1293 - 15th December 2022

Fears for missing Kinder memorial

Iconic Frank Meisler bronze statue not seen for four years

Concerns are mounting for a cherished Kindertransport memorial missing for almost four years from outside a train station where 124 children were given safe passage from the Nazis, writes Avi Kumar.

The statue, by British-Israeli artist Frank Meisler, similar to one by the late sculpturist on display at Liverpool Street Station, was removed in early 2019 from outside Gdańsk station – the Polish town where Meisler was born – to allow for renovations to the concourse. Entitled ‘Kindertransport – The Departure’, it had been in place for almost a decade.

Following its removal, local authorities assured Rabbi Michal Samet of Gdańsk Synagogue that the statue would return “within two months”. Now, almost four years later, fears are mounting among the local Jewish community that the iconic artwork – marking the place where four Kindertransports took youngsters to safety before September 1939 – may not return to public display.

Tamara Meyer, a member of the Kindertransport

Dialogue Facebook group, has appealed to Gdańsk’s mayor, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, for information.

She said: “I received an email saying that renovation works are still underway at the railway station, all these years later. So the monument is still dismantled and in a warehouse. Apparently there is a chance for it to finally reappear next the spring, but it’s been so long we’re not holding our breath.”

Meyer, whose mother fled Germany as a child before the war, added: “We need to bring the statue back where it belongs, in front of the train station where many Jewish children said goodbye to their parents for the last time.”

Inspector Patryk Rosiński from Gdańsk City Hall Jewish News: “The date [of the monument’s return] is not yet known. It could be by spring.”

Meisler’s daughter, Marit, told Jewish News: “I hope the monument is returned to us eventually as a reminder of what these children, including my father, went through.”

Meisler died in Israel in 2018 aged 92. A plaque was unveiled by the mayor on the wall of the building that stands on the site of his childhood home in Gdańsk (formerly Danzig).

COMMUNITY ‘MISLED’ OVER PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY

The Jewish community is being “misled” over a so-called “Parliamentary investigation” announced by a group of peers into the BBC and its reporting of issues around Jews and Israel, writes Lee Harpin.

The Jewish Chronicle last week claimed a “victory” for its campaign by confirming the launch of a probe into the broadcaster, which

was being led by Lord Ian Austin.

It revealed a panel, chaired by Lord Carlile and including Tory peer Baroness Eaton, Labour peer Lord Triesman and Baroness Deech, with Austin acting as secretary, would gather evidence, publish a report and present its findings to the BBC next year.

The inquiry aims to focus on

genuine concerns among many in the community over the BBC’s reporting in recent years of issues such as the 2021 Chanukah bus incident in Oxford Street, over which the BBC was severely criticised by Ofcom.

Reporting of Israel and the Middle East, particularly on the BBC’s Arabic channel, has also

sparked anger in recent weeks.

But Jewish News has learned that there is now increasing concern among legal experts and communal representatives, as well as Jewish BBC employees themselves, about the way the inquiry, set up by some of the participants themselves, is being presented.

Frank Meisler’s ‘Kindertransport – The Departure’ outside the station in Gdansk

Sunak vows to visit Israel next year for landmark 75th birthday

by Lee Harpin @lmharpin

Speaking at a Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) lunch on Monday that was attended by three ex-prime ministers – Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May – the prime minister said: “Next year I will visit Israel on what will be its 75th birthday and landmark year – after so many years of struggle – and also success.”

Sunak said Israel was now at the forefront of “remarkable achievements” in technology, which he said were “something which Israel’s detractors in the BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement would do away with”.

Stressing his admiration for Israel he added: “I will fight very hard for the security of the Jewish state. But it has also never been more important. It is a friendship which makes all of our systems healthier.”

The PM also used his speech to confirm that the UK will vote against a forthcoming resolu-

tion at the United Nations General Assembly relating to the International Court of Justice along with “our allies”. The resolution requests an advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation in the West Bank, a move branded “outrageous” by Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely. Sunak also noted how the past year had been

“one of the bloodiest” in the Middle East for years, “with an appalling double attack in Jerusalem just last month”. He observed that Israel faced an “unenviable security challenge”.

The PM also used his speech to o er a tough stance in relation to Iran saying that while Israel remains on the frontline “we must recognise its

[Iran’s] activities aren’t confined to the Middle East” and said he was “committed to utilising the full range of tools at our disposal to protect UK citizens from the threat of the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and Iran”.

The PM also committed his party to the completion of a free entry Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre next to Parliament.

It was a testament to CFI’s continued strength with the Tory Party that, despite the snow and freezing weather, 700 people –including 225 MPs and peers – attended the event, which was held at a central London hotel.

Lord Polak, its honorary president, o ered a personal greeting to many on their arrival, and Hotovely praised the “deep commitment” the PM and all at the event “showed to Israel”.

Also at the lunch were 14 members of the current cabinet, including Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Minister for Skills Robert Halfon. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine also attended the event.

In her speech, new CFI chair, Hilda Worth, praised her predecessor, Andrew Heller, saying “you’ve left me with a thriving organisation and big shoes to fill”. Earlier Lord Pickles delivered a well-received speech.

• Editorial comment, page 20

The Merchant of Venice 1936

‘BRITISH

SUPPORT HELPS TO SAVE INNOCENT LIVES’

A Conservative peer has praised Rishi Sunak after he announced the government would vote at the United Nations to oppose Palestinian moves for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s occupation, writes Lee Harpin.

After the prime minister confirmed at the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) lunch on Monday that the UK would now vote to block the move, the group’s honorary president, Lord Polak, hailed the apparent change in approach.

He noted that on an earlier vote only a fortnight ago the UK had instead abstained. Sunak issued a challenge to current Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, urging him to ensure consistency in future.

Thanking Sunak for his actions, Polak told the CFI lunch: “It really, really shouldn’t be that di cult” for the UK to side with “allies” over what he said were one-sided motions.

The United Nations General Assembly will this week hold a vote on whether to ask the ICJ for an advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

Polak was also critical of the government’s slow recognition of the opportunities presented by the Abraham Accords, agreed between Israel and several Gulf States.

He suggested the UK was “not at the table” as the deal was first struck, and urged the Sunakled party to recognise what he said were obvious commercial opportunities from the accords.

Polak also heaped praise on short-lived PM Liz Truss for her approach to relations with Israel and the Middle East.

As he spoke, the CFI o cial also read out a letter sent from Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr

Zelensky, to be read out to the 700 guests at the lunch. He wrote: “I wish to personally thank you and the British people for your brave camaraderie in support of Ukraine, during our own battle for survival and independence.

“In the spirit of the upcoming Chanukah holiday, you are unapologetic role models in your dedication to the triumph of the forces of light over darkness.

“As the famous quote by Shammai in Pirkei Avot says, ‘Say Little, Do Much’. You have been strong not with empty promises, but with bold actions.

“The support of the British people continues to save endless innocent lives every single day and shine a bright light across the entire world.

“While winter is upon us in Ukraine, we perhaps face our greatest challenge yet.

“However, our hearts are warmed and strengthened by your enduring friendship. As Winston Churchill once said: ‘You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something in your life.’”

Cleverly also spoke to the packed CFI event, describing the Abraham Accords as an “important, visible friendship between Israel and the Arab world”.

He talked of the influence attending a CFI fact-finding trip to Israel in 2016 had played on his wider insight into the region.

Despite the obvious challenges around Israel and its relations with its neighbours, Cleverly said: “I’m an actual optimist.”

He added that Israel’s successes in numerous areas had come about because “there is an optimism and energy and positivity”, which he said was the country’s “hallmark”.

Tracy Ann-Oberman in conversation with Howard Jacobson and Brigid Larmour

Rishi Sunak this week told a packed Conservative Friends of Israel reception that he will visit Israel next year for its “landmark 75th birthday”.

Lord Pickles, above, addressed the CFI lunch, as did Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, inset

Iran adds six Parliamentarians to sanctions list for ‘promoting terror’

Six more UK parliamentarians – including Tory Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, and former Labour shadow Middle East Minister Wayne David – have been placed on Iran’s latest sanctions list, writes Lee Harpin.

The MPs and peers – who include Labour’s John Spellar, the independent crossbencher Lord Alton, and the Conservative MP David Jones and Matteo A ord – were informed by the Foreign O ce on Monday about Tehran’s actions.

Also appearing on the latest sanctions list was Geo rey Bindman, head of the British Institute of Human Rights and Ken McCallum director general of MI5.

Labour’s David told Jewish News those parliamentarians added to the list “have stood up for human rights”.

The Caerphilly MP also said he had “strongly supported the concern Israel has put out about the very real threat Iran poses and will continue to do so.

“They can put us on lists, make threats all they like, but nevertheless we will continue to support the democratic opposition against what is happening in Iran.

“What we have seen in recent days (with the executions) has been appalling, truly unacceptable to civilised opinion.”

Announcing the move Iran said: “Due to their intentional support for terrorism and terrorist organisations as well as their promotion of terrorism, violence, and hatred that result in riots, violence, terrorist acts, and violations of the of Iranian citizens, the foreign

ministry imposes sanctions on specific British individuals and entities.

“This decision was taken as a reciprocal measure and in accordance with the pertinent regulations and mechanisms.”

Last month, the Tory peer Lord Polak was

among those named on an earlier sanctions list.

Meanwhile, Iran has carried out publicly executing people who have been protesting.

Mohsen Shekari, 23, was hanged in Tehran last Thursday after just 75 days in custody for his role in demonstrations against the regime.

And on Monday, 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged from a construction crane in the city of Mashhad, as a warning to the public.

• Iran has launched dozens of plots to kill its perceived enemies abroad, including Jews, among them the French philosopher BernardHenri Lévy, according to a report in the Washington Post. The regime intensified its targeting of overseas figures after the United States assassinated a top general, Qassem Soleimani, in 2020, the report last week said.

One expert said Iran has launched 36 plots; many are averted by authorities in the targeted countries. Last summer, Israeli o cials told its citizens not to travel to Istanbul, saying an Iranian-backed terrorist attack had recently been foiled.

Lévy, who emphasises his Jewish outlook, has been an outspoken critic of repressive regimes in the Middle East, particularly Iran.

Simply turning the heating down or lights off to save money is not an option for us.

Jewish Care offers a warm and safe environment for people to enjoy each week – lighting up lives with the exceptional care and support we provide.

In line with the escalating cost of living crisis, the demand for our vital services is rapidly increasing.

We’re doing everything we can to help, but soaring inflation, energy, fuel and food prices are having a huge impact. Our electricity costs alone are up by 125%.

Your donation this Chanukah will help us continue to provide essential light, warmth and nourishment for our community.

Call 020 8922 2600 or donate at jewishcare.org/donate

At Jewish Care there is no option to ‘turn things off’

Protesters speak out against the Iranian regime at a demonstration outside Parliament

MP praises CST after alert to online threats

Conservative MP Johnny Mercer has praised the Community Security Trust (CST) after it alerted both him and the police to sickening death threats on social media, writes Lee Harpin.

The former Veterans Minister, and MP for Plymouth Moor View, was targeted with threats, including a message reading, “The next dead MP?” posted by an individual who objected to reports that Mercer had o ered employment to an Afghan interpreter in his o ce.

Screenshots also showed the comment, “Until politicians are dragged out of their homes and butchered, things won’t change. Until that happens they will continue to take the p***. They’ve made it that way, not us.”

The same person, who is believed to live near the MP and former British army o cer, had also posted anti-

semitic messages about “globalists” and another suggesting the “little Jew needs skinning alive”. Mercer later pointed out on social media he is not Jewish.

Jewish News understands that CST researchers had been doing general work on protecting the Jewish community when they came across the threats directed at Mercer.

A few weeks ago they had foiled a potential extremist

plot in New York, and it is the second time this year CST has discovered a threat to a British MP.

The communal charity conducts such work on a confidential basis, but has confirmed its involvement in the Mercer incident after the MP made the threats against him public on Monday.

Sharing the posts, Mercer tweeted: “People should know the price of being an MP.”

He added: “Thanks to the Community Security Trust for bringing this to my attention, and doing your bit to look after brilliant Jewish colleagues like Ruth Smeeth. Think before you do things like this. We all have families –and for the record, colleagues get far worse.”

On the specific threats to himself, he wrote: “This all from one guy, in Plymouth. Threatens to kill me, skin me in salt (bit specific), has done recce’s of my home and encourages others to ‘lynch’ me.”

CST later tweeted: “As Johnny Mercer says, this thread relates to a series of vicious threats against him that CST researchers found in the course of our work, which we reported to police and to Johnny Mercer’s o ce.

“Extremism feeds antisemitism and endangers democracy – it is all one fight.”

‘DON’T BAN HITLER PRAISE’ SAYS LORD

Denying the Holocaust or saying that Hitler “got some things right” should not be made illegal, a leading Jewish commentator has insisted.

Writing on controversial rapper Kayne West’s recent remarks, in which he praised the Nazi leader, Danny Finkelstein opposed calls to ban his music, saying “we ought to push what we allow to be said to the limit”.

In a comment piece for The Times, Finkelstein writes:”I don’t believe what West said

Holocaust or say Hitler got some things right.”

The Conservative peer and Chelsea Football Club director suggests that comments such as those made by West, who is now known as Ye, represent “political or historical observations”, and not direct violent threats, which he accepts “should be outlawed”.

He later compares the rapper’s music as “pioneering” in the same way German composer Wagner’s work is also of “major importance”.

Finkelstein writes that “art should be allowed to speak for itself”, adding the “same principle that applies to Wagner – whose antisemitism was marked – applies to West’s output”. He also notes that Michael Jackson’s music is still listened to despite awareness of his behaviour.

Actors union blasts Ye

The Screen Actors Guild (Sag-Aftra) has condemned recent antisemitic comments made by Kanye West, saying that hate speech was “often a precursor to violence”.

The US union, which represents thousands of industry professionals, said the rapper’s remarks were not “harmless ranting” and had “real-world consequences”.

It comes after West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, gave a recent interview with US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in which he praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The rapper’s Twitter account was also suspended for violating the platform’s

policy against inciting violence, after he posted a series of erratic tweets, one of which appeared to show a symbol combining a swastika and a Jewish star.

“Sag-Aftra abhors and condemns the antisemitic statements being made by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West,” the organisation said in a statement on its website. “The use of antisemitic imagery and tropes by highprofile individuals on social media and elsewhere is not harmless ranting. It is ignorant, hateful and has realworld consequences.

“The tired debunked stereotypes peddled by Ye and others only serve to further

divide us as a country and debase us as a society. Hate speech and the use of hate imagery is often a precursor to violence. The normalisation and mainstreaming of antisemitic and racist views has already resulted in a rise in violence against Jewish people and organisations in this country and elsewhere.”

Sag-Aftra said it stood with the Jewish community in fighting “hate speech and threats of violence from any source”, adding: “You need only look back less than a century to see evidence of what happens when antisemitic ideas are allowed to proliferate unchecked.

“We say, never again.”

‘CONCENTRATION CAMP’ SLUR

A Labour MP has sparked anger after comparing the UK government’s plan to house migrants in holiday camps to “concentration camps”.

Clive Lewis made the remark on the BBC Politics Live show after commenting on Rishi Sunak’s plan to tackle the migrant crisis and referencing the Boer War in South Africa.

A spokesperson for Labour leader Keir Starmer described the MP’s comments as being “clearly unacceptable” and said the issue of any possible disciplinary action against Lewis was a matter for Labour’s whips.

A Jewish Labour source said Lewis’s refer-

ence was “in dreadfully poor taste.”

The Norwich South MP, who defended Jeremy Corbyn, made the comments when asked about the iPaper’s headline which said: “Pontins revolt: Tory backlash at plan to house migrants in holiday camps.”

He said: “I’m looking at that headline… let’s be really clear here, my understanding is if you put a group of people concentrated into a camp – as you did in South Africa in the Boer War – it’s what you call a concentration camp. Presenter Job Coburn interrupted, telling him: “Language is important here.”

Ye, formerly Kanye West

The CST discovered posts targeting Johnny Mercer MP

Danny Finkelstein

Continued from page 1

Three members of the six-member inquiry panel have previously been linked with the JC’s longrunning campaign against the BBC, leading to fears that serious conflict of interest concerns could be raised by those asked to participate in any evidence-gathering or questioning sessions.

Legal experts this week also cast grave doubts on the investigation achieving what it claimed it was set up to do, with some expressing fears it was part of a long-running politicised campaign to pit the Jewish community against the BBC.

Former Downing Street spin doctor, Sir Robbie Gibb, led the consortium that took over the JC in 2020 and joined the BBC as a board member in 2021, having previously worked there as a journalist. He claims to have no involvement in editorial decisions made by the JC

An analysis of the newspaper’s petition, launched to support its anti-BBC campaign, also revealed a concerning number of messages from signatories making unsubstantiated, and often inflammatory, claims against the broadcaster.

One campaign supporter recently wrote that the BBC “is overtly anti-white and consciously pro-black people”.

Another, among the petition’s 10,000 backers, accused the BBC of preparing the way for another Holocaust, while another signatory attacked Jewish BBC sta , pouring scorn on the fact that some may work on Shabbat.

One Jewish BBC employee, who spoke to Jewish News in confidence, admitted that they

were “sickened” by some of the comments allowed to remain on the JC’s petition since it was started earlier this year.

The employee, who has worked with the broadcaster for more than a decade, added: “It’s somewhat ironic to learn that, for as long as I have worked here, I have been employed by an organisation that people who don’t work here are branding ‘institutionally antisemitic’ on a petition.”

Jerry Lewis, a former senior BBC World Service press o cer, former vice-president of the Board of Deputies and Westminster expert, said: “There are issues to be discussed about the BBC,

but this is certainly not the way to go about it. For a start, an o cial parliamentary inquiry can only be set up by standing committee, or led by a select committee. People will be misled into believing this is something more than it is.”

Meanwhile, another senior BBC source, who has experience of working with the Jewish community, suggested there were “pockets” of concern within the organisation, but said dialogue was the best way to achieve change.

“The Jewish community needs the BBC,” they said. “It’s not Press TV or Al Jazeera – it’s a million miles away from those organisations.

“Senior management, including Tim Davie,

stood four square with the makers of the BBC Panorama episode that tackled antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. An anti-Jewish organisation does not do that.”

Lewis, a UK correspondent to Israeli radio station KAN, added: “Those who are pursuing an agenda, as this campaign appears to be, must not fall into the trap of becoming part of the political campaign led by groups on the right to demonise some of the excellent reporting and services provided by the BBC, including superb coverage of Holocaust issues and of antisemitism.

“It’s disingenuous and, I fear, this inquiry may have been set objectives and asked to do a report fulfilling those objectives, rather than looking at the real issues.”

It is understood that concerns about the nature of the Parliamentary probe were raised at a meeting of the Board of Deputies’ defence division last Monday.

Leading KC Simon Myerson also warned: “There is no basis to suppose that the result of the probe will result in either legislation or action at the BBC itself. The importance of a parliamentary probe of this kind is that its conclusion should compel respect.

“That will be down to the people selected to conduct whatever hearing or inquiry is envisaged, the amount of work done by those who present the material, the cooperation of potential parties and witnesses, and the fairness, or otherwise, of the proceedings and the conclusions.”

Nazi uniform was ‘one of my biggest errors’

The Duke of Sussex has revealed he felt “so ashamed” after wearing a Nazi uniform to a private party, calling it “one of the biggest mistakes” of his life.

Harry caused outrage in 2005 when he donned the soldier’s uniform complete with swastika for a fancy dress party.

The Duke addressed the incident during the third episode of Harry &

Meghan, the explosive docuseries that aired on Netflix last week.

He said: “It was probably one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I felt so ashamed afterwards. All I wanted to do was make it right.”

He revealed he also met with thenChief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, to discuss the error. He added: “I could’ve just

ignored it and probably made the same mistakes over and over again in my life. But I learned from that.”

Harry, who was 20 at the time, was pictured holding a drink and cigarette while wearing the costume.

Clarence House issued a response saying Harry had apologised for any o ence or embarrassment caused.

Harry was widely condemned in 2009 after being caught on film calling a former Army colleague “our little Paki friend”.

The Duke’s latest comments on the incident came as he discussed unconscious bias within the royal family.

The third episode referenced when Princess Michael of Kent wore a Blackamoor-style brooch to an event the Duchess of Sussex attended in 2017.

Harry said: “In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias.

“The thing with unconscious bias, it is actually no one’s fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself you then need to make it right.

“It is education. It is awareness. It is a constant work in progress for everybody, including me.”

RABBI WHITESMAN, WE PRESUME?

Nursery pupils at Sinai School in Kenton made the most of the icy conditions by building a snow rabbi in the playground. It was one of only a handful of Jewish schools to remain open on Monday.

From ‘special measures’ to top 10 comprehensive

JFS has capped a remarkable academic transformation by being named among the country’s top 10 comprehensives – less than two years after being put into special measures by Ofsted.

TheTimes newspaper ranks Europe’s largest Jewish secondary school, based in

Kenton, sixth in its annual list of comprehensive schools, with 87.8 percent of students achieving A-level grades between A* and B.

The newspaper’s rankings also place Hasmonean Girls High School in Mill Hill in seventh place and Yavneh College in Borehamwood in eighth.

Prince Harry and Meghan in a scene from their new Netflix documentary

Lord Young, Thatcher’s favourite fixer, dies at 90

Tributes were paid this week to the Jewish peer and head of several major Jewish charities Lord (David) Young, following his death aged 90, writes Joy Falk.

Young, who made his money in property, was the first president of Jewish Care, and also served as president of Chai Cancer Care, the Jewish Museum in Camden and Jewish educational charity World ORT.

He was a senior cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and the ‘Iron Lady’ famously credited his policies on trade and employment as having helped to get her elected for a third term in 1987.

This week, former prime minister David Cameron said Young was “a true champion of business and enterprise for over 40 years, from Thatcher’s government to my own… He was a thoughtful, kind, and lovely man who will be deeply missed”.

Young, who was born in north London and who had been a Labour voter in the 1960s, was made a Conservative peer in 1984 and within weeks had been catapulted into the Cabinet, where his brief included privatisations.

He was born in Clapton to Betty and Jo Young and grew up in a close-knit Jewish family. His father arrived in the UK in 1905 as a Jewish immigrant from Yurevich near Minsk. Even though his father

went blind, he still led the Seder from memory.

Young’s paternal grandfather came from Lithuania, while his maternal grandmother came from Tilsit, in what is now Russia. His brother, Stuart, began life as an accountant before becoming chairman of the BBC in 1983, a post he held until his death from cancer aged 52.

He counted the late Israeli president Chaim Herzog and the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin as “good friends”, but was at heart a family man – although he lived near Chichester, he attended Central Synagogue in St. John’s Wood, so he could go to the services with his six grandchildren.

Among his many communal roles, Young became president of Chai Cancer Care in 2006 and built up the charity’s donor base. He remained involved and, as recently as a fortnight ago, he was taking part in a Chai Cancer Care trustees’ meeting.

The charity’s chair, Louise Hager, said: “All of us are shocked and deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of our beloved president, Lord Young.

“His wise council, great experience and compassion for the past 16 years were pivotal to the organisation’s development.

“We will always remember him with tremendous gratitude and affection. We send strength

and

[his

JEWISH STUDENTS ARE SEEN AS ‘AGENTS OF ISRAEL’

Jewish students are viewed as “agents of a government many of them have no connection to” a communal leader has warned, writes Lee Harpin.

Joel Rosen, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), spoke out on what he said was”more subtle, more insidious cases of political antisemitism” relating to the Israel-Palestine issue that had been found within the National Union of Students (NUS)

in recent years. “It’s an antisemitism that sees all Jewish students as being agents of a government many of them have no connection to, and many certainly don’t support,” he said.

“There is an exclusionary political culture within NUS where Jews are marginalised within student discourse. The prejudice they face is denied. They feel ostracised.”

Rosen spoke to the BBC ahead of the forthcoming

report into antisemitism in the NUS, which had been conducted by KC Rebecca Tuck. The report told how Amy Cregor, a University of Leeds drama student, suffered an antisemitic incident.

Her hair and clothes were covered with barbecue sauce and she was taunted before a group of attackers drove away. “I was a bit in shock,” she said. “For every traumatic incident that gets reported, there are many that go unreported,” added Rosen.

prayers to [his wife] Lita,

daughters] Karen, Judith, and all the family. Yehi Zichro Baruch. May his memory be for a blessing.”

Clockwise from top left: the late Lord Young pictured with former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, outside 10 Downing Street, at a Chai Cancer Care event and with former prime minister David Cameron

Tributes to ‘diligent and dedicated’ Barnet mayor

Cohen, a Conservative, had represented the Golders Green

continuously since 1982. He first served as mayor of Barnet in 2002-3, and in 2013 became the first councillor in 30 years to embark on a second term as the borough’s first citizen, selecting Kisharon as one of his beneficiary charities.

An alumnus of Hasmonean High School and then of University College London, Cohen also used his two tenures to raise thousands of pounds for the Mayor of Barnet’s Armed Forces Welfare Fund and the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

He was Barnet Council’s Cabinet member for Planning from 2004 to 2010 and was chairman of the Constitution and General Purposes Committee.

In May of this year, he was honoured for his 40 years of service to the Borough of Barnet at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the council at Hendon Town Hall and was awarded a certificate by the outgoing Mayor, councillor Alison Cornelius.

“Things have changed so much in 40 years,” he said at the time. “I preceded the age of technology and I guess I have been left a little behind, but I have enjoyed my time on this council over the years and I am really looking forward to the next four years.”

Barnet Council leader, councillor Barry Rawlings, said at the AGM: “Forty years’ service to your borough is truly commendable and, despite sitting on the other side of the aisle from Councillor Cohen, I’ve always found him to be a hugely respectful and hardworking councillor. He has worked diligently for his community and continues to do so, four decades is quite an aston-

ishing feat and I’m glad I can be here to congratulate him.”

Councillor Daniel Thomas, leader of the Barnet Conservative Group also gave thanks to Cohen: “I have worked with Melvin for many years now and have been fortunate to have been able to learn from his depth of knowledge and experience. His dedication to his community and the borough is an inspiration and I know I can speak for all our colleagues in saying thank you and congratulations on 40 years of service to Barnet.”

Cohen’s funeral and burial are set to take place in Israel. He leaves behind two sons – Dean, a fellow Conservative councillor in Barnet, and Justin, who is the news editor and co-publisher of Jewish News

JLC launches support hub over cost of living

The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) has launched an online resource to support the community during the costof-living crisis.

The Cost of Living Support Hub provides links to advice and support from local authorities, Jewish communal organisations and wider voluntary sector services. It comes as the UK faces soaring energy, gas and food bills.

Michelle Mitchell, head of strategic collaboration at the JLC said: “There are many organisations, both inside and

outside of the Jewish community, who have been able to respond reflexively to expand or adapt their services.”

The JLC wants to hear from any charitable organisations o ering services that are not currently listed on the hub.

Michelle Minsky, head of the United Synagogue’s chesed department, said: “The resources ... will hopefully be extremely useful for families and individuals who are struggling at the moment.”

Access the hub via www.the jlc.org/cost-of-living

LAST L’CHAIM TO WEMBLEY

Congregants attending a final farewell to Wembley United Synagogue, which is moving to smaller premises nearby, received souvenir miniature bottles of whisky to toast the community’s 60 years on Forty Avenue.

Barnet’s longest-serving councillor and two-time mayor, Melvin Cohen, has died. His funeral and burial is scheduled for today in Israel, writes Joy Falk.

ward

Councillor Melvin Cohen received his award earlier this year for 40 years’ of service

All of us at Chai Cancer Care are deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of our beloved President Lord Young z’l

We were privileged to have benefitted from his wise council, great experience and compassion which were pivotal to the organisation’s development.

He will always be remembered with tremendous gratitude and affection. Our thoughts and prayers are with Lita, Karen, Judith and all the family

May his memory be for a blessing

The Trustees and everyone at Chai

CST is committed to protecting the UK Jewish community. This would not be possible without the dedication of our 2,000 volunteers and our donors across the country. Thank you for supporting CST and enabling us to secure every aspect of Jewish life. Wishing you a Happy Chanukah.

British and Israeli reality stars to wed

A British-born reality TV star is to marry an Israeli woman who also made TV headlines despite the pair having little grasp of each other’s languages when they met, writes Jotam Confino.

Josh Brennan, who appeared on Rising Star (HaKokhav Haba), moved to Israel in February, partially to escape the increase in antisemitism in the UK.

Since then, he has begun a journey to break through in the music industry, with his participation in the TV show putting him on the map of the Israeli music scene.

Brennan told Jewish News he has found the “love of his life” in Shira Gitter, an Israeli whom he had been messaging on Tinder before he moved to Israel. They finally met up the day after he arrived, and despite some language and cultural barriers they quickly became an item.

“Our first date was at a sushi place in Ra’anana. I knew straightaway how amazing she was. I don’t think she knew at that moment that I would be the one but I certainly felt it. Her English wasn’t that great and my Hebrew was nonexistent. But she spoke a little, and we mainly used Google Translate to communicate,” he said.

Shira, who is also known from TV from her time in Israeli Big Brother 10 years ago, came to support Brennan when he was on Rising Star: “She was incredibly supportive and has been the most amazing girlfriend. And I know she will be the most amazing wife, so I am very excited.

“There were some cultural barriers, but it was really interesting to learn about

her culture, me being an Ashkenazi Jew and her being Sephardic, with roots from Iraq and Tunisia. I’ve really embraced it.”

Their families have met twice already and. Brennan, who is in the final stages making aliyah, has taken Shira to England to show her Finchley, where he grew up.

They plan to marry in Israel on 28 December.

Finance whizz Martin Lewis is set to become the first Jewish performer to score a Christmas number one with a rework of Do They Know It’s Christmas.

The television expert has teamed up with novelty act LadBaby and are the first act to be allowed to rework the Band Aid song, getting permission from Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and the Band Aid Trust.

They release the track titled Food Aid on Friday, with half of the money raised going to food bank charity the Trussell Trust and the other half to the Band Aid Trust.

Geldof and co-writer Ure’s first version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? raised £8 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.

LadBaby and Lewis, who appears on the track with a number of musical collaborators, are aiming to raise as much money as possible to help tackle hunger and poverty.

Lewis said: “When Mark and Roxanne contacted me out of the blue to ask if I’d join them in Food Aid I thought they’d confused me with someone else.

“The nearest I’ve ever got to thinking about a Christmas number one is going to the loo on Boxing Day after too much orange juice the day before.

“Yet once I knew they were serious, and it was for the Trussell Trust, a hugely important charity that I have a proud history with, I decided to give it a go, and do it with gusto.”

Londoner Josh Brennan and Shira Gitter plan to marry on 28 December in Israel

LadBaby and Martin Lewis

Why survivor’s son applied for a new German passport

It’s arrived. My new passport. My new, burgundy red passport. My German passport

It means so many things to me, this German passport: a small personal protest against this country’s growing insularity. A symbolic embrace of something more generous; a reconnection with the lost generations of my family. An act of remembrance and reconciliation.

I’m British. I grew up here. I have no plans to live elsewhere. I feel no less English for the fact that I’m now also a German citizen.

But I love my country more for what it could be than what it’s become.

But for Brexit, I doubt I would have taken this course. For most of my adult life, I’ve enjoyed the rights and freedoms of a European. And for me, the EU has represented something still more significant. Whatever its deficiencies, it has brought nations and peoples closer together and, after centuries of bloodletting, helped to preserve peace in Europe for three generations. That so many Britons could reject that legacy, preferring instead a narrow and often xenophobic nationalism, has been profoundly disillusioning. My new passport is my small protest.

It offers, of course, no protection from the economic, political and reputational damage Brexit has already inflicted on Britain. But I have at least recovered my precious right to free movement in Europe.

Once again, I’m able to embrace, and be embraced by, a greater sense of fellowship than our isolating exceptionalism allows.

My decision has not been straightforward. It’s just six months since the publication of my book, The Last Train – A Family History of the Final Solution. In November 1941, that train bore my grandparents, Sally and Bertha Brandes, from their home in Bamberg to their deaths in Latvia.

So why would a Jew who has just documented the destruction of his family by

the Nazis wish to become a German? It has much to do with the contrasting ways our two nations engage with their histories and imagine their futures.

I was born just a couple of months before the late Queen’s coronation. She was a constant in my life as in so many others.

Yet there was something about the national mourning of her death that I found troubling. The British establishment does pageantry very well. It’s as if its very existence depends on it –and, to a significant degree, it does.

The 10 days of grieving, the funeral itself, the dismissal of dissenting voices, were in large part about the preservation of the status quo, and, inherently, the nostalgic, outdated image

we have of ourselves in a world that’s changed so radically since the 1950s. For the British, tradition is a rock and a deadweight.

We have not come to terms with our history in the way that the Germans have with theirs. They had no choice. We avoided ours.

Yet, as the Germans have shown, acknowledging their unalterable past does not inhibit their capacity to shape their future – far from it. By the same token, a balanced appraisal of Britain’s imperial legacy should not enfeeble us today. Love of country should inspire us not constantly to look back, but confidently to look forward.

We should be striving to make our country not so much ‘great again’ as, simply, great.

I cannot forget what happened to my family. And whether I forgive those who persecuted and finally murdered my grandparents is immaterial. But I can be reconciled with modern Germany and modern Germans – and I am.

Last month, my sister and I visited my father’s home city of Bamberg to celebrate the laying of three Stolpersteine, ‘stumbling stones’, the little brass plaques placed in the pavement outside the former homes of Jews who fled from or perished under the Nazis.

There are now two for my father, one alongside his parents’ home, opposite the site of the grand synagogue that burned on Kristallnacht, the other at the entrance to the school from which, in 1935, he was the last Jew to graduate under the Nazis. The third is for his aunt Meta whose days ended in Theresienstadt.

These Stolpersteine, three of almost 100,000 that now punctuate streets throughout Europe, are all sponsored and curated by local volunteers. They are modest little memorials. But they are more than that, for they are designed to make the mind stumble, just occasionally, to cause those who step over them to pause and contemplate how they came to be there.

They are a remembrance, not a rebuke. My father would, I believe, be happy that he is once more remembered in the city that, despite everything, he loved. And so this act of commemoration is also an act of reconciliation and a natural postscript to my book.

In building their new democracy, the Germans have learned much from the British. The British would do well to learn from the Germans on how to cope with the past and, by so doing, embrace a better future.

Photo by Ulli Koch

JBD inaugurates its new development

Jewish Blind & Disabled (JBD) marked the inaugural concrete pour at its new development in Mill Hill alongside the charity’s patron, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and Hendon MP Matthew Offord. Due for completion in the summer of 2024, Ephraim Court is JBD’s eighth development, providing 30 new apartments for people with physical disabilities or vision impairments, as well as an overnight studio apartment for the on-site house manager and a range of communal facilities. Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: “Our Jewish world depends on chesed [loving-kindness], and I am blown away by the act of kindness from the Ephraim 1998 Charitable Trust in supporting this building. Huge thank you to one and all for being part of the successful foundations of Jewish life for those who need us.”

Poet wins National Gallery commission

An award-winning Jewish poet has won a prestigious commission from the National Gallery. Dr Aviva Dautch is one of 20 authors selected to pen a written response to a new National Gallery virtual exhibition on religion and art. Called Fruits of the Spirit: Art From the Heart, it pairs nine iconic Christian pieces ‘in conversation’ with a more contemporary artwork. Dautch chose to match the theme of faith with Italian painter Orazio Gentileschi’s The Finding of Moses, which dates from the early 1630s. She said: “It was a challenge to consider the relationship between art and religion.“ The exhibition runs until 30 April 2023.

Israeli diplomats pitch up with Accord states

GESHER’S HIGH HOPES FOR 18-FOOT

LEGO CHANUKIAH

Gesher School has world record hopes for an 18-foot, 80,000-brick Lego Chanukiah, which was officially unveiled this week by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. The project has been a year in the making through the efforts of teaching assistant and former Lego employee, Danny Cazzato. Gesher’s students built the Chanukiah’s nine candles and supporting base, before an official Lego ‘master-builder’ glued everything together and securely attached it in the main hall of the Pinner school.

Israeli diplomats in the UK finished third in a football tournament between Abraham Accords states. Representatives from the embassies of Israel, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco took part in the event at Powerleague in Battersea. Replicating the success of its national team in the World Cup, Moroccan diplomats beat Bahrain in the final. Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, said: “Two years after signing the Accords, we celebrated by playing football with new friends.”

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Judges reject Charedi dad’s woman concern

A Charedi man who is embroiled in a family court dispute with his estranged wife and objected to a female social worker investigating issues relating to their eight-year-old son has lost a legal fight.

The man had said an assessment should be carried out by a male social worker.

He challenged a family court judge’s order, which named a female social worker as the expert who should carry out the assessment, and complained that his human right to a fair trial had been infringed. But three judges at the Court of Appeal have dismissed his challenge after a hearing in London.

Lady Justice King, Lord Justice Baker and Lord Justice Dingemans ruled that Judge Richard Clarke, who is overseeing the couple’s dispute, which is centred on the care of the boy, at a family court in Watford, Hertfordshire, had been entitled to “reject the father’s human rights arguments”.

Judges heard that both parents had been raised as members of the Chasidic community. The man had said he would have “di culties speaking to a female social worker” and that “it would not be compliant with his Charedi tradition”.

He said that he had a right to a fair trial and that Judge Clarke should appoint an expert in whom all “parties” had “confidence”. The judge had said he was satisfied that a female social worker identified as an independent assessor was the “appropriate expert”.

Christopher Hames KC, who represented the man at the appeal hearing, said Judge Clarke’s “failure to

attach adequate weight” to his client’s objection to the appointment of a female independent social worker was a breach of the right to a fair trial.

Mr Hames said Judge Clarke had “disregarded the father’s reasonable and legitimate concern” that the appointment of a female assessor would “compromise his ability to engage in the assessment”.

Lord Justice Baker said, in the appeal court ruling, that the boy’s mother had described “life in the community”. He said she had spoken of her estranged husband’s “strict religious observances”.

“It is her case that she found her life with the father intolerable,” said Lord Justice Baker. “Her description of the father’s conduct includes examples of his discomfort in the presence of women, including in some contexts, the mother herself.”

Mill Hill East welcomes ‘inspiring’ rabbinic couple

Mill Hill East Jewish Community (MHEJC) has welcomed Rabbi Jack and Rebbetzin Rivka Cohen as its new rabbinic couple.

Joined by sons, Itzik and Yoni, the Cohens, who have been at Hampstead United Synagogue for three years, are expected to take up their roles in February.

Rabbi Cohen studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion and has a degree in philosophy from UCL. Rebbetzin Cohen is a software developer who attended

seminaries in Israel. They were “incredibly grateful” to be given the opportunity to serve MHEJC, saying: “We are really looking forward to working with this vibrant and engaged community.”

MHEJC chairs Chloe Prager and James Neidle said: “[Rabbi Jack and Rivka’s] ability to provide inspiring, modern Jewish leadership together with warm and sensitive pastoral support makes them an ideal couple to take MHEJC into its next chapter.”

BOWL

crockery company, Blond Amsterdam, has withdrawn a coffee bowl depicting a smiling Anne Frank holding her diary after outrage from the local Jewish community.

EIGHT TH T NIGHTS

For eight nights, Jewish families gather together in their homes to light up the winter evenings with their Chanukah candles. This is a special opportunity to ignite thoughts and stimulate discussion. Here are eight bite-size ideas, one for each night of the festival, for you to share with those around you as you light the Chanukah candles.

The Chanukah menorah should ideally be placed in a window facing the street in order to publicise the miracle. These tiny flames flicker proudly and proclaim our Jewish identity to our families inside the home as well as to the world outside. They proclaim “Am Yisrael Chai”, the Jewish people live. The mission of the Jewish people is to abide by a moral code that enables us to be ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Exodus 19:6) and a ‘light unto the nations’ (Isaiah 49:6).

Think about how we as individuals and as a community can be a shining example to those around us.

The custom is to add one more candle each night. This is because the longer the oil in the Temple burned, the greater the miracle became. The Rabbis say, ‘one who does not increase, decreases’ (Ethics of the Fathers 1:13). Our relationship with Judaism should be something organic and growing. Each new candle introduces a fresh appreciation of the Chanukah story and, by extension, the miracle of Jewish survival.

Think of a way we can enhance our relationship with our heritage.

A unique property of a flame is that one can use it to ignite many more, without diminishing the original light. The Talmud similarly says ‘A lamp for one illuminates like a lamp for a hundred’ (Shabbat 122a). This teaches us that ultimately we never lose by sharing. In fact we gain more from giving than from taking. Giving to others helps make the world a better place and in doing so everyone gains.

Think of an extra act of giving we can do with no ulterior motive.

The word Chanukah means ‘dedication’ because we commemorate the process of the rededication of the Temple. Chanukah is also related to the Hebrew word for education, chinuch. Jewish education is not just about imparting information; rather we are educating our children to play their unique role within our community and the world at large. The lights in the Temple were kindled until they were able to burn by themselves. Judaism sees fostering independence as a primary goal of education. When people are empowered to make informed choices, their decisions are much more meaningful.

What is the most important value we would like to impart to future generations?

The verse in Proverbs 20:27 likens man’s soul to God’s candle. Mankind was created in the image of God. Like animals we possess earthly bodies; however our souls are a spark of the Divine. Whilst the body is nourished by food, the soul draws its sustenance from good deeds. Like the flicker of a flame, the soul strives to reach higher and higher and is a source of light, warmth and comfort to all who draw close to it.

deeds.

We nourish our bodies at least three times a day. Think of something we can do to nourish our souls daily.

The verse in Proverbs 6:23 likens a mitzvah to a candle and Torah to a light. Judaism views mitzvot as opportunities of infinite value. Each mitzvah is an act that can connect us to God and enrich our lives forever, regardless of what else we do or don’t do. Rather than being all or nothing, Judaism is a journey where every step counts.

Think of a mitzvah to learn more about during these days of Chanukah

The Maccabees who rose to the challenge through their sheer determination and faith in God were able to bring the Jewish people back from the brink of oblivion. We can never choose what happens to us in life; that is out of our control. What we can do is choose how to respond to those events. What we go through in life is not as important as who we become as a result.

Think of a challenging situation and contemplate the difference between a response and a reaction.

On this last night of Chanukah we reflect on the lessons of the past week. We have learnt how a small band of committed people were unwilling to resign themselves to defeat even when all seemed lost. They placed their faith in God and took action even though it seemed futile. This is symbolised by the miracle of the oil; they lit the candles even though they did not have enough fuel. Their bitachon, trust in God, meant that they realised although they had to try their best, ultimately all success is in the hands of Heaven.

Think about the darkest times in Jewish history and draw courage, strength and inspiration from their acts of bravery and determination.

Bethlehem’s Christians fear for future as emigration shrinks community

by Jotam Confino in Bethlehem jotam@jewishnews.co.uk @mrconfino

A massive Christmas tree, Santa Claus handing out sweets and a marching band playing Western Christmas songs – it seems Bethlehem has it all. At least at first glance.

Palestinian Christians make up just one percent of the population in the West Bank, with some 33,000 living in and around Bethlehem. Being the birthplace of Jesus, the city is visited by some two million people every year.

Christmas is the highlight of the year for Christians in Bethlehem, bringing together faith and family through masses and family dinners on 25 December.

But the number of Palestinian Christians is decreasing, partly due to emigration, which is of great concern.

A concern that is shared by Jamil and Umm Burhan Jarayseh, a Palestinian Christian family in the town of Beit Sahour, a suburb of Bethlehem.

“I am against immigration. We are the sons of the land and the protectors of the Christian heritage. We are

also the keepers of the Arab language. We prevented the Ottomans from replacing our language with Turkish when they were here,” 82-year-old Jamil told Jewish News.

And like all Palestinians in the West Bank, the Jarayseh family is a ected greatly by the restricted freedom of movement, with the many military checkpoints making it di cult for them to visit other families and friends during the holiday.

Jamil is also critical of the Palestinian Authority, which he said is not doing anything to help support the Christian community. ‘There are no job opportunities here so we go and work in Israel,” he said.

Samir Qumsiyeh, general manager of al Mahd TV, the West Bank’s first Christian TV broadcasting, has been a leading figure in the Bethlehem community for decades.

Qumsiyeh, whose four brothers and son emigrated abroad, is also pessimistic about the future of the community, saying emigration as well as a low birth rate pose “big problems”.

“There are various reasons for the emigration. Some are not happy with their lives here, others leave for

economic reasons,” Qumsiyeh said. “Israelis say Jerusalem is a Jewish city and Muslims say it’s an Islamic city. But... Jerusalem is a Christian city before anything. I wonder why it’s being ignored. I blame the Christian leadership,” for not reacting, he said. “I’m afraid the day will come when the Holy Sepulchre will one day become a museum.”

The solution, however, is not for rich Christians abroad to donate money to the community. “Don’t give me a fish, teach me how to fish. Give us money to build housing projects here and you will get back your money through the rent,” he said.

The new government in Israel, which Qumsiyeh calls “extreme”, is also a concern. “Palestinians are expecting the worst,” he said.

Hani al-Hayek, mayor of Beit Sahour, is critical of Israel’s role. “Can you imagine if you needed permission to pray to God?” he asked, referring to the permits needed for Palestinians in the West Bank to visit Jerusalem, or to leave in general.

The mayor is urging Palestinians not to leave their homeland.“Without your roots you are nothing.”

Trump: Jews should be ashamed A 13,000-YEAR HANGOVER

Former US President, Donald Trump, has said Jewish leaders “lack loyalty” and “should be ashamed of themselves”, his latest broadside against the American Jewish community, this time because of criticism of his dinner with two prominent antisemitic figures.

“How quickly Jewish leaders forgot that I was the best, by far, president for Israel,” Trump said last Friday on his social media platform Truth Social, before making an o cial statement under his campaign for the 2024 presidency.

“They should be ashamed of themselves. This lack of loyalty to their greatest friends and allies is why large numbers in Congress, and so many others, have stopped giving support to Israel.”

This is not the first time Trump has accused American Jews of being disloyal, but he has said they were not loyal enough to Israel. Calling out “Jewish leaders” instead of Jewish Democratic voters is a new point of rhetoric.

In 2019, Trump said any Jew who voted for a Democrat shows “a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty”.

The statement comes less than three weeks after Trump held a dinner with Nick Fuentes – who questions the Holocaust and is labelled a white supremacist by the Anti-Defamation League – and Kanye West, who has for months peddled antisemitic invective.

Mainstream Jewish groups have lambasted Trump, as have Republicans, including some Jewish Republicans who were close to him.

Scientists have discovered the ancestor of the yeast species necessary for the production of lager beer, uncovering evidence of fermented beverages from Israel from up to 13,000 years ago.

Modern brewing developed in Europe, where, until the Middle Ages, most beer brewing was associated with a yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Today, this species of yeast is still used to make ale-style beer, wine and bread.

However, most beer made nowadays is lager, not ale,

and there is a lot of interest in understanding the historical shift from one to the other.

Lagers are fermented using a bottom fermenting yeast at cool temperatures, while ales are fermented with a top fermenting yeast at much warmer temperature.

Lager brewing, which first appeared in the 13th century in Bavaria, uses a di erent species of yeast, Saccharomyces pastorianus. This is a hybrid of two parents, only one of which is S. cerevisiae.

Saccharomyces eubayanus

was only discovered in 2011 in the Patagonian Andes in South America.

The S. eubayanus parent was never found in Europe, but now researchers at University College Dublin discovered and isolated S. eubayanus in a wooded area of their campus.

The paper’s lead author, Geraldine Butler, said: “ We’re delighted to stumble across S. eubayanus on our own doorstep.”

The research is published in FEMS Yeast Research

Palestinians dressed as Santa Claus and Mrs Claus in Bethlehem

French TV host asks Covid expert why he wears his kippah in public

An Israeli professor has been asked by the host of a French TV news show why he publicly identifies his religion by wearing a kippah.

In a clip that went viral, the CNews host told professor Cyrille Cohen, head of immunology at Bar-Ilan University: “Many people are asking why a professor wears a religious symbol in our studio.” pictured), who was invited to discuss the e ectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, replied with apparent confusion: “For transparency, I wear it every day. I didn’t put it on spe-

cially for this show.” But French-Jewish journalist Elisabeth Lévy, also a guest on the panel, pushed further: “You understand, don’t you, that our non-religious way of life is discrete. It’s not against religion, but you should keep your religion to yourself,” she said.

With clear exasperation, the professor replied: “My name is Cohen. How do you want me to ‘keep my religion to myself’? I come from Israel.”

A clip of the video drew quick condemnation on Twitter. “Is this 1930s Europe?” tweeted the Israeli journalist Emily Schrader.

Though brief, the exchange illustrated the starkly di erent perspectives on religious expression in France, the United States and

elsewhere in the western world. “La laïcité”, or secularism, rather than religious freedom, is enshrined in the first article of the French constitution, which also protects the free exercise of religion. The term has long been understood to imply a strict separation between the private sphere, where religion is accepted, and the public, where it is discouraged.

Religious minorities have complained that French secularism is often gentler with displays of Christianity than with other faiths.

“If a priest came in here would you ask him to take o his cross, if the Pope, would you have him take o his cross and head covering?” Cohen said in the exchange.

Since 2004, French public schools have

banned all personal displays of religion, including both crosses and kippot.

In 2009, a debate erupted after a woman was banned from swimming in a public pool while wearing a bathing suit in line with some Islamic interpretations of modesty laws. In 2016, the swimsuit, nicknamed a ‘burkini’, was banned by the mayor of Cannes, a beach town.

French Jews also came up against the government’s strict adherence to la laïcité when a hearing in the trial of suspects involved in the 2015 shooting at a Paris Kosher supermarket, in which four Jews were killed, was scheduled on Yom Kippur. Despite requests by the families of the victim, the French judiciary refused to change the date, citing laïcité

FIRST KOSHER SUPERMARKET OPENS IN DUBAI

The first kosher supermarket has opened in the centre of Dubai, o ering quality products imported from Israel, EU and the US as well as home-cooked food for pre-Shabbat shoppers.

Rimon, which means “pomegranate” in Hebrew, spans some 130 square metres, and was opened thanks to a growing demand for kosher food and Israeli products due to the increase

in Jewish visitors since the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Rimon will o er quality meat and chicken products under the highest Jewish quality standard with kosher Mehudar certification, and will also host a Jewish food market at the weekends, with fresh home cookingf.

Rimon was established by long-time

UAE Jewish community leader Rabbi Levi Duchman along with community members Sonia and Alec Sellem as well as local authorities.

“Our wonderful community, which keeps growing here in the UAE, continues to benefit from the extraordinary embrace we have received from the Emirates government and local authorities, for over a decade now,”

said Duchman, who is also the founder of the government-licenced Emirates Agency for Kosher Certification.

He added that in order to enable residents and visitors to have a full Jewish life there, “we have established Jewish institutions and communities, openly celebrate Shabbat, holidays and simchas – and enjoy quality kosher food across the Emirates”.

Cohen ( invited vaccines, replied with

Kosher supermarket Rimon

Saudi Arabia ‘soon’ to join Abraham Accords

Political and religious figures from dozens of countries have met in Rome to discuss way of deepening links following agreements reached in 2020 to normalise Arab world ties with Israel.

Delegates heard from representatives of countries who signed up to the Abraham Accords, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, said it was now just a matter of time before Saudi Arabia joined the group.

“The hardest part was going public,” said Danon. “We have been in contact with the Saudis for years. I worked personally with them at the UN on matters of regional stability and security. It’s just a matter of time before courageous leaders step out of the shadows and full peace is achieved between all the children of Abraham. I expect we’ll see an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia this year.”

The First Annual Abraham Accords Global Leadership Summit included diplomats, entrepreneurs, lawmakers, academics and clergy. Attendees included Houda Nonoo, former Bah-

raini ambassador to the US, Imam Mohammad Tawhidi, vice-president of the Global Imams Council, and the Rev Philip Larrey, a dean at the Vatican’s Pontifical Lateran University.

Rabbi Dr Elie Abadie, senior rabbi of the UAE, who fled Beirut as a young boy, said: “I would have never dreamed that one day I would be serving as a rabbi in an Arab country, never mind

an Arab country with a rapidly growing Jewish community that has signed a peace accord with Israel.” He added that we are “living in profound times and must seize the opportunities”.

Tawhidi, a Shi’a Muslim scholar, said: “I come here today, as a free Iranian, to tell you that peace between Israel, Iran, and even between the Shi’a and the Sunni world is closer than ever.”

Denier’s extradition hearing is delayed

A Holocaust denier who has been on the run from French authorities for two years does not consent to be extradited to France, a court has heard.

Vincent Reynouard, 53, was arrested in Anstruther, Fife, last month.

The Frenchman was convicted under anti-Nazi laws across the Channel, where he was given a four-month jail term in November 2020 and a further six months in January 2021.

A preliminary hearing in his extradition case took place at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday, which he was excused from attending.

His lawyer, who did not wish to be named, asked for the matter to be continued to a further hearing next month to give him more time to prepare as he had just been appointed to the case.

He said: “Mr Reynouard does not consent to extradition to France.

“I was instructed at about 6pm

last night and I do require some time to consider the matter.

“There is a matter that is, I think, of legal significance that I need more time to consider.”

Holocaust denial has been a criminal offence in France since 1990, and Reynouard has been convicted on numerous occasions.

His latest conviction was in relation to a series of antisemitic posts on social media.

Reynouard first appeared at the court after his arrest last month.

During that hearing, on 17 November, which he listened to via video link from HMP Edinburgh, his lawyer told the court that his client wished to instruct another lawyer.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen agreed to continue the case until 12 January, with a full extradition hearing due to take place in February.

Reynouard remains remanded in custody.

From left: Cash Luna, Rabbi Abadie, Danny Danon and Mohammad Tawhidi

Vincent Reynouard

LETTERS

Said and unsaid

Rishi Sunak’s speech to Conservative Friends of Israel this week was just the tonic for those worried that Israel’s political direction has been creating space between the two countries’ governments.

Indeed, it was so full of warmth and bonhomie – hailing the Jewish state’s “remarkable achievements” and recognising its “unenviable security challenge” – that it brought back memories of Donald Trump’s unabashed support for Israel.

It struck all the right chords, including restating the UK’s commitment to “utilising the full range of tools at our disposal” to protect UK citizens from Iran, and committing to a free-entry Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre next to parliament. Like a hot water bottle on a cold winter’s night, it was just the ticket.

But as those of us who support Israel and follow its progress will know, all is not well in the Holy Land. Sunak’s tick-boxing sweets, alas, were laced with a sour reality.

For UK readers, the balance of power between the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature (i.e. the government, the courts, and the parliament) is second-nature and hard-wired. For hundreds of years, it has been as much a part of our democracy as people’s rights to assembly, elections and free speech.

Israel’s state systems, by contrast, are much younger, much less established and much less baked-in. As such, they are more susceptible to attack. Unfortunately, that is what many feel is happening right now. This week, Israeli lawmakers are voting to give Itamar Ben-Gvir – a man who has faced dozens of charges of hate speech against Arabs – greatly expanded powers over both the police and the police commissioner. Laws are being changed to allow a strictly-Orthodox politician (Aryeh Deri, who served time in jail 20 years ago) to serve again as a minister, despite him having been convicted last year of tax offences. Perhaps the most ominous legislative change being enacted by the new religious-nationalist government concerns the administration of the West Bank. Indeed, it is a change to the Basic Law, which forms Israel’s constitution.

If all that wasn’t bad enough, Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies are preparing to pass legislation that will effectively annul the Supreme Court’s supervision of legislation that could be deemed unconstitutional. Because who needs a backstop anyway.

Sunak was wise to mention what he mentioned and to not mention what he didn’t. British Jews – and this newspaper – want to see the UK and Israel in lockstep. We value the support Israel gets from Downing Street. But we worry about Israel’s changing nature.

So might Mr Sunak. A penny for his (true) thoughts.

Send us your comments

PO Box 815, Edgware, HA8 4SX | letters@jewishnews.co.uk

Tory decision ‘shocking’

This week in 2020, the Jewish community breathed a collective sigh of relief following the rejection of antisemitism in the 2019 election and anxiety still lingered over whether a Corbynite would win the ensuing Labour leadership contest.

In Hertsmere, the Labour candidate, Dan Ozarow, provoked concern among the community with his political views.

MPs who came to Borehamwood to support Mr Ozarow included Ilford South’s Sam Tarry (Corbyn’s election campaign manager) and Ashton-under-Lyne’s Angela Rayner.

A newspaper article reported that a letter Mr Ozarow signed argued that “Corbyn has nothing to apologise for in meeting with Hamas and Hezbollah” and went on to defend the former party leader’s association with Holocaust deniers.

Some of Mr Ozarow’s co-signatories included Jews who have since been expelled by Labour.

This article was widely shared, including by Jewish Conservative councillors. Mr Ozarow received criticism from members of the public, some of which undoubtedly would have crossed the line but none of which came from Tory councillors. Mr Ozarow lost that by-election but stood again months later.

The article about him signing that pro-Corbyn letter disappeared from the internet, along with his name on the list of signatories.

Instead of apologising, Mr Ozarow blamed the abuse on a group of Jewish Tory councillors.

After he reported them to the police, he took his complaint to the Conservatives. Shockingly, the party decided to sanction these councillors for “negative personal campaigning”.

The Conservative Party has questions to answer for its handling of this decision.

Hertfordshire Friends of Israel, By email

ISRAEL UNDER FIRE A SINGLE IDENTITY

In the 1 December edition of Jewish News it was so full of criticism of Israel that it may be the last copy I shall bother with.

Article after article will give our detractors great pleasure. Are we so complacent in this country that you cast so many stones on the new Israeli government, which has been elected by its population, who better should know how to protect its country and population?

They may not be to our so-called high standards, but we should at least give the new administration a chance to show how it will govern. Sidney Sands, By email

Jewish News published a detailed report on census data on Jews in England and Wales. Although the categories embody strictlyOrthodox, Orthodox and Progressive, I don’t recall any animosity between them. In Israel, however, Noam Maoz, head of Jewish identity in Netanyahu’s new government, is set to cause a rift between Jewish groups. He and Netanyahu should remember Israel is the homeland for all Jews.

The pioneers and those who fled war-torn countries weren’t asked what their brand of Judaism was.

Norma Neville, Hendon

COMMONS SILENCE WELCOMED

How reassuring to know MPs will take a minute (today, 15 December), in memory of the day 80 years ago when Parliament was informed that the Holocaust was taking place (“Commons silence to echo across the nation”, Jewish News, 8 December). We should all take a minute to be grateful for their respect. D Steinman, Stoke Newington

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CROCODILES

IN MIDDLE EAST

In the article, “Removing me as PM was a mistake, Boris tells shul,” Mr Johnson said there was no deal Ukraine could strike with Russia because: “You can’t negotiate with a crocodile, which is eating your leg.”

Likewise, it is unrealistic to consider that a democratically-elected Israeli government can negotiate a peace deal with terrorist, extremist Muslim leaders (elected or not) of the Palestinian people. I hope I’m proved wrong for the sake of the Ukrainian and Russian people and, likewise, Israelis and Palestinians. All are casualties of people who don’t care about their lives.

J D Milaric, By email

THE JACOB FOUNDATION

Jewish News is owned by The Jacob Foundation, a registered UK charity promoting cohesion and common ground across the UK Jewish community and between British Jews and wider society. Jewish News promotes these aims by delivering dependable and balanced news reporting and analysis and celebrating the achievements of its vibrant and varied readership.

Through the Jacob Foundation, Jewish News acts as a reliable and independent advocate for British Jews and a crucial communication vehicle for other communal charities.

Sedra: Vayeishev

This Chanukah, I’ll recall my late brother Danny

ALEX BRUMMER CITY EDITOR, THE DAILY MAIL

The relationship among brothers is an enduring theme in the narrative of Genesis (currently being read in synagogue) and Exodus. The earliest recorded ‘brother’ story is that of Kane and Abel, which did not end well. Of Ishmael and Isaac we know little.

But the dramatic chronicle of Jacob and Esau has cascaded down the generations. It could have ended in catastrophe with Jacob, his wives and flocks having to traverse lands controlled by Esau.

He was the hunter brother much loved by his father Isaac, who despised Jacob for the purloining of his birth right. But after Jacob had wrestled all night with an extraterrestrial being and been renamed Israel, he summoned up the courage to be reconciled with his brother after a generation apart. Following elaborate preparations for the meeting, including a generous gift of livestock, the reunion was one of hugs and kisses rather than warfare.

Later biblical sibling relationships were also less than smooth. The confrontation between Joseph and his elder brothers ended up with the future hero of Egypt being dumped in a pit. It is only when we get to Moses and Aaron that we finally find a brotherly relationship that worked in harmony even if both of these heroes made mistakes along their life journeys.

All of these connections were very much on my mind this month when me and my family, together with rabbis and many members of the Brighton and Hove communities gathered at the tranquil Meadow View Jewish cemetery last week to unveil the memorial stone to my younger brother, Daniel, who was suddenly taken from us in January.

It would be immodest to compare our relationship with that of Moses and Aaron. Indeed, as children we often fought like cats and dogs, once breaking a chair in an all-out confrontation in the then Ramat Aviv hotel in Israel. Yet as we matured, it became a much more tranquil and loving kinship.

Daniel or Danny, as he was widely known, is never far from my mind or from those whose

lives he touched. The inscription on his memorial stone, ‘A carer and pillar of the community’, properly describes his life. Not a day passes when I do not still reach for the phone to share some aspect of our daily and community lives.

There is a great emptiness especially on erev Shabbat, when we would reminisce about the great days of the Hove community and latest dispatches. Reading recently of the death of chazan Simon Hass, my immediate reaction was to phone Danny. One of my enduring memories was of Hass visiting Hove for Shabbat and combining, during services, to sing with the late chazan Kalman Fausner, a fellow Pole who had spent time in pre-Israel Palestine, in an emotion-filled rendering of part of the Musaf prayer. As the community has changed, only Daniel would have remembered.

Danny lives on in the hearts and minds of so many. At a recent symposium for the charity I chair, the Abraham Initiatives (UK), a stranger approached asking if was Daniel’s brother. He wanted to thank me for Daniel’s support of his elderly mother who lived on the same apartment block. Every Friday, he would knock on

her door with chicken soup, sometimes homeprepared chopped liver or fish balls. It was as much part of his Shabbat routine as organising the calling up in shul, teasing his fellow congregants and chanting the Haftorah when there was no one else to do it (quite often).

When I called the shul’s chairman, Stanley Cohen, on the eve of this year’s Yamim Noraim to wish him a happy New Year, his tearful remembrance was dressing the Torah scrolls and shul, as ever, in Daniel’s company.

Danny won’t be with us by the Chanukiah this year, but his memory as a brother, friend and carer is forever.

Ben-Gvir is a disgrace to religious Zionists like me

JODIE FRANKS UNION OF JEWISH STUDENTS

Ioften think about the desire to label and put people into neat boxes, but rarely do people fit only one label and, often, a label can mean di erent things to any one person.

During my time at the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), labels have become a necessary part of my day-to-day role. We regularly create successful events geared towards people with certain interests. Those interests are e ectively labels. During my first few weeks of the job, I was part of a discussion about Jewish identity.

By the end of the discussion, it was fascinating to see the descriptors people attached to their Jewish identity – nearly twice as many as they had at the beginning of the discussion. Labels can help us define but they also help us to explore.

One of the labels I have always used for myself is ‘religious Zionist’. This has always held a special meaning to me. Growing up, I was taught to love and cherish the land of Israel and explore the ancient roots Jewish people have to our homeland.

As a student of Torah, one of my favourite pastimes is mapping places mentioned in the

bible onto modern cities and towns. It has always been obvious to me that my Zionist identity is intrinsically linked with my Judaism. God has clearly had an eye on the Jews for a long time, and therefore a natural next step is praying for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, as well as peace in our homeland.

To proudly call myself a religious Zionist hasn’t always been easy. Other Zionists, and of course anti-Zionists, have mocked me for my beliefs, called me a fundamentalist and a radical and excluded me from the ‘academic’ conversation because they believe my views were based on faith rather than fact. But I am happy to say I was finally at a point where I was confident in my Zionist identity, and happy to discuss, defend, and proudly proclaim it. Recent events in Israel changed everything.

The election of a party claiming to represent “Religious Zionists” is hugely significant for both the Israeli and diaspora communities. Zionism isn’t simply politics. It’s ideology, it’s deep-rooted belief, and when it comes to religious Zionism, it is something to which I have a profound connection.

However, these election results have had a huge e ect on my identity. It goes to the very core of my Zionism. Politicians such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have claimed ownership over not only the phrase, but the ideology of Religious Zionism. They have publicised this label to the world proudly. They have associated this label with racism, homophobia and violence. In doing so, they have disgraced religious Zionists around the world who do not share these views, myself included.

I no longer feel comfortable walking into a room and calling myself a religious Zionist out of fear that people will now associate me with the likes of Smotrich and their values.

My religious Zionism is as much a part of my identity as is my allyship with LGBTQ+ people, my passion for cross-communalism and my acceptance of people as they are.

Now I feel at a loss. How can I carry on identifying with the religious Zionism I continue to hold when that simple label is now associated with so many things I despise?

But I simply cannot let these individuals steal that which is so important to me. I will continue to be a religious Zionist, not because of what they stand for, but in spite of it.

I believe in equality, in the rights of all to live how they want, in the importance of the Israel that I love, and in the inalienable rights of two peoples to live side by side in safety, security and prosperity.

And I will do that as a proud religious Zionist.

So, to my fellow religious Zionists, those who will not let racists and homophobes steal the label we are proud of – join me in saying loudly that we are not them and they are not us. Together, we will ensure that they do not take up any of the space we proudly share together.

AS CHILDREN WE FOUGHT LIKE CAT AND DOG BUT AS WE MATURED IT BECAME A LOVING KINSHIP

❝

The right-wing politician, Itamar Ben-Gvir

Gifts - Vouchers and Caps

How Corbyn’s cronies failed to retell history

JOHN WARE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

John Ware took Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, the group Jewish Voice for Labour and a pro-Corbynite journalist to court for defamation over his 2019 BBC Panorama exposé on antisemitism. In the second of two articles, he reveals how Al Jazeera misunderstood issues highlighted in the Panorama report and did not give those it accused a proper right of reply

Finding themselves on the margins of political life, the Corbynites seem determined to show that their version of Labour’s antisemitism crisis is the historically accurate one.

They insist that the recent report by Martin Forde KC validates their claim that the crisis was largely the fault of Labour’s factional “civil service” – Panorama’s whistle-blowers who handled antisemitism complaints and fellow o cials at Labour HQ.

Forde does find that the complaints system was unfit for purpose, and unable to cope with the “explosion in complaints” that followed Corbyn’s election as leader.

Yet no system could have coped.

But while the Corbynites blame factionalism by Labour HQ, Forde concludes that “responsibility for this rests not wholly with one side”.

As for HQ o cials –including a Panorama whistleblower – trying to sabotage the 2017 election, Forde finds no evidence for that.

He also gives short shrift to Corbyn’s key claim, which cost him the whip and propelled him back to backbench obscurity: that antisemitism was exaggerated to smear him.

The metric Corbyn uses to evidence his claim is an unreliable proxy for the scale of anti-Jewish sentiment in Labour. While he correctly states that upheld complaints to date represent a small fraction of members (about 0.33 percent) , this no more reflects the actual number of Jews who felt barely tolerated in their branches and constituency Labour parties (CLPs)(despite near-universal disdain for Benjamin Netanyahu)than recorded crime reflects the actual level of crime; many chose not to complain for several reasons. Nor does it include CLP motions that breached the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance [definition of antisemitism], cheerfully voting and campaigning for the likes of Pete Willsman, recently expelled for smearing rabbis as “Trump fanatics” and ranting about antisemitism allegations being “whipped up” by the Israeli embassy.

Although 0.33 percent sanctioned is tiny relative to a 430,000 membership, it nonetheless translates to some 1,400 members, which I find pretty shocking for a party that shouts loudly about its anti-racist credentials. The latest portrayal of the crisis as largely

artificial and a smear campaign aimed at undermining Corbyn is contained in programme two of a four-part series called The Labour Files by the Al Jazeera TV channel, which is owned by the Qatari government. “The true story behind the Labour Party’s antisemitism crisis” the script boldly asserts.

It’s a daft claim simply because there’s no consensus on what constitutes antisemitism, and even less about when anti-Zionism shades into antisemitism.

Nonetheless, the programme’s producer, Richard Sanders, harbours no doubts. Although not a “huge admirer” of Corbyn, he is a “fervent anti-Zionist”, he doesn’t remotely consider Ken Livingstone’s comments about German Zionists colluding with Hitler as antisemitic, he asserts that Israel is a “fundamentally, inherently, racist, oppressive state... I’m sorryit simply is”; and that the IHRA definition of antisemitism “so obviously, so brazenly deprives the Palestinian people” of the “right” [to criticise Israel as a ‘racist endeavour’]...“I’m sorry, it is... a racist ethno-state”.

Despite this daunting list of certitudes, Sanders declares that he comes to the subject as a “professional journalist” who seeks to be “very forensic and factual and unpolemical” because “you really have to be on solid ground”.

On closer inspection, however, the ground under several of Al Jazeera’s claims, crumbles away.

Sanders asserts that political interference in antisemitism disciplinary cases was “primarily” about “pressurising for harder, faster measures on antisemitism”.

Certainly some interventions were about “catalysing” action because Corbyn was getting stick from the media. But no o cial reports have I seen state (or even suggest) that intervention was “primarily” directed

towards this. There’s plenty of evidence the other way around. Forde himself concludes that “interference at times went beyond what was the legitimate interest of LOTO [leader of the opposition’s o ce] most notably in relation to cases which involved allies of Jeremy Corbyn”. And while he acknowledges that he had not seen “clear and convincing documentary evidence” that this was “systematic”, as claimed by some senior HQ sta , he also says that most challenges by LOTO sta outside of National Executive Committee meetings are not “the kind of interventions of which documentary proof would exist” anyway. The Equality and Human Rights Commission found that interference was widespread and spanned the three-year period of its investigation.

Al Jazeera also completely misunderstood a case highlighted in Panorama showing LOTO interference in the case of a Corbyn ally. It said its “investigation finds” that far from interfering, LOTO’s view about whether the ally should remain suspended had been sought by o cials. It had; but what Al Jazeera overlooked was the highly salient fact that LOTO’s view was only sought because LOTO had intervened from the outset – within four hours of the individual’s suspension, in fact. Yet this evidence was available to Al Jazeera.

How “solid” is Al Jazeera’s unchallenged assertion that Israel is an apartheid state? Presumably Sanders and his executive producer, Phil Rees, would say very. Rees says apartheid is “a fact” and Sanders has opined that Israel behaves “in a way that is considerably worse than apartheid South Africa”.

“Apartheid Israel” is self-evidently not a “fact” since it rests on the assumption that because Israel is a Jewish state, it must be an apartheid state, whereas there are many other nation states who define themselves by their

ethnicity and prioritise their cultural interests. True, entrenched discrimination exists in several respects against Israel’s Arab citizens, but in law their civil and religious rights are safeguarded, even if insu ciently upheld. Not good, but not apartheid either.

Al Jazeera asserts: “In 1967, Israel invaded and occupied the remaining Palestinian land.” This is, of course, a fact, but omits a relevant historical one: that Israel won a war of selfdefence when Jordan – which had annexed the West Bank – was defeated in its attempt to wipe out the fledgling Jewish state.

How “solid” are Al Jazeera’s claims about how antisemitism has been exaggerated?

The anti-Zionist pro-Corbyn Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) asserted – again unchallenged – that Jews are “6.3 times more likely to be investigated by the Labour Party for allegations of antisemitism than non-Jews”.

Labour o cials handling complaints don’t recognise this claim. They say the vast majority of investigations into JVL members relate to their support for recently proscribed organisations dismissing the antisemitism crisis, not for saying or doing something antisemitic – organisations such as Labour Against the Witch-hunt (LAW), which have opposed practically every antisemitism measure introduced by Labour.

“To get chucked out if you’re Jewish, you have to have been a repeat o ender by saying pretty egregious things,” I was told. “Like Nazi comparisons, banging on about the Rothschilds or conspiracy theories about Jewish/ Zionist/Israeli control of politics, the media and finance.” Yet Sanders, who says he has “a lot of admiration” for JVL, has since repeated its claim without caveat.

Al Jazeera also asserts that one of Panorama’s whistle-blowers, Ben Westerman, had “turned reality on its head” by claiming that during his investigation into antisemitism in Liverpool’s Riverside CLP, a JVL supporter, Rica Bird, had asked him if he was from Israel.

It’s true that a tape of the interview doesn’t show Bird asking Westerman – who is Jewish –that question. What it does show is Bird asking Westerman which Labour party branch he is from. He answers that her question is not relevant. What Al Jazeera doesn’t show – but what the tape does – is that Bird persists. “Oh. No, it might not be [relevant]. Just thought it might be interesting.”

Why did Bird “just think” Westerman’s answer “might be interesting”? She was just trying to be “comradely, friendly”, says Al Jazeera. Is it sure? During his questioning Westerman had been critical of JVL, so he assumed she had him down as a Zionist; her persistence over “what branch are you in?” was not as blunt as, say: “Are you from Golders Green?”, but it suggested to him that she was trying to find out if he was also Jewish by reference to whether his branch had a sizeable Jewish membership.

On Al Jazeera, Bird insisted passionately that she didn’t ask the Israel question so it can’t be ruled out that Westerman mistakenly convinced himself that she was asking

A promotion for the Al Jazeera documentary series The Labour Files

him: “Where are you really from?” Yet his evidence is that the Israel question came at the end of the interview as the parties were leaving. The tape appears to end abruptly just before that point as Westerman is in mid-sentence, so it is not definitive that the Israel question was not asked. His colleagues say he reported the incident on his return to London.

The final whistle?

The bottom line is that the tape cannot be relied on as a definitive record of everything that was said in this interview and afterwards, whereas Al Jazeera seems confident it can be.

Corbynites have also become particularly exercised by a brief clip on Panorama from Izzy Lenga, a former vice-president of the National Union of Students, where she talked about her experience on campus. At times, she was subjected daily to antisemitic abuse (on and o ine) that included comments like “Hitler was right” and “Hitler didn’t go far enough” as well as Holocaust denial “with absolutely no sanctions and absolutely no repercussions”.

Lenga’s Hitler comments referred to attacks from the Right when they were targeting her on campus. However, she also recounted

Holocaust denial as a feature of abusive comments from the Left.

❝

comments from

As Lenga explained, the attacks from both Left and Right were “very similar... and almost often the exact same tropes”. Through no fault of her own, the fact they were similar meant these comments became mixed up in the editing and we should have made that distinction – Hitler from the Right and Holocaust denial from the Left –clearer.

A relatively minor slip, yet Corbynites have banged on and on about this, as if it invalidates the entire 59 minutes of Panorama. Presumably Al Jazeera knew that the Holocaust denial like that experienced by Lenga from the Left has led to expulsions of Labour members for neo-Nazi views. The antisemitism logs seen by Al Jazeera contain meticulous notes on such cases.

How “solid” was a 17-minute section in programme one of The Labour Files, which portrayed one of its key witnesses, the Corbyn activist Damian McCarthy, fighting back tears as the victim of a hate campaign by Jewish activists? It turns out that McCarthy conducted a campaign of hate himself and was also a disgraced barrister disbarred for dishonesty.

WITNESS

In the Al Jazeera programme, an antiCorbyn activist, Luke Stanger, was accused of intimidating McCarthy by sending a dossier to his employer (who, unknown to Stanger, was also his stepfather).

The dossier included messages supporting “the beheading” of McCarthy’s “entire family” and his deceased mother being “skull f*****d”.

Some viewers, me included, took this to mean Stanger approved of these messages. He categorically did not and has condemned them as “deplorable” and “evil”. His purpose was to demonstrate McCarthy’s antisemitic responses to the hideous messages to his family by someone Stanger didn’t even know.

McCarthy had already been publicly outed by [the Twitter account] Gnasher Jew and Stanger as using a Twitter handle “Truth and Justice Socialism” spewing out a stream of inflammatory hate-filled posts such as: “Zionists worked hand in hand with Nazis to send innocent Jews to their deaths… then worked to establish the racist state of Israel” and “Jews are gassing people in Gaza.” Yet Al Jazeera made no mention of this, I assume, because it didn’t consider his tweets to be antisemitic. On

no mainstream UK channel would McCarthy have been regarded as a credible witness in support of a thesis that the mainstream media had inflated antisemitism within Labour into an issue that didn’t merit the label “crisis”. Not a single challenge to any of Al Jazeera’s claims was put to any of its 20 mainly Corbynsupporting interviewees.

None of those accused (including me) were o ered a filmed interview to rebut the specific criticisms/allegations against us. We were merely o ered a written response and even these were just bunched up at the end of the programme instead of being inserted as responses to each allegation as and when they arose – which is fairer and is how Panorama dealt with 26 responses from Corbyn’s o ce, and other rebuttal clips. For Al Jazeera to dignify the accusation from Corbyn’s o ce that the BBC had “betrayed its duty of impartiality” takes the chutzpah biscuit.

Al Jazeera is mi ed that its series has sunk almost without trace. “Clearly there is going to be a sort of omerta applied to this entire thing,” groans Sanders. He’s settled for being hosted on obscure left-wing outlets such as Alexei Sayle’s podcast, in which the Liverpudlian comedian e s and blinds his way through the conversation: “John Ware... I think I can say looks like a prick... this man thinks he is f***ing all that...” etc. Sanders chuckles.

Give it time, says Al Jazeera’s “expert commentator” Peter Oborne. It was “landmark journalism” that will be looked back “in 10, 20, 30 years, as the turning point in the understanding of this issue and the Middle East and the Labour Party”. I doubt that somehow.

ON NO OTHER MAIN UK CHANNEL WOULD DAMIAN MCCARTHY HAVE BEEN REGARDED AS A CREDIBLE

“very similar... and

1 ROYAL RECEPTION

As part of 16 Days of Activism for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence and Women, Jewish Women’s Aid CEO, Naomi Dickson, and treasurer, Jo Rosenthal, attended a reception at Buckingham Palace. It was hosted by the Queen Consort and highlighted the work of organisations in this sector that are working to end abuse.

2 LOU CELEBRATES

Jewish Blind & Disabled tenant Louis (known as Lou) Freedman celebrated his landmark 106th birthday at a party organised by his family in the lounge at JBD’s Frances & Dick James Court, where he has lived since September 2021. Lou has one son, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. They all live close to his new Mill Hill home.

3 FAMILY PRODUCTION

Triple threat! It’s a Petar family production as siblings Nicole, 17 (Elstree Screen Arts), Jessica, 14 (JFS) and Alex, 11 (Wolfson Hillel Primary School) rehearse for their panto performance this Christmas in Jack and the Beanstalk in Radlett.

4 TEENAGE IMPACT

ImpACT teenage volunteers from 26 schools cooked for food banks, donated and packed winter clothes and wrapped gifts for homeless shelters and food banks across Camden and Barnet. The social action charity provides impactful volunteer opportunities for Jewish teenagers and this event brought together charities that support the homeless and asylum seekers.

5 AJEX TALK

AJEX (The Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women) archivist, Martin Sugarman, gave an illustrated talk to a JFS 6th form group of more than 20 pupils. It was part of a seminar on Jews fighting back in both world wars and resistance in the Holocaust. The event was led by JFS head boy, Edgar Santos, who is part of the JFS Combined Cadet Force. Martin was assisted by AJEX member and photographer Stan Kaye.

6

’ OUTSTANDING’ GIG

A full house at JW3 for the Jewish Music Institute (JMI) Youth Big Band gig (led by Sam Eastmond) with National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) u18’s led by Winston Clifford. JMI’s Gil Karpas said: “The musicianship was outstanding and all the team and trustees could not be prouder.”

7 MUSICAL FUNDRAISER

Guests of the Jerusalem Foundation (JF) UK enjoyed an evening at Spencer House, a historic mansion in St James. Entertainment was provided by Mishy Harman and his team, who performed a live rendition of his acclaimed Israel Story podcast, alongside musicians the Jamshid Sisters on cello and guitar. The event, attended by Jerusalem Foundation UK chairman Lord Leigh and JF president Shai Doron, raised funds for shared living projects in Jerusalem.

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A look

Jewish Journal Beauty Buys Robbie’s Jewish kids

LIFE Inside

MUSICAL

Jew-O

The complex history, heritage and baggage of being a Jew in 2022 connect two very di erent debut albums by American artists. Nicole Lampert speaks to them both

people think it would be crazy to put the Shabbat songs to newly-composed music, I guess I already knew that someone in my family had done it.”

history and also learned Hebrew along the way. When we speak, the 31-year-old is in Israel, where he’s currently living having recorded his first album, Fragments

“It was my grandfather, Abraham, who started teaching me Arabic songs,” he recalls.

YAIR ROSENBERG, a well-known journalist, whose grandfather wrote a song that is still played in synagogues, has given some of the most popular Shabbat songs a makeover. Meanwhile, musician Yoni Battat explores his family’s Iraqi roots in a very special album that combines Arabic, Hebrew, English and even a bit of Yiddish.

With his Deep Shtetl newsletter in The Atlantic, Yair is one of the most interesting and best-known journalists writing about Jewish life today, but music has always been an itch that he’s had to scratch. He never learned to play an instrument – “if I didn’t immediately see the value in learning something, I wouldn’t do it” – but has always found himself making up new tunes in his head.

Now – after a process that has taken seven years – Yair has done something about it with his album Az Yashir, which puts a selection of favoured Shabbat songs to new tunes sung by him.

It is quite an audacious thing to do, even for the son of a rabbi – but he was inspired by his grandfather, Rabbi Israel David Rosenberg, whose composition Shir Hageulah (Song of Redemption) is still played in synagogues today.

“He was an incredibly talented Chasidic composer and, while I don’t have his level of skill, something seems to have trickled down the generations,” says Yair. “And while most

Yair’s grandfather fled Poland with a group of seminary students thanks to the actions of the brave Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, who acted against orders to find a sanctuary for Jewish people in his country. One day, a letter arrived in Japan for the refugees, from a Lubavitch rabbi in the United States – it was one filled with horror over the loss of European Jewry (including all of Rosenberg’s family) but also of hope about the future. Rosenberg turned the words into his song, Shir Hageulah.

journalist – I have no ambition to be a rock star or a wedding singer; I just wanted to give people melodies that are meaningful,” he says. “But I would love one day to walk into a Jewish setting and find people are singing one of my songs –that would be a mark of something very special because music is such a universal language for everyone.”

“My dad and his three siblings all spoke Iraqi Arab to each other and I would always hear it growing up, but I could never speak it, which still feels like a missed opportunity.

“But I have always loved the music and I felt like I had something to say in this musical style. And it is that fragmented experience of being disconnected from my ancestry that is in many ways relatable, human and actually beautiful. It is something I have tried to capture in the message of the album.”

the

Yair composed his music in very di erent circumstances, but there were echoes about the uncertainties faced by his grandfather’s generation.

“Just before I started recording it, the pandemic struck. I knew I was writing songs for people to sing happily together on Shabbat in synagogue even though the synagogues were shut and no one knew when we would be able to sing together again. And I think that has been able to resonate with people – whether they know the songs or not – because I think it was a time when we really thought about the role of music in our lives and how important it is.”

The album gives some favourite songs some unusual twists. Anim Zemirot is given a reggae beat, while V’Shamru is put to music adapted from a Mormon hymn Yair heard while writing about the group. “It was a song that was a call for evening prayer and I thought it would go so well with a song that welcomes in Shabbat, so I got their permission to use their melody,” he says.

“There is a real mix of Jewish and nonJewish influences and I have heard, since it came out, that there are people who have taken meaning from it who I wouldn’t necessarily have expected. It really is for Jews of all di erent backgrounds.”

Yair has already had feedback from communities that have started to use his compositions as part of their services. “I’ll always be a

The songs all tell a story. The album starts with the poetry of Air Anwar Sha’ul, an Iraqi Jewish writer who stayed in the country until 1971, long after much of the community had fled. It is a haunting poem about a lost world and the beauty of Iraq, a place that was home to a community stretching back more than 2,000 years. Another is based on the letters Yoni’s grandparents, Avraham and Violet, wrote to each other in Arabic and Hebrew. The pair had originally emigrated to Israel in 1950s, but when their four children were teenagers, Avraham moved to America with the children while Violet, who was a successful radio presenter on Arabic Israeli radio, stayed behind.

, the son of in

YONI BATTAT, the son of an Ashkenazi mother and a Mizrahi father, had a bit of both worlds at home –bagels and Iraqi music.

Growing up in a mainly Ashkenazi community in Connecticut, that side of him formed his early musical years. He started playing the violin aged four, has performed with the Israel Klezmer Orchestra, developed his own Yiddish jazz band and was a member of the touring cast of the Broadway and West End musical The Band’s Visit

But it was when his Mizrahi grandfather bought him an oud – a lute-like instrument popular in the Middle East – aged 16 that his life started veering in a di erent direction. Yoni isn’t one to do things by halves; he started learning Arabic, exploring Arab music and

ship where she was working on a show dedicated to women’s issues, over world, but my grandfather moved with their children – I still don’t really visit each other for a month at a five

“They had this kind of alternative relationship where she was working on a show dedicated to women’s issues, which was heard all over the Arab world, but my grandfather moved with their children – I still don’t really know why – and they would visit each other for a month at a time every four or five months.

Hebrew and Arabic – even within I embarked on a project to translate them. There was one line that

“The letters flow between Hebrew and Arabic – even within one sentence – and my sister and I embarked on a project to translate them. There was one line that really stuck out for me; my aunt was riding on a bicycle and he talked about how she was now the older one in the neighbourhood. It was a poignant detail in this letter about being immigrants and trying to find a home.”

A third stars Yoni’s great uncle Razi, a synagogue cantor, recalling a song sung at circumcision ceremonies and Havdalah. “The last song of the album is called Fragments and is in English and is about how in that fragmentation of brokenness I can find wholeness and belonging. It’s a mantra and a prayer.”

Two Jews, two albums, mesmerising music.

There’s an angel

With his podcast On the Edge with Andrew Gold, an audience of thousands has decided he is the man to listen to. Currently leading YouTube with chats about Tom Cruise and other well-known Scientologists, this week Andrew releases the second part of his chat with Robbie Williams, who will certainly delight JN readers when he talks about his Jewish children. As it’s better when Robbie says it, be sure to go to youtube.com or andrewgoldpodcast.com to listen, but let’s just say when Andrew reveals his faith, Robbie chips in with: “My wife is Ashkenazi and my kids are Jewish.” His spouse, Ayda Field, is a Turkish-American model who makes no secret of her heritage but for Robbie to announce it with pride… it’s good to hear. www.andrewgoldpodcast.com

NEWS FLASH

It’s taken 10 years for Newsies to get here from Broadway and no one would have expected it to land in Wembley (yep, you read that right), but there’s no congestion charge and it was truly worth the wait. That the show’s arrival coincides with a swathe of industrial action is frankly ironic as Alan Menken’s outstanding musical is about the 1890s strike by teenage newspaper sellers who formed their own union to take on the publishers. It’s tough for a journalist to focus on a period when papers were selling well enough that the strike made an impact, but Harvey Fierstein’s wise and witty book for Newsies provides the backdrop for what is essentially a dance marathon by some of the most gi ed dancers to ever tread the boards. They leap, pirouette and run around the audience in the spectacular space that is the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. Entering on zipwires or singing by your seat, Newsies is as immersive as a fairground ride with a Menken soundtrack framing Jack Feldman’s sharp lyrics. As lead striker, Michael Ahomka-Lindsay sings like a bird, fittingly from the top of a winding industrial-dwelling that takes centre stage. On opening night, there were two standing ovations before the interval, which is enough to tell you to get to Wembley. www.newsiesthemusical.co.uk

ONLINE

Hope for Chanukahh

Barbra Streisand, Henry Winkler and Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), actor David Strathairn and actress Tovah Feldshuh, currently in Funny Girl on Broadway, are special guests at a virtual event on 20 December at 6.30pm to celebrate Chanukah. Meanwhile, the cast of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof will perform Traditsye. The annual International Holocaust Survivors’ Night is a virtual event focused on the theme of hope in the face of rising antisemitism. As well as celebrities, you’ll also hear from Isaac Herzog, President of Israel; Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany; Stuart Eizenstat, Special Adviser on Holocaust Issues to the US Secretary of State, and Holocaust envoys from the UK, the US, Canada, Germany and Croatia. Leaders of Holocaust institutions will also provide messages, including Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, and Sara J Bloomfield, drector of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Messages of hope will be given by Holocaust survivors recently evacuated from Ukraine as well as survivors from other countries. As if all that wasn’t enough, there will be a live stream of the o icial menorah lighting ceremony at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Israel. To watch, visit www.claimscon.org/SurvivorsNight2022

Travel Tales

She’s not Jewish or even Jew-ish but travel journalist Kate Wickers opens her autobiographical travel tome Shape of a Boy with a chapter all about her visit to Jerusalem. Because, as she says (and we all know): “It is one of the most interesting, fascinating cities. Like walking through history in a living breathing museum.” Her hilarious tales of being driven a circuitous route to Bethlehem by a suspiciouslooking driver and wondering what might become of her, and being taken aside for questioning at Ben Gurion Airport because she didn’t know her travel companion’s real name had me reminiscing fondly about my own many mishaps in the Holy Land. Kate has a lively writing style and you’ll warm to her as she travels the globe with her husband and three boys in tow. Chapter two is about Mallorca – are we sure she’s not Jewish?! Shape of a Boy is published by Aurum, £9.99

Funny Boy

Chanukah has come early for Adam Sandler. Following in the footsteps of Neil Simon, Billy Crystal and comedian Jon Stewart, he is being honoured with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at a ceremony in March. The prize is presented annually to individuals “who have had an impact on American society” similar to that of the 19th-century novelist and humourist, “who startled many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective on social injustice and personal folly”. Sandler, 56, started out on The Cosby Show, was on Saturday Night Live for five years and then moved into movies, including The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. His first serious role was in Uncut Gems, in which he played a Jewish jeweller with a gambling addiction. He is upfront about his Jewishness, even on screen – we saw him playing an Israeli fish out of water in Don’t Mess With the Zohan and his animated comedy Eight Crazy Nights takes place during Chanukah. Adam, his wife Jackie and their two teenage daughters are set to star in a bat mitzvah-themed movie for Netflix based on Fiona Rosenbloom’s novel You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah!

SEASON OF

Even Karen Cinnamon’s name conjures up something sweet and joyful. For thousands of Jewish women, that is exactly what she is, as the founder of several Jewish community groups that are about bonding and friendship.

On Instagram, posting under Your Jewish Life where she has 65,000 followers, she sports huge Magen David earrings while talking about everything from latke recipes and dealing with the Christmas season as a Jew, to antisemitism.

She’s a tinselly ball of Jewish fun. But, of course, there’s another side to that. And that is where her new Jewish Joy Journal comes in.

Part words of wisdom, part recipes, with lots of space for kvetching and kvelling, it fits into her ethos – her brand – of Jewish joy. But it emerged from a much darker place.

“I’ve always had this message of Jewish joy, positivity, gratitude and the values of feeling connected, but I also know that the more connected we are meant to feel, many of us feel more disconnected than ever,” says Karen, 47. “And I wanted to create something that is more about protecting your own wellbeing, your psyche, working through things that are causing pain or anxiety. And it really helped me when something terrible happened on a personal level.”

Journalling has become a fashionable element of self-care and Karen initially started it with her two children as a way of helping them appreciate what they had in life. But when her Israeli mother, Zmira, died last year, she realised just how useful a journal could be.

“A journal can help you work through the pain, look ahead at what is possible and also at what is right in front of you,” says Karen. “It is easy to be grateful when things are going well, but a journal really comes into its own when you are having a challenging time.

“It can help you focus on the things you can control. Even when I was immersed in grief, it forced me to sit down and think about what there was in my life to be grateful for. And I am so

grateful for my mother’s legacy – everything she taught me. We were incredibly close. You need to feel grief, not put it to one side; writing it down helped me to pour out my feelings.

“But the journal also forces you to look at positivity – to look ahead even if it also gives space to feel loss. Focusing on the good things, bringing them to the forefront, was incredibly powerful. And it doesn’t need to be about the big things in life; for example, I have two young daughters and am often guilty of hurrying them out of the door in the morning. I’ve been thoroughly impatient. I wrote it down and asked myself to be more patient; I did something about it. It can work on big things and small things.”

Karen, who lives in Kentish Town, never imagined that she would be at the centre of a Jewish movement that would have thousands of fans across the world. Growing up in Hampstead Garden Suburb, she says she never truly felt part of the Jewish scene.

“I struggled with the cliquey Jewish teenage scene in London – I wanted to fit into it but I just didn’t,” she recalls. “Most of my friends weren’t Jewish. But when I moved to Israel for a couple of years in my 20s, I realised I didn’t need to be hanging out with Jewish people to maintain that core of my identity. I also realised that there are a lot of other Jewish people who don’t necessarily fit into the mould or feel they are doing the Jewish thing right.”

She worked in branding and design, but took her first step into using that in a specifically Jewish way when she was planning her wedding in 2013. She realised that there was nothing out there specifically for Jewish brides.

She started a blog about Jewish weddings that turned into a website, Smashing the Glass, which attracted hundreds, and then thousands, of young women in her position. When it increasingly started taking up more time, she turned it into a business, Brides Club, where, for a monthly fee brides-to-be can receive guidance and discounts as well as friendship with others in the same situation.

Members loved it so much they didn’t want to leave – so she set up Smashing Life, a club whose members pay a monthly fee

but they have become a genuine community of hundreds – to the point where Karen has employees both here and in the US to service all the resources, deals and meet-ups they need.

The Jewish Joy Journal is her first tangible product and was released in consultation with her members, who helped design both the look of it and what they wanted to see inside – from pearls of wisdom to colouring in, from recipes to space where you can ponder things from Jewish guilt to tikkun olam – and what healing the world really means. There has never been anything quite like it.

“It can be quite a challenge being Jewish in a non-Jewish world – whether it’s navigating the fact that school drinks are always planned for Friday nights or tucking your Magen David away when you get on the Tube,” says Karen. “But there is so much to celebrate too – and that is what I hope people think about when they get this journal.’

■ Jewish Joy Journal is £31 and shipping is free. Karen is o ering Jewish News readers a 10 percent discount with the code JEWISHJOY. www.jewishjoyjournal.com

Community

Karen founded online community Smashing Life

She hopes her Jewish Joy Journal will help others celebrate Judaism

BEAUTY

Don’t get le o the gi list this season, says Brigit Grant

For essential Chanukah glitz, mention Too Faced Tutti Frutti Twinkle Twinkle Liquid Glitter Eyeshadow (£11.99) in any sparkly shade. www.lookincredible.co.uk

Whichever route you take this Chrismukkah, there will be gi buying. Much like the social calendar, present purchase o en falls to the females, with husbands and fathers dipping in with ideas and funding. Sweeping generalisations aside, the unfortunate part of being stuck with the gi -getting results in being le o the list. Forced to make do with a last-minute poinsettia, kitchen gadget or Superdrug soap collection, the only way to avoid being an also-ran is to specify what you want. It’s the same for birthdays, as that’s the time to acquire products you’d never buy for yourself. So if you want a pricey hair-growth potion or serum for lashes, list it. And there’s no shame in a list, no matter how revealing, as your partner and friends will appreciate the help. This is my list.

A product you always need is the best ask and Dr. Hauschka’s Translucent Bronzing Tint would be mine. It’s made up of tinted mineral pigments, olive oil and extracts of anthyllis and witch hazel, and it transforms skin from pallid to sun-kissed. It is a desert island must and at £20 is a ordable as a gi . www.drhauschka.co.uk

The Organic Pharmacy Antioxidant Duo (£120) is definitely more birthday than Chanukah, but you never know. I do know the gel and serum double act has turned my skin around, so I need new bottles. Many products claim to boost collagen, but these work. Currently £84 at www.lookfantastic.com –alert the gi -givers.

Don’t be surprised if your daughter nabs your Kind Words kit from Rare by Selena Gomez (£19). The actress/ singer is a brand hit and this set, with buttery, pigment-rich, so matte lipstick and liner in many shades, is just one of many beauty kits in her collection. www.spacenk.com

The Grow Gorgeous range is a gi for those who need help with thinning and boost. The Intense Thickening Shampoo (£16) has a ca eine-enriched formula to give hair volume and the biotin, amino acids and rice water energise roots. The conditioner (£18) increases hair and the hyaluronic acid smooths and moisturises hair for a smooth finish. www.growgorgeous.co.uk or www.lookfantastic.com

A gi is the best way to sample a new brand such as US cult favourite TULA, which is the creation of gastroenterologist Dr Roshini Raj. Her skincare products are powered by probiotic extracts and superfoods, including the dull-skin improver Bright Start (£49) – a brightening moisturiser with mandarin orange and tranexamic Acid – Brightening Treatment Drops (£44) to reduce dark spots and defend against the elements, Beauty Sleep (£59), an overnight repair treatment for wrinkles and improving tone and Rose Glow & Get It (£28) – a balm to hydrate the eye area, reduce fine lines and work as a highlighter for cheekbones and Cupid’s bow. www.tulaskincare.co.uk

Pietro Simone is the skincare darling of Mayfair, so you can visit or put his Fierce range on your list. The products are full of unpronounceable things such as the mfula marula in Fierce Oil, which hydrates without greasy residue and the Dewy Reboot with its ultra-innovative glutathione molecule will wipe all your skin woes. What joy to get the entire range. Available at Harrods, Sephora and pietrosimone.com

Rather than a single serum, why not ask for a facial experience? That is what you will get at the new Opatra clinic in Borehamwood, where the world-renowned Israeli luxury skincare brand is coupled with award-winning technologies to deliver the “skin of your dreams”. The devices used help to encourage healthy, youthful, glowing skin and provide a wide range of treatments for all skin conditions. Skin analysis, massages, cellulite treatment and the Opatra Genesis Sculpt treatment, which targets the body in a much faster and more e icient way than exercise can (20,000 crunches in 30 minutes) mean it belongs on your list.www.opatraclinic.com

candicekrieger@googlemail.com

With

THE SPORTS TICKET MASTERS FROM ISRAEL

Candice Krieger finds out how a comparison site helps fans attend sold-out matches

ports fans Liran Froind and Aviran Zazon are useful people to know. They are the founders of Ticket-Compare, which helps customers get their hands on tickets for soldout live sports events. Set to be the Skyscanner of football ticketing, the platform finds the best deals on tickets for the World Cup, the Premier League and any other major football tournaments and leagues, in addition to rugby, cricket and tennis tickets.

S

Set up in 2015 and bootstrapped with £3,000, the business has sold more than 200,000 tickets, growing exponentially over the past seven years. Price comparison sites have grown significantly of late, owing to increased awareness about online shopping, coupled with people looking for cheaper deals amid financial pressures.

“We have clients from India, China and islands you have never even heard of in the Atlantic,” says Zazon, Ticket-Compare’s head of development and an avid Hapoel Jerusalem FC fan.

He adds: “The paradox of choice played a big part in the growth that comparison sites have seen over the past few years.

“People want to make an easier choice and not scour around, while making sure they’re paying the cheapest available market price.

“Comparison sites give you just that, and in our case even more than that – as finding a reliable seller for secondary tickets is much harder than any commodity product. It’s not only about comparing – it’s about the legitimacy of the site they’re getting their tickets from.”

Ticket-Compare prides itself on carrying out a strict screening process to ensure that customers can buy with confidence from trustworthy and vetted merchants.

According to reports, the a liate marketing industry is worth an estimated $12bn (£9.7bn). The majority of a liates are comparing products, notes Zazon.

How about future forecasts for the sector? Froind, Ticket-Compare’s CEO, notes: “Anything can be compared. Think about the iPhone – there are so many prices and it’s the exact same product. People want to get it as

cheaply as they can, and rightly so. For the football side of things, people are travelling more often and looking for a once-ina-lifetime experience. Attending the World Cup or the Champions League final is definitely one of those.”

But football tickets are notoriously dicult to get hold of. “It’s practically impossible. Especially if you’re a tourist who wants to see a once-in-a-lifetime game,” Froind notes.

Speaking of which, Ticket-Compare has sold hundreds of World Cup tickets to UK tourists.

Froind and Zazon worked at online betting company 888 before teaming up to launch Ticket-Compare.

Froind recalls: “I have a friend who asked me about tickets for a Premier League game and if I had any idea where he could get them cheap as he knew I’m good at Googling. I couldn’t find a single comparison site for it, so I opened tons of tabs. I also didn’t know who I could trust.

“I dived into a world of complaints about ticket providers and prices that were all over the place. I figured that there had to be a solution for that, so I reached out to Aviran and we made it happen.”

Based in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, TicketCompare has since partnered with several UK and European ticket marketplaces, working with them since inception.

The business has experienced a rise in interest since the pandemic. “Many people were on hold until it was clear to go to stadiums, and now they finally have the chance.” And demand is set to grow, paving the way for Ticket-Compare to become a household name.

“Often when I meet friends of friends and I tell them what we do, if they are EPL fans they know exactly what we do and right away ask us for the best deal for the match they’d like to see.”

Anything for a certain game in Qatar this Sunday...? Asking for a friend.

▶ www.ticket-compare.com

Candice Krieger

Liran Froind and (inset) the England-France match

Aviran Zazon (left) and Liran Froind

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA

RABBI ELI BIRNBAUM AISH UK

You gotta have faith

“Joseph said [to the butler]: “In three more days, Pharaoh will restore you to your o ce, and you will again serve Pharaoh his goblet. If only you will remember me, and you will please do me this favour and mention me to Pharaoh – securing my release from prison… And Pharaoh restored the cupbearer, and he placed the goblet in Pharaoh’s hand… but the cupbearer didn’t remember Joseph, and he forgot him.” (Genesis 40:12-23, abridged).

The commentaries are puzzled by two repetitious phrases in this week’s parsha, Vayeishev. Why does Joseph ask the butler to “remember” and also “mention” him in front of Pharaoh? Later, why the superfluous emphasis on the fact that the butler

“forgot” Joseph, when he already “didn’t remember” him?

Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak (Rashi, d.1105, France) quotes an astounding Talmudic insight: “This teaches that the cupbearer’s forgetfulness was miraculous, ie he totally forgot Joseph the moment he left the prison. This was a punishment for Joseph, who had placed his fate in the cupbearer’s hands instead of God’s.”

The commentaries elaborate: Joseph su ered two additional years’ imprisonment to atone for the two requests he made of the cupbearer (“remember me” and “mention me”).

In what way was this even remotely inappropriate? I am reminded of the parable of the hapless man stuck on the roof of his house due to a flood. A speedboat arrives but he refuses to jump in, convinced that God will save him. A helicopter hovers overhead but he refuses to climb in, convinced that God will save him. Eventually he drowns. Entering heaven, he demands an explanation: “I had complete

faith in you! Why didn’t you save me?!” God replies, exasperated: “Who do you think sent the boat and helicopter?”

The line between bitachon (trusting God’s providence) and hishtadlut (taking independent action) is extremely fine. Joseph’s life story speaks directly to this impossible juggling act. In fact, his hishtadlut in asking the butler for help was totally out of character: His years in Egypt are a study of faith in the face of adversity. When Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses him of assault and has him thrown in jail, he doesn’t utter a word. Later, when Joseph finds his voice, he accredits nothing to his own skills or prowess. Consider his conversation with the butler and the baker: “He asked Pharaoh’s ministers, ‘Why do you look so sad?’ And they said to him: ‘We dreamed a dream, and no one can interpret it!’ And Joseph said to them: ‘Do not interpretations belong to God?’” (Genesis 40:6-8)

Incredibly, he says this again – to the sovereign of ancient Egypt!

“Pharaoh said: ‘I dreamed a dream, yet none can interpret it. I have heard that you hear the essence of a dream, to interpret it correctly.’ But Joseph answered: ‘It isn’t me – the answer is from God!’” (Genesis 41:15-16)

If God sends a helicopter to save you, take it!

Constantly and consistently, Joseph takes a very deliberate step out of the limelight, instead thrusting God centre stage. His passivity in the face of challenge therefore becomes much clearer: why resist, when God is pulling the strings? It also becomes clearer why he was taken to task for handing over those strings to the cupbearer.

The Kabbalists refer to Joseph as the ‘righteous foundation of the world’. He exists to be a paradigm of a faith and trust stronger than we can ever imagine. True, to aspire to Joseph’s level of bitachon is a gargantuan task. But he was a dreamer, teaching us to never stop dreaming.

•

In our thought-provoking series, rabbis, rebbetzins and educators relate the week’s parsha to the way we live today

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBI CHARLEY BAGINSKY CEO OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

I’m definitely the grinch of Chanukah. This is what happens when you are a rabbi born on Christmas Day and, not only that, but the one time in 19 years it fell on the 25th of Kislev –the first day of Chanukah. What’s worse than getting birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper? Plus everyone else getting presents on your birthday – both your secular and Jewish birthdays!

Joking aside, giving presents on Chanukah is a relatively new addition to the festival and much more of a western diaspora preoccupa-

tion. But there is something wonderful about receiving a present that either you want or gifting one that someone else wants. Maybe the deep psychological repercussions of my birthdate have made me somewhat preoccupied with getting people exactly the right present, something they never realised they wanted until they unwrapped it. The joy you get from watching their eyes light up is immeasurable.

There is a great Jewish saying that a fool gives and a wise person takes. In other words, a wise person is the one who realises they benefit by giving.

This year, my children’s school sent out a letter recognising that it is a hard year for presents, but that if people

really want to give something to the teachers, they could make a donation towards a defibrillator. The teachers and sta have decided what they really want is something for which everyone can come together and potentially change lives.

The truth is that, for many, this is a hard year in which to fulfil the perceived expectations of what you think everyone might want to receive.

But it’s very possible that, if we listen carefully to what people are really saying, we may find we can do just that.

Inspired by the school, this year I am going to try to ensure that all the gifts I give are about enhancing the relationship I have with them, something that makes us grateful for each other and for life.

A stimulating series where our progressive rabbis consider how Biblical figures might act when faced with 21st-century issues

This Chanukah will be a difficult time for many people because of the cost-of-living crisis

Ask our

Our trusty team of advisers answers your questions about everything from law and finance to dating and dentistry.

This week: Donating to a good cause, living with hearing aids and property management...

LISA WIMBORNE CHIEF EXECUTIVE JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED

Dear Lisa

My parents have lived in a Jewish Blind & Disabled flat for the last five years. We are all so grateful for the support that they have received, and I know they are so happy living there. I don’t have much to give in terms of large donations but would like to know if there are ways I could still support you?

Jill

Dear Jill

Thank you so much for getting in touch and I really appreciate you asking this. We rely on our volunteers who give us their time alongside the generosity from

people across the community to support our services. Especially in these challenging times, we are truly grateful for every hour of volunteering or pound in donations that we receive.

There are several ways you could support us. This includes leaving a gift to Jewish Blind & Disabled in your will.

At least £1 in every £3 of the money we raise is made possible thanks to the generosity of people who leave us a legacy.

Whatever the size of the gift, legacies are crucial to enabling us to deliver high quality housing and support to vulnerable member of our community and their families now and for years to come.

Other ways you could support us include volunteering, or taking on a challenge event, or with Chanukah coming up, you could consider asking friends and family to make a donation rather than buy you a present.

all the time and says she wouldn’t be without it!

SUE CIPIN CHIEF EXECUTIVE JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION

Dear Sue

I wear hearing aids but I avoid busy places because the hearing aids pick up all the sound around me, so I can’t engage in conversation.

A friend had the same problem but now she uses a small microphone, which cuts out background noise so she can hear the person she’s talking to. She goes out

I’d like to try one but I’m a little embarrassed. I’m also afraid people might think I’m recording them or something… and I’m scared they’ll be even more reluctant to include me.

I don’t know what to do – I feel like I’m caught between a rock and a hard place.

Gillian

Dear Gillian

New technology can be frightening but trying it can also open up a whole new world for you!

You’re right, people may not know what it is … but what a perfect opportunity to raise their awareness!

You can show them how hearing aids can work well in all sorts of circumstances, if paired with a microphone that isolates someone’s voice.

I’m sure most people will be eager to learn as much as they can. They may also be struggling themselves or have a friend or relative who is. So talking to you about this could help them too.

At JDA, you can try out one of these microphones for yourself and of course we’re here to help with any technology, support and advice you need. Please give us a ring on 020 8446 0214 and ask for Gabrielle Renée. Together let’s get hearing loss out in the open, where it should be!

STUART WOOLGAR VACANT PROPERTY SECURITY GLOBAL GUARDIANS MANAGEMENT

Dear Stuart

I own a few properties, residential and commercial. The recent mortgage rate rises have impacted on me quite considerably and I am now considering selling one or two of the buildings and repurposing another to keep my portfolio profitable. A couple of the shops became vacant when the businesses closed down, and the tenants in my office

block aren’t going to renew their leases as the staff now mostly work from home, so I’m considering converting that building to residential. While I assess my entire portfolio against the background of our current turbulent economy and what might happen in the property market in 2023, I need to keep these properties secure while they stand empty, but have heard negative stories about guardian companies and am also worried the guardians won’t move out when I need them to.

Amy

Dear Amy Unfortunately, there are always cowboys in any business sector. However,

there are plenty of reputable guardian companies around – mine included, the largest in London. Global Guardians wouldn’t be used by most of the London councils and leading housing associations, if we were in any way unethical, ine cient or unreliable. We are considered the experts in our field and all our property guardians are working professionals, carefully vetted for their suitability; and just a year ago, we won a landmark case in the High Court which supported our way of securing the properties in our care and will prevent anyone refusing to move out or ‘squatting’ illegally. We have always been the standard bearer in our industry so your properties will be in safe hands.

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JEWELLER

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

Qualifications:

• Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s.

• Expert in the manufacture and supply of diamond jewellery, wedding rings and general jewellery.

• Specialist in supply of diamonds to the public at trade prices.

JEWELLERY CAVE LTD 020 8446 8538 www.jewellerycave.co.uk jonathan@jewellerycave.co.uk

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN

Qualifications:

• Lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in will drafting and trust and estate administration. Last 14 years at KKL Executor and Trustee Company.

• In close contact with clients to ensure all legal and pastoral needs are cared for.

• Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

KKL EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE COMPANY 020 8732 6101 www.kkl.org.uk enquiries@kkl.org.uk

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

STEPHEN MORRIS

Qualifications:

• Managing Director of Stephen Morris Shipping Ltd.

• 45 years’ experience in shipping household and personal effects.

• Chosen mover for four royal families and three UK prime ministers.

• Offering proven quality specialist advice for moving anyone across the world or round the corner.

STEPHEN MORRIS SHIPPING LTD 020 8832 2222 www.shipsms.co.uk stephen@shipsms.co.uk

VACANT PROPERTY SECURITY

STUART WOOLGAR

Qualifications:

• CEO of London’s largest guardian company with more than 20 years’ experience

• Well-known and highly regarded British security industry expert.

• Specialists in securing and protecting empty commercial and residential properties.

• Clients include small private landlords to major national property companies and managing agents, as well as those in the public sector.

GLOBAL GUARDIANS MANAGEMENT 020 3818 9100 www.global-guardians.co.uk info@global-guardians.co.uk

COMMERCIAL LAWYER

ADAM LOVATT

Qualifications:

• Lawyer with more than 11 years of experience working in the legal sector. Specialist in corporate, commercial, media, sport and start-ups.

• Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law from the University of London.

• Non-Executive Director of various companies advising on all governance matters.

LOVATT LEGAL LIMITED 07753 802 804 adam@lovattlegal.co.uk

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

SUE CIPIN

Qualifications:

• 20 years+ hands-on experience, leading JDA in significant growth and development.

• Understanding of the impact of deafness on people, including children, at all stages.

• Extensive services for people affected by hearing loss/tinnitus.

• Technology room with expert advice on and facilities to try out the latest equipment. Hearing aid advice, support and maintenance.

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION 020 8446 0502 www.jdeaf.org.uk mail@jdeaf.org.uk

PRINCIPAL, PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL

LOUISE LEACH

Qualifications:

• Professional choreographer qualified in dance, drama and Zumba (ZIN, ISTD

& LAMDA), gaining an honours degree at Birmingham University.

• Former contestant on ITV’s Popstars, reaching bootcamp with Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw and Kym Marsh.

• Set up Dancing with Louise 19 years ago.

DANCING WITH LOUISE 075 0621 7833 www.dancingwithlouise.co.uk Info@dancingwithlouise.com

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FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE

JACOB BERNSTEIN

Qualifications:

•

•

RICHDALE CONSULTANTS LTD 020 7781 8019 www.richdale.co.uk jacob@richdale.co.uk

INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS SPECIALIST

ACCOUNTANT

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

ADAM SHELLEY

Qualifications:

• FCCA chartered certified accountant.

• Accounting, taxation and business advisory services.

• Entrepreneurial business specialist including start-up businesses.

• Specialises in charities; Personal tax returns.

• Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation Volunteer of the Year JVN award.

SOBELL RHODES LLP 020 8429 8800 www.sobellrhodes.co.uk a.shelley@sobellrhodes.co.uk

IT SPECIALIST

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LEE

Qualifications:

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CURRENCIES

HUMAN RESOURCES / EMPLOYMENT LAW

DONNA OBSTFELD

Qualifications:

• FCIPD Chartered HR Professional

• 25 years in HR and Business Management.

• Mediator, Business Coach, Trainer, Author and Speaker

• Supporting businesses and charities with the hiring, managing, inspiring and firing of their staff

DOHR LTD 020 8088 8958 www.dohr.co.uk donna@dohr.co.uk

Qualifications:

•

•

NEFESH B’NEFESH 0800 075 7200 www.nbn.org.il dov@nbn.org.il

DIVORCE & FAMILY SOLICITOR

VANESSA LLOYD PLATT

Qualifications:

• Qualification: 40 years experience as a matrimonial and divorce solicitor and mediator, specialising in all aspects of family matrimonial law, including:

• Divorce, pre/post-nuptial agreements, cohabitation agreements, domestic violence, children’s cases, grandparents’ rights to see grandchildren, pet disputes, family disputes.

• Frequent broadcaster on national and International radio and television.

LLOYD PLATT & COMPANY SOLICITORS 020 8343 2998 www.divorcesolicitors.com lloydplatt@divorcesolicitors.com

IAN GREEN

Qualifications:

• Launched Man on a Bike IT consultancy 15 years ago to provide computer support for the home and small businesses.

• Clients range from legal firms in the City to families, small business owners and synagogues.

• More than 18 years’ experience.

MAN ON A BIKE 020 8731 6171 www.manonabike.co.uk mail@manonabike.co.uk

INSURANCE CONSULTANCY

ASHLEY PRAGER

Qualifications:

• Professional insurance and reinsurance broker. Offering PI/D&O cover, marine and aviation, property owners, ATE insurance, home and contents, fine art, HNW.

• Specialist in insurance and reinsurance disputes, utilising Insurance backed products. (Including non insurance business disputes).

• Ensuring clients do not pay more than required.

RISK RESOLUTIONS 020 3411 4050 www.risk-resolutions.com ashley.prager@risk-resolutions.com

CAREER ADVISER

LISA WIMBORNE

Qualifications:

Able to draw on the charity’s 50 years of experience in enabling people with physical disabilities or impaired vision to live independently, including:

• The provision of specialist accommodation with 24/7 on site support.

• Knowledge of the innovations that empower people and the benefits available.

• Understanding of the impact of a disability diagnosis.

JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED 020 8371 6611 www.jbd.org Lisa@jbd.org If

Email: sales@jewishnews.co.uk

LESLEY TRENNER

RESOURCE 020 8346 4000 www.resource-centre.org office@resource-centre.org

TELECOMS SPECIALIST

BENJAMIN ALBERT

Qualifications:

• Co-Founder and Technical Director of ADWConnect – a specialist in business telecommunications, serving customers worldwide.

• Independent consultant and supplier of Telephone & Internet services.

• Client satisfaction is at the heart of everything my team and I do, always striving to find the most cost-effective solutions.

ADWCONNECT 0208 089 1111 www.adwconnect.com hello@adwconnect.com

ALIYAH ADVISER

Be luminous (4)

Undressed (8)

Overlaid with metal (6)

At a time previous to (6)

Car’s storage compartment (8)

Male red deer (4)

Measure of intensity of noise (7)

Smallest amount (5)

Venturesome businessman (12)

Movement of the shoulders (5)

Jersey Royals, eg (3,6)

Parent’s sister (4)

Delicate (6)

Encouraged (8)

Organ with an external, middle and inner section (3)

Card game played in pairs (6)

Transmit (9)

Bring to mind (8)

Buddhist temple (6)

Walk clumsily (6)

Personal teacher (5)

Run off (4)

Chilli ___ carne, spicy meal (3)

SUGURU

Fears for missing Kinder memorial

Iconic Frank Meisler bronze statue not seen for four years

Concerns are mounting for a cherished Kindertransport memorial missing for almost four years from outside a train station where 124 children were given safe passage from the Nazis, writes Avi Kumar.

The statue, by British-Israeli artist Frank Meisler, similar to one by the late sculpturist on display at Liverpool Street Station, was removed in early 2019 from outside Gdańsk station – the Polish town where Meisler was born – to allow for renovations to the concourse. Entitled ‘Kindertransport – The Departure’, it had been in place for almost a decade.

Following its removal, local authorities assured Rabbi Michal Samet of Gdańsk Synagogue that the statue would return “within two months”. Now, almost four years later, fears are mounting among the local Jewish community that the iconic artwork – marking the place where four Kindertransports took youngsters to safety before September 1939 – may not return to public display.

Tamara Meyer, a member of the Kindertransport

Dialogue Facebook group, has appealed to Gdańsk’s mayor, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, for information.

She said: “I received an email saying that renovation works are still underway at the railway station, all these years later. So the monument is still dismantled and in a warehouse. Apparently there is a chance for it to finally reappear next the spring, but it’s been so long we’re not holding our breath.”

Meyer, whose mother fled Germany as a child before the war, added: “We need to bring the statue back where it belongs, in front of the train station where many Jewish children said goodbye to their parents for the last time.”

Inspector Patryk Rosiński from Gdańsk City Hall Jewish News: “The date [of the monument’s return] is not yet known. It could be by spring.”

Meisler’s daughter, Marit, told Jewish News: “I hope the monument is returned to us eventually as a reminder of what these children, including my father, went through.”

Meisler died in Israel in 2018 aged 92. A plaque was unveiled by the mayor on the wall of the building that stands on the site of his childhood home in Gdańsk (formerly Danzig).

COMMUNITY ‘MISLED’ OVER PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY

The Jewish community is being “misled” over a so-called “Parliamentary investigation” announced by a group of peers into the BBC and its reporting of issues around Jews and Israel, writes Lee Harpin.

The Jewish Chronicle last week claimed a “victory” for its campaign by confirming the launch of a probe into the broadcaster, which

was being led by Lord Ian Austin.

It revealed a panel, chaired by Lord Carlile and including Tory peer Baroness Eaton, Labour peer Lord Triesman and Baroness Deech, with Austin acting as secretary, would gather evidence, publish a report and present its findings to the BBC next year.

The inquiry aims to focus on

genuine concerns among many in the community over the BBC’s reporting in recent years of issues such as the 2021 Chanukah bus incident in Oxford Street, over which the BBC was severely criticised by Ofcom.

Reporting of Israel and the Middle East, particularly on the BBC’s Arabic channel, has also

sparked anger in recent weeks.

But Jewish News has learned that there is now increasing concern among legal experts and communal representatives, as well as Jewish BBC employees themselves, about the way the inquiry, set up by some of the participants themselves, is being presented.

Frank Meisler’s ‘Kindertransport – The Departure’ outside the station in Gdansk

Sunak vows to visit Israel next year for landmark 75th birthday

by Lee Harpin @lmharpin

Speaking at a Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) lunch on Monday that was attended by three ex-prime ministers – Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May – the prime minister said: “Next year I will visit Israel on what will be its 75th birthday and landmark year – after so many years of struggle – and also success.”

Sunak said Israel was now at the forefront of “remarkable achievements” in technology, which he said were “something which Israel’s detractors in the BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement would do away with”.

Stressing his admiration for Israel he added: “I will fight very hard for the security of the Jewish state. But it has also never been more important. It is a friendship which makes all of our systems healthier.”

The PM also used his speech to confirm that the UK will vote against a forthcoming resolu-

tion at the United Nations General Assembly relating to the International Court of Justice along with “our allies”. The resolution requests an advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation in the West Bank, a move branded “outrageous” by Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely. Sunak also noted how the past year had been

“one of the bloodiest” in the Middle East for years, “with an appalling double attack in Jerusalem just last month”. He observed that Israel faced an “unenviable security challenge”.

The PM also used his speech to o er a tough stance in relation to Iran saying that while Israel remains on the frontline “we must recognise its

[Iran’s] activities aren’t confined to the Middle East” and said he was “committed to utilising the full range of tools at our disposal to protect UK citizens from the threat of the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and Iran”.

The PM also committed his party to the completion of a free entry Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre next to Parliament.

It was a testament to CFI’s continued strength with the Tory Party that, despite the snow and freezing weather, 700 people –including 225 MPs and peers – attended the event, which was held at a central London hotel.

Lord Polak, its honorary president, o ered a personal greeting to many on their arrival, and Hotovely praised the “deep commitment” the PM and all at the event “showed to Israel”.

Also at the lunch were 14 members of the current cabinet, including Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Minister for Skills Robert Halfon. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine also attended the event.

In her speech, new CFI chair, Hilda Worth, praised her predecessor, Andrew Heller, saying “you’ve left me with a thriving organisation and big shoes to fill”. Earlier Lord Pickles delivered a well-received speech.

• Editorial comment, page 20

The Merchant of Venice 1936

‘BRITISH

SUPPORT HELPS TO SAVE INNOCENT LIVES’

A Conservative peer has praised Rishi Sunak after he announced the government would vote at the United Nations to oppose Palestinian moves for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s occupation, writes Lee Harpin.

After the prime minister confirmed at the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) lunch on Monday that the UK would now vote to block the move, the group’s honorary president, Lord Polak, hailed the apparent change in approach.

He noted that on an earlier vote only a fortnight ago the UK had instead abstained. Sunak issued a challenge to current Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, urging him to ensure consistency in future.

Thanking Sunak for his actions, Polak told the CFI lunch: “It really, really shouldn’t be that di cult” for the UK to side with “allies” over what he said were one-sided motions.

The United Nations General Assembly will this week hold a vote on whether to ask the ICJ for an advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

Polak was also critical of the government’s slow recognition of the opportunities presented by the Abraham Accords, agreed between Israel and several Gulf States.

He suggested the UK was “not at the table” as the deal was first struck, and urged the Sunakled party to recognise what he said were obvious commercial opportunities from the accords.

Polak also heaped praise on short-lived PM Liz Truss for her approach to relations with Israel and the Middle East.

As he spoke, the CFI o cial also read out a letter sent from Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr

Zelensky, to be read out to the 700 guests at the lunch. He wrote: “I wish to personally thank you and the British people for your brave camaraderie in support of Ukraine, during our own battle for survival and independence.

“In the spirit of the upcoming Chanukah holiday, you are unapologetic role models in your dedication to the triumph of the forces of light over darkness.

“As the famous quote by Shammai in Pirkei Avot says, ‘Say Little, Do Much’. You have been strong not with empty promises, but with bold actions.

“The support of the British people continues to save endless innocent lives every single day and shine a bright light across the entire world.

“While winter is upon us in Ukraine, we perhaps face our greatest challenge yet.

“However, our hearts are warmed and strengthened by your enduring friendship. As Winston Churchill once said: ‘You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something in your life.’”

Cleverly also spoke to the packed CFI event, describing the Abraham Accords as an “important, visible friendship between Israel and the Arab world”.

He talked of the influence attending a CFI fact-finding trip to Israel in 2016 had played on his wider insight into the region.

Despite the obvious challenges around Israel and its relations with its neighbours, Cleverly said: “I’m an actual optimist.”

He added that Israel’s successes in numerous areas had come about because “there is an optimism and energy and positivity”, which he said was the country’s “hallmark”.

Tracy Ann-Oberman in conversation with Howard Jacobson and Brigid Larmour

Rishi Sunak this week told a packed Conservative Friends of Israel reception that he will visit Israel next year for its “landmark 75th birthday”.

Lord Pickles, above, addressed the CFI lunch, as did Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, inset

Iran adds six Parliamentarians to sanctions list for ‘promoting terror’

Six more UK parliamentarians – including Tory Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, and former Labour shadow Middle East Minister Wayne David – have been placed on Iran’s latest sanctions list, writes Lee Harpin.

The MPs and peers – who include Labour’s John Spellar, the independent crossbencher Lord Alton, and the Conservative MP David Jones and Matteo A ord – were informed by the Foreign O ce on Monday about Tehran’s actions.

Also appearing on the latest sanctions list was Geo rey Bindman, head of the British Institute of Human Rights and Ken McCallum director general of MI5.

Labour’s David told Jewish News those parliamentarians added to the list “have stood up for human rights”.

The Caerphilly MP also said he had “strongly supported the concern Israel has put out about the very real threat Iran poses and will continue to do so.

“They can put us on lists, make threats all they like, but nevertheless we will continue to support the democratic opposition against what is happening in Iran.

“What we have seen in recent days (with the executions) has been appalling, truly unacceptable to civilised opinion.”

Announcing the move Iran said: “Due to their intentional support for terrorism and terrorist organisations as well as their promotion of terrorism, violence, and hatred that result in riots, violence, terrorist acts, and violations of the of Iranian citizens, the foreign

ministry imposes sanctions on specific British individuals and entities.

“This decision was taken as a reciprocal measure and in accordance with the pertinent regulations and mechanisms.”

Last month, the Tory peer Lord Polak was

among those named on an earlier sanctions list.

Meanwhile, Iran has carried out publicly executing people who have been protesting.

Mohsen Shekari, 23, was hanged in Tehran last Thursday after just 75 days in custody for his role in demonstrations against the regime.

And on Monday, 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged from a construction crane in the city of Mashhad, as a warning to the public.

• Iran has launched dozens of plots to kill its perceived enemies abroad, including Jews, among them the French philosopher BernardHenri Lévy, according to a report in the Washington Post. The regime intensified its targeting of overseas figures after the United States assassinated a top general, Qassem Soleimani, in 2020, the report last week said.

One expert said Iran has launched 36 plots; many are averted by authorities in the targeted countries. Last summer, Israeli o cials told its citizens not to travel to Istanbul, saying an Iranian-backed terrorist attack had recently been foiled.

Lévy, who emphasises his Jewish outlook, has been an outspoken critic of repressive regimes in the Middle East, particularly Iran.

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At Jewish Care there is no option to ‘turn things off’

Protesters speak out against the Iranian regime at a demonstration outside Parliament

MP praises CST after alert to online threats

Conservative MP Johnny Mercer has praised the Community Security Trust (CST) after it alerted both him and the police to sickening death threats on social media, writes Lee Harpin.

The former Veterans Minister, and MP for Plymouth Moor View, was targeted with threats, including a message reading, “The next dead MP?” posted by an individual who objected to reports that Mercer had o ered employment to an Afghan interpreter in his o ce.

Screenshots also showed the comment, “Until politicians are dragged out of their homes and butchered, things won’t change. Until that happens they will continue to take the p***. They’ve made it that way, not us.”

The same person, who is believed to live near the MP and former British army o cer, had also posted anti-

semitic messages about “globalists” and another suggesting the “little Jew needs skinning alive”. Mercer later pointed out on social media he is not Jewish.

Jewish News understands that CST researchers had been doing general work on protecting the Jewish community when they came across the threats directed at Mercer.

A few weeks ago they had foiled a potential extremist

plot in New York, and it is the second time this year CST has discovered a threat to a British MP.

The communal charity conducts such work on a confidential basis, but has confirmed its involvement in the Mercer incident after the MP made the threats against him public on Monday.

Sharing the posts, Mercer tweeted: “People should know the price of being an MP.”

He added: “Thanks to the Community Security Trust for bringing this to my attention, and doing your bit to look after brilliant Jewish colleagues like Ruth Smeeth. Think before you do things like this. We all have families –and for the record, colleagues get far worse.”

On the specific threats to himself, he wrote: “This all from one guy, in Plymouth. Threatens to kill me, skin me in salt (bit specific), has done recce’s of my home and encourages others to ‘lynch’ me.”

CST later tweeted: “As Johnny Mercer says, this thread relates to a series of vicious threats against him that CST researchers found in the course of our work, which we reported to police and to Johnny Mercer’s o ce.

“Extremism feeds antisemitism and endangers democracy – it is all one fight.”

‘DON’T BAN HITLER PRAISE’ SAYS LORD

Denying the Holocaust or saying that Hitler “got some things right” should not be made illegal, a leading Jewish commentator has insisted.

Writing on controversial rapper Kayne West’s recent remarks, in which he praised the Nazi leader, Danny Finkelstein opposed calls to ban his music, saying “we ought to push what we allow to be said to the limit”.

In a comment piece for The Times, Finkelstein writes:”I don’t believe what West said

Holocaust or say Hitler got some things right.”

The Conservative peer and Chelsea Football Club director suggests that comments such as those made by West, who is now known as Ye, represent “political or historical observations”, and not direct violent threats, which he accepts “should be outlawed”.

He later compares the rapper’s music as “pioneering” in the same way German composer Wagner’s work is also of “major importance”.

Finkelstein writes that “art should be allowed to speak for itself”, adding the “same principle that applies to Wagner – whose antisemitism was marked – applies to West’s output”. He also notes that Michael Jackson’s music is still listened to despite awareness of his behaviour.

Actors union blasts Ye

The Screen Actors Guild (Sag-Aftra) has condemned recent antisemitic comments made by Kanye West, saying that hate speech was “often a precursor to violence”.

The US union, which represents thousands of industry professionals, said the rapper’s remarks were not “harmless ranting” and had “real-world consequences”.

It comes after West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, gave a recent interview with US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in which he praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The rapper’s Twitter account was also suspended for violating the platform’s

policy against inciting violence, after he posted a series of erratic tweets, one of which appeared to show a symbol combining a swastika and a Jewish star.

“Sag-Aftra abhors and condemns the antisemitic statements being made by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West,” the organisation said in a statement on its website. “The use of antisemitic imagery and tropes by highprofile individuals on social media and elsewhere is not harmless ranting. It is ignorant, hateful and has realworld consequences.

“The tired debunked stereotypes peddled by Ye and others only serve to further

divide us as a country and debase us as a society. Hate speech and the use of hate imagery is often a precursor to violence. The normalisation and mainstreaming of antisemitic and racist views has already resulted in a rise in violence against Jewish people and organisations in this country and elsewhere.”

Sag-Aftra said it stood with the Jewish community in fighting “hate speech and threats of violence from any source”, adding: “You need only look back less than a century to see evidence of what happens when antisemitic ideas are allowed to proliferate unchecked.

“We say, never again.”

‘CONCENTRATION CAMP’ SLUR

A Labour MP has sparked anger after comparing the UK government’s plan to house migrants in holiday camps to “concentration camps”.

Clive Lewis made the remark on the BBC Politics Live show after commenting on Rishi Sunak’s plan to tackle the migrant crisis and referencing the Boer War in South Africa.

A spokesperson for Labour leader Keir Starmer described the MP’s comments as being “clearly unacceptable” and said the issue of any possible disciplinary action against Lewis was a matter for Labour’s whips.

A Jewish Labour source said Lewis’s refer-

ence was “in dreadfully poor taste.”

The Norwich South MP, who defended Jeremy Corbyn, made the comments when asked about the iPaper’s headline which said: “Pontins revolt: Tory backlash at plan to house migrants in holiday camps.”

He said: “I’m looking at that headline… let’s be really clear here, my understanding is if you put a group of people concentrated into a camp – as you did in South Africa in the Boer War – it’s what you call a concentration camp. Presenter Job Coburn interrupted, telling him: “Language is important here.”

Ye, formerly Kanye West

The CST discovered posts targeting Johnny Mercer MP

Danny Finkelstein

Continued from page 1

Three members of the six-member inquiry panel have previously been linked with the JC’s longrunning campaign against the BBC, leading to fears that serious conflict of interest concerns could be raised by those asked to participate in any evidence-gathering or questioning sessions.

Legal experts this week also cast grave doubts on the investigation achieving what it claimed it was set up to do, with some expressing fears it was part of a long-running politicised campaign to pit the Jewish community against the BBC.

Former Downing Street spin doctor, Sir Robbie Gibb, led the consortium that took over the JC in 2020 and joined the BBC as a board member in 2021, having previously worked there as a journalist. He claims to have no involvement in editorial decisions made by the JC

An analysis of the newspaper’s petition, launched to support its anti-BBC campaign, also revealed a concerning number of messages from signatories making unsubstantiated, and often inflammatory, claims against the broadcaster.

One campaign supporter recently wrote that the BBC “is overtly anti-white and consciously pro-black people”.

Another, among the petition’s 10,000 backers, accused the BBC of preparing the way for another Holocaust, while another signatory attacked Jewish BBC sta , pouring scorn on the fact that some may work on Shabbat.

One Jewish BBC employee, who spoke to Jewish News in confidence, admitted that they

were “sickened” by some of the comments allowed to remain on the JC’s petition since it was started earlier this year.

The employee, who has worked with the broadcaster for more than a decade, added: “It’s somewhat ironic to learn that, for as long as I have worked here, I have been employed by an organisation that people who don’t work here are branding ‘institutionally antisemitic’ on a petition.”

Jerry Lewis, a former senior BBC World Service press o cer, former vice-president of the Board of Deputies and Westminster expert, said: “There are issues to be discussed about the BBC,

but this is certainly not the way to go about it. For a start, an o cial parliamentary inquiry can only be set up by standing committee, or led by a select committee. People will be misled into believing this is something more than it is.”

Meanwhile, another senior BBC source, who has experience of working with the Jewish community, suggested there were “pockets” of concern within the organisation, but said dialogue was the best way to achieve change.

“The Jewish community needs the BBC,” they said. “It’s not Press TV or Al Jazeera – it’s a million miles away from those organisations.

“Senior management, including Tim Davie,

stood four square with the makers of the BBC Panorama episode that tackled antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. An anti-Jewish organisation does not do that.”

Lewis, a UK correspondent to Israeli radio station KAN, added: “Those who are pursuing an agenda, as this campaign appears to be, must not fall into the trap of becoming part of the political campaign led by groups on the right to demonise some of the excellent reporting and services provided by the BBC, including superb coverage of Holocaust issues and of antisemitism.

“It’s disingenuous and, I fear, this inquiry may have been set objectives and asked to do a report fulfilling those objectives, rather than looking at the real issues.”

It is understood that concerns about the nature of the Parliamentary probe were raised at a meeting of the Board of Deputies’ defence division last Monday.

Leading KC Simon Myerson also warned: “There is no basis to suppose that the result of the probe will result in either legislation or action at the BBC itself. The importance of a parliamentary probe of this kind is that its conclusion should compel respect.

“That will be down to the people selected to conduct whatever hearing or inquiry is envisaged, the amount of work done by those who present the material, the cooperation of potential parties and witnesses, and the fairness, or otherwise, of the proceedings and the conclusions.”

Nazi uniform was ‘one of my biggest errors’

The Duke of Sussex has revealed he felt “so ashamed” after wearing a Nazi uniform to a private party, calling it “one of the biggest mistakes” of his life.

Harry caused outrage in 2005 when he donned the soldier’s uniform complete with swastika for a fancy dress party.

The Duke addressed the incident during the third episode of Harry &

Meghan, the explosive docuseries that aired on Netflix last week.

He said: “It was probably one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I felt so ashamed afterwards. All I wanted to do was make it right.”

He revealed he also met with thenChief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, to discuss the error. He added: “I could’ve just

ignored it and probably made the same mistakes over and over again in my life. But I learned from that.”

Harry, who was 20 at the time, was pictured holding a drink and cigarette while wearing the costume.

Clarence House issued a response saying Harry had apologised for any o ence or embarrassment caused.

Harry was widely condemned in 2009 after being caught on film calling a former Army colleague “our little Paki friend”.

The Duke’s latest comments on the incident came as he discussed unconscious bias within the royal family.

The third episode referenced when Princess Michael of Kent wore a Blackamoor-style brooch to an event the Duchess of Sussex attended in 2017.

Harry said: “In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias.

“The thing with unconscious bias, it is actually no one’s fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself you then need to make it right.

“It is education. It is awareness. It is a constant work in progress for everybody, including me.”

RABBI WHITESMAN, WE PRESUME?

Nursery pupils at Sinai School in Kenton made the most of the icy conditions by building a snow rabbi in the playground. It was one of only a handful of Jewish schools to remain open on Monday.

From ‘special measures’ to top 10 comprehensive

JFS has capped a remarkable academic transformation by being named among the country’s top 10 comprehensives – less than two years after being put into special measures by Ofsted.

TheTimes newspaper ranks Europe’s largest Jewish secondary school, based in

Kenton, sixth in its annual list of comprehensive schools, with 87.8 percent of students achieving A-level grades between A* and B.

The newspaper’s rankings also place Hasmonean Girls High School in Mill Hill in seventh place and Yavneh College in Borehamwood in eighth.

Prince Harry and Meghan in a scene from their new Netflix documentary

Lord Young, Thatcher’s favourite fixer, dies at 90

Tributes were paid this week to the Jewish peer and head of several major Jewish charities Lord (David) Young, following his death aged 90, writes Joy Falk.

Young, who made his money in property, was the first president of Jewish Care, and also served as president of Chai Cancer Care, the Jewish Museum in Camden and Jewish educational charity World ORT.

He was a senior cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and the ‘Iron Lady’ famously credited his policies on trade and employment as having helped to get her elected for a third term in 1987.

This week, former prime minister David Cameron said Young was “a true champion of business and enterprise for over 40 years, from Thatcher’s government to my own… He was a thoughtful, kind, and lovely man who will be deeply missed”.

Young, who was born in north London and who had been a Labour voter in the 1960s, was made a Conservative peer in 1984 and within weeks had been catapulted into the Cabinet, where his brief included privatisations.

He was born in Clapton to Betty and Jo Young and grew up in a close-knit Jewish family. His father arrived in the UK in 1905 as a Jewish immigrant from Yurevich near Minsk. Even though his father

went blind, he still led the Seder from memory.

Young’s paternal grandfather came from Lithuania, while his maternal grandmother came from Tilsit, in what is now Russia. His brother, Stuart, began life as an accountant before becoming chairman of the BBC in 1983, a post he held until his death from cancer aged 52.

He counted the late Israeli president Chaim Herzog and the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin as “good friends”, but was at heart a family man – although he lived near Chichester, he attended Central Synagogue in St. John’s Wood, so he could go to the services with his six grandchildren.

Among his many communal roles, Young became president of Chai Cancer Care in 2006 and built up the charity’s donor base. He remained involved and, as recently as a fortnight ago, he was taking part in a Chai Cancer Care trustees’ meeting.

The charity’s chair, Louise Hager, said: “All of us are shocked and deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of our beloved president, Lord Young.

“His wise council, great experience and compassion for the past 16 years were pivotal to the organisation’s development.

“We will always remember him with tremendous gratitude and affection. We send strength

and

[his

JEWISH STUDENTS ARE SEEN AS ‘AGENTS OF ISRAEL’

Jewish students are viewed as “agents of a government many of them have no connection to” a communal leader has warned, writes Lee Harpin.

Joel Rosen, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), spoke out on what he said was”more subtle, more insidious cases of political antisemitism” relating to the Israel-Palestine issue that had been found within the National Union of Students (NUS)

in recent years. “It’s an antisemitism that sees all Jewish students as being agents of a government many of them have no connection to, and many certainly don’t support,” he said.

“There is an exclusionary political culture within NUS where Jews are marginalised within student discourse. The prejudice they face is denied. They feel ostracised.”

Rosen spoke to the BBC ahead of the forthcoming

report into antisemitism in the NUS, which had been conducted by KC Rebecca Tuck. The report told how Amy Cregor, a University of Leeds drama student, suffered an antisemitic incident.

Her hair and clothes were covered with barbecue sauce and she was taunted before a group of attackers drove away. “I was a bit in shock,” she said. “For every traumatic incident that gets reported, there are many that go unreported,” added Rosen.

prayers to [his wife] Lita,

daughters] Karen, Judith, and all the family. Yehi Zichro Baruch. May his memory be for a blessing.”

Clockwise from top left: the late Lord Young pictured with former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, outside 10 Downing Street, at a Chai Cancer Care event and with former prime minister David Cameron

Tributes to ‘diligent and dedicated’ Barnet mayor

Cohen, a Conservative, had represented the Golders Green

continuously since 1982. He first served as mayor of Barnet in 2002-3, and in 2013 became the first councillor in 30 years to embark on a second term as the borough’s first citizen, selecting Kisharon as one of his beneficiary charities.

An alumnus of Hasmonean High School and then of University College London, Cohen also used his two tenures to raise thousands of pounds for the Mayor of Barnet’s Armed Forces Welfare Fund and the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

He was Barnet Council’s Cabinet member for Planning from 2004 to 2010 and was chairman of the Constitution and General Purposes Committee.

In May of this year, he was honoured for his 40 years of service to the Borough of Barnet at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the council at Hendon Town Hall and was awarded a certificate by the outgoing Mayor, councillor Alison Cornelius.

“Things have changed so much in 40 years,” he said at the time. “I preceded the age of technology and I guess I have been left a little behind, but I have enjoyed my time on this council over the years and I am really looking forward to the next four years.”

Barnet Council leader, councillor Barry Rawlings, said at the AGM: “Forty years’ service to your borough is truly commendable and, despite sitting on the other side of the aisle from Councillor Cohen, I’ve always found him to be a hugely respectful and hardworking councillor. He has worked diligently for his community and continues to do so, four decades is quite an aston-

ishing feat and I’m glad I can be here to congratulate him.”

Councillor Daniel Thomas, leader of the Barnet Conservative Group also gave thanks to Cohen: “I have worked with Melvin for many years now and have been fortunate to have been able to learn from his depth of knowledge and experience. His dedication to his community and the borough is an inspiration and I know I can speak for all our colleagues in saying thank you and congratulations on 40 years of service to Barnet.”

Cohen’s funeral and burial are set to take place in Israel. He leaves behind two sons – Dean, a fellow Conservative councillor in Barnet, and Justin, who is the news editor and co-publisher of Jewish News

JLC launches support hub over cost of living

The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) has launched an online resource to support the community during the costof-living crisis.

The Cost of Living Support Hub provides links to advice and support from local authorities, Jewish communal organisations and wider voluntary sector services. It comes as the UK faces soaring energy, gas and food bills.

Michelle Mitchell, head of strategic collaboration at the JLC said: “There are many organisations, both inside and

outside of the Jewish community, who have been able to respond reflexively to expand or adapt their services.”

The JLC wants to hear from any charitable organisations o ering services that are not currently listed on the hub.

Michelle Minsky, head of the United Synagogue’s chesed department, said: “The resources ... will hopefully be extremely useful for families and individuals who are struggling at the moment.”

Access the hub via www.the jlc.org/cost-of-living

LAST L’CHAIM TO WEMBLEY

Congregants attending a final farewell to Wembley United Synagogue, which is moving to smaller premises nearby, received souvenir miniature bottles of whisky to toast the community’s 60 years on Forty Avenue.

Barnet’s longest-serving councillor and two-time mayor, Melvin Cohen, has died. His funeral and burial is scheduled for today in Israel, writes Joy Falk.

ward

Councillor Melvin Cohen received his award earlier this year for 40 years’ of service

All of us at Chai Cancer Care are deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of our beloved President Lord Young z’l

We were privileged to have benefitted from his wise council, great experience and compassion which were pivotal to the organisation’s development.

He will always be remembered with tremendous gratitude and affection. Our thoughts and prayers are with Lita, Karen, Judith and all the family

May his memory be for a blessing

The Trustees and everyone at Chai

CST is committed to protecting the UK Jewish community. This would not be possible without the dedication of our 2,000 volunteers and our donors across the country. Thank you for supporting CST and enabling us to secure every aspect of Jewish life. Wishing you a Happy Chanukah.

British and Israeli reality stars to wed

A British-born reality TV star is to marry an Israeli woman who also made TV headlines despite the pair having little grasp of each other’s languages when they met, writes Jotam Confino.

Josh Brennan, who appeared on Rising Star (HaKokhav Haba), moved to Israel in February, partially to escape the increase in antisemitism in the UK.

Since then, he has begun a journey to break through in the music industry, with his participation in the TV show putting him on the map of the Israeli music scene.

Brennan told Jewish News he has found the “love of his life” in Shira Gitter, an Israeli whom he had been messaging on Tinder before he moved to Israel. They finally met up the day after he arrived, and despite some language and cultural barriers they quickly became an item.

“Our first date was at a sushi place in Ra’anana. I knew straightaway how amazing she was. I don’t think she knew at that moment that I would be the one but I certainly felt it. Her English wasn’t that great and my Hebrew was nonexistent. But she spoke a little, and we mainly used Google Translate to communicate,” he said.

Shira, who is also known from TV from her time in Israeli Big Brother 10 years ago, came to support Brennan when he was on Rising Star: “She was incredibly supportive and has been the most amazing girlfriend. And I know she will be the most amazing wife, so I am very excited.

“There were some cultural barriers, but it was really interesting to learn about

her culture, me being an Ashkenazi Jew and her being Sephardic, with roots from Iraq and Tunisia. I’ve really embraced it.”

Their families have met twice already and. Brennan, who is in the final stages making aliyah, has taken Shira to England to show her Finchley, where he grew up.

They plan to marry in Israel on 28 December.

Finance whizz Martin Lewis is set to become the first Jewish performer to score a Christmas number one with a rework of Do They Know It’s Christmas.

The television expert has teamed up with novelty act LadBaby and are the first act to be allowed to rework the Band Aid song, getting permission from Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and the Band Aid Trust.

They release the track titled Food Aid on Friday, with half of the money raised going to food bank charity the Trussell Trust and the other half to the Band Aid Trust.

Geldof and co-writer Ure’s first version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? raised £8 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.

LadBaby and Lewis, who appears on the track with a number of musical collaborators, are aiming to raise as much money as possible to help tackle hunger and poverty.

Lewis said: “When Mark and Roxanne contacted me out of the blue to ask if I’d join them in Food Aid I thought they’d confused me with someone else.

“The nearest I’ve ever got to thinking about a Christmas number one is going to the loo on Boxing Day after too much orange juice the day before.

“Yet once I knew they were serious, and it was for the Trussell Trust, a hugely important charity that I have a proud history with, I decided to give it a go, and do it with gusto.”

Londoner Josh Brennan and Shira Gitter plan to marry on 28 December in Israel

LadBaby and Martin Lewis

Why survivor’s son applied for a new German passport

It’s arrived. My new passport. My new, burgundy red passport. My German passport

It means so many things to me, this German passport: a small personal protest against this country’s growing insularity. A symbolic embrace of something more generous; a reconnection with the lost generations of my family. An act of remembrance and reconciliation.

I’m British. I grew up here. I have no plans to live elsewhere. I feel no less English for the fact that I’m now also a German citizen.

But I love my country more for what it could be than what it’s become.

But for Brexit, I doubt I would have taken this course. For most of my adult life, I’ve enjoyed the rights and freedoms of a European. And for me, the EU has represented something still more significant. Whatever its deficiencies, it has brought nations and peoples closer together and, after centuries of bloodletting, helped to preserve peace in Europe for three generations. That so many Britons could reject that legacy, preferring instead a narrow and often xenophobic nationalism, has been profoundly disillusioning. My new passport is my small protest.

It offers, of course, no protection from the economic, political and reputational damage Brexit has already inflicted on Britain. But I have at least recovered my precious right to free movement in Europe.

Once again, I’m able to embrace, and be embraced by, a greater sense of fellowship than our isolating exceptionalism allows.

My decision has not been straightforward. It’s just six months since the publication of my book, The Last Train – A Family History of the Final Solution. In November 1941, that train bore my grandparents, Sally and Bertha Brandes, from their home in Bamberg to their deaths in Latvia.

So why would a Jew who has just documented the destruction of his family by

the Nazis wish to become a German? It has much to do with the contrasting ways our two nations engage with their histories and imagine their futures.

I was born just a couple of months before the late Queen’s coronation. She was a constant in my life as in so many others.

Yet there was something about the national mourning of her death that I found troubling. The British establishment does pageantry very well. It’s as if its very existence depends on it –and, to a significant degree, it does.

The 10 days of grieving, the funeral itself, the dismissal of dissenting voices, were in large part about the preservation of the status quo, and, inherently, the nostalgic, outdated image

we have of ourselves in a world that’s changed so radically since the 1950s. For the British, tradition is a rock and a deadweight.

We have not come to terms with our history in the way that the Germans have with theirs. They had no choice. We avoided ours.

Yet, as the Germans have shown, acknowledging their unalterable past does not inhibit their capacity to shape their future – far from it. By the same token, a balanced appraisal of Britain’s imperial legacy should not enfeeble us today. Love of country should inspire us not constantly to look back, but confidently to look forward.

We should be striving to make our country not so much ‘great again’ as, simply, great.

I cannot forget what happened to my family. And whether I forgive those who persecuted and finally murdered my grandparents is immaterial. But I can be reconciled with modern Germany and modern Germans – and I am.

Last month, my sister and I visited my father’s home city of Bamberg to celebrate the laying of three Stolpersteine, ‘stumbling stones’, the little brass plaques placed in the pavement outside the former homes of Jews who fled from or perished under the Nazis.

There are now two for my father, one alongside his parents’ home, opposite the site of the grand synagogue that burned on Kristallnacht, the other at the entrance to the school from which, in 1935, he was the last Jew to graduate under the Nazis. The third is for his aunt Meta whose days ended in Theresienstadt.

These Stolpersteine, three of almost 100,000 that now punctuate streets throughout Europe, are all sponsored and curated by local volunteers. They are modest little memorials. But they are more than that, for they are designed to make the mind stumble, just occasionally, to cause those who step over them to pause and contemplate how they came to be there.

They are a remembrance, not a rebuke. My father would, I believe, be happy that he is once more remembered in the city that, despite everything, he loved. And so this act of commemoration is also an act of reconciliation and a natural postscript to my book.

In building their new democracy, the Germans have learned much from the British. The British would do well to learn from the Germans on how to cope with the past and, by so doing, embrace a better future.

Photo by Ulli Koch

JBD inaugurates its new development

Jewish Blind & Disabled (JBD) marked the inaugural concrete pour at its new development in Mill Hill alongside the charity’s patron, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and Hendon MP Matthew Offord. Due for completion in the summer of 2024, Ephraim Court is JBD’s eighth development, providing 30 new apartments for people with physical disabilities or vision impairments, as well as an overnight studio apartment for the on-site house manager and a range of communal facilities. Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: “Our Jewish world depends on chesed [loving-kindness], and I am blown away by the act of kindness from the Ephraim 1998 Charitable Trust in supporting this building. Huge thank you to one and all for being part of the successful foundations of Jewish life for those who need us.”

Poet wins National Gallery commission

An award-winning Jewish poet has won a prestigious commission from the National Gallery. Dr Aviva Dautch is one of 20 authors selected to pen a written response to a new National Gallery virtual exhibition on religion and art. Called Fruits of the Spirit: Art From the Heart, it pairs nine iconic Christian pieces ‘in conversation’ with a more contemporary artwork. Dautch chose to match the theme of faith with Italian painter Orazio Gentileschi’s The Finding of Moses, which dates from the early 1630s. She said: “It was a challenge to consider the relationship between art and religion.“ The exhibition runs until 30 April 2023.

Israeli diplomats pitch up with Accord states

GESHER’S HIGH HOPES FOR 18-FOOT

LEGO CHANUKIAH

Gesher School has world record hopes for an 18-foot, 80,000-brick Lego Chanukiah, which was officially unveiled this week by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. The project has been a year in the making through the efforts of teaching assistant and former Lego employee, Danny Cazzato. Gesher’s students built the Chanukiah’s nine candles and supporting base, before an official Lego ‘master-builder’ glued everything together and securely attached it in the main hall of the Pinner school.

Israeli diplomats in the UK finished third in a football tournament between Abraham Accords states. Representatives from the embassies of Israel, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco took part in the event at Powerleague in Battersea. Replicating the success of its national team in the World Cup, Moroccan diplomats beat Bahrain in the final. Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, said: “Two years after signing the Accords, we celebrated by playing football with new friends.”

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FUTURE GENERATIONS

A gift in your Will can help families in the years to come. To amend your Will or to learn how your legacy can make a huge difference in providing specialist care at our homes in Clapham and Hampstead, please contact David in our Fundraising Department

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Judges reject Charedi dad’s woman concern

A Charedi man who is embroiled in a family court dispute with his estranged wife and objected to a female social worker investigating issues relating to their eight-year-old son has lost a legal fight.

The man had said an assessment should be carried out by a male social worker.

He challenged a family court judge’s order, which named a female social worker as the expert who should carry out the assessment, and complained that his human right to a fair trial had been infringed. But three judges at the Court of Appeal have dismissed his challenge after a hearing in London.

Lady Justice King, Lord Justice Baker and Lord Justice Dingemans ruled that Judge Richard Clarke, who is overseeing the couple’s dispute, which is centred on the care of the boy, at a family court in Watford, Hertfordshire, had been entitled to “reject the father’s human rights arguments”.

Judges heard that both parents had been raised as members of the Chasidic community. The man had said he would have “di culties speaking to a female social worker” and that “it would not be compliant with his Charedi tradition”.

He said that he had a right to a fair trial and that Judge Clarke should appoint an expert in whom all “parties” had “confidence”. The judge had said he was satisfied that a female social worker identified as an independent assessor was the “appropriate expert”.

Christopher Hames KC, who represented the man at the appeal hearing, said Judge Clarke’s “failure to

attach adequate weight” to his client’s objection to the appointment of a female independent social worker was a breach of the right to a fair trial.

Mr Hames said Judge Clarke had “disregarded the father’s reasonable and legitimate concern” that the appointment of a female assessor would “compromise his ability to engage in the assessment”.

Lord Justice Baker said, in the appeal court ruling, that the boy’s mother had described “life in the community”. He said she had spoken of her estranged husband’s “strict religious observances”.

“It is her case that she found her life with the father intolerable,” said Lord Justice Baker. “Her description of the father’s conduct includes examples of his discomfort in the presence of women, including in some contexts, the mother herself.”

Mill Hill East welcomes ‘inspiring’ rabbinic couple

Mill Hill East Jewish Community (MHEJC) has welcomed Rabbi Jack and Rebbetzin Rivka Cohen as its new rabbinic couple.

Joined by sons, Itzik and Yoni, the Cohens, who have been at Hampstead United Synagogue for three years, are expected to take up their roles in February.

Rabbi Cohen studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion and has a degree in philosophy from UCL. Rebbetzin Cohen is a software developer who attended

seminaries in Israel. They were “incredibly grateful” to be given the opportunity to serve MHEJC, saying: “We are really looking forward to working with this vibrant and engaged community.”

MHEJC chairs Chloe Prager and James Neidle said: “[Rabbi Jack and Rivka’s] ability to provide inspiring, modern Jewish leadership together with warm and sensitive pastoral support makes them an ideal couple to take MHEJC into its next chapter.”

BOWL

crockery company, Blond Amsterdam, has withdrawn a coffee bowl depicting a smiling Anne Frank holding her diary after outrage from the local Jewish community.

EIGHT TH T NIGHTS

For eight nights, Jewish families gather together in their homes to light up the winter evenings with their Chanukah candles. This is a special opportunity to ignite thoughts and stimulate discussion. Here are eight bite-size ideas, one for each night of the festival, for you to share with those around you as you light the Chanukah candles.

The Chanukah menorah should ideally be placed in a window facing the street in order to publicise the miracle. These tiny flames flicker proudly and proclaim our Jewish identity to our families inside the home as well as to the world outside. They proclaim “Am Yisrael Chai”, the Jewish people live. The mission of the Jewish people is to abide by a moral code that enables us to be ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Exodus 19:6) and a ‘light unto the nations’ (Isaiah 49:6).

Think about how we as individuals and as a community can be a shining example to those around us.

The custom is to add one more candle each night. This is because the longer the oil in the Temple burned, the greater the miracle became. The Rabbis say, ‘one who does not increase, decreases’ (Ethics of the Fathers 1:13). Our relationship with Judaism should be something organic and growing. Each new candle introduces a fresh appreciation of the Chanukah story and, by extension, the miracle of Jewish survival.

Think of a way we can enhance our relationship with our heritage.

A unique property of a flame is that one can use it to ignite many more, without diminishing the original light. The Talmud similarly says ‘A lamp for one illuminates like a lamp for a hundred’ (Shabbat 122a). This teaches us that ultimately we never lose by sharing. In fact we gain more from giving than from taking. Giving to others helps make the world a better place and in doing so everyone gains.

Think of an extra act of giving we can do with no ulterior motive.

The word Chanukah means ‘dedication’ because we commemorate the process of the rededication of the Temple. Chanukah is also related to the Hebrew word for education, chinuch. Jewish education is not just about imparting information; rather we are educating our children to play their unique role within our community and the world at large. The lights in the Temple were kindled until they were able to burn by themselves. Judaism sees fostering independence as a primary goal of education. When people are empowered to make informed choices, their decisions are much more meaningful.

What is the most important value we would like to impart to future generations?

The verse in Proverbs 20:27 likens man’s soul to God’s candle. Mankind was created in the image of God. Like animals we possess earthly bodies; however our souls are a spark of the Divine. Whilst the body is nourished by food, the soul draws its sustenance from good deeds. Like the flicker of a flame, the soul strives to reach higher and higher and is a source of light, warmth and comfort to all who draw close to it.

deeds.

We nourish our bodies at least three times a day. Think of something we can do to nourish our souls daily.

The verse in Proverbs 6:23 likens a mitzvah to a candle and Torah to a light. Judaism views mitzvot as opportunities of infinite value. Each mitzvah is an act that can connect us to God and enrich our lives forever, regardless of what else we do or don’t do. Rather than being all or nothing, Judaism is a journey where every step counts.

Think of a mitzvah to learn more about during these days of Chanukah

The Maccabees who rose to the challenge through their sheer determination and faith in God were able to bring the Jewish people back from the brink of oblivion. We can never choose what happens to us in life; that is out of our control. What we can do is choose how to respond to those events. What we go through in life is not as important as who we become as a result.

Think of a challenging situation and contemplate the difference between a response and a reaction.

On this last night of Chanukah we reflect on the lessons of the past week. We have learnt how a small band of committed people were unwilling to resign themselves to defeat even when all seemed lost. They placed their faith in God and took action even though it seemed futile. This is symbolised by the miracle of the oil; they lit the candles even though they did not have enough fuel. Their bitachon, trust in God, meant that they realised although they had to try their best, ultimately all success is in the hands of Heaven.

Think about the darkest times in Jewish history and draw courage, strength and inspiration from their acts of bravery and determination.

Bethlehem’s Christians fear for future as emigration shrinks community

by Jotam Confino in Bethlehem jotam@jewishnews.co.uk @mrconfino

A massive Christmas tree, Santa Claus handing out sweets and a marching band playing Western Christmas songs – it seems Bethlehem has it all. At least at first glance.

Palestinian Christians make up just one percent of the population in the West Bank, with some 33,000 living in and around Bethlehem. Being the birthplace of Jesus, the city is visited by some two million people every year.

Christmas is the highlight of the year for Christians in Bethlehem, bringing together faith and family through masses and family dinners on 25 December.

But the number of Palestinian Christians is decreasing, partly due to emigration, which is of great concern.

A concern that is shared by Jamil and Umm Burhan Jarayseh, a Palestinian Christian family in the town of Beit Sahour, a suburb of Bethlehem.

“I am against immigration. We are the sons of the land and the protectors of the Christian heritage. We are

also the keepers of the Arab language. We prevented the Ottomans from replacing our language with Turkish when they were here,” 82-year-old Jamil told Jewish News.

And like all Palestinians in the West Bank, the Jarayseh family is a ected greatly by the restricted freedom of movement, with the many military checkpoints making it di cult for them to visit other families and friends during the holiday.

Jamil is also critical of the Palestinian Authority, which he said is not doing anything to help support the Christian community. ‘There are no job opportunities here so we go and work in Israel,” he said.

Samir Qumsiyeh, general manager of al Mahd TV, the West Bank’s first Christian TV broadcasting, has been a leading figure in the Bethlehem community for decades.

Qumsiyeh, whose four brothers and son emigrated abroad, is also pessimistic about the future of the community, saying emigration as well as a low birth rate pose “big problems”.

“There are various reasons for the emigration. Some are not happy with their lives here, others leave for

economic reasons,” Qumsiyeh said. “Israelis say Jerusalem is a Jewish city and Muslims say it’s an Islamic city. But... Jerusalem is a Christian city before anything. I wonder why it’s being ignored. I blame the Christian leadership,” for not reacting, he said. “I’m afraid the day will come when the Holy Sepulchre will one day become a museum.”

The solution, however, is not for rich Christians abroad to donate money to the community. “Don’t give me a fish, teach me how to fish. Give us money to build housing projects here and you will get back your money through the rent,” he said.

The new government in Israel, which Qumsiyeh calls “extreme”, is also a concern. “Palestinians are expecting the worst,” he said.

Hani al-Hayek, mayor of Beit Sahour, is critical of Israel’s role. “Can you imagine if you needed permission to pray to God?” he asked, referring to the permits needed for Palestinians in the West Bank to visit Jerusalem, or to leave in general.

The mayor is urging Palestinians not to leave their homeland.“Without your roots you are nothing.”

Trump: Jews should be ashamed A 13,000-YEAR HANGOVER

Former US President, Donald Trump, has said Jewish leaders “lack loyalty” and “should be ashamed of themselves”, his latest broadside against the American Jewish community, this time because of criticism of his dinner with two prominent antisemitic figures.

“How quickly Jewish leaders forgot that I was the best, by far, president for Israel,” Trump said last Friday on his social media platform Truth Social, before making an o cial statement under his campaign for the 2024 presidency.

“They should be ashamed of themselves. This lack of loyalty to their greatest friends and allies is why large numbers in Congress, and so many others, have stopped giving support to Israel.”

This is not the first time Trump has accused American Jews of being disloyal, but he has said they were not loyal enough to Israel. Calling out “Jewish leaders” instead of Jewish Democratic voters is a new point of rhetoric.

In 2019, Trump said any Jew who voted for a Democrat shows “a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty”.

The statement comes less than three weeks after Trump held a dinner with Nick Fuentes – who questions the Holocaust and is labelled a white supremacist by the Anti-Defamation League – and Kanye West, who has for months peddled antisemitic invective.

Mainstream Jewish groups have lambasted Trump, as have Republicans, including some Jewish Republicans who were close to him.

Scientists have discovered the ancestor of the yeast species necessary for the production of lager beer, uncovering evidence of fermented beverages from Israel from up to 13,000 years ago.

Modern brewing developed in Europe, where, until the Middle Ages, most beer brewing was associated with a yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Today, this species of yeast is still used to make ale-style beer, wine and bread.

However, most beer made nowadays is lager, not ale,

and there is a lot of interest in understanding the historical shift from one to the other.

Lagers are fermented using a bottom fermenting yeast at cool temperatures, while ales are fermented with a top fermenting yeast at much warmer temperature.

Lager brewing, which first appeared in the 13th century in Bavaria, uses a di erent species of yeast, Saccharomyces pastorianus. This is a hybrid of two parents, only one of which is S. cerevisiae.

Saccharomyces eubayanus

was only discovered in 2011 in the Patagonian Andes in South America.

The S. eubayanus parent was never found in Europe, but now researchers at University College Dublin discovered and isolated S. eubayanus in a wooded area of their campus.

The paper’s lead author, Geraldine Butler, said: “ We’re delighted to stumble across S. eubayanus on our own doorstep.”

The research is published in FEMS Yeast Research

Palestinians dressed as Santa Claus and Mrs Claus in Bethlehem

French TV host asks Covid expert why he wears his kippah in public

An Israeli professor has been asked by the host of a French TV news show why he publicly identifies his religion by wearing a kippah.

In a clip that went viral, the CNews host told professor Cyrille Cohen, head of immunology at Bar-Ilan University: “Many people are asking why a professor wears a religious symbol in our studio.” pictured), who was invited to discuss the e ectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, replied with apparent confusion: “For transparency, I wear it every day. I didn’t put it on spe-

cially for this show.” But French-Jewish journalist Elisabeth Lévy, also a guest on the panel, pushed further: “You understand, don’t you, that our non-religious way of life is discrete. It’s not against religion, but you should keep your religion to yourself,” she said.

With clear exasperation, the professor replied: “My name is Cohen. How do you want me to ‘keep my religion to myself’? I come from Israel.”

A clip of the video drew quick condemnation on Twitter. “Is this 1930s Europe?” tweeted the Israeli journalist Emily Schrader.

Though brief, the exchange illustrated the starkly di erent perspectives on religious expression in France, the United States and

elsewhere in the western world. “La laïcité”, or secularism, rather than religious freedom, is enshrined in the first article of the French constitution, which also protects the free exercise of religion. The term has long been understood to imply a strict separation between the private sphere, where religion is accepted, and the public, where it is discouraged.

Religious minorities have complained that French secularism is often gentler with displays of Christianity than with other faiths.

“If a priest came in here would you ask him to take o his cross, if the Pope, would you have him take o his cross and head covering?” Cohen said in the exchange.

Since 2004, French public schools have

banned all personal displays of religion, including both crosses and kippot.

In 2009, a debate erupted after a woman was banned from swimming in a public pool while wearing a bathing suit in line with some Islamic interpretations of modesty laws. In 2016, the swimsuit, nicknamed a ‘burkini’, was banned by the mayor of Cannes, a beach town.

French Jews also came up against the government’s strict adherence to la laïcité when a hearing in the trial of suspects involved in the 2015 shooting at a Paris Kosher supermarket, in which four Jews were killed, was scheduled on Yom Kippur. Despite requests by the families of the victim, the French judiciary refused to change the date, citing laïcité

FIRST KOSHER SUPERMARKET OPENS IN DUBAI

The first kosher supermarket has opened in the centre of Dubai, o ering quality products imported from Israel, EU and the US as well as home-cooked food for pre-Shabbat shoppers.

Rimon, which means “pomegranate” in Hebrew, spans some 130 square metres, and was opened thanks to a growing demand for kosher food and Israeli products due to the increase

in Jewish visitors since the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Rimon will o er quality meat and chicken products under the highest Jewish quality standard with kosher Mehudar certification, and will also host a Jewish food market at the weekends, with fresh home cookingf.

Rimon was established by long-time

UAE Jewish community leader Rabbi Levi Duchman along with community members Sonia and Alec Sellem as well as local authorities.

“Our wonderful community, which keeps growing here in the UAE, continues to benefit from the extraordinary embrace we have received from the Emirates government and local authorities, for over a decade now,”

said Duchman, who is also the founder of the government-licenced Emirates Agency for Kosher Certification.

He added that in order to enable residents and visitors to have a full Jewish life there, “we have established Jewish institutions and communities, openly celebrate Shabbat, holidays and simchas – and enjoy quality kosher food across the Emirates”.

Cohen ( invited vaccines, replied with

Kosher supermarket Rimon

Saudi Arabia ‘soon’ to join Abraham Accords

Political and religious figures from dozens of countries have met in Rome to discuss way of deepening links following agreements reached in 2020 to normalise Arab world ties with Israel.

Delegates heard from representatives of countries who signed up to the Abraham Accords, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, said it was now just a matter of time before Saudi Arabia joined the group.

“The hardest part was going public,” said Danon. “We have been in contact with the Saudis for years. I worked personally with them at the UN on matters of regional stability and security. It’s just a matter of time before courageous leaders step out of the shadows and full peace is achieved between all the children of Abraham. I expect we’ll see an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia this year.”

The First Annual Abraham Accords Global Leadership Summit included diplomats, entrepreneurs, lawmakers, academics and clergy. Attendees included Houda Nonoo, former Bah-

raini ambassador to the US, Imam Mohammad Tawhidi, vice-president of the Global Imams Council, and the Rev Philip Larrey, a dean at the Vatican’s Pontifical Lateran University.

Rabbi Dr Elie Abadie, senior rabbi of the UAE, who fled Beirut as a young boy, said: “I would have never dreamed that one day I would be serving as a rabbi in an Arab country, never mind

an Arab country with a rapidly growing Jewish community that has signed a peace accord with Israel.” He added that we are “living in profound times and must seize the opportunities”.

Tawhidi, a Shi’a Muslim scholar, said: “I come here today, as a free Iranian, to tell you that peace between Israel, Iran, and even between the Shi’a and the Sunni world is closer than ever.”

Denier’s extradition hearing is delayed

A Holocaust denier who has been on the run from French authorities for two years does not consent to be extradited to France, a court has heard.

Vincent Reynouard, 53, was arrested in Anstruther, Fife, last month.

The Frenchman was convicted under anti-Nazi laws across the Channel, where he was given a four-month jail term in November 2020 and a further six months in January 2021.

A preliminary hearing in his extradition case took place at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday, which he was excused from attending.

His lawyer, who did not wish to be named, asked for the matter to be continued to a further hearing next month to give him more time to prepare as he had just been appointed to the case.

He said: “Mr Reynouard does not consent to extradition to France.

“I was instructed at about 6pm

last night and I do require some time to consider the matter.

“There is a matter that is, I think, of legal significance that I need more time to consider.”

Holocaust denial has been a criminal offence in France since 1990, and Reynouard has been convicted on numerous occasions.

His latest conviction was in relation to a series of antisemitic posts on social media.

Reynouard first appeared at the court after his arrest last month.

During that hearing, on 17 November, which he listened to via video link from HMP Edinburgh, his lawyer told the court that his client wished to instruct another lawyer.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen agreed to continue the case until 12 January, with a full extradition hearing due to take place in February.

Reynouard remains remanded in custody.

From left: Cash Luna, Rabbi Abadie, Danny Danon and Mohammad Tawhidi

Vincent Reynouard

LETTERS

Said and unsaid

Rishi Sunak’s speech to Conservative Friends of Israel this week was just the tonic for those worried that Israel’s political direction has been creating space between the two countries’ governments.

Indeed, it was so full of warmth and bonhomie – hailing the Jewish state’s “remarkable achievements” and recognising its “unenviable security challenge” – that it brought back memories of Donald Trump’s unabashed support for Israel.

It struck all the right chords, including restating the UK’s commitment to “utilising the full range of tools at our disposal” to protect UK citizens from Iran, and committing to a free-entry Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre next to parliament. Like a hot water bottle on a cold winter’s night, it was just the ticket.

But as those of us who support Israel and follow its progress will know, all is not well in the Holy Land. Sunak’s tick-boxing sweets, alas, were laced with a sour reality.

For UK readers, the balance of power between the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature (i.e. the government, the courts, and the parliament) is second-nature and hard-wired. For hundreds of years, it has been as much a part of our democracy as people’s rights to assembly, elections and free speech.

Israel’s state systems, by contrast, are much younger, much less established and much less baked-in. As such, they are more susceptible to attack. Unfortunately, that is what many feel is happening right now. This week, Israeli lawmakers are voting to give Itamar Ben-Gvir – a man who has faced dozens of charges of hate speech against Arabs – greatly expanded powers over both the police and the police commissioner. Laws are being changed to allow a strictly-Orthodox politician (Aryeh Deri, who served time in jail 20 years ago) to serve again as a minister, despite him having been convicted last year of tax offences. Perhaps the most ominous legislative change being enacted by the new religious-nationalist government concerns the administration of the West Bank. Indeed, it is a change to the Basic Law, which forms Israel’s constitution.

If all that wasn’t bad enough, Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies are preparing to pass legislation that will effectively annul the Supreme Court’s supervision of legislation that could be deemed unconstitutional. Because who needs a backstop anyway.

Sunak was wise to mention what he mentioned and to not mention what he didn’t. British Jews – and this newspaper – want to see the UK and Israel in lockstep. We value the support Israel gets from Downing Street. But we worry about Israel’s changing nature.

So might Mr Sunak. A penny for his (true) thoughts.

Send us your comments

PO Box 815, Edgware, HA8 4SX | letters@jewishnews.co.uk

Tory decision ‘shocking’

This week in 2020, the Jewish community breathed a collective sigh of relief following the rejection of antisemitism in the 2019 election and anxiety still lingered over whether a Corbynite would win the ensuing Labour leadership contest.

In Hertsmere, the Labour candidate, Dan Ozarow, provoked concern among the community with his political views.

MPs who came to Borehamwood to support Mr Ozarow included Ilford South’s Sam Tarry (Corbyn’s election campaign manager) and Ashton-under-Lyne’s Angela Rayner.

A newspaper article reported that a letter Mr Ozarow signed argued that “Corbyn has nothing to apologise for in meeting with Hamas and Hezbollah” and went on to defend the former party leader’s association with Holocaust deniers.

Some of Mr Ozarow’s co-signatories included Jews who have since been expelled by Labour.

This article was widely shared, including by Jewish Conservative councillors. Mr Ozarow received criticism from members of the public, some of which undoubtedly would have crossed the line but none of which came from Tory councillors. Mr Ozarow lost that by-election but stood again months later.

The article about him signing that pro-Corbyn letter disappeared from the internet, along with his name on the list of signatories.

Instead of apologising, Mr Ozarow blamed the abuse on a group of Jewish Tory councillors.

After he reported them to the police, he took his complaint to the Conservatives. Shockingly, the party decided to sanction these councillors for “negative personal campaigning”.

The Conservative Party has questions to answer for its handling of this decision.

Hertfordshire Friends of Israel, By email

ISRAEL UNDER FIRE A SINGLE IDENTITY

In the 1 December edition of Jewish News it was so full of criticism of Israel that it may be the last copy I shall bother with.

Article after article will give our detractors great pleasure. Are we so complacent in this country that you cast so many stones on the new Israeli government, which has been elected by its population, who better should know how to protect its country and population?

They may not be to our so-called high standards, but we should at least give the new administration a chance to show how it will govern. Sidney Sands, By email

Jewish News published a detailed report on census data on Jews in England and Wales. Although the categories embody strictlyOrthodox, Orthodox and Progressive, I don’t recall any animosity between them. In Israel, however, Noam Maoz, head of Jewish identity in Netanyahu’s new government, is set to cause a rift between Jewish groups. He and Netanyahu should remember Israel is the homeland for all Jews.

The pioneers and those who fled war-torn countries weren’t asked what their brand of Judaism was.

Norma Neville, Hendon

COMMONS SILENCE WELCOMED

How reassuring to know MPs will take a minute (today, 15 December), in memory of the day 80 years ago when Parliament was informed that the Holocaust was taking place (“Commons silence to echo across the nation”, Jewish News, 8 December). We should all take a minute to be grateful for their respect. D Steinman, Stoke Newington

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CROCODILES

IN MIDDLE EAST

In the article, “Removing me as PM was a mistake, Boris tells shul,” Mr Johnson said there was no deal Ukraine could strike with Russia because: “You can’t negotiate with a crocodile, which is eating your leg.”

Likewise, it is unrealistic to consider that a democratically-elected Israeli government can negotiate a peace deal with terrorist, extremist Muslim leaders (elected or not) of the Palestinian people. I hope I’m proved wrong for the sake of the Ukrainian and Russian people and, likewise, Israelis and Palestinians. All are casualties of people who don’t care about their lives.

J D Milaric, By email

THE JACOB FOUNDATION

Jewish News is owned by The Jacob Foundation, a registered UK charity promoting cohesion and common ground across the UK Jewish community and between British Jews and wider society. Jewish News promotes these aims by delivering dependable and balanced news reporting and analysis and celebrating the achievements of its vibrant and varied readership.

Through the Jacob Foundation, Jewish News acts as a reliable and independent advocate for British Jews and a crucial communication vehicle for other communal charities.

Sedra: Vayeishev

This Chanukah, I’ll recall my late brother Danny

ALEX BRUMMER CITY EDITOR, THE DAILY MAIL

The relationship among brothers is an enduring theme in the narrative of Genesis (currently being read in synagogue) and Exodus. The earliest recorded ‘brother’ story is that of Kane and Abel, which did not end well. Of Ishmael and Isaac we know little.

But the dramatic chronicle of Jacob and Esau has cascaded down the generations. It could have ended in catastrophe with Jacob, his wives and flocks having to traverse lands controlled by Esau.

He was the hunter brother much loved by his father Isaac, who despised Jacob for the purloining of his birth right. But after Jacob had wrestled all night with an extraterrestrial being and been renamed Israel, he summoned up the courage to be reconciled with his brother after a generation apart. Following elaborate preparations for the meeting, including a generous gift of livestock, the reunion was one of hugs and kisses rather than warfare.

Later biblical sibling relationships were also less than smooth. The confrontation between Joseph and his elder brothers ended up with the future hero of Egypt being dumped in a pit. It is only when we get to Moses and Aaron that we finally find a brotherly relationship that worked in harmony even if both of these heroes made mistakes along their life journeys.

All of these connections were very much on my mind this month when me and my family, together with rabbis and many members of the Brighton and Hove communities gathered at the tranquil Meadow View Jewish cemetery last week to unveil the memorial stone to my younger brother, Daniel, who was suddenly taken from us in January.

It would be immodest to compare our relationship with that of Moses and Aaron. Indeed, as children we often fought like cats and dogs, once breaking a chair in an all-out confrontation in the then Ramat Aviv hotel in Israel. Yet as we matured, it became a much more tranquil and loving kinship.

Daniel or Danny, as he was widely known, is never far from my mind or from those whose

lives he touched. The inscription on his memorial stone, ‘A carer and pillar of the community’, properly describes his life. Not a day passes when I do not still reach for the phone to share some aspect of our daily and community lives.

There is a great emptiness especially on erev Shabbat, when we would reminisce about the great days of the Hove community and latest dispatches. Reading recently of the death of chazan Simon Hass, my immediate reaction was to phone Danny. One of my enduring memories was of Hass visiting Hove for Shabbat and combining, during services, to sing with the late chazan Kalman Fausner, a fellow Pole who had spent time in pre-Israel Palestine, in an emotion-filled rendering of part of the Musaf prayer. As the community has changed, only Daniel would have remembered.

Danny lives on in the hearts and minds of so many. At a recent symposium for the charity I chair, the Abraham Initiatives (UK), a stranger approached asking if was Daniel’s brother. He wanted to thank me for Daniel’s support of his elderly mother who lived on the same apartment block. Every Friday, he would knock on

her door with chicken soup, sometimes homeprepared chopped liver or fish balls. It was as much part of his Shabbat routine as organising the calling up in shul, teasing his fellow congregants and chanting the Haftorah when there was no one else to do it (quite often).

When I called the shul’s chairman, Stanley Cohen, on the eve of this year’s Yamim Noraim to wish him a happy New Year, his tearful remembrance was dressing the Torah scrolls and shul, as ever, in Daniel’s company.

Danny won’t be with us by the Chanukiah this year, but his memory as a brother, friend and carer is forever.

Ben-Gvir is a disgrace to religious Zionists like me

JODIE FRANKS UNION OF JEWISH STUDENTS

Ioften think about the desire to label and put people into neat boxes, but rarely do people fit only one label and, often, a label can mean di erent things to any one person.

During my time at the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), labels have become a necessary part of my day-to-day role. We regularly create successful events geared towards people with certain interests. Those interests are e ectively labels. During my first few weeks of the job, I was part of a discussion about Jewish identity.

By the end of the discussion, it was fascinating to see the descriptors people attached to their Jewish identity – nearly twice as many as they had at the beginning of the discussion. Labels can help us define but they also help us to explore.

One of the labels I have always used for myself is ‘religious Zionist’. This has always held a special meaning to me. Growing up, I was taught to love and cherish the land of Israel and explore the ancient roots Jewish people have to our homeland.

As a student of Torah, one of my favourite pastimes is mapping places mentioned in the

bible onto modern cities and towns. It has always been obvious to me that my Zionist identity is intrinsically linked with my Judaism. God has clearly had an eye on the Jews for a long time, and therefore a natural next step is praying for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, as well as peace in our homeland.

To proudly call myself a religious Zionist hasn’t always been easy. Other Zionists, and of course anti-Zionists, have mocked me for my beliefs, called me a fundamentalist and a radical and excluded me from the ‘academic’ conversation because they believe my views were based on faith rather than fact. But I am happy to say I was finally at a point where I was confident in my Zionist identity, and happy to discuss, defend, and proudly proclaim it. Recent events in Israel changed everything.

The election of a party claiming to represent “Religious Zionists” is hugely significant for both the Israeli and diaspora communities. Zionism isn’t simply politics. It’s ideology, it’s deep-rooted belief, and when it comes to religious Zionism, it is something to which I have a profound connection.

However, these election results have had a huge e ect on my identity. It goes to the very core of my Zionism. Politicians such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have claimed ownership over not only the phrase, but the ideology of Religious Zionism. They have publicised this label to the world proudly. They have associated this label with racism, homophobia and violence. In doing so, they have disgraced religious Zionists around the world who do not share these views, myself included.

I no longer feel comfortable walking into a room and calling myself a religious Zionist out of fear that people will now associate me with the likes of Smotrich and their values.

My religious Zionism is as much a part of my identity as is my allyship with LGBTQ+ people, my passion for cross-communalism and my acceptance of people as they are.

Now I feel at a loss. How can I carry on identifying with the religious Zionism I continue to hold when that simple label is now associated with so many things I despise?

But I simply cannot let these individuals steal that which is so important to me. I will continue to be a religious Zionist, not because of what they stand for, but in spite of it.

I believe in equality, in the rights of all to live how they want, in the importance of the Israel that I love, and in the inalienable rights of two peoples to live side by side in safety, security and prosperity.

And I will do that as a proud religious Zionist.

So, to my fellow religious Zionists, those who will not let racists and homophobes steal the label we are proud of – join me in saying loudly that we are not them and they are not us. Together, we will ensure that they do not take up any of the space we proudly share together.

AS CHILDREN WE FOUGHT LIKE CAT AND DOG BUT AS WE MATURED IT BECAME A LOVING KINSHIP

❝

The right-wing politician, Itamar Ben-Gvir

Gifts - Vouchers and Caps

How Corbyn’s cronies failed to retell history

JOHN WARE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

John Ware took Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, the group Jewish Voice for Labour and a pro-Corbynite journalist to court for defamation over his 2019 BBC Panorama exposé on antisemitism. In the second of two articles, he reveals how Al Jazeera misunderstood issues highlighted in the Panorama report and did not give those it accused a proper right of reply

Finding themselves on the margins of political life, the Corbynites seem determined to show that their version of Labour’s antisemitism crisis is the historically accurate one.

They insist that the recent report by Martin Forde KC validates their claim that the crisis was largely the fault of Labour’s factional “civil service” – Panorama’s whistle-blowers who handled antisemitism complaints and fellow o cials at Labour HQ.

Forde does find that the complaints system was unfit for purpose, and unable to cope with the “explosion in complaints” that followed Corbyn’s election as leader.

Yet no system could have coped.

But while the Corbynites blame factionalism by Labour HQ, Forde concludes that “responsibility for this rests not wholly with one side”.

As for HQ o cials –including a Panorama whistleblower – trying to sabotage the 2017 election, Forde finds no evidence for that.

He also gives short shrift to Corbyn’s key claim, which cost him the whip and propelled him back to backbench obscurity: that antisemitism was exaggerated to smear him.

The metric Corbyn uses to evidence his claim is an unreliable proxy for the scale of anti-Jewish sentiment in Labour. While he correctly states that upheld complaints to date represent a small fraction of members (about 0.33 percent) , this no more reflects the actual number of Jews who felt barely tolerated in their branches and constituency Labour parties (CLPs)(despite near-universal disdain for Benjamin Netanyahu)than recorded crime reflects the actual level of crime; many chose not to complain for several reasons. Nor does it include CLP motions that breached the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance [definition of antisemitism], cheerfully voting and campaigning for the likes of Pete Willsman, recently expelled for smearing rabbis as “Trump fanatics” and ranting about antisemitism allegations being “whipped up” by the Israeli embassy.

Although 0.33 percent sanctioned is tiny relative to a 430,000 membership, it nonetheless translates to some 1,400 members, which I find pretty shocking for a party that shouts loudly about its anti-racist credentials. The latest portrayal of the crisis as largely

artificial and a smear campaign aimed at undermining Corbyn is contained in programme two of a four-part series called The Labour Files by the Al Jazeera TV channel, which is owned by the Qatari government. “The true story behind the Labour Party’s antisemitism crisis” the script boldly asserts.

It’s a daft claim simply because there’s no consensus on what constitutes antisemitism, and even less about when anti-Zionism shades into antisemitism.

Nonetheless, the programme’s producer, Richard Sanders, harbours no doubts. Although not a “huge admirer” of Corbyn, he is a “fervent anti-Zionist”, he doesn’t remotely consider Ken Livingstone’s comments about German Zionists colluding with Hitler as antisemitic, he asserts that Israel is a “fundamentally, inherently, racist, oppressive state... I’m sorryit simply is”; and that the IHRA definition of antisemitism “so obviously, so brazenly deprives the Palestinian people” of the “right” [to criticise Israel as a ‘racist endeavour’]...“I’m sorry, it is... a racist ethno-state”.

Despite this daunting list of certitudes, Sanders declares that he comes to the subject as a “professional journalist” who seeks to be “very forensic and factual and unpolemical” because “you really have to be on solid ground”.

On closer inspection, however, the ground under several of Al Jazeera’s claims, crumbles away.

Sanders asserts that political interference in antisemitism disciplinary cases was “primarily” about “pressurising for harder, faster measures on antisemitism”.

Certainly some interventions were about “catalysing” action because Corbyn was getting stick from the media. But no o cial reports have I seen state (or even suggest) that intervention was “primarily” directed

towards this. There’s plenty of evidence the other way around. Forde himself concludes that “interference at times went beyond what was the legitimate interest of LOTO [leader of the opposition’s o ce] most notably in relation to cases which involved allies of Jeremy Corbyn”. And while he acknowledges that he had not seen “clear and convincing documentary evidence” that this was “systematic”, as claimed by some senior HQ sta , he also says that most challenges by LOTO sta outside of National Executive Committee meetings are not “the kind of interventions of which documentary proof would exist” anyway. The Equality and Human Rights Commission found that interference was widespread and spanned the three-year period of its investigation.

Al Jazeera also completely misunderstood a case highlighted in Panorama showing LOTO interference in the case of a Corbyn ally. It said its “investigation finds” that far from interfering, LOTO’s view about whether the ally should remain suspended had been sought by o cials. It had; but what Al Jazeera overlooked was the highly salient fact that LOTO’s view was only sought because LOTO had intervened from the outset – within four hours of the individual’s suspension, in fact. Yet this evidence was available to Al Jazeera.

How “solid” is Al Jazeera’s unchallenged assertion that Israel is an apartheid state? Presumably Sanders and his executive producer, Phil Rees, would say very. Rees says apartheid is “a fact” and Sanders has opined that Israel behaves “in a way that is considerably worse than apartheid South Africa”.

“Apartheid Israel” is self-evidently not a “fact” since it rests on the assumption that because Israel is a Jewish state, it must be an apartheid state, whereas there are many other nation states who define themselves by their

ethnicity and prioritise their cultural interests. True, entrenched discrimination exists in several respects against Israel’s Arab citizens, but in law their civil and religious rights are safeguarded, even if insu ciently upheld. Not good, but not apartheid either.

Al Jazeera asserts: “In 1967, Israel invaded and occupied the remaining Palestinian land.” This is, of course, a fact, but omits a relevant historical one: that Israel won a war of selfdefence when Jordan – which had annexed the West Bank – was defeated in its attempt to wipe out the fledgling Jewish state.

How “solid” are Al Jazeera’s claims about how antisemitism has been exaggerated?

The anti-Zionist pro-Corbyn Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) asserted – again unchallenged – that Jews are “6.3 times more likely to be investigated by the Labour Party for allegations of antisemitism than non-Jews”.

Labour o cials handling complaints don’t recognise this claim. They say the vast majority of investigations into JVL members relate to their support for recently proscribed organisations dismissing the antisemitism crisis, not for saying or doing something antisemitic – organisations such as Labour Against the Witch-hunt (LAW), which have opposed practically every antisemitism measure introduced by Labour.

“To get chucked out if you’re Jewish, you have to have been a repeat o ender by saying pretty egregious things,” I was told. “Like Nazi comparisons, banging on about the Rothschilds or conspiracy theories about Jewish/ Zionist/Israeli control of politics, the media and finance.” Yet Sanders, who says he has “a lot of admiration” for JVL, has since repeated its claim without caveat.

Al Jazeera also asserts that one of Panorama’s whistle-blowers, Ben Westerman, had “turned reality on its head” by claiming that during his investigation into antisemitism in Liverpool’s Riverside CLP, a JVL supporter, Rica Bird, had asked him if he was from Israel.

It’s true that a tape of the interview doesn’t show Bird asking Westerman – who is Jewish –that question. What it does show is Bird asking Westerman which Labour party branch he is from. He answers that her question is not relevant. What Al Jazeera doesn’t show – but what the tape does – is that Bird persists. “Oh. No, it might not be [relevant]. Just thought it might be interesting.”

Why did Bird “just think” Westerman’s answer “might be interesting”? She was just trying to be “comradely, friendly”, says Al Jazeera. Is it sure? During his questioning Westerman had been critical of JVL, so he assumed she had him down as a Zionist; her persistence over “what branch are you in?” was not as blunt as, say: “Are you from Golders Green?”, but it suggested to him that she was trying to find out if he was also Jewish by reference to whether his branch had a sizeable Jewish membership.

On Al Jazeera, Bird insisted passionately that she didn’t ask the Israel question so it can’t be ruled out that Westerman mistakenly convinced himself that she was asking

A promotion for the Al Jazeera documentary series The Labour Files

him: “Where are you really from?” Yet his evidence is that the Israel question came at the end of the interview as the parties were leaving. The tape appears to end abruptly just before that point as Westerman is in mid-sentence, so it is not definitive that the Israel question was not asked. His colleagues say he reported the incident on his return to London.

The final whistle?

The bottom line is that the tape cannot be relied on as a definitive record of everything that was said in this interview and afterwards, whereas Al Jazeera seems confident it can be.

Corbynites have also become particularly exercised by a brief clip on Panorama from Izzy Lenga, a former vice-president of the National Union of Students, where she talked about her experience on campus. At times, she was subjected daily to antisemitic abuse (on and o ine) that included comments like “Hitler was right” and “Hitler didn’t go far enough” as well as Holocaust denial “with absolutely no sanctions and absolutely no repercussions”.

Lenga’s Hitler comments referred to attacks from the Right when they were targeting her on campus. However, she also recounted

Holocaust denial as a feature of abusive comments from the Left.

❝

comments from

As Lenga explained, the attacks from both Left and Right were “very similar... and almost often the exact same tropes”. Through no fault of her own, the fact they were similar meant these comments became mixed up in the editing and we should have made that distinction – Hitler from the Right and Holocaust denial from the Left –clearer.

A relatively minor slip, yet Corbynites have banged on and on about this, as if it invalidates the entire 59 minutes of Panorama. Presumably Al Jazeera knew that the Holocaust denial like that experienced by Lenga from the Left has led to expulsions of Labour members for neo-Nazi views. The antisemitism logs seen by Al Jazeera contain meticulous notes on such cases.

How “solid” was a 17-minute section in programme one of The Labour Files, which portrayed one of its key witnesses, the Corbyn activist Damian McCarthy, fighting back tears as the victim of a hate campaign by Jewish activists? It turns out that McCarthy conducted a campaign of hate himself and was also a disgraced barrister disbarred for dishonesty.

WITNESS

In the Al Jazeera programme, an antiCorbyn activist, Luke Stanger, was accused of intimidating McCarthy by sending a dossier to his employer (who, unknown to Stanger, was also his stepfather).

The dossier included messages supporting “the beheading” of McCarthy’s “entire family” and his deceased mother being “skull f*****d”.

Some viewers, me included, took this to mean Stanger approved of these messages. He categorically did not and has condemned them as “deplorable” and “evil”. His purpose was to demonstrate McCarthy’s antisemitic responses to the hideous messages to his family by someone Stanger didn’t even know.

McCarthy had already been publicly outed by [the Twitter account] Gnasher Jew and Stanger as using a Twitter handle “Truth and Justice Socialism” spewing out a stream of inflammatory hate-filled posts such as: “Zionists worked hand in hand with Nazis to send innocent Jews to their deaths… then worked to establish the racist state of Israel” and “Jews are gassing people in Gaza.” Yet Al Jazeera made no mention of this, I assume, because it didn’t consider his tweets to be antisemitic. On

no mainstream UK channel would McCarthy have been regarded as a credible witness in support of a thesis that the mainstream media had inflated antisemitism within Labour into an issue that didn’t merit the label “crisis”. Not a single challenge to any of Al Jazeera’s claims was put to any of its 20 mainly Corbynsupporting interviewees.

None of those accused (including me) were o ered a filmed interview to rebut the specific criticisms/allegations against us. We were merely o ered a written response and even these were just bunched up at the end of the programme instead of being inserted as responses to each allegation as and when they arose – which is fairer and is how Panorama dealt with 26 responses from Corbyn’s o ce, and other rebuttal clips. For Al Jazeera to dignify the accusation from Corbyn’s o ce that the BBC had “betrayed its duty of impartiality” takes the chutzpah biscuit.

Al Jazeera is mi ed that its series has sunk almost without trace. “Clearly there is going to be a sort of omerta applied to this entire thing,” groans Sanders. He’s settled for being hosted on obscure left-wing outlets such as Alexei Sayle’s podcast, in which the Liverpudlian comedian e s and blinds his way through the conversation: “John Ware... I think I can say looks like a prick... this man thinks he is f***ing all that...” etc. Sanders chuckles.

Give it time, says Al Jazeera’s “expert commentator” Peter Oborne. It was “landmark journalism” that will be looked back “in 10, 20, 30 years, as the turning point in the understanding of this issue and the Middle East and the Labour Party”. I doubt that somehow.

ON NO OTHER MAIN UK CHANNEL WOULD DAMIAN MCCARTHY HAVE BEEN REGARDED AS A CREDIBLE

“very similar... and

1 ROYAL RECEPTION

As part of 16 Days of Activism for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence and Women, Jewish Women’s Aid CEO, Naomi Dickson, and treasurer, Jo Rosenthal, attended a reception at Buckingham Palace. It was hosted by the Queen Consort and highlighted the work of organisations in this sector that are working to end abuse.

2 LOU CELEBRATES

Jewish Blind & Disabled tenant Louis (known as Lou) Freedman celebrated his landmark 106th birthday at a party organised by his family in the lounge at JBD’s Frances & Dick James Court, where he has lived since September 2021. Lou has one son, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. They all live close to his new Mill Hill home.

3 FAMILY PRODUCTION

Triple threat! It’s a Petar family production as siblings Nicole, 17 (Elstree Screen Arts), Jessica, 14 (JFS) and Alex, 11 (Wolfson Hillel Primary School) rehearse for their panto performance this Christmas in Jack and the Beanstalk in Radlett.

4 TEENAGE IMPACT

ImpACT teenage volunteers from 26 schools cooked for food banks, donated and packed winter clothes and wrapped gifts for homeless shelters and food banks across Camden and Barnet. The social action charity provides impactful volunteer opportunities for Jewish teenagers and this event brought together charities that support the homeless and asylum seekers.

5 AJEX TALK

AJEX (The Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women) archivist, Martin Sugarman, gave an illustrated talk to a JFS 6th form group of more than 20 pupils. It was part of a seminar on Jews fighting back in both world wars and resistance in the Holocaust. The event was led by JFS head boy, Edgar Santos, who is part of the JFS Combined Cadet Force. Martin was assisted by AJEX member and photographer Stan Kaye.

6

’ OUTSTANDING’ GIG

A full house at JW3 for the Jewish Music Institute (JMI) Youth Big Band gig (led by Sam Eastmond) with National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) u18’s led by Winston Clifford. JMI’s Gil Karpas said: “The musicianship was outstanding and all the team and trustees could not be prouder.”

7 MUSICAL FUNDRAISER

Guests of the Jerusalem Foundation (JF) UK enjoyed an evening at Spencer House, a historic mansion in St James. Entertainment was provided by Mishy Harman and his team, who performed a live rendition of his acclaimed Israel Story podcast, alongside musicians the Jamshid Sisters on cello and guitar. The event, attended by Jerusalem Foundation UK chairman Lord Leigh and JF president Shai Doron, raised funds for shared living projects in Jerusalem.

And

be seen!

The latest news, pictures and social events from across the community

Email us at community@jewishnews.co.uk

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Photo by Henry Kenyon

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A look

Jewish Journal Beauty Buys Robbie’s Jewish kids

LIFE Inside

MUSICAL

Jew-O

The complex history, heritage and baggage of being a Jew in 2022 connect two very di erent debut albums by American artists. Nicole Lampert speaks to them both

people think it would be crazy to put the Shabbat songs to newly-composed music, I guess I already knew that someone in my family had done it.”

history and also learned Hebrew along the way. When we speak, the 31-year-old is in Israel, where he’s currently living having recorded his first album, Fragments

“It was my grandfather, Abraham, who started teaching me Arabic songs,” he recalls.

YAIR ROSENBERG, a well-known journalist, whose grandfather wrote a song that is still played in synagogues, has given some of the most popular Shabbat songs a makeover. Meanwhile, musician Yoni Battat explores his family’s Iraqi roots in a very special album that combines Arabic, Hebrew, English and even a bit of Yiddish.

With his Deep Shtetl newsletter in The Atlantic, Yair is one of the most interesting and best-known journalists writing about Jewish life today, but music has always been an itch that he’s had to scratch. He never learned to play an instrument – “if I didn’t immediately see the value in learning something, I wouldn’t do it” – but has always found himself making up new tunes in his head.

Now – after a process that has taken seven years – Yair has done something about it with his album Az Yashir, which puts a selection of favoured Shabbat songs to new tunes sung by him.

It is quite an audacious thing to do, even for the son of a rabbi – but he was inspired by his grandfather, Rabbi Israel David Rosenberg, whose composition Shir Hageulah (Song of Redemption) is still played in synagogues today.

“He was an incredibly talented Chasidic composer and, while I don’t have his level of skill, something seems to have trickled down the generations,” says Yair. “And while most

Yair’s grandfather fled Poland with a group of seminary students thanks to the actions of the brave Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, who acted against orders to find a sanctuary for Jewish people in his country. One day, a letter arrived in Japan for the refugees, from a Lubavitch rabbi in the United States – it was one filled with horror over the loss of European Jewry (including all of Rosenberg’s family) but also of hope about the future. Rosenberg turned the words into his song, Shir Hageulah.

journalist – I have no ambition to be a rock star or a wedding singer; I just wanted to give people melodies that are meaningful,” he says. “But I would love one day to walk into a Jewish setting and find people are singing one of my songs –that would be a mark of something very special because music is such a universal language for everyone.”

“My dad and his three siblings all spoke Iraqi Arab to each other and I would always hear it growing up, but I could never speak it, which still feels like a missed opportunity.

“But I have always loved the music and I felt like I had something to say in this musical style. And it is that fragmented experience of being disconnected from my ancestry that is in many ways relatable, human and actually beautiful. It is something I have tried to capture in the message of the album.”

the

Yair composed his music in very di erent circumstances, but there were echoes about the uncertainties faced by his grandfather’s generation.

“Just before I started recording it, the pandemic struck. I knew I was writing songs for people to sing happily together on Shabbat in synagogue even though the synagogues were shut and no one knew when we would be able to sing together again. And I think that has been able to resonate with people – whether they know the songs or not – because I think it was a time when we really thought about the role of music in our lives and how important it is.”

The album gives some favourite songs some unusual twists. Anim Zemirot is given a reggae beat, while V’Shamru is put to music adapted from a Mormon hymn Yair heard while writing about the group. “It was a song that was a call for evening prayer and I thought it would go so well with a song that welcomes in Shabbat, so I got their permission to use their melody,” he says.

“There is a real mix of Jewish and nonJewish influences and I have heard, since it came out, that there are people who have taken meaning from it who I wouldn’t necessarily have expected. It really is for Jews of all di erent backgrounds.”

Yair has already had feedback from communities that have started to use his compositions as part of their services. “I’ll always be a

The songs all tell a story. The album starts with the poetry of Air Anwar Sha’ul, an Iraqi Jewish writer who stayed in the country until 1971, long after much of the community had fled. It is a haunting poem about a lost world and the beauty of Iraq, a place that was home to a community stretching back more than 2,000 years. Another is based on the letters Yoni’s grandparents, Avraham and Violet, wrote to each other in Arabic and Hebrew. The pair had originally emigrated to Israel in 1950s, but when their four children were teenagers, Avraham moved to America with the children while Violet, who was a successful radio presenter on Arabic Israeli radio, stayed behind.

, the son of in

YONI BATTAT, the son of an Ashkenazi mother and a Mizrahi father, had a bit of both worlds at home –bagels and Iraqi music.

Growing up in a mainly Ashkenazi community in Connecticut, that side of him formed his early musical years. He started playing the violin aged four, has performed with the Israel Klezmer Orchestra, developed his own Yiddish jazz band and was a member of the touring cast of the Broadway and West End musical The Band’s Visit

But it was when his Mizrahi grandfather bought him an oud – a lute-like instrument popular in the Middle East – aged 16 that his life started veering in a di erent direction. Yoni isn’t one to do things by halves; he started learning Arabic, exploring Arab music and

ship where she was working on a show dedicated to women’s issues, over world, but my grandfather moved with their children – I still don’t really visit each other for a month at a five

“They had this kind of alternative relationship where she was working on a show dedicated to women’s issues, which was heard all over the Arab world, but my grandfather moved with their children – I still don’t really know why – and they would visit each other for a month at a time every four or five months.

Hebrew and Arabic – even within I embarked on a project to translate them. There was one line that

“The letters flow between Hebrew and Arabic – even within one sentence – and my sister and I embarked on a project to translate them. There was one line that really stuck out for me; my aunt was riding on a bicycle and he talked about how she was now the older one in the neighbourhood. It was a poignant detail in this letter about being immigrants and trying to find a home.”

A third stars Yoni’s great uncle Razi, a synagogue cantor, recalling a song sung at circumcision ceremonies and Havdalah. “The last song of the album is called Fragments and is in English and is about how in that fragmentation of brokenness I can find wholeness and belonging. It’s a mantra and a prayer.”

Two Jews, two albums, mesmerising music.

There’s an angel

With his podcast On the Edge with Andrew Gold, an audience of thousands has decided he is the man to listen to. Currently leading YouTube with chats about Tom Cruise and other well-known Scientologists, this week Andrew releases the second part of his chat with Robbie Williams, who will certainly delight JN readers when he talks about his Jewish children. As it’s better when Robbie says it, be sure to go to youtube.com or andrewgoldpodcast.com to listen, but let’s just say when Andrew reveals his faith, Robbie chips in with: “My wife is Ashkenazi and my kids are Jewish.” His spouse, Ayda Field, is a Turkish-American model who makes no secret of her heritage but for Robbie to announce it with pride… it’s good to hear. www.andrewgoldpodcast.com

NEWS FLASH

It’s taken 10 years for Newsies to get here from Broadway and no one would have expected it to land in Wembley (yep, you read that right), but there’s no congestion charge and it was truly worth the wait. That the show’s arrival coincides with a swathe of industrial action is frankly ironic as Alan Menken’s outstanding musical is about the 1890s strike by teenage newspaper sellers who formed their own union to take on the publishers. It’s tough for a journalist to focus on a period when papers were selling well enough that the strike made an impact, but Harvey Fierstein’s wise and witty book for Newsies provides the backdrop for what is essentially a dance marathon by some of the most gi ed dancers to ever tread the boards. They leap, pirouette and run around the audience in the spectacular space that is the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. Entering on zipwires or singing by your seat, Newsies is as immersive as a fairground ride with a Menken soundtrack framing Jack Feldman’s sharp lyrics. As lead striker, Michael Ahomka-Lindsay sings like a bird, fittingly from the top of a winding industrial-dwelling that takes centre stage. On opening night, there were two standing ovations before the interval, which is enough to tell you to get to Wembley. www.newsiesthemusical.co.uk

ONLINE

Hope for Chanukahh

Barbra Streisand, Henry Winkler and Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), actor David Strathairn and actress Tovah Feldshuh, currently in Funny Girl on Broadway, are special guests at a virtual event on 20 December at 6.30pm to celebrate Chanukah. Meanwhile, the cast of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof will perform Traditsye. The annual International Holocaust Survivors’ Night is a virtual event focused on the theme of hope in the face of rising antisemitism. As well as celebrities, you’ll also hear from Isaac Herzog, President of Israel; Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany; Stuart Eizenstat, Special Adviser on Holocaust Issues to the US Secretary of State, and Holocaust envoys from the UK, the US, Canada, Germany and Croatia. Leaders of Holocaust institutions will also provide messages, including Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, and Sara J Bloomfield, drector of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Messages of hope will be given by Holocaust survivors recently evacuated from Ukraine as well as survivors from other countries. As if all that wasn’t enough, there will be a live stream of the o icial menorah lighting ceremony at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Israel. To watch, visit www.claimscon.org/SurvivorsNight2022

Travel Tales

She’s not Jewish or even Jew-ish but travel journalist Kate Wickers opens her autobiographical travel tome Shape of a Boy with a chapter all about her visit to Jerusalem. Because, as she says (and we all know): “It is one of the most interesting, fascinating cities. Like walking through history in a living breathing museum.” Her hilarious tales of being driven a circuitous route to Bethlehem by a suspiciouslooking driver and wondering what might become of her, and being taken aside for questioning at Ben Gurion Airport because she didn’t know her travel companion’s real name had me reminiscing fondly about my own many mishaps in the Holy Land. Kate has a lively writing style and you’ll warm to her as she travels the globe with her husband and three boys in tow. Chapter two is about Mallorca – are we sure she’s not Jewish?! Shape of a Boy is published by Aurum, £9.99

Funny Boy

Chanukah has come early for Adam Sandler. Following in the footsteps of Neil Simon, Billy Crystal and comedian Jon Stewart, he is being honoured with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at a ceremony in March. The prize is presented annually to individuals “who have had an impact on American society” similar to that of the 19th-century novelist and humourist, “who startled many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective on social injustice and personal folly”. Sandler, 56, started out on The Cosby Show, was on Saturday Night Live for five years and then moved into movies, including The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. His first serious role was in Uncut Gems, in which he played a Jewish jeweller with a gambling addiction. He is upfront about his Jewishness, even on screen – we saw him playing an Israeli fish out of water in Don’t Mess With the Zohan and his animated comedy Eight Crazy Nights takes place during Chanukah. Adam, his wife Jackie and their two teenage daughters are set to star in a bat mitzvah-themed movie for Netflix based on Fiona Rosenbloom’s novel You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah!

SEASON OF

Even Karen Cinnamon’s name conjures up something sweet and joyful. For thousands of Jewish women, that is exactly what she is, as the founder of several Jewish community groups that are about bonding and friendship.

On Instagram, posting under Your Jewish Life where she has 65,000 followers, she sports huge Magen David earrings while talking about everything from latke recipes and dealing with the Christmas season as a Jew, to antisemitism.

She’s a tinselly ball of Jewish fun. But, of course, there’s another side to that. And that is where her new Jewish Joy Journal comes in.

Part words of wisdom, part recipes, with lots of space for kvetching and kvelling, it fits into her ethos – her brand – of Jewish joy. But it emerged from a much darker place.

“I’ve always had this message of Jewish joy, positivity, gratitude and the values of feeling connected, but I also know that the more connected we are meant to feel, many of us feel more disconnected than ever,” says Karen, 47. “And I wanted to create something that is more about protecting your own wellbeing, your psyche, working through things that are causing pain or anxiety. And it really helped me when something terrible happened on a personal level.”

Journalling has become a fashionable element of self-care and Karen initially started it with her two children as a way of helping them appreciate what they had in life. But when her Israeli mother, Zmira, died last year, she realised just how useful a journal could be.

“A journal can help you work through the pain, look ahead at what is possible and also at what is right in front of you,” says Karen. “It is easy to be grateful when things are going well, but a journal really comes into its own when you are having a challenging time.

“It can help you focus on the things you can control. Even when I was immersed in grief, it forced me to sit down and think about what there was in my life to be grateful for. And I am so

grateful for my mother’s legacy – everything she taught me. We were incredibly close. You need to feel grief, not put it to one side; writing it down helped me to pour out my feelings.

“But the journal also forces you to look at positivity – to look ahead even if it also gives space to feel loss. Focusing on the good things, bringing them to the forefront, was incredibly powerful. And it doesn’t need to be about the big things in life; for example, I have two young daughters and am often guilty of hurrying them out of the door in the morning. I’ve been thoroughly impatient. I wrote it down and asked myself to be more patient; I did something about it. It can work on big things and small things.”

Karen, who lives in Kentish Town, never imagined that she would be at the centre of a Jewish movement that would have thousands of fans across the world. Growing up in Hampstead Garden Suburb, she says she never truly felt part of the Jewish scene.

“I struggled with the cliquey Jewish teenage scene in London – I wanted to fit into it but I just didn’t,” she recalls. “Most of my friends weren’t Jewish. But when I moved to Israel for a couple of years in my 20s, I realised I didn’t need to be hanging out with Jewish people to maintain that core of my identity. I also realised that there are a lot of other Jewish people who don’t necessarily fit into the mould or feel they are doing the Jewish thing right.”

She worked in branding and design, but took her first step into using that in a specifically Jewish way when she was planning her wedding in 2013. She realised that there was nothing out there specifically for Jewish brides.

She started a blog about Jewish weddings that turned into a website, Smashing the Glass, which attracted hundreds, and then thousands, of young women in her position. When it increasingly started taking up more time, she turned it into a business, Brides Club, where, for a monthly fee brides-to-be can receive guidance and discounts as well as friendship with others in the same situation.

Members loved it so much they didn’t want to leave – so she set up Smashing Life, a club whose members pay a monthly fee

but they have become a genuine community of hundreds – to the point where Karen has employees both here and in the US to service all the resources, deals and meet-ups they need.

The Jewish Joy Journal is her first tangible product and was released in consultation with her members, who helped design both the look of it and what they wanted to see inside – from pearls of wisdom to colouring in, from recipes to space where you can ponder things from Jewish guilt to tikkun olam – and what healing the world really means. There has never been anything quite like it.

“It can be quite a challenge being Jewish in a non-Jewish world – whether it’s navigating the fact that school drinks are always planned for Friday nights or tucking your Magen David away when you get on the Tube,” says Karen. “But there is so much to celebrate too – and that is what I hope people think about when they get this journal.’

■ Jewish Joy Journal is £31 and shipping is free. Karen is o ering Jewish News readers a 10 percent discount with the code JEWISHJOY. www.jewishjoyjournal.com

Community

Karen founded online community Smashing Life

She hopes her Jewish Joy Journal will help others celebrate Judaism

BEAUTY

Don’t get le o the gi list this season, says Brigit Grant

For essential Chanukah glitz, mention Too Faced Tutti Frutti Twinkle Twinkle Liquid Glitter Eyeshadow (£11.99) in any sparkly shade. www.lookincredible.co.uk

Whichever route you take this Chrismukkah, there will be gi buying. Much like the social calendar, present purchase o en falls to the females, with husbands and fathers dipping in with ideas and funding. Sweeping generalisations aside, the unfortunate part of being stuck with the gi -getting results in being le o the list. Forced to make do with a last-minute poinsettia, kitchen gadget or Superdrug soap collection, the only way to avoid being an also-ran is to specify what you want. It’s the same for birthdays, as that’s the time to acquire products you’d never buy for yourself. So if you want a pricey hair-growth potion or serum for lashes, list it. And there’s no shame in a list, no matter how revealing, as your partner and friends will appreciate the help. This is my list.

A product you always need is the best ask and Dr. Hauschka’s Translucent Bronzing Tint would be mine. It’s made up of tinted mineral pigments, olive oil and extracts of anthyllis and witch hazel, and it transforms skin from pallid to sun-kissed. It is a desert island must and at £20 is a ordable as a gi . www.drhauschka.co.uk

The Organic Pharmacy Antioxidant Duo (£120) is definitely more birthday than Chanukah, but you never know. I do know the gel and serum double act has turned my skin around, so I need new bottles. Many products claim to boost collagen, but these work. Currently £84 at www.lookfantastic.com –alert the gi -givers.

Don’t be surprised if your daughter nabs your Kind Words kit from Rare by Selena Gomez (£19). The actress/ singer is a brand hit and this set, with buttery, pigment-rich, so matte lipstick and liner in many shades, is just one of many beauty kits in her collection. www.spacenk.com

The Grow Gorgeous range is a gi for those who need help with thinning and boost. The Intense Thickening Shampoo (£16) has a ca eine-enriched formula to give hair volume and the biotin, amino acids and rice water energise roots. The conditioner (£18) increases hair and the hyaluronic acid smooths and moisturises hair for a smooth finish. www.growgorgeous.co.uk or www.lookfantastic.com

A gi is the best way to sample a new brand such as US cult favourite TULA, which is the creation of gastroenterologist Dr Roshini Raj. Her skincare products are powered by probiotic extracts and superfoods, including the dull-skin improver Bright Start (£49) – a brightening moisturiser with mandarin orange and tranexamic Acid – Brightening Treatment Drops (£44) to reduce dark spots and defend against the elements, Beauty Sleep (£59), an overnight repair treatment for wrinkles and improving tone and Rose Glow & Get It (£28) – a balm to hydrate the eye area, reduce fine lines and work as a highlighter for cheekbones and Cupid’s bow. www.tulaskincare.co.uk

Pietro Simone is the skincare darling of Mayfair, so you can visit or put his Fierce range on your list. The products are full of unpronounceable things such as the mfula marula in Fierce Oil, which hydrates without greasy residue and the Dewy Reboot with its ultra-innovative glutathione molecule will wipe all your skin woes. What joy to get the entire range. Available at Harrods, Sephora and pietrosimone.com

Rather than a single serum, why not ask for a facial experience? That is what you will get at the new Opatra clinic in Borehamwood, where the world-renowned Israeli luxury skincare brand is coupled with award-winning technologies to deliver the “skin of your dreams”. The devices used help to encourage healthy, youthful, glowing skin and provide a wide range of treatments for all skin conditions. Skin analysis, massages, cellulite treatment and the Opatra Genesis Sculpt treatment, which targets the body in a much faster and more e icient way than exercise can (20,000 crunches in 30 minutes) mean it belongs on your list.www.opatraclinic.com

candicekrieger@googlemail.com

With

THE SPORTS TICKET MASTERS FROM ISRAEL

Candice Krieger finds out how a comparison site helps fans attend sold-out matches

ports fans Liran Froind and Aviran Zazon are useful people to know. They are the founders of Ticket-Compare, which helps customers get their hands on tickets for soldout live sports events. Set to be the Skyscanner of football ticketing, the platform finds the best deals on tickets for the World Cup, the Premier League and any other major football tournaments and leagues, in addition to rugby, cricket and tennis tickets.

S

Set up in 2015 and bootstrapped with £3,000, the business has sold more than 200,000 tickets, growing exponentially over the past seven years. Price comparison sites have grown significantly of late, owing to increased awareness about online shopping, coupled with people looking for cheaper deals amid financial pressures.

“We have clients from India, China and islands you have never even heard of in the Atlantic,” says Zazon, Ticket-Compare’s head of development and an avid Hapoel Jerusalem FC fan.

He adds: “The paradox of choice played a big part in the growth that comparison sites have seen over the past few years.

“People want to make an easier choice and not scour around, while making sure they’re paying the cheapest available market price.

“Comparison sites give you just that, and in our case even more than that – as finding a reliable seller for secondary tickets is much harder than any commodity product. It’s not only about comparing – it’s about the legitimacy of the site they’re getting their tickets from.”

Ticket-Compare prides itself on carrying out a strict screening process to ensure that customers can buy with confidence from trustworthy and vetted merchants.

According to reports, the a liate marketing industry is worth an estimated $12bn (£9.7bn). The majority of a liates are comparing products, notes Zazon.

How about future forecasts for the sector? Froind, Ticket-Compare’s CEO, notes: “Anything can be compared. Think about the iPhone – there are so many prices and it’s the exact same product. People want to get it as

cheaply as they can, and rightly so. For the football side of things, people are travelling more often and looking for a once-ina-lifetime experience. Attending the World Cup or the Champions League final is definitely one of those.”

But football tickets are notoriously dicult to get hold of. “It’s practically impossible. Especially if you’re a tourist who wants to see a once-in-a-lifetime game,” Froind notes.

Speaking of which, Ticket-Compare has sold hundreds of World Cup tickets to UK tourists.

Froind and Zazon worked at online betting company 888 before teaming up to launch Ticket-Compare.

Froind recalls: “I have a friend who asked me about tickets for a Premier League game and if I had any idea where he could get them cheap as he knew I’m good at Googling. I couldn’t find a single comparison site for it, so I opened tons of tabs. I also didn’t know who I could trust.

“I dived into a world of complaints about ticket providers and prices that were all over the place. I figured that there had to be a solution for that, so I reached out to Aviran and we made it happen.”

Based in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, TicketCompare has since partnered with several UK and European ticket marketplaces, working with them since inception.

The business has experienced a rise in interest since the pandemic. “Many people were on hold until it was clear to go to stadiums, and now they finally have the chance.” And demand is set to grow, paving the way for Ticket-Compare to become a household name.

“Often when I meet friends of friends and I tell them what we do, if they are EPL fans they know exactly what we do and right away ask us for the best deal for the match they’d like to see.”

Anything for a certain game in Qatar this Sunday...? Asking for a friend.

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Candice Krieger

Liran Froind and (inset) the England-France match

Aviran Zazon (left) and Liran Froind

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA

RABBI ELI BIRNBAUM AISH UK

You gotta have faith

“Joseph said [to the butler]: “In three more days, Pharaoh will restore you to your o ce, and you will again serve Pharaoh his goblet. If only you will remember me, and you will please do me this favour and mention me to Pharaoh – securing my release from prison… And Pharaoh restored the cupbearer, and he placed the goblet in Pharaoh’s hand… but the cupbearer didn’t remember Joseph, and he forgot him.” (Genesis 40:12-23, abridged).

The commentaries are puzzled by two repetitious phrases in this week’s parsha, Vayeishev. Why does Joseph ask the butler to “remember” and also “mention” him in front of Pharaoh? Later, why the superfluous emphasis on the fact that the butler

“forgot” Joseph, when he already “didn’t remember” him?

Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak (Rashi, d.1105, France) quotes an astounding Talmudic insight: “This teaches that the cupbearer’s forgetfulness was miraculous, ie he totally forgot Joseph the moment he left the prison. This was a punishment for Joseph, who had placed his fate in the cupbearer’s hands instead of God’s.”

The commentaries elaborate: Joseph su ered two additional years’ imprisonment to atone for the two requests he made of the cupbearer (“remember me” and “mention me”).

In what way was this even remotely inappropriate? I am reminded of the parable of the hapless man stuck on the roof of his house due to a flood. A speedboat arrives but he refuses to jump in, convinced that God will save him. A helicopter hovers overhead but he refuses to climb in, convinced that God will save him. Eventually he drowns. Entering heaven, he demands an explanation: “I had complete

faith in you! Why didn’t you save me?!” God replies, exasperated: “Who do you think sent the boat and helicopter?”

The line between bitachon (trusting God’s providence) and hishtadlut (taking independent action) is extremely fine. Joseph’s life story speaks directly to this impossible juggling act. In fact, his hishtadlut in asking the butler for help was totally out of character: His years in Egypt are a study of faith in the face of adversity. When Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses him of assault and has him thrown in jail, he doesn’t utter a word. Later, when Joseph finds his voice, he accredits nothing to his own skills or prowess. Consider his conversation with the butler and the baker: “He asked Pharaoh’s ministers, ‘Why do you look so sad?’ And they said to him: ‘We dreamed a dream, and no one can interpret it!’ And Joseph said to them: ‘Do not interpretations belong to God?’” (Genesis 40:6-8)

Incredibly, he says this again – to the sovereign of ancient Egypt!

“Pharaoh said: ‘I dreamed a dream, yet none can interpret it. I have heard that you hear the essence of a dream, to interpret it correctly.’ But Joseph answered: ‘It isn’t me – the answer is from God!’” (Genesis 41:15-16)

If God sends a helicopter to save you, take it!

Constantly and consistently, Joseph takes a very deliberate step out of the limelight, instead thrusting God centre stage. His passivity in the face of challenge therefore becomes much clearer: why resist, when God is pulling the strings? It also becomes clearer why he was taken to task for handing over those strings to the cupbearer.

The Kabbalists refer to Joseph as the ‘righteous foundation of the world’. He exists to be a paradigm of a faith and trust stronger than we can ever imagine. True, to aspire to Joseph’s level of bitachon is a gargantuan task. But he was a dreamer, teaching us to never stop dreaming.

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In our thought-provoking series, rabbis, rebbetzins and educators relate the week’s parsha to the way we live today

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBI CHARLEY BAGINSKY CEO OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

I’m definitely the grinch of Chanukah. This is what happens when you are a rabbi born on Christmas Day and, not only that, but the one time in 19 years it fell on the 25th of Kislev –the first day of Chanukah. What’s worse than getting birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper? Plus everyone else getting presents on your birthday – both your secular and Jewish birthdays!

Joking aside, giving presents on Chanukah is a relatively new addition to the festival and much more of a western diaspora preoccupa-

tion. But there is something wonderful about receiving a present that either you want or gifting one that someone else wants. Maybe the deep psychological repercussions of my birthdate have made me somewhat preoccupied with getting people exactly the right present, something they never realised they wanted until they unwrapped it. The joy you get from watching their eyes light up is immeasurable.

There is a great Jewish saying that a fool gives and a wise person takes. In other words, a wise person is the one who realises they benefit by giving.

This year, my children’s school sent out a letter recognising that it is a hard year for presents, but that if people

really want to give something to the teachers, they could make a donation towards a defibrillator. The teachers and sta have decided what they really want is something for which everyone can come together and potentially change lives.

The truth is that, for many, this is a hard year in which to fulfil the perceived expectations of what you think everyone might want to receive.

But it’s very possible that, if we listen carefully to what people are really saying, we may find we can do just that.

Inspired by the school, this year I am going to try to ensure that all the gifts I give are about enhancing the relationship I have with them, something that makes us grateful for each other and for life.

A stimulating series where our progressive rabbis consider how Biblical figures might act when faced with 21st-century issues

This Chanukah will be a difficult time for many people because of the cost-of-living crisis

Ask our

Our trusty team of advisers answers your questions about everything from law and finance to dating and dentistry.

This week: Donating to a good cause, living with hearing aids and property management...

LISA WIMBORNE CHIEF EXECUTIVE JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED

Dear Lisa

My parents have lived in a Jewish Blind & Disabled flat for the last five years. We are all so grateful for the support that they have received, and I know they are so happy living there. I don’t have much to give in terms of large donations but would like to know if there are ways I could still support you?

Jill

Dear Jill

Thank you so much for getting in touch and I really appreciate you asking this. We rely on our volunteers who give us their time alongside the generosity from

people across the community to support our services. Especially in these challenging times, we are truly grateful for every hour of volunteering or pound in donations that we receive.

There are several ways you could support us. This includes leaving a gift to Jewish Blind & Disabled in your will.

At least £1 in every £3 of the money we raise is made possible thanks to the generosity of people who leave us a legacy.

Whatever the size of the gift, legacies are crucial to enabling us to deliver high quality housing and support to vulnerable member of our community and their families now and for years to come.

Other ways you could support us include volunteering, or taking on a challenge event, or with Chanukah coming up, you could consider asking friends and family to make a donation rather than buy you a present.

all the time and says she wouldn’t be without it!

SUE CIPIN CHIEF EXECUTIVE JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION

Dear Sue

I wear hearing aids but I avoid busy places because the hearing aids pick up all the sound around me, so I can’t engage in conversation.

A friend had the same problem but now she uses a small microphone, which cuts out background noise so she can hear the person she’s talking to. She goes out

I’d like to try one but I’m a little embarrassed. I’m also afraid people might think I’m recording them or something… and I’m scared they’ll be even more reluctant to include me.

I don’t know what to do – I feel like I’m caught between a rock and a hard place.

Gillian

Dear Gillian

New technology can be frightening but trying it can also open up a whole new world for you!

You’re right, people may not know what it is … but what a perfect opportunity to raise their awareness!

You can show them how hearing aids can work well in all sorts of circumstances, if paired with a microphone that isolates someone’s voice.

I’m sure most people will be eager to learn as much as they can. They may also be struggling themselves or have a friend or relative who is. So talking to you about this could help them too.

At JDA, you can try out one of these microphones for yourself and of course we’re here to help with any technology, support and advice you need. Please give us a ring on 020 8446 0214 and ask for Gabrielle Renée. Together let’s get hearing loss out in the open, where it should be!

STUART WOOLGAR VACANT PROPERTY SECURITY GLOBAL GUARDIANS MANAGEMENT

Dear Stuart

I own a few properties, residential and commercial. The recent mortgage rate rises have impacted on me quite considerably and I am now considering selling one or two of the buildings and repurposing another to keep my portfolio profitable. A couple of the shops became vacant when the businesses closed down, and the tenants in my office

block aren’t going to renew their leases as the staff now mostly work from home, so I’m considering converting that building to residential. While I assess my entire portfolio against the background of our current turbulent economy and what might happen in the property market in 2023, I need to keep these properties secure while they stand empty, but have heard negative stories about guardian companies and am also worried the guardians won’t move out when I need them to.

Amy

Dear Amy Unfortunately, there are always cowboys in any business sector. However,

there are plenty of reputable guardian companies around – mine included, the largest in London. Global Guardians wouldn’t be used by most of the London councils and leading housing associations, if we were in any way unethical, ine cient or unreliable. We are considered the experts in our field and all our property guardians are working professionals, carefully vetted for their suitability; and just a year ago, we won a landmark case in the High Court which supported our way of securing the properties in our care and will prevent anyone refusing to move out or ‘squatting’ illegally. We have always been the standard bearer in our industry so your properties will be in safe hands.

Got a question for a member of our team?

Email: editorial@jewishnews.co.uk

Got a question for a member of

JEWELLER

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

Qualifications:

• Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s.

• Expert in the manufacture and supply of diamond jewellery, wedding rings and general jewellery.

• Specialist in supply of diamonds to the public at trade prices.

JEWELLERY CAVE LTD 020 8446 8538 www.jewellerycave.co.uk jonathan@jewellerycave.co.uk

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN

Qualifications:

• Lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in will drafting and trust and estate administration. Last 14 years at KKL Executor and Trustee Company.

• In close contact with clients to ensure all legal and pastoral needs are cared for.

• Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

KKL EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE COMPANY 020 8732 6101 www.kkl.org.uk enquiries@kkl.org.uk

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

STEPHEN MORRIS

Qualifications:

• Managing Director of Stephen Morris Shipping Ltd.

• 45 years’ experience in shipping household and personal effects.

• Chosen mover for four royal families and three UK prime ministers.

• Offering proven quality specialist advice for moving anyone across the world or round the corner.

STEPHEN MORRIS SHIPPING LTD 020 8832 2222 www.shipsms.co.uk stephen@shipsms.co.uk

VACANT PROPERTY SECURITY

STUART WOOLGAR

Qualifications:

• CEO of London’s largest guardian company with more than 20 years’ experience

• Well-known and highly regarded British security industry expert.

• Specialists in securing and protecting empty commercial and residential properties.

• Clients include small private landlords to major national property companies and managing agents, as well as those in the public sector.

GLOBAL GUARDIANS MANAGEMENT 020 3818 9100 www.global-guardians.co.uk info@global-guardians.co.uk

COMMERCIAL LAWYER

ADAM LOVATT

Qualifications:

• Lawyer with more than 11 years of experience working in the legal sector. Specialist in corporate, commercial, media, sport and start-ups.

• Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law from the University of London.

• Non-Executive Director of various companies advising on all governance matters.

LOVATT LEGAL LIMITED 07753 802 804 adam@lovattlegal.co.uk

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

SUE CIPIN

Qualifications:

• 20 years+ hands-on experience, leading JDA in significant growth and development.

• Understanding of the impact of deafness on people, including children, at all stages.

• Extensive services for people affected by hearing loss/tinnitus.

• Technology room with expert advice on and facilities to try out the latest equipment. Hearing aid advice, support and maintenance.

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION 020 8446 0502 www.jdeaf.org.uk mail@jdeaf.org.uk

PRINCIPAL, PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL

LOUISE LEACH

Qualifications:

• Professional choreographer qualified in dance, drama and Zumba (ZIN, ISTD

& LAMDA), gaining an honours degree at Birmingham University.

• Former contestant on ITV’s Popstars, reaching bootcamp with Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw and Kym Marsh.

• Set up Dancing with Louise 19 years ago.

DANCING WITH LOUISE 075 0621 7833 www.dancingwithlouise.co.uk Info@dancingwithlouise.com

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FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE

JACOB BERNSTEIN

Qualifications:

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RICHDALE CONSULTANTS LTD 020 7781 8019 www.richdale.co.uk jacob@richdale.co.uk

INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS SPECIALIST

ACCOUNTANT

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

ADAM SHELLEY

Qualifications:

• FCCA chartered certified accountant.

• Accounting, taxation and business advisory services.

• Entrepreneurial business specialist including start-up businesses.

• Specialises in charities; Personal tax returns.

• Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation Volunteer of the Year JVN award.

SOBELL RHODES LLP 020 8429 8800 www.sobellrhodes.co.uk a.shelley@sobellrhodes.co.uk

IT SPECIALIST

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LEE

Qualifications:

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CURRENCIES

HUMAN RESOURCES / EMPLOYMENT LAW

DONNA OBSTFELD

Qualifications:

• FCIPD Chartered HR Professional

• 25 years in HR and Business Management.

• Mediator, Business Coach, Trainer, Author and Speaker

• Supporting businesses and charities with the hiring, managing, inspiring and firing of their staff

DOHR LTD 020 8088 8958 www.dohr.co.uk donna@dohr.co.uk

Qualifications:

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NEFESH B’NEFESH 0800 075 7200 www.nbn.org.il dov@nbn.org.il

DIVORCE & FAMILY SOLICITOR

VANESSA LLOYD PLATT

Qualifications:

• Qualification: 40 years experience as a matrimonial and divorce solicitor and mediator, specialising in all aspects of family matrimonial law, including:

• Divorce, pre/post-nuptial agreements, cohabitation agreements, domestic violence, children’s cases, grandparents’ rights to see grandchildren, pet disputes, family disputes.

• Frequent broadcaster on national and International radio and television.

LLOYD PLATT & COMPANY SOLICITORS 020 8343 2998 www.divorcesolicitors.com lloydplatt@divorcesolicitors.com

IAN GREEN

Qualifications:

• Launched Man on a Bike IT consultancy 15 years ago to provide computer support for the home and small businesses.

• Clients range from legal firms in the City to families, small business owners and synagogues.

• More than 18 years’ experience.

MAN ON A BIKE 020 8731 6171 www.manonabike.co.uk mail@manonabike.co.uk

INSURANCE CONSULTANCY

ASHLEY PRAGER

Qualifications:

• Professional insurance and reinsurance broker. Offering PI/D&O cover, marine and aviation, property owners, ATE insurance, home and contents, fine art, HNW.

• Specialist in insurance and reinsurance disputes, utilising Insurance backed products. (Including non insurance business disputes).

• Ensuring clients do not pay more than required.

RISK RESOLUTIONS 020 3411 4050 www.risk-resolutions.com ashley.prager@risk-resolutions.com

CAREER ADVISER

LISA WIMBORNE

Qualifications:

Able to draw on the charity’s 50 years of experience in enabling people with physical disabilities or impaired vision to live independently, including:

• The provision of specialist accommodation with 24/7 on site support.

• Knowledge of the innovations that empower people and the benefits available.

• Understanding of the impact of a disability diagnosis.

JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED 020 8371 6611 www.jbd.org Lisa@jbd.org If

Email: sales@jewishnews.co.uk

LESLEY TRENNER

RESOURCE 020 8346 4000 www.resource-centre.org office@resource-centre.org

TELECOMS SPECIALIST

BENJAMIN ALBERT

Qualifications:

• Co-Founder and Technical Director of ADWConnect – a specialist in business telecommunications, serving customers worldwide.

• Independent consultant and supplier of Telephone & Internet services.

• Client satisfaction is at the heart of everything my team and I do, always striving to find the most cost-effective solutions.

ADWCONNECT 0208 089 1111 www.adwconnect.com hello@adwconnect.com

ALIYAH ADVISER

Be luminous (4)

Undressed (8)

Overlaid with metal (6)

At a time previous to (6)

Car’s storage compartment (8)

Male red deer (4)

Measure of intensity of noise (7)

Smallest amount (5)

Venturesome businessman (12)

Movement of the shoulders (5)

Jersey Royals, eg (3,6)

Parent’s sister (4)

Delicate (6)

Encouraged (8)

Organ with an external, middle and inner section (3)

Card game played in pairs (6)

Transmit (9)

Bring to mind (8)

Buddhist temple (6)

Walk clumsily (6)

Personal teacher (5)

Run off (4)

Chilli ___ carne, spicy meal (3)

SUGURU