1338 - 26th Oct 2023

a Un re i st ted ro w n e ge r

Together for Israel and peace 10,000 people unite in Trafalgar Square to call for the hostages to be released Pages 16-17

FREE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR

Hamas’ useful idiots

26 October 2023 • 11 Cheshvan 5784 • Issue No.1338 •

Jewish News filmed these heartless morons on Tuesday night in central London, ripping apart posters of Jewish children kidnapped by Hamas terrorists

Expert analysis on the Gaza conflict from our community’s sharpest writers

@JewishNewsUK

WATC H THE SICKEN ING VI DEO SEEN B Y MOR E THAN THREE MILLIO N PEOPL E ON T WITTE R @JEWIS HNEWS UK

by Adam Decker editorial@jewishnews.co.uk @JewishNewsUK

These are the faces of the two women and the two men filmed

by Jewish News tearing down posters in London’s Leicester Square that had been put up to raise awareness of hostages still

Josh Glancy

‘The entire Middle East nearly exploded because of BBC disinformation’ Page 12

being held by Hamas terrorists inside the Gaza Strip.

Asked to why they were removing posters of people “kidnapped by terrorists”, one of the females responded to criticism of her actions by saying: “I do love human life.”

But one of the males then proceeded to destroy further posters with apparent added glee.

The Metropolitan Police later said it had seen our footage online but had not identified a criminal offence.

But there was condemnation from other senior voices, including from Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch who criticised “odious people ripping down posters of missing children”, in a House of Commons speech.

Continued on page 6

Brigit Grant

Mick Davis

‘We struggle because the hate is tangible, even from people we know and respect’

‘We cannot leave Gaza to fester in a status quo where only the terrorists have agency’

Page 23

Page 14

2

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Jewish News 26 October 2023

ISRAEL AT WAR

Israeli strikes on Gaza continue but ground invasion still on hold

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

Nineteen days into the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli army still has not launched its ground invasion of Gaza, causing experts and media to speculate about the reasons for its delay.

Despite defence minister Yoav Gallant telling Israeli soldiers that they would soon see the inside of Gaza, the plan was still on hold as of yesterday.

According to a report in the New York Times, the United States asked Israel to delay the invasion in order to allow more time to free the more than 220 hostages still held in Gaza, as well ensuring the continuation of humanitarian aid.

Four hostages were released from Gaza this week, two American citizens and two Israelis in their seventies and eighties, sparking hope among the hundreds of families working intensively to free their loved ones from Hamas.

Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh

Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman alThani, said yesterday that he hoped the Gulf State’s diplomatic efforts to release the hostages would soon bear fruit.

The Israeli army continued to pound Hamas targets in Gaza all week, striking crucial infrastructure and killing scores of high level commanders, many of whom were directly responsible for the massive terror attack on 7 October.

According to Hamas, more than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, while the United Nations is once again warning that the Gaza Strip is running out of fuel, and that a third of hospitals are no longer functioning.

“Time is running out. We urgently need fuel,” UN agency for Palestinian refugees said. Israel has refused to allow fuel in to Gaza, claiming that Hamas is hiding fuel reserves underground while stealing fuel from civilians.

Hamas fired rockets every day at Israeli targeting mainly the south but also central Israel and even reaching as far as Haifa in the north and Eilat in the south.

Meanwhile, Israel criticised UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres after he said that it was important to “also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

On the northern front, a war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon became increasingly likely last week, with frequent rocket and antitank missile attacks against Israel, killing at least two people so far.

Israel is currently launching airstrikes against Hezbollah terrorist cells in Lebanon on a daily basis, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning the group that it would be destroyed in a war with Israel.

“I can’t tell you now if Hezbollah decide to fully enter the war, if Hezbollah decides to enter the war [...] they will be making the biggest mistake of their lives. And we will hit them with an unimaginable force.

“It will mean devastation for them and the state of Lebanon,” Netanyahu told Israeli soldiers.

Hezbollah and Iran have warned Israel repeatedly that it would face

STARMER MEETS GROUP OF CONCERNED MPS Keir Starmer has met with a group of around a dozen MPs, including some frontbenchers, concerned about his stance on Israel’s response to the terrorist atrocities, writes Lee Harpin.

A spokesperson for the Labour leader confirmed the meeting was taking place in Westminster yesterday after the group requested to see him to discuss the issue further.

The meeting took place after Labour’s shadow equalities minister Yasmin Qureshi joined the calls for a “humanitarian ceasefire” during PMQs saying people in Gaza were subject to “collective punishment” for “crimes they did not commit”.

Starmer’s spokesperson offered no comment on Qureshi’s decision to speak out in the Commons. The leader of the Opposition avoided raising the conflict in Gaza during PMQs, as the issue, and his position had been made clear during extensive debates in the Commons.

“What we have said is that we fully recognise Israel has a right to defend itself, to go after the hostages, and to act in accordance with humanitarian law,” the spokesperson said yesterday, outlining Starmer’s position to journalists.

“What we’ve also said is that we need to ensure there is protection of civilian lives, of assurances that all necessary aid supplies can

Destruction in Gaza and (below) Israeli tanks gather at the border

a “united front” if the bombardments in Gaza don’t stop, causing the United States to ramp up its military support for Israel.

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, met with Hamas’s official Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad’s leader Ziad al-Nakhleh in Beirut yesterday, to “coordinate” the next steps against Israel.

get into Gaza, and reach people who need them.

That continued to be our position.”

At least 19 Labour councillors have quit the party over the issue, including in Cambridge, Nottinghamshire, Gloucester, and some MPs have been critical about the position the leadership has taken. More than 150 Labour Muslim councillors have written to him urging the party to call for an immediate ceasefire in the region.

Starmer’s spokesperson said he was “not aware of a specific response” to these letters.

He also stressed the Labour leadership continued to believe the responsibility for what happened on 7 October was with Hamas, who had carried out an “appalling terrorist attack.”

Much of the criticism has focused around an interview he did with LBC in which a clip shared on social media suggested Starmer had appeared to say Israel had the “right” to cut off water and energy to Gaza.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari pointed a finger at Iran in a press briefing, saying the republic had “directly aided Hamas before the war, with training, supplying weapons, money, and technological know-how.”

He added: “Even now, Iranian aid to Hamas in the form of intelligence and online incitement against the State of Israel continues.”

His spokesperson reiterated that Starmer had been answering a different question in the clip that was shared on social media.

The Labour leader had also repeatedly stressed in numerous other interviews for Israel to comply with international law.

Keir Starmer held discussions yesterday

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

3

ISRAEL AT WAR

Hostage release plan ‘in exchange for free passage for Hamas leaders’ An extraordinary plan is under way to secure the release of all the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip — together with the bodies of fallen Israel soldiers held by Hamas since 2014 — in exchange for greater aid into the Strip and free passage out of Gaza for Hamas leaders and their families, Jewish News can exclusively reveal, writes Jenni Frazer.

The two-stage plan is being put together

by American-Israeli entrepreneur Moti Kahana in partnership with the White House, a seasoned American negotiator, France and a Syrian adviser to Kahana’s company, Global Delivery Corporation.

In the first stage of the project — whose details will be hammered out with Hamas leaders in Qatar — medical supplies, baby and hygiene provisions will be sent into Gaza solely for civilian use.

These goods, £16m of which Kahana has waiting in an American warehouse, ready to be flown to Egypt, will be provided in exchange for the release of all foreign and dual nationality hostages held by Hamas.

The second stage, Kahana says, will mirror what Israel did in 1982 when the leadership of the PLO (Palestine Liberaion Organisation), including Yasser Arafat, were allowed

by Israel to leave Lebanon. Most of them then settled in Tunisia.

Kahana’s plan, in co-ordination with Israel and the US, will allow “Hamas leaders in Gaza, not those involved in the slaughter of Israelis”, to leave the Strip in exchange for the release of all the remaining hostages. Included in this arrangement will be the presumed bodies of

Moti Kahana: putting plan together

Israel’s foreign minister Eli Cohen holds photos of kidnapped Israelis as he speaks at the UN’s 15-member security council on Tuesday. Inset: entrepreneur Moti Kahana

two Israeli soldiers held by Hamas since 2014, and two other Israelis who wandered into Gaza and were taken prisoner.

Kahana told Jewish News: “Anyone who was involved on October 7, who crossed the border into Israel and took part in the massacre, and has blood on his hands, will not be able to leave Gaza.”

The plan envisages the Hamas leaders either leaving Gaza via Egypt, to resettle elsewhere, or to leave by boat from the Gaza shoreline.

Kahana says Israel and the United States both have lists of those who would be eli-

gible to leave the Strip, and strict control will be exercised to ensure the terrorists who took part in the 7 October massacres or were involved in holding hostages will not be among those allowed to leave.

The entrepreneur, who has been involved in humanitarian rescue projects in many parts of the world, began working in Syria in 2011 and, with the help of opposition forces including Hamas affiliates, was able to rescue artefacts from the 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue in Damascus.

He says that at that time, in exchange for that

help, he provided the Hamas men with food and supplies for their families. “It was during Eid and they were living in tunnels in Damascus.

I gave them baby formula, women’s hygiene items, and meat”.

That mutual help, from more than 10 years ago, means that the Hamas men know Kahana and his work. Between 2016 and 2018, he worked between Syria and Israel during Operation Good Neighbour, bringing many women and children from Syria to be treated in Israeli hospitals in the north of the country. They were then repatriated after medical treatment.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Kahana, in partnership with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and now with the American Jewish Committee, was involved in relief work on the Romanian/ Ukraine border, sending urgent supplies from a camp in Romania.

A spokesperson for the Israeli government denied knowledge of the plan, telling Jewish News: “This sounds like Hamas propaganda stemming from the pressure they are under.”

UN chief ‘should resign AID MONEY PROTECTED for Hamas comments’ FROM MISUSE, MPS TOLD Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, has called on general secretary António Guterres to resign after he said the Hamas atrocities “did not happen in a vacuum”.

In a long speech on Tuesday to the 15-member security council, Guterres said: “It is important to also recognise the attacks

by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.

“They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished,” said the secretary general.

“Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”

In his speech, Guterres qualified his remarks by saying: “But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.”

He also told the security council: “And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

Erdan responded by saying Guterres “is

António Guterres at the UN security council

not fit to lead the UN” and called for him to “resign immediately”.

The ambassador added: “There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people.”

Earlier, Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen had said he would not meet Guterres, seemingly cancelling an expected meeting. “I will not meet with the UN secretary-general,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“After the October 7th massacre, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must be erased off the face of the planet.”

No British aid money goes directly to the Palestinian Authority, James Cleverly has insisted, after a Tory backbencher condemned the payment of what he described as “so-called martyr salaries”.

Responding to concerns raised by Chris Clarkson MP, the foreign secretary told the Commons: “I can reassure him that we always ensure that UK aid money is protected from misappropriation, and I can confirm to him and the House that no British aid money goes directly to the Palestinian Authority.

“We have raised this very issue with the Palestinian Authority and highlighted our belief that this is not conducive to good relations and a future two-state solution.”

This week Rishi Sunak confirmed in the Commons that the UK was sending an extra £20m in humanitarian aid to help with the crisis in

James Cleverly: reassurance

Gaza. Later, Lord Ahmad told the Lords that no aid money goes to Hamas; it goes through “trusted UN agencies”.

Cleverly also said on Tuesday that “professionalism and restraint by the Israel Defence Forces is an important part” of preventing the conflict from escalating.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy had urged the government to ensure Israel

does not block aid for Palestinian civilians, or food, water and medicine, as the war with Hamas continues.

Cleverly responded: “We discuss this regularly and at every level within the Israeli government, and of course we reflect on the point that Israel itself as well as the countries in the near neighbourhood are trying to prevent this becoming a regional conflict.”

SNP foreign affairs spokesperson Brendan O’Hara was among MPs to raise concerns that Israel was breaching international law in its response to the Hamas atrocities on 7 October. Cleverly said it was not his role “to make an assessment on the interpretation of events which are unfolding as we speak”.

Labour backbencher Imran Hussain said angrily that “innocent blood continues to be spilt on the streets of Gaza”.

4

Jewish News 26 October 2023

ujia.org

6972 UJIA Emergency Briefing 2023 (Respond) JN DPS v3.indd 1

www.jewishnews.co.uk

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

5

WE GRIEVE AS ONE PEOPLE WE MOURN AS ONE PEOPLE AND NOW

WE RESPOND AS ONE PEOPLE

UJIA is raising essential funds for victims of terror, to provide instant trauma support and financial grants to families whose lives have been torn apart by the recent terror attacks

TO DONATE NOW TO THE THE UJIA ISRAEL AT WAR COMMUNITY APPEAL, VISIT UJIA.ORG OR SCAN THE QR CODE

UNITED JEWISH ISRAEL APPEAL United Jewish Israel Appeal is a registered charity no. 1060078 (England & Wales) and SC 039181 (Scotland).

25/10/2023 11:36

6

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Jewish News 26 October 2023

ISRAEL AT WAR

Snatched by bike, Yocheved, 85, tells of life in Gaza tunnel

Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie Raanan

A grandmother released this week as a hostage by Hamas terrorists revealed she was kept in a “spider web” of tunnels underneath Gaza during her captivity.

Translating for her mother, Sharone Lifschitz told a press conference in Tel Aviv: “She was taken on the back of a motorbike, with her legs on one side and her head on the other side.

“She was taken through the ploughed fields with the men in front, on one side, and a man behind her.

And while she was being taken she was hit by sticks.

“Until they reached the tunnels.

There they walked for a few kilometres on the wet ground. There is a huge network of tunnels underneath – it looks like a spider web.”

Yocheved Lifshitz said: “I went through hell.”

The 85-year-old was released alongside fellow Israeli citizen Nurit Cooper, 79, on Monday evening, but their husbands, 83 and 84, remain in captivity along with Yocheved and Nurit on their way to freedom

Yocheved Lifshitz is surrounded by her grandchildren after being freed on Monday from Hamas captivity. Her husband, Oded, is still being held. ‘He knows good Arabic,’ his daughter said. ‘I want to think he’s going to be OK’

more than 200 other civilians.

Britain said six of its nationals are among those still being held hostage since Hamas launched its bloody raids on Israel on 7 October.

As she was released to officials of the Red Cross, Mrs Lifshitz was seen reaching back to shake the hand of one of the Palestinian terrorists who had held her, and saying to him “Shalom [peace].”

Ms Lifschitz, an artist and academic who spells her name differently from her mother, said it was “incredible” to be reunited with her – “to hold her hand and to kiss her cheek”. “She is very sharp and is very keen to share the information, pass on the information to families of other hostages she was with,” she told the BBC. Ms Lifschitz said she will continue to campaign for the release of her father, Oded, and the other captives.

“He speaks good Arabic, so he can communicate very well with the people there,” Ms Lifschitz said.

“He knows many people in Gaza

and the West Bank. I want to think her ordeal for herself as she appeared at a press conference in Tel Aviv while that he’s going to be OK. “My mum said they had been sitting in a wheelchair and being suplooked after and there was a doctor ported by her daughter.

Translating for her mother, Ms there, so this gives a lot of comfort to Lifschitz said she had been everybody. We have so many beaten with sticks after people that we’ve lost – it terrorists snatched her is a little ray of light but away on a motorbike. there is a huge darkness At some point, the as well.” captors removed her Ms Lifschitz said watch and jewellery, she and her mother Mrs Lifshitz said. But, still dream of peace giving a glimmer of with the Palestinians, hope to other families, even as an expected she said the terrorists ground invasion of Gaza provided the hostages with

by Israel threatens to spark a wider war in the region.

Nurit Cooper: free medical care. “They were very friendly towards “We have to find ways because there is no alternative. If them and they took care of them, they anything, it makes me even more were given medicine and they were treated,” Ms Lifschitz said. resolved,” she said.

The release of the two women took “The way has got longer – we are dealing with grief and loss on a level the total number of people freed to we can never get over, but as nations four, with an American woman and her teenage daughter having been we will have to find a way forward.”

Mrs Lifshitz was able to describe released three days earlier.

Disgust at kidnap poster vandalism Contiued from page 1 Sadiq Khan also condemned the actions of the four, who were filmed on Tuesday night in central London.

His spokesperson said: “The mayor thinks this behaviour is completely unacceptable. The horror the hostages and their families are going through is truly unimaginable,” a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said.

“Our capital is the most diverse city in the world and the mayor continues to urge Londoners

to stand together in the coming days and weeks.

“Some people will try to exploit the situation in the Middle East to sow the seeds of division here and we cannot let them.”

A spokesperson for Labour leader Keir Starmer also said it was “absolutely right” that a poster campaign had been launched to highlight the plight of more than 200 hostages, many of them children.

‘It is right and proper that people want to highlight the hostages that are being held by Hamas and want to make sure the focus of what started

this current crisis isn’t lost, which is the attack by Hamas on Israel and the fact there are now around 200 hostages in Gaza,” said Starmer’s spokesperson. The Leicester Square incident was the latest in a string of incidents, with posters being defaced (see right) and a previous video from Oxford Street showing a woman ripping down a poster of four-year-old Ariel.

His kidnapping alongside his months-old baby brother Kfir and their mother Shiri SilbermanBibas horrified the world.

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

COMMUNAL HAVDALAH EVENT IN SOLIDARITY WITH ISRAEL 28 OCTOBER | DOORS OPEN 19:45 Please bring a torch and batteries to donate to home shelters in Israel Sign up at bit.ly/LTBL2023 SIGN UP HERE & RECEIVE VENUE INFORMATION

FJ L

orum for ewish eadership

7

8

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Jewish News 26 October 2023

Magen David Adom urgently needs these items NOW.

TOURNIQUETS £17 EACH

HAEMOSTATIC BANDAGES £17 EACH

ADVANCED PRESSURE BANDAGE £5 EACH

Registered Charity No. 1113409

6974 MDA Emergency Appeal - SoI 2023 JN Shopping List DPS Ad v3.indd 1

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

9

STERILE BANDAGES £50 EACH OXYGEN MASKS £25 EACH

CHEST SEALS £19 EACH

OPERATION SWORDS OF IRON

Since the start of Operation Swords of Iron on 7th October, Magen David Adom has been operating beyond full capacity.

Our teams of paramedics and volunteers have been on the frontline saving lives. To continue to do so they need your ongoing support.

MDA is urgently and continually replenishing its stocks of lifesaving medical supplies – from tourniquets & bandages to oxygen masks & chest seals. Now more than ever we need your urgent and ongoing support. From as little as £5, you can save a life in Israel.

Please give now and give generously.

You can help save a life.

Donate now at www.mdauk.org

24/10/2023 15:45

10 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

EMERGENCY APPEAL Making a vital impact where it’s needed most, both now and in the weeks and months ahead.

Please continue to give to our appeal with Myisrael’s 100% promise that every single penny will go directly to helping those in greatest need.

Never has our work been so urgent and your support so critical.

Never has Myisrael’s name felt more poignant.

DONATE NOW

myisraelcharity.org Am Yisrael Chai UK registered charity number 1121960

JNFP_Myisrael_260mmWx330mmH_AW_23Oct.indd 1

23/10/2023 16:56

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

11

ISRAEL AT WAR

Arrests after antisemitic abuse heard at Trafalgar Square rally Two men were arrested on suspi- Home vigil, which attracted a huge cion of racially aggravated public turnout, mainly from within the order offences after they were community, footage posted on social heard shouting antisemitic abuse media showed Metropolitan Police near Sunday’s communal rally officers pinning down a man to the in Trafalgar Square in support ground and hand-cuffing him, before of the hostages kidnapped by he was led away to a waiting van.

Jewish News understands that Hamas, writes Lee Harpin.

Meanwhile a man was arrested one of the two arrests at the vigil took after a video was shared online of place after a man began to shout out him shouting racist abuse in White- antisemitic abuse while organisers hall, central London, at the main were reading out the names of the pro-Palestine demo on Saturday. 200 people kidnapped by Hamas.

Police made a further arrest Footage shared on Twitter when a person was heard to showed him waving a black-andmake anti-Jewish remarks white Islamist flag, although from a nearby car. this was not linked to any The Community Secubanned organisation. rity Trust was also involved The Metropolitan in the operation around Police later confirmed Sunday’s Bring Them 10 arrests had been Home demo, which made after demos in the Board later said support of the Paleshad attracted up to tinians on Saturday.

15, 000 people.

During Sunday’s At one stage Bring Them Suella Braverman

during the demo, officers were seen chasing away a small group of youths who had attempted to unveil a Palestinian flag.

There were cries of “arrest them” and “apologists” from some at the demo directed towards officers, although it is unclear what offence had been committed as the young males ran away from police.

In a statement after Sunday’s vigil, the Met confirmed: “There were two arrests during last night’s vigil. Two men were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences after they were hearing shouting antisemitic abuse nearby. ” It was also confirmed that 10 people had been arrested during, and after Saturday’s pro-Palestinian protest in central London.

The Met said the arrests were for public order offences, and another for assaulting an emergency worker.

An estimated 100,000 people attended the pro-Palestine proces-

A protest, run by Hizb ut-Tahrir, took place on Saturday

sion, from Marble Arch to Whitehall and Parliament Square.

Many held placards reading “Free Palestine” and chanted “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”.

Another sign, held aloft by an unidentified person on the same demo, openly expressed support for Hamas.

The Met have subsequently come under pressure for their failure to make arrests at a smaller demo on Saturday, organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir, at which a speaker repeatedly chanted “jihad” as he urged the “Muslim armies” to “rescue the people of Palestine”.

Home Office ignored police plea to tackle ‘jihad’ street chants for nearly three years

BY JOHN WARE INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST

Imagine being the Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley today as he gets a dressing down from the home secretary about why his officers didn’t arrest a member of the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir chanting “Jihad, jihad, jihad” during Saturday’s pro-Palestinian demonstration.

Next to the man was a banner saying “Muslim Armies.”

The Met and the CPS have both said the law was not broken.

Rowley could be forgiven for wanting to tell Suella Braverman to get the hell out of his office.

And to curse her predecessor Priti Patel on Braverman’s way out.

And, for that matter, the immigration minister Robert Jenrick who’s also complained that what Hizb ut-Tahrir did “needs tackling with the full force of the law.”

Well, indeed, so why wasn’t it?

The question is especially pertinent because in February 2021 – two and a half years ago – at the then Counter Extremism Commissioner Dame Sara’s request, she and Rowley co-authored a report which addressed precisely this question.

It was called Operating with Impunity.

All 126 forensically researched pages were directed at organisations and individuals like Hizb ut-Tahrir, who deliberately stay just on the right side of the law, but who also foster a climate conducive to radicalisation, and who fundamentally oppose democracy.

Which is exactly what the Hizb ut-Tahrir bloke was doing when he ranted to fellow Muslims: “What is the solution to liberate people in the concentration camp called Palestine?” provoking the war cry: “Jihad, Jihad, Jihad.”

The Khan-Rowley report argued the need for a legal framework that could fill the lacuna that prevents either criminal or even civil regulatory action against hateful extremists. It was also aimed at giving legal clarity to the kind of situation that confronted the Met on Saturday.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is still operating in several cities and have never been proscribed because they aren’t directly engaged in terrorism.

The response to Khan and Rowley from Messrs Patel and Braverman? Nothing. Not a peep from either Home Secretary, nor from their officials.

Not even a note thanking them for three years’ worth of work – which

Video taken during a pro-Palestinian march outside Whitehall

had dared to venture into territory government lawyers with wet towels round their heads had given up on after David Cameron’s 2015 Counter Extremism bill kicked off a muchneeded debate about how to define non-violent extremism and how the law might be used to curtail it.

Khan and Rowley gave plenty of examples of hateful extremist activity that’s currently legal, like praising the actions and ideology of terrorists, sharing violent sermons and beheading videos online, circulating inflammatory pamphlets which promote false claims intended to stir up hatred against an ethnic or religious community, organisations who routinely espouse

Islamist or far-right extremist ideology.

Six months ago, Sir John Saunders, who chaired the inquiry in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, also urged the government to get on with a response to the Khan-Rowley report: “I recommend that such consideration be given as a matter of urgency.”

Again, nothing has happened.

The ex-Met assistant commissioner Neil Basu, who was also Britain’s leading counter-terrorism officer has accused the government of failing to act, despite being warned of the long-term dangers to social cohesion in this country.

“Your eyes were opened to the

glaring anomaly in the law,” he said.

“You did not take it up at the time and it is worth revisiting. The report from the commission for countering extremism in 2021 pointed out a series of gaps in the law.”

No 10 isn’t blameless here either.

I understand its Policy Unit also opposed the Khan-Rowley recommendations. “There’s a particularly strong libertarian wing inside No 10,” a government source told me.

“They just didn’t want to go down the legal route whatsoever. Freedom of speech at all costs – but there’s damage both in the short and long term from groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir unfortunately.”

Instead, the Home Office has for years relied on its Disruptions Unit to try to make life difficult for nonviolent extremist groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir by, for example, urging local authorities to refuse venue booking requests. “The thinking is: ‘Oh, let’s just try and curtail their activities even though they’re lawful,” said the source. “It’s completely hypocritical.

It’s also Whack a Mole.”

Dame Sara said she’d been “saddened to see the kind of Hizb ut-Tahrir activity this Saturday, go unpunished. We didn’t have to see those scenes. They were exactly the kind of thing that Mark Rowley and I and were trying to prevent.”

12 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

We’re angry with the BBC but we must act rationally

BY JOSH GLANCY

JOURNALIST Are you angry with the BBC? I’m angry with the BBC. It seems we’re all angry with the BBC at the moment. This is unusual for me, however. Generally speaking, I tend to roll my eyes whenever rows crop up over our national broadcaster, which is most weeks. I really do think the BBC plays a critical role informing and educating the British public, doing a difficult job reasonably well.

But even I lost my temper with the Beeb over its coverage of the Al Ahli Baptist hospital explosion in Gaza on 17 October.

Having spent years loftily lecturing the nation on the perils of misinformation and disinformation; having spent a small fortune on BBC Verify and setting itself up as the arbiter of truth and reality online, when it really mattered, the BBC failed miserably, uncritically amplifying Hamas propaganda about who was responsible for the explosion and the resulting death toll.

Disinformation can have serious consequences. In this instance, rioters attacked the US embassy in Beirut. Fireworks were launched at the Israeli embassy in Ankara. President Joe Biden’s critical meeting with the Jordanian king, Abdullah II, was cancelled.

The entire Middle East nearly exploded because the BBC – along with many other organisations, it should be said – simply took Hamas’s information and

pressed send.

Reporters such as Jon Donnison and Jeremy Bowen – based on their extensive experience as munitions experts and watchers of Twitter videos – confidently informed us it was likely to have been an Israeli missile that hit the hospital. The weight of evidence we’ve seen since firmly suggests the exact opposite, a view supported by Rishi Sunak and President Biden, though we may never have total confirmation.

Meanwhile the Beeb’s disinformation reporter, Marianna Spring, took to Twitter to remind us that, yes, disinformation “can have serious consequences. If you’re not sure, don’t share.” I think this is known as chutzpah.

So I’m annoyed with the BBC. You probably are too. In fact it’s fair to say you could count on one menorah the members of our community feeling affectionate towards ‘Auntie’ right now. I’ve heard reports of Jewish staffers at the Beeb expressing dismay at the internal atmosphere there. Danny Cohen, a former BBC executive, has argued that its reporting on the conflict reveals “bias” and “deep-rooted prejudice” that endangers British Jews.

And yet, it’s worth pausing for a moment here. Because everyone is in a heightened emotional state right now. We’re all ‘on tilt’ as they say in poker, reeling from the emotional pain of what happened three weeks ago.

We’ve all seen the unimaginable pictures, heard the soul-shuddering stories and felt a deep sense of Jewish trauma wash over us. The Black Shabbat of 7 October is a day that has already entered the annals of antisemitic infamy, along with

The BBC is not our enemy; nor is it a structurally antisemitic institution

Kristallnacht, Babi Yar, Clifford’s Tower. But we must try to keep our heads while all about us are losing theirs. To fight this battle strategically and rationally.

The BBC is not our enemy. Nor is it a structurally antisemitic institution. Most of the people who work there are fair-minded and trying to do a decent job at balancing coverage, and it’s worth noting that they receive masses of complaints from pro-Palestinian viewers too.

When mistakes are made, in the case of Bowen and Donnison, or the push alerts and headlines that were put out around the hospital explosion, then these should be called out. When the BBC refuses to describe the baby murderers and rapists of Hamas as “terrorists”, it’s right that Jews and others push

back. The label, which is often used in other contexts, has no meaning if it doesn’t also apply in this one.

But what we should avoid is falling into a trap of paranoia and hyperbole, the feeling that “they’re all against us”, which is neither helpful nor strategically sound.

The BBC isn’t going anywhere.

Nor should it. A full-frontal war on the country’s most important media institution might be emotionally satisfying, but it’s probably not going to deliver great outcomes. Criticism is more compelling when it is coolheaded and considered.

As the consequences of 7 October continue to unfold, it’s important that we don’t act on impulsive emotions. Many people are feeling strain against colleagues, neighbours and friends for their lack of empathy

and support in recent weeks. Whenever a prominent figure, the latest being top comedy agent Kitty Laing, is found to have downplayed Israel’s trauma or glorified in Hamas’s slaughter, the temptation is to call for their heads and demand their immediate defenestration.

In a moment where we all feel a sense of powerlessness, these small fights over semantics and social media can take on a heightened – even excessive – importance. We shouldn’t shy away from difficult conversations about all of this.

There should be consequences for those who deny or downplay what happened on 7 October.

But each incident must be viewed in context and treated with nuance.

Let’s not lose sight of our own humanity.

This is a time of testing. The decisions that are made, the bridges that are burned, the friendships severed, the words that are said in these weeks will never be forgotten or taken back.

So yes, be angry about the BBC’s mistakes, but be targeted and thoughtful in your critiques. Be frustrated with your friend who signed an open letter that minimises Jewish suffering, but don’t lose sight of the fact they are your friend for a reason and probably mean well.

Call out the ignorant social media signalling, but remember that heated online rows usually just inflame and divide.

Above all, don’t give into paranoia and blind fury. It won’t help anyone.

• Josh Glancy is news review editor at The Sunday Times

NEW GUIDANCE FOR ‘COMPLEXITIES’ OF WAR New guidelines relating to coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas have been issued to the staff on all BBC news channels by James Stephenson, the executive editor of BBC news.

In a full briefing, Stephenson says: “The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is one of the most complex and polarised stories that the BBC covers. This note is intended to help teams navigate some of the complexities.”

Taking into account some of the criticism aimed at the BBC since 7 October, Stephenson acknowledges that “many of the terms used have been heavily contested in the past and changes from agreed language should only happen after careful consideration with

editors and colleagues with specialist knowledge of the conflict”. Among the key guidelines, the briefing says, is how to use the term “terrorist”. This word “should not be used without attribution”. On this aspect of its news reporting, the BBC has not changed its position.

Stephenson says: “The word ‘terrorist’ itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding. We should convey to our audience the full consequences of the act by describing what happened. We should use words which specifically describe the perpetrator such as ‘bomber’, ‘attacker’, ‘gunman’, ‘kidnapper’, ‘insurgent’, and ‘militant’. We should not adopt other people’s language as our own; our respon-

sibility is to remain objective and report in ways that enable our audiences to make their own assessments about who is doing what to whom.”

Because this is a war rather than a single event, Stephensonadvises,similarconsiderationsapply to the terms “terror attack” and “act of terror”.

He adds: “It is also very important that we strive for consistency across the international and UK facing sites. If a BBC World story uses very measured language but a UK version does not, a user will rightly question the different approaches.

News staff are advised that “overuse” of the word “militant” can “alienate audiences.

It should not be the default term for Hamas

fighters or those from Hezbollah and is often better avoided…In other cases, simply saying ‘Hamas’ or ‘Hezbollah’ is likely to be sufficient”.

Stephenson makes clear that since Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah are proscribed as terrorist groups by the UK government, “where possible we should reflect this at first mention of the organisation in a story”. And he also says that “when we are reporting statements by the Gaza health ministry, we should say that it is Hamas-run – as is the rest of the government of Gaza”. This is a clear reference to previous BBC reports which have quoted figures from the Gaza Health Ministry without questioning the source.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

13

14 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

The humanitarian imperative for a resolution beyond conflict for Israel and the Palestinians

Sir Mick Davis, former chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, says once Hamas is vanquished the conditions that let terror dictate the agenda must also be tackled On that terrible morning of 7 October 2023 I knew four things.

First, Hamas is an evil, Jew-hating organisation with brutal terror hardwired in its DNA. Its only concern for Palestinians is how useful they are as cannon fodder for its genocidal ideology. Anyone who will not condemn the atrocity that day and since, separates themselves from the community of humanity.

Anyone who uses that day’s outrage to call for the destruction of Israel, as the chant puts it, “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free”, separates themselves from the community of humanity.

Anyone who calls Israel a “colonial enterprise” and Zionism a “racist endeavour”, ignoring both the UN Resolution on which Israel was founded and the intimate connection between the Jews, their land and wider Middle East, wittingly or otherwise, separates themselves from the community of humanity as they create a justification for genocide.

That UN Resolution, passed by twothirds of nations, recognised the legitimacy of both Jews and Palestinians to independent statehood. The Jews accepted this, the Palestinians and the Arab world at the time did not. That is the crux of why peace does not reside in this contested land.

Secondly, I stand with Israel. Without hesitation. Without doubt. Hamas slaughtered families, beheaded babies, raped, tortured, burnt alive and mutilated civilians, it made clear it is as vicious and despicable as any terrorist organisation in history. The US, UK and most western states have rightly backed Israel, which has an obligation to cripple Hamas and neutralise its threat.

Anyone with a shred of humanity should also speak up for the innocent civilians ripped from their homes and held hostage in Gaza.

Our hearts go out to the families of those held – estimated at around 200 but quite possibly more – many mourning the destruction of their communities while facing anguish and uncertainty over the fate of their babies, children, parents and grandparents.

States, international agencies, priests of all faiths, NGOs and the media should be demanding their immediate freedom. But instead we hear silence from so many who claim moral authority and stand in perverse judgement on a people under siege.

Hamas knew its callously planned mass murder and mass kidnappings would be met with a severe response, as did the Iranian regime it serves. They deliberately set out to plunge the region into war regardless how many Palestinian civilians who Hamas hides behind would pay the price.

❝

WE CAN NO LONGER LEAVE GAZA TO FESTER IN A STATUS QUO OF TERROR

Hamas showed the world it is no better than ISIS, and that its rule over Gaza is the greatest obstacle to improving the situation in that territory for both Palestinians within it and Israelis adjacent to it.

It must go.

Third, for some time, however uncomfortable it is to say, Gaza has been a human tragedy. The culpability for that is less about Israeli missteps as much as the paradigm created by Hamas. That paradigm has given Hamas the ability, time and space to pursue its agendas of the eradication of Israel and the killing of Jews.

This has been to the detriment of the interests of Palestinians in Gaza.

Yet while Israel cannot change Hamas, it has not up till this point done enough to change the paradigm.

Once this war is over, positive steps need to be taken to provide the people of Gaza with opportunity and access to fair-

A school in southern Gaza where civilians are sheltering as the Strip is engulfed by war

ness. Hamas must be vanquished, but the conditions that allow terrorists to dictate the agenda must also be addressed.

Fourth, the horrific events of the last two and a half weeks have shown that you cannot “manage” a conflict; you have to take steps to resolve it.

President Biden has it right when he says that while Hamas must be eliminated, a path to a better future that offers sovereignty and security to both Israel and the Palestinians, must be preserved and strengthened.

A strategy for what comes after needs to be built into how Israel fights this war.

For too long, “managing the conflict” has been the prevailing approach of successive Israeli governments. It is a disastrous strategy and both Israelis and Palestinians have paid a high price for it.

There are of course no easy answers to the current crisis. A premature ceasefire that leaves Hamas intact is unsustainable.

The human price is inevitably unbearable and humanitarian corridors should be implemented both to tend to the needs of Palestinian civilians and to release Israeli hostages.

The media also must get to grips with its responsibilities and fast. Poor judgment, failure to describe terrorists in clear and accurate terms and a tendency to report

rumours and speculation as facts means that too many times, the media is not so much reporting the conflict as being, knowingly or unknowingly, weapons within it.

The initial reporting of the explosion at alAhli hospital being a case in point.

We must not lose sight of what Hamas set out to do: not only kill and kidnap as many Jews as possible but deliberately create a scenario it knew would harm Palestinians.

Israelis will assess the performance of their own government, which will face a reckoning in due course.

The Israeli public shows that it remains vibrant, innovative and democratic, demonstrating heroism and courage in the face of horrific events and plugging leadership vacuums with a sense of civic duty.

From that, I am hopeful that an Israeli government will emerge that will take responsibility for creating conditions that don’t merely stall and contain the conflict but bring us closer to solving it.

We can no longer drift, leaving Gaza to fester in a status quo in which only terrorists have agency.

It is time Israel reclaimed agency, backed up by a robust commitment to its own security and reassurances from its allies to be sure, but intent on searching for a more peaceful future for all.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

15

TOGETHER WE

PROTECT CST is working constantly with communal partners, government and police to keep us all safe.

Thank you for your cooperation, resilience and generosity during this difficult time.

For CST’s latest news and security updates go to cst.org.uk Report suspicious activity and antisemitism to CST IN AN EMERGENCY National Emergency Number (24-hr) 0800 032 3263 IN A NON-EMERGENCY London 020 8457 9999 | Manchester 0161 792 6666 Community Security Trust is registered charity in England and Wales (1042391) and Scotland (SC043612)

CST Advert 2023 - Israel Conflict Oct Week 3 - Jewish News Half Page.indd 1

24/10/2023 15:24

16 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

10,000 call for the hostages to be free Families of those taken by Hamas speak at the largest communal rally for two decades, writes Jenni Frazer The full horror of what happened to those murdered and abducted from the southern kibbutzim and villages of Israel on 7 October was borne to a shocked and silent crowd of thousands in Trafalgar Square on Sunday.

Silent, that is, except for the repetition of the slogan “Bring them home”, which rippled and echoed around the square during an hour-long vigil for the hostages taken by Hamas terrorists.

It could not help but be an emotional event. Organised by the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies and UJIA, the focus was on the heartbroken families of those kidnapped.

It is not an overstatement to say their testimony was agonising: Ayelet Svatizky, whose mother and brother were taken from Kibbutz Nirim, and whose other brother was murdered; David Julian Bar, who, with his wife, spent hours from 6.30am on Saturday to Sunday afternoon inside the shelter of his kibbutz, Alumim, while they desperately tried to find what had become of her sister; Ofri Bibas Levi, who could barely speak for crying as she spoke of her sisterin-law, abducted with her two tiny children aged four and nine

More than 200 people were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists

months; Noam Sagi, whose mother was abducted, one of 250 captured or murdered from their kibbutz.

And once they were finally able to leave their shelters, Bar said, “there were bodies everywhere. I said to my wife, don’t look, but you couldn’t not look”.

All of them had “seen things no one should see”, as the terrorists rampaged through the south of the country, butchering and mutilating.

Bar and his wife, from Alumim, did find that her sister, who was out for her normal Shabbat morning run, had been shot “in the back and in the head, from zero range”.

Death, he said, was everywhere.

Hamas had had a plan, the families told the appalled crowd, many of whom bore pictures of the hostages. Maps had been found, showing where the children’s rooms were on the kibbutzim, so that the terrorists could target them first.

Sagi called on the Israeli government to make the return of the hostages its priority. And he told the crowd: “Stop being afraid. Our voices should be heard.”

A visibly-appalled Michael Gove, secretary of state for levelling up, listened gravely to the families before addressing the crowd. Seventy-five years ago, he

said, “the world had said, ‘Never again’. But the difference between 1945 and now is that the Jewish people have a home.”

In pointed comments, Bar, who was brought up in England, had already said that “to see a Hamas flag flying in a liberal, democratic country after these atrocities means that we, you, this country has a problem”.

Gove clearly agreed. He said: “I feel pride in Israel’s tradition of inclusivity, humanity and democracy. Hamas must not win, they will not win, we stand with Israel forever.”

He noted that “the Jewish people are held to different standards. And we have seen that in the last two weeks. There is sympathy for the Jewish people when they are suffering.

“When the Jewish people say ‘We need to be strong and stand up for our people and humanity’, then you hear the critics and the cynics attacking Israel.

“As a British government minister, I speak for cross parties in the House of Commons – Israel must stand strong and Britain stands with Israel.”

The event, which attracted more than 10,000 people to Trafalgar Square, was opened by Board

The focus of the rally was on the heartbroken families of those kidnapped by Hamas

of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl, and addressed by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, shadow international trade secretary Jonny Reynolds and Rabbi Charley Baginsky.

The rally – which came a day after a pro-Palestinian rally in central London at which 10 arrests were made – concluded with the reading of the more than 200 hostages’ names, including children, whose ages were given.

As Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, rang round Trafalgar Square, British Jews wept.

“Bring them home,” they called once more.

Bring them home: Noam Sagi, whose mother was abducted, told protesters at the rally in Trafalgar Square on Sunday: ‘Stop being afraid. Our voices should be heard.’

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

ISRAEL AT WAR

NOW MORE THAN EVER ISRAEL NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT

Leave a gift in your Will to JNF UK to support Israel for life

INHERITANCE TAX PLANNING EXECUTORSHIP

LASTING POWERS OF ATTORNEY

PASTORAL CARE

WILL SERVICES

Mountcliff House, 154 Brent Street, London NW4 2BF

020 8732 6101 • ENQUIRIES@KKL.ORG.UK • WWW.KKL.ORG.UK KKL Executor and Trustee Company Ltd (a Company registered in England No. 453042) is a subsidiary of JNF Charitable Trust (Charity No. 225910) and a registered Trust Corporation (authorised capital £250,000).

17

18 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Registered Charity No. 1151329

In the past two weeks we have been distributing thousands of these badges and your response has been overwhelming!

CONTINUE TO

#BringTheStarsOut LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ACTIVITIES AND SUPPORT OUR WORK

uk@standwithus.com standwithus.com/uk

@StandWithUsUK

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

19

ISRAEL AT WAR

‘Bring Them Home’ buggy display for child hostages Dozens of buggies were parked in London’s Parliament Square on Sunday as a powerful reminder of the children being held hostage by Hamas.

Each empty pushchair displayed an image of one of the children taken by during Hamas during its terrorist attacks on 7 October along with the words ‘Bring Them Home’ to raise awareness of those still missing.

Among them are nine-month-old Kfir, his brother Ariel, four, and Aviv, two.

The flash installation, which took place at midday, was the brainchild of four London-based mothers who are either Israeli or have family and friends there: Atalia Marcovich, Keren Shefet, Alicia Zue-Szpiro and Mor Tubin.

Marcovich, who is from Israel, told Jewish News: “Since 7 October, all of our minds have been with those children and their families and what trauma these children have gone, and continue to go through.

“As mums, we wanted to show that we are grieving with those families and show our solidarity and felt using buggies was a symbolic way to do this, keeping the images of these children in the forefront of people’s minds.”

The women are hoping to take the installation to other

Buggies were parked in Parliament Square in London on Sunday to remind people of the child hostages taken by Hamas terrorists

big cities. “We want to reach out to Jewish communities across the world. As Israelis, we feel far from

home and just wanted to do something to help, so this is our little way of raising awareness for these kids. Our

message is simple: Bring them home.”

Later that day a rally, which was organised by UJIA, the Jewish Lead-

ership Council and the British Board of Deputies, was held to demand the safe release of all the hostages.

LONDONERS KIT OUT IDF Musical Havdalah SOLDIERS ON FRONT LINE event ‘lifts spirits’ Three members of the Jewish community are appealing for funds to provide vital pieces of protective equipment to Israeli soldiers.

All three wish to remain anonymous but two are London based, while the third made aliyah in 2021.

To date, the trio has raised around £40,000.

The soldiers they are supporting, many of whom are lone soldiers, are known to the group and come from units including the Medical Corps, Paratrooper Brigade, Kfir Brigade, Givati Brigade and the Oz Brigade (Commandos).

Speaking to Jewish News, a spokesperson said:

anya, said: “I was tired of screaming at CNN, grinding my teeth and wishing I was able to do something.

Israel is small and tightlyknit so everyone knows someone who’s either in the horror stories or one step removed. Plus you’ve run to the shelter plenty of times before, so you’re feeling everyone’s panic, Soldiers prepare kits for distribution to reserve soldiers fear and heartache.

“When X called me to “We are looking to equip jackets, fleeces, headlamps, explain he had already soldiers who we know medical pouches, CAT helped a search and rescue unit get equipment and and their colleagues with tourniquets and bandages.

“We have the network wanted to do more, I leapt full sets of decent protective gear. £525 will allow to get these things to Israel at the opportunity to help.” us to provide: two tactical and the units who are • To support the appeal, visit https://pay.collctiv. shirts, combat boots, two asking for them.”

The person who made c o m / k i t - f o r - t h e sets of high-quality socks, cold weather waterproof aliyah and lives in Net- troops-95919

An audience of 160 plus hundreds more online joined an uplifting Havdalah event of music, inspiration and prayers.

The Jewish Learning Exchange (JLE), in collaboration with Jewish News, orchestrated the event, which featured musician Asaf Flumi and Muzica, who performed last Saturday evening.

Israeli refugee families in the UK were among the attendees.

The resounding message of the night was Am Yisrael Chai [the Jewish people live] as eloquently put by Rabbi Benjy Morgan, Jewish News news editor and copublisher Justin Cohen and the former commander of the IDF Navy and Army reserve veteran, Colonel Commander Amit Livi.

They shared inspiring words and expressed how the event had illuminated the pockets of light and hope

Musicians at the JLE event

within the community. JLE CEO, Rabbi Morgan said: “The evening was incredibly uplifting and exactly what we needed. As Jews, we have weathered numerous challenges...

In times of fear, we offer a safe space, uplifting spirits, and fostering a sense of community.”

Attendees echoed this sentiment, with one stating, “I was feeling down this week and the evening lifted my spirits and instilled hope for a brighter tomorrow.”

20 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

Top chambers silent over barrister’s ‘intifada’ tweet A London barristers’ chambers has ignored pleas to acknowledge that one of its members chose the day Hamas murdered 1,400 people in Israel to declare on social media: “Victory to the intifada”, writes Jenni Frazer.

Franck Magennis also changed his banner picture on X (formerly Twitter) to show the terrorists breaking through Gaza’s security fence before the massacre.

When a Jewish News reader complained to Garden Court Chambers, its director of operations and human resources refused to acknowledge Magennis’ behaviour, replying: “The complaints about our barristers and staff we investigate are those about the quality of service they provide in their professional capacity as a barrister or a member of staff.

Chambers will not therefore be responding to your complaint about Franck Magennis’ tweets.”

Subsequent attempts by this paper to elicit a response from the chambers were also ignored. Finally, a member of its marketing staff said her manager had told her “we would not be commenting on this inquiry”.

Garden Court, a chambers with 200 barristers, many of them KCs, says on the its home page that it is committed to the upholding of the rule of law. The JN reader, who complained both to the Bar Standards Board and the police, said he suspected that Magennis might be in breach of the Terrorism Act in

Magennis (inset) and his Twitter profile with the terror attack image

respect of “clear support for Hamas, a proscribed organisation”.

Magennis, who was called to the Bar in 2016, is described on the Garden Court website as practising in public, civil and criminal defence.

“He has expertise in legal claims connected to Palestinian emancipation from Israeli occupation,” his description reads. He has posted on Twitter/X his intention to push for a “legal precedent” for Palestinian asylum seekers “confirming that Israel is an apartheid state, and that it persecutes Palestinians on the basis of race, religion, nationality and political opinion”.

The JN reader said Magennis’ posts were “outrageous and inflammatory” and amounted to a condoning of the massacre. He was unsure whether the heads of chambers were aware of their content but believed that they could be damaging to Garden Court’s reputation.

Neither the Bar Standards Board (BSB) nor the police counter-ter-

rorism internet referral unit (CTIRU) was prepared to comment on an individual case. The BSB told JN that potential misconduct was dealt with in line with a process set out on its website.

“These procedures are usually conducted confidentially, unless they result in a listing for a Disciplinary Tribunal hearing.”

The Metropolitan Police said its CTIRU had received “more than 1,300 reports from the public about terrorist content online linked to the conflict in the Middle East”.

Its spokesperson told JN that the unit was “dedicated to identifying terrorist and extremist material online... If material breaches UK terrorism law, police will carry out an investigation.” Though police would not comment on the complaint about Magennis, the spokesperson said: “Every piece of material referred to the CTIRU is assessed by a counter-terrorism officer. We encourage people who see material online that they are concerned may be terrorist or extremist to report it to the team at gov.uk/act”.

Barristers are self-employed, so Magennis is neither a member of staff nor a partner at Garden Court Chambers.

BLOOD LIBEL BACK IN FASHION – JACOBSON Howard Jacobson delivered a rousing lecture on contemporary antisemitism at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre on Sunday. He was speaking as part of a series of lectures and talks organised by the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism.

Beginning with a quotation from Hamlet – “I have of late… lost all my mirth” – Jacobson made recent events in the Middle East the key theme of his speech. “I don’t know how I can talk about antisemitism without talking about Israel, though I know some Jewish writers try… anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism.”

He said tropes such as the Jewish blood libel were returning and that the response to Hamas’ massacre on 7 October demonstrated “the orgiastic pleasure some people took and continue to take in the sight of Jewish blood”. He criticised the Artists for Palestine letter, with 2,000 signatures, as “closed of mind and dead of heart”.

Also speaking at the event was Luciana Berger, the former Labour MP who resigned from the party in 2019 over Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of antisemitism, before rejoining earlier this year. She spoke about her early memories of entering student politics and of the events that led up to her leaving Corbyn’s Labour. “I felt the party was betraying the very values that led me to join it in the first place.”

Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman was awarded the Pete Newbon Prize for the “greatest contribution to the public understanding of antisemitism”, for her reinterpretation of The Merchant of Venice set during the Battle of Cable Street. Oberman recalled being one of the few people in her industry to speak

Howard Jacobson at Sunday’s event

out against antisemitism on the progressive left in 2017. “I was absolutely vilified and nearly cancelled from my career because of that,” Oberman said.

The Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, drew a round of applause when she expressed solidarity with Jews.

Fiaz said: “It’s imperative for me as a Muslim leader to stand shoulder to shoulder in allyship with my Jewish community. I will remain steadfast in… calling for the return of hostages and hoping love and peace will prevail.”

The event was organised by the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, set up last year“ to challenge the intellectual underpinnings of antisemitism in public life”. Jacobson gave the keynote lecture in honour of Warwick Sociology professor Robert Fine (1945-2018), whose work includes an influential book on antisemitism and the left, co-authored with Professor Philip Spencer.

SHARED PAIN: WE STAND WITH ISRAEL FOREVER

BY LOUISE JACOBS CHAIR, UJIA

I write this on my way back from Israel after a visit to show solidarity and to see for myself where UJIA emergency funds are being spent and where we can direct them. I also wanted to go and hug friends and colleagues, to hear firsthand what they’d been through and lend support.

As I met some of those hardest hit by the Hamas atrocity and its aftermath; nothing could have prepared me for what I saw and heard.

I visited Kibbutz Shefayim, where survivors from Kfar Aza have been evacuated. As you walk into the kibbutz there is board which lists all the shivas taking place that day in a special mourner’s complex. It’s heartbreaking to see many families mourning several family members at the same time.

The survivors we met, who told us of

their experiences, were quick to point out they were far from unique; a father and his daughter in law, his son and her husband had died protecting them both and their onemonth-old baby. A father who protected his family by holding on to a door handle – at one point the terrorist was looking through the keyhole at them and shot a bullet through, narrowly missing his son. They were in there for nearly 24 hours: no toilet, food or water.

We heard other stories too, of survival, of heroism, and of families where no one remain to tell their stories for themselves.

We met Moira, who is Scottish, 70 years old, not Jewish and a founder member of Netiv Asara. Moira is a peace activist and her husband regularly met Palestinian kids at the border and accompanied them to Israeli hospitals for cancer treatment. As she sat in her shelter room, she heard 23 members of her kibbutz being murdered in unspeakable ways she could not bring herself to talk about.

Yael saw her neighbours die as she sat in her safe room with her young children. Her husband handed her a gun with seven bullets.

She had never handled an automatic weapon before but knew she had no choice, and it

saved her life. She described how she heard the terrorists walking round the kibbutz for seven hours hunting her neighbours down.

Shani is a mother of two teenagers from the beachfront community of Zikim. She survived because when her alarm went off at 6.30am she was tired, and the weather was cooler than she expected so she stayed in bed a little longer. That saved her; friends who took their cycle route along the border were killed, meeting terrorists head-on.

All these women are angry. They feel let down by the very people who were meant to look after them and their families. We heard time and again that they felt that a social contract they relied on had been broken. We lived in these border towns, they would tell us, and the army was supposed to look after us. What happened? All trust has gone.

We met two mothers who had lost their two beautiful sons at the music festival. I know they were beautiful because we looked at photos together. Their sons died protecting their girlfriends, who survived. We met families who had loved ones kidnapped. I was lost for words. What do you say to a mother whose 25-year-old daughter is in Gaza? Or a family

who are burying three family members and have two held hostage? You can do nothing but listen. It is beyond our comprehension, or theirs. Everyone we spoke to had one thing in common; their eyes are wells sadness.

UJIA has made trauma support a key priority and with your help, we are helping these people and many, many more. We will continue to dedicate emergency funds to supporting those who have experienced these unimaginable horrors through their anguish.

This is just the beginning. We can’t erase their pain, but we must help preserve the memories of those who were murdered, those who fought so bravely, and those who remain and are figuring out how to put their lives back together. And we must keep fighting for those held hostage in Gaza.

Their plea is for us to be their voice now and in the days after. They don’t want their neighbours, their friends and their families – their beautiful communities – to ever be forgotten. Now is the time to let them know that their pain is our shared pain and we stand with them today and forever. That is our responsibility as Diaspora Jews.

I gave them my word.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

21

22 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

Israelis rally round in London Israelis in London have long supported each other using digital networks as well as in person.

Events since 7 Octobert have brought their community even closer as they respond to urgent request for help, writes Beatrice Sayers.

With many citizens who were travelling in the UK or Europe having been stranded here, and a few having decided to leave Israel before flights were stopped, their compatriots in London have shown huge kindness, going far out of their way to help.

Rachel, a British-Israeli in Golders Green, saw a post that Hila, from Be’er Ya’akov, near Rishon Lezion, who was on a batmitzvah visit to London with her twin daughters, needed somewhere to stay after their flights back were cancelled. Rachel, who lives with her daughters, aged 11 and nine, is currently hosting them in her three-bedroom flat in Golders Green.

“Initially I thought I can give up my flat and move in with my mother. I thought I’d do that,” Rachel said. “But I realised Hila wanted me to stay with her – she wanted that support and I wanted her to have that.” The two sets of daughters have been company for each other, and Rachel is helping Hila work out what to do next.

“Her parents are in Eilat, her sister is in Be’ersheva and she’s from central Israel so they are spread out. They are trying to see which is safest place to be.”

Israelis stranded in London are also being given extra comfort in the form of food. “We

know many people are unable to return and want to give them a little feeling of home – every Israeli,” Aviv Baum, who runs a falafel restaurant in Camden with his business partner, Neta Nel Segev, posted online. “Those who are stuck in London are invited to come to Mazal in Camden and eat with us for free.”

Nel Segev, 36, is from Ramat Gan and Baum, 33, from Petach Tikvah.

Both are thinking of their parents in Israel, who have not yet had a chance to visit the restaurant, but they are also very much embedded in the community in London. Nel Segev’s wife, Andrea, works at Yavneh and their two children attend Wolfson Hillel Primary School.

“We’re all stressed and shocked,” Nel Segev said. “We must keep things in place and try to keep a routine.”

There was a danger of feeling helpless following the attacks by Hamas on Israel last weekend but the chance to feed others felt instinctive, and very Jewish.

Since opening in mid-June, the kosher restaurant, on the second floor of Hawley Wharf (rebuilt after a fire in 2017), had already become a meeting place for Israeli expats and has plenty of regulars alongside its tourist diners.

They would come to chat, share tips about

Little Bicks Nurseries in Stanmore, Mill Hill and Borehamwood are offering temporary childcare for families from Israel.

Children aged one to four years old. Long term and funded places available as usual.

We are able to offer discounted places to Israeli applicants.

Visit: www.littlebicks.co.uk for more information or contact Rochelle at: head@littlebicks.co.uk

Welcoming fellow Israelis: Neta Nel Segev (left) and Aviv Baum, co-founders of Mazal

lifein the capital and even to lay tefillin. Likewise, in normal times Facebook and WhatsApp groups for Israelis were places where members passed on used baby equipment or offered tips

on where to find a good flat or house rental. In the past two and a half weeks the conversations have been about emergency accommodation, babysitting and flights. One member with an air ticket offered to give it to any reservist with a tzav shmoneh, an emergency call-up notice.

Certainly Israelis resident here are feeling this is the worst time they have known to be Israeli in the UK. Jonathan, 39, and his wife, Aviva, who are bringing up two young children in north London, say their hearts are filled with sadness, frustration and anger. “The thought of our families and friends going through so much pain haunts us,” said Jonathan, whose brother has been called up.

“Holding our children’s hand, explaining to them that our beloved country is under attack, is immensely difficult. But we remain strong and have faith that life will prevail, that we will win this.

“We have no other choice. Life, resilience and strength are the only answers against these barbaric acts. We pray for the return of our loved ones.”

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

23

ISRAEL AT WAR

30,000 people sign declaration to stand with Britain’s Jews More than 30,000 people including Professor Richard Dawkins. Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of the Secret Intelligence and former foreign secretary Lord (David) Owen have now signed an open letter condemning antisemitism and expressing support for British Jews.

The letter, entitled the October Declaration, condemns Hamas’s pogrom in Israel on 7 October, calls for all the hostages to be released immediately, and pledges to stand with British Jews against a 641 percent rise in antisemitism since the atrocities occurred.

The Declaration was created by author and journalist Laura Dodsworth, together with Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson (pictured, inset), writer Toby Young, barrister Francis Hoar and others who formed the group, British Friends of Israel to support British Jewry.

Key elements of their initiative are to call on the media and “everyone in public life” to identify Hamas as terrorists and avoid any moral equivalence between Israel and the Islamist group and to stress the need for the British Je wish community to remain safe from fear.

In her column to launch the

October Declaration on Monday, Allison Pearson described British Friends of Israel’s effort as “taking a stand for civilisation.”

She continued: “None of us ever imagined such a thing would be necessary in this country in the 21st century but, sadly, here we are. As TV presenter Rachel Riley says in an emotional statement supporting the declaration, “What has been so hurtful here at home has been the denial of the atrocities, the tearing down of posters of the abducted children and the willingness of so many to side with Hamas – from football heroes to “peace activists” who have nothing to say about what Hamas did. It feels like a layer has been peeled off society; we are seeing how little some people care about Jewish lives.”

Agreeing to sign the Declaration, historian Tom Holland wrote: “While I feel woefully unqualified to comment on the on-going tragedy in Israel and Gaza, I do feel very strongly, as someone British, that my Jewish fellow-citizens are currently not being allowed to feel

valued and safe, and the shame of this is something that all of us in the country share in.”

“We have not arrived at the reckoning, far from it,” wrote signatory Sir Tom Stoppard in an emotive statement. “Who can say where Israel’s response to October 7 will sit in the calculus of suffering by the time the region subsides into the next configuration of uneasy neighbours.

What price punditry now? Looking forward, speculation is an indulgence; looking backward is an infinite regress, for history did not begin in 1973 or 1967 or 1948 or in the Holocaust.

“This history has no beginning on this side of Canaan. The present moment is everything, and in the present what counts as indubitable?

Hamas is dedicated to the erasure of the state of Israel, not by force of arms but by terror. Three Saturdays ago Hamas showed us what that means. Before we take up a position on what’s happening now we should consider whether this is a fight over territory or a struggle between civilisation and barbarism.”

About 15,000 attended the Bring Them Home rally in Trafalgar Square

WHY I FEEL SAFER IN ISRAEL THAN THE UK

BY BRIGIT GRANT

JEWISH NEWS FEATURES & LIFE MAGAZINE EDITOR A letter was released on Monday that condemns the rise of antisemitism and supports British Jews. It now has more than 28,000 signatures and that number continues to rise, but I imagine the many additional names belong to those in our community as the link was circulated to all.

Titled the October Declaration, the statement had already been signed by leading British public figures including Sir Tom Stoppard, the broadcaster and journalist Andrew Neil, the former Labour foreign secretary Lord David Owen and Professor Richard Dawkins Among the elite group, only Sir Tom and JK Rowling’s agent Neil Blair are of the faith, which is reassuring, because it means that the members of the House of Lords, MPs and celebrated historians who signed first did so because they felt it was the morally right thing to do. They believe, without too much prompting, that there is a “need for the British Jewish community to remain safe from fear, and to retain full access to facilities such as schools and businesses, irrespective of actions taken by the State of Israel to defend itself”.

That’s what the October Declaration says,

and we have good reason to thank Laura Dodsworth, the journalist and author who initiated it and then joined forces with the Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson and writer Toby Young along with others to set up British Friends of Israel. The name sounded so familiar; I googled to check it didn’t already exist.

That it exists now is because of the tidal wave of anti-Jewish feeling that has swept over our community since the atrocities in Israel slipped down the hierarchy of horror in the Middle East.

It took barely 48 hours for the collective attention to be diverted. Not long enough to learn the names of the murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped, let alone spell them correctly.

But in that time, the retaliatory strikes on Gaza sounded a signal in the Diaspora, a signal to march and rage, and not just at Israel but at Jews everywhere. Dodsworth was shocked. She is not Jewish; raw, intimidating antisemitism is something she had read about, but never witnessed. “There were chants of ‘death to Israel’ and ‘gas the Jews’ before the bodies had even been counted,”she says. “Since then, antisemitism has skyrocketed in Britain, which has been a safe home for Jews for hundreds of years. What have we become? Frankly, it has sickened me.”

Generations of Jews have built this country, fought for it with pride and curtailed the ambitions of fascists with fervour. Yet today concern about our safety had to be highlighted by a corps of caring people who have been hounded on social media since they reached out to us.

“I just felt had to do it,” said Dodsworthy, who

fittingly wrote the book A State of Fear, which coincidentally is not about us. “This is the time to stand in solidarity with British Jews.”

Alison Pearson launched the Declaration in her Telegraph column, writing: “I was disgusted by the speed with which the media narrative moved on from shock at the savagery with which Hamas thugs slaughtered 1,400 Israelis, many of them youngsters and elderly people, to concern about the destruction in Gaza. The latter is horrible, undoubtedly, but it is not in the same league of depravity as going into a kibbutz, tying the hands of children behind their backs, throwing them on a pile and setting fire to them.”

It isn’t and she echoed sentiments expressed in many Jewish homes. But in these same homes, there is solicitude and tears for the Palestinians in Gaza. There are Jews who have longed for a two-state solution and harboured dreams of peace for both in their lifetime.

We struggle because we are still processing what happened and what continues to happen.

We struggle to accept that more uniformed men and women in Israel might never grow old. We struggle here because the hate is tangible and even people we know and like from TV, films or the political stage failed to consider our feelings.

They thought it was OK to write an open letter as Artists for Palestine UK, and not mention any of the atrocities carried out by Hamas.

Clearly, Steve Coogan, who took the lead on this letter, had an ‘A-ha, Hamas’ crisis of conscience, hence his postscript acknowledgement on

Twitter. But only one other, Outlander star Sam Heughan, followed suit, out of 4,000 signatories.

I have been assured that the October Declaration was not created in retaliation and I believe that. The people involved are not pettyminded and have shown support so fulsomely, they deserve our thanks.

The IDF realised this had to happen and one would think – no, pray – that 100 international journalists seeing the graphic horror inflicted on unarmed, innocent people, babies and Holocaust survivors would make a global impact.

That weeping reporters revealing what they saw would sway the hearts and minds of the indifferent and the deniers. Tragically, the content of the messages posted under the reports reveals that some are beyond accepting the truth.

Dodsworth clings to the truth and, with British Friends of Israel, monitors signatures on the Declaration. She also thinks “a big contributor to the problem British Jews face must be our national broadcaster refusing to call Hamas what it is in law and fact: a terrorist organisation. It has been dragged kicking and screaming to use the word terrorist, all the while fuelling strife and insulting the dead and bereaved.”

At the end of her column Pearson asked: “If you would like to show support for our Jewish brothers and sisters, for whom this country, their country, our country, is no longer a place of safety, please go to britishfriendsofisrael.org and sign the October Declaration. Many have and more will, for which we are grateful. Accepting it has come to this is the truth I struggle to believe.”

24 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News 25

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

Campaign to boycott luxury London hotels over owner’s Hamas connections Some of London’s most luxurious hotels – including the Connaught and Claridge’s – are the target of a boycott campaign because of their Qatari owner, who was prime minister of the emirate when Hamas moved its headquarters there, writes Jenni Frazer.

Billionaire Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim was prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar in 1999 when the terror group behind the 7 October massacres in southern Israel relocated from Jordan to Doha.

He has been photographed with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and, together with the then-emir of Qatar, paid a state visit to Gaza in 2012.

Haniyeh is based in Doha, where he directs Hamas’ terror operations.

Professor Eyal Zisser, vice-rector of Tel Aviv University, told Jewish News: “There is no doubt. Iran has provided the weapons, the money [to Hamas] comes from Qatar. It has been involved with Hamas for years. Qatari leaders, anxious to curry favour with America, frequently say one thing in English and something very different in Arabic when it comes to speaking about radical movements in the region.”

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim owns Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair

There is no evidence bin Jassim personally funds the terror group.

The campaign directed at him is led by former London rabbi Pini Dunner, now rabbi of the prestigious Beverly Hills Synagogue, and was motivated by bin Jassim’s purchase of the Maybourne Hotel Beverly Hills, which joins a portfolio which includes four London hotels – Claridge’s, the Connaught, the Berkeley and the Emory.

On the day after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and murdered 1,400 civilians, bin Jassim posting a series of comments on Twitter/X that appeared to put the blame on Israel.

Without mentioning Hamas, he wrote: “The Israelis must realise that their government’s provocations at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque will only lead to violence, and violence begets violence. Although I reject the killing

of civilians or their capture, at the same time I believe that all parties must take a serious look at finding a solution to this issue through serious discussions and negotiations as well.”

Dunner told Jewish News he had called on Los Angeles city council to issue an ordinance “forbidding any official events or functions to take place at the Maybourne Hotel”.

A similar ordinance was issued some years ago relating to the Beverly Hills Hotel, owned by the Sultan of Brunei, in protest at homophobic laws in Brunei. Dunner added: “If that could be done for the Beverly Hills Hotel, why can’t it be done for the Maybourne? It would seem there are dual standards when it comes to Jews.”

In the days after the Hamas attack, Beverly Hills City Council passed a resolution “in ardent support of the state of Israel”, in which it “unequivocally condemns those who have supported Hamas, harboured Hamas and who have, after the fact, celebrated the death of the Jews and praised the Hamas terrorism attacks in state sponsored media, including the Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar”.

Hamas terror leader Ismail Haniyeh (right) with then-Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani

Dunner told Jewish News he wanted to extend the campaign to the UK, and said he was ready to fly to London and ask the relevant government minister to freeze bin Jassim’s assets. He asked: “Why is this any different from what was done with Roman Abramovich?”

Top crime novelist Jonathan Kellerman, a member of Rabbi Dunner’s congregation, has also been active in highlighting bin Jassim’s background. He said: “When the war broke out and his [bin Jassim’s] apparent Hamas connections became apparent, I renewed my attempts to bring this to light.”

BBC edits Spanish report LEAP IN CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM

The BBC has edited a report on its Spanishlanguage service that claimed “Jewish wealth and influence” in the US motivates support for Israel. The broadcaster said it “did not meet editorial standards”, writes Richard Ferrer.

Fronting a show entitled Six Keys which explain the US’s unconditional support for Israel, BBC News Mundo presenter Gonzalo Cañada said Israel “is seen as an American enclave in the Middle East” and speculated about the influence of American Jews.

“Estimates indicate that Israel has around seven million Jews, while the United States has a community of around seven-and-a-half million Jews. President Biden’s stance and his

quick decision to support Israel militarily are not new in American politics. Therefore, we ask ourselves: ‘Where does this unconditional support for Israel come from?’

“Although Jews are a minority in the American population, they are a powerful minority. Half of American Jews have a household income of more than $100,000 (£82,000) annually, while among Americans in general the percentage with that income barely reaches 19 percent.”

The BBC told Jewish News it had edited the video and added a clarifying on-screen note, saying “We edited the video as a previous version did not meet our editorial standards.”

The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) has seen a year’s worth of antisemitic incidents on university campuses across the UK and Ireland since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Since creating its student welfare hotline on 8 October, UJS has received more than 150 calls from students with concerns, anxieties and reports of antisemitic incidents.

In a statement seen by Jewish News, it says: “Jewish students in the UK and Ireland, along with those in the wider diaspora, are at the forefront of antisemitism when conflict and tensions rise in Israel. We have received

reports of verbal abuse, intimidation of students, posters calling for ‘intifada until victory’, targeting of Jewish students’ accommodation and even death threats. We have also heard of academics and students’ union officers celebrating, condoning and supporting the terrorist actions of Hamas as a form of ‘liberation’ or ‘resistance’.”

Jewish Society WhatsApp groups have also been infiltrated and subsequently bombarded with messages like ‘f*****g dirty Jewish c***s’.”

UJS president Edward Isaacs said: “UJS will always lead, defend and enrich Jewish life on campus.”

We must stand with Israel and stand for justice

BY DAVID DAVIDI-BROWN

CEO, NEW ISRAEL FUND UK It is hard to see how life for Israelis or Jewish people can be the same after the horror Hamas unleashed on 7 October.

Anger. Disgust. A visceral desire for vengeance. All are understandable feelings. We are reeling from the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Shoah.

Almost daily since, I receive heartbreaking news from family, friends and Jewish and Arab colleagues. Our community heard testimonies when more than 550 of us came together in solidarity for a memorial.

My friends and colleagues, the many volunteers and the heroic people of Israel offer glim-

mers of hope for the society that will recover and emerge from this devastating reality.

“After Hamas burned their homes, we built them a town.” This is how my New Israel Fund colleagues refer to partners Givat Haviva, Tzedek Centres and Hashomer Hatzair, which are housing, helping and educating the families and children of Ashkelon, Ofakim, Sderot and Nativot.

Raising millions around the world, we have already released hundreds of thousands of shekels to provide shelter, safety and immediate assistance for those fleeing the kibbutzim, towns and Bedouin villages attacked by Hamas.

Standing with Israel during these darkest of days also requires us to support Israelis contending with dangerous extremists and autocrats undermining the rule of law.

Itamar Ben Gvir called for relaxing

licensing to arm more civilians. Instead of doing his job as national security minister, he staged a stunt handing out weapons, only for the police immediately to collect them. More guns in the hands of Ben Gvir’s supporters could cause carnage. Following the outbreak of war, more than 60 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, many by settlers.

The authoritarian aspirations that prompted 40 weeks of mass protests have not disappeared. Leaders from Standing Together were recently arrested and their posters pulled down. When there are attempts to limit expressing a simple slogan – “Jews and Arabs, we’ll get through it together” (in Hebrew and Arabic) – we should all be concerned.

Israeli civil society shows us the best of what Israel is and can be. As well as housing, helping and protecting victims of

terror, they try to ensure Israel’s democracy prevails and minorities are protected. Our flagship grantee, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel [ACRI], supports those whose rights are infringed. Currently it is handling cases of students who have been suspended because of social media posts.

ACRI is also working with various government departments, demanding the deployment of sirens and defences throughout the Negev for all communities attacked by rockets.

Until 7 October, Israelis had been demonstrating weekly to preserve their country’s democracy and soul. They continue to defend democracy and civil rights even as they fight Hamas’ terror.

We must stand with Israel and Israelis, and we must stand for justice, as they bravely fight against terror and for democracy.

26 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

‘Mum, I killed 10 Jews’ Jewish News’ foreign editor Jotam Confino was among 200 journalists who accepted the Israeli army’s invitation to watch footage of the 7 October attacks “Allahu Akhbar,” the Hamas terrorist screams psychotically as he attempts to behead a dead man with a shovel. It’s one of numerous videos being shown to me and more than 100 journalists at a military base north of Tel Aviv.

My boss at Jewish News told me I didn’t have to go. In fact he advised me to spare myself the horror.

But the campaign online to disregard the Hamas atrocities and outright deny them compelled me to see the videos for myself, so that I no longer have to refer to eyewitnesses I’ve spoken to, but can simply say: “I saw it.” In addition to the other overwhelming evidence I’ve already encountered, of course.

The Israeli army has collected video, photo and voice recording material from 7 October, when Hamas carried out one of the worst atrocities against civilians in the 21st century.

The compilation of material was collected from Hamas GoPro cameras found on their bodies, videos taken by emergency rescue helpers and civilians witnessing the terror onslaught, as well as numerous surveillance cameras from homes and traffic.

We are five minutes into the 45-minute screening and I am already shaking, barely able to write notes. A colleague from an American TV channel is weeping as the horror show continues.

The Hamas GoPro cameras reveal

how they drove across the Gaza border into Israel on motorbikes and pickup trucks, and how they systematically executed Israelis driving on the roads near the border.

They drag the dead bodies out of the car, while some kick them and scream Allahu Akhbar. The civilians are being treated like animals, ready to be slaughtered wherever they are.

The Hamas go-pro recordings also reveal how they entered Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the Gaza border communities which experienced the worst atrocities. They simply waited until a car drove through the gate to the kibbutz and then sprayed bullets all over the car, killing the driver.

What happened next in that community was pure evil. The terrorists went from door to door, either setting homes on fire or executing people.

One video shows a father and his two sons, roughly seven and nine years old, still in their underwear, as they run out of the house because of the noise of the explosions outside.

The father runs into what appears to be a bomb shelter across the terrace, trying to hide in there with his sons.

A Hamas terrorist appears to be waiting for them to do exactly that, and throws a grenade into the shelter, instantly killing the father, whose dead body appears.

The two boys come out of the shelter, dazed and shocked, with blood on their bodies. As they realise what has happened, they start crying and running back to their home. “I

Journalists at the 45-minute screening react to the images they are shown

can’t see,” the younger boy yells. His brother starts panicking and says: “I think we are going to die here.”

Absurdly, the Hamas terrorist then enters the home, opens the fridge and starts drinking from a water bottle. “Do you want some?” he asks the boys.

Another scene shown to us is that of two Hamas terrorists standing inside a house which has already been shattered.

A young girl is hiding under the table, as the two terrorists talk to each other. Suddenly, one of them appears to kneel so that he can see the girl and then kills her with his rifle.

In another home, a woman lies dead on her bed. Her head has been blown to pieces by Hamas bullets.

Back on the highway, where Hamas gunmen are running amok, a beheaded soldier lies on the road.

Terrorists are once again screaming “Allahu Akhbar”, cheering over the soldier’s body.

At the Supernova festival, where at least 260 young people were massacred, Hamas is shooting the portable lavatories one by one, hoping to kill anyone who might be in there. Young people run away screaming, in utter panic about the extreme violence being carried out in front of them.

A voice recording reveals a conversation between a Hamas terrorist and his parents. “I killed 10 Jews with my bare hands. Check your WhatsApp,” he says. The mother replies: “May God protect you.”

Last, the evidence of massacred children appears. A baby with blood on it is lying dead on a table.

Next is the evidence of people who have been burned alive, to which countless eyewitnesses have already testified; a photo of a small body is burned beyond recognition.

After about 35 minutes I leave the auditorium, convinced that I have seen enough evidence of the atrocities eyewitnesses have already described to me. Under normal circumstances, journalists would not be exposed to these kinds of images; that would be a job left to forensics.

But the intense backlash against what many regard as “Israeli propaganda” and unreliable eyewitnesses have left both the Israeli government and the more than 100 journalists no choice but to arrange this absurd screening of unspeakable atrocities.

The question is, will people around the world still question whether this happened? If they do, I truly don’t know what to say any more.

HELP ISRAEL BY INVESTING IN START-UPS

BY URI LEVINE

CO-FOUNDER OF WAZE Saturday 7 October will be remembered as the biggest act of terror that has ever occurred, with more than 1,000 civilians murdered, thousands wounded and more than 200 kidnapped.

The cruelty of the massacre was beyond imagination. The Israeli government, army and civilians were not ready and down the road there will be an investigation into how that happened.

Let me reflect that to you. Assume there is a terrorist attack on UK soil that kills more than 6,000 people – what would you do? Because this is what Israel should be, and is, doing right now.

From a personal perspective, many of the young adults who were slaughtered were at a music and peace festival. My children are at the ages of 22 to 33. Not a day passes by without the

thought that it could have been my children.

Israel has one huge source of strength – its people. Recent events have highlighted their willingness to help one another, showcasing their resilience and determination.

Right now, the Israeli high-tech ecosystem, with my start-ups included, is focusing on helping the survivors and the injured, the soldiers and civilians who are still under attack, while more than 3,000 rockets were and, at the time of writing, are still fired towards the most densely-populated areas in Israel.

These next weeks will be hard and challenging in Israel, but later it will be better. The high-tech sector will end up stronger than before, thanks to five elements that will help Israel’s tech ecosystem overcome the war In general, there are four elements for any start-up ecosystem, and the same goes for Israel as a country, though in Israel there is also a fifth: 1. Entrepreneurship spirit – this Israeli characteristic relies on a minimal “fear of failure” culture. At the end of the day, people will embark on the entrepreneurial journey when their pas-

sion is far higher than the combination of fear of failure + alternative cost. If you lower the fear of failure, you will end up with more start-ups.

2. Investors, in particular international ones, with whom we are blessed in Israel.

3. Engineers – Israel has a great number of engineers and very good ones who can, and will, continue to drive the hi-tech ecosystem forward.

4. Experience – a second-time entrepreneur has a much higher chance of being successful, regardless of what happened the first time.

There are more and more second/third/fourth/ multiple times entrepreneurs in the Israeli ecosystem today than ever before. These four elements are not unique to Israel – they are the same in London and Berlin. But Israel has a fifth element: mandatory military service.

Now, everyone understands why this is needed and I would like to quote former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, 50 years ago, who said: “If they would put down their weapons, there will be no more war. If Israel puts down its weapons, there will be no more Israel.”

This mandatory military service has gener-

ated strong, resilient and better-skilled people where it matters. People with perseverance, in leadership positions, ready to work in teams, and with extreme loyalty.

While acting under pressure like in the recent events, the fifth element becomes much stronger, and the result is that we can expect many, many good years for the Israeli ecosystem.

Israel will come out of this crisis stronger.

Many ask me, “How can we help?” It is imperative to help those who were injured or lost family members or their homes but, to save Israel’s strength, we should maintain it as a startup nation and support its entrepreneurs too.

So, yes, this is the time to invest in Israeli start-ups. I believe that in the long run, it will be profitable for investors. More than ever, it is the right time to do business with Israeli companies.

I know that the general claim would be: “It is too risky now”, but experience shows that of all wars and crises, the Israeli high-tech ended up stronger. This is the time that we need your support the most.

This is the answer to “How can we help?”

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

27

IN CINEMAS 9–19 NOV ONLINE 20–27 NOV

Book tickets at ukjewishfilm.org @UKJewishFilm #UKJFF2023

UKJFF_2023_JN_FULLPAGE_260x330mm_ART.indd 1

03/10/2023 06:56

28 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

IS COLLECTING THE FOLLOWING BRAND NEW ITEMS FOR DISPLACED PEOPLE IN ISRAEL CHANUKAH PRESENTS FOR CHILDREN

HOODIES/ TRACKSUITS

HEADPHONES

HATS/ GLOVES/ SCARVES

CHANUKAH PRESENTS FOR TEENAGERS

UNDERWEAR MALE & FEMALE

ADULT THERMAL T-SHIRTS

STATIONERY

(BRANDED IS PREFERABLE)

DROP OFF: 10AM-1PM | SUNDAY 29/10/23 | MOUNTCLIFF HOUSE, 154 BRENT STREET, NW4 2DR

jgift.org

Donated items that are unsuitable for Israel will be distributed through GIFT’s foodbank in the UK

info@jgift.org

Terrible Events in Israel and Rising Antisemitism:

This was a thorough

ly vital course.

“Four days after the course, I was with so mebody who had a panic att ack, and using this kn owledge I was able to support them through it.”

Take Care of Your Mental Wellbeing.

Book one of our FREE CPD Accredited Training dates now DEC

JAN

FEB

Wed 1st @ 10am

Mon 13th @ 8pm

Wed 6th @ 10am

Wed 13th @ 10am

Wed 10th @ 8pm

Wed 24th @ 10am

Wed 7th @ 10am

Mon 19th @ 8pm

(90 mins)

(90 mins)

(3 hours)

(90 mins)

(90 mins)

(3 hours)

(90 mins)

(90 mins)

Hundreds of people have joined one of our FREE professional 90 minute or 3-hour Zoom training sessions. Places are limited so book now from a choice of Top-Line or In-Depth Introduction to adult mental health and learn how best to care for your own and others’ mental wellbeing.

Book now at projectlily.org.uk Project Lily, 52 Portland Place, London W1B 1NH

Honorary Patron: Lady Elaine Sacks

020 3627 2422 • training@projectlily.org.uk

Trustees: David Coffer, Rabbi Danny Kirsch & Lisa Radford

Reg. Charity No. 1171723

Course Dates

NOV

26 October 2023 Jewish News 29

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

‘If I think too hard about my brother it would break me’ The sister of a victim of the 7 October terrorist attacks in southern Israel has told a press conference in London: “I try not to deal with the loss of my brother… if I start thinking too much it would break me,” writes Lee Harpin.

Ayelet Svatitzky, whose brother was killed in a raid on the Nirim kibbutz, told reporters at the Israeli Embassy that her “life stopped” after she learned of the massacre.

The British-Israeli’s other brother and mother have both been taken hostage by Hamas militants. She said 18 days later she has had no information on their safety or whereabouts.

Asked how she had coped since her family were kidnapped, Svatitzky said she wished to be “the voice for everyone who can’t be here now”.

She added: “I need to be efficient, effective and productive, trying to get the Red Cross to family members to see them, to get lists of who has been taken. We are chasing information,

Relatives of Hamas terror victims at the Israeli Embassy in London

we are trying to get the hostages help and to get information out.”

Ofri Bibas Levi told the press conference on Tuesday that she received a series of text messages on 7 October from her brother, Yarden Bibas, who lived on the kibbutz Nir Oz with his wife, Shiri.

The final text from him said the terrorists were about to enter their

house, before her brother was taken with his wife and two children.” It is like living in a nightmare,” she said, revealing that she knows Hamas gunmen had shot the family dog.

On 10 October, Levi received photos that showed her brother being manhandled by Hamas terrorists, while there was also a video of Shiri with the children. “The pictures keep

running in front of my eyes,” she told the press conference. “I feel guilty for eating, I feel guilty for sleeping in my own bed, I feel guilty for playing with my own children.” It was like “torture” hearing about hostages being released while not knowing the fate of her own family, Levi said.

David Barr, from Leeds, said he had been living in Israel since 1984, most recently on Kibbutz Alumim.

The community came under attack while his sister-in-law, Naomi Shitrit, was out for her morning jog. She was shot dead by the Hamas gunmen.

Barr revealed the pain of burying her. “It took four days to identify what we call the ‘smile of the south of Israel’, he said. “She was well-known – she worked as a dental assistant.

“She simply went for a run in her kibbutz. She was shot in the back and shot again in the head.

“Life is turned upside down by death, by hatred, by evil people.”

TUBE DRIVER SUSPENDED FLAG BURNING ARRESTS A Tube driver who chanted “Free Palestine” on the train’s tannoy has been suspended.

The incident was filmed on the Central line on Saturday.

TfL had been looking at the footage circulating on social media, which appeared to show the chant being led by the train driver.

Glynn Barton, TfL’s chief oper-

ating officer, said it had been “urgently and thoroughly” investigating the video, which appeared “to show a Tube driver misusing the PA system and leading chants on a Central line train on Saturday.

“A driver has now been identified and suspended whilst we continue to fully investigate the incident in line with our policies and procedures.”

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after reports that a group attempted to set fire to Union Jacks.

Officers were called to reports of a group trying to remove and set fire to the flags in Church Street, Twickenham, at about 6pm on Monday.

“It’s alleged they had made remarks about the ongoing conflict

in Israel and Gaza,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said.

Lib Dem councillor James Chard praised the police on X (formerly Twitter) for “responding robustly” to the incident. “Church Street traders have a grand tradition of flying many flags, including for Twickenham’s guests in rugby internationals, Ukraine and others,” he added.

Hamas man ‘lives in Barnet’ A Hamas operative who is alleged to have evaded Israel’s security services when using a relative’s passport to flee to the UK is reportedly living in a former council property in Colindale, north London.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, Muhammad Qassem Sawalha, 62, was given a £112,300 discount on the £320,700 home by Barnet, despite it being informed in 2020 by UK Lawyers for Israel campaign group of his background.

Barnet Council leader Barry Rawlings was “horrified” to think Sawalha was living in the area and said the council will work with the police and government to review “the full history” and take “appropriate action”.

Sawalha, a father of four, reportedly arrived in the UK in the 1990s and later obtained citizenship before settling down in 2003 in Colindale.

His lawyers said that a number of “serious false allegations” were made against their client, and that he “is a law-abiding British citizen”.

According to the report, Sawalha continued in the UK to work for Hamas, holding discussions about ‘revitalising’ terrorist acts in Israel and aiding in the laundering of money to fund its activities in the West Bank and Gaza. In 2009, he signed a declaration that praised Allah for “routing the Zionist Jews”, requested weapons be sent to Gaza, and demanded a “Third Jihadist Front” be established in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

He was also a former trustee of Finsbury Park Mosque but was forced to quit in 2017.

Crypto currency is gift to terrorists

BY ALEX BRUMMER CITY EDITOR, DAILY MAIL

Making a connection between the New York trial of the disgraced FTX tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried and Hamas terrorists may seem the stuff of conspiracy theories. But there is a common thread in the shape of crypto-currencies.

Bankman-Fried used the public markets to turn crypto deals and investment into a trading platform which at its peak valued his personal fortune at an astonishing $40bn.

Hamas and other terrorist organisations regard crypto as a gift from Allah which allows them to collect and move funds around the globe with minimum intrusion by enforcers.

In my view the crypto craze has never been anything more than a giant Ponzi scheme.

What I had not realised is that the biggest player in the market Bankman-Fried would have a dramatic fall from grace, as is elegantly described by Michael Lewis in his intriguing book Going Infinite.

Regulators, including the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, have warned consumers of crypto risks and its use by money launderers. But there has been little public recognition that it is the favoured means of exchange for terrorists. Hamas’s barbaric surprise attack on Israel on 7 October – a day which should live in infamy in the Jewish world – largely may have been financed by Iran. Western officials say Tehran provided $100m of military assistance.

Other sources of funding include raids on humanitarian assistance.

Hamas has raised tens of millions of dollars by skimming of aid funding. So it should not be surprising to anyone (except BBC correspondents) that Israel is supercautious about how international assistance, coming through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, might fall into wrong hands.

American investigators also have uncovered a far flung network of online donors to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other proscribed enterprises. Before the recent murderous assault on citizens of Southern Israel the US Justice Department already was pursuing a

series of money laundering cases involving Hamas. Among Israel’s first actions, as it retaliated against Hamas was to seize cryptocurrency addresses linked to it and another militant Palestinian group.

Some tens of millions of dollars in crypto have passed through these accounts. Crypto offers an organisation designated as terrorist by the United States, Britain and the EU to evade sanctions. Stopping the activity, according to a former CIA analyst quoted by CNN, “is a constant game of cat and mouse”.

Both Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) have been used to post wallet addresses which allow Hamas sympathisers across the globe to donate in crypto.

Among the keys to the United States and Western battle against Islamic State, Isis, which organised itself as a corporate entity, was closing off its sources of funding. Among the reasons we are all now required to provide in intimate details and documentation of our lives to anyone providing us with financial services is part of a global effort to curtail terrorist networks.

Crypto currency and less regulated digital

financial providers have provided alternative routes for terrorist cash. Hamas also has helped itself to ‘reconstruction’ and direct cash donations to Gazans made by Qatar.

Israel has been tolerant of Qatar’s donations, much of which has gone to needy families. But the Wall Street Journal reports that “Qatari funding was siphoned off by Hamas for its military operations.”

That is not a very comforting thought for the UK, which has been so encouraging of Qatari investment in everything from sponsorship of Royal Ascot to Harrods and a big stake in the London Stock Exchange.

In Israel this spring, on a trip which took us to the Israel-Gaza border, I was drawn into a debate with an American philanthropist.

He was a crypto enthusiast who couldn’t understand my disdain and related how, along the Bitcoin journey, he had made substantial sums of money.

If he had known that in trading Bitcoin he could have been indirectly supporting barbaric enemies of Israel – by boosting crypto prices – he might have been far less positive.

30 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

FA accepts ‘hurt’ caused to the Jewish community The Football Association (FA) has pledged to review whether continuing lighting the Wembley arch as an act of tribute after sharp criticism over its response to the conflict, its chief executive Mark Bullingham has said, writes Joy Falk.

Bullingham (inset) accepted the “hurt” caused to the Jewish community by the FA’s decision not to light the arch in the colours of the Israeli flag for England friendly against Australia on Friday, 13 October, following attacks on Israeli citizens by terrorists earlier this month.

But he set out the steps the FA had taken to respond in what it felt was the most appropriate way to “one of the most complex geopolitical conflicts on Earth”.

“This week has made us question whether we should light the arch and when, and we’ll be reviewing that in the coming weeks,” Bullingham said at the Leaders Week conference at Twickenham.

“I recognise that our decision caused hurt to the Jewish community who felt that we should have lit the arch, and that we should have shown stronger support for them. This was one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make, and the last thing we wanted to do was to add to the hurt.

“We aren’t asking for everyone to agree with our decision, but to understand how we reached it. It would be easy for football to ask why we’re the only sport being talked about in this way, particularly when rugby and cricket are in the middle of their World Cups.

“However, you have got to understand, and we understand, that the power of football means it will always be in the spotlight.

The FA was heavily criticised by a number of Jewish community groups last week, while

Pictures of Israeli children held hostage by Hamas were projected onto Wembley Stadium by the #BringThemBack campaign

Rabbi Alex Goldberg resigned from an FA faith in football group over its response. It was also criticised by Lucy Frazer, the Cabinet minister responsible for sport, for not lighting the arch.

Bullingham explained the FA’s reasoning: “We first saw the acts of terror unfold on Saturday, 7 October, along with the rest of the country. We immediately wrote to the Israeli FA to communicate our horror at what was taking place. We knew the situation could move very, very quickly, and was likely to escalate, so we wanted to have expert guidance and more information available on what we should do

because we had a match on Friday against Australia. We also spoke with our Australian colleagues and other stakeholders in the game to understand the views of players, clubs and also of the leagues.

“It’s worth noting that the Australians had upcoming games against both Palestine and Lebanon, so their desire for neutrality was incredibly strong. We then had a board meeting and heard from experts on what is one of the most complicated geopolitical conflicts on Earth. We all felt then, and we all feel now, that football should stand for peace and

humanity and the wish to show compassion for all innocent victims of this terrible conflict. Our compassion and sympathy is clearly for families and children in particular.

“We then held a moment’s silence and wore black armbands to recognise this, issuing a statement with the Australian Federation to explain our actions, which many other sports followed with identical wording, and our language was also very similar to that used by the United Nations. We were the only football body in Europe to have a minute’s silence, which was, as I said, for all innocent victims.”

$25M GRANT TO HELP ISRAELI £6m funding for START-UPS COPE IN THE CRISIS Shoah survivors The Israeli Innovation Authority is launching £21million grant (NIS 100 million) to fund around 100 start-ups struggling to raise capital from investors during these difficult times, writes Candice Krieger.

The matching process will include contributions from private investors, which are expected to total more than NIS 200 million.

The grant is designed for Israeli companies that need additional funds to extend their runway.

In a conversation with Calcalist, Dror Bin, CEO of the Innovation Authority, said: “The survey we did with Start-Up Nation Policy Institute (SNPI) revealed several challenges that many companies face, including that many of them have only a few months of runway.

“They are struggling to complete

Innovation Authority’s Dror Bin

funding rounds, either due to the fact that investors aren’t interested or because the entrepreneurs are serving in the reserves and are occupied at home.

“Other problems include difficulties with recruiting employees, employees working from home and an inability to send people abroad

to meet with clients. We have established this emergency funding channel and it may not end there.

“I am confident that these companies have the potential to secure additional capital because many organisations are looking to invest at this stage. These companies are solid and can quickly raise smaller amounts of capital. It worked well during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

He added: “We need to invest significantly in Israeli high-tech, both from the government and the private sector.

“There will be a rebound after the war, enabling us to further strengthen the high-tech sector. This is our working assumption and plan for the future.”

Applications for this programme will open in November.

The Claims Conference, the New York-based organisation working with Holocaust survivors all over the world, has set aside special funding of $7.5 million (£6.2m) to help survivors in Israel during the conflict with Hamas, writes Adam Decker.

Its spokesman said: “What we know right now is that survivors need food support, medicine and psychological trauma treatment.”

Working with partners in Israel, the Claims Conference has set up a call centre for the benefit of survivors in the south of Israel, near to the Gaza Strip.

Initially, the spokesman said, the organisation would provide emergency funding in Israel to Amcha for additional psychological trauma treatment hours and speciallyequipped smart phones; LATET for

food packages for Holocaust survivors and relief and hygiene packages for Holocaust survivors, and to the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Survivors in Israel for food packages.

Gideon Taylor, the Irish-born president of the Claims Conference, said:“We are all devastated by the shocking news in Israel.

“Our incredibly dedicated staff there continue to work to meet the critical needs of Holocaust survivors throughout the country. We will do all we can to ensure our partners are also able to continue their work during these difficult times.

“Holocaust survivors face unique challenges in coping with this extremely volatile environment – the Claims Conference is focusing on addressing those needs.”

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

URGENT CALL TO ACTION Join us at this critical time as we come together to support our community in times of crisis. As we embark on this journey of compassion, resilience, and unity, your presence and participation are a vital part of our collective strength.

Yad Sarah is at the forefront of social welfare services in Israel. We are urgently evacuating hundreds of Israel’s elderly, Infirm and disabled trapped in their homes in areas of extreme danger now from the north as well as those close to the war in the south. We have opened additional branches in the safe locations in order to care for these extremely vulnerable people. Almost every hospital throughout Israel has a Yad Sarah branch and they have asked us to dramatically increase availability of medical and mobility equipment.

Thank you for standing with Yad Sarah in our commitment to providing essential services during emergencies and times of conflict. Together, we can make a difference and ensure the safety and well-being of those who depend on us.

Please help us to help those in the most desperate need by being as generous as you are able.

THOUSANDS OF ISRAEL’S MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE ARE RELYING ON US

DONATE TODAY CALL - 020 3397 3363 | ONLINE - WWW.YADSARAH.ORG.UK/DONATION | SCAN HERE

31

32 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Advertisement

YOUR BOND WITH ISRAEL CAN HAVE

DOUBLE THE IMPACT! Buy an Israel Bond for the charities you support.

1. Israel benefits from your Israel Bonds loan, which DIRECTLY strengthens Israel’s economy at this critical time.

2. Your chosen charities benefit by receiving Israel Bonds and can use the monies when the bonds mature, for critical future needs.

These are just a few of the many important not-for-profit organisations you can support through Israel Bonds.

Support these charities by buying them an Israel Bond from £/$/€ 36

UJIA UJIA is working around the clock with trusted partners on the ground to make sure the right support

needed is delivered directly to where it is needed: financial support for those whose homes have been destroyed, trauma relief for those families who have witnessed unspeakable atrocities, and provision of protective equipment for communities in the North in anticipation of further attacks from Hezbollah.

Magen David Adom UK Emergency appeal to provide much needed medical supplies as well as lifesaving vehicles. MDA is in urgent need to purchase more: Blood bags, Blood testing kits, Hemostatic Bandages, Tourniquets, and automatic resuscitators.

Tel Aviv University Trust TAU Trust set up their emergency appeal to help them in giving financial aid for students who’s family members have been killed, injured or abducted. They’re also offering free housing in the TAU dorms for families from the south who have been uprooted. They also need to fund combat soldier scholarships for the country’s brave reservists who were called to active duty and could miss months of studies and work.

Manna – Meir Panim Manna’s emergency appeal is providing essential food, shelter and support for

families whose lives have been turned upside down by the war. Manna’s food centres across Israel are working overtime to provide for those who need it most and their resources are stretching to the limit.

GIFT GIFT (Give It Forward Today) are supporting the victim families and survivors of the terrible attacks, purchasing essential items to be sent directly to those who need it most.

Anglo Israel Association At this troubling time, when Israel is once again forced to defend itself

against Hamas terrorism, the need for credible and reputable information and education is critical. AIA organises activities, discussions, lectures and colloquia as well as awarding scholarships and making grants to students in the UK, helping forge Israel’s defence against misinformation and ignorance in the UK.

United Hatzalah of Israel Emergency appeal is to raise funds for desperately needed supplies to provide our volunteers with the equipment they need to save lives and the protective equipment to keep themselves safe.

ONE PURCHASE: DOUBLE THE IMPACT! LEARN MORE: HTTPS://ISRAELBONDSINTL.COM/DOUBLEIMPACT OR CALL 020 3936 2712 Development Company for Israel (International) Ltd. Your capital may be at risk.

This communication has been issued by the Development Company for Israel (International) Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and registered in England No. 01415853. This is not an offering, which could only be made by prospectus. Your capital is at risk, the rules under FSMA for the protection of retail clients do not apply. An investment in any of these bonds will not be covered by the provisions of the Financial Services Compensation scheme, nor by any similar scheme. Israel bonds are intended as a long-term investment as they are not listed or admitted to dealing on any recognised investment or stock exchange nor is there any established secondary market, as a consequence Israel bonds are not readily realisable before their maturity date. DCI (International) Ltd is not the issuer of these bonds, they are issued by the State of Israel. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

Hate crime ruled out in synagogue killing American police have found no indication of a hate crime in their investigation of the murder of Samantha Woll, a prominent and beloved local Jewish leader found stabbed to death outside her home last Saturday.

Detroit police, who issued the statenent just hours after Woll’s family and friends mourned her at a funeral held at her childhood synagogue in the city’s suburbs, did not offer any additional details about their investigation, which has so far not resulted in an arrest.

“No evidence has surfaced suggesting that this crime was motivated by antisemitism,” Detroit police chief James White said in the statement.

Woll’s murder comes at a time of high alert for US Jews, following Hamas’ deadly attack on 7 October and widespread protests against Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza.

A public call by a former Hamas leader for global protests against Jews had caused some Jewish institutions including in the Detroit area to close or fortify themselves. The area is home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the US. Some public figures in the country immediately linked Woll’s murder to the conflict, but local Jewish groups urged caution about jumping to conclusions regarding a possible motive for the killing.

The Detroit Jewish Federation said it was in touch with multiple law enforcement agencies and municipal offices, and assured local

Samantha Woll, president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue

Jewish people there were “no specific or credible threats to our community at this time”.

At the funeral ceremony, friends and family emphasised that Woll, the board president of Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was kind, caring and inclusive.

“We are so fortunate to have had Sam in our lives,” said Stephanie Chang, a Michigan state senator and longtime friend who was with Woll, who was 40, at a wedding the night before her death.

“I hope each of us will remember Sam for the beautiful human being she was and as someone who loved bridging divides and as someone who was a promoter of justice, equity and being welcoming to all people.”

Woll’s brother-in-law, Ben Rosen, recalled Woll’s contribution to a “somewhat heated family email dis-

cussion” about politics several weeks ago, before war broke out in Israel.

“You ended your beautiful email with the following line: ‘If and where there are disconnects between some of the people who follow Black Lives Matter and the Jewish community, then our communities need to engage with each other more, not less’,” Rosen said.

“This is your legacy that we will always remember and carry forward.”

Addressing her sister directly, Monica Woll Rosen revealed flowers Woll had ordered had been delivered to a friend after her death.

“You so deeply wanted peace for this world. You fought for everyone, regardless of who they were or where they came from.

“You were the definition of a leader,” Woll Rosen said. “Our world is shattered without you.”

33

ISRAEL AT WAR

Pro-Palestine uni debate is postponed A Cambridge Student Union debate on an ‘emergency motion for solidarity with Palestine’ has been delayed for two weeks.

The motion states the SU (Students Union) believes “only a mass uprising on both sides of the green line and across the Middle East can free the Palestinian people”, adding it is the “duty” of others worldwide to “support this struggle” manifesting as violent terrorist attacks against civilians witnessed on 7 October.

Cambridge Jewish Society (JSoc) wrote to the union urging it to drop the motion. It is not the first incident involving the SU since 7 October.

The Union of Jewish Students

(UJS) condemned the SU welfare officer for ‘liking’ tweets supporting the terrorist attack, one of which called it a “day of celebration”.

In a statement, Cambridge JSoc said the SU was planning to consider “whether to endorse a ‘mass uprising’ in Israel – the likes of which we saw on 7 October when thousands of terrorists entered Israel.

“As we look ...at the suffering of all innocent civilians, we are reminded that a ‘mass uprising’ is not a hypothetical topic of debate that should be accepted at any institution.

“Hamas’ actions were not a “mass uprising” of liberation. They were acts of terror.”

Israeli rescue for US student in Ramallah A Palestinian-American thought to be the last US citizen in Ramallah after the Israel-Hamas war broke out has been returned home in a rescue organised by Israeli businessman Moti Kahana, whose GDC (Global Development Corporation) company provides logistical services to governments, NGOs or individuals.

Kahana specialises in rescue extractions in war zones and delivers urgent supplies, describing GDC as “a sort of humanitarian taxi service”.

After the 7 October attack, 23-year-old student Tamer was stuck in Ramallah, where he had been visiting family. Knowing of GDC’s work, his family asked if the company could help.

“It took me more than a week,” Kahana told Jewish News. “Sub-

contractors I would normally use wanted ridiculous amounts of money – it was a 30-minute drive at best but Israelis were fearful of driving into Palestinian areas in the post-October 7 tension.”

Suggestions from the US embassy in Israel could not be activated for various reasons so Kahana turned to his brother, Yoni, in Jerusalem, who agreed to drive to Ramallah for the cost of his petrol and rescue Tamer.

Reassured Yoni would keep him safe, Tamer said goodbye to his relieved family and caught an El Al flight to the US out of Ben-Gurion.

“El Al were very good,” Moti Kahana said, “they were really helpful – as were the American embassy, the Palestinian Authority, and the Israeli government.”

ISRAEL IS NOT YET JEWISH SAFE HAVEN

BY STEVE MCCABE

LABOUR MP FOR BIRMINGHAM, SELLY OAK Three weeks ago, the Jewish people experienced their darkest day since the Holocaust. Thousands of men, women and children were massacred, with hundreds more taken hostage; women raped, babies mutilated and the bodies of the dead publicly desecrated.

In short, Israel experienced a pogrom.

The state of Israel was founded to provide Jews with a safe haven after centuries of persecution that culminated in the horrors of the Holocaust.

This terror attack was a terrible reminder that Israel is not yet the safe haven that the Jewish people have a right to expect.

When we watch events in the Middle East, it is easy to feel helpless and powerless.

Expressions of solidarity, thoughts and prayers somehow feel inadequate.

For the thousands of people in the UK with friends and family in Israel, this moment is painfully personal.

Twice this year, I have visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where Hamas committed some of its worst atrocities. It was a beautiful, peaceful community close to the border with Gaza. Most of its residents are now dead or held hostage by Hamas. Those who survived are devastated and heartbroken after seeing their tight-knit community torn apart.

We best support Israel and honour the victims by telling the truth and providing moral clarity.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complex, not lending itself to easy answers.

But there’s nothing complex about what happened two weeks ago. It was a brutal, sadistic and inexcusable terrorist attack and, given Israel’s population, the worst of the 21st century.

Those who can’t see that – and certainly

those we’ve seen online and on the streets of some British cities celebrating or justifying the attacks – do so for one reason: they think Jewish lives don’t matter.

That’s an abhorrent position. We must ensure those justifying or glorifying Hamas’ massacre are prosecuted and punished.

Likewise, anti-Jewish racists using the current conflict – as they always do – to intimidate, harass and attack our fellow citizens should feel the full force of the law. It is frankly appalling Jewish schools should feel the need to close and advise their pupils not to wear their uniforms.

It is Jews, not antisemites, who should be able to walk our streets without fear.

We must also be clear that Hamas is not freedom fighters or militants, but a proscribed terrorist group.

Hamas and its supporters are antisemites to their core; fanatics who care more about killing Jews than the lives of the long-suffering Palestinian people.

As it exercises its right to defend itself and bring its hostages home, Israel must make

every effort to avoid harming innocent civilians.

The deaths of all civilians, Israeli or Palestinian, are tragic.

But Hamas doubly attacks innocents: slaughtering Israelis and then hiding cowardly behind Palestinians and stowing its weapons of wars in their schools, hospitals and residential streets.

We must also be clear that the ultimate source of this carnage is Hamas’ paymaster: the mullahs’ regime in Tehran. For years, Iran has exported death and destruction across the region. As the security services have warned, Iran is now plotting to incite violence and hatred – and kill and maim – on the streets of Britain. We must face up to this threat and start by banning Iran’s ideological army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC. Iran and its terrorist allies in Hamas and Hezbollah are fanatics who thrive on fear, hatred and violence. They stand against peace, reconciliation and coexistence.

These are dark days but, ultimately, we must defeat them.

34 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

‘absolutely PM embraces families Starmer right’ about Israel of the missing and dead Rishi Sunak held meetings with his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, during his brief visit to Israel late last week, in which he asked for more aid to be allowed into Gaza, writes Adam Decker.

Before the meetings he told Israeli media: “Above all, I’m here to express my solidarity with the Israeli people. You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism and I want you to know the UK and I stand with you.”

On his social media feed, Sunak shared photographs of meeting relatives of those killed in the 7 October attacks.

He said: “To have a child taken from you is a parent’s worst nightmare. This morning I heard from families going through this unbearable agony. Working with our partners, we’re determined to secure the release of the hostages taken

by Hamas terrorists.”

At his meeting with Sunak, Herzog said: “We are dealing with one of the worst terrorist organisations in the world.

“And I know that in modern democracies, like ours and yours, you can’t interfere per se, but since the BBC has a certain linkage and as is known as British all over the world, there has to be an outcry for it to be corrected, and that Hamas will be defined as a terrorist organisation there as well.

“What else do they need to see to understand that this is an atrocious terror organisation?”

Sunak responded: “You have suffered something unspeakable, a barbaric act of terrorism, as you said, we should call it what it is: an act of terrorism perpetrated by an evil terrorist organisation, Hamas.

That’s what I believe.

“And that’s what we will continue to say. And in that vein, we will stand with Israel, we will stand with you in soli-

Rishi Sunak at his meeting with families who lost loved ones on 7 October

darity with your people and your right to defend yourself, to bring security back to your country, to your people, to ensure the safe return of the hostages that have been taken. You have not just a right to do that, I think you have a duty to do that, to restore that security to your country.”

Herzog told Sunak he was grateful he had “come to visit Israel in our darkest hour, but we will overcome and prevail and it will be our finest hour.

“Every hour another story, another story and another story of shocking stories, shocking – people being burned and tied up in barbed wire, you can only think about a family just before they are totally murdered, and heads cut off, all the things that you’ve been hearing. ” Also in the meeting, the pair discussed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza with Sunak saying; “I’m glad that you and I have had a chance to discuss the need for humanitarian access. Palestinians are victims of what Hamas has done.

“And it’s important that we continue

to provide humanitarian access. I welcomed the announcement – the UK has announced further aid that we’re prepared to bring into the region.

“And we’re keen to see that gets to those who need it, when people have been asked to leave to protect civilian life, which is the right thing to do – where we can support them, we want to do that.

And I very much welcome the progress we’ve made on that.”

In an earlier statement, he said the Gaza hospital blast that caused mass Palestinian casualties should be “a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict”, adding that Britain would be “at the forefront of this effort”.

Sunak also visited other regional capitals while British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, who visited Israel, also travelled to Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to discuss the conflict and to seek a peaceful resolution.

Keir Starmer and the Labour leadership “have got the message absolutely right” in stressing “Israel has a right to defend itself” after the Hamas attacks while calling for “international law and humanitarian corridors to be maintained” Jewish Labour Movement national chair Mike Katz says.

Speaking at JLM’s Northern Conference in Manchester, Katz defended Starmer amid attempts by some in Labour to criticise the leader’s approach to Israel’s response to the Hamas terrorist atrocities.

Some 20 councillors have quit Labour with around 30 signing a letter distancing themselves from Starmer.

A Channel 4 News report from the conference noted the “relief many Jewish people feel” about Labour’s response to the 7 October atrocities had “caused tensions elsewhere”.

But an important message from the event, which attracted over 200 Jewish Labour activists, shadow cabinet members, local political figures and

communal leaders, was one of ensuring the Jewish community across the north of the country was protected from rising antisemitism.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said it was “important” to “recognise the deep distress that people are feeling” since 7 October.

She added it was necessary to “stand really firm against any kind of rise in antisemitism on our streets and against any Islamophobia since the attacks took place.”

Earlier, speaking at a session chaired by ex-MP Luciana Berger, now a Labour member again, Cooper said she was aware the Hamas atrocities had left the Jewish community recalling “other periods of history, of persecution, of pogroms, of suffering beyond comprehension”.

In tough words, Cooper also stressed promotion of a proscribed organisation like Hamas was against the law, and called for the full force of the law to be enacted.

Yvette Cooper speaks at the JLM northern conference, with Luciana Berger alongside

WHY I FEEL SAFER IN ISRAEL THAN THE UK

BY OMRI GAL DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, JPR (INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH POLICY)

A good friend of mine, an avian ecologist and former officer in a top IDF unit, once told me that only two species in nature do not run away from the sound of a gunshot: crows and Israelis.

They run towards it.

I find myself repeating this chuchma (a piece of Jewish wisdom) when trying to explain to my Israeli friends and family why, five days after Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel when the country was already at war, my wife and I have decided to leave London – our home for the past five years – temporarily and fly back to Israel for a month.

Of course, Israelis don’t actually run towards fire; the truth is a bit more complicated. The truth is sitting in our UK home watching the news from Israel unfold, feeling helpless and worried, was simply unbearable.

Learning how Israel’s civil society rose to the challenge, with millions volunteering and donating to help the victims and soldiers, was the only thing cheering our spirits.

We wanted to support our families, friends and nation; at the same time, we wanted our families, friends and nation to support us.

But as I’m sitting in my mum’s flat just south of Tel Aviv, listening to alarms warning us of Hamas missiles and calling us to run into the flat’s safe room, I realise there’s more to our decision to be here now than just wishing to support and be supported.

As insane as it may sound to some people, I realise I also feel safer in Israel these days.

We live in West Hendon, not a particularly Jewish neighbourhood of London (though

we have a Jewish girls’ school right down the street). When the news from Israel arrived and broke our hearts, our first reaction was to hang an Israeli flag in our window.

Within minutes, our neighbour’s son decided to play Muslim prayers with their flat door open in an apparent attempt to spite us.

Luckily, his father returned home minutes later and stopped it.

Before we left for the airport, we even took the flag down. We felt we couldn’t risk leaving it hanging in our front window when we were away for so long.

Knowing that conflict in Gaza always causes a spike in antisemitic incidents, I worry that terror might strike the Jewish community in the UK. Having said that, I have no delusions Israel is safer for Jews than London these days. It is not. It never is.

But right now, Israel feels safer – not physically, but psychologically: I feel safer because

I know nearly everyone around me supports Israel’s efforts to eradicate Hamas from Gaza.

While Jews in the UK have to watch proPalestinian rallies led by Muslim extremists, in Israel everyone rallies to show appreciation for the IDF and its soldiers.

While Jews working for international companies might feel their colleagues cannot understand what they are going through, in Israel, entire offices are offering support to the many who have lost their families, friends and homes.

While Jews living in the UK feel they have to lower their voices when discussing recent events in public, here you can scream out your worries, fears and anger. And many do.

The flag from our London flat now hangs proudly off my mum’s balcony, next to many others. I wonder if we will hang it up once again in our window when we return to the UK next month.

I wonder if we will feel safe enough to do so.

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Academic excellence Our GCSE results outstrip other independent schools by more than 40% and selective grammar schools by 10%.

Apply Now 11+ Admissions Deadline Friday 17 November Private tours available immanuelcollege.co.uk/Admissions/Senior-Admissions

For Boys & Girls, 4 - 18

INDEPENDENT ALIYAH CONSULTANT

Our dedication to trust, extensive

experience, unwavering

reliability, and vast professional contacts enable us to offer you a fulfilling and seamless Aliyah experience. We are passionate about helping you make Israel your home, and our mission is to support you every step of the way.

I'm Dov Newmark, and I'm here to help! Be in touch today to learn how I can help make your Aliyah easy!

TO SCHEDULE A FREE IN-PERSON MEETING WITH DOV OR A MEETING OVER ZOOM PLEASE BE IN TOUCH

35

36 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Scene & Be Seen / Community

1 LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Rabbi Naftali Schiff, executive director of Jewish Futures, visited Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivor’s Centre in Golders Green. He emphasised the impact these survivors have had on the Jewish community, serving as a beacon of strength and reminding the world of the shared commitment to ensuring ‘never again.’ He spoke about passing on the survivors’ resilience to the younger generation, who now find themselves standing up against antisemitism on various fronts, saying:. “In the face of rising antisemitism, the Jewish heart and soul beat as one.” Holocaust survivor Ivor Perl said: “We came through a lot stronger after the Holocaust, we’ll come through this as well.”

Rabbi Schiff stressed the importance of unity, emphasising that all Jews, irrespective of their differences, stand together.

And be seen

This week we reflect on the community’s outstandingresponse to the atrocities in Israel

2 KISHARON DELIVERY TEAM

Email community editor Michelle Rosenberg michelle@jewishnews.co.uk

Kisharon Langdon has facilitated placements at its nursery (Tuffkid), Kisharon Noé School, and supported living sites. The charity embraces these families into its compassionate fold, providing vital assistance. In addition, students from Kisharon Noé School have generously collected and donated essential supplies and chocolates to charitable collections for IDF soldiers and displaced families in southern Israel.

OF KINDNESS AND 3 ACTS EDUCATION

The JLE organised a series of events to support Israel and spread the message of Am Yisrael Chai. Packges of Hope brought together 200 volunteers to source and pack 6,000 pairs of pyjamas for displaced children in Israel. These packages also contained donated kippot for boys, hair accessories for girls and a chocolate treat - all accompanied by a Shema prayer card. JLE also hosted a Q&A session with Daniel Burger, CEO of Magen David Adom UK, with a live update from MDA first responder Aryeh Myers. JLE CEO Rabbi Morgan said: “We are immensely proud of the collective efforts and support from our dedicated volunteers and partners within the community. Our commitment to Israel and the Jewish community as a whole remains resolute. In the spirit of Am Yisrael Chai, we will continue to make a difference and foster unity for our community.”

1

2

5

4 FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER

Progressive Judaism’s Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen was joined for Shabbat dinner in Manchester by guests including shadow secretary of state for international development Lisa Nandy and Muslim community organiser Furqan Naeem. Nandy, who also visited a local mosque, spoke about the importance of listening and being together. Rabbi Robyn said: “It was wonderful to be joined by Lisa Nandy and talk about the terror and grief in the Jewish community. It was also good for her to hear about the concerns of the Muslim community, as we reach out to our neighbours in solidarity at this time of pain. At the dinner, we read two prayers for peace including one written by our Rabbi Elli Tikvah-Sarah.”

3

5 LETTERS OF LOVE

Young Hearts United is an initiative put together by the Goodman family to write to Israeli soldiers to show a gesture of love and solidarity from the younger community. Pupils from schools including Sacks Morasha and Mathilda Marks drew pictures which have been sent to the front line in conjunction with another initiative called Davids Stars ensuring the letters and drawings get to the soldiers.

4

26 October 2023 Jewish News 37

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Community / Scene & Be Seen

6 WEEKEND OF KINDNESS

As part of the US Weekend of Kindness, at Barnet shul one ribbon was been tied for each hostage, to be taken down once they are released.

7 COMMUNAL PRAYER

Borehamwood & Elstree Synagogue brought together 500 people to pray for Israel. There was an address from the Chief Rabbi and Oliver Dowden MP CBE. Rebbetzin Eva Chapper lit a memorial candle in recognition of the hostages and those killed by Hamas. Rabbi Plancey MBE, Cllr Richard Butler, Mayor and Cllr Rebecca Challice were in attendance an there was music from the Shabbaton Choir. A few days later more than 10,000 items were donated by the community for soldiers in Israel.

6

7

8 GETTING AHEAD

Aish UK hosted an Israel advocacy event for 100 young professionals at Headroom café in Golders Green.

Rabbi Daniel Rowe from Aish and Michal Dickson from StandWithUs gave the group a comprehensive history of the Israel–Palestine conflict, equipping them with facts and knowledge to be able to respond to adversaries during the current situation in Israel.

8

9

9 ISRAEL DAY

Chabad Belgravia played host to an ‘Israel day’ for children, a teen event for 90 youngsters from five communities, a Shabbat of Solidarity with guest speaker Gideon Falter from Campaign Against Antisemitism, and a talk alongside StandWithUs for students and teens as a way to educate and empower both youth and the wider community.

10 10

10 JOINT EFFORT

The ongoing GIFT for Israel initiative has seen hundreds of volunteers involved in sorting and packing almost three tonnes worth of items for Israel.

BAKE AND 11 CHALLAH MITZVOT

TAL hosted a challah bake for women in the community to raise money for Magen David Adom. Holocaust survivor Susan Pollack, 93, went along to bake challah for the first time in her life. New initiative ‘Pick a Mitzvah’ encourages children in years 5 and 6 to pick an extra mitzvah to do on Shabbat on behalf of IDF soldiers.

This coming Sunday they are invited to the TAL centre in Temple Fortune to create a collage about the mitzvot, which will be sent to army bases across Israel.

12 OLDER AND WISER

11

12

In Jewish Care’s community centres, care homes and Retirement Living apartments programmes have been adapted to give older people a safe space to talk and local faith and community officers have spent time visiting members and staff to help them feel safe. Poetry and discussion groups enable them to share their thoughts and feelings respectfully and those who want to take a break from the news can take part in meaningful activities such as making cards to send to Israel, singing Israeli songs, holding hands and dancing. Rabbi Junik, spiritual and pastoral lead, brings messages of hope.

38 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

pays tribute to How we clinched our FZY former year-coursers wartime engagement Amid the seemingly unrelenting gloom there was rejoicing in a house in central Israel this week when a young couple became engaged, thanks to the teamwork of a kind Briton and this newspaper, writes Beatrice Sayers.

Kobi, 33, had bought a diamond engagement ring from Hatton Garden, which his best friend was due to bring to him on 11 October, ready for him to pop the question to his girlfriend a few days later.

After the outbreak of war, his friend’s flight was cancelled.

Love makes people bold; that was certainly its effect on Kobi. The IT consultant, who was born in Israel but brought up in Stamford Hill and Edgware, and made aliyah five years ago, found and joined a WhatsApp group for Israelis in London and posted a request for help in finding someone else to bring the ring.

“I really, really want to propose, even now,” he wrote in the post last Saturday, a week after the Hamas attacks, and with the sound of rocket attacks in his ears.

“It’s crazy to trust someone I don’t know with an engagement ring to bring to me in the middle of a war, but I have little choice.”

A Jewish News reporter saw the post and messaged a well-connected friend with lots of contacts in Tel Aviv, who wishes to remain anonymous. “Yes,” they replied, almost instantly, when asked if he could help. “Someone is flying

FZY held an event to bring its members and alumni together to remember and pay tribute to the Hamas atrocities happening in Israel.

The event, which took place at Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue and hosted 120 people, plus more on Zoom, started with a talk from ex-mazkir (national director) Samuel Green.

A Brit currently living in Tel Aviv with his family, Green gave a thoughtprovoking recap of the events of Saturday 7 October, and offered advice to the audience on how they can support the people in Israel and the Jews in the diaspora who have been affected.

The event went on to pay tribute to two of FZY’s former year-coursers who were killed in the attack: Yuval Halivini (2011/12) and Gili Adar

Kobi proposed to Liron with an engagement ring brought from the UK

out tomorrow. I’ll put you in touch.”

The following day Kobi’s mother, Ilana Mansoor, who lives in Edgware, drove to Luton airport with the ring and handed it over. Kobi, who lives in Hod HaSharon, greeted the kind Brit with a bottle of whisky as a thank you gift and took receipt of his precious consignment.

Kobi, who is hugely grateful to everyone involved in helping his proposal go ahead, said it felt “totally unreal that this was being done for me”. Of his relationship with Liron, 32, an accountant he has known for a year, he said: “When you know you know.” And any doubt that he

is a real romantic is dispelled when he replies to a question about how they met. “It was a moonlit evening and I was swiping right on an application…”

On 19 October, with their friends around them and with Kobi’s family watching on a livestream, he got down on one knee. For their friends and relatives it was “a dream to hear our news in this terrible time”, Liron said of their engagement.

The couple hope their wedding will happen in three to six months.

Something tells us that, as well as family and friends, there might be an extra person on the guest list.

Gili Adar and Yuval Halivini

(2018/19). Current and ex-FZY members shared eulogies and FZY’s Israeli slicha also gave a tribute to her friends and family in Israel, and thanked the movement for its support.

Members said tehillim for the fallen soldiers, those still being held hostage and the Israel Defence Forces. The event finished with an emotional rendition of the Hatikvah and candle-lighting.

Lawyers urge Israel Eight eminent Jewish lawyers have signed a letter condemning the “despicable actions” of the terror group Hamas, while also urging Israel to remember its obligations under international law as it pursues military action in Gaza.

The signatories of the letter, which had been published by the Financial Times, included Lord David Neuberger, a former president of the UK’s Supreme Court, and Philippe Sands KC, with all saying they were speaking out as both Jews and as lawyers.

It was stressed that while the “vile crimes perpetrated by Hamas in Israel have shaken us to our core”, the laws of

war “apply irrespective of the level of outrageous conduct of an enemy”.

Danny Friedman KC said of his decision to sign the letter: “As a Jew it is uncomfortable for me to sign up to aspects of this statement, but as a lawyer it is not.

“Some of my colleagues and friends would disagree with me, but what is contained in this statement is a crucial part of modern Jewish history and values, and so in these terrible times, it is important for Jewish lawyers to express their position in this way.”

Other signatories include Professor Sandra Fredman, Richard Hermer KC, Anthony Metzer KC, Jon Turner KC and the barrister Adam Wagner.

TIME TO STATE WHERE YOU STAND

BY EDWARD MISRAHI

PHILANTHROPIST & FORMER CHAIR OF BICOM

As all of us try to come to terms with the horrible events of Saturday, 7 October in Israel, one thing is clear. Nothing will be the same anymore. We cannot stay the same anymore. And I am starting with myself and my family.

Over the past few years, we have witnessed across many parts of our society how antiIsrael statements and actions slowly grew as different parts of the society, including many in the Jewish community, grew uncomfortable with the lack of progress on peace.

This was despite achievements like the Abraham Accords. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movements grew (many times led

by Jewish students), Israeli speakers were shunned and expressing positive views on Israel was seen as a risk for students, academics and professionals.

Since this happened in many institutions that many of us had historically respected, attended or supported, there was always a desire to find an elegant solution. We generally had a desire to resolve issues without creating too much of a stir.

Universities have been the epicentre of this behaviour where we have had the unusual situation of there being outrage about what was happening while at the same time as all of us (and I fully include myself in this hypocrisy) were trying to get our children in them.

We argued that it was minorities, that it was not reflective of the institution and we tried basically to rationalise what is clear now was not explainable.

Unwillingly or with complacency, we allowed this cancer to grow to such an extent that we see now in some of the leading universities and cultural institutions across the world. Situations where students attending the universities with the smartest and most accomplished students spewing hate and no compassion.

It is fully legitimate to have people worry about the Palestinian cause and defend their right to have a more promising future

alongside Israel. I live in Israel now and many Israelis feel even more passionately about that than people abroad.

It’s not all right to be so blinded by that belief to think that atrocities against civilians are justified. That is the worst I have ever seen.

The same way Israel is wounded and hurting by what is happening, what I have witnessed in Israel this week is how a country responds to that hurt and sorrow with solidarity and support. Apart from the military operation, it is nothing short of breath-taking to watch how Israelis and many, many Jews in the diaspora are literally working 24/7 to help people they don’t even know in any way they can. We are now ONE, which is why evil will never be able to beat us.

Now we need to extend that support and solidarity globally and finally make a stand against institutions that we might care about but are not acting on the right side of history.

What happened this weekend in Israel needs no nuance. It is black and white. And if institutions of any kind – academic, commercial, cultural, not for profit, arts, etc – cannot see that, we cannot and should not be involved with them anymore.

It does not matter what links we might have. We need to stop supporting them. We need to resign from their boards. We need to make it public where they stand. We are not asking anyone to get involved in the politics.

We are asking people to stand on the side of humanity. You don’t need a legal review to decide that.

Over the past few days I have started to see the tide turn. We have had actions not just statements by supporters of universities. But it is still too little. We need much more.

We need a wave; we need a tsunami. They need to know that we want to be a force for good but if they don’t want us, we will not help them anymore.

Israel is the country for all Jews and it is the only country we have. Don’t let the recent terrible politics fool you. That is never going change. It is not perfect and we will need to continue to get better, but now is the time to state where we stand.

No more of being pro-Israel unless it is inconvenient or with conditions. For me that Zionism does not count anymore.

Get on that path or get out of our way.

It is not okay anymore. Am Israel Chai.

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

‫نعمل من أجل مستقبل آمن جلميع مواطني إسرائيل‬

The New Israel Fund stands for a just, safe and equal Israel.

Our Crisis Appeal will:

• Provide urgent care for the people of the south, including the most vulnerable groups and Bedouin communities.

• Prevent violence in mixed cities by working with Jewish and Arab leaders.

• Fund mental health and trauma counselling.

Support safety for all Israelis today at

newisraelfund.org.uk/crisis-appeal

39

40 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

SHARING STORIES & REMEMBERING

SIDE BY SIDE AT THE AJEX PARADE Book now to Parade and join AJEX at the Cenotaph in honouring and Remembering the thousands of Jewish Servicemen and Women who fought and served for our freedom.

March, walk, or watch ‘Side by Side’ in solidarity, honouring their legacy.

Veterans, families, and community groups of all ages are welcome to this unique, historic event. Whether a Parade regular or a first-timer please join us. If you have them, proudly wear your own or your family members’ medals.

T 020 8202 2323 E ajexremembers@ajex.org.uk youtube.com/AJEX_JMA

facebook.com/ajexheadoffice

twitter.com/AJEX_UK

instagram.com/ajex_jma

Please allow enough time to get into the event as there is a high level of security provided by CST and the Police.

Please ensure that you bring photographic personal identification and avoid bringing large bags and backpacks.

AJEX - The Jewish Military Association Registered Charity No 1129591

AJEX ANNUAL REMEMBRANCE PARADE & CEREMONY Sunday 19th November 2023 Gather Horse Guards Parade: 1pm March off: 1.45pm BOOK YOUR TICKET NOW AT: www.ajex.org.uk/paradebooking

WE WILL REMEMBER

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

41

ISRAEL AT WAR

How a hospital clown helped one Israeli terror victim breathe again More than 200 attack survivors are being cared for at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem, where one of its non-medics performed a miracle, writes Brigit Grant In a country where laughter is a forgotten sound, a clown on a hospital ward cuts an unlikely figure. But not at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem. Here, they have resident ‘medical clowns’, who this week performed a ‘miracle’.

The medical clowns usually work on the children’s’ wards and in A&E, paediatric intensive care unit (ICU), surgical and dialysis. Since the Hamas attacks on 7 October, the clowns are needed in all departments to bring smiles and comfort, however brief.

In the ICU, Leah Weiss was the clown playing guitar beside the bed of critically injured terror victim, Lihi, a 20-year-old Israel Defence Forces air force officer from Kibbutz Holit in the south of the country.

“She had been on life support for a week and had just come off , but she did not wake up,” says Leah. “They could not rouse her and her friend also from the military was talking to her. She was trying to wake her, but there was no response.”

Leah and her medical clown partner offered to sing to Lihi. They chose the song Ray of Sunshine, by Israeli composer Benaia Barabi. “When we got to the line “Don’t cry, ray of sunshine, it’s your time to live”, I truly felt as though I was directing all my intent towards her.

“Then tears started falling from her eyes, and suddenly she opened her eyes wide and they were beautiful. Then she took a deep breath. It happened in an instant and we were so shocked. From the way her friend and uncle reacted, we knew we were witnessing something very special – like a miracle.”

It was an emotional moment for Leah.

“Lihi looked so confused and her friend immediately tried to reassure her with calming words. But she came back to life. And we kept singing softly, then we left to let her recover.”

Leah started crying as she left the ICU. “I thought of the horror Lihi had witnessed when she last closed her eyes and I prayed for her.”

The praying hasn’t stopped at Shaare Zedek. The hospital is caring for more than 200 victims of the current war: soldiers and

Director general of Shaare Zedek Ofer Merin

Shaare Zedek medical clown Leah Weiss sang to a terror victim and roused her to life

civilians injured in events in the south; victims of a rocket attack that hit multiple sites in the Jerusalem area and victims of a terror attack on a road just outside the capital.

For the first time in several decades, an adjacent athletic field was transformed into a helipad and patients were transferred to the hospital via civilian and IDF helicopters.

Now, with the country preparing for an invasion in the south and rockets being shot from Lebanon in the north, Ofer Merin, director-general of the hospital, has spoken of its staffing problems and being short of supplies, as well as needing a new shelter to house

another ICU unit with ventilators and monitors. “Our focus is on what might happen and we know there will be more casualties,” he said.

“The atmosphere in the hospital is tense,” says Leah. “In the first days of the attacks, there was a feeling of shock and mourning. Members of staff were crying in the corridors. We felt we need to support them too. I don’t feel my work has changed, but we are more sensitive now.

“Unfortunately, we are trained for these situations,” she continues. “The wounded are focused on healing, it’s a matter of survival, physically and mentally. Children have a strong sense of survival. They want to play and

laugh and feel normal and we do everything to help them feel that way. When children or adults show fear, we try to understand exactly what makes them afraid. And then try to quantify their fear. When you look fear in the eye it’s much less intimidating. And then we try to find ways to overcome the fear together.”

Breathing together, thinking of things that make them feel good and dancing and listening to music are some of the ways the clowns distract the children. “And everything will be in a clownish, foolish way,” says Leah. “But we are currently working more with the adults, helping them to escape reality and search for inner resources of strength.”

Leah knows that, as a Shaare Zedek clown, she has a special role every day, and never more than now.

“Playfulness and humour help us get through the struggles of life,” she says, and when the enormity of the terror attacks overwhelms her, she remembers the words of her clown colleague Sancho: “When everything is normal the clown brings insanity, when everything is a mess the clown brings sanity.”

• DONATE to Shaare Zedek here: https://shaarezedek.org.uk/appeal/ operation-swords-of-iron

SCHOOL’S FUND FOR ISRAELI CHILDREN The UK’s only independent mainstream Jewish school for four- to 18-year-olds has created a special fund to help with school fees and an accelerated admissions process for families rushing from Israel to the UK. Last week, Immanuel College Preparatory School welcomed British-Israeli pupils, ensuring the children have both practical aid, such as uniforms, as well as the pastoral and educational support they need.

As part of the College’s Am Echad B’Lev Echad programme – launched last week in

support and solidarity with Israel – the school community has tirelessly devoted itself to study, prayer and acts of loving-kindness.

Immanuel College’s deputy headteacher (Jewish Life and Learning) Rabbi Yoni Golker said: “I am deeply proud Immanuel College is spearheading the Emergency Bursary Fund and offering places to Israeli-British families who need schooling during this time of conflict.

“This project reflects our Jewish values of unity and, of course, Torah, Jewish educa-

tion, avodah [service], prayer and action, and loving-kindness. We stand in solidarity with Israel: Am Echad B’Lev Echad – One People With One Heart.”

Alexis Gaffin, head of Immanuel College Preparatory School (ICPS), said: “We couldn’t delay when these families are coming out of such shock and pain. By getting the children into school swiftly, we are bringing muchneeded normalcy to their lives. Straight away the new British-Israeli pupils are playing happily with their new friends here at ICPS.’

The headmaster of Immanuel College, Dr Millan Sachania, said: “We stand in solidarity with our extended ‘family’ in Israel, and we are honoured, albeit in such distressing times, to make available our resources to those British-Israeli families in need.”

Any British-Israeli families returning to the UK who need school places should contact the college’s head of admissions, Sarah Greenfield via sgreenfield@immanuel college.co.uk to discuss their options and the process.

42 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

43

ISRAEL AT WAR

Historic Tunisian synagogue is destroyed by violent mob Beatrice Sayers reports on the attack on El Hamma and considers the future of a community who find themselves between a rock and a hard place Video was shared online last week of the vandalism of a synagogue near Gabès, in a rural part of south-eastern Tunisia.

The footage on social media sites shows hundreds of men celebrating after setting the building alight, destroying its fabric with tools or with their bare hands and flying a Palestinian flag from its roof.

The vandalism appears to be a immediate reaction to false reports hours earlier on 17 October that the rocket that destroyed the Baptist hospital in Gaza City was fired from Israel.

El Hamma Synagogue, the site of the tomb of the 16th-century Kabbalist Rabbi Yosef Ma’aravi, had been restored after it was vandalised during the 2011 Arab Spring protests. It had not been used as a place of worship for a long time and there were no Torah scrolls at the site.

While the protests more than a decade ago were not about Israel, this week’s demonstrations and violence were most certainly a result of what is happening in Gaza.

People in Tunisia are “absolutely boiling” right now, said Dr Monica Marks, a scholar of Islamist movements working at NYU Abu Dhabi and a close observer of Tunisia.

“A lot of my friends in Tunisia don’t know what happened on 7 October,” she says, referring to the Hamas pogrom. “People are seeing

Footage of the El Hamma attack, which was livestreamed; and a rioter takes a hammer to a plaque

exclusively pictures of Palestinian suffering, and I don’t want to downplay that at all. But they are in an echo chamber. Israeli media is its own echo chamber and Arab-language media can be the reverse of that.

It’s so difficult to construct a shared fabric of foundational reality.”

Tunisia’s echo chamber is one its president, Kais Saied, has helped to construct and in which he has cranked up the volume to maximum. While in the past he tolerated or encouraged antisemitism, his recent comments have reached levels that can only be

described as absurd. Last month he claimed the “Zionist movement” was behind the naming of the storm that battered Libya and other parts of the Mediterranean. “Has no one questioned why it was called so? Who is Daniel? He is a Hebrew prophet,” the 65-year-old president said.

This spring, Saied jailed a group of political opponents he accused of conspiring against the state. Among those he blamed was the French philosopher and filmmaker BernardHenri Lévy, a committed Jew. The president has long expressed

his visceral hatred of Israel, which will have fed the huge pro-Palestinian protests in Tunisia seen over the past fortnight.

In a country that broke off diplomatic ties with the Jewish state in 2000, thousands took to the streets of Tunis last week, staging their antiIsrael protest outside the French embassy.

Those protests may have been bigger than any since the 2011 revolution that ousted President Ben Ali. They were bolstered, say commentators, by support from trade unions;

the pro-Palestinian stance of the teaching unions led to most schools closing on the day of the protests.

Those on the streets carried not only Palestinian flags but Tunisian flags, too. Part of Saied’s aim has been to remould Tunisian identity and merge it with the Palestinian cause.

Tunisia’s Jews have long put up with anti-Israel sentiment, and there have been three deadly attacks at the Ghriba synagogue on Djerba, an island off the country’s southern coast, the last in May. Events of the past few weeks, however, may have affected the community’s tolerance.

“They are inhabiting this very fragile, liminal place,” says Marks. “A lot of the community survive by trying to blend into the wallpaper. Most Tunisian Jews have relatives in Israel, and Israel is their plan B. So they are between a rock and a hard place.”

Edwin Shuker, a vice-president of the Board of Deputies, said: “After every war involving Israel, it is the local Jews who pay the price. Tunisia has one of the last remaining Jewish communities, after Morocco.”

The members of Tunisia’s 1,500strong Jewish community are still there because they love the country and do not want to give up on Tunisian Jewry. But this will be a testing time for them, and for some could prove to be a turning point.

HERTS SOLIDARITY EVENT ‘Have respect’ Oliver Dowden received rapturous applause as he told a packed-out Israel solidarity event that “Jewish lives matter” and that the UK stands strong with the country in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks because “it is morally the right thing to do”, writes Sarah Miller.

The deputy prime minister made the comments to hundreds of supporters waving Israeli flags inside Hertsmere Borough Council Civic offices in Borehamwood, at an event co-organised by Hertfordshire Jewish Forum.

Dowden, Conservative MP for Hertsmere, said the brutalities carried out by Hamas were significant for people in the UK as well, because it was “an attack on every single one of us, on every value we hold dear”.

Inaction at this time, he said, was not an option for the UK and there was “zero moral equivalence between Hamas and Israel”. He warned: “As history shows, the Jewish people have sadly been the canaries in the coal mine. What happens in Israel, if we do not stand robust in the face of it, will surely happen to every single person here.”

Describing Israel as “a cherished state”, Dowden added that the UK “will not waiver in our support for [the country] to defend itself”. He was also critical of the BBC’s recent reporting of the conflict, saying all political

parties were “united” in acknowledging that the events of 7 October “were an act of terror by terrorists… and yet our own national broadcaster cannot say it”.

Similarly, Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl pledged to “not stop” until the BBC agreed to describe Hamas as “terrorists” rather than “militants” in its news reporting, ahead of a meeting last Friday with Tim Davie, the broadcaster’s director general.“We have been pushing the BBC strongly to call Hamas what they are – terrorists. I will not stop until they call them terrorists, not militants,” she said passionately.

“Every victim murdered and slaughtered deserves… that we call Hamas terrorists.”

Jeremy Newmark, leader of Hertsmere Borough Council, revealed that a 21-year-old woman from Shoham, the Israeli town with which Borehamwood is twinned, is among those kidnapped into Gaza. He said: “It follows that if Hamas does not stop the attacks and does not release the hostages then it is Hamas who must be stopped.”

Other speakers included Keith Black, chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, Daisy Cooper, MP for St Albans, and Rebbetzin Eva Chapper of Borehamwood and Elstree United Synagogue.

The vice-chancellor and president of King’s College London has warned colleagues and students that “it is illegal to express support, including moral support” for Hamas, which is a proscribed organisation in the UK, writes Jenni Frazer.

In a letter to the King’s community, Prof Shitij Kapur says “any student or staff member found to be supporting Hamas would be in breach of UK law, and such matters would also be treated with the utmost seriousness by the university”.

In the open letter, he adds: “We are deeply saddened at the loss of innocent life in both Israel and Gaza as the suffering and violence continues. Many of us at King’s are affected and our hearts go out to all those living in fear for loved ones, and in uncertainty and grief.”

He makes clear that “we want to

reassure everyone within the King’s community that the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff is our absolute priority”.

The university’s authorities, he says, had “engaged with the leaders of our Jewish, Israeli, Islamic, Palestinian and wider student societies, to hear their concerns and to offer our support where needed for their members and their community”.

The university, the vice-chancellor adds, “has zero tolerance for racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, abuse, violence and harassment, and we take reports of such behaviour very seriously”.

He acknowledged that a university should be a place “where divergent opinions can be expressed and discussed”. But such opinions, Kapur says, “can be aired with respect and civility”.

44 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

Hamas has haunted me for my whole adult life

Elliot Sorene’s son Ariel survived the Supernova massacre. Here, he reflects on how terrorism has cast a dark shadow over his life since he was a teenager

BY ELLIOT SORENE

CONSULTANT TRAUMA, ORTHOPAEDIC & HAND SURGEON Hamas has been with me for 33 years. A connection that has spanned my whole adult life.

On the evening of 27 July 1990, when I was 18, some friends and I started talking with a group of young Canadian Jews in Tel Aviv who were on an organised tour of Israel.

I chatted to Marnie Kimelman from Toronto, who was 17 at the time. I was enamoured by her beauty and smile. When her friend asked me if we wanted to join them on the beach the next morning, I said we would think about it.

The next day, we chose to sit around a hotel pool, and all hell broke loose. A bomb had been planted on the beach by a Hamas terrorist and Marnie was murdered.

This was during the first Intifada.

Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqāwamah al-’Islāmiyyah (the Islamic resistance movement). A relatively new terror group, it had been formed only in 1987 based on the Islamist principles of the Muslim Brotherhood – with the expressed aim of the eradication of Jews from the land of Israel.

I attended medical school in London and undertook my internship at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheva. Thereafter, I was drafted for military service as a combat doctor stationed within southern Lebanon.

It was there I came to learn about

Hezbollah, another Islamist terrorist group whose self-proclaimed aim was also the destruction of my people.

I was honoured to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with the south Lebanon army, made up of Christians, Muslims and Druze fighting against Hezbollah.

Hamas was out of sight and out of mind. Or so I thought.

Once discharged from the IDF, I undertook my surgical residency in trauma and orthopaedic surgery at the Tel Aviv Medical Centre.

This involved long on-call shifts lasting up to 32 hours in the emergency department and in the operating theatre.

The trauma room, or the resuscitation room, is the emergency area (ER) where the most severely injured patients are initially stabilised and treated on arrival at the hospital before transferring to the operating theatre.

This room had been donated by the family of Marnie Kimelman, and Marnie’s picture was on display.

Her smile was ever present as I treated the severely injured from the second Intifada terror attacks.

Despite the large numbers of killed and wounded I have treated in my career, there are those I can never forget and have become engraved on my soul.

Each Hamas terror attack had

Father and son: Elliot with his son Ariel – ‘Hamas has now entered his life too’

its own characteristics. Among the most memorable were the Dolphinarium discotheque massacre of 2001 with its injured and mutilated teenagers, the Park Hotel terror attack of 2002 with horrifically injured elderly people and Holocaust survivors who were gathered for seder night, and the Mike’s Place Hamas bombing on 30 April 2003.

That night I operated on Dominique Hass, who, at age 29, died after being severely injured by the bomb blast. The Mike’s Place attack was also unique at the time as a Hamas attack perpetrated by two radicalised British Islamists of Pakistani heritage, neither with any connection to Israel apart from a

visceral desire to murder Jews.

During the second Intifada, I undertook my reserve military service inside the Gaza Strip, and in 2011, Marnie Kimelman’s murderer was released in exchange for the hostage Gilad Shalit.

I have been residing in London for some years, living the diaspora Jewish-Israeli existence, but once again Hamas has resurfaced in my life while destroying the lives of so many others – my son was one of the survivors of the Re’im music festival massacre. He managed to escape with his life.

At this gathering, 260 innocent civilians were murdered. They included a friend from London, Jake

Marnie Kimelman, Dominique Hass and Jake Marlowe – faces of terror victims Elliot Sorene says he will remember forever

Marlowe, age 26, who was killed on the day 1,400 Israelis were massacred – the largest pogrom since the Holocaust. Providing security, Jake was a great man, mature beyond his years, with a massive heart and an infectious laugh.

In London this past weekend, tens of thousands of people, many Jew-haters among them, showed their support for Hamas and the Palestinian cause and its ideology of cleansing Israel of Jews “from the river to the sea”.

In 33 years, nothing has changed.

While these Islamist organisations and their backers are outlawed in most Arab countries, their murderous terrorist ideology is embraced by ignorant Western socalled liberals who tacitly support their terrorism.

Hamas has accompanied me my whole adult life and has now entered my son’s life. I hope my grandchildren will never know of this evil.

This story, however, is not about me and my son. We are alive.

It is about Marnie Kimelman, Dominique Hass and Jake Marlowe, whose faces will never leave my mind.

As I have continued with my life and career, married, built a home and raised a family, and as I age, they remain the same, forever young and forever frozen in time.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

45

46 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

Heroic Amit’s final words to her sisters Amit Man, murdered by Hamas in Kibbutz Be’eri, was the youngest of five daughters. A worker for MDA (Magen David Adom), she is thought to have been its youngest instructor, at 22, writes Beatrice Sayers.

Her sisters and mother, Rachel, from the southern Israeli city of Netivot, this week shared with Jewish News messages from the family WhatsApp chat in which Amit tells them about the attack as it unfolds on 7 October – and from their phone screens they throw their arms around her, desperate to help her survive.

W h e n rocket sirens sounded on the kibbutz at 6.30am, Amit left her apartment and, rather than go to the safe room she went to the community clinic, in the hope of helping the injured. In messages to her sisters she describes hearing the sounds of the gunmen shooting residents and burning houses.

At 7.51am, she writes in distress to Haviva, Liora and Mary: “I have here a lot of injured and dead. There is no way I can help.” Her three sisters tried to find out where the army was and kept in touch with her over the following six hours; their other sister, Ron, does not use her phone on Shabbat.

Expecting IDF soldiers to arrive soon, Haviva writes: “Amit, did help arrive?” Amit replies: “No. The MDA said to me it’s complete chaos in the whole Gaza area. And there aren’t any forces that can help.”

A m i t then writes: “What do I tell the injured? The shooting continues. I do not know what to think.”

More than 120 men, women and children of the kibbutz were being slaughtered by Hamas.

In her final text messages, Amit writes (at 1.54pm): “How can we speak to the army? To let them know

to come to us.” And then, “They [the terrorists] are here. I can hear them outside.”

At 2.02pm: “They’re here. I do not think that I will come out of here. Please be strong if something happens to me.”

Her sisters tell her to pretend she is dead, adding: “Smear some blood on you.” A final audio message is sent from Amit’s phone in which she says she has been shot; she is heard screaming.

“The mind struggles to understand how one sunny day, one Saturday morning, she was taken away from us, plus 1,400 other Israelis and hundreds taken hostage,” said her cousin, Iftach Ophir.

He recalls that she watched her father die from lung cancer eight years ago, at which point “something clicked for Amit”, he said.

“Seeing the people who took care of him day in, day out, when he needed it, became what she wanted to do. That became her passion.”

She volunteered with MDA from the age of 14, and when she was 18 was offered a job as a first responder, and worked in the kibbutz.

Jewish people are supposed to know how much hate has been

Amit Man (also inset) volunteered with MDA from aged 14 and became one of its youngest instructors. ‘All she ever wanted to do was save lives’

visited upon them, Ophir added, incredulous that the attacks had not been prevented. “I don’t know how to pick myself up and go on.”

Ophir, an actor living in Israel who was brought up in the UK, paid

tribute to his radiant cousin, who loved singing and loved animals, and who had a chance to leave the kibbutz but stayed with the wounded, the people she hoped to save, and in doing so gave her life.

ORT UK REVEALS ITS Welby hails courage JEWISH TEENS MENTAL HEALTH FOCUS of murdered soldier STRUGGLING Two hundred guests gathered at Nobu hotel in Portman Square on Monday for ORT UK’s dinner.

The annual dinner was planned to showcase four new ORT JUMP employability programmes that have been delivered to students in the UK, and World ORT’s international projects, but the situation in Israel has shown an urgent need for educational and psychological support for students and ORT’s priority now is to protect them from the impact of the conflict.

ORT chair Annette Kurer said: “For each of us here, this evening holds a unique personal story, and together we share a collective sense of apprehension regarding what the future may hold. It is heartening to witness students and educators from ORT schools worldwide standing in unwavering support of Israel.”

Special guest LBC’s Nick Ferrari spoke passionately about Israel’s right to defend itself, adding that he himself has been on the receiving end of abuse for his stance on the conflict.

He said he had been fortunate to visit Israel with ORT and that “education, as it has been for

Nick Ferrari at the dinner

me, has to be the key. Everything that this fantastic country does is rooted in education and that has to be the way forward. “I assure you, over the time I have breath in my body, I am with you with the radio shows that I present. You have my love, you have our support, and we’ve got your back.”

Amos Gofer, CEO of Kfar Silver, World ORT’s youth village in Ashkelon, said that in every class one or two students had a relative who died in the 7 October attacks.

Daniel Burger, CEO of MDA UK, talked about a collaboration between the charities that took place in the summer. He also paid tribute to two MDA volunteers who were killed in the line of duty.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has asked if the British government might consider “giving official recognition” to a BritishIsraeli soldier killed in action after he fought “wave after wave” of Hamas terrorists on 7 October.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Justin Welby recalled how last weekend during a visit to Jerusalem he had spent time with families of those who had lost loved ones in the atrocities.

He told peers, during Tuesday’s debate on Israel and Gaza, of a family whose son had been killed “a soldier called Yosef, a British Israeli soldier”.

Welby continued: “He had been married – and I spoke with his wife at length – for one year and three days. He gave his life against overwhelming odds, as wave after wave of terrorists sought to kill people in one of the kibbutzes.

“I wonder whether the government are considering, given that he was a British citizen, what official recognition of his supreme courage can be offered.”

Yosef Guedalia was killed by Hamas gunfire while defending Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and was part of

the elite counter-terror Duvdevan unit of the IDF. Footage of the 7 October attack showed him carrying injured civilians to safety before he was shot by terrorists.

Opening the Lords debate, Lord Ahmed of Wimbledon, minister for the foreign office, remarked: “I know that people of all faiths and none were shocked by the inhumanity of the brutal murder of so many innocent people in Israel.

“Therefore, we should, irrespective of faith, community, belief and religion, condemn unequivocally the terror attacks committed by Hamas against Israel and, indeed, many international citizens. Simply put, these attacks were driven by hatred.”

Yosef Guedalia, British Israeli IDF soldier murdered by Hamas

The chief executive of JTeen, which runs a confidential helpline for those aged 11-20, said the organisation’s enquiries had doubled since the Hamas terror attacks on October 7.

CEO Yaakov Baar, a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) therapist, told Jewish News: “We have seen a huge increase in the teens reaching out to us. We used to get around 60 or 70 teens reaching out but have had over 150 a week since the war broke out.”

“A lot of teens are feeling quite unsafe at the moment. They are feeling insecure and intimidated, struggling with anxiety and worry.

We are also getting a lot of university students reaching out.”

JTeen runs an anonymous messaging service where volunteers guide Jewish teenagers from ages 11-20 through whatever challenges they may be facing.

Since the conflict started, JTeen has started running weekly webinars helping teenagers to stay physically and mentally safe during these times. Over 180 people joined last week’s ‘The Israel War and Me’ webinar led by Deborah French, a British CBT therapist, living in Israel.

JTeen is also running workshops in schools advising students on how they can stay physically and mentally safe.

“I am finding it so sad that we are doing all of this but glad we can be there to help.”

JTeen’s next webinar, The Israel War and Me, takes place Thursday 26 October  www.jteen.co.uk

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

47

Orthodox Judaism

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA In our thought-provoking series, rabbis and educators relate the week’s parsha to the way we live today

BY MA’AYAN RAISEL FREEDMAN ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AT PAJES

The power of peoplehood In these difficult times, our parsha can provide comfort and strength. Lech Lecha opens with God’s instruction to Avraham to leave behind all he has known and head into the unknown.

The Torah notes that he is 75 and, as he heads to the land, is challenged with famine, his wife’s abduction, family strife and a parting of ways with his nephew Lot. Avraham pleads with God about Sodom’s destruction and Lot’s survival, and there is a horrific war between the kings, who take his nephew hostage, drawing Avraham in as he goes to rescue his kin and end the fighting. No wonder after all this God appears to Avraham to

reassure him: “Al tirah” (Genesis 15:1) – “Don’t be afraid.”

Each scarring event makes it easy for us to understand that Avraham looks to God, wondering whether his luck is about to run out and afraid of what might come next. In a world that runs according to natural law, he has survived only as a result of God’s miracles and zechut (merit) is needed for this.

After the war, Avraham worried that supporters of the vanquished kings would pursue him, but his gemillat chesed (lovingkindness) in rescuing his hostage nephew created merit for him.

The Talmud informs us that lovingkindness has no shiyur (limit) for how much we engage in it and its reward is both goodness in this world – perhaps through the creation of feelings of unity as a result of

our actions – and recognition in the world to come, where we will truly see the impact of our deeds.

God goes further, promising Avraham great reward: if he steps out of his tent and looks up, literally and metaphorically, from outside the astrological determination he will have no lasting progeny, he will see his children will be as numerous as the stars. Jewish people are not bound by astrology, so how could Avraham have thought he was destined to die without the legacy of children? The answer lies in a fundamental lesson about us as Jews.

As a group, we live, survive and thrive outside normative understandings and the natural way of the world. But as individuals we can be dealt good and bad hands as anyone might. In this circumstance, God saw Avraham not as an individual but as

Gathering together as one is key to our coming through this crisis

someone He gave His name to for the purposes of prayer – Elokai Avraham – the God of Abraham, the forefather of a people and therefore someone to whom is given a legacy that supersedes everything the natural world would have determined. Avraham was judged as a people.

How presciently then does our parsha speak to all we are experiencing now, when the state of Israel has reached 75? After much strife

In these challenging times, helping others helps us too Make a positive difference for Israel and the Jewish community by volunteering through JVN www.jvn.org.uk Charity no. 1130719

between brothers, the most unspeakable acts are perpetrated against us, resulting in the greatest outpouring of gemillat chesed from Jewish people across the world. In times of greatest fear, there is overwhelming support and we hear of miraculous stories amid the horror. It is clear from our parsha that uniting is the key to coming through this. The power of our peoplehood is a most vital tool for strength in these times.

48 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBIS CHARLEY BAGINSKY AND JOSH LEVY CEOS OF PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

How to hear Judaism’s call As we met with the most senior leadership in the Jewish world last week, looking around the room there was one only one way to describe everyone, us included… exhausted.

We are all feeling a level of responsibility for our communities and our constituents, in a way no one could have imagined or even really prepared for. At the same time, as we all well know, from whatever place we are coming this also feels deeply, deeply personal.

Were we not supporting thousands of members, we would still not be sleeping.

Our mobile phones and

email inboxes are being filled with requests for statements from communities, individuals and the press. But there are times for statements – clear, unequivocal words – and there are times for using your words gently, in ways that allow the silences between the words to be heard.

Progressive Jewish Leadership is being in the midst of the particular and the universal in the same moment.

It is about being able to hold the suffering and fear of those who look to you. It means recognising that we are Zionists who are committed to Israel and the values in which she was founded and wanting her to be true to those.

It means that we are committed to continuing to

live meaningful Jewish lives in the country we call home.

Alongside this, it is also about seeing, naming and highlighting the suffering and tragedy of others, or, to paraphrase Elie Wiesel, to hear the call of Judaism as being committed not to making the world more Jewish but to making it more human.

It may be that this is not yet the moment for dialogue, and that just now it is too painful to contemplate, but we can acknowledge pain without trying to compare and proportion indiscriminate blame. We can be the voices of nuance and complexity of truths.

We can connect and grieve and commit again to live and love and build community.

A stimulating series where progressive rabbis consider how to navigate Judasim in the face of 21st-century issues

From left: Commander Colin Wingrove from the Metropolitan Police, Board of Deputies vice-president Amanda Bowman, Rabbi Josh Levy and Rabbi Charley Baginsky

Selling items of value has never been simpler.

Whether you’re clearing a home, moving, remodelling, I will get the best prices for any items of value you’re looking to sell.

I am a independent broker acting solely on your behalf • I sell through many different auction houses, high-end dealers, collectors and private clients • Having been in business for over 10 years looking after many, many clients you will always receive my personal discreet one-to-one service (references available) • There is no cost or obligation meeting with me at your home or storage facility • Probate valuations carried out • Based in St Johns Wood, clients in the UK and Europe

Perry Field | 07802 157500 | E: perryfield@hotmail.com (Independent renowned antiques expert BBC’s Dealing with Dickinson, Antiques Master and ITV’s Storage Hoarders.)

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Need Cash Fast?

Sell your gold and coins today!

GOLD PRICES AT RECORD HIGH!!!

Receive the best prices for your unwanted gold today! Call Jonathan 020 8446 8538

9 ct per gram - £18.81 14 ct per gram - £29.34 18 ct per gram - £37.62 21 ct per gram - £43.89 22 ct per gram - £45.94

49

Can’t choose the diamond ring you are looking for?

Come and see us in our North London showroom for the best engagement ring selection.

We wish to purchase any Diamond and Gold Jewellery

We can create the design of your dreams ...and at a wholesale price!

We can supply any certificated GIA or HRD diamond of your choice.

24 ct per gram - £50.15 Platinum 950 per gram - £20.20

Personal and Confidential Customer Service Price Offered Instantly Same Day Payment

Silver 925ag per gram - £0.42 Half Sovereigns - £183.77 Full Sovereigns - £367.54

A free valuation from our in house gemmologist and gold experts on anything you may wish to sell.

If you are thinking of selling, the price of diamonds has never been higher! In any shape, size, clarity or colour.

Krugerrands - £1,559.84 We also purchase sterling silver candlesticks and any other sterling tableware

www.howcashforgold.co.uk

@jewellerycave

WE PAY MORE than all our competitors.

Try us, and you will not be disappointed!

Jewellery Cave Ltd, 48b Hendon Lane London N3 1TT • T: 020 8446 8538 • E: jonathan@jewellerycave.co.uk • www.jewellerycave.co.uk Open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm (anytime) Saturday 9am to 1pm (by appointment)

Antiques Buyers

Wanted all Antiques & furniture including Lounge Dining and Bedroom Suites. Chests of drawers.

Display and Cocktail Cabinets. Furniture by Hille.

Epstein. Archie shine. G plan etc in Walnut. Mahogany.

Teak and Rosewood.

We also buy Diamonds & Jewellery. Gold. Silverware.

Paintings. Glass. Porcelain. Bronzes etc.

All Antiques considered. Full house clearances organised. Very high prices paid, free home visits.

Check our website for more details www.antiquesbuyers.co.uk Email: info@antiquesbuyers.co.uk Please call Sue Davis on Freephone: 08008402035 WhatsApp Mobile: 07956268290 Portobello Rd London. By appointments only.

Please note rather than acting as agents for other organisations and charging you commission. Please be assured that in dealing with Antiques Buyers we deal directly with our clients and pay in full at the time of the transaction.

50 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Business Services Directory ANTIQUES

HOUSE CLEARANCE

Top prices paid Antique – Reproduction – Retro Furniture (any condition)

Epstein, Archie Shine, Hille, G Plan, etc.

Dining Suites, Lounges Suites, Bookcases, Desks, Cabinets, Mirrors, Lights, etc.

OFFICE FURNITURE

Dave & Eve House Clearance

Need to furnish your home or office?

Friendly Family Company established for 30 years

London’s leading supplier of new and reconditioned furniture.

Free assembly and delivery next working day on most items – call now!

House clearances Single items to complete homes MARYLEBONE ANTIQUES - 8 CHURCH STREET NW8 8ED

07866 614 744 (ANYTIME) 0207 723 7415 (SHOP) closed Sunday & Monday STUART SHUSTER - e-mail - info@maryleboneantiques.co.uk

MAKE SURE YOU CONTACT US BEFORE SELLING

We clear houses, flats, sheds, garages etc.

No job too big or too small!

Rubbish cleared as part of a full clearance.

We have a waste licence.

We buy items including furniture bric a brac.

Call 0207 609 0737 Email sales@andrewsofficefurniture.com www.andrewsofficefurniture.com

For a free quote please phone Dave on 07913405315 any time.

CLOTHING

CHARITY & WELFARE

ARE YOU BEREAVED? Confidential Bereavement Counselling for adults and children individually.

Support Groups available. We offer in person, online and telephone counselling.

Contact Jewish Bereavement Counselling Service in confidence.

0208 951 3881 enquiries@jbcs.org.uk | www.jbcs.org.uk

COMPUTER

WANTED

WESTLON HOUSING ASSOCIATION

Mink, fox, coats, and jackets

Sheltered Accommodation We have an open waiting list in our friendly and comfortable warden assisted sheltered housing schemes in Ealing, East Finchley and Hendon. We provide 24-hour warden support, seven days a week; a residents’ lounge and kitchen, laundry, a sunny patio and garden.

For further details and application forms, please contact Westlon Housing Association on 020 8201 8484 or email: johnsilverman@btconnect.com

Designer bags and clothes Costume jewellery and watches etc

01277 352560

HOUSE FOR SALE

HOUSE SALE

FOR SALE: Holly Park Gardens, N3 Spacious 1,938 Sq. Ft

Unique, purpose-built, ground/ first floor duplex within the eruv.

Three double bedrooms, two bathrooms. Reception 21’9”x18’3”.

Fully fitted kitchen 14’10”x11’0. Utility room 15’x10’11”.

Private, secluded garden 34’x28’, mainly lawn. Two integral garages, one with direct access into utility room. Ground floor ideally suited for conversion into independent granny flat. Off-street parking.

4 Bed House for sale, Hendon, NW4 £1,100,000 Contact Clive 07970510656

£850,000 Freehold

Private sale STONEMASON

Contact: Alan 07776 255755 LAW MENTOR

UTILITIES

Are you happy paying big household bills?

LAW MENTOR WouldCircle” you likesolicitor to pay less?

Former “Magic

The specialist masons in creating bespoke Granite and Marble Memorials for all Cemeteries.

Clayhall Showroom 14 Claybury Broadway Ilford. IG5 0LQ T: 0208 551 6866

offers help with:Find out how

Edgware Showroom 41 Manor Park Crescent Edgware. HA8 7LY T: 0208 381 1525

CVs and personal statements call Jeff on 07958 959 822 • interviews and assessment days • coping with stress and workload LEGACY- LEAVE A GIFT IN YOUR MEMORYLegacy Classified advert v1.qxp_Legacy 16/06/2021 Page 1 • promotion and new10:57 opportunities Gary Green ad 84 x 40mm JM Group v2.indd 1 18/03/2019 12:50:51 ©•

Email : info@garygreenmemorials.co.uk

www.garygreenmemorials.co.uk

LAW MENTOR Former “Magic Circle” solicitor offers help with: • • • •

CVs and personal statements interviews and assessment days coping with stress and workload promotion and new opportunities

For more information contact Tom lawmentor@btinternet.com / 07590 057097

For more information contact Tom

Leave the legacy of independence to people like Joel.

PLease remember us in your wiLL.

eNABLeD visit www.Jbd.org or caLL 020 8371 6611

WEB DESIGN

Registered Charity No. 259480

HELP US CONTINUE TO BE THERE FOR OUR lawmentor@btinternet.com / 07590 057097 COMMUNITY WITH A GIFT IN YOUR WILL. Call our Legacy Team on 020 8922 2840 for more information or email legacyteam@jcare.org Charity Reg No. 802559

Chancellors House, Brampton Lane, London, NW4 4AB Tel: 020 8903 8746 | Mobile: 079 3172 2153 www.bfiwd.org | email: info@bfiwd.org

51

26 October 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Fun, games and prizes

THE JEWISH NEWS CROSSWORD 1

2

4

3

5 8

9 10 11

12

14

13

15 17

16 18 19 22

23

24

25

1 2

26

27 28 29

ACROSS 1 Mariners (9) 8 Absolutely huge (4) 9 Winter sportsperson (3,6)

3 6 3 9

4 3

S E Q U O

I

A P Y E C

K W V U R U L U T U E K R U G E R B

I

12 6

J G V

22

A Z X Q R A M B N R E

5

I

16

T E G N E R E S A N

R J

I W I

A E

12 16

L P S R O O M X E O P

22

A E D A R T M O O R D

5

C R E

23

C A L G

I

N S

BANFF

CEVENNES

JASPER

SERENGETI

BROADS

DARTMOOR

KRUGER

ULURU

CALABRIA

EXMOOR

REDWOOD

YOSEMITE

CAMARGUE

GLACIER

SEQUOIA

ZION

Last issue’s solutions

3 1 8 7 2 6 4 5 9 8 7 1 6 9 2 5 4 3 2 3 7 9 8 5 1 6 4

3

7 1

11 15 5

9

6

26

5

4

5

1

10

20

2

5

4

26

1 20

20

23 6

26

25

14

2

23 25

H

6

21

8

6

5

5

17

25

23

15

17

6

26

5

15

16

5

10

9

12

11

5

4 2

26 20

9 9

20

D

3

2

2

20

9

5

11 23

6 5

12

17

3

25 9

5

16 6

2

9

10 24

16

3

5

12 19

15

6

4 3

10

4

10

18

6

11

14

16

23

A

20

6

10

9 16

10

14

5 15

11

12

4

16 20

5

See next issue for puzzle solutions.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1

2

3

4

5

6

14

15

16

17

18

19

Sudoku

5 4 6 3 8 9 Crossword 1 2 7 ACROSS: 1 Practically 9 Rinse 10 Cuisine 6 5 4 11 Cheapen 12 Anger 13 Disinterested 8 7 3 16 Inlet 18 Cockpit 20 Explain 21 Photo 9 1 2 22 Well meaning.

DOWN: 2 Rangers 3 Creep 4 Incandescence 4 6 5 7 3 1 5 Animate 6 Lying 7 Truck driver 2 9 8 8 Degradation 14 Netball 15 Top-down 17 Lapse 19 Capon.

6

2

A S Y D L N T Z O C S

I

4

19

T F S O D L N M N

B A F O A T

4

1

5

Each cell in an outlined block must contain a digit: a two-cell block contains the digits 1 and 2, a three-cell block contains the digits 1, 2 and 3; and so on. The same digit must not appear in neighbouring cells, not even diagonally.

In this finished crossword, every letter of the alphabet appears as a code number. All you have to do is crack the code and fill in the grid. Replacing the decoded numbers with their letters in the grid will help you to guess the identity of other letters.

1

4

SUGURU

The listed national parks and nature reserves can all be found in the grid. Words may run either forwards or backwards, in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction, but always in a straight, unbroken line.

11

6

7 5

CODEWORD 12

4 9 9 7 5 7 5 8 1 6 2

1 7 4

WORDSEARCH

13

7

6 8

DOWN 2 Largest existing deer (4) 3 South Pacific country, capital Suva (4) 4 Ladies’ man (5) 5 Pond plants (5) 6 Handlers of stolen goods (9) 7 Courtroom lawyer (9) 11 Antechamber (9) 12 Beat your rivals (3,3,3) 13 Liable to cry (5) 14 Having lots of space (5) 15 Adolescents (5) 22 Vast area of water (5) 23 Weight measure (5) 25 Bird of New Zealand (4) 26 Sneaker or moccasin, eg (4)

20 21

Fill the grid with the numbers 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3 block contains the numbers 1 to 9.

10 Scorch (4) 13 Most awful (5) 16 Chosen few (5) 17 Singer known as ‘The King’ (5) 18 Wear down (5) 19 Find the sum of (3,2) 20 Courage, coolness (5) 21 Toys that go up and down on strings (2-3) 24 Brawn (4) 27 Fluorescent lamp (4,5) 28 Money borrowed (4) 29 In the balance (9)

7

6

SUDOKU

A

7

8

9

20

21

22

D

10

11

12

13

23

24

25

26

Suguru 9 2 7 5 4 1 6 3 8 2 9 3 1 5 4 7 8 6 8 1 9 4 6 2 3 7 5

2 3 4 1 5 2 5 1 2 3 4 1 4 3 5 1 2 5 1 2 4 3 4 1 5 3 1 2 5 2 1 2 4 3 1 3

2 4 3 4 3 1 5 1 2 1 2 4 3 4 5 3 5 3 1 2 1 2 1 4 5 3 4 5 3 5 1 2 1 2 4 1

H

All puzzles © Puzzler Media Ltd - www.puzzler.com

Wordsearch

Codeword

S E Q U O I A P Y E C K W V U R U L U T U E K R U G E R B I J G V A Z X Q R A M B N R E I T E G N E R E S A N R J T F S O D L N M N B A F O A T I W I A E A S Y D L N T Z O C S L P S R O O M X E O P A E D A R T M O O R D C R E I C A L G I N S

NUANCE AS Y L UM O R O S H A A BO RE D P RO S P E R O I E A E E K D I V I DED BULGE Y A E O T P L UMB E X I S T T A O W A OCCUR GRAZ I NG U A Q L L F R CO N J URE L I T RE A E I D O L E N U D I S M SWA Y E D

26/10

52 Jewish News 26 October 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Because we recognise life's happier moments, let's come together as a community.

Join us at...

BIG Event Jewish News presents

The

Wedding and bar/batmitzvah show

Sunday 5 November 2023

North West London location to be announced

11am - 4pm Show sponsors

Music by FLAME