written is safe; even a mistyped initial letter can become proof of your structural Islamophobia. We live in a world of cancel culture. Are you active in the Jewish world? A dossier with randomly collected quotes from you taken out of context is being prepared and perhaps have already been already sent to the relevant persons, to provide them with reasons to marginalise, cancel, or even fire you for your Islamophobia (capital sin). 

Remember. On the surface, there seems to be some difference between -on one side- those believers in the Two States solution who are inclined to concede to the Palestinians the so-called right of return and -on the other side-  those who want to replace Israel with another Arab State and throw all the Jews (you included) into the sea. 

But these differences disappear on Telegram and similar private channels of communication where the Far Left militants meet, plan bad-cop-good-cop strategies and exchange pieces of information. They are all the same; they have the same goal: the end of Israel of Zionism and the Jewish people. In case you wonder, your children are not safe. 

So I will repeat here a piece of advice I have given already. Don’t engage in discussions with militants of the Far Left on social media. There’s nothing to learn from them. Their goal is not to exchange opinions; it is to frame you as a racist, and in the end to harm to you and your family. Block the Far Left generously and immediately. And may a day come when this wonderful thing called social media will be not used to hurt anyone.