1355 - 22nd Feb 2024

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Prince of peace Right and William speaks out on Middle East suffering p12

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Josh Glancy examines our applause for Douglas Murray P23

PROUD VOICE OF OUR COMMUNITY 22 February 2024 • 13 Adar Rishon 5784 • Issue No.1355 •

L A I C E P S REPORT THE GAZA BY-ELECTION How next week’s Rochdale vote is bringing the conflict to Britain See pages 2-3

Commons in disarray over Gaza motion

@JewishNewsUK

SNP accused of politicising conflict as Speaker breaks convention on vote

guard Gaza and allow an Israeli victory MPs last night accused the Scotover Hamas.” tish National Party of treating He also accused the SNP of the “atrocious situation” in “political grandstanding” and Gaza like a “party political added its leader was guilty of football” game during a making “incendiary charges” tense Commons ceasefire against Israel. debate, writes Lee Harpin.

In another intervention, Conservative and Labour Labour’s Andrew Gwynne politicians led criticism of spoke of the 1,200 “innocent SNP tactics as the party’s Israelis brutally raped and murleader in Westminster, Stedered on 7 October” which had led phen Flynn, championed calls to the “brutal conflict” in Gaza. for MPs to vote in favour of an He said he wanted an immediate Opposition Day amendment that called for an “immediate ceasefire” to Stephen Flynn ceasefire in Gaza but “words matter” and “if Hamas do not lay down their arms it is not a hostilities in Gaza, while accusing Israel of engaging in “collective punishment of the Pales- ceasefire”.

Interupted by an SNP MP, Gwynne then accused tinian people”.

The SNP motion also failed to offer any condem- the party of “playing party political football with the nation of terror group Hamas, or call for a two-state most atrocious situation in the Middle East”.

Stephen Crabb, a leading figure with Conservasolution. It suggested “the only way to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians is to press for a cease- tive Friends of Israel, added: “My problem with the SNP motion is there is no mention of the sexual fire now”.

During the debate, SNP MP Brendan O’Hara said violence and rape as a weapon of war against Israeli Israel has “completely abandoned international women. These crimes were recorded on mobile humanitarian law by imposing collective punishment phones and body cams. Hamas fighters committing the most barbaric acts.” on a defenceless civilian population”.

In fiery scenes in the Commons earlier on While SNP’s deputy leader Mhairi Black openly Wednesday, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle infuriated the accused Israel of committing “war crimes”.

Responding, shadow Foreign Secretary David SNP when he said he would allow a separate Labour Lammy told the House that the SNP motion was “one- amendment calling for an “immediate humanitarian sided” and said it was “crystal clear” that “you could ceasefire” to be debated, but which also stressed not ask Israel to lay down its arms without also asking “Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence” and that Israelis “have the Hamas”.

Sir Michael Elis, the former attorney general, said right to assurance 7 October cannot happen again.”

MPs were set to vote on the amendments on the SNP “woefully” failed to recognise the reality of the situation in Gaza. He added: “I am sorry to say the Wednesday evening after Jewish News went to press.

SNP are not interested in a solution that would safe-  Israel: 1,468 UNRWA workers are terrorists, p6

2

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Jewish News 22 Febuary 2024

Special Report / Rochdale by-election

‘Galloway is using Rochdale Muslims’ A renegade candidate and Labour in turmoil – all eyes are on next week’s by-election as recent events make the result anything but a foregone conclusion, writes Lee Harpin Muslim voters in the Greater Manchester by-election town of Rochdale this week openly expressed fears to Jewish News that the veteran anti-Zionist campaigner George Galloway is “using us” as he attempts to secure victory in the polls.

One local businessman, who identified himself as being of BritishPalestinian background, said he had been visiting his family in Gaza for a wedding at the same time of the 7 October atrocity in southern Israel.

The man pointed directly toward a campaign poster urging voters to back the outspoken former MP in the 29 February by-election and opined: “You know we’ve got George Galloway?... I think he’s using us.”

Noor, who said he did not want to give his full name as he was a successful local businessman who did not want to become embroiled in political disputes, said he had been

one of the fortunate few to be able as a British passport holder to escape the conflict in Gaza on 10 October.

He admitted to fearing “every minute of the day” for the safety of his family who remained in Gaza after he had had to leave them behind in Rafah.

It was his view, he said, that both Hamas and the Israeli military “should face justice” once the deadly conflict was over.

With the former Respect Party and now Workers Party of Britain leader Galloway’s campaign in Rochdale centring almost entirely on his claim to Muslim voters to be standing up for the people of Palestine, it would have been no surprise to hear Noor saying he was going to vote for him.

The businessman was not alone, however, in expressing concern about the former Bradford West MP’s track record. Outside Ahmed’s

Pro-Palestine posters like this are a prominent in the Rochdale election

Islamic Book on Durham Street, Jewish News also spoke with Majid, who said he worked in a local butcher’s store.

“Many people will vote for George Galloway on 29 February, but there are also lots of people I know who are asking questions about him,” said Majid.

“This man always turns up for elections making promises to local Muslims, but what has he ever actually done for us?

“Yes, I am concerned about what has happened in Gaza. But I am concerned about what is happening here in Rochdale.”

Outside the nearby Neeli Mosque, Mohammed Amin, who says he is now retired, also spoke for many when he told Jewish News: “I have not even thought about this by-election. I do not even know if I will vote.”

It would be incorrect, however, to suggest that Galloway does not stand a chance of winning the race in Rochdale.

A stroll round some of the more heavily Muslim populated areas of the town reveals plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise, with plenty of shops and houses displaying signs and posters in support of the former Big Brother contestant.

But it is also clear not all Muslim voters in Rochdale, who make up around 20 percent of the electorate in the town, are backing Galloway.

Just like the Jewish communities around the country, Muslim voters can often be more politically engaged than others.

It was also apparent on the day Jewish News visited last week there was none of the feverish support for Galloway his campaign supporters have attempted to claim exists in the town as the countdown to polling day approaches.

On the other hand: “I will vote for George because I care about Gaza,” one Rochale local told Jewish News, as he walked out from purchasing meat at a halal butcher store.

“It’s Galloway all the way,” said another. “He is the only candidate that is speaking up for Muslims.”

A Galloway victory was also made more likely after the Labour candi-

date was exposed in a recording sent to the Mail on Sunday for making openly antisemitic comments.

Azhar Ali, the Lancashire Labour Group leader was overheard telling a small meeting of councillors and activists that Israel had “allowed” the 7 October Hamas attack in order to “get rid of [Palestinians] from Gaza” and “grab” the land.

A further reported antisemitic remark saw him blame “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for the suspension of proPalestinian MP Andy McDonald from the Labour Party.

As another antisemitism storm erupted around the party, Labour leader Keir Starmer was forced to confirm Labour had taken the nearunprecedented step of withdrawing its support for Ali at the by-election.

Ali had been chosen as the Labour candidate after the death of Sir Tony Lloyd, the previous MP for Rochdale who romped home aftersecuring a majority of more than 9,000 in the 2019 general election.

This month’s by-election looked like a certain win for Starmer’s party, but now, in the aftermath of the Ali antisemitism scandal, the bookies have made Galloway the favourite to land the seat.

This has left some long-time Labour supporters seemingly genuinely unsure about where they will place their cross when election day finally comes.

“I’m really stuck what to do, I really don’t know,” admitted Tony, a security guard at a Rochdale indoor shopping centre.

“It was stupid thing for him [Azhar Ali] to say – you shouldn’t get involved with conspiracies.

“I’ve been WhatsApping my friends, all Labour supporters, and we are all in the same boat.”

Meanwhile Miah, who said she was currently taking time away from her job as a hairdresser to bring up her and her husband’s oneyear old son, also admitted being unsure how to vote now.

“Some people I know are saying they will vote Labour because they always have done,” she said.

“But like me, others wish we had a Labour candidate who wasn’t

Palestine supporters in Rochdale hold flags

more concerned with foreign affairs than he was with what is going on here in Rochdale. It’s all a bit of a mess really.”

Jewish News also spoke with local people whose busy lives meant they had yet to hear about the antisemitism scandal that had left Labour withdrawing support for their candidate.

This could explain why the bookies have left Ali as second favourite to win the by-election.

But if Ali is elected, Labour will be expected to withdraw the whip immediately and the councillor will sit as an independent MP. In truth, the voters of Rochdale have not been treated well at all by those seeking to represent the town in Westminster.

Days before the scandal erupted over the Labour candidate, the Greens had been forced to withdraw their support for their own candidate after it emerged that he had made anti-Muslim social media posts in the past.

Galloway also faces a challenge at the election from another former Labour MP, Simon Danczuk, who

www.jewishnews.co.uk

22 February 2024 Jewish News

3

Rochdale by-election / Special Report

Posters for Galloway and Mecca’s Holy Mosque in a shop window

and banners at a by-election meeting in support of George Galloway as polling day approaches

is now standing for the pro-Brexit Reform UK party.

Danczuk, 57, represented Roch-

dale for seven years between 2010 and 2017 but he was suspended from Labour in 2015 after sending

explicit text messages to a teenage girl and served the rest of his term as an independent.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have selected community champion Paul Ellison, 41, a well-known local volunteer and businessman, as their candidate, but support for Rishi Sunak’s party seemed thin on the ground on the streets of Rochdale.

The Lib Dems had been running what was seen as a decidedly low-key campaign with their candidate Iain Donaldson, but have now moved to bolster their efforts in the wake of the Ali scandal.

Back to George Galloway, Jewish News has learned that there is considerable concern among some communal leaders about the impact across the region of a possible Galloway victory.

While Rochdale’s own Jewish history is limited, the big communities in areas such as Bury and in Prestwich are only a few miles away.

Until he was exposed for making antisemitic remarks, Azhar Ali had played a leading role in the Muslims Against Antisemitism group, which

had exposed many individuals for anti-Jewish racism.

Ali had also held a successful meeting with the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester to discuss inter-faith relations just three days before the Mail On Sunday published its recording of the antisemitic remarks he had made at the meeting last October.

Former Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman had also confirmed that Ali had defended her on several occasions when she came under attack from “Islamist” activists.

But all concerned now accept that the comments made by Ali were indefensible – a clear case of an individual who had a track record of saying one thing to the Jewish community, but entirely different things to another.

Which leaves Rochdale with the “nightmare prospect” of waking up to having George Galloway as its MP by the end of next week.

BAGHDAD NORTH MP TO BIG BROTHER Elected first as the Labour MP Glasgow Hillhead in 1987, George Galloway has pursued a political career defined by controversy, triumph and disaster.

In one example, he sparked a storm of criticism in 1994 after it emerged he had met with then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein following a visit to the Gaza Strip.

He was reported to have told him: “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.”

The meeting led to Galloway being dubbed the “MP for Baghdad North” by his critics.

Expelled from Labour in 2003 over his stance on the war against terror, the 69-year-old went on to lead the Respect Party.

In the 2005 general election, he defeated the sitting Labour MP,

Oona King, in Bethnal Green and Bow. King, whose mother is Jewish, claimed her background was mentioned repeatedly to local Muslim voters, a charge denied by Galloway.

Galloway’s spokesman Ron McKay followed up by rejecting claims that King had been racially abused during the campaign and said it had been King herself who brought up her Jewish background.

In 2006, Galloway appeared on the reality television show Big Brother.

While pretending to be a cat, he mimed licking imaginary milk from the cupped hands of another housemate, actress Rula Lenska.

He returned to the House of Commons after the 2012 Bradford West by-election, but in a humiliating night lost his seat in the 2015

George Galloway says his hatred of Israel is ‘anti-Zionist, not antisemitic’

general election. Undeterred, the Dundee-born broadcaster also stood as the Respect candidate in the 2016

London mayoral election, eventually finishing in seventh place, with 1.4 percent of the vote.

In July 2021, having been touted widely to win the Batley and Spen by-election in West Yorkshire with a campaign to secure support from local Muslims, Galloway finished in third place.

Throughout his career, he has strongly denied repeated claims of antisemitism against him. and has previously said his hatred of Israel is “anti-Zionist, not antisemitic”.

Responding to the 7 October Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, Galloway wrote: “The foul allegations of rape have been dropped by the Israeli government.

“The 40 beheaded babies has been downscaled to one dead baby, not beheaded, and killed by persons unknown.

“Two-thirds of Israelis killed on 7 October were military personnel.”

4

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5

ISRAEL AT WAR

US vetoes UN proposal and puts its own forward The United States this week vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian pause in Gaza, writes Jotam Confino in Israel.

It was the third time the US has vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire or humanitarian pause since 7 October. The resolution, put forward

by Algeria and backed by 22 Arab nations, also called for the immediate release of all hostages from Gaza.

“We still don’t believe that this is the right time for a general ceasefire that leaves Hamas in control and alleviates any responsibility for them to release the hostages,” White House national security council spokesman John Kirby said.

US deputy ambassador Robert Wood said that the resolution is not an “effective mechanism for trying to do the three things that we want to see happen, which is get hostages out, more aid in, and a lengthy pause to this conflict”.

Meanwhile, the US prepared its own resolution, to be voted on in the security council. The proposal calls

for a temporary ceasefire “as soon as practicable” and immediate release of all hostages and lifting of all restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza.

A looming Israeli military operation in the southern city of Rafah “should not proceed under current circumstances”, the proposal said.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said this month he had told the IDF to draw up a plan for the evacuation of more than one million Palestinian civilians in Rafah, for the army to proceed with its operation against Hamas.

Defence minister Yoav Gallant said at the weekend that 18 of Hamas’ 24 battalions in Gaza have been destroyed, and that four remain in Rafah. Hamas revealed, for the first time since 7 October, that an estimated 6,000 of its members have been killed in the war.

Israel, on the other hand, puts

A protest for release of hostages in Tel Aviv last weekend. Inset: Fallen solider Maoz Morell

the number at 12,000. It also says 237 IDF soldiers have been killed in Gaza, most recently yesterday, when Staff Sgt Avraham Wovagen, 21, of the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, was declared dead.

Despite growing calls among Israel’s allies to cancel its plans to operate in Gaza, due to the harsh conditions

for civilians and logistical issues to evacuate them, Israel insists that Rafah remains a focal point due to Hamas’ presence as well as the hostages likely being held there.

War cabinet member and leader of the National Unity party, Benny Gantz, also said that the IDF would invade Rafah if the hostages are not released by Ramadan next month.

A spontaneous demonstration

erupted on Tuesday night after Betzalel Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, stated that returning hostages from Gaza is not the most “important thing”.

“Why is it so important at the moment? We need to destroy Hamas.

That is very important,” he told Kan Public Broadcaster. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid called Smotrich’s remarks a “moral disgrace”.

Two charged after over the recent shocking attack on a student Palestine protest outside JFS school in Kenton by a group of

POLITICIANS PRAISE ‘ESSENTIAL’ CST Politicians from all parties have heaped praise on the work of the Community Security Trust in a Westminster debate about the appalling rise of antisemitism in the UK. On last week’s latest CST report on such incidents in the UK, which showed 4,103 instances of anti-Jewish racist hatred in 2023 with a huge upsurge after the 7 October Hamas attack, crime minister Chris Philp told MPs the communal charity was “an essential partner in our efforts to keep the Jewish community safe”.

He added: “I pay tribute to it for the brilliant work that it does.”

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper added: “I join the minister in thanking the CST for the remarkable and tireless work that it does each day, alongside the police, to keep our Jewish community safe.

“Having supported and worked with it over

many years, I know the incredible forensic work that it does in monitoring antisemitism, and the physical protection that it provides for Jewish schools, synagogues and other community events. We owe it our thanks.”

The debate also saw Brent Labour MP Barry Gardiner commend the “vigilance” of the CST

youths who shouted ‘Free Palestine’.

Conservative MP and former attorney general Michael Ellis raised concerns over a judge who reportedly ‘liked’ an antisemitic post on social media, passing a lenient sentence on protesters convicted of terrorism offences.

Philp replied that the judiciary is independent but such matters are referred to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.

Labour’s Christian Wakeford sought confirmation the government will make a recent increase in funding for the CST permanent.

The minister said: “The extra money ... will apply in the current financial year; it will be a £3 million increase to £18 million in total. It will also apply next year, in financial year 2024-25, and it will be kept under review thereafter.”

Uni’s Hamas-supporting employee The University of York has distanced itself from social media posts by a staff member who claimed Israel was “responsible for the murder of Israeli citizens” on 7 October and Zionists are “obsessed with rape and rape threats” – but refused to say what, if any, disciplinary steps it might be taking.

The university’s global partnerships manager Sabrina Zissler, who has worked at York since 2015, posted on Twitter/X on 7 February that it was “unfair to call it the Hamas attack when we now know

Sabrina Zissler: conspiracies

that Israeli forces have killed most of them”, echoing conspiracy theories on social media that the IDF

was responsible for the murder of Israeli citizens on 7 October.

Zissler described Holocaust refugees seeking refuge in Mandate Palestine as “arrogant Zionists” and claimed: “[Zionists] already have a list of war crimes the length of the Gaza Strip. And then they wonder why Hamas resist.”

She has also reposted a story about a Southgate rabbi caught with child abuse images, commenting: “Zionists and their obsession with rape and rape threats. It needs to be clinically investigated”.

After a pro-Israel account, NudderingNudnik, highlighted Zissler’s posts, she made her account private. The bio says her views are her own.

York University has adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

A university spokesman told Jewish News: “We are aware of the comments posted on social media and we are managing this in accordance with the appropriate university policies and procedures.” He added that “the comments were made in a personal capacity”.

Demonstrators on a bridge in Birmingham

Two people were charged and are due to appear in court after last weekend’s pro-Palestine demonstration in central London.

In total, 12 people were arrested for alleged offences that included inciting racial hatred, suspicion of support for a proscribed terror organisation in relation to a placard and assaulting emergency workers.

Lucia Whittaker De Abrew, 34, of Arthur Street, Derby, was charged with failing to remove a face-covering when required, and Martin Prady, 48, of Martock, Somerset, is accused of obstructing a constable.

Prady is due to attend Highbury magistrates court on 4 March and De Abrew will appear before Croydon magistrates on 5 March.

Five of the arrested have been bailed, and the others face no further action.

Tens of thousands are thought to have been at Saturday’s rally, with police saying the “overwhelming majority” acted lawfully. Protesters held ‘Ceasefire Now’ banners and chanted “Free Palestine” before congregating outside the Israeli embassy, where speeches were made.

6

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Jewish News 22 February 2024

ISRAEL AT WAR

Israel: ‘1,468 UNRWA workers are terrorists’ A staggering 1,468 UNRWA workers are members of either Hamas or Islamic Jihad, and Israel has proof of another 30 of its workers taking part in the 7 October massacre, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant has said, writes Jotam Confino.

The UN agency has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after Israel provided it with evidence that 12 of its workers took part in the 7 October attacks. A number of Western countries later suspended their aid to UNRWA after it dismissed nine of the workers.

Gallant said: “Today I am able to reveal the identities and pictures of 12 UNRWA workers who actively participated in the October 7 massacre. In addition to these 12 workers, we have significant indications based on intelligence, that over 30 UNRWA workers participated in the massacre, facilitated the taking of hostages, looted and stole from Israeli communities and more.

“Out of 13,000 UNRWA workers, 12 percent are affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamid Jihad. 1,468 workers are known to be active in

The UN agency’s responsibility for aid is to be given to other organisations

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” he added.

Gallant also claimed that 185 UNRWA workers are active in the military branches of Hamas while 51 are active in the PIJ military branch.

“Hamas uses UNRWA institutions including hospitals and schools in order to store weapons, launchers, command centres, build tunnel shafts

and tunnels. Nuchba forces [Hamas special forces] hide in UNRWA facilities. Hamas and PIJ launch missiles from UNRWA schools,” he said.

As a consequence of UNRWA’s alleged ties to Hamas, Gallant said he instructed the defence establishment to begin transferring responsibilities related to the delivery of aid to other organisations.

Fanatics target MP over Israeli husband Pro-Palestine fanatics are targeting a new Labour MP after it emerged his Israeli husband served in the military, writes Lee Harpin.

Damien Egan was elected in Kingswood in Bristol last Thursday, overturning a big Conservative majority to become one of two Labour candidates to triumph on a night of gloom for Rishi Sunak.

But after appearing at the election count with his husband Yossi Felberbaum, the new MP endured intimidation and abuse from proPalestine extremists, who have seized on the years the Israeli previously spent in the military.

It is understood that following other threats to MPs, including those that led Tory minister Mike Freer to announce he was stepping down from politics, the parliamentary authorities are to hold urgent talks with Egan about increasing protection for him as he begins his Westminster career.

Mike Katz, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, told the Mail on Sunday: “It’s disgusting that a

new MP’s husband is targeted by left-wing trolls, using the worst conspiratorial left antisemitism, simply because he once served in the Israeli army. It’s racism.”

Among those spreading conspiracies about Egan’s husband is the pro-Palestine rapper Lowkey, who posted on X/Twitter to his 380,000 followers: “Israeli soldier Yossi Felberbaum actively recruits for the infamous Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200. It spies on Palestinian electronic communications for the purpose of blackmail and secret evidence. It has been condemned by 43 whistleblowers from within the unit.”

Responding to the rapper’s post, one social media user, whose bio states he specialises in “attacking Zionists” writes:”How are we going to stop this Lowkey?

What can we do?”

Like all Israelis, Felberbaum completed military service. He went on to do a further spell in the intelligence unit. But his days in the IDF are now long behind him after he moved to the UK.

Fury at Brazilian leader’s Hitler jibe Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sparked fury after accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, comparing its military conduct to Nazi Germany. “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler killed the Jews,” he said.

It isn’t a war, “it’s a genocide,” he continued. “It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”

Benjamin Netanyahu commented: “By comparing Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organisation, to the Holocaust, President da Silva has disgraced the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and demonised the Jewish state like the most virulent anti-Semite. He should be ashamed of himself.”

Chairman of Yad Vashem, Dani Dayan, also reacted to the comments, calling them an “outrageous combination of hatred and ignorance”.

LIB DEM CLLR ARRESTED IN ANTISEMITISM INQUIRY Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: Police have arrested a suspended Lib“North Yorkshire Police takes hate eral Democrat councillor during crime extremely seriously and we an investigation into antisemitic are committed to identifying those messages, writes Lee Harpin. responsible.

Pat Marsh, a former borough “We are following all available mayor in Harrogate, was arrested lines of enquiry and would ask and taken into custody on Tuesday, anyone who has any information North Yorkshire Police said that could support our investigation, In a statement the force said: “A woman has been arrested in connection Pat Marsh other than seeing the tweets, to please come forward.” with an investigation into antisemitic The messages appeared to be posted ‘tweets’ shared on X, formerly known as Twitter. She remains in custody while in response to Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.

A spokesperson for the Lib Dems told Jewish enquiries continue.”

The Liberal Democrats suspended Marsh, News on Monday: “These appalling antisemitic who was the party’s leader in Harrogate and views have no place in our party.

“Ms Marsh has been removed from the Knaresborough, on Monday after Jewish News council group and has been reported to the reported on social media messages.

The posts, which were shared on Twitter/X, council’s standard officer.”

Marsh said she intended to continue to serve are believed to have been shared between Wednesday 24 January and Sunday 18 February. as an independent councillor after her suspenPolice said they are investigating the inci- sion.

She chairs the Harrogate and Knaresbordents as a hate crime and are appealing for ough area constituency committee, which anyone with information to come forward.

Inspector Nicola Colbourne, of Harrogate advises North Yorkshire Council on local issues.

Labour MP Damien Egan with husband Yossi Felberbaum

Austin dropped over tweet Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Communities secretary Michael refugees claimed it had been unaGove has said he is “deeply conware an operations centre used cerned” with the decision of a

by Hamas had been built under housing association to suspend its office in the region. its chair, the former Labour MP Austin later apologised on X Lord Austin, following a post on saying: “It was not my intention social media in which he described to offend anyone and I have deleted “Islamist rapists and murderers”.

Ian Austin [the tweet]. As I have written and The Birmingham-based Midland said many times, the vast majority of Heart organisation confirmed last Muslims are just as appalled by racism week that Lord (Ian) Austin had been and terrorism as everyone else.” suspended from his role as chair of the board Last week, Midland Heart chief executive over the post on on X (Twitter), even though Glenn Harris confirmed it had suspended the peer had subsequently deleted it, apoloAustin, claiming that the reputation of the gised and clarified that it was a reference to organisation had been damaged, and staff the Hamas terror group’s operations in Gaza.

Midland Heart chiefs says it plans to hold a angered by his conduct. It is understood that last Thursday, when the board met, Austin was further meeting in two weeks time to discuss not invited to the meeting, and was then told it Austin’s “removal from the board”. had been decided his position was untenable.

In a 10 February post on X, he had written: On Saturday, Gove said: “I am deeply con“Everyone, better safe than sorry: before you cerned by Midland Heart’s actions in seeking to go to bed, nip down and check you haven’t inadvertently got a death cult of Islamist mur- remove Lord Austin from their board.” He said he would be demanding an “urgent meeting” derers and rapists running their operations and an explanation, addin gthat Austin was a downstairs. It’s easily done.” “champion for affordable housing” who had It appeared to be a reference to reports in “spent his career fighting racism”. which the United Nations Relief and Works

22 February 2024 Jewish News

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Jewish News 22 February 2024

Special Report / March confrontation

Police said: ‘Hide your Jewish

by Michelle Rosenberg michelle@jewishnews.co.uk

A man filmed being asked by Edinburgh police to hide his Jewish identity during a pro-Palestinian march says it wasn’t an isolated incident.

Itamar Nitzan, 48, who was wearing a Magen David necklace at the event on 3 February, has lived in Scotland for the past 12 years. He told Jewish News he started wearing the Judaica jewellery after reading the Metropolitan Police in London was advising Jewish schoolchildren to hide their identities.

“I was outraged and immediately ordered a Magen David,” Nitzan told Jewish News.

Nitzan says the moment at the 1,000strong anti-Israel protest where a concerned

Itamar Nitzan attended the Edinburgh demo

police officer, while stressing Nitzan was doing nothing illegal, suggested he hide his Star of David necklace to avoid triggering the crowd, was caught on video by accident. The footage was shared widely across social media.

Nitzan said: “I took the phone out to take video of the protest when the police officer approached me and the camera was running.

I have been to previous similar protests, one just a week after 7 October in the city centre.

I went there with an Israeli flag and it was the same thing.

“The police approached me immediately, saying they were under-staffed and if it kicked off they couldn’t protect me and to remove my flag and walk away. This is not an isolated incident.”

Originally from Israel, Nitzan says it’s not his first time being involved in protest marches, although “this time I didn’t have my Israeli flag, I was just standing there”.

“The first time that I went, was a week after the (7 October) massacre. There were two police officers standing not far from me. And there were two random people from the crowd who identified with me and stood by me protectively, knowing I might be at risk.

“The second time I went to a similar protest, I was standing alone with a flag. The police could see me but by the time they approached I was surrounded by protesters with balaclavas and they were trying to get

A section of the pro-Palestine march in Edinburgh where Itamar Nitzan was asked to ‘hide his Jewish ide

violent. They were pulled back by older protesters. The police didn’t try to approach me initially and, when they did, they asked me to take down the flag because I was triggering

people. Luckily it wasn’t violent, but it was very close. There was someone with a balaclava in my face trying to initiate a fight.”

Nitzan continues to attend marches

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22 February 2024 Jewish News

9

March confrontation / Special Report

identity… we can’t protect you’

entity’. Screenshot: Campaign Against Antisemitism

because he has a personal connection with everything that is happening in Israel, beyond his immediate family living there.

He said: “I lost a friend who lived in Kfar

Aza. He was the commander of the response unit there. We studied together in college.

He was murdered on that day (7 October ).

Luckily his wife and children survived. Later on a relative of mine was killed in action in the Gaza Strip fighting to try and find the hostages and get rid of Hamas. It’s very personal for me, that all these people are calling ‘From the River to the Sea’, and for the destruction of Israel.”

Nitzan has since approached his MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) Miles Briggs with the video. “He forwarded it to Police Scotland, and made an approach to the local commander asking about the incident. I’m also speaking with Police Scotland.

I will ask them if this is a policy.”

Nitzan says he disagrees completely with “this whole notion that the Jews need to hide now; that you shouldn’t tell anyone you are Israeli. My grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. My other grandfather had to flee Iran because of persecution. It’s a personal thing not to cave in and hide.”

He added that while the police are always very courteous, “I’m very proud of my heritage and my religion and I’m not going to listen to the recommendations of the police. I’m a big boy. I can take of myself. I’m not intimidated by these thugs.”

The few who do fly the Israeli flag, he said, “gives hope for the many others who are afraid

to walk against the stream. I love Israel. And I’ve lived there most of my life. But my life is set here now and I’m very happy to fly the Israeli flag. Nothing much has changed. It’s the same approach from the police to the victim: ‘You may want to hide. We can’t control it.’

Then what are the police for?”

A Police Scotland spokesperson told Jewish News: “We are aware of the video and the contents are being reviewed.”

The Home Office referred Jewish News to a statement from home secretary James Cleverly: “The rise in antisemitic hatred and abuse we have seen in the UK in recent months is utterly deplorable.

“We’ve taken strong steps to confront this head-on – increasing funding for protective security at Jewish schools and places of worship, working with the police to ensure that hate crime and expressions of support for the terrorist organisation Hamas are met with the full force of the law, and proscribing Hizb ut-Tahrir, an antisemitic organisation that actively promotes and encourages terrorism.

“But we know the Jewish community need to continue to see that tackling antisemitism is a priority for us. I recently met with members of the community, including the very professional Community Security Trust who have been doing such vital work, and heard firsthand the impact on their feeling of safety. I will

do everything in my power to ensure they are safe, and just as importantly feel safe.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Yet again, a supposed peace march has proved to be about everything but peace, so much so, that police felt that they had to ask Jews to hide signs of their identity.

“For months now, we have been calling for restrictions to be placed on these marches.

The police are so outnumbered that they cannot cope and are unable to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens and, instead, are appeasing the mob.

“If you want to know why 90 percent of British Jews say that they avoid travelling to a city centre if a major anti-Israel demonstration is taking place there, this is why.

“Police have powers to ban or restrict these marches under the Public Order Act and it is high time that they used those powers so that they can finally bring Britain’s streets back under control.”

A CST spokesperson told Jewish News: “The police have a difficult job, and while it is obviously never acceptable for Jewish people to have to hide their identity, the officer in this case appears to be trying to protect an individual Jewish person whom he considers to be at risk. The bigger issue is why these rallies and marches are allowed to continue at all if the police believe that it is not safe for a visibly Jewish person to be standing nearby.”

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11

MeToo betrayal / Racism verdict / Ofcom probe / News

Israeli lawyer ‘betrayed’ by world’s deafening silence on sexual abuse One of Israel’s leading lawyers and feminists has said she feels “betrayed” by the reluctance of international women’s organisations to speak out about Israeli women who were sexually abused during the Hamas terror attacks, writes Jenni Frazer.

But Ayelet Razin Bet Or told an audience at Hendon Synagogue “being silent is not an option” as she continues to raise the issue whenever she can, travelling to the US and Canada before her London visit.

She was brought to the UK by the Human Chain project.

Razin Bet Or, most recently chief executive of the Israeli Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women, served as legal adviser and head of policy for the country’s Association of Assistance Centres for Victims of Sexual Assault.

She also led an Israeli advocacy group which spelled out to officials and delegates at the United Nations the grotesque horrors of sexual abuse carried out by Hamas — on women, children and even some men. She asked her audience to join her in “bearing witness” to what happened.

Of the women attacked on 7 October, Razin Bet Or said: “Women’s bodies were part of the battlefield.

Ayelet Razin Bet Or

They became part of the spoils of war”. What was learned about genderbased violence, she said, “involved not only rape but also mutilation, harassment, touching of intimate body parts, parading naked or half-naked women in the streets of Gaza”.

In gathering evidence, a shellshocked Israel had initially treated the ravaged kibbutzim and the Nova party as “a war zone rather than a

crime scene”. There were also understandable problems as a result of the halachic instruction for speedy burials, something which the bereaved families also wanted. Evidence, women advocates think, may often have been buried with the victims.

Razin Bet Or made it clear Israel had “very few” direct testimonies from victims. “Many survivors had and have many barriers to cross,

before they can talk about how they were assaulted. What we do have is four women and one man who approached social services [in Israel] and identified themselves as victims — people from the Nova party.

“In addition there are two testimonies from hostages; a female officer who said every time she was alone in a room with a terrorist, he would repeatedly tell her to take her clothes off. She somehow found the strength to resist him, and didn’t do it, but this was his demand.

“Another released hostage has talked about being touched in her intimate body parts. Those are the direct indications that we have.”

The army during its ground assault in Gaza found written material in Arabic of Hebrew phrases such as “spread your legs” or “get your clothes off”, leaving no doubt about the intention of the Hamas attackers.

Razin Bet Or said there were also eyewitness accounts. “I know of more than seven witness testimonies to rapes and gang rapes, all at the Nova party and all of whom [the raped] were murdered after the rapes. There are three testimonies from released hostages, including things told to them by hostages still in Gaza”.

One doctor, she said, had spoken of

the “fear” in a released hostage’s eyes when he gave her “the results that she was not pregnant and that she did not have HIV. She didn’t say she was assaulted — but it was there.”

Razin Bet Or said a huge amount of video footage was still being analysed by special IDF units. The problem was “the material is being viewed by people looking for hostages and identifying terrorists. They’re not looking for what I’m looking for — indications of gender-based violence.”

The lawyer said it was “very important” when telling the stories of sexual abuse that “it was not some terrorist who flipped because of drugs. It was clearly systematic, pre-meditated — this was what Hamas came to do.”

Diaspora Jews and Israelis alike had to “bear witness” and tell the stories, “because there are so many who are not here to tell themselves”.

Returning to her mantra of “being silent is not an option”, Razin Bet Or insisted: “It’s not an option for us and it’s not an option for them — the international community — not to respond to our demands.

“I feel deeply betrayed by organisations such as MeToo or UN Women.

I truly believed in the solidarity, the sisterhood. I’m still a feminist — I just feel they changed the rules on me.”

‘Jew-free’ doctor is not OFCOM SILENT OVER a racist, tribunal rules SUSPENDED DIRECTOR A doctor who claimed Hammerof Jewish with a ‘Y’, because of his smith would be better if it was accent.

“Jew free” is not racist but The tribunal concluded: simply “comfortable with “The evidence suggested using discriminatory lanthat it was Dr Psaroudakis’ guage,” an independent tricommon practice to pick bunal has found. out and use what could Dr Dimitrios Psaroudakis, be considered offensive a consultant gynaecologist, or derogatory characterishas been suspended by the tics about people whom he Medical Practitioners Tribunal did not like or get along with, Service for three months after and liberally use those terms to making racially offensive, sexist and Dimitrios describe them. Rather than use derogatory remarks about colleagues Psaroudakis someone’s name or work title, Dr and patients.

Psaroudakis preferred to make The tribunal found Psaroudakis’ com- unpleasant and unacceptable references to ments to be morally reprehensible and sexu- protected characteristics of colleagues. ally explicit. While not being labelled explic“The Tribunal makes no finding that Dr itly as racist, he was comfortable using dis- Psaroudakis is a racist but is satisfied that criminatory language, violating the trust and he is someone who is quite comfortable with respect expected from medical professionals, using discriminatory language.” the tribunal concluded.

Psaroudakis resigned in September 2022 Psaroudakis, who previously worked at the and his suspension came into force last Evewell fertility clinic, referred to Jewish col- month, meaning he will be able to practice leagues as ‘leprechaun’, ‘alky’, s**t for brains’ again from April. and ‘big nose’ in messages to a colleague.

The tribunal heard how Dr Psaroudakis He made repeated references to Jewish col- also made inappropriate comments about a leagues as “yews”, suggested Hammersmith patient whose husband had taken his own life. would be improved if it were “yew free”, and It said such comments from a medical proreferred to the clinic as “the temple” fessional about a patient’s husband killing Psaroudakis said he used the term ‘Yew’ themselves were “appalling, disrespectful or ‘Yewish’ in the messages replacing the ‘J’ and morally reprehensible”.

More than four months after she was suspended as online safety director for Ofcom, the broadcasting regulatory body, Fadzai Madzingira’s fate remains a mystery, writes Jenni Frazer.

Days after the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7 last year, Madzingira was active on her Instagram account, with posts and re-posts which appeared to be anti-Israeli in sentiment.

She is said to have “liked” a post from Black Lives Matter UK, which was critical of the British government for deploying Royal Navy ships to support Israel in the Gaza conflict. The post said: “As if it wasn’t bad enough already, the UK is also set to participate in the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians. Shame on this vile colonial alliance. #freepalestine.”

The Guido Fawkes political site published a screenshot of an apparent posting Madzingira made on her Instagram Stories account, in which she commented on “the targeting of Palestinians”, and appeared to liken Israel’s actions to genocide. In another post, Madzingira allegedly liked a post calling Israel and the UK “a vile colonial alliance.”

After Jewish News approached Ofcom in mid-October, the organisation said: “Having reviewed these comments we’ve suspended this colleague, pending further investigation.”

Madzingira, who was only appointed to

Suspended: Ofcom’s Fadzai Madzingira

the Ofcom role last May, describes herself as a “Zimbabwean, a black feminist, a student of decolonisation and a deep believer of liberty for all”, saying she has “one hope” before posting a Palestinian flag emoji.

But four months on from the suspension, Ofcom was unable to say more than that its investigation was “still ongoing”. Madzingira’s name only appears on Ofcom’s website in relation to her original appointment to the online safety position.

A spokesman said that “as this is a personnel matter we are unable to provide details while the investigation remains ongoing”.

12 Jewish News 22 February 2024

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News / Prince’s plans / Certificate shock / Theatre drama / Judge criticised

William to attend shul event on suffering in Gaza conflict

The Prince of Wales at the Western Wall during his Middle East visit in 2018

The Prince of Wales is to carry out royal events which “recognise the human suffering” caused by the war in the Middle East, subsequent conflict in Gaza and the global rise in antisemitism, Kensington Palace has said.

William, who this week spoke of the “terrible human cost of the conflict in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attack” as he met aid workers helping to provide humanitarian support in the region, will join a synagogue discussion with young people from different communities who are advocates against hatred and antisemitism.

William’s satement on Gaza reads: “Too many have been killed. I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible. There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza.

“It’s critical that aid gets in and the hostages are released. Sometimes it is only when faced

with the sheer scale of human suffering that the importance of permanent peace is brought home.

“Even in the darkest hour, we must not succumb to the counsel of despair. I continue to cling to the hope that a brighter future can be found and I refuse to give up on that.”

Kensington Palace said: “The prince and princess were profoundly concerned by events that unfolded in late 2023 and continue to hold all the victims, their family and friends in their hearts and minds. They continue to share in the hope of a better future for all those affected.”

On behalf of the UK government, William in 2018 undertook the first official trip by a member of the monarchy to Israel and the Occupied West Bank.

During his visit he sat down for separate talks with Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.

‘ISRAEL’ ERASED ON CERTIFICATE The Home Office has begun an “urgent” investigation over a baby’s birth certificate being returned to her parents “with the word Israel scribbled out”.

The document was sent off as

The returned birth certificate

part of a passport application and returned with the father’s place of birth defaced, Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said.

The communal charity posted a photo of the birth certificate online, saying the incident had left the girl’s parents “very concerned”.

Home secretary James Cleverly replied online stating he had asked for it to be investigated urgently.

CAA posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Two weeks ago, a member of the public sent off a passport application to @ukhomeoffice for his sixmonth-old baby girl. Today, the birth certificate was returned ripped with the word ‘Israel’ scribbled out ...

“We are asking the Home Office to investigate how this happened. The Home Office has responsibility for

law enforcement and the security of the Jewish community.”

CAA said the incident was “completely unacceptable”, adding: “When sending off a passport application to the Home Office, the last thing one should ever expect is to have their child’s birthday certificate returned, torn, with the parent’s place of birth scribbled out, just because it is the Jewish state.

“The Home Office has responsibility for law enforcement and the security of the Jewish community and the wider public.

The post continued: “Confidence in the authorities among British Jews is at painfully low levels and must be restored.”

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

Police guard for Oberman play Police stood guard outside a West End theatre on the opening night of a play starring Jewish EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman over fears of antisemitic attacks.

Officers monitored spectators attending the Criterion Theatre’s opening night of The Merchant of Venice 1936, starring the 57-year-old actress, after she received menacing online abuse.

Oberman, who plays Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap opera, has been an outspoken campaigner against the rise of antisemitism, particularly in Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.

She plays Shylock in the new adaptation of the Merchant, which has just transferred to the West End and reimagines London on the brink of political unrest, with fascism sweeping across Europe and Oswald

Tracy-Ann Oberman as Shylock

Mosley’s British Union of Fascists threatening a paramilitary march through the Jewish East End. It is understood that after Oberman’s appearances in the play at Stratford’s Swan Theatre and a series of media interviews to promote it, she received vile online abuse, some of which appeared threatening.

Friends say she became so concerned

about the transfer of the show to the West End the Metropolitan Police were alerted and took the threats seriously enough to have a presence at the London theatre as the play opened.

One audience member, Stephen Gilchrist, posted on X/Twitter: “This is what we’ve come to. The police having to secure a line of theatregoers waiting to get into the Criterion Theatre to see Tracey-Ann Oberman’s production of Merchant of Venice for fear of antisemitic violence. Suffice to say T-A O is a bloody hero.”

Tellingly, the actress later shared the post on her own platform on X. Of the play, Oberman said: “It has been a lifelong cherished dream of mine to bring this play to the stage in a new way, reimagining Shylock as one of the tough, no-nonsense Jewish matriarchs I grew up around.”

AMY’S MAGEN DAVID DEFACED A Palestinian flag sticker was put over the Star of David necklace on the statue of Amy Winehouse in Camden Market. The statue was erected in 2014 by the Jewish singer’s father Mitch (inset) to mark three years since her death, aged 27. Police, who are looking at CCTV footage, said the incident ‘will have caused upset to many people’

JUDGE AT BAY OVER PRO-PALESTINE POST A minister has suggested a judge accused of giving lenient sentences for terrorism offences should be investigated for appearing to support a pro-Palestine social media post.

As the Commons discussed UK antisemitism, the Home Office’s Chris Philp told MPs he would expect the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) to examine the matter.

He was responding to Conservative former minister Sir Michael Ellis, who said the failure of police to deal with incidents in marches in London was “a historic disgrace that has unleashed more attacks”.

Three women in their twenties were found guilty of a terrorist offence for showing images of

paragliders at a pro-Palestinian march in the week following the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.

Each was given a 12-month conditional discharge by deputy senior district judge Tan Ikram.

A screen grab appeared to show the judge’s account had liked a LinkedIn post which read: “Free Free Palestine. To the Israeli terrorist both in the UK, the US, and of course Israel you can run, you can bomb but you cannot hide – justice will come for you.”

The judge said he “didn’t know he had liked the post” and “if he did, it was a genuine mistake”, according to comments on his behalf by the Judicial Press Office.

22 February 2024 Jewish News

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22 February 2024 Jewish News

15

Trauma aid / News

Nature’s way to ease pain The day after 7 October, the venerable Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) turned itself into Nature For the Protection of Society, with a range of programmes offering mental health respite to teenagers and adults unable to deal with the trauma of the Hamas massacres, writes Jenni Frazer.

SPNI director of partnerships and development Jay Shofet said: “Already on Saturday night and Sunday morning [7-8 October], our field schools in the south were spontaneously filling up with evacuees from kibbutzim and places such as Sderot and Ofakim. They weren’t official places – but people were fleeing.”

SPNI decided to set up temporary emergency shelters in its field schools, taking in more than 200 families in October.

Shofet said: “We gave them love and three meals a day, provided all kinds of nature respite activities for the kids and the adults, set up a preschool system and mother-and-baby rooms with dedicated supplies and brought in local doctors and social workers, volunteers, some retired.”

SPNI leaders finding teenage

Back to life: Participants on SPNI’s four-day outward bound desert programme for displaced teenagers aged 16-18

boys with nothing to do while evacuated contacted the Brothers in Arms group of former reservists, which had suspended its anti-judicial reform protests and become a major conduit for support and aid: “That same day they sent down a truckful of sports equipment for the kids”.

SPNI field schools in the north were filling up, too, not with evacuees but with reservists who had been called up but for whom there was no room on their army bases.

Until the government was organ-

ised and began paying for evacuee accommodation, it was civil groups like SPNI that provided practical answers. The society even turned two field schools into “pop-up public schools” for young children whose education had been disrupted.

“A lesson we drew from hosting people that first month is we at SPNI had one of the answers to the national trauma,” Shofet said. “It is scientifically proven nature heals.

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stress and trauma. The ministry of health has been saying Israel needs to find non-pharmacological solutions and we have a perfect answer.”

Accordingly, SPNI has devised various programmes under the umbrella “Nature Heals”, including an ‘outward bound’ desert programme for displaced teenagers.

“These are kids who have been living in cramped conditions in hotel rooms with their families, often sharing a room or even a bed for almost three months,” Shofet noted.

“They are spiralling into depression and drug use.”

Southern kibbutzim teenagers have found school cohorts gone.

Sometimes, says Shofet, “they don’t have school, or if they do they don’t go because they’re not motivated”.

SPNI began taking teenagers to the desert in groups of 40 at the end of November – so successfully that so far it has taken more than 800.

“We challenge them physically, there’s tough hiking … and the fact they don’t have cellphone reception is just a whole other world. It’s been a revelation when they come back from these programmes.”

There are also day hikes for adult evacuees in Eilat or the Dead Sea, and even short two- to three-hour programmes. SPNI is also working with the families of IDF reservists stuck at home while the reservist is serving in the military.

“The problem is way bigger than us,” Shofet says. “There is a huge mental health problem and we don’t have as many professionals in the field as we need. We are talking highfunctioning people who are traumatised and depressed and stressed”.

In a normal year, SPNI raises two-thirds of its income from eco-tourism, groups staying in its field schools, school trips, guided hikes, with 20 percent coming from the ministry of education. In this abnormal year, SPNI somewhat to its surprise has had a commitment from the small ministry of environmental protection to DESSERT match upFREE to $600,000 it has raised for its Nature Heals programmes.

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News / Cancer care / Disability games

Baldly backing cancer patient mum Four sons of a cancer patient from Elstree have shaved their heads to raise vital funds for Chai and Cancer Research UK, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Their mum, Emma Cohen, 53, was diagnosed with breast cancer last September. She has had two operations and lost her hair as a side effect of chemotherapy.

To support her, Daniel, Harry, James and Josh all shaved their heads on 12 February at a local barber shop, raising more than £8,000 for the cancer charities.

Proud dad Elliot Cohen said: “They hope to raise as much money as they can to support other people going through this themselves and hopefully prevent others from having to go through it in future at all.”

Emma Cohen told Jewish News she was “very proud of my four boys and grateful to them and all my friends and family for their support”.

She described the head shaving, carried out for free at Goaties salon in Radlett, as “a memorable and emotional event” and said

barber Mario “was amazing and made the whole experience fun”.

Josh, who is in year 13 at Immanuel College, said: “Unfortunately, mum was diagnosed with breast cancer last September and has been going through chemotherapy for about three months now, which has been difficult for all of us and for her most of all.

“I wanted to gain some control over the situation and do something to support her. Obviously, there isn’t anything I can do to actually help Mum with her medical treatment as I’m not an oncologist. So instead, I thought I could help out in a more indirect way and help other families too.”

He said he is “proud of the money we have raised. It’s very strange being bald – and I’m looking forward to going back to school after half-term to show off my new haircut!”

This is the second time James, 21, has shaved his head. In 2016, aged 15, he and a friend did so to support another school friend who was undergoing cancer treatment and has since thankfully made a full recovery.

Hair-raising: Daniel (27), Harry (25), James (21) and Josh (18) from Elstree fundraised more than £8k for Chai Cancer Care and Cancer Research UK to support Emma Cohen

London Youth Games to BARNET OPENS FIRST FULLY include disability access ACCESSIBLE PLAYGROUND Maccabi GB is hosting the inaugural European Maccabi Youth Games at the end of July, writes Jenni Frazer.

The event, attracting hundreds of young people worldwide, will incorporate a unique component — a programme for those with special educational needs.

The games, known as EMYG24, are from 30 July - 6 August in Hertfordshire, with up to 23 different sports events for two categories — Youth (under 18) and Junior (under 16).

Maccabi is seeking interested participants for the programme for young people aged 14-18 who have “mild

Caption to go here

to moderate” special educational needs, and asking them to register. They can choose to take part in a sports contest or serve as volunteers at the games, or both. Sports on offer include football, basketball, golf, bowling, athletics, table tennis and cycling.

Maccabi GB chief executive Ashley Lerner said: “Maccabi GB have a long history of working with young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

“We are acutely aware the SEND community has little access to mainstream sport and as such want to ensure the European Maccabi Youth Games and sport in general become accessible for the whole community.”

Teenagers or their parents on their behalf should visit maccabigb.org/emygaccess, or email charlotte@maccabigb.org for further details and a registration form.

Rinder joins homesharing project as new ambassador Social care initiative Two Generations Homeshare has appointed Rob Rinder as its first celebrity ambassador.

Co-founded in 2018 by Jewish social worker Natasha Langleben, the organisation offers a national homesharing service. It matches older people who have a spare room and can benefit from companionship and support around the house with younger, carefully vetted housemates. Posting on Twitter/X that he was delighted with the news, Rob Rinder said: “No-one should have to go through life feeling isolated or lonely and so many of us have older people in our lives that we may not be able to see as much as we like. The work Two Generations do in transforming people’s later life is really exciting. I look forward to helping grow

the awareness of homeshares across the UK and bringing support to people who just need a bit of companionship.”

Two Generations has Homeshares across the UK, supporting older people to remain in their own home, feel safe overnight and enjoy much needed companionship.

Sam Brandman, chief executive officer of Two Generations, said: “We couldn’t think of a better fit for our service; Rob really cares about people and with his legal background, naturally cares about all the checks and diligence that go into making these matches sustainable for the longer term. Our challenge has been how few people have heard of homeshare and we’re excited to have Rob on board as an ambassador to help make people aware.”

Winnie O’Malley is only five, but has almost never been able to play on swings or slides in her local park, writes Jenni Frazer. Winnie has cerebral palsy and uses a walker to help her — but mum Annika says she’s now too big to lift on to playground equipment.

Like other families with disabled children, the O’Malleys avoid parks and when her mainstream nursery has events, Winnie has to stand aside and watch as ablebodied classmates scramble around having fun. Annika says: “It’s heartbreaking.”

All that is about to change thanks to a groundbreaking project just opened in East Barnet — Britain’s first fullyaccessible and inclusive playground, Fair Play. It’s the brainchild of two Jewish women, Deborah Gundle and Nathalie Esfandi, plus Belsize Square Synagogue member Angela Harding, awarded an OBE in 2014 for her work with deaf children.

Deborah Gundle’s son, Zach, has severe learning disabilities. A social entrepreneur and learning disabilities specialist, she has thrown herself into offering solutions for the profoundly disabled, particularly in the Jewish community.

She has produced three films related to disability, and published two accessible prayer books for people with learning disabilities. Her playground co-founder, Nathalie Esfandi, previously founded a

Children playing on an accessible playground swing

business specialising in educational placemats for children, and works extensively supporting children who face challenges in education or in the field of disabilities.

Gundle said: “As a mother with a disabled son, I know how difficult it is for families like ours to be able to play together. Inclusive play will reduce stigma through positive experiences in a society where social integration and physical fitness are important to all of us.”

The East Barnet playground is designed to follow the example of Beit Issie Shapiro in Israel, which built an inclusive playground which led to the creation of many more in other municipalities.

There are now 60-plus such

playgrounds in Israel, modelled on Beit Issie Shapiro’s first example.

Fair Play, in the Victoria Recreation Ground in Park Road, East Barnet, cost £500,000 to build with the money coming from independent funding and donations, including £100,000 from Barnet Council.

Barnet mayor Nagus Narenthira said she was honoured to open the inclusive playground last week, adding: “It’s wonderful to see so many people of all ages and abilities being able to play together.

“We are fortunate in Barnet to have had such a wonderful team of fundraisers to help achieve this and I hope this is a model that we can see more of in future.”

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22 February 2024 Jewish News

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19

ISRAEL AT WAR

New art show focus on hostages

The exhibition goes on show in London’s Trafalgar Square

A powerful exhibition created by Israel-based artists following the horrific events of 7 October has opened in London, writes Jenni Frazer.

The art, launched by the World Zionist Organisation’s department of Israel and the Holocaust Commemoration, was installed initially at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

Led by WZO vice-chairman Gil Segal and the head of WZO in the UK and Europe, Matan Bar Noy and his team, it was created in collaboration

with volunteers from the 7/10 Human Chain Project, one of the main organisers of the rallies and installations in the UK since 7 October, with a focus on bringing the hostages home.

The works on display depict the collective pain of the Israeli people since the Hamas terror atrocities and the grief around those who were kidnapped and murdered.

The art includes a work depicting a ginger-haired baby, believed to be Kfir Bibas, behind bars. He has spent

more than a quarter of his life in captivity, with his mother and brother.

Another piece portrays a baby lying inside a bleeding poppy, symbolising the unimaginable number of children and babies murdered on 7 October, and the 40 children kidnapped to Hamas terror tunnels.

A third artwork, Hope, shows a dove flying away from a person’s tied hands, reflecting the desperation and helplessness felt by many in relation to the kidnapped.

Matan Bar Noy said: “We have selected a handful of examples out of hundreds created after 7 October.

“In addition to the valuable works shown here in the UK, this exhibition provides an artistic point of view and incorporates Jewish and Israeli values. The details offer a muchneeded deeper understanding of the situation Israel is currently facing.”

The exhibition will move around key locations in London including Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square, Covent Garden and Oxford Circus.

It was created by 12 independent creatives and is an initiative by the artist Rotem Mor who said: “I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Jewish community for embracing Israel during this difficult period. As

Theodor Herzl said in 1897 at the first Zionist Congress in Basel, ‘we are a people – one people’.”

Orit Eyal-Fibeesh, a co-founder of the 7/10 Human Chain, says the exhibition is another opportunity to create much-needed awareness among the British public about the horrific events of 7 October: “This is particularly important considering the growing hatred seen in the streets of London over the last few months;

hatred that is often fuelled by bias and lack of awareness.”

WZO vice chairman Gil Segal hopes the works will offer the unaware a chance to learn, understand the challenges and foster empathy.

Calling for a united effort to free the hostages, he added: “I extend a prayer for their lives and their safe return home and for a full recovery to all those who were physically and mentally wounded.”

WORDS OF TRUTH ON BRICK LANE MURAL

A mural seen this week in Old Street in central London continued the theme of safeguarding the young in times of tension with the message ‘All Children are Innocent’ linked to a website inviting comments and urging: “Let’s at least agree on that”.

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Special Report / Stem cell donor

Giving six million stem cells to help save life 3,000 miles away

On the 27th yahrzeit of Sue Harris, Jewish News meets Jacob Harris, who was a match for a blood cancer patient he’d never met, writes Michelle Rosenberg

A

21-year-old Jewish man from Leeds has donated millions of precious stem cells in the hope of saving the life of a stranger.

Jacob Harris, who studied at Nottingham Trent and is currently on a placement year in the property industry, was encouraged to take a swab test after a conversation over a Shabbat meal last summer.

“One of my cousin’s mutual friends, James Whitehall, needed a stem cell donor. He came to Friday night dinner and gave everyone a swab test to do that weekend.”

That Shabbat meal appears to be a moment of fate. Harris’s cousin happened to be volunteering at a swabbing drive in Leeds for DKMS, a German organisation working in the UK with the Sue Harris Trust to recruit adult stem cell donors for patients with blood cancer. And while the odds of not matching are extremely high, Harris heard back “really quickly”.

He adds: “I’d been in Israel for the whole summer doing an apprenticeship and came back to be told I was a potential match.”

With blood tests confirming he was healthy, Harris came to London for a full medical assessment last November.

He told Jewish News: “I was quite surprised at how quick it all was. I felt a bit surreal, in terms of being capable of helping someone in such a way.”

Harris’s official stem cell donation days were across 7 and 8 December.

He adds: “The person I was donating to was in Canada. He’s a man in his 50s, but the team were very confidential about his identity.

There is a high chance he was Jewish and none of his family had matched with him.”

On the morning of 7 December, Harris headed to the London Clinic and “met with these amazing nurses who talked me through everything. They explained the procedure. They hooked me up on one arm to take blood out, and they filter that to separate the stem cells

The act of giving: Above and left, Jacob Harris during his donating sessions at The London Clinic

from the blood cells.

“I had injections leading up to it to multiply my count. I had two a day for three days. They were quite painful and gave me body aches.”

Harris said: “Surprisingly, I was never scared. I was quite confident going into it, that it was the right thing to do, to help someone else.

“I didn’t feel that emotional because it felt like such an insignificant thing to do to help someone in such a big way.”

Jacob Harris was in hospital for up to five hours a day for two days. While undergoing the treatment, he had his laptop, watched Netflix, spoke to the nurses and ate.

He remembers “drinking chocolate milk as they recommend a lot of calcium. The catering team at hospital looked after me with lunch; a sandwich and with some soup. It wasn’t quite smoked salmon and cream cheese but it was close enough.”

The hospital called Harris back that first evening for further injections because he was “slightly dehydrated” before returning the following morning.

All in all, the hospital took 6.87 million stem cells over the two days.

Harris said: “When I’d finished, they were very thankful. The stem cells travelled to Canada the next day for the patient, who had gone through a parallel treatment – with

❝

SOMEONE IN THE UK IS DIAGNOSED WITH BLOOD CANCER EVERY 20 MINUTES BUT CURRENTLY ONLY THREE PERCENT OF THE POPULATION IS REGISTERED AS A STEM CELL DONOR a big boost in their chemotherapy – to prepare him for the infusion.”

It will be at least a year before Harris discovers if his donation was successful. There is the opportunity to write to the stem cell recipient,

but he hasn’t sent anything.

He explains that “either one of you can write to each other. I figured if I didn’t hear anything from him, I didn’t want to intrude. He is under no obligation to write and I’m happy with myself for doing it.”

Harris says his family is very proud: “My cousin that originally set me up to do it was delighted.

He thought it was very impactful.

All I had to do was sit there for a couple of days – but the person I was helping had probably been in hospital for months.

“With everything going on in Israel it felt like quite a small piece to help someone else given the extremes of everything else happening.”

DKMS spokesperson Deborah Hyde said: “We’re so grateful to everyone who supports DKMS’s mission to delete blood cancer.

“Jacob is an inspirational example of how becoming a stem cell donor can give someone needing a transplant a second chance at life.

“Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer, but currently only three percent of the UK population is registered as stem cell donors. If you’re aged 17 to 55 and in general good health, it’s quick and easy to sign up at dkms.org.uk.”

Sue Harris Trust secretary Lionel Salama told Jewish News: “Today is Sue’s yahrzeit (12 Adar I), so it’s wonderful to hear such uplifting news.

“Indeed, her campaign is busier than ever, recruiting donors for this year’s Jewish Swab Week in Gateshead, Manchester and London.”

Now that he’s been found to be a match, there is a possibility Harris can be called upon again.

He said it is “quite an honourable thing to do.

“It’s such a minor inconvenience but makes such a big impact. There’s no reason people shouldn’t be open to doing it.”  2024 marks the 27th year of the passing of Sue Harris, who together with her friends founded blood cancer charity the Sue Harris Campaign in 1993.

Sue died on 19 February 1997, aged 34

www.jewishnews.co.uk

22 February 2024 Jewish News

Sea One – Private Club Live the Dream in Israel With the future so uncertain for Jews everywhere, many are once again looking to Israel as a haven. Yet, even without the current challenges, moving countries is never simple. And that's where Sea One Private Club steps in with the launch of a new concept in luxury residential resort living to ease the transition into Aliyah.

The beautiful complex, developed by Oranim Group, an international company with over 30 years’ experience in successful seafront projects, is situated right on the stunning beachfront and aims to turn every day into a holiday.The Club Residence, open to Olim and Israelis over 60, provides all the amenities of a world-class resort: concierge and laundry services, extensive spa facilities and stateof-the-art gym, gorgeous swimming pools, Jacuzzi, banquet halls, and synagogue. Culture beats at the heart of the Club: bridge games, an art studio, cinema, and round-the-clock cultural events fill each day with joy; all with the sea as backdrop. Step out of your door onto a beachfront promenade of shops, restaurants, cafes and food markets; or cross the road and hit the surf.

Entertaining has never been so easy: some 20-plus units are available for friends and family; food flows freely in fine-dining restaurants and grab-'n-go cafes, and all the facilities are open to guests.

Banquet halls, private rooms, or the synagogue are perfect for celebrating special events like bar mitzvahs or birthdays; and somebody else will do the cleaning up!

The Sea One concept is to facilitate a hassle-free transition from home to new- home, whether you are retired or a hot-shot entrepreneur. A beautifully-appointed, fully-equipped business lounge is available, together with posh conference rooms, sophisticated communication and fabulous networking opportunities. Days and nights are crammed with lectures, concerts, and other cultural activities; even Hebrew lessons are right on-site for new Olim eager to learn the language.

What's more, trained staff is on hand to help deal with the famous only-in-Israel bureaucracy; let an Israeli ease you into the complications.

The ultra-elegant Residence is located on the Rishon LeZion seafront only a 15 - minute drive from Tel Aviv; 20 minutes from Ben-Gurion Airport; and 45-minutes away from Jerusalem with a train station located 6 minutes away by car; a planned metro station will be a short walk down the road.

The city of Rishon LeZion itself is one of the fastest growing commercial and hi-tech centers in the country, with a myriad of facilities and amenities.

The project, set to open at the end of 2024, adheres to the highest standards of construction and safety. The luxurious apartments come in a wide range of spacious layouts, with floor areas from 50 square meters to 130 square meters. All units include a safe room, fully equipped bathrooms and kitchens, and private terraces; penthouses and garden apartments are also available.

Registration costs start at 3 million NIS; this deposit is fully refundable after Consumer Price Index adjustment. Residents pay monthly membership fees starting from 9,000 NIS, and may choose to terminate their membership with three months’ notice. Easy registration requires only a 70,000 NIS deposit with the balance payable on completion.

Sea One Private Club lets you live the dream: wake up by the beach and work or play all day in the sun. Sea One Private Club is no doubt the best place to make Aliyah.

For further information contact: +972-545613965 www.seaone.co.il

21

22 Jewish News 22 February 2024

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Editorial comment and letters

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

As a Kingswood constituent, I voted for Damien Egan and am overjoyed he won. His triumph not only demonstrates his outstanding leadership qualities but also represents a significant milestone for our community.

His gracious acknowledgment of his husband, Yossi Felberbaum, during his victory speech exemplified the values of inclusivity and equality he stands for. It was inspiring to see the couple’s unwavering support for one another, reflecting the strength of love and partnership. I am confident that under Mr Egan’s guidance, Kingswood will thrive and prosper.

Sally Calburne, South Gloucestershire

GUARDIAN HYPOCRISY As someone who has the (doubtful) privilege of reading articles from The Guardian, I have stumbled across its piece of Thursday, 15 February (Edward Said seems like a prophet, by Moustafa Bayoumi) describing how The Guardian’s ‘hero and prophet’ Said ‘threw a stone at an empty Israeli watchtower from the Lebanese side of the border’ - surely, not an example of symbolically supporting the violent stone-throwing of the intifadas?

The Guardian has indeed adopted a distinctly ‘religious’ tone here, incorporating its own concepts of (‘Zionist’) ‘blasphemy’ and (anti-Israeli) ‘dogma’. This sudden shift contrasts with its use of Said’s own words, as it quotes him saying: “Our role is to widen the field of discussion, not to set limits in accord with the prevailing authority”, while never giving any platform to anyone questioning its dogmatic, cult-like stance on Gaza – Israel is always wrong and any Jews that can ever be right are those who are ‘Jewish anti-Zionists’. What sheer irony – I wonder if The Guardian really cannot see its own hypocrisy.

David Frencel, Hackney

WILLIAM FLIES THE FLAG How refreshing to hear of William Prince of Wales’ series of meetings with concerned parties about the situation in Gaza, starting with a video call this week with the Red Cross and planned to include a visit to a synagogue later this month. He follows his father in calling out religious intolerance. We understand the royals should never be seen in any way to be political but one hopes the subliminal message here, carefully worded or not, is not lost on those who can only ever countenance one point of view, in defiance of all logic and available evidence.

Ezra McDonald, Harpenden

THIS WEEKEND'S SHABBAT TIMES...

Shabbat comes in Friday night 4.49pm

Shabbat goes out Saturday night 5.54pm

Sedra: Mishpatim

Many of those who regularly march against Israel and particularly the radical minority (possibly majority) who support “From the river to the sea” and clearly relish the 7/10 murderous attack and desire the destruction of the Jewish state, cannot resist throwing back at Israel the very words that emanate from the terrible events of the last century: Holocaust, Nazi, collective punishment, crimes against humanity...

The reality that we do not want to face is that the comparisons with the rise of the Nazism disease in 1920s Germany are more relevant to the UK in 2024 than anything happening in the Middle East.

Let me list the symptoms: Regular mass demonstrations aimed at intimidating dissent and other minority groups. This was a feature in 1920s Germany led by the SA. Threatening public figures, in particular politicians, with the aim of stifling dissenting voices and public debate.

This tactic Is already having some success to the detriment of public life.

Actions in places of education and other institutions, again attempting to bully and silence free speech (will we next see the burning of books?)

The gradual denigrating of other minority groups (maybe the first step to dehumanisation).

Herr Goebbels would have approved of these tactics taken from his playbook.

We live in relatively benign circumstances in an established democracy. We must never forget the Nazi rise to power was supercharged by the Great Depression.

If or when we really hit tough times because of a major recession or other calamity, our version of the troubles of the 1920s could morph into the calamities of the 1930s.

Our leaders and the silent majority in our fundamentally decent country need to remember the harsh lessons of history before we pass the point of no return.

David Bernstein, By email

SPIRIT OF CHURCHILL ALL-PERVASIVE We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight on campus, we shall fight in the press and on social media, we shall fight with growing confidence in the justice of our cause, we shall defend our honour whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the radio and TV, we shall fight in public and private forums: we shall never surrender.

Eeven if, which I do not for a moment believe, life becomes intolerable for us in the UK, we will join our brothers and sisters in Israel until in God’s good time all peoples of goodwill between the river and the sea will walk together in majesty in justice and in peace.

Richard Cohen, Deputy for Loughton

STARMER SYMPATHY The more the former Labour candidate Azhar Ali has dug in denying his comments, the more he has proved he was guilty of bringing the Labour Party down. Should the Labour Party wish to retain its seat in the Rochdale elections, there is the prospect of George Galloway, even Jeremy Corbyn, waiting in the wings. The present Labour leader needs some sympathy as he has been trying to ‘steer a difficult ship’.

Norma Neville, Hendon

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ANTISEMITISM

Antisemitism is at an all-time high in Europe. With MPs who bravely support the war against Hamas being threatened, central London becoming a no-go zone on Shabbat, schools and workplaces hostile to Jews and posters of hostages (including babies) being torn down hours after being put up, where is there to go?

‘Make aliyah’ one might say. Can we really feel safe in a country with no real prospect of peace, terror attacks of some kind almost daily and where it’s impossible to enter a shopping mall or train station without being searched? Antisemitism absolutely exists even in our own beloved homeland and to think it does not is naive.

Siobhan Allen Wembley

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23

Opinion

Should Jews be turning towards Douglas Murray?

BY JOSH GLANCY

O

Douglas Murray operates at the sharp end of the culture wars

ne of the strange phenomena that have arisen in the aftermath of 7 October is the arrival of Douglas Murray into many Jewish family WhatsApp groups. I’m pretty certain most of those posting and liking videos of Murray, often wearing a flak jacket and delivering rousing soliloquies from southern Israel, had little knowledge of his previous work as a columnist for the Sun and the Spectator.

In fact, I’d wager many of Murray’s new fans had never heard of him before 7 October. But the strength of his conviction and the elegance of his rhetoric, as he crops up on TalkTV to dismantle the arguments of ill-informed critics, have won him plenty of supporters in the Jewish community. His role as a leader in pro-Israel discourse was cemented earlier this month, when the Apollo Theatre in central London pulled out of hosting an event with him to raise money for Israeli students serving in the IDF. Is this a problem? Well, not necessarily. I often disagree with Murray politically, but I don’t subscribe to the caricature of him as nothing but a race-baiting fascist. I think his support for Israel is genuine, not simply a vehicle for a dislike of Muslims, and his ability – as a non-Jew and talented polemicist – to put the beleaguered case for Zionism makes him a powerful asset. I can see why he’s become popular.

However, I do think Jews who laud Murray as their new tribune should also be aware of his broader political outlook.

Murray operates at the sharp end of the culture wars and his language towards Muslims can be unattractive. He recently described Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf as having “infiltrated” the British political system and, in a speech back in 2006, called Islam in the West an “opportunist infection”, arguing that “conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board”.

I don’t know if Murray still holds these latter opinions, but his overall stance – that we

are in a war for western values against Islam and its self-hating leftist allies – remains unchanged. And, in truth, many Jews will agree with this perspective.

Even many Jews who do not agree with this perspective, who consider themselves more liberal or moderate in their politics, will have had their views shifted at least partially by 7 October and what happened next.

I’ll always remember seeing the group of protesters outside Sydney Opera House on 9 October, chanting antisemitic slogans, and feeling as though something had gone horribly wrong. A conservative, as the old saying goes, is a liberal who has been mugged by reality. And what could be more real than Kfar Aza? But the danger here is that, in a forlorn search for friends, some Jews end up swinging further to the right politically than they would otherwise have wanted to go.

People who feel as though they are drowning in a sea of hatred will grab onto the nearest life raft available. But feeling alienated from swathes of the left on Israel doesn’t mean one has to feel alienated from the left on every issue - politics shouldn’t be a team sport.

I’ve focused on Murray because of his fame, but he is just one obvious example of such a life raft.

Suella Braverman is another figure whose unabashed support for Israel has won her supporters who might not necessarily agree with her sharp rhetoric on migration. Chris Rose, a prominent online culture warrior who made his name in the Brexit wars, has also emerged as a committed Israel-booster on Twitter/X. My concern here is not people sharing Braverman or Rose’s politics. I don’t object to anyone supporting Brexit or wanting to cut immigration.

My concern is about people absent-mindedly buying into a set of broader right-wing culture war positions that don’t actually fit their world view, because they are fearful, in an emotional ferment and yearning for allies.

Admittedly, the left is not a comfortable place for most Jews right now. All the way back in 2015, before Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party, I wrote a piece for Tablet magazine, arguing that it was increasingly impossible to be even a liberal Zionist on the progressive British left.

That story is finished today. Unless you’re explicitly anti-Zionist, and willing to loudly say so, progressive politics are a no-go zone for Jews.

I think the key for liberal or centrist Jews, who, let’s be honest, this column is aimed at, is not to give up on a lifetime of political convictions amid the current tempest.

The leadership of today’s Labour Party has, in my view at least, been steadfast and fair-minded throughout the current conflict. Progressive spaces may be off limits, but moderate left-wing politics are not.

As the war continues to scramble people’s emotional and political radars, that is one life raft worth clinging on to.  Josh Glancy is news review editor at the Sunday Times

24 Jewish News 22 February 2024

Opinion

Our journey of British Jewish unity and pride

EDDIE HAMMERMAN

CO-FOUNDER OF THE ELSTREE AND BOREHAMWOOD HOSTAGE VIGILS

A

www.jewishnews.co.uk

fter doom scrolling yet again on a host of social media channels, I was not in a good way. It was the early days of the aftermath of 7 October and I was anxious, scared and desperate for good news. But there was none. And it was getting worse. I was all-consumed: crying on Thameslink after viewing footage of the Hamas bodycams and responding to every social update – sending me, and no doubt my friends, into a mental health tailspin.

There were anti-Israel demonstrations as soon as 8 October, antisemitic attacks spiked and an Israeli flag on Fairway Hall in Borehamwood was daubed with red paint.

Rumours of mezuzahs ripped off in Elstree, not entirely accurate, scared everyone.

Someone on my road briefly posted a ‘From the River to the Sea’ sign in their front window.

I was sleeping badly and starting to feel under threat as a Jew in my own country.

Israel is my homeland but Britain is my home.

I feel fiercely British, but not since the Corbyn days had I heard so many conversations asking: “Where would you go if you had to leave Britain?” and “Do you have an emergency ‘go-bag’ packed?”

We were not under physical attack as in Israel but were suffering. I felt threatened.

There were fleeting glimpses of light, like hearing Rishi Sunak declare his unwavering support to the Chief Rabbi at a packed Kinloss shul and a unanimous outpouring of love from Borehamwood and Elstree council where deputy PM and our MP Oliver Dowden ominously but correctly told us to cling to this feeling of support while reminding us times would get tougher.

One morning, I broke. I turned to my wife Ronit (who was in her own world of pain) and said “Enough”. I couldn’t feel this way any more, drained, anxious in my own town and angry that as a British Jew I was allowing myself to be terrorised. We needed to do something proactive and reclaim our own community. We connected with Josh Moont, then Lara Lipsey, Nivi Feldman, Dani Meyers and Jeremy Newmark. And so our vigils for the hostages began.

It started small. A vigil with shoes. Adult shoes and little red baby shoes, all with unbearable echoes of Auschwitz. While demonstrations of Jewishness on our streets aren’t very British – or at least weren’t very British – now was the time to be more like the bold and brash US Jews.

The British Jewish convention has been to ‘keep your head down as this too shall pass’.

But this one was not passing; we didn’t have a choice but to stand up and be counted.

At Borehamwood shopping park, the weather was grim, reflecting our mood. The experienced CST team were edgy. I had a heated conversation with Ronit about putting the Israeli flag out early and she rightly told me to wait.

My eagerness acted as a forceful attempt to reject my own nervousness, a ‘fake it til you make it’ way to reclaim my right of proud identity as a British Jew, calling for the freedom of 240 Israeli hostages in captivity. In this first week, maybe 30 people showed up. We captured some emotive photos and lots of people engaged on social media, but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Yes, I know, people really didn’t know about it, but in a community of thousands of families, the turnout was disappointing. We couldn’t be the only people feeling heartbroken, could we? There must be others feeling as passionate, broken and as angry as we were.

Fast forward to February, following our 16th consecutive Israel vigil and new faces each week, not only from our community but from nearby Mill Hill, Bushey, Woodside Park, Cockfosters and Edgware. Members of our local churches attend every week and we had the pleasure of hearing Christian Rev Hayley Ace telling us we were not alone.

This hit hard.

Rabbi Chapper has spoken powerfully several times, Rabbi Czitron talked about his friend’s son, Daniel Perez, who is a hostage, and Rebbezen Eva Chapper reduced us to tears after returning from a trip to Israel in November.

We have welcomed Board of Deputies president Marie Van der Zyl, and heard from former Israeli ambassador Alan Baker on the prospects for peace. Our youth have spoken up about hostages the same age as them, and we were momentarily uplifted by Olivia’s story of her family members being released from captivity.

Vigil Week 7 was special as the Chief Rabbi and Oliver Dowden attended with our deputy mayor. The same day, the UN was calling for a vote against Israel while our deputy PM told world media the British government will do all it can to help Israel secure the release of hostages and is standing “four-square” behind Israel in its efforts to remove the Hamas threat.

While it fortifies us as British Jews (no mean feat), our core mission is to highlight the plight of the hostages and to call for their immediate release. We will not let the world forget. Every week, a volunteer picks a hostage to relate to and speaks from the heart about their life so the hostage is not a number but a person.

To enable this meaningful connection, volunteer speakers have contacted the families of the hostages to find out more about their personalities, their loves and interests.

Not only has this led to a better understanding of the person, but it has connected on a deeper level to their family, letting them know a little town they’ve probably never heard of in England takes to the streets every week and calls for their family’s release.

This was brought home to me on the bril-

❝

Supporters at one the weekly hostage vigils that take place in Borehamwood

liantly constructed Borehamwood & Elstree Synagogue solidarity trip to Israel in January.

In a rare hour’s break in our schedule, we wandered down to the gazebo set up outside the prime minister’s house by hostage families.

We fortuitously met Aviva Siegel who was released after 51 days in captivity and whose husband, Keith was still held. On the day we met, she had given evidence to the Knesset on rape and sexual violence she had witnessed in Gaza. She detailed her experience to us as we sat there stunned. I told her we were on the streets in Borehamwood every week, calling for the hostages’ release.

We hugged and cried, praying that, for even a split second, we had helped lift the spirits of a woman going through hell.

It seems the vigils have become for many a moment to support one another, a time to be grounded in the week and to declare publicly our British Jewish pride in support of Israel.

Are we safe here? I hear this question a lot, from friends in Israel and online. The inconvenient truth is we have not seen any trouble and passersby, after finding why we are there, have been highly supportive.

Vigil stalwart Lisa Shaffer was reduced to tears after a Borehamwood local insisted on donating to our cause, even though we were not collecting. After some back and forth, he thrust a tenner at Lisa which was later donated to an Israeli charity.

The lady in our local balloon shop was in shock at the reason we were buying two orange balloons and wished us luck in our mission to bring the Bibas kids home. But while we lean into our Britishness, in our kishkes, we also know there is another noisier minority. We know we must work harder to make our voices heard. As Daniel Taub said to United Synagogue CEO Jo Grose on her Israel solidarity trip last November: “We are at a seminal moment in Jewish history.”

No longer can we afford to keep our heads

NO LONGER CAN WE KEEP OUR HEADS DOWN. IF WE WANT A SECURE ISRAEL AND UK COMMUNITY, IT’S UP TO US TO SHAPE IT

Eddie Hammerman on stage

down and hope someone will speak for us.

If we want a secure Israel and a vibrant UK Jewish community, it’s up to us to shape it. We all have unique skills – social media commentator Lee Kern calls them ‘superpowers’.

As Kern, writer, producer, prolific social media influencer and most recently hero of the Jewish people, says: “We don’t all need to pick up guns. Israel can do that. We don’t all need to yell into the cesspit of social media. But you will have some skills that can be your gift to the Jewish people. A war is not won just by soldiers.”

As another social media titan, Eitan Chitayat states: “I’m Jewish – and I’m f-ing here to stay.

We will get through this as we love life, we’re strong and smart and funny and beautiful and talented and resilient and educated and hardworking and positive and so much more.”

There are hard times ahead but I am confident the momentum we have created together will help us meet our challenges head-on and shape our Judaism and our connection with Israel for our generation and for those to come.

Every week we pray this is our final week and our brothers and sisters will be released. But if not, we will be there next week.

We. Go. Again. Am Yisrael Chai.

22 February 2024 Jewish News

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25

Opinion

An existential crisis in interfaith relations DAVID G KIBBLE

LAY MINISTER, ST GEORGE’S CHURCH IN LEEDS

K

eir Starmer, commenting recently on current interfaith relations, said: “I think we have to be honest about where we are at the moment, which is a much worse position than I think we were in.”

Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl has said some interfaith relations have become “strained and under challenge”.

From a different perspective, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has suggested members of the Jewish community need to be more assertive about the place of Israel in interfaith situations: “Israel is not just the geopolitical centre of Jewish peoplehood, it is the heart of our religion… We need to be brave enough, let’s discuss Israel!”

Israel’s actions in Gaza have certainly led to a cooling of some interfaith relations, particularly between Jewish and Muslim communities. But is this inevitable?

Interfaith relations operate at several levels, one being where members of synagogues, churches and mosques hear about one another in the media. They watch news on television or the internet about one another and about the conflict in Gaza.

At a second level, members of different faith communities may meet one another during visits to one another’s places of worship; perhaps during a mitzvah day in a synagogue or eating an iftar meal in a mosque during Ramadan.

At a deeper level, students might meet students of other faiths for meals, as some do in the homes of members of St George’s church in Leeds, to discuss in a supportive environment their faith and faith communities – alongside football, university courses and other matters of interest!

At another level still, groups of members of different faith communities may meet on a regular basis to undertake social projects.

Finally, there is another level where, for example, Jews and others might meet to discuss Israel and Palestine in depth.

This is something we have done twice at

Saint George’s, one round of discussion over four sessions on Sunday afternoons while another smaller group of seven or eight looked at the topic over three summers.

At each of these levels, interfaith relations will have a different flavour and more or less depth. In the lower dimensions of interfaith relations, there may be little or no conversations between individual members; at the top end, deep friendships, may be made.

How members of different faith communities relate to one another, then, will be different at the different levels. Where relationships are at a higher level, they will be more able to continue in times of crisis, such as the present. At lower levels, where acquaintances are made rather than relationships forged, interfaith relations will be at their weakest and consequently some form of disruption or even breakdown.

I see no problem in accepting the Chief Rabbi’s suggestion the Jewish community should not be afraid to raise the topic of Israel. But how one does it is crucial.

Many, perhaps even most, non-Jews will have little background knowledge of Israel

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and Palestine and their history. Bearing in mind one should always start from where people are, much discussion will therefore need to be of a very basic nature.

Only at the higher levels of interfaith relationships should more in-depth discussion take place. Even then, it should nearly always be in the form of “my view is” or ‘in the Jewish community we believe….”.

The stronger the friendships, the more strident and assertive one can be. And, of course, that will apply to both sides.

We must avoid, then, making blanket statements about interfaith relations. Interfaith activities are manifold and embrace a wide variety of relationships.

Where there are political tensions, there may be a weakening of, and in some cases a pause in, those relationships.

Events in Gaza will no doubt impact interfaith relations. But how they impact them will depend on how deep personal relationships are. If we wish to be able to work through crises togethe,r we will be able to do so only where we have strong relationships.

The message is obvious.

26 Jewish News 22 February 2024

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Opinion

A personal reflection on cancer and the King ALEX BRUMMER

CITY EDITOR, THE DAILY MAIL

C

hief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis was quickly out of the box with a special prayer for the speedy recovery of the King. As someone who has been under treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma for much of the past year, I found the prayer for Charles particularly poignant.

I have no idea what kind of cancer treatment the King is undergoing but assume it is some form of chemotherapy or radiology – both energy sapping and the side effects very unpleasant including all-embracing tiredness. As the poison fills the body, you feel you are a walking medical experiment.

There are several ways of coping.

Easiest is to declare yourself sick, give up on normal life and rest. Another way is to look through it and live life as normally as one can: working and exercising – at times I found the stimulants, notably steroids, made me operate at speed. My output of words was even greater than usual!

The King will not be performing public duties. Travelling the country to open buildings and speak at charitable events is not advisable. Apart from anything, one’s immunology system is punctured and infection is one of the greatest risks.

With flu and Covid-19 on the rampage, shielding is a good idea, although Charles is showing bravery attending church services at Sandringham, working on his ‘red box’ of state papers and planning regular trips to Windsor for audiences with the prime minister. Matters of state go on and the King is showing the stoicism and good sense and duty one has come to expect.

In troubled times for the Jewish community in Britain, Charles, as Prince of Wales and long-serving heir to the throne, proved one of our greatest friends, going beyond his responsibilities to recognise and deal fairly with his Jewish subjects: a true mensch.

At the coronation, the King made elaborate arrangements to ensure the Chief Rabbi could be accommodated at Buckingham Palace and Shabbat properly observed.

Charles’ public acts as Prince of Wales in

support of British Jewry speak for themselves. As a former vice-president of the Board of Deputies, I remember his amazing address at a commemoration of the Board’s 350th anniversary when he laid out the contribution of Jews to British life. It was an historic and detailed account of a kind I have never heard from our politicians.

While no sitting monarch has ever visited Israel – a source of some anguish for British monarchists who have made aliyah – this King, as Prince of Wales, was different.

In 2020, he attended the fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Yashem, saying movingly and eloquently: “We must never cease to be appalled nor moved by the testimony of those who lived through the Shoah.”

The then heir to the throne also visited the tomb of his ‘inspirational’ grandmother, Princess Alice, at the Church of Mary Magdalene on Jerusalem’s ancient hills.

She is commemorated at Yad Yashem for her work shielding Jews from Nazis during the occupation of Greece.

Sometimes the King’s work for BritishJewry goes unsung. He personally journeyed

to Krakow, within ‘ashes’ distance of the chimneys of Auschwitz, to open a new Jewish community centre there, endowed

by World Jewish Relief and funded partly

by British philanthropist Leo Noe. From a small acorn, the almost-extinct Krakow Jewish community has prospered as people whose identity has been obscured for decades rediscover their Hebraic roots.

On a trip last year, I saw how the community centre could no longer accommodate Friday night dinner on its own premises because there are so many local Jewish attendees.

Behind the scenes, there have been acts of generosity from Charles such as small fundraising dinners at Clarence House for World Jewish Relief. There is also the enduring image of the King dancing with elderly Shoah survivors at their centre in north London.

This is a long way of saying thank you.

There will be trials ahead for the King but UK science, as I have learned, means for many people cancer is no longer a death sentence.

In the traditional way, I on behalf of my colleagues at Jewish News, would like to wish the King Refual Shlemiah.

Where now for South African Jews after ICJ? JULIE CARBONARA

SOUTH AFRICA-BASED REPORTER

O

n the wall of my ex-husband’s office in downtown Johannesburg were pictures of seriouslooking men, trade unionists who had fought for the rights of black workers in the darkest days of apartheid South Africa. Many of them were Jewish.

So too were many leading figures of the struggle against apartheid, with most of the white ANC members predominantly Jewish. Yet that historically close relationship appears to have disintegrated after South Africa’s decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice accusing it of genocide against the Palestinians.

The image of South African president Cyril Ramaphosa wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh and ANC officials noisily welcoming the court’s judgement – which stopped short of confirming the genocide accusation but was generally seen as anti-Israel – sent a collective shiver down the spines of the country’s 50,000-strong Jewish community.

Many are the children or grandchildren of people who had found shelter there from the Nazis’ advance, like my in-laws who had

left Germany with just the clothes on their backs. They started again from scratch and made a new life for themselves, like many new South Africans grateful for having been given a second chance.

Although most settled down to work and chose not to rock the boat, a sizeable number of these first-generation Jewish South Africans ended up taking an active role in the fight against racial discrimination alongside the newly established African National Congress (ANC).

As members of a people that had been so discriminated against, they felt duty bound to fight a regime that itself discriminated on the basis of race.

The roll-call of Jews who fought alongside the ANC against apartheid boasts some illustrious names: Ruth First, Joe Slovo, Norman and Leon Levy, to name a few.

At the infamous 1963 Rivonia treason trial, five of the 13 defendants were Jewish, the most prominent being ‘accused number 3’, Denis Goldberg.

Goldberg served 23 years in jail alongside Nelson Mandela. Mandela himself was ‘accused number 1’.

In the decades that followed, members of the Jewish intelligentsia didn’t let up: MP Helen Suzman was often a lone voice

of dissent in the white parliament, while Nadine Gordimer’s books shone a light on a different, multicolour country.

And let’s not forget those trade unionists whose pictures had caught my attention, who fought for the rights of black workers.

Therefore the liberation of Nelson Mandela and the advent of black rule didn’t provoke a Jewish exodus: a few people I knew left South Africa, mainly for another sunny country, Australia rather than Israel, and mainly because they were worried about the economy. In the main, however, life went on as before and there was even a Jewish leader of the opposition, Tony Leon.

Mandela himself never forgot the Jewish role in the black liberation struggle and managed a clever balancing act between supporting the Palestinian cause (the PLO being a big supporter of the ANC) but also the right of Israel to exist. And, most importantly, he refused to have anything to do with Hamas and their ilk.

South African Jews had no reason not to feel safe. Until very recently, that is.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was a successful businessman before entering politics and apparently has many Jewish friends, is at pains to point out that he is anti-Zionist, rather than antisemitic.

Whatever the truth of that might be, South Africa under his presidency has fully embraced the Palestinian cause, casting Israel as the baddie that has implemented a modern-day apartheid, like the one the ANC fought so hard to defeat.

The genocide accusation is just the most recent chapter in this escalation, but one that may make South African Jews question their future in the country.

Even for those who, like my South African family, are not particularly religious or strong Zionists, the accusation feels like the worst type of betrayal. My father-in-law – who had had to leave Germany at 13 and refused to set foot there for the rest of his life – would have been horrified.

The celebratory reaction of some members of the South African government to the 7 October massacre may make many Jewish South Africans reassess their future in a country that seems to be pulling away from the West and western values.

South Africa has accused Israel – the only democracy in he Middle East – of genocide while at the same time edging closer to Iran, whose financial support has been rumoured to be partially responsible for the shift.

It is not a move that inspires confidence in the future.

22 February 2024 Jewish News

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Opinion

The Apprentice – Flood Special

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29

Community / Scene & Be Seen AVENUE TAKES 1WORK MEETING IN ITS STRIDE

Secretary of state for work and pensions Mel Stride praised Work Avenue for its role supporting members of the Jewish community with their careers and businesses. The MP toured charity headquarters in Finchley and spent time with chair Mark Morris and CEO Debbie Lebrett, as well as staff and clients. A focus was how the charity supports clients with new technology – including harnessing the power of AI – through workshops, training, one-to-one advice and a laptop library.

And be seen!

LANE CELEBRATES 50 2OAKS YEARS OF WOMEN RABBIS

The latest news, pictures and social events from across the community

Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue in Essex unveiled a portrait of Rabbi Dr Jackie Tabick, Britain’s first female rabbi, at a special Shabbat service to celebrate almost 50 years since her ordination. Rabbi Jackie made history when graduating from Leo Baeck College in 1975 at the age of 27 and going on to lead communities including West London, North West Surrey and West Central Liberal synagogues and for a short time when it was between ministers Oaks Lane itself. The portrait was unveiled by artist Monica Jaye, 18, an active member of the congregation.

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BELLA! A DELICIOUS 3CHE ITALIAN COOKERY EVENING

Golders Green United Synagogue hosted 30 guests for an evening of Italian cookery with food writer and lecturer Silvia Nacamulli.

Silvia demonstrated three traditional Italian recipes as well as explaining the origins of the recipes before the audience were invited to sample the food. It was the first event in Golders Green Synagogue’s new series of monthly speakers. Attendee and shul member Natalie Kelly said: “This was a thoroughly enjoyable relaxing evening – I have already made one of the dishes and am inspired to do more!”

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FOR 4#GOPURPLE JEWISH CARE

Community members of all ages took part in fun, purple-themed activities for the week of #GoPurple, raising awareness for Jewish Care from 5 to 11 February. Supporters were invited to dress head to toe in purple, ice a cake purple, paint their nails purple, share a purple-themed picture on social media or even dye their hair. Jewish Care mascot Chava Heart made several special appearances at schools.

QUIZ RECORD 5JOYCE’S FOR MACMILLAN

Birmingham Progressive Synagogue member Joyce Rothschild produced a recordbreaking result with her 27th annual quiz in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, raising a remarkable £23,861, the best yet and taking the running total to £275,058 for cancer charities. For the first three years of the quiz, Joyce donated the proceeds to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in recognition of treatment she received that enabled her to recover from breast cancer. She was awarded the British Empire Medal for her charitable work.

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COMMUNITY FORUM AT NIGHTINGALE HOUSE

Nightingale Hammerson together with Jewish Care hosted the South London and Southern Counties Forum at Nightingale House on 14 February. The South London Community Support Service, funded by both charities, provides a lifeline for community members with care needs.

The event included an open forum for community members to share their thoughts and opinions about the future of care support for the Jewish community living south of the Thames.

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Inside A look

Yiddisher klezmer made in Italy Israel’s economy

A Rabbi Walks into a Bar Completing his first ultramarathon wasn’t enough of a challenge for Islington’s Rabbi Mendy Korer, who has two comedy gigs lined up in Soho, writes Beatrice Sayers

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’m open to challenges,” says Mendy Korer. The Chabad rabbi is a master of the understatement. Last month he competed his first ultramarathon (a 50K run along the Lea Valley and out to Hatfield that he describes as “stunning”).

Now he’s embarking on an even greater challenge, preparing to take the mic for two solo standup shows. Rabbi Korer’s gigs this weekend at the Soho Sanctum, a celebrity hangout, are thought to be a first for an Orthodox rabbi in the UK. set up by the rabbi and his wife, Hadasa, in His gigs, on 25 February, are titled A 2011, who now have five children. Members Rabbi Walked into a Bar. “It’s me having and guests gather for Shabbat, festia very public therapy session, sharing vals, and for social and educational with my fellow barmates all the events, including an annual outdoor tribulations and challenges and Chanukah candle lighting and party adventures and humour of being a on Islington Green, which always rabbi,” Rabbi Korer says. draws big crowds. The community “We’re going to give people a also runs Krav Maga (Israeli martial blast. I’m really eager.”

Milton Jones art) classes, children’s programmes, Some of his old friends had and an art gallery with exhibitions by been in touch asking if it’s all right contemporary Jewish artists. to come along. “I told them I’m not looking Another of the community’s annual events for sympathy laughs,” he says, all tongue-inits Big Jewish Summer Fete. The free, inclucheek determination. A natural storyteller, he sive outdoor celebration in June was first has also received tips from his friend Milton Jones, the award-winning comedian and Mock held in 2017 and takes place in a public park in Islington, and for many years was held in the Week panellist.

Highbury Fields.

Jones, known for his offbeat one-liners, Visitors have included Islington South had explained to the rabbi how to expose MP Emily Thornberry and speakers at its some of the awkward or strange ways people Speaker’s Corner have included the lawyer act – so that it makes people laugh and at the same time makes them think. “You’ve got your and journalist Joshua Rozenberg. Other attractions have included Kids’ Zone with jokes, you build up whatever story you have, puppet making, a dog show, a Jewish Escape but every so often it’s about touching on some Room and live klezmer. of the struggles that people live with,” Rabbi To help fundraising efforts for the scroll, Korer says.

Jones, along with three other professional “So come on that journey and experience it with me. And it’s a good cause, so if you can’t standups, played a couple of gigs in Highgate last July. That show followed an initial one a come, contribute with largesse.” few months earlier at the synagogue, where That “good cause” is the buying a permaveteran Jewish comic Ivor Dembina headnent Torah scroll for his synagogue. Chabad lined, supported by Mike Capozzola.

Lubavitch of Islington is the only Jewish The scroll will cost £40,000, of which just community in the borough since 1967 and was

Mendy Korer: ‘It’s me having a very public therapy session about the tribulations and humour of being a rabbi’

over £14,000 has been raised to date. It will be dedicated to the memory of Julian Young, a lawyer who died of leukaemia in 2021. He and Rabbi Korer, who grew up in Stamford Hill and was ordained in New York, became friends when they met on Upper Street during Arsenal’s FA cup win celebrations in 2015. The scroll will be a symbol of the regeneration of Jewish life in the area: Islington’s last shul closed in the 1960s.

Young was a solicitor-advocate and fourtime president of the West London Law Society. He was a legal commentator on TV and radio, and was involved in a case representing a prisoner whose murder conviction was quashed after 27 years based on DNA evidence.

Judy Ramjeet, who is organising the event and was Young’s partner, said: “Julian was one of the kindest people with the biggest heart, whose raison d’être was to help others.

“Obtaining a Torah scroll to benefit the whole borough of Islington, home of his beloved Arsenal, will be an apt tribute to him.

Julian’s memory will live on in the Torah scroll.

He abided by those values throughout his life.”

Rabbi Korer is already looking forward to the day, which he hopes will include a street party, when the scroll is brought to the synagogue on its inauguration.  A Rabbi Walked into a Bar is at Soho Sanctum Hotel on Sunday 25 February at 4pm and 7.30pm. For tickets, visit jewishislington.co.uk/events

Rabbi Korer on his way to completing the London marathon

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JN LIFE

As authentic as it gets Igor Polesitsky tells Beatrice Sayers he learnt klezmer from his grandmother’s voice as well as from one of the greatest violinists in his native Ukraine

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“completely decided to dedicate myself to even of Britain’s best-loved classical my Yiddish studies, to the Jewish side of my actors plus Prince Charles (as he was) soul”. took part in a comic sketch at the RSC Yiddish was the language of his granda few years ago on the anniversary of parents in his native Ukraine, and his Shakespeare’s death. As each walked on stage grandmother was a big influence on him as he or she earnestly gave the others a different a violinist, despite not playing herself. He account of where the stress in a certain line started on the instrument aged six and one of from Hamlet should be put. the ways he would learn was from his grandLast week the Ukrainian string player Igor mother’s voice. She would sing to him and he Polesitsky used the same line to show me would play to her. “She said, ‘No, no, no, not that klezmer music is all about intonation. like this’,” Igor says, almost incredulously.

He saturated it with Yiddisher rhythm and “I was playing the way I was taught by a very playfulness and we both laughed heartily. good classical teacher in a music school. And “To be or not to be, that is the question,” has she said, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.’ And surely never sounded so Jewish or, arguably, so finally I tried to do the way she was singing so intriguing.

Igor brought his playing and his playfulness to London last week when Klezmerata Fiorentina, the band he formed in 2005, had its debut gig in the city. The ensemble is formed of virtuoso players from the esteemed Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, currently under the baton of Daniele Gatti, and where he was principal violist.

Reaching 62 a few years ago meant mandatory retirement for Igor.

“I’m very happy this way.

I find it good,” he says.

Now it means that as far Igor with Francesco Furlanich (accordion), Riccardo Crocilla as his music goes, he has (clarinet) and Riccardo Donati (double bass)

Igor Polesitsky and (inset) with members of his Klezmerata Fiorentina

exactly. And she said, ‘Yes, that’s it.’ She said, ‘You’re trying to sing like an opera. You have to speak. You have to talk. Du muzt efes zagn.’”

He recalls: “We had few relatives who survived the Holocaust, so we had a very, very small family, but when they would come, I would have to perform that. I understood right away that it’s a very different way of dealing with music. It’s a very different intonation.”

Another of Igor’s big influences was the great violinist Abram Shtern, one of his teachers at the Kyiv conservatoire. Most of what Igor learnt from Shtern was classical but he says when he heard his master play klezmer for the first time he was “absolutely flabbergasted”. Shtern showed him techniques that otherwise you can only imitate from a recording, Igor says; his teacher also represented a link to Leopold Auer, who had taught Jascha Heifetz himself.

While Igor himself had always played klezmer, he created Klezmerata in response to an invitation from a friend to take part in a festival in Lugano, in Switzerland, dedicated to different aspects of Jewish music.

Igor said he wanted to play some authentic klezmer, without singers, and he realised he needed a band. “So I went to these three guys who are totally Italian Catholics, and never had anything to do with Jewish culture or Yiddish music, but they wanted to do it.” He smiles again.

“We don’t imitate. We don’t take the old recordings and just try to imitate that. We started with trying to dig out the sense, the meaning of the note and rhythm of these tunes.” They used the archive of Moyshe Beregovsky, the great ethnomusicologist in

Igor recruited section principals from the Italian orchestra he played in

Kiev who collected Jewish music in Ukraine, building on a collection that had already been started by An-sky (Shlomo Zanzvil Rappoport) and Susman Kiselgof before the revolution. That collection was moved to Kyiv in 1920s and 1930s, becoming the Institute of Jewish Culture in the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. By the end of the 1930s the promotion of Yiddish culture was stopped, and then came war.

Over the past nearly 20 years Klezmerata Fiorentina has played across Europe, North America and the former Soviet Union, including at the Quirinale Palace in Rome and the Kremlin. When they played a concert in Los Angeles, Igor’s old teacher Shtern, who emigrated to the United States in 1990, heard them. “I was very, very moved to play for this man and he was very, very happy to hear us,” Igor recalls, beaming broadly. They are making their audiences around the world very happy too.

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Business / Israeli economy

ECONOMY IN FLUX BUT SIGNS ARE POSITIVE, SAY EXPER

T

The international credit rating agency recently lowered Israel to A2, citing the impact of the ongoing war with Hamas on its finances, writes Candice Krieger

he Israeli economy is in a state of flux. Last week, the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the country’s rating from A1 to A2, resulting in a depreciation of the shekel and apprehension about market volatility.

But there remain reasons to be optimistic about the economy’s long-term standing and the strength of the currency, according to some of the nation’s leading financial experts.

Following the downgrade, Shmuel Abramzon, chief economist at the Israel Ministry of Finance, told Jewish News: “Naturally we are in a fairly exceptional economic situation due to the war. As expected, we saw some negative impacts at the start of war Shmuel but since then, we are seeing a large Abramzon

set of positive indicators. Israel has recorded years of steady growth, with

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periods of exceptional growth, and recorded years of gradual lowering of its debt to GDP ratios, which are very favourable compared to other countries. Israel also has a very strong labour market with low levels of unemployment and we have managed to conquer inflation, so there are lots of positives.”

The decision by Moody’s – the first rating downgrade in Israel’s history – was a blow to the country already grappling with a tech downturn and foreign and local investment dips.

Moody’s cited the impact of the ongoing military conflict with Hamas on the country’s finances, and added a negative outlook to the new rating over concerns that the war could spill over to other fronts such as with Hezbollah in northern Israel. It also expressed concern about a “period of elevated domestic political upheaval and renewed polarisation when the war cabinet dissolves”.

But Moody’s noted that the economy itself “has managed the fall-out from the conflict reasonably well” with some indicators pointing to a swift rebound, reflected in the rapid recovery from the initial shock of 7 October, and the labour force is approaching pre-war levels.

Abramzon said: “While there is much uncertainty, especially over the potential escalation of the war, there are a bunch of very clear indicators pointing to the strength of the fundamentals of the Israel economy.” He pointed out that even after the downgrade to A2, this is still a relatively high credit rating – similar to Ireland’s. “So it is important to put it into context.”

The A2 rating is still considered a relatively low risk and was already widely anticipated and priced in by the market.

Modi Shafrir, chief strategist, financial markets at Bank Hapoalim, told Jewish News: “Since the outbreak of the war, the markets began pricing Israel as a country with a BBB rating [BBB+ as of 9 February], so this downgrade was already incorporated and implied into the markets. However, there is concern now that the markets will react more negatively to this downgrade and also to the reactions of

senior government officials, who have attacked Moody’s decision as politically motivated, which was unprofessional, although we can see that the markets are relatively calm.”

Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich criticised Moody’s decision. He said in a statement that the announcement “reflects a lack of confidence in Israel’s security and national strength, and also a lack of confidence in the righteousness of Israel’s path against its enemies”.

He added that the decision “does not include serious economic arguments and is nothing but than a political manifest based on pessimistic and absurd geopolitical worldview…”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the economy was strong and “the downgrade is entirely due to the fact that we are at war”.

He forecast that once the war ended, the rating would go up once again.

Responding to Moody’s rating decision, the governor of the Bank of Israel, Prof Amir Yaron, pointed out that Israel “has experienced geopolitical crises in the past, when the debt to GDP ratios were much higher [according to Moody’s assessments, the public debt to GDP ratio should peak at 67 percent and then decline gradually], and there was never any delay in repayment of government debt. In this context, it is important to remember the economy’s high potential growth and the structural surplus in the current account.”

Shafrir said the “high surplus in Israel’s current account and the net positive foreign investment into Israel” were key markers that the economy was well-placed for the longer-term.

“In the short term, the trend will be determined according to political developments and the war. Reaching a ceasefire agreement and release of hostages will lead to an appreciation [of the shekel], but on the other hand, an escalation in the north and a significant war against Hezbollah would greatly weaken the shekel.

“Looking a year ahead, assuming geopolitics and politics stop weighing heavily, the basic forces support a strong currency and will lead to its strengthening in the future.”

Lawmakers recently gave initial approval to a revised 2024 state budget that added tens of billions of shekels to finance the war and compensate those affected, as well as a rise in the

22 February 2024 Jewish News

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35

Israeli economy / Business

candicekrieger@googlemail.com

With Candice Krieger

RTS AFTER MOODY’S ISRAEL DOWNGRADE budget deficit this year to 6.6 percent of GDP, from 2.25 percent. But Prof Asher Blass, owner of the Economic Research and Consulting Group (ERCG) and former chief economist at the Bank of Israel, believes more could be done: “This budget deficit was too high. It should have been set at five percent. The government has not taken all the necessary steps.”

Blass said that while there has not been a collapse of the shekel since the war began, the credit rating is “definitely something to worry about long-term as it could change the flow of foreign investment and raise the interest premium.

“There are a lot of unknowns at the moment that remain to be determined.

The construction industry is a major part of the economy that now has a huge absence of workers and it remains to be seen if these workers come back. The industry was already facing a slowdown and if these workers don’t come back then this will have a dramatic effect on its recovery. The economic situation will depend on whether proper economic decisions are taken along with if there is a war in

optimistic about. “Immediately after the war, the economic news was less positive but since then, we have seen the Shekel strengthening and today it is trading stronger than it was on the eve of the war, as well as the TASE [Tel Aviv stock exchange], which is trading higher than pre-war.

“There has also been a rebound of credit card purchases to levels higher than before 7 October and while many workers have been called up to the reserves, we see a very clear path of the labour market going back to pre-war trends. The signs are positive. As we have seen with previous wars, we have this bounce back and the Israeli economy has the resilience to Modi Shafrir go back to where it was.”

Abramzon added: “Ensuring year are at about two security is a fundamental factor percent, partly due to for economic activity and we hope the negative impact from that will happen soon.” the war. Predictions for For the foreseeable, eyes will be fixed 2024 are between 0.5 and 2 Asher Blass on the outcome of the war and ongoing govpercent and between five and ernment decisions. To strengthen the trust 5.5 percent for 2025. of the markets and of the ratings agencies in the Abramzon believes there is much to be Lebanon and the political stability of Israel.

The economy is in a state of flux right now.”

If the war remains contained, and ends soon, a rebound is forecast for 2025. The economy grew 6.5 percent in 2022 and projections for last

Prof Amir Yaron, governor of the Bank of Israel

Israeli economy, Yaron said it is “important that the government and the Knesset act to deal with the economic issues raised in the report.

“The Bank of Israel has already presented a number of ways to act in this spirit, including approval of the 2024 budget by the Knesset, with all the adjustments included in it. The Israeli economy is rooted on strong and healthy economic fundamentals, and is a world leader in the fields of innovation and technology.

“We have known how to recover from difficult periods in the past and rapidly return to prosperity, and the Israeli economy has the strength to ensure that this will happen this time as well.”

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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 ALEX CHAPPER

BOREHAMWOOD AND ELSTREE SYNAGOGUE

The best defence is a good offence This year’s Super Bowl final was watched by more than 100 million people in the United States, making it the most viewed broadcast since the 1969 moon landing. But what made it even more remarkable was that Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism bought a 30-second advert during the break, which featured Clarence B Jones, the man who helped Martin Luther King write his “I have a dream” speech. The emotive advert aimed to inspire more people to stand up to antisemitism and to Jewish hate, and to join the fight against all hate.

It is clearly a message that also needs to be shared in the UK, given that in 2023 antisem-

itism reached new levels with the highest total of antisemitic incidents ever reported to the CST in a single calendar year. These figures are directly linked to the terrorist atrocities in Israel with 66 percent of instances occurring on or after 7 October.

Whilst we must do everything we can to combat this oldest form of hatred and expect all those who have it in their power to do the same, is there an additional response that can be generated within us?

Although Moses’ name is conspicuously absent from this week’s parsha of Tetzaveh, he is tasked by God to instruct the Jewish people to donate the materials necessary for the Tabernacle (the portable Temple). To explain Moses’ role in this, the midrash expounds a verse in Proverbs: “There is gold, and an abundance of gems, but lips of knowledge are a precious vessel.” Gold refers to the gifts that everyone brought, the gems and precious stones that the princes of each tribe donated,

Robert Kraft is inspiring people to speak out

while the lips of knowledge allude to Moses’ unique ability to speak to God face to face and transmit His words to the people.

It is inconceivable that this idea was solely for Moses’ benefit because it possesses timeless wisdom. Our greatest challenge is to learn

to appreciate what we have, to realise the value that we find in our own hands. As the recipients of the Torah – the most precious gift to mankind – we acquired knowledge of the revealed will of God. Through the mitzvot we are not only aware of what is Divinely expected of us, our responsibilities and our mission in life, but also we have been provided with the means to connect with God, bridging the gap between our finite world and the infinite realms.

The old adage that ‘the best defence is a good offence’ is true; perhaps one of the best ways to combat antisemitism is to strengthen our own appreciation of Judaism and deepen our commitment to it. While we attempt to inspire others to stand up to Jewish hate, we must be equally determined to be inspired to live, learn and love our Judaism. Despite the figures, or perhaps because of them, we must remain proud Jews, vigilant but unafraid, and thankful to those who seek to protect us.

38 Jewish News 22 February 2024

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Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

A stimulating series where progressive rabbis consider how to navigate Judaism in the face of 21st-century issues

BY RABBI JOSH LEVY

CO-LEAD OF PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

Marrying a nonJew is not in itself ‘marrying out’ Among the more striking findings in the recent Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) survey, Jews in the UK Today, was that one-in-three of all British Jews who married between 2010 and 2022 married a non-Jew, up from one-in-four in the previous 10 years.

The data shows that being ‘against intermarriage’ – the position of some of the Jewish community over the last decades – hasn’t made it go away. As the American Rabbi Lawrence Kushner has written: “We now have enough data to say categorically that there is simply no way to stop Jews from marrying non-Jews.

Fierce rabbinic bans are risibly ineffective.

Insulting forms of covert ostracism only make us look xenophobic and weak.”

In Progressive communities, our orientation to this question is very different. If we live within wider society, then Jews will marry non-Jews. This should not be understood as a declaration that Judaism doesn’t matter to them. It is not in itself a ‘marrying out’.

Rather, this is a new demographic reality that makes a demand of us: do we want to make it possible for more people to live meaningful Jewish lives? If so, how do we increase the likelihood that Judaism is a part of the lives of those who marry non-Jews, and that they pass this on to their next generations?

How willing we are to embrace the choices that they have made, to welcome the nonJewish partner as a member of our communities? How do we create opportunities for their lives together to be honoured with us?

Across the lifecycle we have, over the past generation, created the ability to respond to the needs of mixed-faith families. Our clergy will help couples to celebrate with new Jewish rituals after a civil wedding, or with home dedication ceremonies to recognise a shared commitment to creating a Jewish home. Our

Batei Din are committed to helping people to create Jewish families, so that the decision of a mixed-faith couple to raise their children as Jews is recognised in their status. In many of our cemeteries, we are able to bury mixedfaith couples together.

Our synagogues have forms of membership for non-Jewish partners; many communities have done so for decades. Non-Jewish partners often play full roles in our communal life, including by joining committees, organising events and enjoying services and study. We welcome non-Jewish parents as active participants in their children’s Jewish education, including involvement in the ceremony of barmitzvah and batmitzvah, fully supporting Jewish life and our Jewish future alongside thousands of other Jewish-Jewish families.

What we have learned over the years is important for us all to acknowledge: we are often the decisive factor. Jewish identity doesn’t cease to be important to a Jew who falls in love with and marries a non-Jew. Rather, it is the quality of our welcome that matters most.

Our marriage choices must be honoured

If a third of Jews now marry non-Jews, we have an urgent and sacred task: to ensure that our communities honour the choice that they have made and that they welcome them in. Progressive Judaism is committed to responding to this task.

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This week: When to sell your jewellery, the importance of writing a will and using social media to find a job JONATHAN WILLIAMS JEWELLER

JEWELLERY CAVE LTD

Dear Jonathan I see gold seems to be at a record high, when I follow your prices every week in the JN, and actually I have many gold Sovereigns and Krugerrands. Do you think it is a good time to sell or is it going to go higher? Plus, I’m getting quite old now, and none of my family want my heavy old Italian bracelets and brooches, as they say they are not fashionable anymore! Finally, I’m paying mad premiums on my 4ct pear shape diamond ring, is now a good time to sell it?

Gillian Dear Gillian In answer to your two-part question. As you

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

KKL EXECUTOR & TRUSTEE CO Dear Carolyn My elderly uncle, who had no children of his own, passed away a few months ago and named me as his executor in his Will. His nephew, who had a poor relationship with him, is threatening to challenge the Will, under which he doesn’t benefit, on the grounds of the uncle’s lack of capacity.

Ian

Dear Ian Although you don’t mention it, I will assume your uncle’s nephew would inherit on an intestacy if the Will was set aside.

This shows the importance of following the ‘Golden Rule’ when drafting a Will. The draftsman should make every effort to ensure that all older testators have the necessary capacity and obtain a detailed report from a medical practitioner when preparing the document.

Recent research shows that one in 11 people over the age of 65 have some form of dementia and that more than 900,000 people within the UK have some form of the condition.

In a recent case, a solicitor who took instructions from a 90-year-old gentleman for the making of a Will without taking any proper steps to satisfy himself

eNABLeD PLease remember us in your wiLL.

Visit www.jbd.org or call 020 8371 6611

know gold is at a record high, and it’s global and political problems and wars that pushes the price up.

But it’s an amazing price at the moment, so it sounds as you probably have £5-10k minimum, and probably more, so I would think for you, now is a good time to take advantage of this high price.

Regards to your diamond, all big diamonds are still worth fair money, although in the last year, diamond prices have dropped 20-25 percent, this is primarily due to the new popularity of lab created diamonds, which do look identical to natural diamonds, but have almost a zero-resale value, so yes, I think now would be a good time to sell that too, in case prices continue to fall.

You are more than welcome to visit our showroom at Jewellery Cave, 48b Hendon Lane, N3.

as to the man’s capacity to make a Will was severely criticised by the judge. The Will was subsequently successfully challenged on the grounds of a lack of the necessary capacity.

The testator must be aware of the aims in making a Will, understand the approximate value and composition of their estate and appreciate any moral claims there may be on the estate. It must be clear they do not suffer from any mental condition which might impair their Will-making ability.

The Golden Rule is intended to protect the wishes of the testator and avoid a situation such as you have described.

When making a Will, it is advisable to consider giving the draftsman authority to write to your GP for confirmation of testamentary capacity.

SHOSHANNA DAVIS SEMINAR FACILITATOR

RESOURCE Dear Shoshanna I find social media very overwhelming.

How important is it for my job search?

Talia Dear Talia You aren’t alone! Social media can be an overwhelming place.

But this doesn’t mean you should ignore it.

When looking for a job you’re selling yourself and just like any

business selling a product it’s important to have multiple sales touchpoints so you can be visible to more people, and land more opportunities. Here are three reasons why you should consider using social media during your job search: First, to network, build a personal brand and increase your visibility: Find and connect with individuals at any company in any job title in any location and start creating and posting content that positions you as a thought leader in your industry.

Second, grow your commercial awareness: Keep up to date with the latest industry news and trends that you can use to show off in job applications and at interviews!

Third, find exclusive job opportunities: Organisations

often post jobs to social media first before posting them to job boards, allowing you to be the first to know, first to apply and often first to get their application seen!

This isn’t just limited to LinkedIn. Platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and even TikTok all have their own individual jobsearching capabilities. You don’t have to be active on every single one of these platforms. It’s all dependent on your industry and your goals and I suggest you pick one or two channels to focus on.

Want to learn more? I’m hosting a workshop at Resource on ‘Why Social Media is Important in Your Job Search & How To Use it!’ on 15 January at midday. To book, call Resource on 020 8346 4000 or email hello@resource-centre.org

40 Jewish News 22 February 2024

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Ask our experts / Professional advice from our panel

Our Experts

Do you have a question for a member of our team? Email:

editorial@jewishnews.co.uk

PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SPECIALIST

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TREVOR GEE Qualifications: • Managing director, consultant specialists in affordable family health insurance • Advising on maximising cover, lower premiums, pre-existing conditions • Excellent knowledge of health insurers, cover levels and hospital lists • LLB solicitors finals • Member of Chartered Insurance Institute

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• Mediator, business coach, trainer, author and speaker • Supporting businesses and charities with the hiring, managing, inspiring and firing of their staff

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• Helps level the playing field opposite vendors, developers & even the bank • Attentive to your needs, saving you time, hassle & money

JOE OZER Qualifications: • Executive director for the United Kingdom at DCI (Intl) Ltd • Worked in finance for more than 20 years • Specialists in distribution and promotion of Israel Bonds

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I.L.A.N. ESTATES & INVESTMENTS “Bringing Jews Home” UK: 0203-807-0878 ISRAEL: +972-504-910-604 www.ilanrealestate.com nadlan@hotmail.com

DEVELOPMENT COMPANY FOR ISRAEL 020 3936 2712 www.israelbondsintl.com joe.ozer@israelbondsintl.com

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ADAM SHELLEY Qualifications: • FCCA chartered certified accountant • Accounting, taxation and business advisory services • Entrepreneurial business specialist including start-up businesses • Specialises in charities; personal tax returns • Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation Volunteer of the Year JVN award

JONATHAN WILLIAMS Qualifications: • Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s • Expert in the manufacture and supply of diamond jewellery, wedding rings and general jewellery • Specialist in supply of diamonds to the public at trade prices

DR BEN LEVY Qualifications: • Doctor of psychology with 15 years’ experience in education and corporate sectors • Uses robust, evidence-based methods to help you achieve your goals, whatever they may be • Works with clients individually to maximise success

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

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

MAKE IT HAPPEN 07779 619 597 www.makeit-happen.co.uk ben@makeit-happen.co.uk

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

LISA WIMBORNE Qualifications: Able to draw on the charity’s 50 years of experience in enabling people with physical disabilities or impaired vision to live independently, including: • The provision of specialist accommodation with 24/7 on-site support • Knowledge of the innovations that empower people and the benefits available • Understanding of the impact of a disability diagnosis

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN Qualifications: Lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in will drafting and trust and estate administration. Last 14 years at KKL Executor and Trustee Company In close contact with clients to ensure all legal and pastoral needs are cared for Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners

SUE CIPIN OBE Qualifications: • 24 years+ hands-on experience, leading JDA in significant growth and development.

• Understanding of the impact of deafness on people, including children, at all stages • Extensive services for people affected by hearing loss/tinnitus • Technology room with expert advice on and facilities to try out the latest equipment.

• Hearing aid advice, support and maintenance

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

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

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

CAREER ADVISER

• • •

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

PRINCIPAL, PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL

LESLEY TRENNER Qualifications: • Provides free professional one-to-one advice at Resource to help unemployed into work • Offers mock interviews and workshops to maximise job prospects • Expert in corporate management holding director level marketing, commercial and general management roles

STEPHEN MORRIS Qualifications: • Managing director of Stephen Morris Shipping Ltd • 45 years’ experience in shipping household and personal effects • Chosen mover for four royal families and three UK prime ministers • Offering proven quality specialist advice for moving anyone across the world or round the corner

LOUISE LEACH Qualifications: • Professional choreographer qualified in dance, drama and Zumba (ZIN, ISTD & LAMDA), gaining an honours degree at Birmingham University • Former contestant on ITV’s Popstars, reaching bootcamp with Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw and Kym Marsh • Set up Dancing with Louise 19 years ago

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

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

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

22 February 2024 Jewish News

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41

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

THE BENEFITS UNIVERSE IS SHRINKING Paperweight’s caseworkers can help unravel the mysteries surrounding Universal Credit

THOUSANDS OF MEMBERS of the Jewish community will be affected by the changes that are happening regarding Universal Credit. All those still receiving legacy benefits including Income Support, Housing Benefit and Working Tax Credit (including support for childcare) will have to migrate to Universal Credit. The merging of six legacy benefits to a single, monthly payment is designed to make life easier, although this may be hard to discern. The Paperweight Trust , the Jewish Community’s Advice Centre can help clients navigate the migration to Universal Credit.

Carmel, despite receiving Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit for her six children, as well as Working Tax Credit and working part-time in a bakery, was only just able to make ends meet. When she received a letter about the migration to Universal Credit she was thrown into a panic, unsure how the changes would affect her and at a loss as to

how to find out. She struggled to use the online application system (as many people do), encountering technical glitches and was left feeling unempowered and frustrated.

To exacerbate this, for some time Carmel had found herself grappling with mounting bills and childcare arrears with the combined uncertainty taking a toll on her mental health, affecting her ability to focus at work and care for her children properly. Delays in processing her claim left Carmel and her family without crucial financial support for several weeks.

It was when Carmel was at her lowest ebb that her friend mentioned Paperweight. Simon, one of Paperweight’s caseworkers, provided invaluable assistance, helping her navigate and unravel the complexities of Universal Credit and advocating on her behalf to resolve issues with her claim.

One of the key problems they encountered is a new feature with Universal Credit. Under the legacy

tax credit system, Carmel only had to report her childcare costs annually and subsequently update HMRC with any changes. Under Universal Credit, she needs to submit a monthly report on her childcare costs. Simon helped her to organise her budget so this would prove easier to manage.

Additionally, when looking into Carmel’s case and breaking down her income and outgoings, Simon realised why she had not been receiving

CAMP SIMCHA IS HERE FOR CHILDREN WITH OVER 50 SERIOUS, LIFE-CHANGING OR LIFE-THREATENING MEDICAL CONDITIONS These include but are not limited to: degenerative or congenital conditions; all types of cancer; cardiac conditions; chronic illnesses such as Diabetes and IBD; serious mental health conditions; premature babies; serious surgery and acute trauma.

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her full entitlement. The total loss was several thousand pounds and after countless calls, Simon was able to negotiate a late reporting of childcare costs and recover all the money.

Under Simon’s careful guidance, Carmel has seized the opportunity to access training and development opportunities offered through Universal Credit, empowering her to enhance her skills and pursue better employment prospects. With determination and resilience, she secured a full-time position with a local catering company, increasing her household income and financial stability.

“I cannot thank Paperweight enough,” says Carmel. “I didn’t realise that the switch to Universal Credit would be so difficult or different and that I would end up losing money due to my lack of understanding. Simon looked at the bigger picture and was then able to get everything back on track and actually improve things

for me and my children.”

While Universal Credit presents challenges, it also offers opportunities for empowerment and growth.

By working with those affected, providing support and educating through Universal Credit webinars, Paperweight can ensure that Universal Credit fulfils its promise of delivering meaningful assistance to those in need within our community.

However, many applicants may not be better off on Universal Credit.

Paperweight will help to clarify what the migration means for you.

The Paperweight Trust plays a critical role in supporting individuals facing complex needs in a wide range of areas. It provides practical support to help people navigate difficult situations and maintain control over their lives.

42 Jewish News 22 February 2024

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ADVERTISE IN THE UK’S BIGGEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER FOR LESS THAN £24 A WEEK Email Sales today at sales@jewishnews.co.uk

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For further details and application forms, please contact Westlon Housing Association on 020 8201 8484 or email: johnsilverman@btconnect.com

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LEGACY- LEAVE A GIFT IN YOUR MEMORYLegacy Classified advert v1.qxp_Legacy 16/06/2021 10:57 Page 1 Gary Green ad 84 x 40mm JM Group v2.indd 1

Leave the legacy of independence to people like Joel.

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eNABLeD visit www.Jbd.org or caLL 020 8371 6611

Registered Charity No. 259480

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HELP US CONTINUE TO BE THERE FOR OUR COMMUNITY WITH A GIFT IN YOUR WILL. Call our Legacy Team on 020 8922 2840 for more information or email legacyteam@jcare.org Charity Reg No. 802559

Chancellors House, Brampton Lane, London, NW4 4AB Tel: 020 8903 8746 | Mobile: 079 3172 2153 www.bfiwd.org | email: info@bfiwd.org

22 February 2024 Jewish News

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43

Fun, games and prizes

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44 Jewish News 22 February 2024

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