1376 - 18th July 2024 by Jewish News

Young Jewish News 2024 CREATIVES MEDIA&

Almost 1,000 pupils from Jewish schools nationwide have taken part in Jewish News’ end-ofterm ‘Thank A Teacher’ campaign to express their gratitude to the community’s inspiring educaytors, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Organised with Partnerships for Jewish Schools (PaJeS), the project –which saw parents, governors and students take part – celebrates the e orts of teachers at schools including Beit Shvidler Primary in Edgware, Bury and Whiteﬁeld Jewish Primary School, Clore Tikva in Ilford, Etz Chaim in Edgware, Gesher in Pinner, Hasmonean High School for Girls in Mill Hill, Immanuel College in Bushey, JCoSS in Barnet, JFS in Kenton, King David Primary School in Manchester, Kisharon Noé School in Hendon and Manchester Jewish School for Special Education.

PaJeS chief executive Rabbi David Meyer said: “We were delighted with the results of our initiative in partnership with Jewish News. Teachers play a vital

1,000 students nominate inspiring teachers

Apples all round!

giving

role in shaping the future. This project was our way of giving parents and students an opportunity and a voice to express gratitude.”

been heartwarming to see vast numbers of nom-

Meyer added: “It has been heartwarming to see vast numbers of nominations. As we near the end of what has been a very challenging year, acknowledgment of our teachers reﬂects a culture of appreciation and respect from across our community.”

end of what has been a very

Seth Walmer, head of Jewish studies at King Solomon High School, was one of the teachers nominated by pupils. He said: “Of course, we do not teach for ‘Thank yous’ but to enrich the lives of our students. We aim to give them knowledge to use in their daily lives. It is lovely to be appreciated for our work and e ort. To know my students value what I do is touching.”

Nominee Shana Burton, a recep-

when my pupils feel

tion class teacher at Broughton Jewish Primary School, said: “The relationships I have with my students is my core value. I know that when my pupils feel safe, secure, seen and included, it has a signiﬁcant impact on their behaviour, social interactions, learning performance and well being. The love and care they feel helps them to thrive in their learning environment. Our students can learn as much from who we are as teachers as what we teach them.”

behaviour, social interac-

Justin Cohen, co-publisher of Jewish News, said: “It’s wonderful to have this opportunity to work with PaJeS to recognise and thank our teachers.”

Every nominated teacher will receive a personalised PaJeS certiﬁcate, acknowledging their dedication and hard work.

Home secretary to probe election threats over Gaza

The “alarming” rise in candidate intimidation during the UK’s general election campaign by pro-Palestine activists will be addressed next week at a meeting of ministers and civil servants, the home secretary has said, writes Lee Harpin.

Yvette Cooper said the defending democracy taskforce, which was set up by the Conservative government and brings together ministers and experts, would meet next week to “make sure public safety, security and standards in our democracy can be upheld”.

The Home O ce will “follow up” on complaints by MPs and candidates about reported threats and intimidation during the general election campaign.

Lord Walney, the government’s adviser on political violence and disruption, wrote to Cooper last weekend about the “aggressive confrontation and intimidation” he said was “created by aggressive pro-Palestine activists”.

It has now emerged that police are

ronment that could lead to another assassination attempt on a UK politician, of which we have already tragically seen a number in recent years.”

Asked about concerns about UK politicians’ safety following the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump last weekend, Keir Starmer’s spokesman said: “Clearly it’s unacceptable for anyone, including political representatives, to face any sort of intimidation.”

looking into leaflets delivered in the city which linked former MP Ashworth to false slurs about his stance on a ceaseﬁre in Gaza, and others that suggested he had failed to stand up to the killing of children by Israel.

The home secretary said on Monday that during the election there had been “an alarming rise in intimidation, harassment and abuse towards candidates, campaigners and volunteers from all parties, which

simply cannot be tolerated”.

She added: “Some of those incidents are now being investigated by police. The disgraceful scenes we saw in some areas during this election campaign must not be repeated.”

The Home O ce will carry out a rapid review of the election to gauge the levels of harassment faced by candidates, with police forces across the country investigating a number of cases, it is understood.

Walney, formerly ex-Labour MP John Woodcock, warned in his letter: “We have seen the growth in the UK of US-style politics of aggressive confrontation and intimidation which is unfortunately, exactly the toxic envi-

LFI BACKS RENEWED

UNRWA

FUNDING WITH SAFEGUARDS

Labour Friends of Israel has backed demands for the UK to restore funding to the UN’s Palestinian relief agency UNRWA ahead of an expected move by the foreign secretary to conﬁrm the decision.

In a newly sent brieﬁng to Labour MPs, LFI stresses that as a result of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, it is supportive of a return to funding of the aid agency, although it stresses this should be tied to “more stringent vetting of sta , a transparent employee register and an overhaul of educational materials”.

The Conservative government had come under pressure to restore UK funding to UNRWA, frozen after evidence from Israel that up to a dozen UNRWA sta were involved in the 7 October massacre.

An internal UN investigation was undertaken, and Israel also urged to produce further evidence of illegal activity by employees at the agency.

A report by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into UNRWA’s operation made similar recommendations.

In parliament in May, Andrew Mitchell, then deputy foreign minister,

told MPs: “The House should expect that we will be restoring funding to make sure that humanitarian support is available.”

The LFI brieﬁng backs calls for UNRWA to have a transitory role with functions eventually transferred to a revitalised Palestinian Authority.

Foreign secretary David Lammy could signal the move to restore funding

in the coming weeks. This week he met Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leaders in Israel and the West Bank, where he called for an immediate ceaseﬁre in Gaza and release of hostages held by Hamas.

Reports from Israel that he reassured o cials that the UK government would retain the previous government’s legal challenge to the right of the ICC prosecutor to seek an arrest warrant against Netanyahu have not been conﬁrmed.

In April, Richard Pater, of the Jerusalem-based Bicom think tank, said: “Because of the necessity of humanitarian aid in Gaza, UNRWA is needed as there may be no immediate replacement.

“As faulty and problematic as UNRWA is, you can’t have a vacuum in Gaza.”

Many political candidates and their sta su ered threats and intimidation in the run-up to the election.

Muslim Labour MPs, including justice secretary Shabana Mahmood and Rushanara Ali, were among those to be targeted with claims they were supporters of the “Zionist” Labour Party.

Jonathan Ashworth, who lost the Leicester South seat to pro-Palestine campaigner Shockat Adam, who was revealed by Jewish News to be the brother of Ismail Patel, founder of the Islamist Friends of Al Aqsa group, has spoken of the intimidation he

faced. In the run-up to the election he received a letter from Muslim leaders asking him to explain why he had shared a tweet by Starmer expressing solidarity with Israel immediately after Hamas’s atrocities on 7 October. During the campaign, leaﬂets were distributed calling Ashworth a “ceaseﬁre abstainer” and a “genocide” supporter. On polling day, when he took his 10-year-old daughter with him to canvass, a constituent confronted him, saying: “Everyone despises you.” Woodcock said he believed intimidation was increasingly being used as “a core electoral strategy to try to either get candidates defeated or bully candidates into submission”.

A particular pattern of abuse was “created by aggressive pro-Palestine activists”, he added.

The peer called on Cooper and the security minister, Dan Jarvis, to commission a short inquiry to establish whether groups in di erent constituencies were working together before the 4 July general election.

Five teen hostages are alive, says IDF

The families of ﬁve female IDF surveillance soldiers abducted from the Nahal Oz base on 7 October have received conﬁrmation that they are alive, according the mother of one of the captives.

Shiri Albag’s daughter, Liri, is one of the soldiers who were abducted. Albag informed Ynet that signs of life from the captives were received about a month and a half ago. The girls have reportedly been surviving in tunnels for more than seven months.

This week the families released photos of the soldiers from the

early days of captivity, showing them injured. These images were extracted from a Hamas video retrieved by the IDF during operations in Gaza and were ﬁrst shown to the families about a month ago. Each family viewed the portion of the video featuring their daughter. The video appeared staged, with captors telling the girls, who appeared tearful, to state their names and ages and to follow speciﬁc commands. Albag also mentioned that the women have since been separated from one another.

From left: Liri Albag, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Karina Ariev

A school in Gaza City run by the UN relief agency

Jess Phillips: harassed

PSC praises Hamas’ ‘peaceful initiatives’

The brochure for last Saturday’s Durham Miners Gala included a statement by a Palestine Solidarity Campaign activist praising Hamas for its “many peaceful initiatives”, writes Lee Harpin.

Over four pages of the brochure for the 138th Durham Miners Gala, the article called for the “defeat of Zionism” and claimed Jews themselves needed to undergo “liberation” from the “racist ideology”.

Author John Metson, a leading ﬁgure in the PSC’s County Durham branch, also accused Israel of “unrelenting savagery” in the war against Hamas, and claimed there was no need to wait for the International Court of Justice’s judgment “to know that this is genocide”.

Jewish Labour groups reacted furiously after being shown the antiZionist rant, with a Labour Friends of Israel spokesperson calling on the PSC to make an “immediate apology” about the content of their statement.

Jewish News was altered to the material by a group of trade unionists at last Saturday’s event, which was attended by Jeremy Corbyn.

One told us: “Thousands of copies of the brochure are posted and sold on the day. I will be lodging a complaint with my union Unite over the

rubbish I was made to read.”

Thousands of people attended the gala . This year’s event was meant to mark the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike and included in a lively parade. But in a move which angered some attendees, the PSC’s statement was a central feature of the £2 brochure .

To suggest the Hamas terror-

ists who killed, kidnapped, mutilated and raped their way through southern Israel on 7 October have made “many peaceful initiatives” is as farcical as it is ahistorical.

“We could not believe what we were reading when we came to the section written on Israel and Palestine,” one attendee told Jewish News. “The Miners Gala never used to be dominated by such one-sided accounts on the politics of the Middle East. It used to be about celebrating the best of working-class culture in this country.

Inside reference was made to the 7 October Hamas terror attacks, which PSC writer Metson accepted was a “horrifying atrocity”.

But he then wrote: “What is less well known is that since its formation in the late 1980s” Hamas “has made many peaceful initiatives implicitly accepting an Israeli state on pre1967 borders… These have all been rejected, leaving it with little alternative but armed resistance or what is often called terrorism.”

A Labour Friends of Israel spokesperson told Jewish News : “

Two Jews and a Muslim sworn in

It was an ancient ceremony, but one that said so much about modern day Britain. At the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand attorney-general Richard Hermer KC and solicitor-general Sarah Sackman, both Jewish, were sworn into their roles alongside lord chancellor Shabana Mahmood, who is a Muslim.

The three were sworn in before England and Wales’s top judges on Monday.

Sackman, elected Finchley and Golders Green MP this month, said it was a “huge honour” be handed the ministerial role in Keir Starmer’s government.

The barrister, a regular at New North London Synagogue, said all three legal experts had “rea rmed our commitment to protect the rule of law and advise the government as it serves the public”.

Dame Sue Carr, the lady chief justice, referenced Sackman’s seminar at the LSE titled ‘Law and the City’ which provoked laughs from the audience at the ceremony.

She said: ‘The title may perhaps pay tribute to a well-known American TV series. If so, I wonder if there is scope to draw on its sequel.

“Why might that be? Well, you were ﬁrst

elected to parliament, as MP for Finchley and Golders Green, just over a week ago. “And ‘just like that’, you are here today taking your oath as solicitor general, your ﬁrst ministerial o ce.”D

Dame Sue also praised Mahmood noting she was “the ﬁrst lord chancellor to swear their oath on the Qur’an.”

Hermer, who was made a peer by Keir Starmer, also said it was a “profound privilege” to hold the role of attorney general and said it was “our job to speak truth to power”.

He is a member of Alyth Gardens synagogue and was among a group of top Jewish lawyers

who signed a letter calling on Israel to observe international laws in its response to the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October.

Like Sackman, Hermer has worked at Matrix Chambers, leaving the ﬁrm with two members in the heart of Downing Street.

The new lord chancellor and justice secretary in the government also pledged to continue “defending the international rule of law and upholding human rights” as she was sworn in at the ceremony.

Barrister Adam Wagner, who attended the ceremony, later posted on X: “ Very moving to hear Shabana Mahmood talk about her Kashmiri heritage and how she is the ﬁrst Muslim to be lord chancellor, and swear on the Koran. And to follow the Abrahamic theme, the new AG and SG Richard Hermer KC and Sarah Sackman are Jewish.

“But the most inspiring thing of all was to hear all three talk passionately about the rule of law and promise to uphold it, something which has been sorely lacking in recent years.”

“Even more shockingly, the attempt to justify “armed resistance or what is often called terrorism” is deeply o ensive and demonstrates complete ignorance of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conﬂict. There must be an immediate apology and explanation as to how this was printed.”

A Jewish Labour Movement source called the material “weaponsgrade anti-Jewish hate, masquerading as pro-Palestinian advocacy”, adding: “Once again, the far left insists that it can tell a minority group how and when others are racists towards it. Of course, it wouldn’t dream of doing this in any other case of discrimination.

“The PSC’s utter failure to acknowledge Hamas’s terrorism and the long-held antisemitic views which are central to its evil ideology shows how morally bankrupt it is.”

Jewish News has asked the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for further comment.

ART REMOVED

The Royal Academy of Arts has apologised for exhibiting work that seemingly compares Israel’s conﬂict with Hamas in Gaza to Nazism and removed two pieces from display, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

The pieces form part of the institution’s annual Young Artists Summer Show, where this year more than 21,000 UK students, aged four to 19, entered drawings, videos and sculptures.

Kausar, 18, submitted a photo of a person holding a sign which says “Jews say stop genocide on Palestinians: Not in our name.” Andy, 16, entered a drawing of women in headscarves with a swastika above them. The artist wrote that he created the piece of work “inspired by the recent conﬂict in Gaza” and draws “many parallels with the Nazi’s and Chinese oppression”.

Sarah Sackman, Shabana Mahmood and Richard Hermer

Lammy ceasefire and hostage release plea

by Lee Harpin lee@jewishnews.co.uk

UK foreign secretary David Lammy this week called for an “immediate ceaseﬁre and release of the hostages” on a visit to Israel and the West Bank.

On a visit to the Middle East just over a week since Labour’s election victory, Lammy met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, president Isaac Herzog and Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammad Mustafa, among others.

In a sign of concern about the fate of the hostages, Lammy spent his ﬁrst evening in Jerusalem meeting families of British people still held and committed the UK government to be involved with all relevant parties in attempts to bring them home.

After meeting the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Lammy said: “Our message is clear: we need an immediate ceaseﬁre, the immediate release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, unfettered access to aid in Gaza, and a pathway towards a two-state solution.”

After meeting Herzog, Lammy added: “We want to see a hostage deal emerge in the coming days, and I am using all diplomatic e orts; indeed, last week with the G7

nations, and particularly with [US] secretary of state Blinken.”

The foreign secretary also focused on the UK’s diplomatic role in helping to end the conﬂict in Gaza and to longer-term ambitions of peace and security in the region.

Sir Keir Starmer has previously stressed his belief his party has a “moral duty” to restore the UK’s repution as a fair broker in the region.

In a statement before his visit, Lammy said: “The death and

destruction in Gaza is intolerable. This war must end now, with an immediate ceaseﬁre, complied with by both sides.

“The ﬁghting has got to stop, the hostages still cruelly detained by Hamas terrorists need to be released immediately and aid must be allowed in to reach the people of Gaza without restrictions.”

Lammy said it was the UK’s “ambition and commitment” to play a role in securing a ceaseﬁre

deal and a renewed path towards a two-state solution.

“Central to this is to see an end to expanding illegal Israeli settlements and rising settler violence in the West Bank. Here, in what should be a crucial part of a Palestinian state, alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem, we need to see a reformed and empowered Palestinian Authority.”

Lammy also expressed frustration over a lack of British aid trucks entering Gaza “after months and months of asking”, echoing longrunning complaints from aid agencies about deliveries being blocked or delayed by complex inspections imposed by the Israeli military.

He said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “appalling” and that the UK would be providing an additional £5.5m to medical charity UK-Med to fund its work.

King announces UK’s ‘two state’ hope

The UK government will “play its part” in trying to secure long-term peace and security in the Middle East, and is “committed” to a two-state solution with “a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state”, King Charles has told parliament, writes Lee Harpin.

Delivering the ﬁrst King’s Speech from the throne under a Labour government for 14 years, His Majesty conﬁrmed that Keir Starmer’s aim to make the UK a central player in e orts to spark a renewed peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

Among the 35 Bills and draft Bills unveiled on Wednesday was a return of the Holocaust Memorial Bill, introduced into the Commons under previous Tory government. The Bill again pledged to build a national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre “in the heart of our democracy” in the controversial Victoria Tower Gardens site.

In the “key fact” notes section accompanying the Bill, it is noted that the Metropolitan Police recorded an “over 1000 per cent rise in antisemitic incidents following Hamas’s attack on Israel last year, compared to the previous year.”

The Bill will also authorise expenditure on the construction of the long-promised memorial and learning centre, and attempts to override restrictions preventing the use of the site, close to parliament. The key facts section also suggests the planned memorial will “take up approximately 7.5per cent of the park.”

As expected the previous government’s attempt to prevent local councils from boycotting Israel did not feature in the King’s Speech, after the anti-BDS proposals were subjected to challenges from MPs and peers during the last parliament.

LABOUR MP EQUATES HOSTAGES WITH PRISONERS

A Labour MP has deleted a tweet maintaining there is a parallel between hostages taken by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, after it was highlighted by Jewish News

Sarah Owen, MP for Luton North, took to Twitter/X on Saturday to share a tweet from Medical Aid for Palestinians, claiming “Israeli military airstrikes have reportedly killed more than 70 Palestinians and injured 289 in the designated ‘safe zone’ of al-Mawasi”.

FEARS OVER SCHOOL FEES PROPOSAL

The King’s Speech outlining the Labour government’s agenda has committed it to introducing measures to remove the exemption from VAT for private school fees, writes Lee Harpin.

Asked to comment on claims made by one Jewish charity that getting rid of the business rates exemption would “decimate [Jewish] schools”, a government spokesperson said Labour would now “engage a range of key stakeholders to discuss how the changes will be implemented”.

King Charles conﬁrmed the inclusion of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, as he outlined the 35 bills and draft bills contained in the King’s Speech.

The promise to continue with Labour’s manifesto pledge to end the business rates exemption for private schools in order to fund the recruitment of 6,500 extra teachers into the state sector will be met with sustained criticism from organisations and charities supportive of the independent sector.

Speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, Raisel Freedman of Partnership for Jewish Schools (PaJes) claimed: “Getting rid of the business rates exemption would decimate [Jewish] schools.”

Freedman also suggested some Jewish parents choosing private schools would be plunged into poverty and some Orthodox schools charging only minimal fees would be forced to close.

It is claimed that Jewish state schools are now over-subscribed, and “thousands” of Jewish children could now be left without a place at their chosen schools.

said: “Sarah stands by our UK government’s calls for an immediate ceaseﬁre, increased aid into Gaza, the release of all hostages and a pathway to a two-state solution.

To accompany the tweet, she added: “A ceaseﬁre and exchange of hostages are long

The post was widely criti-

“She notes that one of the last successful large-scale release of hostages involved negotiations resulting in an exchange of hostages and political prisoners, many of which were children.”

overdue.”

Explanatory community notes were added to Owen’s tweet, stating: “There is no ‘exchange of hostages’ under discussion. Hamas took civilians as hostages on October 7th. Israel holds Palestinian prisoners convicted or suspected of crimes.”

But some experts in the community are critical of these claims. They suggest that some of the Jewish schools less reliant on charging fees, and more on charitable support could attempt to become voluntary aided or state schools themselves.

The post was widely criticised for its equivalence of Hamas hostages, which includes children, teenagers and baby Kﬁr Bibas, with Pales- tinians imprisoned for or arrested on suspicion of violent crimes.

tinians imprisoned for

A statement sent to Jewish News from Owen’s spokesperson on Monday

Owen’s o ce declined to clarify whether she stands by the inferred equivalence of Hamas hostages and Palestinian political prisoners with her continued reference to ‘all hostages’.

Sarah Owen secured 14,677 votes, or 37.9 percent of the votes in Luton North, a 16 percent drop from the 2019 general election. Jewish News approached the Labour Party for comment.

But this would leave ultraOrthodox schools facing government oversight over their curriculum, which many do not want.

Schools are also able to claim back VAT on other costs at their institutions, again reducting the impact of the new proposals.

JFS students question Labour minister Bridget Phillipson

David Lammy meets Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem

Foreign secretary at Yad Vashem

Sarah Owen MP

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‘I’ll always remain an ally of the Jewish community’

Elected as MP for North Durham, the former We Believe In Israel director sees hope for the Middle East from the new government, writes Lee Harpin

Newly elected Labour MP Luke Akehurst has vowed to remain an “ally of the Jewish community, and a friend of Israel” at the same time as taking on the “heavy responsibility” of representing a constituency in the north of England impacted by decades of social and economic deprivation.

Those who may not have followed the 52-year-old’s career to date could be forgiven for thinking such an ambitious pledge will quickly be forgotten once Akehurst becomes more accustomed to a Westminster lifestyle.

North Durham, the seat he was elected at the general election to represent, has after all only a tiny Jewish presence.

But, as the now former director of the grassroots campaign group We Believe In Israel, through his work as a moderate voice on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) and also with his leadership of Labour To Win, the party’s pro-Keir Starmer organisational wing, Akehurst has a track record second to none for staying true to his word.

“I’m very sure about where I stand politically,” Akehurst stresses. “I’ve known where my political views were, particularly the allyship with the Jewish community, since I was 16 years old. I’m very certain I am doing the right thing.”

Growing up in Kent, Akehurst joined Labour at 16, developing close ties with the Union of Jewish Students while studying at Bristol University and through his senior role with the Labour Students group.

A lengthy stint as a councillor in Hackney saw Akehurst develop strong bonds with the Charedi community, which he retains.

“I came to it through secular political belief in the right of selfdetermination of the Jewish people and also the responsibility of a non-Jewish world to be supportive post-Holocaust.”

At the election, Akehurst secured an ambition to become an MP he has had since ﬁrst standing in Aldershot, where he came third in 2001.

“It’s a secular political thing,” he says, when asked to explain why his support for UK Jewry has remained so strong. “There’s many people that come to views on Israel through faith. That’s not my background.

O ered the relatively safe North Durham seat this time around, with support from some of Starmer’s closest advisers, Akehurst secured a convincing majority after Labour MP Kevan James, stepped down. A campaign against him by Momentum activists and proPalestine campaigners failed to stop Akehurst securing a majority of nearly 6,000 over Reform’s Andrew Husband.

“My allyship with the Jewish community won’t disappear, nor will my stance as a Labour friend of Israel. But my priority is going to have to be my constituency in North Durham,” reasons Akehurst looking

only days earlier on a kibbutz he had recently visited.

Akehurst says he is fully aware many voters from the community returned to Labour out of frustration at the Tory record on economic, social and environmental issues, but there is still concern about Labour’s position on Israel, particularly on recognition of a Palestinian state.

“My understanding is that this is intended to happen, not as an immediate thing,” says Akehurst of Labour’s commitment to recognition. “But the idea is the UK can contribute to a peace process, and at an appropriate junction where our international partners, including the US believe that it would be a positive contribution to the peace process.

forward. “I have to focus on being a good constituency MP, delivering on the needs of local people, because that’s the job I’m elected to do. That doesn’t mean I have di erent beliefs.”

A deep political thinker and strategist, Akehurst even ﬁnds a way to link the northeast’s economic decline to the antisemitism crisis that wrecked his party under Corbyn.

He notes the “big social and economic problems, inequalities and deprivation” in North Durham were made worse not just by policies of the previous Tory government but also his own party’s drift into a political ideology that made it unelectable.

As director of We Believe In Israel since its foundation in 2011, and through his combative role with the anti-Corbyn wing of Labour, which paved the way for Starmer to become leader, Akehurst has been subjected to vicious attacks from those who claim to be Corbyn allies.

He speaks proudly of his time with the Israel advocacy group, from which he has now stepped down as director, saying it “gave people a voice, as there was a feeling among grassroots supporters of Israel they didn’t have a way to express themselves when there was a crisis”.

His We Believe In Israel role, coupled with his Labour activity, spurred on the Corbynite abusers even more.

“I feel very thick-skinned,” Akehurst says. “The fact many, many people

often o er their solidarity when bad things happen sustains me, but it’s inevitable that kind of abuse gets at you psychologically. And when it includes people wearing masks surrounding your car, preventing you from moving, and shouting abuse, then you begin to have concerns about your personal safety.

“I think that’s a very disturbing development in British politics. People have moved from debating emotive and contentious issues to harassing people they disagree with.”

Akehurst is hugely optimistic about the arrival of a Labour government under Starmer. An understated person himself, Akehurst is also committed to making his new role as an MP a success.

At the Labour Party conference last October, held under the dark shadow of the Hamas terror attack, Akehurst delivered an impassioned and moving tribute to the peace activists slaughtered by terrorists

“And that strikes me as quite a responsible way to behave. Recognition is going to come at some stage if you believe in a two-state solution. The impression I get is the Labour government is being cautious about this and is trying to do it as a responsible partner in the context of trying to bring forward or start a peace process that doesn’t really exist.”

Akehurst is not complacent about the threat posed by the new wave of pro-Palestine independent candidates, ﬁve of whom triumphed at the election, nor the threat to his party from right-wing elements uniting around Reform UK, but it is clear he takes great strength from the new-found diversity of the Labour Party post-election.

“I think it’s great, all the people you’ve just named…” says Akehurst, after Jewish News asks if the senior roles in the party given to Jewish MPs like Sarah Sackman and Georgia Gould, along with the appointment of a Muslim justice secretary in Shabanah Mahmood, might help to forge closer links between communities here driven apart as a result of the impact of the conﬂict in Gaza.

“These are the people I hope will be working together. There’s many, many aspects around the diversity of our government, and the diversity of our new much-enlarged parliamentary Labour Party that should be celebrated. This is one of them.”

Luke Akehurst, centre, leads a We Believe In Israel rally

LFI’s Michael Rubin, second right, and Akehurst, right, on a joint delegation to Israel with Labour activists and councillors

We Believe in Israel director Luke Akehurst with campaign manager Rachel Kaye

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Shamima Begum lawyer

ﬁned over PressTV show

A solicitor who took part in a PressTV broadcast titled Mishcon de Reya –Zionist Law Firm has been found guilty of two breaches of the profession’s code of conduct, writes Beatrice Sayers.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) said Tasnime Akunjee misled or attempted to mislead and abused his position when he took part in the programme in September 2022.

The tribunal also found the Iranian state-sponsored channel’s broadcast was antisemitic in tone and content though the panel also made clear that no allegation of antisemitism was being made against Akunjee.

Two other accusations relating to recklessness and events after the broadcast were found to be not proven.

A pre-recorded clip shown in the programme, part of PressTV’s Palestine Declassiﬁed series, describes Mishcon de Reya as “deeply bonded to Israel at every level of the company”. The clip concludes: “Watch out, [the ﬁrm] could have you on their hit list.”

Akunjee, a criminal defence lawyer, was ﬁned £6,500 and ordered to pay £30,000 costs. The SDT had sought costs

of £45,480 for what it said was “an unusual case” that had needed considerable advice and preparation.

Louise Cullerton, for the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, reminded the panel that in January this year Akunjee had been rebuked by the SRA for reckless and abusive tweets, in a matter that was not passed to the tribunal.

David Gottlieb, representing Akunjee, argued in mitigation the makers of the programme, which is still

available online, “took advantage of someone who was grieving the death of their brother”. Akunjee’s brother died tragically in April 2022.

Gottlieb also said the matter had had “harsh consequences” for Akunjee personally, and that the disciplinary proceedings hanging over him had been one reason why he had changed his mind and decided not to stand as a parliamentary candidate in this year’s general election.

Akunjee had intended to put himself forward as an independent candidate in the Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency in a move to unseat Labour’s Rushanara Ali over her refusal to call for a ceaseﬁre in Gaza.

Giving evidence on the ﬁrst day of the three-day hearing, Akunjee, 46, a former lawyer for so-called Isis bride Shamima Begum and a former pupil at City of London School for Boys, had said he had not realised until after arriving at the PressTV studio exactly what the broadcast was going to be about.

Mistakes he had made when being interviewed were due to the fact that he had not adequately researched or prepared for the topic, he added.

DUNCAN IS CLEARED IN LORDS BIAS

The Conservatives have dismissed claims that former minister Alan Duncan used “antisemitic tropes” when he alleged a Jewish peer regularly “exercised the interests” of Israel in Westminster.

Former foreign minister Duncan had also described Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) o cials Lord Stuart Polak and Lord (Eric) Pickles as “sort of Laurel and Hardy” as he accused their organisation of doing the “bidding” for Benjamin Netanyahu in the House of Lords.

The senior Tory, and ex Rutland and Melton MP, went as far as to call for Polak to be expelled by the Tory Party over claims he was Israel’s representative in parliament.

Jewish News has learned that after launching an independently conducted panel investigation into Duncan’s comments, the Conservatives dismissed allegations of antisemitism.

Speaking to LBC presenter Nick Ferrari in April, Duncan, a long-time critic of Israel, said there were pro-

CASE

“extremists” in UK government impacting on its response to Israel’s military action in Gaza.

In a damning claim, he suggested the CFI was “bypassing all proper processes of government to exercise undue inﬂuence at the top of government”.

The remarks prompted strong and immediate complaints from both the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies.

“Calling into question the loyalty of a Jewish peer was just one example of the antisemitic tropes shared by Sir Alan Duncan this morning on LBC,” said the JLC, which conﬁrmed it had raised the matter with the Conservative Party.

Israel

Alan Duncan

Tasnime Akunjee

Synagogue prayers for crossbow victims

The senior rabbi at Bushey United Synagogue has led members of his community in memorial prayers for the three victims – a mother and two daughters – killed in a crossbow attack in Hertfordshire last week, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Carol Hunt, 61, a beautician, Hannah Hunt, 28, and dog-groomer Louise Hunt, 25, were killed in the attack at the family home in Ashlyn Close, Bushey.

Speaking to Jewish News, Rabbi Elchonon Feldman said: “It’s important for people to know we care.”

The Shabbat service had been designed to include a commemorative section incorporating a memorial prayer and moments of reflection, he added.

Taking to Facebook to offer words of solidarity, he wrote the community was in “a state of shock and

mourning at the brutal attack and murder of three innocent Bushey residents”.

He went on: “It will take time to comprehend that such a tragedy took place in our midst but in the first instance we stand together in sorrow and prayer with all family and friends who are grieving at this time of immense loss.”

Rabbi Feldman said he was also grateful Bushey churches opened their doors to light candles and offer

prayers and “in our synagogue we will in turn over the weekend have the opportunity in solidarity to formally recognise the loss as well”.

Together with his wife, Rebbetzen Jacqueline, Rabbi Feldman urged anyone who had felt unsettled by the incident or wished to talk to reach out to the Rabbinic Team “who are here to support the community”.

He added: “The fact that such an act took place amongst us must be remem-

bered and commemorated. We pray for better times for us all and that our tolerant and peace-loving village will again be a place of safety, peace and community harmony. Amen.”

Murder suspect Kyle Clifford is in a serious condition in hospital after being found injured near Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield following a manhunt.

A minute’s silence was held for the victims’ husband and father, BBC racing commentator John Hunt, during Ladies Day, the first day of the Newmarket Festival taking place at the Suffolk-based racecourse.

Officers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit have called the killings “an unprecedented attack” and say they are “wholly committed to seeking justice for the victims and their family”.

Essex’s only Jewish secondary school has paused sixth-form education plans.

King Solomon High has told parents of Year 11 students of the “extremely difficult decision” not to enrol a Year 12 group next year.

Headteacher Michele Philips said the school’s longterm financial viability was “central to the turnaround plan” and the decision followed a drop in sixth-form numbers in the past few years.

It had become apparent the school was “highly unlikely to secure sufficient numbers of

A charity running a confidential helpline for 11-20 yearolds has seen a six percent rise in calls from stressed teens during exam season.

JTeen says its support line had almost 800 conversations with Jewish teens since January linked to anxiety and school-related stress.

The charity helps students manage panic attacks, feelings

students to next year’s Year 12 year group to make this viable”, she added.

Philips noted the school was “in the midst of a national staffing crisis – a situation that is by no means unique to King Solomon High School” – with few specialist teachers available to teach in key subjects.

The school says its priority now “is to ensure that the small number of Year 11 students who have applied solely to King Solomon are well supported in continuing their post-16 education at another school or college”.

of self-harm and low mood with specialist strategies.

Psychotherapist and JTeen chief executive CEO Yaakov Barr said: “Exam stress is a critical issue demanding immediate attention. Schools, parents and policymakers must prioritise mental health education and provide students with the tools they need to thrive under pressure.”

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Holocaust

‘Stumbling stones’ to Nazi victims to be installed in Channel Islands

A project to commemorate those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis takes place in Guernsey and Jersey next week, writes Jenni Frazer.

The German artist Gunter Demnig, who originated the Stolpersteine – or ‘stumbling stones’ – initiative in 1992, will arrive in Guernsey for the installation of 15 engraved brass cubes, sunk into the pavement at the last-known addresses of those persecuted in the Channel Islands. The islands were the only part of British territory occupied by the Nazis.

Twenty more Stolpersteine will be laid in Jersey. To date, the only stone in Britain is the one in Golden Square, in London’s Soho, in the name of Ada van Dantzig, an art restorer who was arrested in 1943 in France and murdered in Auschwitz in that year. Her stone was installed in 2022 at the last address in which she worked.

About 100,000 Stolpersteine can now be found in more than 30 European cities. Each 10cm cube is sunk so that it is flush with the pavement. “Rather than stumbling over them with your feet, you stumble with your head and your heart,” Demnig says.

Guernsey Museum said its stones

would remember 11 people who died, and four who survived the Nazis.

Head of heritage services Helen Glencross said Guernsey Museums was honoured to be part of the project. “Logistically, it has been challenging and I am very grateful to all those who have assisted.

“I hope that the Stolpersteine will raise awareness with islanders and visitors about those who were victims and survivors of Nazism during the Second World War.”

Where possible, family members of those being commemorated have been contacted to witness the installation of the Stolpersteine, which will be laid in a number of sites across the islands. But researchers had not been successful in tracking down the families of three Jewish women killed in Auschwitz. Glencross said: “If anyone has any contact with their family members then we would love to hear from you.”

The project is led by occupation historian Dr Gilly Carr of the University of Cambridge, Glencross and Chris Addy from Jersey Heritage.

Carr said she was “thrilled” to be bringing Gunter Demnig to the

Channel Islands, so that victims of Nazism could be honoured there, adding: “I am proud to be involved in doing this for those who suffered so much during the Occupation.”

The Guernsey stones will commemorate the so-called Guernsey Eight, who died in Nazi prisons and camps, as well as three Jewish women deported from Guernsey who

were murdered in Auschwitz. These 11 were killed or died because of their treatment in camps and prisons.

A further four Guernsey stones will remember survivor Frank Falla, a member of GUNS (Guernsey Underground News Service), who fought for those deported for their opposition to the Germans; Vienna-born Elisabet Duquemin, a Jewish woman

You’re a real mensch, says Mirvis

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has described England football manager Gareth Southgate as a “real mensch” and praised him as a “role model and representative of our country”, writes Adam Decker.

Mirvis, a committed football fan and Tottenham Hotspur fan, posted a a tribute to Southgate shortly after the manager confirmed that he had resigned as England boss following last Sunday’s Euro Final defeat to Spain.

In a statement Southgate, 53, confirmed: “As a proud Englishman, it has been the honour of my life to play for England and to manage England.

“It has meant everything to me, and I have given it my all. But it’s time for change, and for a new chapter. Sunday’s final in Berlin against Spain was my final game as England manager.”

After nearly eight years in the role Southgate is England’s most successful manager in terms of consistent major tournament performance, also reaching the Euros Final in 2021, losing to Italy, and a World Cup semi-final in 2018, when they were beaten by Croatia.

Posting on X (Twitter), Rabbi Mirvis said: “Gareth Southgate’s greatest achievement was not on the pitch, but in the standard that he has set for how a rolemodel and representative of our country should conduct themselves.

“In a job which has subjected him to a degree of national scrutiny and criticism that most people will never appreciate, he has been a real mensch, remaining dignified, respectful and considerate throughout.

“His legacy will be a generation of young people who have learned from him that leadership is primarily about decency, integrity and bringing honour to others. That is worth more to our country than any trophy. The crown of a good name supersedes all. Thank you, Gareth.”

ISRAEL’S SPORTING HISTORY

Ahead of this month’s Olympics in Paris, a collection of sporting photographs captured before the establishment of the State of Israel has been released by Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

As the world’s largest sporting event prepares to kick off on 26 July, the images vividly showcase a range of activities, from school gymnastics classes to competitive events including cycling and fencing.

Since the founding of the Zionist

movement and the beginning of modern settlement in the land of Israel, sports have been an integral part of the Jewish community and the burgeoning State of Israel.

Jewish sports associations were founded and physical education programmes were integrated into schools.

The photographs provide a glimpse into the sporting past of the Land of Israel and the State of Israel, illustrating the foundational role sports have played in our culture.

who came to Guernsey in 1937 and married Henry Duquemin, but was later deported to Compiègne and Biberach internment camps; and Frank Tuck and Kingston Bailey, Guernsey policemen who were deported to Nazi labour and concentration camps but survived.

In all but two instances the Jersey stones will remember survivors. A separate Lighthouse Memorial on Jersey’s New North Quay commemorates the 21 women and men who perished in Nazi prisons and camps.

In all, says Carr, three non-British Jewish women were deported from the Channel Islands to France and, from there to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. Two Jewish women who gained British nationality upon marriage, and the daughter and non-Jewish husband of one of these women, were deported to civilian camps in Germany, which they survived. One Jewish Hungarian woman was deported to Ravensbrück camp for black market offences, and always denied her heritage. She, too, survived. One non-British (probably) Jewish woman denied her heritage and was not deported.

BRIGHTON & HOVE

Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue has won a gold award for its green activism, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Alongside guests including ecologist Hugh Warwick, the community received the accolade at the EcoJudaism Awards, which honour steps taken across the Jewish community to move towards an environmentally responsible future.

daism Gold Award, following West London Synagogue and New North London Synagogue.

Benita Matofska, BHPS Council Member with responsibility for EcoJudaism and Sustainability, said it was a proud moment for the congregation, adding: “I am thrilled that our efforts to lower our carbon footprint, to protect and preserve our planet and become more sustainable have paid off.”

BHPS becomes only the third winner of an EcoJu-

Each year, EcoJudaism presents bronze, silver and gold awards to Jewish communities and organisations that score 40, 60 and 80 percent in its environmental audit.

Other winners this week included Maidenhead, Barnet United, Golders Green United and Three Counties Liberal Jewish Community (silver); and Belmont United, Potters Bar & Brookmans Park United, Liverpool Reform and Etz Chaim (bronze).

Brass Stolpersteines are destined for Guernsey and Jersey

Former England boss Gareth Southgate

One of the KKL-JNF photographs

Winners receive their awards this week

Arrests after Gaza demo at Cenotaph

Two women were arrested this week after staging a protest at the Cenotaph in central London against the government’s Gaza policy.

A video showed the women, from the protest group Youth Demand, laying ﬂowers and a Palestinian ﬂag in front of the monument,

They then spray-painted the words “150,000 killed” on the pavement in front of the memorial.

After the daubing, they sat down

in front of the Cenotaph holding signs saying “Stop arming Israel” and “Never again for anyone”.

In a tweet, Youth Demand said: “Never again means never again. Everything that the Cenotaph stands for is contrary to the Labour Government allowing companies to proﬁt from genocide.”

The demonstration is the latest in a string of protests calling for the suspension of licences for arms sales

to Israel against the background of the ongoing conﬂict in Gaza.

The Metropolitan Police said the two women had been “quickly” arrested on suspicion of criminal damage “caused to the road and not the Cenotaph”.

The force added: “Everyone has the right to peaceful protest but where that crosses the line into criminality, we will take action.”

Veterans minister and former

Royal Marine Alistair Carns criticised the protest, saying the Cenotaph was “special for all of us”.

He said: “The act of vandalism is abhorrent. No matter what is hap-

pening in the world, the Cenotaph must be respected.

“It stands in memory of those who made the ultimate sacriﬁce to protect the freedoms we enjoy today.”

NEW HEAD FOR ISRAEL GROUP TIKTOKKER TERRORIST

Pro-Israel group We Believe in Israel has appointed a French former UN Security Council consultant, journalist and senior thinktank analyst as its next director.

Catherine Perez-Shakdam succeeds Luke Akehurst, who was recently elected as the MP for Durham North.

Chair James Burchell said: “We are excited to welcome Catherine. Having undergone a period of unprecedented challenge since

7 October, we look forward to her beginning her tenure and building on Luke Akehurst’s excellent work. We thank Luke for all he has done for us as our ﬁrst director, and wish him well in his new role.”

Perez-Shakdam said: “I am honoured to have been selected as Luke’s successor and intend to build on his legacy in providing a united front that brings together all existing supporters of Israel in the UK and support a grassroots network of activists.”

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A man who used social media platforms such as TikTok to encourage terrorism has been jailed for four years, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced.

Hamza Alam, 22, from Chadwell Heath in Romford, Essex, disguised himself before posting videos on TikTok and described himself as “merely an online librarian” in an e ort to evade detection, according to the CPS.

His videos included hostile references to Jewish people alongside a post that encouraged viewers to attack and kill Jews following

the Gaza and Israel conﬂict. Another post celebrated the 9/11 attacks in the US.

One of Alam’s TikTok accounts, which was public, contained 126 videos that had amassed 31,000 likes between them.

Alam also created a shareable folder that included Islamic State propaganda and videos containing images of public ﬂoggings.

He was previously found guilty of three counts of disseminating a terrorist publication and one count of encouraging terrorism and sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court.

Activists at the scene of the Cenotaph protest

Catherine Perez-Shakdam

It’s our wonderwall!

UJS opens bidding for fellowship slots

The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) has opened applications for the second cohort of its prestigious Leadership Fellowship.

Launched earlier this year, the scheme saw 100 Jewish students from the UK and Ireland apply for the four-month programme, with just 40 picked for either the political or community tracks.

The programme has included seminars, trips and interactive learning experiences aimed at fostering understanding of and skills in communal leadership.

Events have included trips to Northern Ireland to develop an understanding of leadership in conﬂict, peace building and a post-conﬂict environment and a week-long educational

visit to Israel meeting a range of key ﬁgures including president Isaac Herzog and his political adviser Amit Farouk. The group also visited the site of the Nova Festival, Kfar Aza and Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

UJS head of programming and leadership development Sarah Wilks, said: “This has been an extremely successful ﬁrst year of the UJS Leadership Fellowship, and is a great opportunity for students to get to know their peers across the country, and develop together as the future leaders of our community.”

Applications for the UJS Leadership Fellowship 2024/25 are now open for all current, and incoming Jewish students at www.ujs.org. uk/leadership

ABUSE CHARITY MARKS 30TH

A charity supporting women a ected by domestic abuse and sexual violence marked its 30th anniversary with a celebratory tea for its founders and volunteers in north London.

The Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA) event was hosted by its ambassador, TV personality Rachel Riley, and brought together supporters to commemorate the organisation’s achievements in providing support services, advocacy and advice to vulnerable women and children across the country over the past three decades.

Chair of trustees Caroline Ratner said: “It is a privilege to honour the remarkable individuals who have dedicated their time and energy to making a profound impact in our

community. Their contributions have not only changed lives but have set a powerful example for future generations.”

The event featured a conversation hosted by Riley with honorary president and JWA founder Judith Usiskin and honorary vicepresidents and founders Elaine Grazin and Mildred Levinson sharing stories of the organisation’s founding, challenges overcome and milestones achieved.

New chief executive Sam Cli ord said of the occasion: “While we deeply wish our work were unnecessary, we will continue to be there for Jewish women and girls at risk of violence and abuse.”

Buoyed by the success of his newest installation on the walls of JW3 depicting the stories and legends of Jewish London, artist Leon Fenster now walks around the capital eyeing up likely spaces for one of his gigantic artworks, writes Jenni Frazer.

Fenster, brought up in Edgware and Stanmore before his family moved to Philadelphia, is an architect, artist and a storyteller who delights in humour.

Last year, he met JW3 chief executive Raymond Simonson and director of programming William Galinski to discuss possible projects. Fenster, ever seeking “bigger and better spaces to tell bigger and better stories”, spotted the blank wall of the ﬁve-storey apartment block facing JW3

With all permissions obtained and a grant from Arts Council England, Fenster set out to create a riotous, multicoloured painting in which can be seen — well, just about everyone.

For JW3 visitors, the great joy will be identifying who is who and what is being represented. Fenster has a jokey imagination, so we are treated to a depiction of the barmitzvah Benjamin Disraeli never had, and a Transport for London Palwin kiddush wine bus stop

with the “bus numbers” 10, 11, 4 and 4a. The painting is topped with police on horses in the Battle of Cable Street. One of the myths of Cable Street, says Fenster, is of children throwing marbles at the horses to make them slip: his version shows kids with water pistols.

We see JW3 founder Dame Vivien Du eld clutching a potted plant, while Oliver Cromwell shows how he let the Jews be readmitted to England. We range from a black cab to Amy Winehouse, from politicians and entertainers to Bevis Marks Synagogue (and Sephardi Rabbi Joseph Dweck), from Sigmund Freud to former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Landmarks include Bloom’s restaurant and Russian “schvitz” baths; the Beatles with Brian Epstein; Dame Maureen Lipman in her incarnation as British Telecom’s Beattie; David Baddiel on a ladder; Karl Marx; fashion designer Michael Fish and a youthful Nicholas Winton bringing Jewish children to Liverpool Street station.

And for those wanting to ﬁgure out just who is who on this ambitious project, go to leonfenster.com/jewishlondon — each image is accompanied by an explanation of its story.

Israeli soldiers find old Judaica in Gaza

The commander of an Israeli military unit in Gaza was on a reconnaissance mission with his team in an apartment in Rafah when one of his soldiers came across an object that looked out of place: a wood laminate challah board framed with the biblical injunction to “remember the Shabbat” in gold lettering, in Hebrew and English, writes Deborah Danan.

The commander knew that he was allowed to take property only if he needed to use it to ﬁght the war, which did not apply here. But he wasn’t sure what to do. “We’re not allowed to take them as souvenirs or anything like that,” said the soldier, named Yoya. Military regulations prohibit soldiers from giving their full names to the press. “Stealing is forbidden and it’s also immoral. But in this case, when I saw that this was a Jewish item I said, ‘this can’t be theirs.’”

So he tried to locate the owner of the challah board by posting a photo of it on Facebook. While the post got 1,400 reactions and nearly 250 comments, no one claimed the object.

World

Netanyahu uses Trump attack as pretext to crack down on dissent

Benjamin Netanyahu this week ordered Israel’s law enforcement to crack down on anti-right-wing incitement following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, writes Adam Decker.

“We are witnessing a flood of explicit threats of murder and violence against the prime minister and against ministers and public officials,” Netanyahu said at his weekly Cabinet meeting.

“These are not just flagrant criminal offences, they constitute a direct and explicit threat to democracy.”

Netanyahu’s pretext was the assassination attempt at a campaign event in Pennsylvania last weekend against Trump. The motive of the gunman, who was killed, is not known but Netanyahu said he saw it as part of a worldwide rise of political violence.

“The incident that occurred in the US, many said the writing was on the wall,” he said. He then drew a line between the attack on Trump

and protests that have dogged Netanyahu for the last year and a half. “We are seeing the writing on the wall. We are seeing the writing in the squares. We are seeing the writing on social media.”

Netanyahu singled out for criticism attorney-general Gali Baharav Miara, with whom he has clashed over separate criminal charges against him. “This is your job,” he said of prosecuting alleged inciters.

At the meeting, Netanyahu screened 90 seconds of protest leaders speaking at the rallies that

have dogged him since his return to office in December 2022. Protests at first targeted Netanyahu’s proposed reforms of the judiciary and then, after Hamas’ deadly invasion on 7 October, turned to his failure to pre-

vent the attack and so far to secure the release of the hostages taken captive by Hamas.

Some speakers in the video said they wished for Netanyahu’s execution while others engaged in rhetoric

Shooting is linked online to Jews

Millions of people have viewed conspiracy theories regarding the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump — and 8.8 million viewed posts with antisemitic conspiracy at their core.

New figures have been collated by the Washington-based Centre for Countering Digital Hate, which notes that 95 percent of the posts on Twitter/X failed to show any fact check to refute the claims.

Five posts which received more than 8.8m views “falsely promoted Jewish involvement in the assassination attempt by alleging that a secret service sniper present at the time was wearing a red string on their wrist, associated with Kabbalah”.

One post accused the sniper of being a Mossad agent.

One person “Resist_05”, wrote: “OK, this is weird. This close-up of the coun-

ters-sniper shows something else. He clearly already had the sniper in his sight. For whatever reason, they waited for him to take the shot before taking him down. Also, what’s with the red Kabbalah string on his hand?”

Imran Khan, chief executive and founder of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, said: “In the marketplace of disinformation, which is effectively what a lot of social media platforms have been reduced to, a marketplace for lies, extreme content is your currency.”

He said that legislation was “urgently needed” to compel social media companies to change their business model and “enforce their own community standards to stop fanning the flames of the conspiracy theory wildfires raging on their platforms”.

ARGENTINA LABELS HAMAS TERRORISTS

Argentina this week designated Hamas an “international terrorist organisation,” in a show of support for Israel that extends President Javier Milei’s shift away from the country’s pro-Palestinian past.

Milei’s office announced the move on Friday, citing Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, the group’s links with Iran and a recent landmark ruling by Argentina’s judiciary that Iran was the architect of two deadly terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires in the 1990s.

The announcement attributed the declaration to Milei’s “unwavering commitment to recognising terrorists for what they are”.

Argentina’s Jewish political umbrella organisation, DAIA, praised Milei’s move.

The declaration is largely sym-

bolic but means that any assets tied to Hamas in Argentina can be frozen. The government agency that will now pursue Hamas’ assets previously identified. It froze some assets tied to Hezbollah while the government was on its way to declaring the Lebanon-based group a terror organisation.

That declaration came just before the 25th anniversary of the AMIA Jewish community centre bombing in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people on 18 July, 1994. The new announcement comes days before the 30th anniversary of the bombing, which Argentina attributes to Hezbollah and Iran.

The World Jewish Congress and Latin American Jewish Congress hosted an anti-terrorism summit in Buenos Aires this week, in advance of a demonstration in front of the recently rebuilt and refurbished AMIA building that international leaders are expected to attend.

Milei — whose embrace of Israel aligns with both his right-wing politics and his personal affinity for Judaism — is expected to speak, along with US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt, Canadian antisemitism envoy Deborah Lyons, local Jewish leaders and officials from across Latin America.

typical of Israel’s political ferment, including accusing Netanyahu as being as damaging to Israel as its enemies — a gambit that Netanyahu has deployed for decades, including in the most recent election.

Without providing evidence, Netanyahu said threats in Israel are overwhelmingly against the right, although leaders from the left and centre also routinely face threatening rhetoric. The most prominent assassination in Israeli history was of a leftwing leader, Yitzhak Rabin, by a rightwing gunman. Netanyahu has for decades bristled at criticism that he did not sufficiently condemn incitement against Rabin, then his rival, before the assassination in 1995.

Amos Harel, a senior security analyst for the left-wing newspaper Haaretz, accused Netanyahu of using the attempted assassination of Trump for political gain, saying “Netanyahu is one of the most protected head of states in the world.”

NU? BUT I’M STILL A JEW?

Marvel Studios has been criticised for altering a Jewish character’s Israeli identity, instead linking her to Russia for her appearance in the forthcoming film Captain America: Brave New World. The character Sabra, originally known as Ruth Bat-Seraph, debuted in Marvel comics in 1980 and is set to make her return in a new Marvel action film due for release next year. Portrayed by Israeli actress Shira Haas (pictured, inset), Sabra is traditionally depicted as an agent for Israel’s spy agency, The Mossad

Donald Trump in the shooting aftermath; inset: with Benjamin Netanyahu

A supporter of the QAnon conspiracy myth movement

President Javier Milei

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Special Report / Israel’s Arabs after

Unsung heroes working for peace in Israel’s mixed cities

Deep in the Negev, the undulating desert of southern Israel, the Bedouin town of Al Bat finds itself on the front line of the country’s longest war, writes Alex Brummer.

Ten kilometres east is the West Bank, home to 2.7 million Palestinians; 40 kilometres west lies Gaza. Overhead, the constant sound of airborne bombers and drones from a nearby airbase.

In a makeshift hall, Major Tal Shamir, who heads the Front Command during emergencies in the region, recounts how after 7 October Hamas rockets hit the town killing a mother and child. A second rocket murdered four teenagers.

The 250,000 Bedouin Arabs, citizens of Israel, have spent decades in the frontline of the Middle East conflict. They are regarded as courageous fighters and many have died in the service of the IDF. Despite loyalty to Israel, they are often treated as second-class citizens.

When leaders demanded protection from Hamas rockets, the government delivered concrete pipes which shimmer in the baking heat. Instead of shelters, the authorities provided open-air sanctuaries with reinforced padded walls to provide protection from flying debris.

Despite stoical Bedouin defence of Israel, minister of national security and right-wing demagogue Itamar Ben-Gvir regards the population across the region as of low priority.

Demonstrators on Western campuses with their genocidal chanting think of Israel as a colonial construct populated by European Jews. That shows profound ignorance. The state’s

fast-growing population of 9.3m includes a Palestinian minority of 2.1m, or 21 percent of the total. Almost half the Jewish population are Mizrachi Jews thrown out or displaced by surrounding Arab states – Iraq, Syria, Yemen and further away Morocco – after the 1948 War of Independence and subsequent conflicts.

Most of Israel’s Palestinians live in the north of the country, some in ‘mixed’ cities such as the industrial port of Haifa, with Jews and Arabs living cheek-by-jowl, Jews working in Arab enterprises and vice-versa. Others live in Arab villages, many next to Jewish towns, where power rests with local elected mayors.

After the murderous, rape, pillage and hostage-taking of 7 October, Israel moved to evacuate towns and villages in the south next to Gaza and those close to the northern borders with Lebanon and Syria, areas in easy reach of hardened Hezbollah fighters.

More than 100,000 people, Jews from kibbutzim and nearby Arab villages, were shifted to hotels and makeshift residences out of direct range of Hezbollah’s rockets and armed forces. Some 60,000 remain refugees in their own land amid intense fighting on the Lebanese front.

As the Gaza war rages, Israel’s large Arab minority finds itself in a difficult place. They are Israeli citizens, represented in the last government by the head of the United Arab List Mansour Abbas, but as Palestinians with kith and kin across the border are now trapped in a conflict.

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It was last February that I was diagnosed with high risk Neuroblastoma.

The diagnosis was a real shock as I had no symptoms apart from a tummy ache.

I knew about Chai because they’d helped us when my grandpa was unwell, so it felt really good to know that they would be able to help us all again.

For Dad it was counselling, for Mum it was therapeutic massage and for me and my siblings, a combination of talking, music, art and play therapy.

Thank you Chai.

Ari, 13

University in the south tells me 24 of his relatives have died in Gaza. An elderly aunt has had to move home four times. To ensure she had enough money for food and provisions, he crossed the ‘peaceful’ border between Israel and Jordan to transfer funds to Gaza.

Despite the sadness and hardship, he shows no bitterness but a strong desire to become involved in Israeli-Arab politics to ensure Israel’s Palestinians have a bigger say in the Knesset when there are new elections.

Among the untold miracles of the Gaza war

is how little public dissent and protest there has been on the Israeli-Arab street. In a May 2021 conflict, rabble-rousers on Israel’s political right provoked Arab populations inside Israel, leading to riots and killings. Many unthinking Israelis still see Israeli Palestinians as an enemy within and in some towns there are regular attempts to displace Arabs from city-centre homes.

Bitterness between communities runs deep but as the full horror emerged of the 7 October attack, organisations working on a shared society between Jews and Arabs moved swiftly to ensure the 2021 carnage was averted.

In the mixed cities, the Abraham Initiatives, an NGO with deep political ties in both communities, set up emergency committees to stop prospective violence. Moderate Knesset member Rabbi Gilad Kariv and others see hope in the future, with the re-emergence of a moderate majority in Israel and revival of a peace process based on a two-state solution.

For now, some £3bn allocated to Arab mayors and communities by the previous grand coalition government has been slashed by 15 percent, The funds are to raise educational standards in Israeli-Arab schools and improve transport and other infrastructure and the cuts are seen as a deliberate denigration of Israel’s Palestinian minority, just as peaceful co-existence has never been seen as more necessary.

Kariv describes 7 October as “an earthquake”, but in his view, it “would be a mistake to think Israel’s reality has changed”.

An Arab neighbourhood in Israel. Among the untold miracles of the Gaza war is how little public dissent and protest there has been on the Israeli-Arab street

A Bedouin Arab in the town of Al Bat

Masorti values healthy debate over ideology

RABBI ANTHONY

LAZARUS MAGRILL

MOSAIC MASORTI SYNAGOGUE

Earlier this year, my colleague Rabbi Lara Haft Yom-Tov published a Haggadah commentary which used the language of ‘war criminals’ and ‘manufactured famine’ to describe Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Something of a ‘new Jacobs affair’ ensued.

Rabbi Lara apologised, fulsomely and publicly, for inflammatory aspects of their [Rabbi Lara asks to be referred to by the pronouns ‘they’ or ‘them’] language and for publishing without prior consultation. After a lengthy and painful process, their synagogue leadership decided to draw a line under the matter.

As Masorti’s senior rabbi, Jonathan Wittenberg, wisely noted – notwithstanding Lara’s many and outstanding rabbinic qualities – to ignore such an apology is simply ‘not the Jewish way.’ The Jewish way, surely, is to

be dan b’kaf zechut – ‘to treat each other with generosity’, accepting expressions of regret and assuming best intentions.

And yet, the controversy rumbled on – and in the most public way possible – including a recent opinion piece in Jewish News by Simon Eder. In his article, Mr Eder rightly insists that responsible rabbinic discourse is marked by a “demonstrable attachment to truth”. However, searching for violations of truth which could compare with Lara’s essay, Mr Eder’s best examples were rabbis who would deny the Holocaust, or else proselytise for Christianity. At this point, surely, he has gone too far. There are issues over which I disagree with Rabbi Lara, but it is wrong to suggest their writing sits in comparable relation to ‘truth’ with these.

Of course, the search for truth is an ultimate rabbinic value. But if anyone can think that to perceive aspects of criminality in the prosecution of Israel’s just war bears a conceptual resemblance to Holocaust denial – well, their conception of truth must be terribly far from mine.

The situation in the Middle East throws

up intense challenges to our sense of communal solidarity. What views should we voice on Israel, and on Israel’s conﬂict with Hamas and the Palestinian people? Can we preserve our core commitments without stiﬂing debate and the articulation of moral anxiety? These remain open questions, both within the pulpit and beyond. Rabbis should represent their own communities and be mindful of their role as communal spokespeople; but I cannot believe the solution to any of our pressing problems lies in discouraging rabbis from calling things as they see them. I will not compromise on my commitment to Zionism – believing that Jews, like all nations, have a right to national self-determination – but nor can I lightly sign over my right to contest passionately the way Israel is actualising that self-determination. This isn’t solely a question of how we express ourselves, but rather of what kinds of intellectual atmosphere we hope to encounter in our synagogues. Mr Eder thinks rabbis must avoid generating ‘cognitive dissonance’. I would counter. Rabbis who fail to cause cognitive dissonance relinquish their

only opportunity to help people change their minds. Amid the complex and multifaceted discourse of today’s Jewish world it is a positive good our communities should be led both by rabbis with whom we feel comfortable and those who inspire ‘cognitive dissonance.’ We should not seek to muzzle them, but delight in hearing them engage in passionate debate. We should aspire to lean into productive argument l’shem shamayim – for that way growth lies. Mr Eder expects rabbis to quest after the truth, yet protests when they reach conclusions he dislikes. But Masorti is committed to complexity and dialogue far more than to any particular politics. Ideological purity tests will get us nowhere. It is beholden on us all to move beyond the short-term pleasures of ad hominem critique. The spirit of our movement insists on respectful and generous dialogue: the only means by which worldviews which might seem contradictory ever reveal themselves as to any extent complementary; and the only process which might ever bring us closer to something like truth and meaning. That is the Masorti way.

Post-election, the battle against hate starts anew

DANNY STONE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ANTISEMITISM POLICY TRUST

At the 2019 general election, I kept an online thread of allegations of antisemitism against electoral candidates. There were 35, and the candidates came mainly from the main political parties. The cases included social media posts suggesting an Israeli conspiracy to interfere with UK politics and use of a grotesque antisemitic caricature. Three of the candidates became MPs and all three sat through educational training with me.

In 2024 more candidates featured, this time mainly from Reform, Green and Workers Party of Britain. Incidents included posting a video proclaiming to reveal “the truth about the Jews” and claims that Donald Trump was an “Israel puppet” and “completely controlled by criminal Zionists”.

Before 4 July, antisemitism expert Dr Dave Rich wrote that the poll was notable for “the sheer number and variety of candidates with openly antisemitic views and the possibility that their campaigns will attract enough votes to influence the outcome in some constituencies – or perhaps even win a seat or two”.

Smaller parties and independent candidates did, as Rich predicted, make an impact. Over several years, we at the Trust and others like us have worked with the major political parties to deliver education and to help strengthen and quality-assure disciplinary processes. Regrettably, it feels as if we are starting all over and, in some cases, with less willing partners.

On the right, Reform candidates shared antisemitic Rothschild conspiracy myths or posted content echoing the Great Replacement theory, blaming Jews for mass immigration designed to undermine white populations.

On the other end of the spectrum, Green Party candidates posted material including fantasy conspiracy links

between Zionists, freemasons and the Vatican or denying the 7 October attacks.

Then there are the independent candidates. A video has just emerged shows Iqbal Mohamed MP saying homes should be searched to remove anything Israeli or “Zionist” and, despite it benefiting him, democracy has been “hijacked” by “corrupt, selfish, pro-war, pro-rich, racist elite”.

Reflecting on a speech he gave a decade ago, allegedly describing Israeli military action as causing a “Holocaust”, a deeply offensive comparison, Adnan Hussein said if repeating them: “I’d use my words much more carefully, in order for room for nuance not to arise.”

These MPs have been elected with the specific mandate to talk about Gaza and I can only hope they feel a burden of responsibility to keep an eye on community cohesion, use language that is inclusive and thoughtful and while perhaps challenging, is never hateful and their focus broader than their campaigns perhaps suggested.

We have issued repeated warnings that those with a parliamentary platform

set the public discourse. Now more than ever that must be one that brings people together, not drives us apart.

We urgently need all political parties to act. No political party should allow antisemitism to be espoused by candidates standing under its brand. All parties must have systems that speedily and robustly penalise those engaging in racist rhetoric (and the House of Commons Speaker will have a role in relation to MPs’ discourse).

Action must be consistent. It isn’t good enough to invoke freedom of expression or to be partisan and defensive. Those that engage in racism should be called out and shunned without caveat. There is a role for parliamentarians to educate about antisemitism, to put lines in the sand, and we will do our bit to try to ensure MPs cross-party have the tools to do so.

However, it will ultimately be democracy, decency, civility and education that win this fight. Antisemitism is anti-democratic and the more our parliamentary leaders work to combat it, the healthier our democracy will be.

In politics a spouse is the ultimate power broker

ALEX BRUMMER CITY EDITOR, THE DAILY MAIL

The kerfu e over the mental ﬁtness of Joe Biden to run for a second term as US president illustrates an abiding theme. And as if this were not a big enough problem, the assassination attempt on Republican contender Donald Trump may have weakened Biden’s hold on o ce further.

Families, wives and partners really matter when it comes to leadership. Politicians and public ﬁgures often seek to shield loved ones from publicity on the grounds of privacy. There is a tendency among citizens to suggest this is the right thing to do. But it is impossible to underestimate the role of partners. Biden’s determination to hold on (even if it means catastrophe for the Democratic Party) is laid at the door of his wife Jill. As an educator, she plainly believes he has the cognitive skills to carry on. It is too lazy to suggest she just enjoys living in the White House.

Britain’s new prime minister spent much of this summer’s election campaign on his own. When pictured with women, it was not

his wife Victoria but his political colleagues now deputy-PM Angela Rayner and chancellor Rachel Reeves. The e ort to maintain privacy couldn’t possibly endure.

The day after the election, Victoria was pictured at Sandown Park demonstrating an independence of spirit as Starmer constructed his cabinet. Her privacy has not lasted long.

Of particular interest is her Judaism. We have a tendency in our community to hang on to any evidence of a connection to think the person will be on our side. Victoria Starmer’s heritage as the daughter of a Jewish accountant who ﬂed Poland for Britain in the nick of time, before the Shoah, is very real.

As the son of a refugee from the Hungarian/ Czech borderlands, I am more than aware of the impact that can have on one’s life and attitudes. Most simply, it makes one more sympathetic than others to the plight of those ﬂeeing hostile regimes for their lives.

There has been some daft focus on Starmer’s claim that even as a declared atheist he likes to shield time on Friday evenings for family time and Shabbat prayers. Opponents were crude enough to suggest this might mean if there were an attack from an enemy during such a quiet time, the nation might be

IT WAS FAMILY THAT HELPED TO DELIVER

TRUMP’S ABRAHAM ACCORDS SUCCESS ❝

imperilled. That is political tosh. All it shows is that Starmer respects his family’s Jewish values and some quiet time for contemplation and rest once a week might actually make for better decision making.

Judaism is quite a theme when it comes to politics at present. US vice-president Kamala Harris, who has received scant attention in Biden’s ﬁrst term, is regarded as perhaps the least troublesome successor as she has at least been elected to something.

She is viewed, however, as vulnerable as a woman and as someone of colour – Americans still struggle with issues the UK long ago put to bed. It should not be forgotten Harris has a practising Jewish spouse in Douglas Craig Emho who, similarly to Victoria Starmer,

brings to the role of second gentleman his own value system.

Trump is seen as a misogynist and racist with anti-democracy instincts, yet family delivered one of his few foreign policy achievements – the choice of his Jewish sonin-law Jared Kushner as envoy to the Middle East helped to deliver the Abraham Accords between Israel, Dubai and the Gulf states in Trump’s ﬁrst term. The direct connection to the former president was regarded in Arab society as important.

It is easy to dismiss coverage of leaders’ families as intrusive. Sara Netanyahu is described by Forbes magazine as Israel’s most powerful woman, her inﬂuence blamed for Bibi’s love of the ﬁner things in life but also contributing to him hanging on to o ce.

Understanding the background and views of political spouses and their families is a critical aspect of political taxonomy. When leaders are in doubt, su ering from poor health and needing wise counsel, family can be the driving force behind decisions.

It is impossible to ignore Jill, Victoria. Craig, Ivanka or Sara. They are the ultimate insiders, deﬁners of image and power brokers.

New Israeli leadership is needed for ‘total victory’

DAVID DAVIDI-BROWN CHIEF EXECUTIVE, NEW ISRAEL FUND UK

Irecently returned from Israel, my second visit since 7 October. One day after arriving there, I joined the largest anti-government protest since the war began. We heard from people still displaced, from parents of soldiers risking their lives in Gaza and from the novelist David Grossman. Grossman said: “There is someone to ﬁght for; it all depends on you. Now is the time to rise, to live. To be a people or not to be. To be people or not to be… All hangs by a thread.”

Israelis are understandably still traumatised. Hostages are still held in Gaza. Israelis are also hanging by a thread as their government – the same government that abandoned so many of them in the hours, days and weeks after the Hamas attacks – seems hellbent on sacriﬁcing a secure future in pursuit of extremist and expansionist ideology.

As Mick Davis wrote for The Times of Israel: “Daydreaming about expanding

Israeli rule while in reality the country shrinks, all while driving wedges between both citizens and allies, is not leadership but demagoguery.”

I understand the reluctance of those outside Israel to get involved in what they perceive as internal or divisive matters. But just as we did during the “judicial overhaul”, all of us concerned for Israel must appreciate this is about much more than local political di erences.

Israelis are facing two existential threats to their safe, secure and democratic future. One from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran; the other from the theocrats, ultra-nationalists and corrupt aspiring autocrats who make up most of Israel’s current government. What struck me more than the protests was the pain and anger felt by everyday people toward a government that neglects them. I

heard the family of a young child whose parents were killed and kidnapped by Hamas waited months to be contacted by social services; of children and parents, displaced for months from Kiryat Shmona, needing to take the authorities to court to seek the same adjustments for sitting ﬁnal exams a orded to children from the south. A friend shared how people screamed Rak Bibi (only Bibi) angrily when they joined a vigil with hostage families. Bizarrely, expressing solidarity with the families and support for a deal is met with suspicion and vitriol.

In contrast, I was honoured to join the New Israel Fund as we presented our Truth to Power award to Einav Zangauker. Her son Matan is still held in Gaza, leading her to campaign for his release and all the hostages.

Nine months after 7 October and with no

end in sight to the war, it is harder and harder to trust Israel’s government is guided by seeking security for its citizens.

Before my trip, a news programme revealed allegations of “criminal acts of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust” against transport minister Miri Regev. In Israel, coverage continued of ﬁnance minister Bezalel Smotrich being caught seeming to admit de facto annexation of the West Bank.

Now, outgoing IDF Central Command head Yehuda Fuchs has warned of “ultranationalist criminal activity” raising its head under cover of the war and the “lust for revenge”.

My last night in Israel was spent with thousands of people at ‘The Time is Now’ – a reawakening of Israel’s peace movement.

The peace camp may still be the minority, but most Israelis understand new leadership is desperately needed to achieve the only real “total victory” – a secure and democratic future.

All of us who care deeply about Israel and Israelis need to face up to today’s reality; to stand with Israelis means taking a stand against Israel’s extremist government.

1 TEDDY BEARS’ PICNIC IN GOLDERS GREEN

130 people shared an intergenerational Jewish Care Families Teddy Bears’ Picnic on Sunday 30 June. Babies, young children and their teddy bears, along with parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and residents from the charity’s Otto Schiff home up to the age of 102 enjoyed the event at the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus in Golders Green. Families enjoyed facepainting, and teddy bear art and mask-making.

2 ST JOHN’S WOOD TEENS’ SHABBATON IN PARIS

St John’s Wood shul’s Rabbi Toby and Bracha Weiniger led a Paris Shabbaton for teenagers in non-Jewish schools last weekend. Hosted by Grande Synagogue of Paris Chief Rabbi Moshe Sebbag and Chabad Champs Elysées, the group enjoyed singing and delicious meals, and took leadership roles in services. Rabbi Toby led a walking tour of Paris’ landmarks on Shabbat afternoon, with Havdalah at the Eiffel Tower at midnight.

3 THANKS VERY LUNCH TO PINNER VOLUNTEERS!

Pinner Synagogue held a yummy ‘thank you’ meal for all the incredible volunteers who help run the community’s very successful Chat and Share weekly cafe. Everyone was thanked and received a thoughtful gift bag from shul welfare coordinator, Karen Kinsley.

4 A HOLE IN ONE IN AT BUSHEY TOURNAMENT

James Margolin scored a hole-in-one on the 15th hole representing Dyrham Park at The Glancy, a competition that runs across all the Jewish golf clubs and societies in the UK. James is the fifth person to achieve the feat since the competition was started in 1934 by Dr Louis Glancy. This year’s Glancy was held at Hartsbourne Golf Club in Bushey across 6 and 7 July.

5 80TH ANNIVERSARY AND A EUROS MATCH TOO Woodside Park United Synagogue recently celebrated its 80th anniversary with 300 guests at a Summer Extravaganza tea party. They enjoyed tennis, football, swimming, Israeli dancing and sports day races. There was also wine tasting, a whisky bar, crafts for children including hair braiding, and a creche run by Woodside Gan/Werton Group. The event ended with live streaming of the England v Slovakia football match.

6MORNING OF GLORY FOR WOLFSON HILLEL TEAM

The Year 5 boys’ team at Wolfson Hillel received Spurs shirts and certificates and a chance to pose with the real Premier League Trophy as reward for their victory in the Enfield final of the Primary Stars Regional Tournament, while representing their local team, Tottenham. Premier League representative Jez Weeks hosted an assembly for the school, explaining how the football league worked and enforcing the message to the children that “we can achieve anything if we try our hardest”.

•

Inside A look

‘A

Jewish Anne Tyler’: debut novel from Tom Lamont

The Holocaust’s lucky seven

Georgia Hunter’s bestselling book about her family’s survival is now a series on Disney+. Francine Wolfisz meets one of its stars, Unorthodox actor Amit Rahav

One person surviving the Holocaust is remarkable. But that seven members of a single family could overcome deportation, labour camps, treacherous escapes and countless life-threatening situations is nothing short of a miracle.

As author Georgia Hunter dug deeper into her family history over the course of a decade, she discovered that not only had her Polish-born grandfather, Addy Kurc, survived but so too had his four siblings and their parents.

Now their story, which features in her bestselling book, We Were The Lucky Ones, has been adapted into a TV miniseries currently streaming on Disney+.

A glittering cast brings the Kurc family to life and includes The Kissing Booth’s Joey King as audacious daughter Halina, who joins the resistance; Hunters actor Logan Lerman as musically gifted son Addy; veteran Israeli actor Lior Ashkenazi as family patriarch Sol and Shtisel’s Michael Aloni as son-in-law Selim.

Joining them is Amit Rahav as Jacob, the second-youngest son and a talented photographer, who finds himself separated from his childhood sweetheart Bella (played by British actress Eva Feiler) as conditions in the ghetto worsen.

For Amit, best known to audiences as Yanky Shapiro in the Netflix mega-hit Unorthodox, there has been an added poignancy to stepping into the world of 1930s Poland, because he too is the descendant of a Holocaust survivor.

“My grandmother is just the most amazing woman, and she remembers everything,” smiles Amit from his home in Los Angeles, having recently moved there from his native Tel Aviv.

The 28-year-old actor reveals that his Polish-born grandmother, Beate, was just a toddler when she was forced into hiding during the Second World War.

“She was put on to a cart and hidden in a Christian family’s home. She was aged three when she was sent to different towns to hide, without her own family, without her parents.

“There are so many unbelievable stories I heard from her growing up. The fact that the series is based on Georgia Hunter’s real family history makes me feel deeply connected to the role.”

Just like the Kurc family, Beate’s story had a fortuitous ending – both her parents survived the war and were reunited with their daughter. Once they secured permits for Israel, the family emigrated and began a new life. “For my grandma, having three children and eight grandchildren has been her biggest achievement, her biggest triumph.”

Amit said that he had visited several Nazi death camps in Poland as a teenager – “in Israel, they take us from schools as a mandatory trip” – and that Beate had accompanied his older sister when it was her turn to go with her class. “My grandma

was so emotional being there with my sister. She wrote down the story of her experience and gave it to her. We have a video of my grandma just sobbing as my sister read it out aloud,” he says.

Given his own personal connection to the Holocaust, there was no hesitation to take on this latest role, and neither was there for many of the rest of the cast, he reveals. “Being part of the project felt like a privilege,” he says earnestly. “It was like it was in our DNA, this huge need to tell this story.”

There were two moments on set that the cast really began to connect with the material, Amit adds.

One was when fellow actor Sam Woolf, who plays Halina’s love interest Adam, brought a small leaf with him that he had found during a pre-filming trip to Warsaw.

Appreciating that the tree had stood there for decades, including during the events of the Second World War, Amit said the cast all “touched the leaf and felt this link between the past and present”.

The second moment was when Hunter walked on to the set and met her ‘family’.

Amit recalls: “It was very special to meet this woman who had

spent years researching what had happened to her own family. She brought with her so many photo albums, letters, documented memories that provided us with such an abundance of material to work from.

“It was the greatest added value having her on set with us and acknowledging this show was only being made because of her. We just really wanted to bring her family’s story to life and do it justice.

“She was so supportive of what we were doing.”

Shot mostly in Bucharest, Romania, as well as in Malaga and Cadiz in Spain, the eightepisode series sees the Kurc family enduring several moments of physical and emotional strife, having become displaced and separated from one another.

For 22-year-old Jacob, his fate is to endure the worsening conditions of the Warsaw ghetto. “He is forced to change and mature in ways that he never imagined he would have to go through,” explains Amit. “As the show goes on, he grows to become the man he never knew he could be.”

While set in a very different place and time, Amit acknowledges that his character Yanky in the critically-acclaimed series Unorthodox undergoes a similar transformation

“I feel so lucky to have been a part of that series,” recalls Amit, who had to steep himself in Hasidic culture, learn Yiddish and wear payot for the role. “I felt it was such a beautiful story and yet so far away from my own experience. In the end I learned so much through this project.”

He adds: “We thought it would just go out in Israel and Germany and never expected it to become so massively successful. I was so proud of our work on this story of a woman who takes control over her own life in the most difficult circumstances, after the most difficult upbringing. That was such an empowering message to any individual.”

Speaking of which, Amit says his role in We Were The Lucky Ones has had a visceral impact on his sense of Jewishness.

“It’s really made me think about our resilience, especially now as history appears to be repeating itself,” he says.

“I feel prouder than ever of being Jewish, even as we face rising antisemitism and so much misunderstanding.”

• We Were The Lucky Ones is streaming

after seeing his wife Esther (played by Shira Haas) question her place in the Hasidic world.

on Disney+ now

A scene from the miniseries telling the story of Georgia Hunter’s family

Amit Rahav as Jacob. ‘I feel prouder than ever,’ he says

Home grown

Journalist Tom Lamont’s debut novel is a warm, humorous and intelligent look at everyday life, with childhood and Judaism at its core. By Darren Richman

Tom Lamont, like the protagonist of his debut novel, is halfJewish. My own children, like those of Groucho Marx, are too. Marx’s daughter was once refused entry to a swimming club by the antisemitic hierarchy and the comedian informed the powers that be she was half-Jewish before asking: “Can she go in the pool up to her waist?” On the day of publication, Lamont’s mother called to ask how it was all going before informing him that there was no sign of the book in the local Waterstones. I didn’t need to ask the author which was his Jewish side.

It has been said that we are all Marxists of the Groucho variety and for Lamont, whose father was a lapsed Catholic, Jewishness is a way of seeing the world, “a strong, consistent background thrum”. It is not in the foreground of his everyday life but was undeniably a huge part of his childhood and something he feels at the back of his brain since “religion can still be there despite the doubt”.

Childhood is central to Going Home, a remarkably assured debut novel in the mould of Anne Tyler from one of the founding writers on the Guardian’s ‘long read’ desk. All those years writing and thinking about people and what makes them tick have clearly paid off, since the book’s characters feel so flawed, messy and human one almost expects to bump into them in the street.

The protagonist is Téo Erskine, the Enfield lad who has escaped the suburbs but finds himself back home and having to care for the needs of his ailing father and a two-year-old force of nature (is there any other kind of two-year-old?) while simultaneously being helped and hindered by his oldest and closest friend. There are shades of Mike Leigh, another Jewish artist whose religious observance ceased around the time of his barmitzvah, in the feeling that these characters had lives before the events depicted and will continue to do so long after the end.

Work on Going Home began in earnest in the autumn of 2021 and, as is so often the case, the author realised the specific is the universal as he was encouraged to “explore these strange Jewish borderlands” occupied by the members of his own family. The relationship between Téo and his toddler, Joel, is inspired at least in part by Lamont’s relationship with his

own son. As he explains: “A two-year-old turning three is such a specific thing that you really have to have lived through that to have a reasonable shot at capturing it in prose. I was lucky that I took a lot of notes and I really paid attention from a parental perspective and an artistic perspective.”

Judaism, like childhood, is one of the novel’s key components. The push and pull of tradition and making your own way is at the heart of both the book and the psyche of many Jews.

“Through the character of Sibyl, the local rabbi, Lamont is able to explore a community that might pay lip service to change but ultimately remains resolutely stuck in its ways. Indeed, change in every sense is at the heart of Going Home , something that is utterly inescapable when caring for a young child. The writer has an apt comparison.

“There’s that trope in cop TV shows where there’s CCTV footage of the scene of the murder and the security guard regretfully informs them that the video tape resets every 24 hours and writes over itself.

“I feel like parenting is exactly that. You’re having to learn so many new skills in such quick succession that stu fades.”

For the first time in his life, Lamont felt this was the novel he was supposed to write and worked on it for a solid year without interruption.

As a seasoned interviewer, it was as though the characters were the subjects of his newspaper profiles and thus there was a duty of care when it came to writing about them. There was also a sense in which he was transmuting the experiences of caring for both his father and his son into the stuff of art.

Muriel Spark (another half-Jewish writer) claimed that art was “the transﬁguration of the commonplace” and it’s hard not to agree when Lamont writes so beautifully about prosaic, everyday existence like playing football, taking a child to the playground, a round of poker, attempting DIY and the manifold other activities that occupy our daily lives. The result is a warm, humane book ﬁlled with humour that bears comparison with the British writers Nick Hornby or David Nicholls at their best.

In conversation, the author exudes a sense of serenity and calm not dissimilar to The Dude in The Big Lebowski as played by Jeff Bridges (a man Lamont interviewed not long ago). In the time he finds between journalism and family respon-

sibilities, he is attempting to write his second novel, a book he had begun work on prior to the publication of the first earlier this month. There is a lightness of touch about Lamont combined with a fierce intelligence that is perfectly suited to novels and one suspects there are many more to come.

Above all else, though, there is a curiosity and compassion for human beings and interrogating their motives across all his work. It is impossible to guess exactly where that comes from but, like Going Home itself, it feels as if there is something intrinsically Jewish about it.

 Going Home is published by Sceptre at £16.99

Struggling to hear the TV? Missing out on family phone chats?

Hearing just not what it used to be?

Jewish Deaf Association

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA

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

BY REBBETZEN SHOSHANA LANDAU BARNET UNITED SYNAGOGUE

As the Jewish nation wanders the desert, in this week’s parsha, Balak, we read that the Midianite King Balak retains the services of occult magiciancum-prophet Bilaam to curse the Jewish nation into destruction. Bilam tries to utter curses, but all that exit his mouth are words of praise, famously: “Ma tovu, how good are your tents, oh [house of] Jacob?” Words so powerful that they have achieved inclusion in our daily liturgy.

Tents? Really? Rashi identiﬁes that it wasn’t the canvas of the Jewish dwellings but the conﬁguration that was so impressive. No two tent entrances faced each other, a ording every family privacy, dignity, and respect for each other’s familial space. This value of modesty and mutual respect was enough to act as a bu er between us and the curses of a wicked and twisted man who would see us destroyed. Bilam goes on to devise a plan to eat away at the very heart of our shield - sending Midianite women to seduce Jewish men into immorality, desecrating our values of modesty and sacred relationships. Fuelled by social media, today’s world erroneously values personal transparency and openness. We ‘invite’ people – perhaps unknowingly, frequently strangers – into

the sphere of our lives. Our relationships, opinions, traumas and successes are often broadcast, leaving us prone to voyeuristic strangers or acquaintances alike.

Worryingly, we are raising a generation that is unfazed to press pause on privacy - it isn’t unusual to be invited into bedrooms and bathrooms under the hashtags #GRWM #OOTD #AMA, acronyms for ‘get ready with me’, ‘outﬁt of the day’ and ‘ask me anything’.

Society must relearn the values of privacy, dignity and modesty. Our homes and relationships are sacred. A night in with a partner seems all the more precious when no one else is party to it.

A memory exclusive to me and those who experienced it alongside me is privately thrilling and beautiful

when not shared widely. An opinion hashed out in person with friends and family becomes less acidic and divisive than when condensed into soundbites delivered outside of personal context.

Our home spaces and relationships are more sacred when reserved for our inner sphere. We can all learn or re-learn to respect our own and others’ privacy in a world where broadcasting our lives is de rigueur If we are to deserve privacy as a right, we must treat it as a value.

Keen to work in the Jewish community?

Looking for a fresh challenge to stretch your talents?

Keen to work in the Jewish community? Looking for a fresh challenge to stretch your talents?

MEDIA SALES EXECUTIVE

Good basic, uncapped commission

Here’s your chance to sell advertising across the Jewish News’ fabulous portfolio of products, including the 2021 Free Weekly Newspaper of the Year, Europe’s most read Jewish website, specialised supplements on everything from charity to travel and unmissable events including our wedding and bar/batmitzvah show.

Here’s your chance to sell advertising across the Jewish News’ fabulous portfolio of products, including the 2022 Free Weekly Newspaper of the Year, Europe’s most read Jewish website, specialised supplements on everything from charity to travel and unmissable events including our wedding and bar/batmitzvah show.

Who we are:

The Jewish News brand is always finding for new ways to contribute to the UK’s vibrant Jewish community. Having launched 25 years ago, the newspaper has become the largest Jewish print product in the UK.

The Jewish News brand is always finding for new ways to contribute to the UK’s vibrant Jewish community. Having launched 27 years ago, the newspaper has become the largest Jewish print product in the UK.

Our website, partnered by Times of Israel, has more people flocking to it every week [one million page views a month and counting] and features household-name writers. And you ain’t seen nothing yet! We’ve got ambitious plans in place to deliver lots more.

Our website has more people flocking to it every week [one million page views a month and counting] and features household-name writers. And you ain’t seen nothing yet! We’ve got ambitious plans in place to deliver lots more.

Who you’ll be:

A bright, sociable and driven self-starter. Someone who enjoys talking on the phone [a lot!] and meeting clients face-to-face. Someone who enjoys the challenge of finding out what makes a client’s business tick and delivering the perfect package to help their business grow.

Helpful information:

• We work from home with a hub in Borehamwood.

package to help their business grow.

• We have lots of products to sell – we’ll help you get to know them all and help you focus on you’re strengths

• We have lots of products to sell – we’ll help you get to know them all and focus on your strengths.

Email a brief paragraph about yourself (and attach your CV) to Richard Ferrer – richard@jewishnews.co.uk

A evening in with a partner is more precious

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBI DEBBIE YOUNG-SOMERS EDGWARE & HENDON REFORM SYNAGOGUE

The power of pre-conception genetic tests

Before I was born, my parents lost a young son to cancer, and my sister had been born with hydrocephalus (water on the brain). They decided to opt for genetic testing to try to discover whether there were any underlying factors that could be identified. They got the all-clear and, as a result, I was conceived.

Since then things have come a long way in the ﬁeld of genetic testing. The he Jewish community and those of Jewish heritage should be major beneﬁciaries of these advancements.

As with so many things, knowledge is power. We can be incredibly grateful that we have charities such as JNetics that empower the community with knowledge, leading the

way with a whole raft of genetic testing o erings –particularly important when couples are getting married.

As most people who are carriers of genetic mutations are completely healthy and unaware, it can be a tricky conversation to have. But genetic testing is increasingly important, especially for those couples beginning to plan a life together and thinking about children.

More than one in three people with Jewish ancestry is a carrier of a genetic disorder, and if both partners are carriers of the same condition, they have a 25 percent chance of having a child who is a ected.

So while it may not be the most romantic conversation for a couple to have, it’s a really important one, ideally as early as possible. It doesn’t have to mean there are no options, but knowing can help us seek treatments or act to avoid tragedies.

Jewish law has tried to stay abreast of medical advances and changes, ensuring as a community that health is prioritised and we can beneﬁt from science as it grows. Wide-

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

spread genetic testing for Tay Sachs has led to very few births of children with this cruel, deadly disease, once particularly common in the Ashkenazi community.

But this is a complicated issue. Iceland has more or less eradicated the birth of people with Down’s Syndrome since in-utero testing was introduced in the early 2000s, because nearly 100 percent of foetuses that tested positive were aborted.

To suggest that these lives have nothing to contribute to the world is, to me, an anathema. But empowering couples to avoid having to watch their children su er immeasurable pain over the course of severely shortened lives, as is the case with diseases such as Tay Sachs, is very di erent.

Judaism has never shied away from using medical knowledge and advances that seek to beneﬁt humanity. So, while testing is a scary thing to face, and might not be the thing we most want to do (and the results can never come fast enough), let’s focus on making knowledge power, as Judaism always has.

Antiques Buyers

Wanted all Antiques & furniture including Lounge Dining and Bedroom Suites. Chests of drawers. Display and Cocktail Cabinets. Furniture by Hille. Epstein. Archie shine. G plan etc in Walnut. Mahogany. Teak and Rosewood.

We also buy Diamonds & Jewellery. Gold. Silverware. Paintings. Glass. Porcelain. Bronzes etc.

All Antiques considered. Full house clearances organised. Very high prices paid, free home visits.

Check our website for more details www.antiquesbuyers.co.uk

Email: info@antiquesbuyers.co.uk

Please call Sue Davis on Freephone: 08008402035 WhatsApp Mobile: 07956268290

Portobello Rd London. By appointments only.

Please note rather than acting as agents for other organisations and charging you commission. Please be assured that in dealing with Antiques Buyers we deal directly with our clients and pay in full at the time of the transaction.

Ask our

Our trusty team of advisers answers your questions about everything from law and ﬁnance to dating and dentistry. This week: Learning to lipread following hearing loss, setting up a mortgage brokerage and help with ﬁnancial planning

Dear Sue

SUE CIPIN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION

Since I started losing my hearing, I’ve found socialising really difﬁcult and have lost the conﬁdence I used to take for granted. I feel isolated, even when I’m around others.

My brother told me that a friend of his goes to a lipreading class and that they not only teach about different lip shapes, but are also fun and supportive. That sounds like just what I need!

It would be so good to learn to lipread and meet people who truly understand what this is like. Can you tell me more?

Geoff

JACOB

BERNSTEIN

FINANCIAL SERVICES

(FCA) COMPLIANCE

RICHDALE CONSULTANTS

Dear Jacob

We’re setting up a mortgage brokerage and are seeking guidance on affordability rules. Can you advise how to assess affordability for clients, while complying with FCA regulations?

Isaac

Dear Isaac

I have summarised key steps and considerations from the

FCA’s Mortgage Conduct of Business (MCOB) to help you e ectively assess a ordability for your clients:

1. A ordability assessment

Evaluate whether the customer (and any guarantors) can a ord the repayments, based on appropriate considerations including the customer’s net income, committed expenditure, basic essential spending, and basic quality-of-living costs.

2. Income Ensure you have veriﬁed this with adequate evidence where the application relates to home purchase applications (and that you have taken all reasonable anti-fraud measures).

3. Future changes to income and expenditure Factor into your assessment any potential changes that may arise during

Dear Geo

You are absolutely right. Lipreading classes provide an opportunity for you to meet people in similar situations and develop new ways to cope socially in a fun, lively and stimulating class. You also get to improve your communication skills, discuss common issues and access lots of useful information.

We have a new Zoom class on Friday mornings from 10.30am till 12.30pm, which is easy to join wherever you are.

We also have Monday classes here at JDA from 9.50 till 11.50am and 12.10-2.10pm for people who prefer the social interaction of meeting up in person. If you would like to observe a class, or for more information on the course, please contact Jodie at JDA on 020 8446 0502 or jodie@jdeaf.org.uk

We look forward to welcoming you to the JDA community … you’re going to love lipreading classes – everyone does!

the mortgage term. These may include a reduction in income due to retirement or adding repayments on other new ﬁnancial commitments.

4. Interest rate rises Given potential ﬂuctuations due to economic changes, you must consider future rate changes over at least a ﬁve-year period to ensure that borrowers can a ord their payments even if interest rates rise during the mortgage term.

Separately, you must ensure that you have robust systems and controls in place to record these steps so that, where necessary, these processes can be evidenced as having been followed.

We support our clients with step-by-step guidance as to how to conduct a ordability assessments.

ADAM SHELLEY ACCOUNTANT SOBELL RHODES LLP

Dear Adam

I would like to understand the basics of ﬁnancial planning to ensure a journey of ﬁnancial growth and security. Are you able to provide any guidance?

Harry

Dear Harry

The ﬁrst task is to assess the value of your assets, which might include savings accounts, investments, property and other valuable

possessions. This gives you an insight into the resources available for future planning. Equally important is a review of liabilities, such as mortgages, loans and other debts, which can impact your ﬁnancial ﬂexibility.

The next step is to scrutinise your income streams – whether from employment, self-employment, investments or other sources. This analysis helps to understand the stability and sustainability of your income.

Alongside this, review your expenditures, categorising them into essentials and non-essentials. This helps to identify areas for potential savings and to craft a budget that aligns with your lifestyle and ﬁnancial goals. The ultimate goal of

eNABLeD

this initial assessment is to develop a clear and comprehensive picture of your finances. This holistic view is essential because it forms the foundation for all further financial planning. It allows you, along with your accountant or financial adviser, to identify opportunities and risks, guiding the following strategic decisions. This initial stage sets a realistic and achievable path towards financial security and growth, tailored to your unique circumstances and aspirations. With this foundation in place, you can move forward confidently, designing a strategy that meets your immediate needs and secures your long-term financial wellbeing for you and your loved ones.

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

PATIENT HEALTH

020 3146 3444/5/6

www.patienthealth.co.uk trevor.gee@patienthealth.co.uk

HUMAN RESOURCES / EMPLOYMENT LAW

DONNA OBSTFELD

Qualifications:

• FCIPD Chartered HR Professional

• 25 years in HR and business management.

• Mediator, business coach, trainer, author and speaker

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

DOHR LTD

020 8088 8958

www.dohr.co.uk

donna@dohr.co.uk

ACCOUNTANT

ADAM SHELLEY

Qualifications:

• FCCA chartered certified accountant

• Accounting, taxation and business advisory services

• Entrepreneurial business specialist including start-up businesses

• Specialises in social media influencers and sport sector including tax planning and financial management

• Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation Volunteer of the Year JVN award

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

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

JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED 020 8371 6611

www.jbd.org

Lisa@jbd.org

Experts

ISRAEL PROPERTY & MORTGAGE BROKER

ILAN RUBINSTEIN

Qualifications:

• UK born, licenced Israel estate agent in Israel since 2001

• Ilan assists in buying, financing & re-sale of new & existing property in Israel.

• Helps level the playing field opposite vendors, developers & even the bank

• Attentive to your needs, saving you time, hassle & money

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

JEWELLER

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

Qualifications:

• Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s

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

FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE

JACOB BERNSTEIN

Qualifications:

• A member of the APCC, specialising in financial services compliance for:

• Mortgage, protection and general insurance intermediaries;

• Lenders, credit brokers, debt counsellors and debt managers;

• Alternative Investment Fund managers;

• E-Money, payment services, PISP, AISP and grant-making charities.

RICHDALE CONSULTANTS LTD 020 7781 8019

www.richdale.co.uk jacob@richdale.co.uk

GOAL ATTAINMENT SPECIALIST

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

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

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

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN

Qualifications:

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

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

• Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners

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

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

STEPHEN MORRIS

Qualifications:

• Managing director of Stephen Morris Shipping Ltd

• 45 years’ experience in shipping household and personal effects

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

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

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

• Works with clients individually to maximise success

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

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

Need Cash Fast?

GOLD PRICES AT RECORD HIGH!!!

Sell your gold and coins today! Can’t choose the diamond ring you are looking for? We wish to purchase any Diamond and Gold Jewellery

Receive the best prices for your unwanted gold today! Call Jonathan 020 8446 8538

.87 21 ct per gram - £51.18

22 ct per gram - £53.58 24 ct per gram - £58.48

925 per gram - £0.52 Half Sovereigns - £214.30 Full Sovereigns - £428.60

Krugerrands - £1,819.02

We also purchase sterling silver candlesticks and any other sterling tableware www.howcashforgold.co.uk

Suits from £79.50

Overcoats from £79.50

Come and see us in our North London showroom for the best engagement ring selection.

We can create the design of your dreams ...and at a wholesale price!

We can supply any certiﬁcated GIA or HRD diamond of your choice.

@jewellerycave

Oﬀered Instantly Same Day Payment

A free valuation from our in house gemmologist and gold experts on anything you may wish to sell. If you are thinking of selling, we purchase all diamonds in any shape, size, clarity or colour WE PAY MORE than all our competitors. Try us, and you will not be disappointed!

10 Golders Green Road London NW11 8LL Opposite Cafe Nero Open everyday & Sundays til 5:00pm

Antique – Reproduction – Retro Furniture (any condition)

Epstein, Archie Shine, Hille, G Plan, etc.

Dining Suites, Lounges Suites, Bookcases, Desks, Cabinets, Mirrors, Lights, etc. House clearances

Single items to complete homes

MARYLEBONE ANTIQUES - 8 CHURCH STREET NW8 8ED 07866 614 744 (ANYTIME) 0207 723 7415 (SHOP)

- e-mail -

@maryleboneantiques.co.uk

HOUSE CLEARANCE

YOU CONTACT US BEFORE SELLING

Dave & Eve House Clearance

Friendly Family Company established for 30 years

We clear houses, ﬂats, sheds, garages etc. No job too big or too small! Rubbish cleared as part of a

Furs, Jewellery, Old Costume Jewellery, Watches, Silver, Designer Bags, anything vintage. 01277 352560

Confidential Bereavement Counselling for adults and children individually. Support Groups available. We offer in person, online and telephone counselling. Contact Jewish Bereavement Counselling Service in confidence. 0208 951 3881 enquiries@jbcs.org.uk | www.jbcs.org.uk CHARITY & WELFARE

ARE YOU BEREAVED?

Sheltered Accommodation

We have an open waiting list in our friendly and comfortable warden assisted sheltered housing schemes in Ealing, East Finchley and Hendon. We provide 24-hour warden support, seven days a

and

Former “Magic Circle” solicitor offers help with:

• CVs and personal statements

• interviews and assessment days

• coping with stress and workload

• promotion and new opportunities

For more information contact Tom lawmentor@btinternet.com / 07590 057097

and

LAW MENTOR

Former “Magic Circle” solicitor offers help with:

• CVs and personal statements

• interviews and assessment days

• coping with stress and workload

• promotion and new opportunities

For more information contact Tom lawmentor@btinternet.com / 07590 057097

CROSSWORD

THE JEWISH NEWS CROSSWORD

11 Female rabbit (3)

12 Morally proper (7)

13 Blue Shoes, Presley song (5)

14 Culinary pulveriser (6)

16 Plus (2,4)

19 Farmland units (5)

21 Make more secure (7)

SUDOKU

13 Social level (5) 15 Inuit snow-hut (5) 20 Occupied the throne (7)

22 Slightly warm (5) 24 Reversal (1-4)

25 Convinces (7)

23 Try to win the affection of (3)

24 Sudden thrust (5)

25 Take away (7)

26 Tending flocks (11) DOWN

2 Dog’s restraining chain (5)

3 Appendix to a will (7)

4 Wax light with a wick (6)

SUDOKU

Fill the grid with the numbers 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3 block contains the numbers 1 to 9.

Fill the grid with the numbers 1 to 9 so that each row column and 3x3 block contains the numbers 1 to 9.

26 ___ Waugh, satirical novelist (6)

27 Member of the clergy (6)

1 Area (6)

2 Eyelets (5)

3 Stands against (7)

5 Rascal (5)

6 Horned American bison (7)

5 ___ basket, wickerwork carrycot (5)

6 Bishop’s area (7)

7 Signal to take action (4-2,4)

7 Racy, salty (6)

8 Kitchen cloth (5)

10 Of clothes, reaching the middle of the leg (4-6)

15 Squash (7)

17 With vision (7)

WORDSEARCH

with brass bands can all be found in the forwards or backwards, in a horizontal, direction, but always in a straight, unbroken line.

14 Time free from employment (7)

16 Become a sailor (2,2,3)

17 Scottish game bird (6)

SUGURU

18 J ___ Hoover, first Director of the FBI (5)

18 Heavy uninteresting food (6)

20 Lottery (5)

19 More than probable (4-2)

21 ___ Astor, pioneering woman MP (5)

22 Practise for a feat of endurance (5)

23 Capital of France (5)

CODEWORD

SUGURU

Each cell in an outlined block must contain a digit: a two-cell block contains the digits 1 and 2, a three-cell block contains the digits 1, 2 and 3; and so on. The same digit must not appear in neighbouring cells, not even diagonally.

Each cell in an outlined block must contain a digit: a two-cell block contains the digits 1 and 2 a three-cell block contains the digits 1 2 and 3; and so on. The same digit must not appear in neighbouring cells not even diagonally.

The listed words associated with campanology and bell ringing can all be found in the grid. Words may run either forwards or backwards in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction but always in a straight unbroken line.

In this finished crossword, every letter of the alphabet appears as a code number. All you have to do is crack the code and fill in the grid. Replacing the decoded numbers with their letters in the grid will help you to guess the identity of other letters.

In this finished crossword every letter of the alphabet appears as a code number. All you have to do is crack the code and fill in the grid. Replacing the decoded numbers with their letters in the grid will help you to guess the identity of other letters.

puzzle solutions.

Sudoku Suguru

Crossword

ACROSS: 7 Triplet 9 Etude 10 Pip

11 Sheepdogs 12 Nervy 14 Hadrian 16 Hyped up 18 Ought

Wordsearch

Codeword

Sudoku Suguru Wordsearch Codeword

Choose your volunteer initiative and be part of Israel’s story of resilience

Rolling registration - dates available through December

Use QR code to see full list of offered dates.

16 - 50 years old, basic knowledge of English, valid passport, identify as Jewish.

$150 for eligible fellows* (Flights not included)

*Some cohort costs vary, please scan QR code for more information.

Masa Alumni are eligible to apply & recieve full funding!

Come to volunteer, stay to continue your impact

Masa Volunteer Alumni eligible for additional funding for full 4-10 month programs.

Study, teach, intern and more in Israel!

Included but not limited to: Classic Tel Aviv | Public Diplomacy

Academic Course with university credits Magen David Adom + training course (Paramedics) and

Scan the QR code at the bottom of the page to see all cohort options!

Housing with building safe room

Insurance

24-hour staff and safety & security updates

Educational & Social Events

Meals on volunteering days outside of base city

Volunteering 5 times a week

Transportation to volunteering outside of base city, bus pass for volunteering inside base city