Arsenal-supporting CEO of Milltown Partners and early-stage investor; formerly @WPP and @bainalerts. Views are my own.
London, England
Joined April 2009
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Jon Lenson retweeted
Of all the people the DSA could have chosen to host its official election night livestream, it chose Hasan Piker, someone who proudly expresses support for terrorist organizations and traffics in antisemitism.
Let that sink in. The DSA isn't distancing itself from this kind of rhetoric. It's elevating it.
When someone tells you who they are, believe them: adl.org/resources/article/ha…
Jon Lenson retweeted
It took you 9 hours to produce a word salad that basically says “nope, not gonna stop trafficking in antisemitism”
Jon Lenson retweeted
To describe Marc Chagall as anything other than a Jewish artist or to celebrate neighborhoods like Brighton Beach and Rego Park but not describe their Jewish character are just the latest examples of the Mayor's relentless, pathological campaign to erase Jews from the story.
He does it so often that one has to assume that this is not ignorance or accidental, but a deliberate effort to normalize antisemitism and marginalize Jewish New Yorkers.
It’s despicable.
Jon Lenson retweeted
I initially had the same reaction as these writers – the idea of a book being banned because the author has expressed support for a terrorist group is outrageous, as is the punishment of people for saying they support Palestine Action (or any other terrorist group).
What I didn't realise was that Rooney has promised to donate her royalties to Palestine Action. It seems a lot less clear that you should be allowed to conduct business activity with the express purpose of raising money for a terrorist group. The books should be allowed to be sold, but the royalties should be withheld. I would not allow people to fundraise for violent Neo-Nazi or Islamist groups either.
You could argue that Palestine Action should not be proscribed, but that is not the argument being made in this letter.
The specific case of Sally Rooney isn't an act of censorship.
I am a free speech absolutist. If she wanted to write book called "Why I support Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the IRA" then I'd support her right to do so. Britain should have a First Amendment approach to speech.
However, if she wants to give the proceeds of that book to those organisations, then it is right for her publisher to prevent her (and it would probably be criminally liable too.)
The open letter is cowardly. They should have the courage to state clearly their view: it should be legal to directly fund organisations that unapologetically break into military base.
BTW, I note that none of the signatories of this letter signed the Harper's letter in favour of free speech. Some however attacked it.
Jon Lenson retweeted
Your party branded Zionism racist and rejected your own safeguard for Jews belonging to Zionist synagogues. A Jewish MP challenges that—and you change the subject to Gaza. The cynical blurring is yours, Zack. So is the failure of leadership.
Jon Lenson retweeted
Mayor Mamdani devoted only 49 words of a 211-word statement to commemorate the worst single day attack on Jews since the Holocaust, in a city that is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel. He avoided any real description of what happened on October 7, including mass murder, burnings, beheadings, executions, and sadism toward Jews, Arabs, and foreign workers, including women, children, teenagers, and the elderly. He refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization or acknowledge that none of this would have happened had the group honored the ceasefire it unilaterally broke. There was no assignment of agency or responsibility to any Palestinian actor.
Yet he used the remaining 162 words to describe in detail what happened in Gaza after the attack. He showed full capacity to recognize Palestinian suffering, which is real and must be acknowledged, but his statement was tone deaf, inconsiderate, and antagonizing to millions who deserve their trauma recognized on its own terms. He has spoken endlessly about his anti-Israel views and will continue to do so, but this was the one day in which he could have offered unconditional compassion to the victims and survivors of October 7 and their loved ones, many of whom have deep roots in New York.
This type of statement ignores basic logical principles like cause and effect, choices and consequences, actions and reactions, priorities and implications, further infantilizing the Palestinians and ignoring the failures of Hamas and Palestinian leadership that have harmed their own people. It hardens attitudes toward Gazans and reduces empathy for the vast and unspeakable suffering in the coastal enclave, rather than increasing it.
@NYCMayor: sometimes less is better. You should have stayed with your first 49 words, especially as unhinged “pro-Palestine activists” are celebrating October 7 today across the country. Stand up to your base, Mr. Mamdani. You have already won and do not need to appease radicals at the expense of Jewish New Yorkers. And please stop pretending that this is about helping Palestinians or caring for Gazans.
Jon Lenson retweeted
I wish the mayor of New York (and London) could allow Jews one day to mourn without qualification. This is what @Baddiel means by “Jews Don’t Count” - even our suffering must be contextualised and our grief met with “all lives matter”.
This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.
The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.
Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.
To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.
Jon Lenson retweeted
God forbid Jews have even *one day* to mourn their people. Holocaust Day now means *all* Holocausts, October 7 is now about Israelis *and* Palestinians. And every other day of the year is only devoted to the Palestinians, not the 1200 Israelis that Hamas raped and murdered
Jon Lenson retweeted
“We are not all right.”
I said those words in the days after October 7, 2023. Three years later, we are STILL not all right.
We remember the children, parents and grandparents murdered by Hamas. The young people who went to a music festival and never came home. The families whose pain does not end when the anniversary passes.
And we are not all right when antisemitism spreads like wildfire, too often fueled or excused by government officials who have a responsibility to confront it. We are not all right when Jewish families live in fear and those entrusted to protect them look the other way.
It is more important than ever to stand up, speak out and fight this hatred. Silence cannot be our answer.
To my Jewish brothers and sisters: Your fight is my fight. I am your brother. I stood beside you then. I stand beside you now. And I always will.
May the memories of those we lost be a blessing.
Jon Lenson retweeted
No, with respect, Mr Mayor, today is not a moment to reflect on anything other than the horrendous loss of life inflicted by a gang of murderous terrorists of Hamas. Why can you not leave the Jewish community to mourn and remember? Why do you always have to equivocate?
Jon Lenson retweeted
I cannot put into words the rage, shame and disgust I feel watching people chanting for “intifada” and protesting through the streets of Britain - around campuses and outside the Board of Deputies offices - on today of all days.
Jon Lenson retweeted
The people marching against Israel on the anniversary of the 7 October massacre are presumably doing so because they support that massacre. It’s not an insensitive coincidence. The date is the point.
Jon Lenson retweeted
𝗖𝗦𝗧 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰, 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀.
It is striking that people and organisations from across the spectrum of Jewish community politics, who may disagree strongly with each other over Israeli policies, are united in their utter rejection of this shameful motion.
Coming after an unprecedented year of anti-Jewish terrorism and violence, this motion pours fuel on the fire with its hateful and racist distortion of Zionism. While slandering the many Jews who hold Israel's existence to be an important part of their Jewish identity, the Green Party has nothing meaningful to say about anti-Jewish terrorism and the fight against antisemitism. Instead, they have adopted a policy that risks further stigmatising Jewish people and worsening a climate that has already left British Jews facing violence, intimidation and harassment.
Jon Lenson retweeted
What I would like to see, in the wake of today, is a clear commitment from both Labour & the Liberal Democrats that in the event of a hung Parliament, they will not form a coalition with the Greens.
British Jews - and everyone else, tbh - should know what they’re voting for.
Jon Lenson retweeted
(1/3) On the day the Green Party adopted a shameful resolution stating Zionism is racism, it is worth reminding ourselves what @rabbisacks said in the House of Lords in September 2018. “Antisemitism, or any hate, become dangerous when three things happen.
Jon Lenson retweeted
Let’s be absolutely clear: after today’s diabolical decision at the Green Party conference, anyone who votes for or supports the Greens is either an antisemite or complicit in anti-Jewish racism. There can be no pretending this is just another political disagreement.
Jon Lenson retweeted
The question that will now rightly be put to Labour is: would you form a coalition with the Greens at Westminster? There should only be one answer to that question.
Jon Lenson retweeted
The nightmare continues. Solidarity with all my Jewish brothers and sisters and all those who stand with us against this senseless bigotry.
Jon Lenson retweeted
The Green Party decision today is a disgrace and its position now an extremist one. There is a long history to this debate and it always manifests as abuse of Jews. I fear for what is to come. Whether the motion will pass the legal tests that will no doubt follow is to be seen but any party which fails to pass an amendment seeking to enhance safety for its Jewish members should be doing some deep soul searching. Disgusting.
Jon Lenson retweeted
Ed, you’re the Foreign Secretary. Words matter. This was a terror attack. The brave Indian pilot and Israeli passengers helped avert catastrophe. Why is it so difficult to name and condemn Islamist terrorism? Britain needs clarity and leadership.
