Pinned
Today, my first day on Twitter, Fathom published my essay Antisemitism and the Left: a Memoir.
Kathleen Hayes
3,313 posts
Kathleen Hayes
@renegade_Kathy
Zionist. TERF. Vegan. Manifestly fallible human.
Sometime writer for Jewish Journal, Fathom Journal and other fine publications.
Los Angeles
Joined July 2021
- My grandparents fled Holland soon after this photo, abandoning Judaism along with their homeland. The Holocaust must have convinced them Jewishness only means suffering. With love and respect I disagree: it's so much more. So I pick up where they left off, rekindling the flame.
- Three years ago today, I posted my account of my 25 years as an anti-Zionist leftist. Today I'm in Israel, supporting the Jewish people in its fight against barbarism. People can change; successes are possible. Am Yisrael chai.
- It's been four years since I joined Twitter to renounce antisemitism on the left. I'd been an anti-Zionist far-leftist for over 25 years. Yes, it took me much too long to recognize that the water I swam in for so many years was filthy. Since I began speaking out, and especially
- It's been a year since I first lit Chanukah candles. I still feel a bit silly, barely know the difference between a mitzvah and a matzo. But Jews have welcomed me despite everything, and now I'm more determined than ever to stand with the family I nearly lost. Happy Chanukah.
- It sickens me that I used to believe “solidarity with Palestine” was righteous, rather than a thin cover for cheering the murder of Jews. I wish I could do more on this terrible day. But I stand with you, people of Israel.
- I was an anti-Zionist for many years. I saw the Star of David desecrated, at protests I thought made me a good person. Now that same Jew-hatred seems stronger than ever; fighting it can feel hopeless. But people can change as I did; light can defeat darkness. Chag sameach.
- Replying to @ThePosieParkerA century after the suffragettes, women don't have the right to free speech and assembly. Insane.
- Amy Eileen Hamm. If you don’t know her name yet, learn it. An astoundingly brave, principled Canadian nurse may lose her job for insisting biological sex is real. Solidarity.
- My first week in Jerusalem, I'm awed and humbled by the heroism of Israelis: seemingly ordinary people committing extraordinarily courageous and selfless acts for their country. They must have our support; they must prevail. Their fight against barbarism is one for us all.
- I was 14 when I learned I was Jewish. I balked because it seemed the only thing making me Jewish was Mom's murdered relatives. In my secular family, no one suggested it might embody something profound. I now find meaning connecting to past generations, and that's beauty enough.
- In 2016 I was living in London, and I joined the Labour Party to support Jeremy Corbyn. I said I liked his socialism. It didn't occur to me that his campaign's real animating principle, its frisson, was antisemitism. British Jews howled. Every time I picked up my Guardian, there
- Happy Chanukah from someone lighting the candles for the first time this year. I’m not entirely sure why I wanted to: to reconnect with my long-lost heritage? To defy antisemitism? Or something else? I’m not sure, but the act is giving me a sense of peace and hope. Chag sameach.
- If you say Israel has no right to exist, what you're really saying is that Jews have no right to exist.
