1339 - 2nd Nov 2023

VOICE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY 2 November 2023 • 18 Cheshvan 5784 • Issue No.1339 •

@JewishNewsUK

Fifteeen countries take part in Jewish News’ Balloons of Hope Page 43

Photo by Blake Ezra

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

would Set them free What Sacks think?

Pride in the face of prejudice

Light from late rabbi’s words P30

Magen David sales are soaring, with shops struggling to meet the demand. Shul attendances are also up. We might be grappling with despair, but we are also embracing a deep sense of communal identity.

Now is the time for us to stand unapologetically tall as British Jews

See page 8

1,000 new volunteers for CST since 7 October

Community members answer the call to keep us safe

A CST volunteer on duty

A surge of communal solidarity following the 7 October atrocities has inspired 1,000 new recruits and returning volunteers to step up to support the Community Security Trust (CST), writes Jenni Frazer.

The security organisation’s head of policy, Dave Rich, told Jewish News.

“This is a fantastic response. At the moment we have 2,500 trained volunteers nationwide, so this is going to make a massive difference to our work. It says a lot for our community that this was one of the first things

that people did after October 7.”

Rich said that everyone was being interviewed and vetted, but that some people were already on training courses, run by CST. He expected that it would take a few weeks before every one of the new volunteers was processed and trained.

The CST’s latest figures show that between the 7 October terrorist attacks and 31 October, there were at least 893 antisemitic incidents across the UK — the highest figure reported across a 25-day period.

In just over three weeks, CST has recorded more antisemitic incidents than the 803 reported in the first six months in this year.

Tell Mama, meanwhile, the community organisation monitoring Islamophobia that the CST helped to set up, has documented 400 antiMuslim cases in the past three weeks.

Rich said the CST and Tell Mama representatives frequently took part in the same meetings with police.

“But aside from that, there are personal contacts. We are friends.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has also seen a big rise in volunteers. A spokesperson said: “We have already hosted two fast-track recruitment events and plan to host further events to accommodate for the vast number of sign-ups.

“People are feeling a sense of helplessness and one of our priorities as a charity and grassroots organisation has always been to train and empower our volunteers to help the Jewish community however they can.”

• PM pledge: ‘I’ll keep you safe’, p20

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ISRAEL AT WAR

‘Painful blow’: 15 IDF soldiers dead Army says it has hit 11,000 Hamas targets in Gaza since the start of the war, writes foreign editor Jotam Confino in Israel

Top from, from left: Lt Ariel Reich, Cpl The aftermatch of an Israeli attack on Gaza (above). The Rafah crossing has opened for wounded Palestinians to get treatment in Egypt

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

IDF soldiers in Gaza. Ten were killed by an anti-tank missile

The Israeli army has announced that 13 more soldiers have been killed in Gaza, bringing the total number dead to 15.

Ten soldiers were killed when an anti-tank missile hit their vehicle in Gaza on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the first Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza were announced.

Defence minister Yoav Gallant issued a statement yesterday morning, saying the deaths of IDF soldiers in the battles against Hamas terrorists in Gaza are a “hard and painful blow”.

“Our hearts and thoughts are with their dear families. Unfortunately, the significant achievements of the powerful fighting deep in the Gaza Strip exacts a heavy price,” he added.

“We are prepared and ready for a long and complex campaign that requires courage, determination and perseverance.”

The IDF said it had struck more than 11,000 Hamas targets in Gaza since the beginning of the war, the most recent being the large Jabaliya refugee camp, where a senior Hamas commander was said to be hiding.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the army “eliminated the Commander of the Jabaliya Battalion, Ibrahim Biari. He was a murderous commander who was responsible for a significant area from which the terrorists emerged to carry out the massacre in Israel on October 7th, but beyond his leadership of that, he was a senior terrorist who has been the dominant leader of their military activity during this war in northern Gaza. We have killed him.”

“He was killed while situating himself inside the Jabaliya Camp – with dozens of additional terrorists around him in the same area – which contains a headquarters and other operational facilities located in buildings within the civilian camp,” Hagari added.

“The strike caused the collapse of the buildings compound within the civilian camp. The strike on the compound additionally caused the collapse of the underground military infrastructure, including terror tunnels under the camp, which further caused the collapse of additional structures.”

The army said some 50 terrorists had been killed in the strike at the camp, a claim Hamas denied.

Hundreds were said by Hamas to have been injured in the strike.

The strike was condemned as “inhumane” by Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, but the IDF insisted

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Asif Luger, Sgt Adi Danan, Staff Sgt Halel Solomon. Bottom row, from left: Staff Sgt Erez Mishlovsky, Cpl Lior Siminovich, Staff Sgt Roei Dawi and Lt Pedayah Mark

that it had kept to its overall goal, which is to strike Hamas headquarters, most of which are located beneath or in civilian buildings.

Yesterday, the Rafah border crossing opened for some 81 wounded Palestinians to travel from Gaza to Egypt for medical treatment; a number of foreign nationals or dual citizenship holders were also allowed to leave.

The crossing opened after Israel and Egypt agreed to allow more trucks with humanitarian aid into Gaza, as Israel expands its ground offensive in the northern part of the Strip. More than 66 lorries with aid entered Gaza on Monday, and the number of daily trucks allowed to cross from Egypt will be raised to 100, according to Israeli and American media reports. More than 171 trucks have entered Gaza so far, following intense pressure by the United States and EU.

As the ground offensive in Gaza continued to expand, Israel’s northern and southern borders have come increasingly under attack. Houthi rebels from Yemen fired missiles and drones at Eilat, but were shot down by Israel’s Arrow missile defence system.

The Houthi rebels, which are an Iranian proxy, vowed to continue attacking Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues.

Israel responded by sending its navy to the Red Sea to provide what it called “significant defence of the area and layered strike capabilities with defensive layers and the air force”.

The IDF spokesperson said: “We are prepared to defend this arena as in every arena in Israel. We know how to gather at the time and place of our choosing in relations to the security interests of Israel wherever needed.”

The ground offensive in Gaza is continuing to expand

In the north of Israel, Hezbollah continued to fire rockets and anti-tank missiles, leading the IDF in the past week to carry out numerous retaliatory airstrikes

against Hezbollah cells. The IDF said that it has also carried out airstrikes against targets in Syria in response to rockets that were fired at Israel.

The IDF named the soldiers as Sgt Adi Danan, 20, from Yavne; Staff Sg Halel Solomon, 20, from Dimona; Staff Sgt Erez Mishlovsky, 20, from Oranit; Staff Sgt Adi Leon, 20, from Nili; Cpl Ido Ovadia, 19, from Tel Aviv; Cpl Lior Siminovich, 19, from Herzliya; Staff Sgt Roei Dawi, 20, from Jerusalem; Lt Pedayah Mark, 22, from Otniel; Staff Sgt Roei Saragosti, 20, from Ramat Hanegev regional council; Staff Sgt Itay Yehuda, 20, from Rishon Lezion; Staff Sgt Shay Arvas, 20, from Holon; Lt Ariel Reich, 24, from Jerusalem; Cpl Asif Luger, 21, from Yagur; Staff Sgt Roei Wolf, 20, from Ramat Gan; Staff Sgt Lavi Lipshitz, 20, from Modiin

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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 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).

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Fifth hostage home from Gaza The IDF and Shin Bet intelligence rescued an Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas in Gaza on Monday, writes Jotam Confino.

“The soldier, Ori Megidish, was released during IDF ground operations. Megidish was kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organisation on 7 October,” an IDF statement read.

“The soldier was medically checked, is doing well and has met with her family.

“The IDF and ISA will continue to do everything it takes in order to release the hostages.”

There are still some 238 hostages in Gaza, including British, American, German, French and Argentinian citizens.

Israeli soldiers and tanks have been inside Gaza since last Friday, fighting Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, while preparing the ground for more soldiers to enter.

Israel and the international community’s efforts to secure the release of the hostages held by Hamas continued, with round-the-

clock talks with Qatar, which is seen as the main channel to Hamas.

Israeli forces managed to save an Israeli soldier Ori Megidish from Hamas earlier this week, in a spectacular rescue mission on the ground in Gaza. Her family and friends were seen celebrating along with the rest of the nation as she made her way back from Three hostages filmed by Hamas Gaza on Monday.

We will strike you until you fall at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Gal- our feet,” Netanyahu said.

Omri Almog, whose sister, two lant both said it was proof that the expanded ground invasion in Gaza nephews and niece are held hostage in Gaza, told Jewish News that the has its benefits.

“I commend the ISA and the release of Ori brought his family IDF for this important and moving “hope”.

“Hope is the last thing that dies,” achievement, which expresses our commitment to bring about he said. Meanwhile, families conthe release of all the hostages. The tinued to demonstrate in Israel, entire people of Israel salute the the UK and US for the immediate ISA and the IDF. To the terrorists of release of their loved ones, which Hamas and ISIS I say – you are mon- include 33 children.

Relatives of hostages are being sters. We will continue to pursue you. We will continue to hunt you. interviewed on Israeli TV daily,

Ori Megidish (centre) with her family after her rescue this week

telling their stories while increasing the pressure on the government to strike a deal with Hamas.

Former defence minister Shaul Mofaz and former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri both argued that Israel should agree to whatever terms

Hamas might have to release the hostages.

In the past 10 days, as the number of hostages increased almost daily, the government and army made their release a top priority along with destroying Hamas.

BBC journalists publish RECORD LEVELS OF HATRED AGAINST JEWS AND MUSLIMS controversial Gaza posts

Two senior BBC journalists have published controversial posts on social media relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict, writes Joy Falk.

One, Sareen Kaur Bains, a senior journalist on BBC Radio Four’s flagship Today programme, reposted a comment on Twitter/X in which someone insisted that Israel was “lying” about the airstrike which hit a hospital in Gaza.

Bains also challenged a Jewish poster, asking him: “I just wondered whether you have any thoughts on how many of the 2m inhabitants that you allude to are ‘non-combatants’ — as you put it — that should be offered passage from the ‘confined strip…to safety, whether in Egypt or the West Bank’? Genuine question”. The poster did not engage with her.

The other BBC journalist is Rami Ruhayem, based in Beirut, who has tweeted about “com-

plicity” by mainstream media when reporting the Israel-Hamas conflict. He writes of “emotional shock therapy; a barrage of emotive terms – massacre, slaughter – riding on the back of the most horrendous claims, repeated and drummed in around the clock.” Then he observes: “Apparently, evidence is not necessary, while such terms recede when it comes to describing the verified slaughter of innocents in Gaza by Israel. Does this not make it easier for officials in the West not only to support Israel, but to incite Israeli leaders to ‘level’ Gaza?”

Ruhayem complained that the BBC valued Israeli lives more highly than Palestinians. In an email to BBC Director-General Tim Davie, Ruhayem said BBC journalists were going easy on Israeli officials and allowing them “comfortable airtime” to justify their actions.

Racial hatred against Jews and Muslims in Britain is reaching previously unknown levels, according to the Community Security Trust and Tell Mama, and they expect the problem to worsen as the conflict continues, writes Jenni Frazer.

Dave Rich, head of policy at Community Security Trust, said that between 7 and 27 October it recorded “at least 805 antisemitic incidents across the UK”. This is the highest-ever total reported to CST across a 21-day period.

Chief executive Mark Gardner told a community briefing last Sunday that in three weeks, CST had recorded more antisemitic incidents than the 803 reported in the first six months in this year.

Tell Mama has documented a “six-fold increase in antiMuslim cases” between 7 and 24 October, compared with the same period in 2022.

Its website revealed: “From the cases sent to us between 7 and 24 October we can disclose that from 191 offline cases,

we captured 121 cases of abusive behaviour, 21 threats, 19 assaults, 11 acts of vandalism, nine cases of discrimination, seven acts of hate speech and three cases of anti-Muslim literature.”

In total, 400 cases of Islamophobia have been recorded in the past three weeks. They have included “a man harassing a visibly Muslim woman [who] kept shouting ‘Hamas terrorist’ at her in the street, a Twitter/X post calling for the bombing of Muslim sites.

MANCHESTER COMMUNITIES WRITE TO CITY COUNCILLORS Manchester’s Jewish communities have written an open letter to the city’s mayor following his calls for an immediate ceasefire.

The Jewish Representative Council of Manchester penned the note to Andy Burnham, deputy mayor Kate Green and 10 other council leaders after their statement on 27 October, which read: “We are deeply concerned about events in the Middle East and the anguish being experienced by people in Greater Manchester, most acutely in our Jewish and Muslim communities.”

The statement called for a ceasefire “by all sides” given the “humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza”.

The responding letter from the JRC on 29 October is signed by its chair, Mark Adlestone, JRC chair and chief executive Marc Levy.

It says calling for a ceasefire shows “a lack of understanding to the challenges currently being encountered by Israel” and that “a ceasefire implies there are two enemies with similar but opposing objectives. Sadly, this is far from the case with Hamas and Israel.”

The letter outlines that a central component of Hamas’ Charter is the destruction of Israel and all Jews. “It is impossible to reconcile these diametrically opposed ideological differences even without the added complication of 220 civilians who have been kidnapped,” it adds.

The JRC says while there was “much within the statement that resonated with the Jewish community”, it was important “that the signatories to the letter explain how their vision for a ceasefire would bring about peace”.

A UNIQUE SEAT IN RA’ANANA FOR EACH ISRAELI HOSTAGE Eighty local artists in Ra’anana, central Israel, have worked for three days to paint these 230 chairs, to represent the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. They also painted a ‘wall of hope’. At the end of the three days, a Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony was held with candles lit by the city’s mayor, those grieving for lost family members and friends and a family whose daughter is being held hostage in Gaza

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Pro-Palestinian sit-in at station ‘intimidates’ Jewish passengers

by Lee Harpin lee@jewishnews.co.uk @lmharpin

cient officers were at the station to respond to any incidents.

“Despite some claims being made in social media, no time was Liverpool Street Station locked down or services disrupted.

“BTP officers worked with railway colleagues to ensure the safety of all concerned and allowed passengers to continue to travel as normal on the trains.”

Holocaust Educational Trust chief executive Karen Pollock was among those to raise concerns about the impact of the sit-up, writing on X, formerly known as Twitter: “It should not be difficult to understand or recognise that this is an intimidating atmosphere for Jewish people on their way home from work. Many have had to turn back.

“Chants ‘From the river to the sea’ are calling for the destruction of Israel, the only Jewish state.”

The Liverpool Street protest was the latest in succession of proPalestine demos, that have sparked concern among many in the Jewish community.

After another mass

A sit-in staged by more than 500 pro-Palestinian inside London’s Liverpool Street train station left Jewish passengers “intimidated” seeking new routes of transport after it was allowed to continue on Tuesday evening.

The protest, organised by the Sisters Uncut grassroots campaign group, was organised on the pretext of calling for a ceasefire to Israel’s response to Hamas in Gaza, but featured frequent chants of “From the river to the sea” from the assembled crowd of activists.

Speeches were given by activists inside Liverpool Street station from the hardline Palestinian Youth Movement, and by members of the far-left International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the protest would have “been of concern to many people” and revealed he would be meeting with British Transport Police officers later this week to discuss the failure to break up the protest.

British Transport Police assistant chief constable Sean O’Callaghan said: “BTP became aware earlier in the day that a protest may occur in the staSuella tion and ensured suffi-

Braverman

The sit-in at Liverpool Street station on Tuesday evening

protest in central London last week, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, attracted somewhere in the region of 150,000 attendees, Suella Braverman, the home secretary. went as far as branding the demos “hate marches”.

Braverman said: “We’ve seen now tens of thousands of people take to the streets following the massacre of Jewish people, the single largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, chanting for the erasure of Israel from the map,” the hardline minister said.

“To my mind there is only one way to describe those marches, they are hate marches.”

Five people were charged, and nine arrested at the demonstrations in central London on Saturday,

while about 100 people had been arrested in total at protests since the Hamas attack on Israel three weeks ago.

But the home secretary’s comments immediately sparked criticism, with some pointing out that it was incorrect to suggest all at the demonstrations were supportive of the extremist, anti-Israel positions.

Labour shadow minister Sir Chris Bryant was among those to suggest that Braverman’s comments actually make it “more difficult for police to do their job properly”.

Britain’s most senior police officer said last Sunday he would support a review into the legal definition of extremism in response to criticism of the way his officers handled pro-Palestinian protests

in London. Sir Mark Rowley, head of the Metropolitan Police, said his officers would “ruthlessly” arrest anyone who commits a hate crime, but there could only be prosecutions when the law is broken.

“There is scope to be much sharper in how we deal with extremism within this country,” Rowley told Sky News.

“The law was never designed to deal with extremism, there’s a lot to do with terrorism and hate crime but we don’t have a body of law that deals with extremism and that is creating a gap.”

In 2021, Rowley had co-written a report sent to the UK government that had pointed out flaws in existing law in relation to policing demonstrations.

Ministers are now reviewing the legal definition of extremism in a move designed to counter hate crimes, including antisemitism, government officials say.

Reports also suggest the government is also examining potential changes to terrorism legislation.

Asked about calls for clarity on the definition of extremism, Downing Street said the government would look at any gaps in the law that might exist.

“It’s important that frontline officers feel they have certainty and clarity,” the spokesman added, but he also insisted the police did have powers to act.

Big jump in demand for Magen Davids Sales of Stars of David jewellery have soared since the 7 October terrorist attacks in a defiant stand against rising hate and an expression of Jewish pride, Jewish News can reveal, writes Michelle Rosenberg and Candice Krieger.

Several shops in London and jewellerymakers in America told JN that demand has in some cases risen by 400 percent.

Communities globally have been reporting record levels of antisemitic incidents targeting Jews on public transport, in their homes, at work and on campus.

New York-based Rachie Shnay – who has a loyal celebrity customer base of Jewish women including Gal Gadot, Noa Tishby, Amy Schumer and Debra Messing - says demand for her collection of Judaica baguette rings and necklaces has soared six fold.

“We’re giving more than 40 percent of proceeds to Israel,” she said. “Since 7 October, we’ve donated over £3,500 to organisations including Hatzolah, Chabad of Sderot and the families of victims.”

The granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors says her diamond rings feature the words say ‘Am Y’Israel Chai’ - The People of

Israel Live. “I wanted it to be on the outside, facing outwards. It stems from the fact that my grandparents are Holocaust survivors. The Nazis took the Magen David away from us and made it something we should be scared of. I wanted to take it from the ashes of the Holocaust and make it beautiful.”

Shnay has had an influx of interest from across Australia, London, Madrid, Canada, France and Scotland. One woman told her that she had never worn a Magen David before. ‘”But she put on a necklace and said she felt she can breathe.”

In London, Cohens Jewellers in Temple Fortune has seen sales of Magen Davids double since the attacks in Israel.

Robert Cohen told Jewish News: “We’ve seen an increase in demand from all ages. Some are buying as gifts for newborn babies, and we are seeing people who aren’t particularly religious but are proud to show they are Jewish. It’s an Sales are as gifts but also self-purchases equal mixture of self-purchase and gift “Some choose to wear a large one so it can purchase, including some men who have never worn jewellery before but feel pas- be clearly seen and others opt for more discreet styles worn close to their hearts. Either sionate now about wearing a Star of David.”

way, it’s encouraging to see.”

After being approached by Jewish News for this story, Cohens is now offering an additional 10 percent discount on all Magen Davids until December, on top of the 20 percent of proceeds going to Israel’s medical emergency service Magen David Adom and supplies for IDF soldiers.

Gary Rockman, of Rockman Jewellery in Mill Hill, said their sales had doubled over the past three weeks.

Rockman said: “We were surprised but delighted – not just because it’s business, but because we are a local Jewish-run establishment.

“I think people want to stand up and not hide. Certain people have been intimidated by what is happening but others want to show their Judaism and how they are proud to be Jewish.”

Nelken Jewellers in Borehamwood, meanwhile, has seen a 300 percent jump in demand for Magen Davids and chais since 7 October and has had to order more stock.

Managing director Edwin Nelken said: “People want to show solidarity with the Jewish community at the moment.”

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ISRAEL AT WAR

This is a time to wear your Jewish identity with pride

BY JOSH GLANCY

JOURNALIST How would you describe your emotions right now? I asked my Jewish school friends this question on our WhatsApp group last night. The response? “Drained.”

“Despairing.” “Isolated.”

“Angry.” “Scared.” I think every Jew I know has felt each of these sentiments all too keenly in the past three weeks. Horror at what has happened, in Israel and then in Gaza. Fear at what comes next.

And yet there’s another emotion creeping in among some I’ve spoken to: panic. Stories of people taking their mezuzahs down; removing their kipot; avoiding trips to kosher shops; even wondering whether there is still a Jewish future in this country.

It’s understandable that people feel like this: the mood is ugly, the war may be long and antisemitic incidents are already soaring. As the old saying goes, most of us are only here because some ancestor had the wit to leave somewhere else before it was too late. Neurosis is a historically sound ethnic trait.

But this is not a time to panic.

This is a time for resilience and sober defiance. A time to fix mezuzot, not take them down.

To put kippot on, not take them off. To stand unapologetically tall as British Jews, relishing the freedoms that our predecessors

paid such a high price for. Because things are not as bad as they feel, in the witching hours when you are doom scrolling in the dark. And even if they become so, this blessed plot is a Jewish home worth fighting for.

Things are not as bad as they feel because we are living inside a digital fear factory. We can’t remind ourselves of this enough. Social media takes every recorded incident of antisemitism happening anywhere in the world and promotes it straight into our feeds, where it knows we will fearfully consume it. Then it delivers us some more: hostage posters being ripped down. London Lions football games being boycotted.

Golders Green restaurants being vandalised. Chants of death and vengeance on London streets.

Crazed mobs ripping through Dagestani airports.

But it’s in the Whatsapp groups that the fear really multiplies.

We bring each other morsels of hate like errant cats delivering dead dormice: “Seen this?”

“Awful.” “Terrifying.”

Thankfully, some of these incidents aren’t quite as heinous as they first seem. The London Lions episode turned out to be one player withdrawn by one set of parents, swiftly investigated by the relevant footballing authorities. Shocking, but hardly a threat to AngloJewish life as we know it. When the restaurant Pita in Golders Green was smashed up shortly after 7 October 7, it felt like an antisemitic attack, a mini-Kristallnacht. But it

Thousands of UK Jews gathered together in Trafalgar Square last month

was actually an unrelated burglary.

Still, the chemical and emotional effects of fear linger, warping our wellbeing, even when a less awful reality emerges.

None of this is to diminish the gravity of what is unfolding.

Life is undeniably becoming less comfortable, particularly if you have children at school or on campuses. Things may well get worse before they get better and the chance of a paradigm-shifting act of antisemitic violence is not trivial. But, right now, much of this discomfort is still in our heads.

In these moments, it is worth reminding ourselves what Britain is and why we live here. Because this is not Dagestan. There are no traumatic stories of genocide or exile in my family, not that we can

remember anyway. The pogroms that drove them to these shores are distant folk tales. Since then, things have been splendidly unhistoric for the Glancys.

Once they made it to England, my family sold dresses and electronics. They became doctors and lawyers. They founded synagogues and golf clubs. They raised heimishe children and sent them to great schools and famous universities.

These were not dull or boring lives, but they were lived almost entirely outside the fierce glare of History.

This, by and large, is the quietly brilliant story of Anglo-Jewry.

Sometimes, if I’m honest, a warped part of me even envies the inherited trauma of continental Jews. But mostly I’m profoundly

grateful that my ancestors chose England and not Germany, France or Italy. Of course, Anglo-Jewish lives have been tainted by prejudice and exclusion, but looked at in the round it has been a staggering success. Viewed through the lens of our long and torrid history, this might be among the best times and places to be a Jew ever. We have so, so far to fall.

Look at the bloodshed destroying so many lives in Israel and Gaza and compare it to Radlett or Whitefield. Look at our writers and lawyers and entrepreneurs; our institutions, our homes and our history. Look at our friends, in Downing Street and beyond. Look at the majority of the British public, stolid, dispassionate, far more interested in moaning about the NHS or pub closures than wasting their time on Jew-hatred.

Yes, I can already hear someone responding, this is what they said in 1920s Berlin. But frankly, it’s an ahistorical indulgence to imagine ourselves anywhere close to Weimar Germany. That’s not where we are and not where we are going.

And if the picture does continue to darken? There was another word my school friends used to describe their current mood.

“Pride.” Pride at our peoplehood.

I’m told anecdotally that sales of Magen David necklaces have rocketed at London jewellers. That’s the resilience and sober defiance we need. Because this is a time to fix mezuzot, not take them down.  Josh Glancy is news review editor at The Sunday Times

UCL UNION CALLS FOR A ‘MASS UPRISING’ The Union of Jewish Students has condemned the trade union of the second largest university in the UK for passing a motion backing a “mass uprising” against Israel.

University College London (UCL) University and College Union (UCU), voted for “Intifada until victory” on Friday 27 October. The union has more than 122,000 members.

Guy Dabby-Joory, head of campaigns at UJS, which represents nearly 9,000 Jewish students at 70 Jewish societies across the UK and Ireland, told Jewish News: “It is an utter disgrace for UCL’s UCU branch to call for an “intifada until victory” and a “mass uprising” against Israel.

“This is explicit support for indiscriminate violence and terror against Israeli men, women, and children, echoing Hamas’ brutal

massacre on 7 October. It is shameful that academics have so starkly failed in their duty of care towards Jewish students at UCL, many of whom have had family killed in the intifadas or in Hamas’ attack.

“We’re pleased UCL has condemned this

The main UCL campus in cnetral London

incitement of violence, and we call for them to match this condemnation with urgent action against the academics responsible for the passage of this grotesque motion.”

Following the vote, UCL issued a statement calling the motions “incoherent and disturbing.”

It adds: “While they ‘condemn all forms of violence’ and note that the ‘deliberate killing of civilians is always an atrocity’, they also use language that clearly incites indiscriminate violence.

“We wholly condemn this incitement to violence, have called on the local branch to withdraw the statement, and have written to Dr Jo Grady, the General Secretary of the national UCU to take action against the local branch.

Language such as this has no place on a university campus.”

Writing for the ConservativeHome website, Gillian Keegan, education secretary, and MP for Chichester called UCL UCU’s actions “irresponsible and deeply wrong,” adding that “the promotion of conflict and glorification of terrorism will never be tolerated. UCL has rightly condemned their incitement of violence and called on the UCU to withdraw their statements. It is dangerous, extreme and puts Jewish students and staff at risk of genuine harm.”

A similar debate by the Cambridge Student Union, calling for an ‘emergency motion for solidarity with Palestine’, has been delayed for two weeks.

As reported by Jewish News last week, Jewish students at UCL expressed concern about a proPalestinian demonstration that took place close to UCL’s campus.

12 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Police defend removing Hamas hostage posters The Metropolitan Police said it removed posters of hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the shutters of a shop in Edgware because of a “responsibility to take reasonable steps to stop issues escalating and to avoid any further increase in community tension”, writes Lee Harpin.

The action sparked widespread anger in the community, with many pointing out images on X/Twitter showing chemist CEO Haasan Khan retweeting posts by an apparent colleague branding Israel and the IDF “filthy animals” and calling for Israel’s enemies Iran and Hezbollah to get involved in the conflict.

The account was later deleted, with Khan apologising on behalf of the company.

Police said they received calls about the posters alleging they had been put up in “retaliation for comments about the conflict between Israel and Hamas on social media by a person associated with the business”.

Police said print-outs of the comments “may also” have been put up alongside the hostage posters.

They added: “Both people who reported the posters to us were concerned that it would escalate an already tense situation. Officers went to the shop and acting in good faith

they removed the posters in an effort to prevent any such escalation.

“The removal of these posters elsewhere in London has caused anger and upset in recent weeks. We know a photo of our officers doing the same will cause further concern, particularly for anyone not aware of the full facts reported to us at the time.

“We have no wish to limit the rights of anyone to protest or to raise awareness of the plight of those kidnapped and the terrible impact on their families. But we do have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to stop issues escalating and to avoid any further increase in commu-

A police officer removing the hostage posters

nity tension. On this occasion, that is what officers were trying to do. ” Adam Ma’anit, whose cousin is among those missing in Gaza, told The Independent newspaper he felt a ‘”wave of despair” whenever he sees people tearing down the posters, which contained “no hate” and were being used solely to “highlight the plight of the hostages”.

“We want to remind people that children, elderly, disabled, even babies, are being held hostage by Hamas, he said. “Those who tear the posters down are silencing one of the only ways we’ve been able to keep their plight fresh in the minds of people. They are silencing our suffering and pain. For the police to be party to that is deeply distressing.”

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Dragons’ Den doctor’s vile Jew-hate rants A registered doctor who has appeared on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den programme has made a series of deeply antisemitic comments online.

The recent remarks by Dr Asif Munaf on X/Twitter include saying “the Zionist PR machine is slimy” and references to “the Zionist antichrist”, writes Charlotte Henry.

Dr Munaf is registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). He promotes a website called The University of Masculinity and regularly posts videos about wellbeing, some of which are considered deeply misogynistic – one video on Instagram for instance is titled “Don’t Trust What Women Say”.

In another video, Dr Munaf asks another man: “Have you ever met a beautiful feminist?” The same Instagram account contains a saved story detailing his time within the NHS. He struck a similar tone in a post on X which said: “Have you ever met

Dr Munaf on Dragons’ Den

even a semi-average-looking Zionist?

Aren’t they all odiously ogre-like?” He has also made disparaging comments online about Hindus.

Dr Munaf has previously spoken about the difficulties of being an NHS doctor and just weeks ago discussed his decision to leave with Hyphen, an

outlet focused on the British and European Muslim community. In 2019, he posted his NHS payslip online following a discussion about doctors’ pay on the BBC’s Question Time.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors’s union, said: “Dr Munaf is not a BMA elected represent-

ative and his views are absolutely not representative of the BMA in any way.

Further, the BMA is clear there is no place for racism, sexism or discrimination of any kind within the NHS, medical profession or in wider society.”

Dr Munaf’s GMC registration means his fitness to practise must be evaluated periodically by a more senior doctor. His public entry on the register indicates he is connected to a company called MyLocum. When Jewish News tried to contact the firm, they immediately hung up.

The GMC could not confirm whether an investigation was taking place. A spokesperson said: “We are clear that the standards expected of doctors on social media do not change when they are communicating online. When a serious concern is raised, we investigate to determine whether patient safety, or the public’s confidence in the med-

ical profession, is at risk.”

Dr Munaf uses his medical credentials to gain credibility in the business world and on social media.

His pitch to the Dragons was for a smoothie company. In the episode, he said he had used his medical understanding to develop the recipe. None of the business leaders on the show invested.

Dr Munaf now seems to be trying to establish himself as an online influencer, although he currently seems to have a relatively modest following.

The content on social media raises concerns about whether he would treat Jewish, female and Hindu patients appropriately if required.

These details come after it emerged in the Mail on Sunday that the head of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir in the UK was practising as a GP in the NHS. Dr Munaf did not respond to a request for comment.

2 November 2023 Jewish News

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13

ISRAEL’S DARKEST DAYS

Councillor denies he said yes to anti-racism training A Liberal Democrat councillor exposed by Jewish News for questioning evidence Hamas carried out the 7 October atrocities has denied claims made by the party that he agreed to have antisemitism training, writes Lee Harpin.

A series of Tik Tok videos posted by Birmingham councillor Ayoub Khan, who represents Aston, had seen him repeatedly suggest he “has a problem with the credibility” of accounts detailing the massacre carried out at by Hamas, included at a kibbutz in southern Israel.

After confirming they had launched an investigation into Khan’s conduct, a Lib Dem spokes-

person later said: “Councillor Khan has recognised that his comments were offensive. He has apologised and deleted his TikToks, and agreed to undergo anti-semitism training,” the spokesperson said.

Liberal Democrats utterly condemn the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October.”

But in a new Tik Tok post, Khan has said: “So let me make my position absolutely clear. At no stage have I considered my material on TikTok offensive, nor have I agreed with anyone that I would undergo a training course in antisemitism.

There is simply no need. It illustrates doesn’t it how the media can get it wrong.”

He added: “I have also written to the Lib Dem headquarters because I want to get to the bottom of this.

How is it that a statement has been issued, if it has, by the Lib Dem spokesperson about something that is factually incorrect? You see, ladies and gentlemen, here is an example why it’s important that social media allows you to have a platform to make things right.”

Jewish News also understands Khan has tabled a Lib Dem motion on Israel for debate at a full meeting of Birmingham Council. Khan had previously been the Lib Dem’s candidate for the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner role. He is a criminal barrister.

FASHION PLATFORMS DROP TOP ISRAELI DESIGNER those seeking peace.”

The Israeli fashion designer Jewish News conDodo Bar Or has been tacted Dodo Bar Or, dropped by major online who said: “Thank platforms Net-a-Porter you so much for your and MyTheresa following a amazing support! social media post in which We highly appreciate she compared Hamas terit! It’s heart-warming rorists to Isis terrorists, during these difficult writes Louisa Walters. times we are all going Influencer @liudmilahq mes- Dodo Bar through! Thank you!” Liud saged MyTheresa on Instagram calling for the boycott against Dodo Milah has also encouraged her own followers to boycott Dodo Bar Or, Bar Or’s products.

The platform responded to Milah, accusing her of using the social media saying: “MyTheresa stands firmly post to call “all Arabs terrorists”.

The Polish/Jordanian fashion against violence and terrorism in all is forms. We do not tolerate any kind designer Sara Mannei has also taken to of hate speech. We decided today social media to support the removal by with immediate effect to take the the platforms of the Israeli designer. brand Dodo Bar Or out of our assort- Jewish News contacted MyTheresa ment. We stand in solidarity with all and Net-a-Porter.

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ROBLOX CALLS OUT ANTISEMITIC INPUT AFTER JN TIP-OFF One of the world’s most popular online gaming platforms, played by millions of children, is investigating a significant increase in antisemitic avatars and dialogue after being contacted by Jewish News.

Roblox, aimed at children eight to 14, is a huge virtual playground where users can take part in games, explore realms, create their own worlds and avatars and chat online.

Jewish News has learned of some disturbing images. One avatar is called ‘hatred of Jews’; another shows a person in suit and black hat with a beard, long nose and a bag of money.

One parent who contacted Jewish News said: “My nine-year-old son said he had begun seeing avatars on

Roblox holding Palestinian flags and others saying ‘Free, free Palestine.’ I searched under the term ‘Palestine’ and found several realms designed as meeting points for pro-Palestinian rallies and which clearly contained antisemitic and anti-Israel content.”

One realm showed two burning Israeli flags and a jihadist flag. In another an avatar claimed: “From river to sea, Palestine will be free’ – a call for Israel’s destruction.

“In my mind, Roblox moderators are not doing a good enough job to weed out virulently antisemitic content,” the parent continued. “They should take a proactive approach, not rely on users to report clear cases of incitement, hatred and racism.

A parent said realms ‘contained antisemitic and anti-Israel content’

“Perhaps most depressingly, Roblox is supposed to be a platform for children. If non-Jewish children are coming across such vile hatred for Jewish people, I dread to think how this could impact and shape their view of the world, especially at a time of rising antisemitism.”

Approached by Jewish News with

the screenshot images, a Roblox spokesperson said: “We are deeply saddened by the terrible conflict in Israel and Gaza and our hearts go out to those who are impacted in the area or who have loved ones, family and friends who have been impacted.

“While our community standards allow for expressions of solidarity, we

do not allow for content that endorses or condones violence, promotes terrorism or hatred against individuals or groups, or calls for supporting a specific political party.

“As this complex situation evolves, our expert team of thousands of moderators and automated detection tools are closely monitoring our platform and will take swift action against any content or individuals found to be in violation of our standards. We also encourage anyone to report content or behaviour that may not comply with our community standards.”

Eze Vidra, co-founder and managing partner at Remagine Ventures, which invests in early-stage startups in entertainment tech, including gaming said: “The gaming community was always one that unites people from around the world, from different backgrounds, cultures and religions.

The event (protests) on Roblox is especially sad, because it’s supposed to be a safe space for children, not one for sinister political messages.”

14 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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ISRAEL AT WAR

JW3 lays a Shabbat table for the hostages held by Hamas JW3 joined organisations around the world in laying a Shabbat table to represent the more than 220 hostages still being held by the terrorist group Hamas, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

In a display of solidarity and unity, as well as a cry for the release of the hostages, more than 200 places were laid in the JW3 piazza.

They served as a reminder of the hundreds of families who were missing loved ones at their Shabbat tables for a third week.

Raymond Simonson, JW3’s chief executive, told the gathered crowd: “These are people, they are not just numbers. We urge you today to walk around the table, and look at the faces and names. It’s only when you look at it like this do you realise how many people it truly is,” Noam Sagi, whose mother, Ada, is one of the hostages held captive by Hamas, recounted that three weeks ago, he and his family were preparing to celebrate Shabbat just like any other week, and how everything changed the morning after, describing how his family have been dragged into “psychological warfare” by Hamas.

“No one is in the middle of this psychological warfare more than the families. Every day The table at JW3. Noam Sagi, whose mother is a hostage, spoke of ‘psychological torture’ is worse. This is what it is designed to do.”

Ada Sagi is a 75-year-old mother and grand- Shabbat will [those taken hostage] be having to their families, that’s the best outcome we could hope for. Bring them back now and stop mother, whom Noam and his family have not tonight,” said Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

Sagi has spent the weeks since his this torture.” heard from since she was kidnapped from The hundreds of empty chairs are a mother was kidnapped urging the British Kibbutz Nir Oz the morning of 7 October.

“The greeting that we give for the sab- government to take action and prioritise reminder of the enormity of the situation and the scale of the suffering currently taking bath day is Shabbat Shalom – may you the release of the hostages.

“I ask the British government to be brave. place across the region. have a peaceful Shabbat. Three weeks ago, The first installation was set up outside of the peace of Shabbat was shattered, when To do, not just to say. I ask the Israeli governa nation was terrorised. Right now we are ment to be brave, and prioritise the names the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on 20th October sickened, and we wonder what kind of a you see here. Because bringing people back and organisations around the world are fol-

lowing suit, including in Rome, Sydney, and Times Square in New York City.

As the Jewish Telegraphic Agency noted, setting a seat for prisoners has been a symbol of protest for Jews globally since the 1960s, when the movement to free Soviet Jews began the symbolic gesture.

Coupled with the installation, JW3 also distributed extra Shabbat candles along with the name cards for each of the Hostages. Simonson encouraged those in attendance to set an extra place at their own Shabbat tables, to “light an extra set of candles for someone. Pray to bring them home.”

The Chief Rabbi said: “This is our statement that we care. We miss every single one of those captives, and we send a strong message that as long as they are in captivity, we shall not rest. The whole Jewish people right around the world we call mishpacha, we are one family, so that is why we share in the pain of all Israelis.” Simonson and Sagi echoed calls urging people to write to their member of parliament and lobby them to prioritise the release of the hostages.

Simonson also urged the importance of unity during this moment. “This is not the time for wedges between British Jews and British Muslims. We are in this together, and I know it’s hard and it doesn’t always feel like it, but those conversations you have with your friends, family, neighbours, and colleagues are more important now than ever.”

Rabbi Mirvis said: “On the eve of this Shabbat, we send a message to those hostages: Shabbat Shalom. May you come home soon, and have a truly peaceful Shabbat.”

GAZA ‘OCCUPATION’ IS A LEGAL FICTION

BY LORD VERDIRAME

PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON My Lords, I join others in calling on the government to use its influence on Qatar to ensure the release of the hostages.

We also need to record our thanks to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent for the very positive role they have played.

There has been a lot of talk about proportionality in the law on self-defence. I refer to the words that the noble lord, Lord Pannick, used a few days ago on the test of proportionality. It does not mean that the defensive force has to be equal to the force used in the armed attack. Proportionality means that you can use force that is proportionate to the defensive objective, which is to stop, to repel and to prevent further attacks.

Israel has described its war aims as the destruction of Hamas’s capability. From a legal perspective, these war aims are consistent with proportionality in the law of self-

defence, given what Hamas says it does and what Hamas has done and continues to do.

Asking a state that is acting in self-defence to agree to a ceasefire before its lawful defensive objectives have been met is, in effect, asking that state to stop defending itself.

For such calls to be reasonable and credible, they must be accompanied by a concrete proposal setting out how Israel’s legitimate defensive goals against Hamas will be met through other means. It is not an answer to say that Israel has to conclude a peace treaty, because Hamas is not interested in a peace treaty.

Proportionality also applies in the law that governs the conduct of hostilities, not only in self-defence. The law of armed conflict requires that in every attack posing a risk to civilian life, that risk must not be excessive in relation to the military advantage that is anticipated.

That rule does not mean, even when scrupulously observed, that civilians will not tragically lose their lives in an armed conflict. The law of armed conflict, at its best, can mitigate the horrors of war but it cannot eliminate them.

The great challenge in this conflict is that Hamas is the kind of belligerent that cyni-

cally exploits these rules by putting civilians under its control at risk and even using them to seek immunity for its military operations, military equipment and military personnel.

An analysis of the application of the rules on proportionality in targeting in this conflict must always begin with this fact. There has also been some discussion about siege warfare. The UK manual of the law of armed conflict, reflecting the government’s official legal position—it is a Ministry of Defence document—says: ‘Siege is a legitimate method of warfare … It would be unlawful to besiege an undefended town since it could be occupied without resistance’.

Gaza is not an undefended town. It is true that obligations apply to the besieging forces when civilians are caught within the area that is being encircled, and those obligations include agreeing to the passage of humanitarian relief by third parties. But it is not correct to say that encircling an area with civilians in it is not permitted by the laws of war.

A further point that concerns the laws of war is also of particular relevance to the British government’s practice. It has already been mentioned that the government have taken the view that Gaza remains under Israeli occupation, even though Israel pulled

out in 2005. More fundamentally, it is Hamas that has been responsible for the government and administration of Gaza.

I appreciate that this is a legal matter on which the minister may not want to respond immediately but it is an important one, because the legal fiction that Israel was still the occupying power under the laws of armed conflict has been relentlessly exploited by Hamas to blame Israel for everything, while using the effective control that it has over the territory, the people and the resources to wage war.

When a serious allegation is made, the immediate response of the law-abiding belligerent will be to say, “We are investigating.”

The non-law-abiding belligerent, by contrast, will forthwith blame the other side and even provide surprisingly precise casualty figures.

The duty to investigate is one of the most important ones in armed conflict. What happened in the way in which the strike on the hospital was reported is that the side that professes no interest whatever in complying with the laws of armed conflict was rewarded with the headlines that it was seeking.

• This is the edited text of a speech delivered

by Lord Verdirame during last week’s House of Lords debate

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16 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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ISRAEL AT WAR

‘We can’t cope with one burial but we had three’ Hundreds attend funerals of Lianne Sharabi and her daughters Noiya and Yahel, murdered in Kibbutz Be’eri, writes Itay Gross Shortly after Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be’eri, they arrived at the house of Eli and Lianne, a UK-Israeli citizen. Lianne and her daughters were murdered in their shelter. Owing to the brutality of the murders, Lianne and Yahel could only be identified through DNA samples. Noiya was identified through her teeth only two days ago.

Eli’s location and whether or not he is alive remains unknown.

Yossi, his elder brother and Be’eri neighbour, was kidnapped into Gaza after he pleaded with the terrorists to spare his wife, Nira, and their three daughters. After the terrorists were distracted by Israeli fighters coming to liberate the kibbutz, Nira broke into a half-burnt house and hid in complete silence for eight hours together with the girls.

The terrorists also kidnapped Ophir Engel, the boyfriend of Yuval, one of Nira and Yossi’s daughters, who slept over during Shabbat. His grandfather, Yossef, told Jewish News after the funeral: “We will fly with a delegation to the Netherlands and

Lianne (centre) with her daughters Yahel (left) and Noiya (right)

Denmark to try to convince decisionmakers to apply pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.

“We want to present these horrors to the European public, which I feel doesn’t comprehend what happened on that Saturday. We just buried a mother and two daughters, when the father is missing. I feel this is a second Holocaust. The fact that there are demonstrations supporting

Hamas in London, Amsterdam and Paris is crazy. We really need to step up our advocacy.”

Originally from Bristol, Lianne came to Israel to volunteer in the kibbutz, where she met Eli. The pair fell in love, got married and built a family. Through recorded eulogies from her brother and parents in the UK, it was obvious that the family loved the kibbutz and

endorsed her decision to live there, despite the challenging distance.

Lianne’s story is typical Israeli. An English woman marrying a man of Yemenite descent, creating a mix of the best of both cultures.

Be’eri lost approximately 130 of its residents on that Saturday, which is now known as Black Saturday – more than a tenth of its population. A whole community shattered. One after the other, friends and colleagues from the kibbutz, classmates of Noiya and Yahel, and their cousins, took turns to say goodbye to their loved ones.

Sharon, the younger brother of Yossi and Eli, broke down in tears during the funeral and then gathered himself to talk to the press, resembling the strength displayed

by Israelis who have taken it upon themselves to tell their stories.

“We don’t know how to cope with one funeral and here we are burying three family members at the same time. To understand the magnitude of this tragedy, we are just one story out of 200 families of Photos by Itay Gross

“Hello everyone, I didn’t write anything. As you know, funerals are usually a time to rekindle and then pick up the pieces, grieve and overcome. But we’re not there.

We’re still in the middle of the journey.” These words, opening one of the eulogies at the funeral of Lianne, and her daughters Noiya and Yahel Sharabi, who were murdered in Kibbutz Be’eri on the terrible Saturday, 7 October, reflect a strong sentiment in Israeli society.

The feeling that time has stood still over the past three and a half weeks is shared by almost every Israeli. People are holding their breath, anticipating the next step in a war that began with a disaster but is far from over. Regular Israelis are struggling to maintain a routine, work in many sectors has stopped, while casualties are still being identified, missing people are still being found and, above all, there is the looming issue of the hostages.

The Sharabi family have experienced the complete terrible mix.

Lianne and her daughters were murdered in Kibbutz Be’eri. Lianne’s husband Eli is still missing, while his brother Yossi was taken into Gaza as a hostage

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2 November 2023 Jewish News

ISRAEL AT WAR abductees,” he said, and went on to share his experience from 7 October.

“I keep Shabbat and came back from synagogue when a neighbour stopped me and told me that Hamas took control of Be’eri. I held my breath, opened my phone and my eyes went dark. I had thousands of messages, including from my brothers, who asked for help, saying they were surrounded by terrorists and gunshots.

I tried to get hold of them, but it was 5.30pm and too late. The last messages I got from them were at 10.30 am.”

The story of the hostages is one of Israeli society’s biggest sores.

Alongside the uncertainty of their conditions, and fear of what will happen to them in the hands of Hamas or during the ground invasion, there is also huge disappointment at the Israeli government.

Gal Hirsh, who was appointed by Benjamin Netanyahu to manage the efforts to release the hostages, is widely criticised for being chosen due to his relationship with the Israeli Prime Minister rather than for his skills.

The release by Hamas of four hostages over the past few days – an Israeli soldier was rescued by the Israel Defence Forces on Monday – is mainly attributed to the efforts made by foreign powers rather than the Israeli government. But, above all, this is another area in which the public feels alienated from its elected officials.

“No government official is supporting us. All of our activities and advocacy are civilian and voluntary. I also don’t see anyone official here. I worked in the public sector for years, with Shimon Peres. I know how these things work, the fact they’re not involved shows they’re not in the situation,” says Yossef, Ophir’s grandfather.

Sharon Sharabi echoes the sentiment, saying: “The Israeli public is wrapping us with love. Unfortunately, Israel’s official leadership are not with us. They’re not only keeping us in the dark regarding information, they’re just not showing any compassion, no hug, no offer for help.”

When the coffins are lowered into the ground, the cousins of Noiya and Yahel become impatient with the many photographers lining up to document their grief. Like many other victims, they feel their personal pain has become nationalised and, amid the chaos of fleeing the kibbutz, have barely had time for themselves.

The sun sets over the small cemetery, providing a beautiful setting for the burial of a beautiful family, who only three and a half weeks ago celebrated life and the Jewish holiday of Succot together. The surreal picture portrays the words of the eulogy made by Lianne’s mother to Noiya: “A beam of light, extinguished too soon, but ever in our hearts, always, we will miss her smiling face.”

Mourners attend the funeral of Lianne, Noiya and Yahel Sharabi

17

18 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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TOGETHER FOR TOMORROW SUPPORT FOR DISPLACED FAMILIES OUR CAMPAIGN WILL BE ASSISTING DISPLACED FAMILIES WHO HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES DUE TO THE ONGOING CONFLICT. In collaboration with the national retail chain Shufersal and their network of over 50 retail partners in Israel, we will be working with relief organisations on the ground to provide families with a digital vouchers for groceries and other necessities.

Your contribution can make a world of difference.

DONATE NOW!

https://my.israelgives.org/en/fundme/Vouchers SCAN HERE

We pray for better days and the safety of our brave soldiers, medics, volunteers, and the people of Israel.

With thanks from: Julian & Benita Nathan, Ari & Aya Shapiro, David & Nicci Raz, Adam & Jodi Raviv, Aubrey & Michelle Nathan, Robbie & Gaby Cohen, Ashley & Lara Cohen, Insignia Team & Families.

Am Yisrael Chai.

For more information email : nicci@hold.co.il or contact +972 537646501

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Far-left activists lead call for ‘intifada from London to Gaza’ Pro-Palestinian protesters affiliated to far-left Trotskyist groups led calls for an “intifada from London to Gaza” at the latest demonstration in London, under the pretext of demanding a ceasefire to Israel’s war with Hamas terrorists, writes Lee Harpin.

Jewish News observed activists from the Socialist Workers Party and the Socialist Appeal group using loudspeakers to whip up protesters attending Saturday’s demo into joining inflammatory chants calling for a global uprising or “intifada”, and saying “resistance” by Palestinians against Israel was “justified”.

Piers Corbyn, brother of the former Labour leader, attempted to deny Hamas had committed atrocities when quizzed by Jewish News.

In an incendiary rant, he denied Hamas had butchered women and children on 7 October, insisting: “It was a lie, a lie, a lie – and the Israeli government admits it was a lie.”

Asked if he denied 1,400 Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas he said: “Yes I do deny that. There’s no evidence of this stuff. The whole thing was a set up from start to finish to

The march gets under way

Pro-Palestine placards at Saturday’s central London demo

justify an invasion and take the oil.

And destroy Palestine and make an Israeli superstate.”

The latest march sparked continued fears in the UK Jewish community about the inflammatory nature of the demos. Some commentators contributed to that with social media posts suggesting the scale of the protests meant Jews should question their future in this country.

As the demonstration, which attracted about 150,000 people, moved into Whitehall, a group of women were filmed chanting in Arabic “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Mohammed will return”, a slogan from the seventh century which prompted the mass slaughter of tribal Jewish communities.

Police later said they were investigating a “hate crime incident” and

posted a picture of two women officers wished to speak to. A spokesperson confirmed nine people were arrested, seven for public order offences some of which are being investigated in relation to possible hate crimes and two for assaults on officers.

Police had been eager to show they were responding to perceived offences after criticism over their failure to act on previous demos.

No-one at the demo, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Friends of Al Aqsa, the Muslim Council of Great Britain and other groups, expressed explicit support for Hamas, but one woman held up

a sign reading The Real Terrorists Wear Suits while another woman had a placard reading What Do Zionists See When They Look In The Mirror?

Nazis. #FreePalestine.

A front page of the SWP’s weekly newspaper was widely sold at the demo with the front page headline Smash Israeli Terror State, typifying the alliance between far-left Trotskyist groups and organisations with an Islamist outlook that has grown around the pro-Palestine movement.

A small but not insignificant presence of anti-Zionist Jews were marching as part of a co-ordinated “Jewish bloc” including Jewish Solidarity Action, Jewdas, Black Jewish Alliance, Na’amod, the Jewish Socialists’ Group, Jews for Justice for Palestinians and Jewish Voice for Labour.

It was impossible to judge how many Jews joined the protest, but it appeared to be over 100.

Jewish News spoke to three women, two of whom held aloft banners reading This Jewish Person Thinks Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right, and another which said Jews Against The War on Gaza .

McDonnell in chant row FIVE CHARGED OVER DEMO Labour’s John McDonnell has claimed it is “a complete misinterpretation” to say the chant “From the river to the sea” is antisemitic.

In comments on Times Radio that will infuriate many in the Jewish community, the former shadow chancellor also appeared to suggest Israel would have been “wiser” to pursue a strategy of “negotiation” after the Hamas terrorist atrocities of 7 October “rather than a large scale attack”.

On Saturday McDonnell spoke for a second weekend in succession at a pro-Palestine protest in central London, where he was joined by another former shadow cabinet member, Andy McDonald MP, and the MP Nadia Whittome,

John McDonnell (left) at Saturday’s protest

with the three of them defying Keir Starmer’s stance over Israel’s war with Hamas by holding a sign reading Ceasefire Now, End The Siege.

Five people arrested during protests in central London on Saturday have been charged, the Met Police has said.

Kadirul Islam, 33, of no fixed address, has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence and will appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on 1 December. The charge relates to an incident in Waterloo Road where alleged racist abuse was shouted.

Laura Davis, 22, of Hendon Way, Barnet, has been charged with a similar offence and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday November 29.

The charge relates to an incident near Piccadilly Circus where a placard which

was alleged to be “threatening and racist in nature” was displayed.

Atif Sharif, 41, of Albert Road, Walthamstow, has been charged with causing actual bodily harm and was appearing at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Monday. The charge relates to an incident in Whitehall where a police officer was assaulted and sustained a head injury.

A 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with a public order offence and will appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on 15 November after an incident in Grosvenor Gardens where verbal abuse was directed at officers escorting protesters.

This is not Germany in 1938, but it is as horrific RAPHI BLOOM

CO-CHAIR, NORTH WEST FRIENDS OF ISRAEL Last weekend, with my wife and some of our children and young grandchildren, we ate Shabbat dinner with my 88-yearold mother-in-law at the Jewish care home she lives in. The charity that runs it has, for over 150 years in various incarnations, cared for the most vulnerable and in need in the Manchester Jewish community.

It illustrates how long Jews have lived in our great city. Since the 19th century we have been civic leaders, economic drivers, educators, artists, physicians and generally contributed to the development of Manchester, just

like Jews all across the UK. We have been – and are – proud residents and citizens.

Until recently I saw a bright future for my children and grandchildren here. Not now. I am scared for them. After the Hamas attack, UK Jews felt the same pain as Israelis. We felt the support shown in the past for causes such as Black Lives Matter and Ukraine was now finally being shown to us. National and local politicians rushed to stand with us.

How quickly things change. Despite video evidence of the attack’s barbarity and babies, children, women and men still held captive in Gaza, we have seen huge demonstrations on our streets that chill me – and our community – to the bone.

We see hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of the oldest democracy in the world, chanting hate, calls for Jihad, screaming for the destruction of Israel, the

genocide of all Jews between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean and celebrating the biggest murder of Jews in one day since the Holocaust.

It has been a tsunami of hate directed at Jews. Period. Antisemitic attacks have risen by over 1,350 percent. This is not Germany in 1938. This is the UK in 2023 and it is horrific.

And what have politicians and police across the UK done? At best, paid lip service to challenging the hate. They say repeatedly this behaviour is unacceptable, yet it is allowed to continue unabated.

None of the imams who incite hate and violence has been arrested. The mayors of Manchester and London among others seek to appease their constituents by morally equating the hostages’ release with a ceasefire rather than demanding their freedom first.

These politicians also fail to hold the

police to account and are equally culpable in fostering the fear Jewish communities feel.

If our elected leaders and law enforcement agencies can fail so monumentally by not arresting perpetrators despite overwhelming evidence, one must ask how much they value the Jewish community’s presence in the UK. It is scary and incredibly worrying.

If this is the situation today, it will be much worse in a generation’s time as those we see chanting hate now become our politicians and leaders. The inaction is telling. And very scary.

And it all only reinforces why the existence of Israel is an absolute necessity to Jews everywhere and tells us Golda Meir was correct when she said: “If we have to choose between being dead and pitied and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”

20 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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ISRAEL AT WAR

I’ll keep you safe, says PM Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made an unexpected and impassioned appearance at last weekend’s community briefing, held online to brief British Jews about the latest stages in the war between Israel and Hamas, writes Jenni Frazer, Introduced by Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl, Sunak said that last weekend in Jerusalem he had met families of the victims of what he called “an abhorrent act, an act of terrorism, an act of pure evil”, adding: “It is a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Reiterating his pledge “to do everything I can to secure the release of all the hostages”, he added: “We will always support Israel against terror…it must be defeated.” But he noted: “The Palestinian people are also victims of Hamas and they are suffering terribly.”

Speaking about the situation in the UK, Sunak said: “It sickens me to think that British Jews are looking over their shoulder, that children are going to school covering up their school badges for fear of attack.

“The antisemitic demonstrations and call for jihad are not only a threat to our Jewish community, but to our democratic values, and we will not stand for it. Not here, not in our country, not in this century. A threat to you is a threat to all of us, and I will do whatever it takes to keep

you safe.” He added: “When I said I will stand with you, I meant it. And however difficult the days ahead may become, I will keep that promise.”

Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), recorded his contribution to the briefing in the early hours of last Friday morning, and pulled no punches in his assessment of the situation, telling the community Israel was “far from achieving our end goal, which is to dismantle Hamas”. The country was fighting on at least two fronts, he said, but the main theatre of operations was in the south, where the IDF continued to attack Hamas “while distinguishing between civilian and military targets”.

There were currently 224 hostages being held in Gaza and it was a continuing aim to return them to their homes and families, he said.

There was “no other choice” for Israel “but to beat and defeat Hamas”, he said. Those living in what was known as the Gaza envelope, “all of these beautiful, peaceful communities that once were home to peaceloving Israelis, who believed in their hearts of a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and who had Arab friends, who went to demonstrations in Israel, promoting political solutions with the Palestinians, and who really criticised previous government for their actions –

Rishi Sunak embraces the family member of a hostage taken by Hamas

many of these people now are either dead or are captive, hostage at the hands of Hamas”.

Such communities, Conricus said, “will not flourish again… until we return security – and we will.”

The spokesman was scathing about “the strangling and suffering and suffocating of the population in Gaza, which they [Hamas] are responsible for”. Hamas was not allowing the civilian population access “to the vast stores of fuel, food and water Hamas has, and are being used for their military [personnel]”.

NHS medic investigated A top London hospital has confirmed that a medic who appeared to support Hamas on social media is “not currently working” while an investigation takes place.

It follows reports that Farah Bouamra, a physician associate at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, had posted in support of the terror group and the burning of the Israeli embassy in Jordan in a series of online tweets.

The Trust said: “We do not condone the personal views of this individual and she is not working while we undertake further investigations.

“As a multicultural organisation, we are deeply saddened by the conflict in the Middle East and are supporting our staff – many of whom are directly affected – through this difficult time.”

As first reported in MailOnline, Bouamra reposted a video of Hamas bulldozers breaking into Israel on their way to killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians. It was captioned: “Palestinians break into separation fence w/Israel, dozens of Israelis cap-

tured and brought into Gaza…”. There is then the word “VIVAAAAA”, seemingly written in celebration.

In another post, the UK-born medic, whose family has Algerian heritage, called the Metropolitan Police “pathetic” after the force took to Twitter/X to comment on a train driver who had led pro-Palestinian chants. Elsewhere, she posted: “They set the Israeli embassy on fire in Jordan. I love these people so much.”

Bouamra took issue with details emerging from Hamas’ attacks, describing reports of children being beheaded as “a lie”, adding: “The media and people cared far more for these fictional babies than the 700 dead Palestinian children.”

She criticised Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, saying: “When you stand in solidarity with Israel you stand in solidarity with terrorism, you stinking idiot.”

St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is understood to be seeking advice from external agencies.

He poured scorn on claims – made 11 days previously – that Gaza hospitals were running out of electricity. “The address for such claims should be Hamas, not Israel… Hamas is hoarding fuel. There is fuel in Gaza, and they decide what to do with it.”

Conricus added that Israel was “troubled” by the rise in antisemitism in Britain since Hamas’ attacks.

He hoped British Jews would “find it within you to be brave, strong, unrelenting and able to stand up against the masses of thinly-veiled Israelhaters and Jew-haters who claim to

be speaking about the rights of Palestinians and political solutions.

“That is all nonsense. None of this is about Palestinian rights or the end to a conflict. This is about a terrorist organisation that invaded our communities, butchered more than 1,000 Israeli civilians in their homes on purpose, by design, and also went on to take more than 224 hostages.

Community Security Trust chief executive Mark Gardner said the organisation had been working with ministers and police to “improve the handling of anti-Israel demonstrations” in Britain.

He said police support for Jewish neighbourhoods had been “excellent” since 7 October, with increased police presence at schools and transport hubs used by Jewish children.

Louise Jacobs, UJIA chair, spoke to Shani Teshuva from Kibbutz Zikkim, who had survived the terrorist attacks, while Michael Wegier of the Board of Deputies announced guides – viewable on the Board and Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) websites – for helping people who had problems with their work colleagues over the conflict. UJS president Edward Isaacs updated viewers on what UJS is doing to ensure Jewish student safety.

JLC chair Keith Black paid tribute to all the community’s professionals their round-the-clock work.

MP FIRED OVER CEASEFIRE CALL

Paul Bristow MP

The Conservative MP Paul Bristow was sacked as a parliamentary private secretary after calling for a ceasefire.

Bristow had written a letter to Rishi Sunak urging a “permanent” break in hostilities . A No 10 spokesperson said Bristow was “asked to

leave his post in government following comments that were not consistent with the principles of collective responsibility”. In further comments on Facebook, Bristow said: “I struggle to see how Israel is any safer following thousands of deaths

of innocent Palestinians.”

Bristow is not believed to be the only Tory ready to speak out on the issue.

A party source told Jewish News Tory councillors in the north of England were under “massive pressure” to oppose Sunak’s position.

BOARD PRESIDENT VISITS QATAR Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl took part in a two-day visit to Qatar under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), led by WJC president Ronald Lauder.

The delegation, according to the WJC, engaged in “pivotal discussions with leaders in Qatar”.

Though the identity of the Qatari

officials was not revealed, the meetings were described as “high-level”.

Lauder told the Qataris of “the profound concerns of global Jewry regarding the plight of Israeli hostages in Gaza” and asked for the “influential intervention of the Arab leaders to secure their unconditional release”.

The WJC said the Qataris “acknowledged the gravity of the situation and reassured the WJC delegation of their unwavering commitment to the hostages’ immediate freedom. This priority aligns with their shared vision of humanitarianism and regional peace”.

CHANT IS ‘MISINTERPRETED’

Andy McDonald MP

Labour’s John McDonnell has claimed it is “a complete misinterpretation” to say the chant “from the river to the sea” is antisemitic.

On Times Radio, the exshadow chancellor appeared to suggest Israel would have

been “wiser” to pursue a strategy of “negotiation” after the 7 October Hamas terrorist atrocities “rather than a large-scale attack.”

Last Saturday at a proPalestine protest, he was joined by ex-shadow cabinet

member Andy McDonald MP and MP Nadia Whittome.

McDonald said: “We won’t rest until we have justice.

Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty.”

2 November 2023 Jewish News

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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.

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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.

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21

22 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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ISRAEL AT WAR

UK Jewish doctors warn of ‘explicit antisemitism’

Doctors from the Jewish Medical Association have expressed concern about “unacceptable and explicit antisemitism” suffered by Jewish healthcare professionals following the Hamas terrorist attacks on southern Israel, writes Jenni Frazer.

In a letter to The Lancet, the leading medical journal, Professor David Katz and Dr Fiona Sim write: “Although these attacks might have come from a small number of people, it is nonetheless a serious problem.

“Furthermore, our colleagues have been exposed to open support for the massacres done by Hamas: Dr Elwan, a neurology registrar, posted on social media mocking people fleeing a massacre by Hamas at a music festival.”

Welcoming a statement made by Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, Katz and Sim note her stricture that “there must be no tolerance of outbreaks of racism [in which she includes both antisemitism and Islamophobia] and resultant abuse in the NHS at all times, including during the war”.

The JMA doctors say: “NHS has to be, and be seen to be, a strongly supportive environ-

The JMA has expressed concern over racism

ment for all patients and staff. We are, of course, devastated by the effects of Hamas’ deadly actions on Israel’s civilians and distressed by the ensuing harm to civilian lives in both Israel and Gaza”. Pritchard’s statement, they say, “is a crucial beginning. Its implementation at every level throughout the NHS, and beyond, is now essential”.

And they observe: “Everyone involved needs to be aware that there is growing concern and fear among staff – general practitioners, consultants, junior doctors, nurses and other health-

care professionals. Patients, and their families, need to feel safe in the knowledge that those entrusted with their care never express racist – including antisemitic – views”.

A war of words is being fought in the pages of both The Lancet and the British Medical Journal, as doctors and healthcare professionals from both sides of the war weigh in with how to respond to the conflict. Two commentaries in The Lancet, one from each side, have attracted hundreds of international signatories arguing their case.

A statement from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to Jewish News quoted a government spokesman saying: “We stand in solidarity with the people of Israel following the horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas. All violence or abuse directed at health and social care staff is unacceptable.”

The DHSC added that the Health and Social Care Secretary, MP Stephen Barclay, “is clear that abuse or misconduct of any kind is unacceptable and has no place in the NHS”.

It continued: “He is working closely with the NHS and earlier this year convened an meeting with NHS leaders to discuss how to root out this vile behaviour and ensure services are always safe for staff and patients.”

MP’s question about Hamas’ UK operatives A Labour MP has asked for an “urgent update” from the government on the cases of two alleged Hamas operatives living in Barnet.

Raising a Point of Order in the Commons, Christian Wakeford (inset) referred to a Sunday Times report last weekend, which had revealed how Muhammed Sawalha was a “Hamas fugitive who ran the terror group’s operations in the West Bank” and was now living in a former council house in Colindale.

He said it was a “serious national security risk” that the alleged Hamas operative was living in London, “especially when he appears to have done so after obtaining fake documents and British citizenship”.

Using parliamentary privilege, the Bury South MP also told MPs: “Zaher Birawi lives in Barnet not far from Sawalha.”

The MP said in 2013 Israel had designated Birawi as a “senior Hamas operative in Europe” and he is listed as a trustee of a UK registered charity: Education Aid for Palestinians.

Campaigners hold rally THREATS NOT BEHIND outside Met Police HQ TALK’S CANCELLATION Anger at the way the Metropolitan Police have handled protests since Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel was brought to the steps of New Scotland Yard last week.

Hundreds of campaigners, who held a rally outside the force’s central London headquarters, said the organisation needed to rethink its policing policy regarding potential hate crimes and public order offences as the conflict in Israel and Gaza continued.

It comes after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley differed with ministers last week over how to police pro-Palestine protesters shouting “jihad” after a rally on Saturday, 21 October, in central London.

Last Wednesday, the campaigners outside Scotland Yard, who held banners reading “Act Against Hate Before It’s Too Late” and “Zero Tolerance For Antisemites”, claimed there had been too few arrests, lax policing and excuses posted on social media for why certain chants, signs and phrases were not seen as hate crimes.

The Met is having to deal with “an unprecedented 1,350 percent surge in antisemitic hate crimes” since Hamas’ mass slaughter of civilians on 7 October and the Jewish community in London is feeling unsafe, according to the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA).

CAA chief executive Gideon Falter said the police must take tougher action to clamp down on issues including genocidal chants, antisemitic signs, calls for jihad against the Jewish state. He described the tensions at the rally as “an exhibition of Jew-hate as rarely seen before on the streets of London” and accused the police of being “practically invisible, as they have been

Activists say the force need to rethink policy

throughout the past two-and-a-half weeks”. He told the crowd: “We are here to say thank you to the police for all the years of protection but we cannot endure another one of these marches – another national march for Palestine is due to course through our streets.

“When it is time to act, the police can act and we cannot possibly tolerate a situation in which the desires of a law-breaking mob are prioritised over the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

The Metropolitan Police later said that a man and a woman, who were in separate cars, were arrested for a racially-aggravated public order offence after racist abuse was allegedly directed at a group protesting outside New Scotland Yard. They are both in custody.

After meeting home secretary Suella Braverman last week, Sir Mark said: “We are absolutely ruthless in tackling anybody who puts their foot over the legal line. We’re accountable for the law. We can’t enforce taste or decency, but we can enforce the law.”

A Middle East discussion at University College Dublin under the auspices of its Law Society was cancelled at short notice after three proPalestine panellists withdrew.

But early reports that the panellists had received death threats on social media, and that An Garda Síochána, the Irish police, had been called in to investigate, were dismissed by the Law Society auditor (president) Robin Jowett, as well as one of the participants, Dr Harry Browne of Academics for Palestine in Ireland.

Another intended participant, Israeli history professor Roy Flechner, believed there had been death threats and that police were due on campus to collect testimonies from Law Society students. Other panellists were: John Levy, director of the UK’s Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East, Browne, Eamonn Meehan, chair of the Ireland Palestine Alliance, and Zaid Alberghouti, from the Union of Students in Palestine.

After the cancellation, one of the event convenors claimed the announcement of the event had caused a social media uproar, engendering

abuse and death threats, which resulted in the three pro-Palestinian panellists pulling out.

But Browne said: “Our withdrawal was a decision in Academics for Palestine… I’m afraid the story is ‘Hypothetical idiots online behaving idiotically did not lead to withdrawal of speakers, who were not aware of them’.”

Jowett said: “Unfortunately, there seems to have been some confusion and misinformation in the details provided by our debate convenors.

To clarify, the event was not postponed or cancelled as a result of death threats or any complaint to An Garda Síochána. No such threats were received.

“We decided the event could not go ahead as a result of the withdrawal of a number of guests, which created an imbalance in our speaking panel. The guests cited, as principal reasons for withdrawal, the timing – specifically, holding such an event ‘at a time when thousands of people are being killed’; ‘due to [the event] being scheduled during this horrific time’; and holding a debate ‘’in light of its format, participants, framing and timing’.”

2 November 2023 Jewish News

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Football club probes boy’s RABBI CONFERENCE IN BAKU ON HOLD refusal to play Jewish side A children’s football club has launched an investigation that could lead to a player expulsion after one of its members refused to take part in a match against a Jewish team, writes Richard Ferrer.

North London based Panthera FC boys under-14s team took the field with only nine players last Sunday for a game against Maccabi Lions, after a parent of one member objected to their child playing football with Jews.

The team was already under strength, with only 10 players available on the day. When another withdrew, reportedly due to not wanting to play alongside Jewish children, the side was left with only nine players.

In a heartfelt message to club members sent on Monday and seen by Jewish News, Panthera FC said: “We take reports of these matters very seriously and any incidents will be inves-

tigated thoroughly and reported to the authorities where needed.

“We will not hesitate to take appropriate action, including removal from our club. Our priority is to create an environment where every child can thrive, where the richness of diversity is celebrated and where prejudice has no place.

“If you, as parents, harbour prejudice of any kind that could affect your child’s experience or our culture of inclusivity, then we must be honest – this may not be the right club for you.”

Urging members to “stand together, united in our dedication to inclusivity”, the statement continues: “Please remember we are dealing with children and are all responsible for the safeguarding and wellbeing of children and we take this role very seriously.

“We will not tolerate,

The Conference of European Rabbis says it has been “forced” to postpone its conference, due to take place later this month in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, because of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The CER’s secretary-general, Rabbi Aharon Baskin, has written to rabbis and potential guests that “with due regard to the alarming

situation in Eretz HaKodesh [the Holy Land], it is with the utmost regret we inform you that, despite the immense effort and capital which have been invested into organising the 33rd CER Convention, we are forced to postpone it until [the spring of ] 2024”.

The conference had been due to take place on 12 November.

HOSTAGES PICTURED

as with any racism or discrimination, any incidents of intimidation by or against any member of the club and especially against children and any reports of this will be investigated and reported to the Middlesex FA.” The statement concludes: “Let us stand together, united in our dedication to inclu-

sivity, and let our actions on and off the pitch reflect the true spirit of the beautiful game.”

Jewish News has contacted Maccabi Lions for comment.  If you can assist Panthera FC with its investigation, please email admin@panthera football.co.uk

Magen David Adom has put posters with the names and faces of those being held in captivity in Gaza on the rear windows of all its ambulances and MICUs (mobile intensive care units) across Israel.

As reported by Jewish News, since the beginning of the war, MDA, Israel’s nonprofit emergency service, has treated thousands of people, including MDA personnel who were involved in saving lives.

About 1,400 MDA ambulances, including bulletproof vehicles, are manned by MDA volunteers and employees.

The organisation has collected more than 31,000 units of blood from volunteer donors and its helicopters have carried out dozens of missions to evacuate wounded civilians and soldiers from the south to hospitals throughout the country.

SACH Helping Israel:

Medical Supplies & Hosting Displaced Families Save a Child’s Heart is committing its resources to helping Israelis in critical need. You can help support the work of our Israeli medical team at Wolfson Medical Centre and the Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital, who are treating the victims of Hamas attacks. They urgently need more medical supplies and equipment, which you can help provide by donating now.

At the same time, SACH is preparing and will be opening the Children’s Home in Holon to displaced Israeli families who have been forced to flee from their communities near the Gaza Border. For over 20 years, the SACH Children’s Home has been a refuge for families from 70 countries to feel safe during their medical treatments in Israel. Now our Children’s Home, which is equipped with a safe-room, communal kitchen, playroom, garden and sleeping quarters will be a haven for Israeli families who have been directly impacted by the ongoing violence.

Saving lives and providing hope is at the core of what we stand for. Our values are our strength.

Please help us. Donate now. Support our efforts in Israel.

Please visit www.saveachildsheart.org to donate. Please ensure you click on the UK donors link as this is a worldwide campaign.

24 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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LANIADO HOSPITAL HAS BEEN ACTIVELY PROVIDING CARE AND TREATMENT TO CASUALTIES AND VICTIMS OF TERROR FOLLOWING THE HEINOUS ATTACK CARRIED OUT BY THE TERRORIST ORGANIZATION HAMAS Over 50 individuals so far with a range of injuries have been admitted. Many of these patients needed surgery to remove bullets after being shot by Hamas terrorists.

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2 November 2023 Jewish News

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25

ISRAEL AT WAR

The Guardian’s Israel coverage means I don’t feel safe at work Writer’s name withheld

I wake up on 7 October with a text from my brother-in-law: “Thoughts are with your family in Israel. I hope everyone is safe.”

I check the news. Hamas have entered southern Israel. They’re in a kibbutz. My partner’s family are in that kibbutz. His cousin is nine months pregnant. He’s in contact with them, they’re in the safe room. Terrorists are outside.

I check social media. Reports of hostages, maybe three. I check again, perhaps 10.

There has been a massacre at a music festival. I look at the video. Who do I know there? I check social media again, there are videos of hostages. I look at their faces. Do I know them?

We lose contact with family in the kibbutz.

I tell myself that the phone lines are down because the IDF are there. I watch Hamas footage as it is coming out. I go on Telegram for the first time in my life and I see a room full of bodies covered in blood.

I see children gunned down. I see the bodies of raped women. I see families holding each other as Hamas livestreams atrocities. I look for people I might know.

My partner and I walk 30,000 steps. There’s nothing we can do. Late that evening we hear that his family are safe but their house is gone, neighbours are dead.

I don’t understand. I could have easily been there and part of me thinks I was.

I look at the papers the next day. The newspaper I work for has a tank on the front page: ‘Hundreds die and hostages held as Hamas assault shocks Israel’ – victorious terrorists hold a Palestinian flag. The standfirst reads ‘Netanyahu declares war as 150 Israelis die.

230 Palestinians killed in airstrikes.’

I don’t understand. I know people, Israelis, who were murdered. They did not “die”, as if in some kind of accident. I saw footage of terrorism, it was not an “assault”.

On Sunday, we get more information about what happened to my partner’s family, about how Hamas set the family’s house on fire when they thought it was empty, how my partner’s cousin screamed for her life when the room filled with smoke, how her husband had to pin her down to stop her cries, how Hamas laughed when they realised the family would need to crawl out of the room, how they refused to leave the burning building. We hear that they somehow survived and walked out through pools of their neighbours’ blood, pieces of dead children littering the street; kids who’d been playing on a Saturday morning.

I’m safe, I’m fine, but I can’t comprehend the colour of the sky or the rustle of the trees. I look around at people enjoying their Sunday and I think: do they not know what is happening? I check the news again and see there are more hostages. I look through the names.

There are still terrorists in Israel.

I listen to the radio, one Israeli interviewee and then one Palestinian. I can hear that the interviewer is struggling as defenders of Hamas justify terrorism. I don’t understand.

Is this how they reported the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Did they platform Putin’s people?

I check social media. A friend has posted: “They’ve broken out of jail.” Another has said: “Today is a day of celebration,” and someone else has shared an infographic of “Settler colonialism for beginners”.

My old flatmate tells her followers she will be at the demonstration outside the Israeli embassy and she invites people to join her.

On Monday I go to work. How are your family, a colleague asks. When I answer, she squirms. Can’t they just leave, my colleague says. No, they can’t actually.

I look at the morning newsletter for the newspaper I work for. It breaks down the number of dead Palestinian children. It does not mention dead Israeli children.

My group chats are exploding as family and friends work out what has been happening, who is alive. I go back to the news. I type the name of the kibbutz into the wires. Nothing. I read how Hamas invaded “settlements”. They’re not settlements! They’re small, pre-state kibbutzim.

I find out that a friend of a friend was at the music festival and is missing. I’m shaking at work.

I see a colleague who had posted about “decolonisation” all over social media over the weekend. They’re laughing with the rest of their team. They’re having a great day. I used to love their podcast, full of hot takes and celeb gossip.

Now they’ve evolved into an expert on the Middle East. It doesn’t look like their family is in the middle of it though.

No one else at work speaks to me about it.

I nod my way through conversations about

❝

SOMEONE POINTS TO A PHOTO OF THE ISRAELI FLAG BURNING. THEY LAUGH, SAYING: ‘THIS IS MY FAVOURITE PICTURE’ fonts and I stumble home.

I go back the next day. I look at the front page. A photo of Gaza and “violence escalates”.

Israelis “dead” but Palestinians “killed”. If they can’t empathise with the Jews now they never will.

I email the editors. I tell them that my newspaper’s coverage has been upsetting. They tell me that their thoughts are with my family but they stand by the paper’s reporting.

I hear colleagues complaining about the newspaper’s “American readers. They’re always accusing us of antisemitism.” They’re laughing.

I leave work early to go to a vigil outside Downing Street. People quietly weep. Everyone there is Jewish.

I’ve seen on social media that I know people going to a demo. Later, I see photos of

‘Can’t your family just leave?’ a collague asks. ‘No, they can’t actually,” I reply

it: people on lampposts, red flares, Jews hiding inside, the Israeli embassy boxed in.

All kinds of people are united in the chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

In Sydney, they are shouting: “Gas the Jews.”

On Tuesday, I find out that my friend’s friend at the music festival is dead. I remember the day I’d spent with him on the beach in Tel Aviv last month. He’d got back from South America and was excited to travel again. He had been gentle and sweet. I don’t understand.

On Wednesday, I go to work again, and the next day, and the next day. Finally, the pictures from the kibbutz come out. I look at all of them. I rewatch the footage. I bear witness.

No colleague asks me how I am again that week.

I go to synagogue at the weekend and cry with my community. The rabbi holds space for pain. I say Kaddish for the boy at the music festival I will never talk to again.

Back at work I see someone pointing to a photo of the Israeli flag burning in the newspaper. They laugh, “This is my favourite picture.”

I remember telling my family that when I next went to Israel I’d lie to my colleagues and tell them it was Spain. I’d lie because my colleagues had said to me of Israel: “You gotta go while you still can.”

Now another colleague asks me what I think of Netanyahu. Do I hold him responsible? I explain that I have protested against Netanyahu but the only people responsible for 7 October are Hamas. She keeps asking me about the settlements. I tell her they’re bad but she won’t stop. “Don’t you think Bibi has a lot to do with this?” I ask her if she has family in the region.

She does not.

I’m on social media again. Friends share infographics from Jewish Voice for Peace and heavyhitting images from the Gaza Health Ministry. I don’t disagree with what they’re posting but they said nothing when 7 October happened. I start unfollowing decades-old friends.

In the days that follow, my synagogue receives a bomb threat, my local Tube station has photos of missing children ripped off, I hear of more friends of friends who have been

killed. I hear of others who are now enlisted. I hear that a rabbi in America has been stabbed to death and synagogues all over the world have been vandalised and destroyed.

The newspaper I work for is covering the bombardment of Gaza and I watch in horror. I think that Israel must defend itself. Yet when I say this, people will tell me I am justifying the murder of children. They will tell me it is a genocide.

As the events of the 7 of October draw on collective Jewish memory of pogroms and the Holocaust, the newspaper I work for will dispel that myth, publishing a piece entitled “Israel must stop weaponising the Holocaust.” Am I wrong to connect our grief today with that of our past?

In the weeks that follow, I will apply for other jobs and speak exclusively to Jewish friends and family. I will hide myself away from the streets and the waves of social media.

I will not forget the photos and videos I saw on 7 October but I start to think about how this day will be marked; how my children’s children will take part in a new commemoration, where we will remember not the Romans or the Persians or the Nazis but Hamas, and how we survived.

Intergenerational trauma has been retriggered but now is not the time to dwell on our historical violent oppression. Now is the time to rise up, speak out and defend our right to exist.

Now is not the time for colleagues to dismiss Jewish pain or publish inflammatory op-eds which will spark more violence.

I will keep applying for other jobs.

• Responding to this column on Wednesday evening, the Guardian told Jewish News: “We do not believe this article bears any resemblance to the workplace culture at the Guardian. We do not recognise the events described and are seeking to ask the individual concerned to share specific information about any incidents so we can investigate the facts fully. The Guardian and Observer’s coverage of the conflict continues to be expert, thorough and fair. At this distressing time, and we have offered support and assistance to staff personally affected.”

26 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Tech teams helping fight Hamas Israel’s technology startups are playing a key role in response to the Hamas attacks, joining the war effort on multiple fronts, writes Candice Krieger.

While many in the workforce have been called up for reserve military service – more than 50,000 high tech workers have reported for duty – the companies are working harder than ever to harness their tech solutions to make a real difference.

Social threat intelligence company Cyabra has been on the front lines of the online media war, using its expertise for national security to identify a bot network of over 40,000 fake profiles spreading pro-Hamas propaganda and fake news. Thousands were created more than a year before 7 October. Afterward, they were posting 100 times a day.

The Tel-Aviv based company found one in four profiles engaging in conversations about the war in its first two days were fake.

Analysts at work inside Israel’s cyber ‘war room’ after 7 October

Israel high tech on show at a Cyberspark event

“With ‘regular’ conversations online, it’s usually about five percent, so one-in-four is big,” said VP of marketing Rafi Mendelsohn.

“When the war started, we turned to using Cyabra technology for the purpose of understanding disinformation and the influence operation campaigns being conducted on social media by Hamas.

“By knowing and understanding the situation and identifying the scale and sophistication of the accounts, you can gain a lot of knowledge, and we have provided all that info to the relevant organisations.”

Also making an impact is mPrest, which created the software behind the Iron Dome anti-missile defence system, Edgybees, which transforms

satellite and motion imagery into actionable insight, and crisis management company Code Blue Cyber.

The day after Hamas attacked, Code Blue Cyber co-founder Refael Franco, ex-deputy head of the National Cyber Directorate, set up a platform to help locate the missing and kidnapped. Volunteers in the cyber ‘war room’ at Code Blue Cyber sifted through social media posts matching them with photos of those missing provided by their families.

Technology including facial recognition, geo location and AI is then used to locate where they were last seen.

This information is shared with the Israeli military’s unit overseeing the hostage crisis, with over 60 captives being identified, including those still being held by Hamas.

Google and Microsoft have also provided tech services to help Code Blue Cyber’s efforts.

“As soon as I understood what had happened on that Saturday, I wanted to do all I could to try and find the missing people,” Franco said.

“We have never seen anything like the 7 October attacks – they are some of the worst videos I have ever seen,” he told Jewish News.

“Because this is such a traumatic crisis, the economy and high tech sectors have joined to help, everyone has tried to volunteer to do something, and a lot of people with tech backgrounds have been helping both our projects and other projects.

“The tech sector in Israel is strong, we can use our tech to help mitigate the crisis and the damage.”

HAMAS’ GIFT: INSTABILITY AND CHAOS

BY RICHARD MIRON

FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR THE UN SECRETARY In 1976, Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai wrote The Diameter of the Bomb, a 15-line poem setting out the repercussions of a bomb from the dimensions of the device itself (‘30cm’), to its effects on those mourning the death of one of its victims, ‘at the distant shores of a country far across the sea’.

On 7 October Hamas ignited a murderous blast in southern Israel whose effects continue to reverberate worldwide. The atrocity was a deliberate attempt to upturn the politics of the region and beyond by what was – in effect – a suicide mission for the organisation in Gaza.

Hamas always uses terror to advance its aims. My journalistic career in Israel began in 1995, just weeks before a suicide bombing campaign killed numerous people there.

My first major story was attacks in Jerusalem, when Hamas hit two buses a week apart, killing 45 people. Hamas’ tactic succeeded in helping to destroy the Oslo Process, whose vision of a two-state solution directly contravened its belief in an Islamic State. Its actions helped to usher in a right-wing government in Israel (with Bibi Netanyahu as prime minister) and weakened the Palestinian Authority.

On 7 October, Hamas took its tactic of suicide bombing and magnified it many times.

It has – thus far – succeeded in spreading instability and chaos in line with its aims on a regional and even global scale.

At the time of writing the conflict is intensifying in Gaza itself with Israeli ground forces making incursions. At least one third to a half of Gaza’s 2.2 million population are estimated to have been displaced while some 200,000 Israelis have been forced to move from their homes in the south – and the north, following Hezbollah attacks across the border.

Iranian allies elsewhere have added their

weight, with an attempted missile strike from Yemen toward Israel and rocket and drone attacks on American bases in Iraq and Syria.

Added to all this, there has been since 7 October a big increase in violence in the West Bank with some 100 Palestinians, including Hamas militants, killed in confrontations with Israeli security forces and several civilians killed by armed Jewish settlers taking advantage to pursue their own agenda.

The conflict is also being felt in a wider circle outside Israel. Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused Israeli diplomats to be recalled from Ankara after he told a pro-Palestine rally Hamas was not a terrorist organisation and likened Israeli actions in Gaza to the Holocaust.

Reports of Palestinian deaths and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza are straining recentlyestablished ties between Israel and the UAE and putting the leaders of Egypt and Jordan – both with long-standing peace agreements with Israeli – under considerable pressure as

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their restive populations rally in support of Palestinians and, by inference, Hamas.

In a further widening of the diameter of the blast, global players are being drawn in. The US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier The Gerald Ford is sitting in the Mediterranean within striking distance of Lebanon while another carrier, The Eisenhower, has reportedly been heading to the Gulf, close to Iran. America is doing this to warn Iran and Hezbollah not to provoke regional conflict and, if it comes, to provide further firepower to support Israel.

But as the Americans have backed Israel, so other countries are in the opposite position, generating further ripples. Russia has hosted senior Hamas officials and Iran’s deputy foreign minister, signalling its intent to counter America and keep itself as a player.

Thus from our current vantage point we cannot see how this conflict will develop and where it will end. We only know we are in the midst of the blast and the shock waves continue to echo ever outwards.

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ISRAEL AT WAR

appeal for ‘We’re showing Israelis Homes evacuated Israelis they will never be alone’ A Londoner holidaying in Israel just before the Hamas attacks has stayed on to support Israel’s ongoing humanitarian efforts, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Chayli Fehler is the founder of UK youth volunteering charity organisation Project Impact, which runs community youth kitchens around north London.

Deciding to stay on in Israel, she recruited an international team of volun-

teers and focused on Ofakim, the hardest hit city in Israel, 30 minutes from Gaza.

Speaking to Jewish News, Fehler says: “Volunteers raised $22,000 for the Chabad Ofakim soup kitchen and went south to help distribute food door to door to survivors who were too afraid to leave their homes.

“They heard harrowing stories as well as miracles that occurred from families who were still in shock. They

Volunteers supporting those hardest hit by the conflict

A makeshift memorial to the 1,400 victims of 7 October

were shown the damage to peoples homes and courtyards and learnt about many of the 48 individuals that were murdered.”

She says the soup kitchen lost several key volunteers who had been there just days before the attack organising food to go to needy families.

Other volunteers with Fehler are packing and delivering 1000s of resilience kit for traumatised children in the south, with calming arts, stress relieving toys and activity booklets as well as running children programmes in hotels.

They have launched an international letter writing campaign to support Israel, not just for soldiers but also for medical staff, hospital patients and families from the south. So far they have

received over 1800 letters from across the world, which they are printing and distributing on a daily basis.

Fehler says: “The most meaningful part of being here is going to the shivas, and listening to the families tell stories about those they have lost. Each family wanted to share their story.

They wanted the international community to know what happened.

“Visiting as a British national, means so much to these families. It’s showing them that the diaspora support them fully and they are not alone. When everything happened I felt a strong sense of duty to help in any way I could. I will return to London and my team will continue with the projects that have been launched.”

WZO will take The World Zionist full responsibility Organization is for the process of appealing to resihanding over the dents from abroad apartment offered and from Israel who and “will ensure have vacant apartthat the apartment ments to offer them, is returned in the same free of charge, for the Roi next three months to the Abecassis way as it was received.”

Project co-ordifamilies of evacuees from nator Roi Abecassis the south and the north told Jewish News: of the country.

“So far, there are “My Home is over 300 apartYour Home” is the ments in our databrainchild of WZO base, and we are chairman, Yaakov starting to match the Hagoel and a WZO families of the evacspokesperson says: “This Yaakov Hagoel uees with the owners is an innovative project of the apartments. of its kind, where the “We were amazed to disowners of the apartments transfer these apartments cover the quick response and for the benefit of the World the quantity of apartments Zionist Organization, which is that the owners are willing to responsible for housing fami- provide, apartments (some of lies who lost their homes into them luxury apartments) free of charge. these apartments.

“The World Zionist Organi“These days there is a tremendous need for long-term zation assured the owners that temporary housing for hun- the WZO will be responsible dreds of families who lost their for returning the apartments homes and, in the meantime, after three months without any have moved to hotels on a tem- damages. The responsibility porary basis which cannot be that WZO offered, encouraged continued in the long term and many to join the project.

“We discovered that the will be extremely expensive.”

The organisation says their people of Israel, in Israel and in focus is on building “an opera- the Diaspora, are full of spirit of tional and professional setup volunteering and the desire to that will be responsible for help.”

Yaakov Hagoel, chairman accompanying the project, which includes a dedicated of the World Zionist Organizawebsite, contacts, and adver- tion, said the organisation “uses tisements around the world all the means at its disposal to in Hebrew, English, French, help IDF soldiers, Israeli citizens and Diaspora Jews”.

Spanish and more.”

MEDIA BLAME GAME AMID THE CONFLICT BY CHARLOTTE HENRY JOURNALIST

Following Hamas’s murderous rampage, the information battle has become as important as the fighting on the ground.

Nothing demonstrated this better than the fallout following the explosion at the al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza.

Israel was, of course, immediately blamed by Hamas, with those claims quickly amplified. It is one thing for illinformed celebrities and keyboard warriors to do this. It is quite another for worldleading news organisations to take, almost unquestioningly, the word of terrorists.

Live on air, the BBC’s Jon Donnison declared it was “hard to see what else this could be” other than an Israeli airstrike. The New York Times, arguably the world’s paper

of record, struck a similar tone.

These outlets and others, of course, also included IDF denials and its announcement of an investigation in their stories. However, there was almost a sense of glee in their being able to report an assumed Israeli atrocity.

In doing so, they jeopardised key diplomatic efforts and put Jewish lives in both Israel and the diaspora at risk, as people reacted angrily to what they thought had happened.

Now, some backtracking is taking place.

The NYT has published an Editors’ Note that admits: “Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict, and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified.”

You reckon?

Meanwhile, the BBC’s explanation is even more pathetic. In a statement issued on 20th October, the corporation said: “During our live coverage it’s sometimes been hard to get clarity within such a fast-moving situation but throughout our

reporting we have been careful to explain that there have been claims and counterclaims, attributed these claims, and made clear the information that we have been able to verify.” Don’t bother trying to find the word sorry in either statement. It isn’t there.

Channel 4 News seems particularly keen to keep the possibility that Israel might be at fault alive. Last week, it ran a story containing new analysis from based at Goldsmiths University, sonic investigations NGO Earshot, and Al Haq, an NGO based in Ramallah.

The report by Alex Thomson acknowledged that neither Hamas nor Palestinian Islamic Jihad had provided evidence of Israel’s culpability. It also never categorically stated Israel was to blame for the blast. However, viewers would surely have understood that as at least being implied. In introducing the report, host Matt Frei said that its findings “cast doubt on some aspects of Israel’s account.” A spokesperson for Channel 4 News told Jewish News:“Since the start of this conflict, Channel 4 News has reported on the unfolding crisis by relying on the

principles of independence, due impartiality and accuracy. Following the attack on the AlAhli Arab hospital, third-party analysis from a number of prominent NGOs and human rights organisations was reported to give context to the differing narratives.”

Yesterday, prime minister Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons that analysis

by British intelligence and weapons experts indicated that the missile that hit the hospital had been fired from within Gaza. US security services had come to the same conclusion, as have the French military intelligence directorate. I’m sure Channel 4 News and its friends know better though.

It is all very well the BBC pointing to the work of its Verify team, or the New York Times changing headlines and publishing an Editors’ Note, but the damage has been done. Many people will always believe Israel bombed that hospital.

Some of the world’s leading news organisations are responsible for the backlash this has provoked against Israel and Jews around the world.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

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ISRAEL AT WAR

What would Rabbi Sacks be saying about 7 October?

BY DAN SACKER

COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT As a student in Cambridge in the summer of 1967, with the Holocaust still casting a dark shadow over the world, a young Jonathan Sacks became suddenly aware that a second tragedy might be about to overcome the Jewish people.

Writing in his book A Letter in the Scroll (published as Radical Then, Radical Now in the UK), he recalled how, despite those difficult days as the armies of the Arab world amassed on Israel’s borders, “extraordinary things began to happen”. Jews, especially those with little previous affiliation, suddenly became visible. They came to the synagogue in prayer. They collected money. “Everyone,” he writes, “wanted to help in some way, to express their solidarity, their identification with Israel’s fate… as if it were their own lives that were at stake.” He added that: “Collectively the Jewish people had looked in the mirror and said, We are still Jews. And by that they meant more than a private declaration of faith, “religion” in the conventional sense of the word.

It meant that they felt part of a people, involved in its fate, implicated in its destiny, caught up in its tragedy, exhilarated by its survival. I had felt it. So had every other Jew I knew.”

Why was this so, Rabbi Sacks wondered?

Israel was a country 2,000 miles away, one he had visited but – at that time – had no intention to live in. And yet he felt its danger as if it was his own. “It was then,” he wrote, “that I knew that being Jewish was not something private and personal but something collective and historical. It meant being part of an extended family, many of whose members I did not know, but to whom I nonetheless felt connected by bonds of kinship and responsibility.”

Those words, powerful then, could have been written now. The collective identity of the Jewish people has always been based on two covenants: a covenant of faith and a covenant of fate. However we choose to practise our Judaism – or if we choose not to practise it at all – we are nonetheless bound together – am echad b’lev echad, one people with one heart.

We are bound together by our faith in God and our determination to care for each other. In Israel, left and right, old and young, religious and secular, have scrambled to assist one another. Israelis, called up for reserve duty, have returned home from around the world. Families, evacuated from southern Israel, have been welcomed with open arms all over the country. In the Diaspora, Jewish communities have raised funds, and gathered in support and prayer

Rabbi Sacks wrote of 1967: ‘It was then that I knew that being Jewish was not something private and personal but collective and historical’

for the State and the people of Israel. Our unity has overcome our divisions.

We are also bound together in our fear as we see how sparks that fly in the Middle East can ignite global fires of hate around the world. Anti-Israel protests have become antiJew rallies. The chant of “Free, free Palestine/ From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and mobs screaming for “Intifada” have been heard in cities and university campuses worldwide. Diaspora Jews are, once again, considering whether they have a long-term future in their countries.

Since the barbaric terrorist attacks and massacre by Hamas on 7 October, I have longed to know what Rabbi Sacks would have said about the current situation. As we approach the third anniversary of his passing (his yahrzeit is this Friday night/Shabbat), I know I’m not the only one. Like so many, I miss his wisdom, his gravitas, and his ability to make some sense of the incomprehensible, of helping us chart a way forward, of giving us rays of light and hope amidst the darkness.

Rabbi Sacks famously distinguished the words ‘optimism’ and ‘hope’. He once wrote: “One of the most important distinctions I have learned in the course of reflecting on

Jewish history is the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the belief that, together, we can make things better.

Optimism is a passive virtue, hope an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope. Knowing what we do of our past, no Jew can be an optimist. But Jews have never – despite a history of sometimes awesome suffering – given up hope.”

That message of the power of hope is, I believe, what Rabbi Sacks would have been saying to us if he was still alive. Just like in 1967, he would have seen great strength in the unity of the Jewish people and taken great inspiration from it. He would be imploring us to fight against antisemitism and for our right to live proudly as Jews. He would be urging us to donate our resources to the Israeli people, and our time to fight the misinformation campaign in the media and online. He would be pleading with us not to give up hope, but to be active, wherever we are, however we can, to protect our ancient homeland and the world’s only Jewish state. Israel is, to borrow the title of one of his books (and the theme of this year’s Communities in Conversation

project to mark Rabbi Sacks’ yahrzeit), “The Home We Build Together.” Now it is the home we need to defend together.

Reflecting on that summer of 1967, Rabbi Sacks noted that: “What I discovered in those emotional days – perhaps what each of us discovers when Jewish identity takes us by surprise – is that this covenant is still alive. It still had the power to move and transform me and my contemporaries – more power, perhaps, than any of us had suspected until then.” How true that remains. Our covenant with God, to each other, and to our land remains unbroken, a source of power our enemies fail to appreciate that will ultimately lead to their defeat. Yes, there is hard work to do and, tragically, inevitable sacrifices to come. Though Rabbi Sacks is no longer with us, the words he left, the wisdom he taught, and the belief he inspired, continue to sustain us, even in these most trying times. Od lo avda tikvateinu, our hope is not yet lost. There is no other way.

• Dan Sacker worked with Rabbi Sacks from 2011 until his passing on 7 November 2020, before helping to establish the Rabbi Sacks Legacy (www.RabbiSacks.org). He is a director at Milltown Partners, a strategic communications and advisory firm

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Influencers and reality TV star raise money for Israel

Immersive shuk-style event transports guests with Israeli food and drink thanks to a outpouring of community support, writes Louisa Walters Ben’s Vegan Kitchen, GIFT and Ta’amim welcomed more than 100 guests to Tastes of the Shuk, a fundraising event in support of Israeli causes, instigated by volunteers Elior Doani and Jeli Gottleib and sponsored by the Tel Aviv Institute.

Attendees entered an immersive shuk environment designed by the Ta’amim team at Jewish Futures in Hendon, experiencing the tastes, sounds, smells and atmosphere of Machane Yehuda Market at night, replete with market stalls, a falafel stand (catered by Mr Falafel), a cocktail bar and seated dining experience under a canopy of festoon lights. Bespoke retro-style posters created by designer Emily Theodore (@emmtheo) completed the decor.

Food influencer Ben Rebuck, who recently appeared on BBC’s Celebration Kitchen, created a bespoke plant-based menu inspired by some of his favourite Israeli dishes. With assistance from chefs Rob Gazdar and Talia Trup, Giving Kitchen head chef Sarah Isaac and a team of GIFT volunteers, guests including influencer @romykosher and Love Island’s Eyal Booker were delighted with innovative twists on borekas, shakshuka and malabi, served in shuk-style takeaway containers.

Rebuck said: “I was born in north London, but Israel is home.” He

Organisers of fundraiser Tastes of the Shuk. Right: Activist Hen Mazzig (left) and Ben Rebuk

quoted from a recent essay he had penned entitled The Ramp: “There’s something special about the ramp.

Anyone who has stepped off the plane at Ben Gurion knows it as the signifier that you have arrived.

“It is the most instagrammed place in the whole of Israel, the proof needed to show the world that you have arrived. But it doesn’t just affirm your physical presence, but the profound sense of coming home that permeates the air.”

After a starter trio of borekas served in paper bags, GIFT’s Shira

Joseph spoke about the response of the community to their GIFT4Israel appeal: they sent more than three tonnes of items to support those affected by the conflict, sorted and packed by over 900 volunteers.

She said: “All of this is based on everyone’s acts of kindness. I’ve seen the community come together in the most unbelievable way … we are all in so much pain, we all feel the pain of our brothers and sisters in Israel, and to turn that pain into something beautiful by doing acts of kindness…

I’m just blown away by it.”

Shira also presented a project conceived by a 15-year-old student volunteer, who had designed small cards, sponsored the printing from her own babysitting money, handwritten the names of a fallen soldier on each one, and asked that the recipients in the room take on an act of giving in their memory.

Israel advocate Hen Mazzig spoke about self-belief, harnessing inner strength and the rights of the Jewish people to demand justice.

Drawing parallels with the Jewish

leaders and war heroes of the past, he said: “All of us are the heroes of today.” Encouraging the audience to speak out on social media and advocate for Israel in conversation with others, he said: “All of this will not just impact what happens today. It will impact future generations. It will impact our great-grandchildren.”

Mazzig concluded with a powerful message to Jews everywhere.

“Remember that we are on the right side of history. We have nothing to be ashamed of, we have everything to be proud of.

Am Yisrael Chai!”

An auction and a raffle were followed by a moving musical set by function band Totem’s JJ Hodari and Moni Tivoni, concluding with a rousing and emotional chorus of Hatikva.

The event raised almost £16,000, all of which will be used to provide emergency medical supplies for hospitals in Israel, food and clothing vouchers to displaced families and meals for vegan soldiers in the Israel Defence Forces. @bensvegankitchen @giftcharity @wearetaamim

CELEBS UNITE FOR HOSTAGES Hamas walkout A coalition of celebrities has launched a campaign to highlight the now 239 innocent civilians held hostage by Hamas terrorists, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

The campaign, #ReleaseTheHostagesNow, was organised in part by Creative Community For Peace (CCFP), an entertainment industry non-profit organisation, Nina Tassler (television executive and former chairwoman of CBS Entertainment) and Emilio Schenker (CEO, Sipur Studios), in full cooperation with the official Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The viral campaign, which has gained significant attention, hopes to leverage entertainment leaders’ social media audiences to galvanise international support for the hostages and their families and, ultimately, to expedite their release from captivity. This campaign emphasises the urgent need for countries such as Qatar and Turkey to press Hamas to release the hostages.

Entertainment figures supporting the campaign include Amy Schumer, Debra Messing, Julianna Margulies, Michael Douglas, Billy Crystal, Mayim Bialik, Mandy Moore, Chelsea Handler, Sharon Osbourne, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, Jerry O’Connell, Joshua Malina, Alyssa Milano and

Chuck Norris. In a statement, the group calls “upon people around the world to advocate for those who cannot share their own stories. Together, we must relentlessly fight for the freedom of these innocent civilians and demonstrate our solidarity in the face of such injustices”.

Bialik said: “It is vital the world does not forget the faces of these innocent victims – they are the reason Israel continues to fight this war on terror and... the reason the world must take a stand against this hatred and say NO MORE.” Marguiles said: “With every passing hour, the health and safety of each hostage becomes more tenuous. We hope this campaign brings their stories to life, offers the families solace knowing they aren’t alone and moves us one step closer to their safe release. With each share, like, and comment of support, the world unites against terrorism and in support of peace.”

CCFP executive director Ari Ingel said: “We must use every tool to support these innocent victims of terror.

These 239+ hostages are from 25 different countries and range from toddlers who are just a few months old to Holocaust survivors in their late 80s. Shamefully, posters of the kidnapped around the world have been torn down in antisemitic hatred. These are posters no one can tear down.”

A senior Hamas official stormed out of an interview with the BBC after being asked how terrorists justified killing of Israeli civilians as they slept in their beds, writes Lee Harpin.

Ghazi Hamad, a former deputy foreign minister in the Hamas government, was put on the spot by the BBC’s Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega, who highlighted the murder of innocent civilians in the atrocities of 7 October.

Asked repeatedly if he believed Hamas’ murder of civilians in their beds was justified, Hamad ripped off his microphone and said: “I want to stop this interview”, before storming out.

Earlier, Hamad suggested there had been no command to kill any civilians when Hamas invaded Israel on 7 October, with terrorists para-

gliding into the desert, surrounding the Nova Festival and slaughtering 260 festival-goers at the rave.

Hamad claimed to Bachega that “because the area was very wide” there “were clashes and confrontation”. He attempted to repeat claims made starting a few days after the massacre that Hamas did not intend to kill any civilians during its assault.

But pressed on the fact that there could be no confrontation with people who were sleeping in their homes, Hamad said: “I can tell you we didn’t have any intention or decision to kill the civilians.”

But as he was grilled again by the journalist, Hamad was seen pulling off his microphone attached to his dark-coloured suit jacket and declaring: ‘I want to stop this interview.’ He then threw the microphone onto the floor.

34 Jewish News 2 November 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

ISRAEL AT WAR

Minister’s pledge to kids Dozens of Israelis enrol in non-faith education

in UK’s Jewish schools Jewish schools and nurseries in the UK have opened their classroom doors to hundreds of Israeli children and babies fleeing conflict in the region, writes Joy Falk.

About 200 inquiries have been made for places at Jewish state schools – with more Israeli children already enrolled at private schools and nurseries.

British-born Richard Binstock, who moved to Israel in 2009, has returned to London with his Israeli wife and children, aged seven, five and two, who have been temporarily enrolled at nearby Jewish schools.

Forced to flee their home in Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv, he is now not sure if they will ever move back to the Jewish state.

“Leaving Israel was not an Richard Binstock and family at Gatwick easy decision but it was made He added: “I have no idea how easier when you have three young children living in the line of fire,” long we will be here. We need to said Binstock, who landed in the reevaluate our lives, as so many UK the week after Hamas’ mas- people do. We are taking it one step sacre on 7 October. “We have left at a time.”

For now, Binstock, who works our dog with friends in Israel. We took a flight to the UK via Athens. in recruitment, has enrolled his It wasn’t easy, but our flight was toddler at the Bushey Gan nursery full and there were a significant and his eldest two at the fee-paying number of English-speaking people Immanuel Preparatory school, which is offering a discount to with young families.”

families fleeing Israel.

Recalling the moment they heard the sirens on 7th October, Binstock said: “It was horrendous. We woke up and took the kids to the shelter, trying to make it into a game – but it did not work. Children in Israel know the sirens mean danger, no matter how you try to dress it up.”

He added: “The scars from this attack will stay forever for our generation. This is unlike any other incident, we all know someone who has been killed, kidnapped or is still missing. Our whole life has been turned upside down.”

The admissions procedure differs for private schools and state schools, where the process is managed by the local authority.

Rabbi David Meyer, chief executive of PaJes, which represents UK Jewish schools, said: “The schools have made every effort to meet this challenge, but it is a complex task and schools need to consider the wellbeing and mental health of these children, who have going through a traumatic transition.

“There may also be a need to provide financial support to help families with uniforms and school meals.”

The secretary of state for education pledged to support the community during an online briefing for parents of Jewish children who are not at Jewish schools, writes Sandy Rashty.

Gillian Keegan told attendees on Tuesday evening that she was “shocked” by the 7 October massacre – and the spike in antisemitism across the UK that has followed.

The MP for Chichester said: “This is a worrying time for everyone in the Jewish community. [After the Hamas attack], we knew immediately that we needed to take action.”

She added: “We are deeply concerned about the welfare of Jewish students and we will do anything possible to work with anybody we need to work with, to ensure we are doing everything we can to keep our schools, colleges and universities safe.”

Keegan, who spoke emotively about visiting Menorah Girls school, continued: “We are appalled as to not only what happened on 7 October, but also what is happening on our streets here in the UK. “We must stop at nothing to stamp out antisemitism…

“You have my personal commitment to you and your community, do everything possible to keep Jewish students and children safe.”

The education secretary was joined

by Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism.

Lord Mann, who has visited Jewish communities across the UK since the Hamas terrorist atrocities on 7 October, told the event: “I have

Gillian Keegan

been speaking people in London and Manchester, a synagogue in Leeds and this morning, I was talking to students in Oxford. I am getting the same message everywhere: the Jewish community is fearful, it is scared. People are expressing their fears for the young Jewish community.”

He added: “Any abuse, intimidation of bullying or any Jewish pupil at any school, at any time, is unacceptable. That’s at school, through social media, going to and from school, by walking and not least on buses to schools.

“Zero tolerance is the aim, there are no exceptions to that anywhere.”

Lord Mann added: “The overwhelming vast majority of British people are with us, they hate Hamas, they detest and loathe terrorism. They are stunned, shocked, sickened and more.

“The vast majority are not going to go marching in the streets. They are with us. They are with our Jewish community.”

He called on the community to report all incidents to the Community Security Trust.

I GRIEVE AS THE JEWISH WORLD GRIEVES

BY ZEDDY LAWRENCE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF ZIONISM VICTORIA

In London for my father’s shiva, each service has concluded with visitors reciting the traditional condolence, HaMokom yenacheim es’chem b’soleh she’ar aveilei Tzion Verushala’yim – May Hashem console you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

The number of those other mourners requiring consolation during these past three weeks is the greatest it has been at any time since the Holocaust. Indeed, as my brother and I grieve for my father, so the entire Jewish world is grieving for family, friends and fellow Jews so brutally slaughtered by Hamas terrorists on 7th October. That bond with Israel and with our brothers and sisters throughout the diaspora was deeply ingrained in my father’s psyche.

As a young child, I recall him taking us to a demonstration protesting against the treatment of refuseniks in the Soviet Union. And perhaps more significant given the atrocities committed

on Simchat Torah, I remember him telling me how, on Yom Kippur in 1973, he had raced to shul to share the news he had heard about a surprise attack on Israel by its Arab neighbours.

Fifty years on, the country has once again been caught off-guard and though our attention will at some point turn to discovering why and where the lapses occurred, for now our focus is on what we overseas can do to both support, and show our support for, the Jewish state.

In the 10 days before my father’s passing brought me to London, we at Zionism Victoria worked tirelessly with other communal bodies to organise two big community rallies, a smaller gathering on the steps of the Victorian parliament and a solidarity evening specifically for Israelis in Melbourne. Behind the scenes, meanwhile, were countless conversations and meetings with everyone from the country's premier to the police to the press to discuss issues of concern such as security and media bias.

Similar initiatives and discussions were being undertaken across the country by our state and federal counterparts.

Since arriving in London, I have watched from afar as those initiatives have continued, determined to ensure the hostages held by Hamas remain front and centre in the public mind and that the justness of Israel’s cause is

not obscured by the mists of war. In London, our efforts are mirrored. Sitting shiva on Sunday, visitors arrived from a Trafalgar Square rally attended by 10,000 people. Less positive is talk of a Tube driver who took to the train’s tannoy to lead a chant of “Free Palestine”.

My brother and sister-in-law, meanwhile, get daily updates from their pregnant daughter in Efrat – her husband is serving as an army medic and, fearful that she won’t be able to get her two young children to safety in time should the siren sound, they are sleeping in their shelter every night irrespective of whether rockets are fired or not. Their nephew is also a medic in the Israel Defence Forces and was one of those forced to confront the horrors of the Hamas slaughter firsthand when his unit was sent to secure the southern kibbutzim in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks.

And that’s just our immediate family.

Cousins also have children in the army while close friends are still waiting for news of loved ones who are missing.

Amid all this anguish and suffering, an old acquaintance in London shares a post from a left-wing Jewish journalist from 8th October: “Today should be a day of celebration for supporters of democracy and human rights, as Gazans break out of their open-air prison and

Hamas fighters cross into their colonisers’ territory. The struggle for freedom is rarely bloodless and we shouldn’t apologise for it.”

The post defies comprehension. It’s one thing for there to be Jews who are avowedly anti-Zionist – who blame Israel for all the ills of the Middle East and, indeed in some cases, all the ills of the world. But for a Jew to positively rejoice in the deaths of other Jews, or any innocent civilians for that matter, is abhorrent.

It is shocking to think that there are those of us who are not among the mourners of Zion at this time – who are not seeking or offering comfort or searching for ways to express their support for, or give their support to, Israel.

We take heart, though, from the tens of thousands attending rallies and vigils, raising funds, collecting supplies, baking challah, writing letters, sticking up posters and helping out however they can. Despite our despair, the spirit on the home front is stronger than ever.

Separated by continents, I never had the chance to discuss 7 October with my father but, imbued by my parents since childhood with that deep sense of am echad, I have no doubt he would be proud that I, and the community I work for, are doing all we can to support the Jewish state and Jewish people at this terrible time.

2 November 2023 Jewish News

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send us your comments PO Box 815, Edgware, HA8 4SX | letters@jewishnews.co.uk

Zero-tolerance approach needed for BBC practices

If darkness prevails, they will come for all of us, including you.

And if they murder your parents, rape your wife or daughter or behead your children, you should think of the quote of Pastor Martin Niemöller made just after the Second World War about the Nazis: “First they came for the communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist.”

Readers will know how it ends.

Allan Kutner, Harrow

RIGHT IS ON OUR SIDE

The BBC says the word terrorist can “be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding”. Applying that logic, should we avoid referring to Pol Pot’s ‘killing fields’ as genocide and instead term it a ‘social experiment’ to prevent distressing any surviving Khmer Rouge members? Should we describe the Nuremberg laws that resulted in the loss of German citizenship and subsequent mass murders as “redefining the concept of nationhood” to avoid discomforting older Germans involved in those crimes? Certainly, one could argue that examining Hamas’ own statements suffices: it praises attacks carried out by its brigades, other extremist groups and even individuals. If these actions do not qualify as terrorism, then what does?

David Frencel, Hackney

The silence drives us crazy. No one asks if we are OK. We wonder what the people we call friends are actually thinking.

A simple “Hello, how are you, you must be worried?” But nothing. Just a smile... “Nice day we’re having.”

We feel like shouting: “No, we’re not having a nice day.”

We aren’t going to start a long rant over the fact that our people have been... there are no words to find. So we just use “attacked”.

I called a radio station but they twisted what I said. The BBC is not

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an incursion into Gaza by the IDF brings about. The infamous date of 7/10 proved we can never have heinous murderous terrorists on our doorstep – they must all be eliminated for the protection of our people.

Right is on our side, along with the solidarity and determination that the horrors of those terrorist crimes will never be forgotten or allowed to happen again. We thankfully are not the Jews of the 1930s; we have a country and people to protect and will do so because there is no other choice.

Stephen Vishnick, Tel Aviv

I FIND IT HARD TO BREATHE

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tion’, despite the UK government’s decision to proscribe Hamas in its entirety as such two years ago. This inconsistency is a glaring problem that simply must be tackled once and for all.

A zero-tolerance approach must be taken when it comes to the BBC’s actions, as these could have serious implications, potentially resulting in extreme hate and attacks, God forbid. As the world’s largest broadcast news organisation, the BBC must take immediate steps to address these concerns and amend its practices and stance.

I challenge the BBC to commission a Panorama-style programme, on its coverage regarding Israel, run and investigated by independents.

Eli Cohen By email

The Palestinian people voted for Hamas when they could have for the PLO. Yes, both are no friends of Israel. However, when you align yourself with a known barbaric terrorist organisation, the future is going to be fraught with issues that as shown on 7/10 can, and do, spiral out of control.

Unfortunately, the world considers Gaza full of innocent civilians. This is far from the truth, with the many as collaborators and others held as human shields by Hamas, but when you align yourself with such an entity you have to face whatever

Charity number

Josh Glancy’s view is both naive and dangerous. Once the BBC refused to label Hamas as terrorists, it gave them the green light to frame and report the conflict as one between equals. Would Glancy, or Jewish News, have excused the BBC if it had given the Nazis or Isis the same legitimacy as it is giving Hamas?

The BBC broadcasts all over the world and is promoting Hamas propaganda. This can only fuel antisemitism. Does its acceptance of anti-Jewish terrorists make the BBC antisemitic? Marvin Shaw, Edgware

The current Middle East war is not just about Israel versus Hamas. The war is about good versus evil; the war is about civilisation versus barbarism; the war is about the future of the next generation.

I say to all those thousands of people demonstrating in support of Hamas: be careful what you wish for. I can assure you they will not stop at Israel, just as the Nazis didn’t stop at Czechoslovakia and Russia didn’t stop at the Crimea.

century!

UK registered

I read with great concern your columnist Josh Glancy’s piece in last week’s edition, in which he essentially calls for a ceasefire in the holding of the BBC accountable for disinformation that he himself believes had significant implications – including the potential escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

Glancy argues that the BBC is not a “structurally antisemitic institution” and that the majority of its employees are fair-minded individuals. However, I believe that the practices of the BBC tell a different story.

Its persistent emphasis on “proportionality” in its coverage of Israel and its adversaries (currently and historically), as well as its efforts to maintain an equal coverage balance between Israel and the relevant terrorist organisations/regimes, is a matter of serious concern. I don’t believe that the BBC adopted a similar approach in relation to the coalition’s global war on terror against al-Qaeda, and other terrorist organisations/regimes.

Furthermore, the BBC’s choice of language, such as referring to individuals who have committed acts of terror as ‘terrorists’ in some cases (such as the recent attack in Brussels) but not in others (such as those committed against Jews/ Israelis), raises questions about objectivity.

A significant issue is the BBC’s refusal itself to label Hamas as a ‘terrorist organisa-

THIS WAR IS GOOD VS EVIL

Beloved survivor’s 100th birthday P31

our friend. The rhetoric is worded wrong. Words are important. So we bunker down in the trenches and hide like frightened dogs. We watch the news and find it hard to breathe.

We don’t have others here to give us a hug and understand.

We don’t feel sorry for yourselves but we feel like shouting from the rooftops and waving our flag.

Instead, like cowards, we take the ‘shalom’ off our door and wonder whether others things should also be removed.

Name withheld on request

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Community / Scene & Be Seen

1

THERAPY DOLLS DELIVERED

Myisrael has funded more than one thousand therapy dolls, which are being given to children in the south of Israel who have experienced unimaginable trauma. Social workers and therapists are teaching the children how to care for the dolls, as taking care of something other than themselves is proven to reduce anxiety and fear.

2

BEIT YORKSHIRE WEEKEND

The Progressive Jewish Communities of Sinai Synagogue in Leeds, Bradford Reform, York Liberal and the Holocaust Centre North joined together to celebrate Yorkshire’s vibrant Jewish communities. The recent census identified that about 12,000 people identify as Jewish in the county. Even areas such as Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield, where no synagogues exist, have proud Jewish populations.

The weekend programme resulted in the first Shabbat service in Huddersfield in 60 years.

More than 80 people were in the congregation for prayers led by Progressive Judaism’s joint CEO Rabbi Charley Baginsky.

And be seen!

The latest news, pictures and social events from across the community Email community editor Michelle Rosenberg: michelle@jewishnews.co.uk

3

STUART TURNS 100 IN STYLE

Celebrations were in full swing at Magnolia Court Care Home as one of its residents reached centenary. Stuart Black was joined by relatives, friends and staff and received a telegram from King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Livepool-born Stuart was a keen sportsman and enjoyed athletics, football and rugby, winning many trophies. In 1943 he joined the RAF and was sent to Canada to train. After the war he worked in the film industry as a director and production manager. One of Stuart’s favourite sayings is: “Always leave them laughing!”

2 1

4

WOMEN’S BEAUTIFUL HALLEL

More than 160 women came together to say Hallel and pray for the people of Israel and its defence forces. Led by Rebbetzen Dr Hadassah Fromson, of Golders Green United Synagogue, and musician Hadassa Kessler, the singing was awe-inspiring and meaningful for all in attendance. There were also divrei chizuk (words of strength) from Rebbetzen Shuli Liss, of Highgate United Synagogue, and Shira Jackson, United Synagogue educator. One attendee said: “It was a nugget of real beauty in a horrific week.”

3

5

PRIZED PLACE IN ORCHESTRA

Kalli Ziegler, 15, who attends Queenswood School in north London, has been awarded a place in the National Youth Orchestra.

Kalli, whose parents are members at Finchley Reform Synagogue, has played the cello since she was seven and has become one of only 158 musicians from across the country to be selected. She will now perform in three national concert tours during 2024. Last year, Kalli’s brother, Jaren, reached the finals of the BBC Young Musician of The Year competition for his viola performances.

6

5

4

SINGING FOR THE HOSTAGES

More than 350 people gathered at Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue to contribute to a worldwide singing prayer arranged

by Koolulam, a social musical initiative that is calling for the return of the hostages being held by Hamas. These events are being held throughout the world, and the recordings from 100 locations will be merged to create the sounds of one huge international choir. Galit Shear, choir conductor and music teacher, taught the amateur choir to sing Madonna’s Like A Prayer in an hour.

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38 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Social lender offers Fake Lego terrorist ‘lifelines’ to Israelis toys removed by eBay Fake Lego mini figures aimed at children as young as five and dressed as “Middle Eastern” terrorists with AK-47s and rocket launchers have been discovered for sale on eBay, writes Sarah Miller.

The online retailer has apologised and swiftly removed the items after Jewish News brought them to its attention.

At least eight varieties of the mini figure, which all sport a dark beard, were spotted for sale through an American-based supplier, priced around £17.

On a listing for one of the items, described as “an insurgent Middle Eastern soldier”, the seller states that the figures are made from “100% Lego parts”, while the weapons have been produced elsewhere.

Some of the mini figures on sale The figures were also searchable under “terrorist Lego” on brought the items to the atteneBay’s platform. tion of Jewish News and wishes A concerned mother who to remain anonymous, said she

found the items “extremely distasteful” in the wake of the 7 October terror atrocities carried out by Hamas, which killed 1,400 Israelis with more than 200 taken hostage.

She said: “I was searching for Lego mini figures as a present for my son when these popped up as something I might be interested in.

“Given recent events, I can’t understand what kind of a person would want their child to play with such ‘toys’. It beggars belief that there should even be a demand for it in the first place.”

An eBay spokesperson said: “These items are against our offensive materials policy and are prohibited from sale on eBay. “We have removed the listing that breached this policy and conducted further sweeps of our site to remove any similar listings.

“We take this extremely seriously and will continue to monitor the site.”

FLASH VIGIL IN BOREHAMWOOD

Around 80 people gathered at a flash vigil in Borehamwood last Friday as a tribute to the more than 200 men, women and children kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on 7 October. Participants placed a pair of shoes next to posters as a way of creating a visual representation of the hostages.

A social lender set up to help low-income Israelis is offering interest-free “lifelines” to those impacted by the 7 October attacks.

Ogen, formerly known as the Israel Free Loan Association (IFLA), launched its Swords of Iron Emergency Economic Relief Fund for individuals, non-profits and small companies hit by the war. It aims to raise almost £30 million and to help 30,000 people.

Organisers said there would be interest-free £12,000 loans offered to around 1,000 individuals or families, and £20,000 loans made available to around 430 small businesses and non-profits.

Sagi Balasha, chief executive of Ogen, said it would give “swift

and tailored support to those affected by the ongoing crisis and economic challenges, particularly as we observe a sluggish response from the government”.

The loans would provide immediate assistance to those grappling with the aftermath of the crisis, said Ogen, adding that small businesses account for almost a half of Israel’s workforce.

“As Israel transitions from the initial triage support in response to the attacks, it’s crucial to recognise that Israel is likely [to be] heading into a financial recession,” it said.

The fund was “therefore an urgent response to prevent individuals and businesses from falling off the precipice”.

Damage to Israeli eaterie ‘not linked to hate crime’ Police have said that damage to an Israeli-themed restaurant in Golders Green appears to have been linked to an attempted burglary – not to a hate crime.

Officers noticed damage to a window at Darna on Golders Green Road at 8.30am on Thursday, following an incident in the early hours.

The owner had been informed and will be kept updated as the investigation progresses, she said, adding: “Anyone with information or footage relating to this incident… should call police on 101 or Tweet @MetCC quoting 1557/26OCT. “To remain 100 percent anony-

mous call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit Crimestoppers-uk.org.”

Darna, a kosher restaurant in London, says its menu is “inspired by Israeli cuisine”, leading to speculation that it had been attacked in relation to the Israel-Hamas conflict. However, Jewish security bosses were quick to advise against false conclusions.

In a statement, the Community Security Trust said it was “working with police to determine the exact nature and motivation of the incident”. It added: “We would ask people not to speculate until the facts are established.”

QATAR, PATRON OF WORLD TERROR

BY RABBI PINI DUNNER

SENIOR RABBI, YINBH – BEVERLEY HILLS SYNAGOGUE

In the midst of navigating an overwhelming sea of information, as I attempt to comprehend the world in a state of total upheaval, this week I stumbled upon a tweet so deeply unsettling that it defied all explanation.

At first, I questioned its authenticity, convinced the tweeter must have fallen victim to a hack. I returned to it repeatedly, hoping it would vanish, but it was still there every time.

As I write, the tweet is still visible on X, formerly Twitter, with well over a million views.

Referring to the current hostage crisis in Gaza, the tweeter began with this stunning statement: “I’m pleased to say that Qatar is becoming an essential party and stakeholder in the facilitation of humanitarian solutions.”

This jaw-dropper was followed immediately by the claim that “Qatar’s diplomatic efforts are crucial at this time”.

My eyes widened in disbelief. Was this

some kind of sick satire? Qatar is the world’s most prominent patron of terror. How could anyone offer praise for Qatar’s evil regime? The irony was staggering. But what left me truly astounded was that the author of this tweet was none other than Tzachi Hanegbi, national security advisor to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and a seasoned Knesset member with more than three decades of service, including 13 years as a minister in Israel’s government.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a startling discovery: one of Beverly Hills’ fanciest hotels, The Maybourne, just over a mile from where we live, is co-owned by two individuals – Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (HBK), the former Emir of Qatar and father of the current Emir, and his cousin, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (HBJ), the former prime minister of Qatar. In addition to The Maybourne, they also own four luxury hotels in London, UK: Claridges, The Connaught, The Berkeley and The Emory, set to open this winter. There is also a Maybourne Hotel in the south of France.

Perhaps even more shockingly, it was under the leadership of these two men that Hamas was invited to establish their headquarters in Doha. Notably, HBJ is on record for making not

just anti-Israel but vile antisemitic remarks – a distinction without a difference in my view.

The evidence is unequivocal: both HBK and HBJ have ties to Hamas. And while there may have been a degree of tolerance for such associations before 7 October, with even Israel seemingly accepting the arrangement, the events of that fateful day have surely changed everything. Any affiliation with or support for Hamas must now be met with consequences.

To illustrate this shift in perspective, consider the case of Russian oligarchs associated with Vladimir Putin. Until Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year, these oligarchs were tolerated in Western business circles and, in some cases, embraced.

However, once Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine, committing acts of murder and torture against Ukrainian citizens, his oligarch allies faced penalties. Their assets were frozen and confiscated, and they were treated as accomplices in Putin’s war crimes. In light of these actions, why should Qataris receive different treatment?

HBK, HBJ, and other members of the Qatari ruling elite who own significant assets in the West are undeniably linked to the heinous acts

of Hamas, including the atrocities of 7 October.

Their financial support has enabled and continues to fuel Hamas’ barbarity. Consequently, they bear guilt by association, if not a more direct culpability. Indeed, the ongoing conflict with Hamas persists largely due to the Qatari funds that have supported and continue to sustain this terrorist organisation. I, for one, certainly don’t want a Qatari, Hamas-sympathiser-owned hotel in my neighborhood.

As for Hanegbi’s startling tweet, it brings to mind a troubling historical analogy: Kastner and Eichmann. Rudolf Kastner, a Jewish activist in Budapest, negotiated the rescue of 1,600 Hungarian Jews in 1944 with Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust.

This negotiation occurred even as Eichmann oversaw the deportation of 500,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz for extermination.

Qatar’s leaders, just like Eichmann and his Nazi associates, have their hands elbow-deep in the wanton slaughter of Jews, and, ironically, in the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. No one should be praising them for helping to secure the release of hostages whose cruel kidnapping was facilitated by them in the first place.

It really is as simple as that.

2 November 2023 Jewish News

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UNITING THE GENERATIONS SIDE BY SIDE AT THE AJEX PARADE

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One of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the Gentile world is to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all.

"

ABBA EBAN (1915 – 2002)

"

Yad Vashem has been shedding tears for the victims of history’s greatest atrocity for over 70 years. We are devastated to see those tears have fallen on barren earth. How can the Jewish People find yet more tears to show our pain and let the world know that the evil of antisemitism is still with us?

OUR HEARTS ARE BROKEN FOR THE MOTHERS AND FATHERS, THE SISTERS AND BROTHERS AND THE CHILDREN WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN SO BARBARICALLY ENDED

IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN….

We stand together with all the citizens of Israel.

We stand together with all the bereaved.

‫עם ישראל חי‬ The Trustees, staff and everyone associated with Yad Vashem UK www.yadvashem.org.uk

|

Charity No. 1099659

2 November 2023 Jewish News

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41

ISRAEL AT WAR

‘Art and connection needed most of all at times like this’ Mandy Patinkin is live in concert in London next week and tells Jenni Frazer why it’s important the show goes ahead

Clare Danes and Mandy Patinkin in Homeland

Mandy Patinkin, one of our greatest enterWith his tainers — he acts, he sings, he dances and he wife even sword fights — is due in London next Kathryn week for a boutique residency at the Lyric Grody Theatre.

But the long-time Israel peace activist, who sits on the board of American Friends of Peace Now, considered cancelling because of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Instead, he says: “I decided that at times like these, art and connection are needed most of all.”

Just days after Hamas terrorists broke through the Gaza fence and murdered or abducted hundreds of Israelis, Patinkin and his wife, actress and writer Kathryn Grody, posted moments of my life. We sat around the table and there was an extraordinary actor, forgive me, I an emotional message on Instagram.

Their hearts, they said, “are broken. We don’t remember his name, and he was playing cannot imagine what it is to live with terror on our teacher. He was riveting. Every time this our doorstep, and the combination of grief and man spoke, the whole room would lean in to pain and fear and rage when families are cal- him. And we finished, and the room was about him — not about Barbra, or the film.” lously murdered or taken hostage.”

Though cheerfully declining to reveal more Patinkin’s memory of the actor was sharp: Lucky audiences at Patinkin’s eight-show residency from 7 to 19 November can expect he had, he said, “smiled beatifically to the table about his London concerts — insisting that he more of his unique take on what is happening in of Yentl actors, put his head down — and died”. “doesn’t want the audience looking at the prothe world. Just Mandy and pianist Adam Ben- Everyone waited for him to get up, but he did grammes to see what I’m doing next” – Patinkin David will be on stage for an evening of songs not. The appalled cast and crew wondered if says he won’t go anywhere “without at least one they could have done anything to save him, Sondheim song and at least one Yiddish song”. and anecdotes, in a programme whose conAh, yes, Yiddish. Patinkin is famous – or tents he won’t reveal. but an autopsy revealed the actor Anecdotes: the actor, singer, had had a massive heart attack should I say unique – for an album he made musician, Broadway star and and that, as he puts it, even called Mammaloshen (mother tongue), a colthe supreme interpreter if there had been a heart lection of songs old and new in Yiddish. He is of Stephen Sondheim’s surgeon in the room, he almost certainly one of the few Broadway stars could not have survived. to have recorded in Yiddish, though in his Chisingular stage musicals, “This man…” Pat- cago home it was not spoken. His family is from is a one-man anecinkin breaks off. “If I Bransk in Poland and it was his ‘Grandpa Max’ dote machine. In most had a wish of how I’d who arrived in America at Ellis Island in New interviews you have to like to die, I’d want to York, spending his first nights in the US at the prod a little to get the be just like him. To be Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. story. Not with Patinkin.

How Mandy came to sing Yiddish is, ineviYou barely get a question in the middle of a note, doing what I love best, tably, a story. “My dear friend and mentor was in, it’s much more ‘wind singing, and take a breath, and him up and let him go’.

This time, however, it is then just put my head down one of the most surreal inter- Mandy: master of the anecdote for a minute. It was a beautiful thing.” views I have ever done, conPatinkin can’t remember the actor’s name ducted in two parts and turning on Patinkin’s but post-interview research and a Streisand fanirrational fear that “I was losing my mind”.

The Chicago-born Patinkin (Mandy is his site come up with Morris Carnovsky. But this nickname; his full name is Mandel Bruce Pat- fabled Yiddish actor actually died in 1992 — 10 inkin) has begun to tell me some back sto- years after the Yentl read-through.

I mention Carnovsky to Patinkin’s PR and it’s ries about the making of Barbra Streisand’s acclaimed film Yentl, in which he plays Yentl’s sufficiently irritating for him to get on the case love interest and fellow yeshiva student, — because he knows it wasn’t Carnovsky.

With Barbra Streisand in Yentl He phones later out of the blue with new Avigdor. Is it true, I ask, that Streisand asked Patinkin to visit yeshivas before filming started? information. He has contacted his friend, the Joseph Papp, who created the Shakespeare in “Yes, it’s true. She gave me a little spy camera British actor Allan Corduner, who played Shim- the Park festival. He signed the ketubah at our and I went first to a yeshiva in Skver [upstate mele in Yentl and was present at the truly dra- wedding.” Papp asked Patinkin if he’d sing at a benefit being staged for YIVO, the venerable New York] and then to Ohr Sameach in Israel. matic read-through.

“Allan remembered this vividly,” Patinkin New York-based Yiddish institute. Patinkin was She had spent 13 years on this project and there were about 23 different scripts; she wanted eve- says. “It was 22 March 1982, and the actor was happy to oblige, but said he didn’t know any YidHarold Goldblatt. Allan even remembered his dish songs. Well, snarled Papp, it’s about time rybody to do as much research as possible.”

But it was at a London read-through “at Lee’s last words. Harold stood up, said: ‘It’s all been you learned one.

“He sent over this song, Yossel, Yossel, and we Lighting Studios” [in Wembley] that Patinkin wonderful, and I must go now,’ sat down, and did it at the Shubert Theatre. I learned the song, experienced “one of the most unforgettable died.” What a way to go.”

and [at the benefit] they showed a film of Joe Papp’s shtetl that his family came from. I sang the song… at that point, I’d sung a lot, but mainly in shows. This song just hit me in the kishkes. I couldn’t understand why, other than maybe it was some DNA echo of my ancestry.”

Shortly after the YIVO event, Papp “came over for a Shabbes dinner” and trenchantly told Patinkin: “You’ve got the ability to sing, you’ve got to learn this stuff, make your contribution.”

Patinkin began to search for teachers.

He found three Yiddish and musical theatre specialists and got agreement from Bob Hurwitz, the president of Nonesuch Records, to make a Yiddish record.

The result was Mammaloshen, ultimately applauded by audiences who included “nuns and priests. Then the nickel dropped: I wanted to examine my ancestry, my heritage. But the lesson was, whoever you are, whatever your heritage, you don’t need to understand a single word. Take a walk in that music, let it bathe over you, let those words wash over you.”

Our time is nearly up and we haven’t even touched on Patinkin’s unique role as the supreme interpreter of Stephen Sondheim’s work, his starring performance in the film The Princess Bride and his leading role in the TV thriller Homeland. He’s also become an unlikely internet star, after his son Gideon made use of lockdown to make a series of frequently hilarious mini-films featuring both his parents.

Now he’s concentrating on presenting the best possible show for his fans — the London concerts are part of an American and Canadian tour. He says: “I will be doing everything I can to give us all a good time, that’s why I made the shows. It’s so that we all feel alive.”  Mandy Patinkin Live In Concert is at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, 7-19 November; nimaxtheatres.com

42 Jewish News 2 November 2023

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ISRAEL AT WAR

ONE FOR EACH HOSTAGE: 229 blue and white balloons carry the message of hope

Photo by Blake Ezra Photography

Balloons, one for each hostage still held by Hamas, were released in cities across the world last week as part of a Jewish News campaign to raise awareness of their plight and call for their safe return.

The project is the first co-ordinated international action since at least 229 women, men and children were snatched from their homes and from a music festival

by Hamas terrorists on 7 October.

Among the more than 15 cities from which blue and white balloons were released are New York, Paris, Buenos Aires, New Delhi and Melbourne.

In London, hundreds stood with Noam Sagi, whose 75-year-old mother Ada was among those taken hostage, in front of Tower Bridge to take part in the Balloons of Hope campaign.

The project was conceived by Jewish News and brought to life by the Israeli

embassy in London in partnership with Women United for Peace.

Justin Cohen, co-publisher and news editor of the newspaper, said: “It was an honour to work with such an incredible team on an initiative that has caught the imagination of communities across the globe. To have Noam Sagi among us was particularly special.

“He praised those present for giving him the strength to do what he does. But in

truth, it’s him and his inspirational and selfless approach that gives the communities of both British and Israeli Jews the strength to fight with every fibre of their being to bring home each and every captured Israeli.”

The gravity of the crisis is underscored by the experiences of those released, including Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper, whose recent liberations have provided a glimmer of hope amid the prevailing fear and uncertainty.

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Ask our

45

Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

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

This week: Estate planning and gifting, the benefits of lip-reading and ways to reduce political tension at work ADAM SHELLEY ACCOUNTANT

SOBELL RHODES LLP

Dear Adam I am keen to understand estate planning and gifts. Are you able to provide any guidance?

Marc Dear Marc Inheritance tax is usually charged at 40 percent on the value of your estate (your property, money and possessions) over the £325,000 nilrate band. There’s an additional allowance of up to £175,000 if you pass your family home to children or grandchildren.

If you’re married, you can effectively combine your thresholds and transfer assets between each other tax-free. When one dies, the surviving spouse can inherit without any

inheritance tax liability, and you can utilise their unused thresholds on your death.

Writing a will is the most basic but also one of the most neglected forms of estate planning. For some, there’s a misconception that there’s no point in making a will if you’re married as your surviving spouse will get everything anyway. That’s not necessarily the case, particularly if you have children and hold joint assets with other individuals.

Without a legally valid will, your estate could be distributed according to intestacy rules and a larger portion might be taxable.

Outside of having a legally valid will, one of the simplest ways to protect your estate can be to put assets into trusts. This can mean they fall outside of your estate when you die.

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DOHR LTD Dear Donna We have Jewish and Muslim staff working together in our office and we have never had any issues. However, with the current situation in Israel and Gaza, tensions are mounting. What advice can you give me for keeping the peace here?

Jonny

Dear Jonny As a UK employer, you have a number of legal responsibilities and these should be delivered with communication, understanding and support for all of your employees, regardless of their religion, lack of religion or political views.

Legally, you have a duty to protect your staff and to create an environment that is safe both physically and psychologically.

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managers are aligned with your approach.

You then need to balance the freedom of speech and freedom of belief with the right not to be bullied, harassed or discriminated against at work based on beliefs, religion or nationality. I urge you to use your disciplinary policy and processes with extreme caution. If an employee physically attacks another employee, then this is far more clear-cut than expressed feelings or beliefs.

Bring people together.

Find ways to focus on shared beliefs and values. Find ways to support each other. Share food together. Friendship must be stronger than hatred and you need your team to work together.

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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 RABBI ARIEL ABEL LLM CHAPLAIN AND LAWYER

Abraham’s descendants will reunite Abraham, ancestor of Israel, left his Mesopotamian home of Ur and wandered in search of a new domicile at the age of 75. His wife, Sarah, was a decade his junior.

They had no children of their own. God had promised them a future, but had not said where.

Their feet took them to what is now Israel (Canaan in those times). Abraham and Sarah’s home became the first Chabad house in a country of merchants. Hospitality to all was their practice, guesting the first mitzvah in the future book of the nation of Israel.

In the past fortnight, as Israel, the country and its people were still reeling from the brutality of the shock of kibbutzim laid waste, families obliterated and orphans taken hostage, the response was not to throw angry energy by blaming someone else for it all. Instead, the people of Israel set up a system of open homes to welcome and host those myriads who had become refugees in their own land. Evacuees from north and south embraced as if they had been known all their lives by people they had never met.

That, we see before our own eyes, is what Jews do with pain. Israel, in heeding the four millennia-old call to share one’s company and open up hospitality to any person, is the embodiment thereby of the blessing granted to Abram: that all

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the nations of the earth would be blessed through him.

At this time it seems unlikely that the nations of the world are queuing up to seek our blessing. But God has said that this is the case.

Inside of all the great sadness of tragic loss of life, Jewish and Arab, Israeli and Palestinian, is the spiritual imperative for Israel, as soon as possible, to clear the path for all the physical and spiritual descendants of Abraham to live in one land in enough harmony to respect the reason why we were intended by God to live there.

In the opening verse of this week’s parsha, Vayera, God reveals himself to Abraham in the plains of Mamre the Emorite. When we invite God and His mandate to seek harmonious living with our

The people of Israel have opened up their homes after the kibbutzim were destroyed (above) and people were slaughtered

neighbours, even a son of a warmaking, anti-Israelite nation may choose to become a covenanted friend of Abraham’s family, and all his descendants. At the end of their lives, as retold by the Midrashic tradition, Ishmael, the firstborn of Abraham, reconciled with Isaac at their father’s burial.

The prospect of reconciliation in the Holy Land is a long way off.

Wounds are still laid wide open, mental suffering at an all-time high, trust shattered.

Ultimately, however, the family of Abraham is destined to reunite.

May the hostages come home soon, the wounded be healed, the dead find final rest and all our enemies be enlightened with an awareness to see Israel as the reason for the world to be blessed.

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Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBI SHULAMAIT AMBALU SHA’AREI TSEDEK NORTH LONDON REFORM SYNAGOGUE

Empathy makes us part of the solution Jewish custom teaches us that when visiting a mourner, we should not begin the conversation. We should simply sit alongside, in silence, until the mourner opens up. The visitor is offering comfort by simply being present and willing to listen.

Today, this powerful custom is easily forgotten. The rush to offer comfort is difficult to resist; mainly because it comes from a need to comfort oneself. There is a powerful human drive to make sense of suffering. To explain it away. To be reassured that the dreadful act will not, or cannot, happen to us.

On the other hand, so many people do find it difficult to speak to a mourner, going to the extent of crossing the road or even changing their route to avoid them. But what we are really trying to escape is the dreadful difficulty of not knowing what to say. Some indi-

viduals know that they struggle to express their compassion, and this awareness can make for a clumsy conversation. But anyone who has ever experienced grief will know the value of an awkward gesture of comfort.

We need to understand when to sit in silence and when to find those ordinary words – words that enable others to go on with the burden of living. Why are simple words so very difficult? Why is it so very difficult for people to reach out to each other, as colleagues, friends, the parents we see daily at the school gates, and to say: “How are you doing? You must be so worried. How is your family coping?” These are everyday conversations, but they are difficult to begin.

In the public sphere, we are fighting for language. The use of a word such as terrorist has become front page news. Will the struggle for the correct language to define this conflict deflect our comprehension of so much human suffering?

Today, tomorrow, next week, for who knows how long, we are entering a time of

By being present we are offering comfort

untold grief. The cradle, if not the birthplace, of the three-world monotheistic faiths, is still ablaze. Too many – far too many – people are using their power and their voices to add fuel to the flames. How easy it is to signal support, with violent demonstrations, graffiti, online threats; to engage in blame, and minimisa-

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A stimulating series where progressive rabbis consider how to navigate Judaism in the face of 21st-century issues tion of these terrible events. To feel soothed by activism, and safe from any possible political or moral contamination.

The difficult truth is that there are multiple facts and this existential battle will cease only when we are all more in touch with reality.

Members of my synagogue who have spoken to me have expressed empathy and concern for the situation of the Palestinians. This, even in amid their own anxiety and their grief, of fear for members of their own families and friends; for those who are still missing, and who may be missing for weeks, months or even years. These ordinary people express a depth of feeling for those residents of Gaza who are also afraid, or who are waiting to bury their own dead.

If ordinary Jewish people can do this, why is the simple act of human empathy so difficult for politicians, leaders, trade unionists, academics, student groups and the rest?

For how long will it be more profitable to nail your political colours to the mast of your own beliefs than to work a bit harder to become part of the solution?

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Fun, games and prizes

THE JEWISH NEWS CROSSWORD 1

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ACROSS 1 Whitehall monument (8) 5 Offensively self-satisfied (4) 9 Anglers (9)

CODEWORD 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.

R F A Y S N

H U M E M P H

I

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5 5

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K R N L N

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See next issue for puzzle solutions.

ANUBIS

LUXOR

OBELISK

TOMB

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

GIZA

MEMPHIS

SPHINX

TREASURE

1

HIEROGLYPH

NILE

TEMPLE

TUTANKHAMUN

Last issue’s solutions Crossword ACROSS: 1 Seafarers 8 Mega 9 Ski jumper 10 Sear 13 Worst 16 Elite 17 Elvis 18 Erode 19 Tot up 20 Nerve 21 Yo-yos 24 Beef 27 Neon light 28 Loan 29 Undecided.

DOWN: 2 Elks 3 Fiji 4 Romeo 5 Reeds 6 Receivers 7 Barrister 11 Vestibule 12 Win the day 13 Weepy 14 Roomy 15 Teens 22 Ocean 23 Ounce 25 Kiwi 26 Shoe.

Sudoku 5 3 4 9 2 6 1 7 8 2 4 1 8 5 3 7 6 9 3 9 5 4 8 7 6 1 2

9 1 2 8 7 5 6 3 4 3 9 7 4 6 1 2 5 8 1 8 6 5 2 9 7 4 3

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Suguru 6 7 8 4 1 3 9 2 5 5 8 6 7 9 2 1 3 4 2 4 7 3 6 1 8 5 9

4 5 2 4 3 1 2 1 3 1 2 5 3 5 2 5 4 1 1 4 3 1 3 2 3 2 5 4 5 4 1 4 1 2 3 1

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S E E U G K Z P M A S A C R B O H A N E S

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F P T Z X E C R L B O E T Y A G G L E O U R

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7 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.

The listed words to do with Egyptology 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.

I

2 1

SUGURU

WORDSEARCH T C A C

9

5 8 3 8 2 3 2 6 1 5 1 5 3 7 4 9 4 7 1 3 7 2

DOWN 1 Eatery (4) 2 UK’s medical organisation (inits) (3) 3 ___ Night, January 6 (7) 4 Bathroom stone (6) 6 Thousand-year periods (9) 7 Swallowing hastily (8) 8 Author not known (4) 12 Acquiring (9) 14 Formerly (4) 15 Emotional pressures (8) 17 Jekyll’s alter ego (4) 20 Entertaining (7) 22 Fit to be eaten (6) 24 Jar covers (4) 26 Source of logs (4) 29 Woman’s underwear item (3)

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Fill the grid with the numbers 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3 block contains the numbers 1 to 9.

10 Research workshop (3) 11 Cow’s foot (4) 13 Keep hidden (7) 16 Afterwards (4) 18 Irascible, grumpy (6) 19 Artillery piece (6) 21 Adjudge (4) 23 Ousted from a house (7) 25 Mormon state (4) 27 ___ Lanka, Asian country (3) 28 Informal drinking area (6,3) 30 Dips in the middle (4) 31 Capital of Serbia (8)

7

6

SUDOKU

B

All puzzles © Puzzler Media Ltd - www.puzzler.com

Wordsearch 1 2 1 3 1 2 3 5 4 2 4 5 4 1 3 1 3 2 3 2 4 5 4 1 1 5 1 3 2 5 2 3 2 4 1 4

P X E X M O O C A L A B R I R T D K S A B E U O I E J R I R O L Q N O C U W L U A A A L D A O M D L U E R I I S G T R N A L T Y O S E M I T T P C Y D K N

Codeword R Y B Q A E A S R L N M E L F R P O F O S W K G A S R N J T U R N O G I E N E A S E R C

QU I PPED AUD I T U M O E M R O AMAZ E P I E BAL D V G T L T M D E P I C MO T H B A L L R N P Y Y E J EL L Y AS I DE C E R T I A UNSHAKEN USED R A S W J T H VO L CANO E X UDE E S N R E R R SHAF T DURABL E

02/11

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