1390 - 23rd Oct 2024

‘I care about the hostages, not Sinwar’

Freed Israeli who told Hamas leader he ‘should be ashamed’ says she’s indi erent to his death

The daughter of an 85-year-old former Israeli hostage who told Yahya Sinwar he “should be ashamed of himself” for planning the 7 October massacres says her mother is “indi erent” to the Hamas leader’s death, writes Jenni Frazer.

Sharone Lifschitz told Jewish News that Israel had “killed loads of leaders over the years and they get replaced, one with another”.

She said: “What’s irreplaceable are the hostages. We are waiting for them. Some people thought, to begin with, that Sinwar’s death (inset) would usher their return, but it doesn’t seem to be doing that. So my mother is cautious, like everybody, because of the level of chaos in Gaza and how that might a ect the hostages.”

Yocheved Lifshitz, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was released, together with Nurit Cooper, after 17 days in Gaza. Her husband Oded, 84, is, as far as the family knows, still being held hostage. Their daughter acknowledges that the chances of his survival are “slim”.

In October 2023, Yocheved Lifshitz told reporters after her release that she had met Sinwar in the Gaza tunnels. “Sinwar was with us three to four days after we arrived,” she said. “I asked him how he is not ashamed to do such a thing to people who have supported peace all these years,” adding that the Hamas leader, who was killed by Israeli troops last week, had not responded to her challenge.

Her daughter had not been surprised by her mother’s action.

“My mum is someone who will speak truth to power,”

Sharone said.

“In a recent interview in Israel, she was asked if she had been afraid about speaking back to Sinwar. She said, ‘No, what have I got to be afraid of? I’m an 85-year-old woman.’

Continued on page 3

JFS would like to thank all those who have contributed to the school this year. Your donations are the foundation upon which the futures of the community are built. www.jfs.brent.sch.uk/donate/contribute.html

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, former hostage

Sinwar’s death ‘opportunity

Hamas’ most senior surviving member this week issued a warning to Israel that the group “will remain loyal to its path of martyrs, its principles, its values, and its strategies in leadership and resistance,” following the killing of its leader Yayha Sinwar, writes Adam Decker.

Sinwar, the architect of the deadliest attack on Israel in its history, was killed in a firefight with Israeli forces last Wednesday.

He and two companions died in a shootout with soldiers from a non-elite unit who did not know who they were confronting, Israeli media reported. Despite recent reports that Sinwar was using hostages as a human shield, hostages were not found in the vicinity of his body.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Netanyahu had informed the families that no hostages were known to be affected by the killing.

Paying tribute to the man behind the 7 October massacre on a video link at a memorial service in Istanbul on Monday, Khaled Mashal added that Israel “sought to impose a bleak fate on Sinwar, yet God bestowed upon him a legacy of dignity; he lived with unwavering courage and died with honour”.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address in Hebrew to the nation after news broke of the terrorist leader’s

killing, said that it brought the war closer to its end, and that once the remaining hostages had been released he expected a pivot toward regional peace.

Netanyahu added: “To the peoples of the region I say, in Gaza, Beirut, throughout the region, darkness is receding and light is rising.

“I call on you, the peoples of the region, we have a great opportunity to stop the axis of evil and create a different future, a period of growth in the whole region. Together, we can expel the curse and advance the blessing.”

The Israeli army said in a statement: “Yahya Sinwar planned and executed the 7 October massacre, promoted his murderous ideology both before and during the war, and was responsible for the murder and abduction of many Israelis. Sinwar was eliminated after hiding for the past year behind the civilian population of Gaza, both above and below ground in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.”

The terrorist’s death comes just over two months after he ascended to Hamas’ top position, following the assassination attributed to Israel of the terror group’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

Both before and since, American officials viewed Sinwar as the principal obstacle to a

ceasefire that would include the release of hostages. “This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

Sinwar’s killing could accelerate the hostages’ release and an end to the war in Gaza even as fighting has intensified in Lebanon and

SIX SHOT HOSTAGES WERE PROBABLY SINWAR’S SHIELD

The six Israeli hostages murdered in a tunnel under Rafah at the end of August were probably human shields for Yahya Sinwar and survived for months on energy bars until they were finally executed, too weak to be moved with the terror chief, it was claimed this week.

The investigation by Israel’s Channel 12 shed light on why Sinwar, long believed to have surrounded himself with hostages, left the tunnels of Rafah and was without any captives around him when he was killed by the IDF on Wednesday.

It also provided new details on the last months, weeks, and days of some of the Israeli hostages.

According to the report, the

six – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi – were kept further north in Gaza in the first month of the war, following their abductions by Hamas on 7 October 2023, from the Nova music festival and, in the case of Gat, her home in Kibbutz Be’eri.

In November, as part of the weeklong ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas that led to the release of 105 civilian hostages, Israel agreed not to carry out surveillance in the territory during specified hours, while the truce lasted.

During that time, the terror group transported some remaining hostages to new locations, the report said – including to Rafah,

where the IDF had not yet entered. Goldberg-Polin, Danino, and Sarusi – all of whom were wounded during their abduction from the Nova festival – were transported in one vehicle, while Yerushalmi, Lobanov, and Gat were transported in another, the report said.

Hamas moved the six hostages to a tunnel three stories (20 metres, or 65.6ft) below ground, the report said.

The hostages’ captors reportedly resided in a building above ground, with a shaft leading down to the captives.

The six Israelis were apparently kept in this tunnel system during the entire remainder of their lives, subsisting mostly on energy bars,

the threat of an Iran war still looms. A major success for Israel could also tamp down tensions between the Netanyahu and Biden governments.

“There is now the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better

according to the report.

The hostages were placed in the corridor, where they would eventually be killed.

On discovering the hostages’ bodies on 31 August, Israeli forces

also recovered, a short distance from where the captives had been kept, DNA from Sinwar, which experts said testified to his presence at some point between 21 and 27 August.

Yayha Sinwar with the son of an Al-Qassam Brigades fighter in Gaza City in 2021. Sinwar’s death was the

Israeli soldiers carrying out an operation in southern Lebanon this week

Clockwise from top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Alexander Lobanov and Almog Sarusi

‘opportunity for the world’

future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Biden said.

“Yahya Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all of those goals. That obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us.”

Even before the army confirmed Sinwar’s

death, there were official hints that he had been killed. Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, posted on X a trio of portraits: a blank one with a red X, flanked by photos of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Mohammed Deif, Sinwar’s deputy, with red Xs over their faces. Israel in recent months assassinated Deif and Nasrallah.

“‘You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword.’ – Leviticus 26. Our enemies cannot hide,” Gallant tweeted. “We will pursue and eliminate them.”

‘Boost for Islamists’

Islamic terror may get a “boost” in the UK following the death of Hamas’s leader, a former head of MI6 has said.

Asked if a ceasefire in the Middle East is more likely, Sir John Sawers said the situation will not change “a great deal”.

Sir John told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that Hamas may now focus on international terror, after Israeli troops killed Yahya Sinwar, who was behind the group’s 7 October attacks.

Sawers said: “Islamic terrorism may actually get a further boost, if that’s the right word, from events in the Middle East – the frustrations that we’ll be seeing because of the lack of movement on the Palestinian question, because of the violence people are witnessing every day.

“It could be that Hezbollah and Hamas... are focused so much on violence that they become

not just terrorist organisations designated by western countries and aimed against Israel, but they could revert back to international terrorism, including in the UK.”

Keir Starmer urged a ceasefire in the Middle East in a phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday. The conversation came on the day a drone was launched at the Israeli prime minister’s home in Caesarea, in an apparent assassination attempt.

Starmer expressed alarm at the news before discussing the wider situation in the Middle East. A spokesperson said Sir Keir described Sinwar as “a brutal terrorist” who left the world “a better place without him”. But he also warned that the world would not tolerate “any more excuses” for not allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.

• The Palestine Liberation Organisation, led by Mahmoud Abbas, expressed its condolences on the “martyrdom” of Yahya Sinwar, calling him a “great national leader” and urging Palestinian national unity in th wake of his death. Some of the PLO’s constituent factions also expressed condolences for the terror chief’s demise, including Abbas’s secularist Fatah party, which said Israel’s “killing and terrorism will not succeed in breaking the will of our people.”

• Troops searching homes near where Sinwar was killed found letters he sent and received, including correspondence with his 10-year-old son, in which the terrorist chief tried to imbue the child with a hatred for Israel, Hebrew media has reported. According to Channel 12, Sinwar wrote his son several sermons excoriating Israel. The boy, in turn, reportedly sent his father drawings of dead Israeli soldiers, and at one point was said to have asked when the war would end.

The army released a picture of the heads of the army and the Shin Bet, the internal security service, consulting with each other in an aircraft, with no explanation. Such photographs have previously hinted at a major operation.

Documents recovered by the Israeli army and delivered in recent days to major western news outlets revealed that Sinwar hoped to draw Iran and Hezbollah into the war, and for Israel’s demise within the next few years. Both entities intensified their engagement with Israel but resisted full involvement until recent weeks. Sinwar reportedly still hoped for the conflagration to metastasise and resisted deals for a ceasefire that would effectively require Hamas’ surrender.

Keir Starmer said the UK “will not mourn” the death of Sinwar. He added: “As the leader of the terrorist group Hamas, Yahya Sinwar was the mastermind behind the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, as 1,200 people were slaughtered in Israel. Today my thoughts are with the families of those victims.

The UK will not mourn his death.”

• Editorial comment, page 18

• Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Hamas is alive and would survive despite the death of its leader. “His loss is certainly painful for the resistance front” against Israel, “but it will not end at all with the martyrdom of Sinwar,” Khamenei said. “Hamas is alive and will remain alive,” he said in a statement. Sinwar “was the shining figure of resistance and struggle… He stood with unwavering determination against the cruel and aggressive enemy and slapped them with tact and courage,” he added.

• French President Emmanuel Macron has told Benjamin Netanyahu that he sees the killing of Sinwar as a chance for a possible new phase of negotiations for a ceasefire. Macron, whose government has had increasingly tense public exchanges with Israel, also condemned Israeli army action toward UN forces in Lebanon.

‘WHAT I CARE ABOUT IS THE OTHER HOSTAGES’

Continued from page 1 operates on a very clear set of values. I think she was just annoyed, angry.”

She added: “It’s not that my mother is tough. She is just clear-headed. She employs her heart, she does what she believes is right.”

Sharone Lifschitz deplored those celebrating Sinwar’s death. “Celebrating death is not part of Jewish tradition, to my mind. It’s a bastardisation of what it means to be Jewish.

“I have no sympathy for Sinwar. He was a murderous fundamentalist who was ready to sacrifice us and every sane person in the Middle East and beyond. But to put his dead image on Israeli TV at 4.30pm when children are watching — this is not what we should aspire to be.

“There is nothing to celebrate. Our enemies celebrated 7 October, it showed who they are

as humans. I don’t celebrate death, I would celebrate the return of the hostages.”

Comparing Sinwar to Hitler “drives nothing forward”, she said. “What drives forward is fighting for the lives of the hostages, and for the soldiers.” But she also noted the “devastation” in Gaza and observed that “whether we like it or not, [the Palestinians] are our neighbours and we share the same space. From my parents’ house you can see their destroyed houses. My parents’ house is destroyed, too.”

Even those who did not care for the children of Gaza, Lifschitz said, had to remember that Palestinians “are seeing children burned alive, seeing devastation, the level of trauma in Gaza. Do you think it helps our hostages when we prevent food getting into Gaza? All this dancing and calls for revenge [after Sinwar’s death] – for the hostage families, it’s heartbreaking.”

the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza, Joe Biden said

IDF soldiers carry the body of Yahya Sinwar from the building where he was killed

A masked Sinwar’s final stand in Rafah

Sinwar in a Gaza tunnel

Met police officer sorry for posts about ‘dirty Zionists’

A Metropolitan Police officer has apologised for posting offensive tweets about Jewish people and non-Muslims, but denied they warranted her dismissal.

PC Ruby Begum, 29, admitted during a police misconduct hearing on Monday that she used offensive language such as “dirty Zionists. Hell is waiting” while serving as a special constable.

She also admitted using the term “kuffar” to refer to non-believers, saying: “Kuffar lips have been all over my mug, there is no way I’m using that thing again.”

About 25,000 tweets were made between 2013 and 2019 under the username @ruby_beee and Begum has been accused of failing to disclose this handle during vetting processes in 2014 and 2016.

The hearing was told about accusations against Begum that she had held an interest in extremist preachers and had failed to disclose her links to a jihadi woman living inside a so-called Islamic State caliphate in Syria had been dropped over a lack of evidence.

Begum gained widespread recognition in 2020 after a photo of her facing down anti-lockdown protesters in London went viral. But in 2021, a Mail on Sunday article revealed her posts on Twitter.

Begum, who was raised in a Muslim household in east London, admitted on Monday that she had used discriminatory language when describing Arabs, people from Pakistan and non-Muslims, with one post referring to the 2014 beheading of Alan Henning at the hands of ‘Jihadi John’: “You lot saying free Alan Henning. Remember the Muslim brothers and sisters imprisoned by Kuffar.”

She also used a shortened version of the word Pakistani, a comment she denied was racist and was instead her way of identifying a group of people. When asked if there a police officer should ever be using that word, Begum said: “Not on duty, no,” adding: “It depends on the context and

it’s about intent and ownership … some say it’s not racist and use it as a shortening of the word Pakistani.”

Asked again if a police officer should ever use the term, she said “No they shouldn’t” and added: “I wouldn’t use it now.” Begum also made a series of derogatory posts about Jews, writing: “Dirty Zionists. Hell is waiting” and “Zionists have no heart.”

When asked about these comments, she said she did not believe that all Jewish people were Zionists and that her comments were about the Israeli government and the deaths of Palestinians.

She told the panel: “I had a problem with the Israeli government and systematic inequalities. I’ve seen anti-Zionist Jewish people and never equated them.

“I didn’t think it was a term of offence. I heard Jeremy Corbyn say it and thought it was OK. If I was describing Jewish people, I have nothing against Jewish people. I have no hate towards that group.”

Begum told the panel she made the comments when she was a “different person” who was “narrow-minded”, adding: “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

The panel will deliver its verdict at a later date.

MP’S PRESSURE FOR PALESTINE

A former Tory minister has asked to know what is “holding the prime minister back” from recognising a Palestinian state, saying this is a “prerequisite for peace in the Middle East”, writes Lee Harpin.

Kit Malthouse, a former education secretary and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, spoke during business questions, noting what he said was Labour’s election “pledge to recognise Palestine”.

“The prime minister said the Palestinians have an undeniable right to recognition,” said the MP for North West Hampshire, “but something is holding him back.

“So please could we have a debate in government time to examine the fact that all our Arab allies are saying that recognition is now a prerequisite for peace in the Middle East. And for the House to vote to support the prime minister in taking this very significant step.”

Responding for the government, leader of the House

Lucy Powell said Labour “absolutely” supports recognising Palestine as a state.

She added: “It’s absolutely critical that we do achieve a long-term two-state solution in the Middle East that recognises both Israel’s right to exist and as a safe and secure country, but also the Palestinian people’s right to have a Palestinian state that is also safe, secure and free as well.

“And that is what we are working towards internationally and with our allies across the world.

“And it’s something that I know the foreign secretary and prime minister spend a lot of their time dealing with.”

Terror cops raid home of Asa Winstanley

Counter-terrorism police have raided the home in north London of Asa Winstanley, a writer renowned for his anti-Israel stance and a campaign to deny antisemitism in Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, writes Lee Harpin.

Officers arrived at the home of the associate editor of the Electronic Intifada website last week with warrants and a letter allegedly informing him police are investigating possible offences under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006).

Jewish News understands that the police seized devices and documents as part of their investigation, but that Winstanley has not been arrested or charged with any offences.

A report published by Electronic Intifada said: A letter addressed to Winstanley from the ‘counter-terrorism command’ of the Metropolitan Police Service indicates that the authorities are “aware of your profession” as a journalist but that ‘notwithstanding, police are investigating possible offenses’ under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006).

“These provisions set out the purported offense of ‘encouragement of terrorism.’”

Winstanley is active on several social media platforms, and recently posted on X praising the “sheer bravery of the Palestinian resistance”, which included a video published by the Qassam Brigades.

The Qassam Brigades, based in Gaza, is the military wing of Hamas.

Winstanley has written an article accusing Israel of killing hundreds of its own citizens on 7 October rather than allowing Hamas take them captive.

His book Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn was a heavily criticised attempt to suggest that the crisis under the previous Labour leader had been whipped up by Zionists. Jewish News attended an event to promote the book in which Winstanley was interviewed by antiZionist academic David Miller.

The CPS published a warning in August in relation to the promotion of violence online, urging the public to “think before you post” with a threat of possible prosecution.

The Met and Winstanley have been contacted for further comment.

Asa Winstanley (right) with David Miller at a book event

Kit Malthouse MP

PC Ruby Begum

VISIT ISRAEL SUPPORT ISRAEL

DEAD SEA

NEGEV

Survivor of Nova massacre dies by suicide on her 22nd birthday

A 22-year-old woman who survived the Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival took her own life last weekend after a year-long struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, her family has confirmed.

Shirel Golan was due to spend the day celebrating her birthday with her family.

She was found lifeless at her home in the community of Porat, near Netanya, her phone filled with unanswered wishes from friends for a happy birthday.

Her death sparked angry denunciations from Golan’s brother Eyal, who accused the state of failing to offer her needed help for emotional and mental issues in the aftermath of the 7 October massacre.

“If the state had taken care of her, none of this would have happened,” he was quoted in Hebrew media as saying. “The State of Israel killed my sister twice. Once in October, mentally, and a second time today, on her 22nd birthday, physically.”

Golan and her partner, Adi, were

among the thousands of partygoers who managed to flee the Nova outdoor rave as Hamas-led terrorists began massacring attendees on 7 October 2023.

They initially made it to a vehicle and tried to drive out of the area, but abandoned the car once it became clear they could not escape. The pair hid under a bush for hours until they were eventu-

ally found by police officer Remo Salman El-Hozayel, who had commandeered a vehicle to rescue partygoers under fire, eventually saving some 200 people according to media reports.

music and dance festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel were murdered, and many were subjected to other atrocities, including gang rape and mutilation of victims. Dozens of others at the festival were abducted and dragged into Gaza.

In the weeks and months following the assault, Golan began to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including disassociation and withdrawal, and was hospitalised twice, but was never recognised as a PTSD sufferer, her family said.

Eyal said that when he noticed her withdrawing from people and asked her to seek help, she replied that she had not received any help from the state, and that any assistance she had received had come from the grassroots Tribe of Nova Community association, founded by fellow survivors and relatives of victims following the attack.

Some 364 people at the open-air

While hiding, the pair narrowly avoided getting in another car whose occupants were all killed or kidnapped by Hamas terrorists while trying to reach safety, Golan told the Kan public broadcaster in November.

POLICE QUIZ HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS

Police have interviewed two people under caution who are alleged to have been holding placards showing support for the proscribed Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah at a proPalestine protest in London this month.

Jewish News revealed how the banners –including one that read “Hezbollah are not terrorists” and another “I ♥ Hezbollah” – were on display at the event organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others on 5 October.

A third placard on display at the march, at its start point close to Russell Square tube station, expressed support for Hezbollah’s former secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in an airstrike in Beirut last month.

It stated: “Nasrallah is NOT a terrorist!”

After the Jewish News report was published,

Daniel Birnbaum, the former CEO of SodaStream, is offering a cash reward to anyone who delivers an Israeli hostage held in Gaza back to Israel.

In a video doing the rounds on social media, Birnbaum appeals to “the good people in Gaza” and offers $100,000 to anyone who frees an Israeli hostage from Hamas.

the Metropolitan Police used the paper’s photographs to launch an appeal for people in relation to potential protest offences. It is understood that officers have now located the females who could be at the centre of the allegations, and have questioned both of them.

A detailed case is now expected to be sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Jewish News had approached the females holding the placards on the Saturday of the demo and questioned why they were showing support for a banned terror group.

One of the women replied: “All Shia around the world are Hezbollah.” The Lebanese Shia Islamist group, which has repeatedly launched barrages of missiles into Israel has been proscribed in this country since 2019.

“This was a terrible year. It’s time to wrap things up. It’s time to move on,” Birnbaum states in the video.

“A few days ago, Benjamin Netanyahu promised free passage and immunity to anyone who delivers an Israeli prisoner to

Israel. I would like to add to that a financial reward.

“Anyone who delivers from Gaza, a living Israeli prisoner, will receive $100,000 that would be paid either by cash or by Bitcoin, as you prefer.” Birnbaum says that his offer is valid only until midnight on Wednesday 24 October.

“Don’t wait,” he urges, instructing those who want to take the offer to contact him confidentially via Telegram or WhatsApp. “It’s time for you to take control of your life, to build a better future for yourself, your family and for your community. Do it today.”

Asked about this, she replied: “Israel is the terrorist.” Faced with the charge that Hezbollah and Hamas have murdered innocent people, she replied: “You kill innocent people.”

Jewish News’ report was followed up by national newspapers the following day.

In Israel, the IDF released a video on social media to nearly two million followers that stressed the terrorist nature of Hezbollah. It featured images of the banners exposed by Jewish News on the Palestine demo in London.

Officers made 17 arrests at the 5 October demonstration in central London.

While some arrests were made on the day, police noted that the size and density of the crowds meant “what is easy to spot when walking among the crowd with a mobile phone

Volunteers have put up 4,000 posters highlighting the plight in Gaza of the British–Israeli hostage Emily Damari, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

The initiative in areas including Essex, Queen’s Park, Mill Hill, Hendon and Brighton and Hove was organised following the address by Emily’s mother Mandy Damari at the 7 October anniversary event in Hyde Park.

At the vigil Mandy spoke publicly in the UK for the first time about her 28-year old daughter, who remains in Gaza as the only British hostage.

Since then, family friend Emily Cohen has been inundated with volunteers wanting to help to continue to fight for her release. More than 300 people helped with the posters.

Mandy Damari told Jewish News: “We are in awe of the amount of love and support shown by the community in the UK since

He said the family had tried to take care of her themselves as well as they could.

is not always easy for officers to see from their positions along the route”.

After the demo the Met added: “While we will always investigate event after an event, we would urge those who see these incidents and take photos of them to also alert officers if they are nearby so we can intervene immediately.”

we publicised the fact that Emily is a British Israeli hostage. It means a great deal to my family to see the huge amount of activity that has been happening recently in order to advocate for Emily’s immediate release.”

The poster campaign follows Mandy’s recent visit to the UK, which also included a talk at Highgate Synagogue and a meeting at Downing Street.

Shirel Golan was found lifeless at her home near Netanya

The two women who were sought by police

Daniel Birnbaum

The posters of 28-year-old Emily Damari

Echoes between 7/10 and 1973

One of the most influential women in Israel’s defence industry says there are “echoes” of the 1973 Yom Kippur War in the technology failures of 7 October 2023, writes Jenni Frazer.

Dr Irit Idan, a graduate of the northern Israeli powerhouse university the Technion, was in London on a speaking tour under the auspices of Technion UK.

For many years, she was executive vice-president for research and development at RAFAEL, one of Israel’s largest and best-known defence companies.

Today, she is chief executive of her own company, Idan Technology Insights, and advises both investors and companies in Israel and Europe on the development of strategies and business roadmaps. She specialises in emerging technologies and how they transform organisations.

Though a cheerleader for technology, Dr Idan is a firm believer in the human component in maximising tech effectiveness. She says: “I never believe in technology as a sole solution. Even AI needs to have a man in the loop.

“What happened on 7 October a year ago – you just need to compare

it with what is happening now in the north, in Lebanon.

“By having a man in the loop who makes the right decisions and having technology assisting him… lessons have been learned. There are echoes between 7 October and the Yom Kippur War ... and those echoes are about human beings, not about technology. Can an army just focus on

technology? The answer is a definite no. It’s always the quality of the man who is running the tech. They have to be working together in order to get the optimised solution.”

Despite using “man” in her language, Dr Idan is a fervent backer of encouraging young women “to be involved in emerging technologies. Not just defence, any type. I truly

believe that when a company has both men and women in its management, those companies function much better. It’s not just my belief, there is research about it.

“Men and women have different capabilities, but when they work together they can match a real need. That’s not just true of running a company but, for me, even when it comes to running a country. I would hope to see more female ministers in government in every country in the world –and definitely in the field of defence.”

Dr Idan is upbeat about the applications of defence technology for other uses in areas such as agriculture or medicine. But she is “extremely worried”, she says, about the current brain drain of young men and women from Israel, not just in technology but particularly in the health field.

“I don’t want to sound too pessimistic, and I am worried about it, but there is some optimism in the situation as well, because of the rise of antisemitism around the world, which means we do see brilliant people coming back to Israel.

“I would be happy if we could keep all our brains in Israel – and I

think the government needs to take care of that.”

She makes it clear as a Technion graduate the affiliation “changed my life , from the moment I stepped on the campus as a young woman just out of army service, studying physics and then doing my master’s. My supervisor, Professor Giora Shaviv, became my second father. And then I moved to RAFAEL and kept close contact with Technion.” Dr Idan says 70 percent of RAFAEL staff are Technion graduates.

On a personal level: “My husband is a Technion professor and my two children are graduates. So we are a Technion family. From every aspect, it shaped both my professional and my personal life, and for that I am extremely grateful.”

Dr Irit Idan briefs Jewish students in London about Israeli tech

Hersh Goldberg-Polin and friends at the Nova festival before the attack

Medieval Jewish cemetery found beneath Barbican

A medieval cemetery hidden beneath the Barbican in London for centuries is being brought back to life by volunteers, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

The Jewish Square Mile project is shining a light on a beautiful but neglected space by the remains of the City’s ancient wall, a wall begun by the Romans and rebuilt during the Dark and Middle Ages.

The Barbican Estate’s Thomas More Garden marks the furthest southward extent of the 1,000-yearold cemetery, the first Jewish burial ground in England.

The site existed until the Jews’ expulsion from England in 1290, an edict announced on Tisha B’Av of that year to be completed by All Saints’ Day. After that, the cemetery and the generations buried were neglected, desecrated and forgotten.

Howard Morris, a founder members with Gaby Morris of the Jewish Square Mile project, told Jewish News: “The burial ground existed as a rumour, a legend. Gaby and I heard the story when we moved into the Barbican but it was Father Jack Noble of St Giles Cripplegate, the very old

church actually in the Barbican where Oliver Cromwell was married, who, by word of mouth, drew together a group of Jewish residents to find out if there really was a cemetery and its location.”

The group now includes people of all faiths and none who live and work in and around the Barbican area, including a medievalist historian and writer, researchers, an architect, musicians and composers.

Morris added: “The Jews were

brought to London by William soon after the Norman occupation.

“They weren’t free but lived under his protection and were permitted a place to bury their dead according to our customs and beliefs. That must have given them some sense of permanence and community.”

The goal of the Jewish Square Mile project is to “rediscover those people, their lives and their contribution to the City, to help show the impact and

contribution of Jewish Londoners then and since and thus move on from the stereotypes of medieval Jews like Isaac and Rebecca in Ivanhoe or Shylock, as usurers”.

A two-week exhibition will be held next June within the church of St Giles and a plaque is to be unveiled in the Barber-Surgeons’ Garden, while a Jewish choir will sing liturgical music in the Moat Theatre of the City of London School for Girls.

Morris added: “The exhibition will go far beyond simply identifying the location of the cemetery and the dates of its history.

“We will bring the medieval Jewish community to life, show the contribution they made to the success of the City following the conquest of England by William and over the next 200 years until Edward I expelled them.”

Much of the historic site lies below the independent City of London School for Girls, with the only publicly accessible part below the Barber-Surgeons’ Gardens, although the entire area can be viewed from the Defoe House and Wallside Highwalks in the Barbican.

MAN JAILED FOR HATE CAMPAIGN

A factory worker who harassed a Jewish family at a car boot sale as part of a catalogue of public order and terrorism offences has been jailed for four years.

Robert Taylor, 42, of Farnworth, Greater Manchester, posted hundreds of racial hatred posts but also carried his extreme rightwing views into the community by targeting the public with posters and leaflets.

Taylor approached a man who was with his wife and young sons at the car boot event and several times said “gas”, adding: “That is what I think when I see your people, I think of gas.”

Counter-terrorism police chief Det Supt Ben Cottam said: “I’m grateful to the Community Security Trust for reporting Taylor’s online activity to police, and I hope today’s outcome sends a clear message we are prepared to act decisively on reports such as these.”

The cemetery site looking toward the former Museum of London

Denial and blame: Poland’s Holocaust history rewritten

Poland, the epicentre of the Holocaust, began denying responsibility as soon as the Nazi atrocities ended. Concerningly, the nation’s distortion of history continues as government policy today – with disturbing consequences for Holocaust remembrance. In Whitewash: Poland and the Jews, his extended essay in the current issue of Jewish Quarterly, Jan Grabowski examines how the Polish government has deployed the full apparatus of the state – including museums, schools and state institutions – to create a dangerous new narrative of Polish national innocence for the Holocaust; to create and export a new threat – Holocaust amnesia. It has already prompted furious denials on X from former Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki. Jan Grabowski is professor of history at the University of Ottawa and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

The question of Polish complicity in the Holocaust has become more contentious and divisive the further we are removed from the event.

The history of the Shoah in today’s Poland is being corroded by the toxic mix of government policies of negationism and distortion willingly accepted by the broader public.

Poland has become a champion (worldwide) of Holocaust relativisation, Holocaust de-Judaisation and Holocaust envy, insisting on Jewish–Bolshevik collusion and conspiracy, and blaming the victims for their own demise. The success of these memorial policies over the years has transformed how Poles see their own past and how they construe their own identity.

Why is the Polish case so vital to the memory of the Shoah? First, Poland is the place where the Holocaust was perpetrated; it’s here, on pre-war Polish territory, that close to five out of six million Jews were put to death. The Jewish community in Poland was the largest in Europe, and second largest in the world, after the United States.

Second, out of three million Polish Jews who – at some point –found themselves under German occupation, fewer than 30,000 survived the war. The survival rate for Polish Jews was, therefore, close to one percent. Nowhere else in Europe was the Holocaust so complete, so total; nowhere else did the destruction of the Jewish people proceed with such nightmarish perfection.

Third, Poland is where the Germans established all the extermination camps: Auschwitz, Treblinka,

Chełmno, Sobibor, Maj danek and Bełżec.

This, in turn, imposed on Polish society and the Polish state a unique obligation of memory, a duty of caring for the spaces of horror and for the symbolic commemoration of one of the greatest human catastrophes in history. That’s why Poland, despite itself, has become a reluctant custodian of the memory of the Shoah.

These three reasons alone are enough to make us consider Poland, in matters of memory and commemoration of the Shoah, a place of unique importance.

Unfortunately, the politics of memory pursued and enforced in Poland are nowadays best described as Holocaust distortion. Unlike Holocaust deniers of yesteryear, states, institutions and people engaged in Holocaust distortion do not deny the factuality of the Jewish catastrophe. They freely admit the Germans murdered six million European Jews. What they refuse to acknowledge, however, is that their people, their nation, had something to do with the event. That their ancestors took part in the German genocidal project.

Holocaust distortion (or negationism) is a particularly insidious threat to our collective memory, as it is partially based on truth: no one denies, for instance, that some gentiles helped the Jews.

The negationists insist, though, helping Jews was the default position of their nation. They claim that Polish (or Hungarian, Lithuanian, Romanian or Ukrainian) society did all it could to save Jewish co-citizens in their moment of need.

Israeli author Manfred Gerstenfeld called this memorial strategy “Holocaust deflection: “[I]t entails admitting that the Holocaust happened while denying the complicity or responsibilities of specific groups or individuals. The Holocaust is then blamed on others. This, to a large extent, concerns those countries where, during the war, Germans were helped greatly by local citizens in the despoliation, deportation and killing of the Jews.”

In practical terms, in Poland, it means shifting the entire blame to the Germans, regardless of the level of complicity of local gentiles. It was best summed up by the Polish writer and historian Kazimierz Wyka, who, shortly after the war, referring to the massive amount of Jewish real estate left in the hands of the Poles, wrote: “For the Germans, all the blame. For us – the keys and the cash.”

In terms of advancing Holocaust distortion, Poland is ahead of the pack, but it is not alone. In Budapest, the local authorities erected, in 2014, a monument called the Memorial for Victims of the German Occupa-

tion. The Memorial of Hungarian Innocence would be a more appropriate name for the structure, which features Archangel Gabriel (patron saint of Hungary) attacked from above by a German eagle. The eagle has the date “1944” etched on its ankle. The message the monument wants to convey is simple: it was the Germans, and not us, who delivered, in 1944, 430,000 Hungarian Jews to the gas chambers in Auschwitz.

This claim is a bald-faced lie. True, Eichmann and his people ordered the deportations, but the planning, the concentration of Jews in the ghettos, the robbery of their property and their subsequent transportation to the border with the Generalgouvernement, was prepared and executed by Hungarian civil authorities, police and the military.

In Lithuania, Ukraine and Latvia, dozens of anti-communist and patriotic fighters are now hailed as national heroes – including Jonas Noreika, Kazys Škirpa and Antanas Baltūsis-Žvejys in Lithuania, Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych in Ukraine and Herberts Cukurs in Latvia – despite ample evidence of their involvement with the Einsatzgruppen, the German mobile killing units responsible for thousands of Jewish deaths.

In Bulgaria, the official historical narrative paints the country as a safe haven for Jews, conveniently forgetting the more than 11,000 Jews deported, in March 1943, by Bulgarian military authorities, from Macedonia and Thrace to Treblinka. The list goes on.

Deflecting and distorting the his-

tory of the Holocaust allows governments today to construct a new, positive and usable narrative.

People and institutions engaging in Holocaust distortion tend to spotlight the Jewish police or the role played by the Jewish councils (Judenräte), inflating the scale of Jewish complicity

Stressing the importance of the alleged Jewish collaboration with the communists is another technique often used by Holocaust distortionists. “The Jews had it coming,” they claim, discussing the wave of antiJewish violence in Eastern Europe, which started in the summer and autumn of 1941, after the German attack against the Soviets.

This assertion not only relies on antisemitic stereotypes but also overlooks the reality that Jews were targeted irrespective of their political beliefs, and that the perpetrators were drawn from diverse strata of society, including even those who earlier cooperated with the communists. The negationists strive to elevate the wartime suffering of their own national group to the desired “Jewish” level, a phenomenon known as Holocaust envy.

• This article is an edited extract from Whitewash: Poland and the Jews by Jan Grabowski. To find out more about the dangers to Holocaust memory, we recommend reading the full essay. Subscribe to Jewish Quarterly to read it and to stay in touch with the best of Jewish intellectual thought, or read the rest of Whitewash on Kindle.

Streets of shame: Polish right-wing nationalists marching through Warsaw

Professor Grabowski

Birchgrove Mill HIll Ayrton House

Show Suite Open

Modern assisted living retirement apartments

Feel right at home, right away!

It’s hard to leave a home filled with memories but is your current home really the best fit? Have your priorities or living needs changed? Is it still right for you?

Perhaps you’ve thought about downsizing, moving closer to family, or simply want a more manageable living space so you can focus on what truly matters.

Our thoughtfully designed homes bring together comfort, community, and peace of mind, with exceptional facilities, 24-hour concierge, and vibrant social opportunities right on your doorstep. Leave the burdens of homeownership behind and join the many who are finding a safer, more enjoyable future at Birchgrove.

PROMOTED CONTENT

Find your perfect place

Birchgrove is a specialist developer of retirement properties, offering high-quality self-contained assisted living apartments in purposebuilt developments. All apartments are spacious and designed in a contemporary style with all the mod-cons you’d expect. Many also have private patios and balconies. Location is a top priority too, with the communities built close to amenities and shops, plenty of places to walk, and good transport links.

We pride ourselves on the quality of our communal facilities; we know the benefits a positive, vibrant, social environment has on personal well-being. Residents have access to exclusive onsite amenities such as a restaurant, licensed bar, club room, wellness suite, landscaped gardens, and much more, providing well-thought-out spaces that are comfortable for people to meet, connect, and share experiences. From hobby groups to shared activities, our monthly events calendar has something for everyone: to turn ordinary and mundane into cherished memories you can fondly reflect on.

Retirement living isn’t just about slowing down; it’s about embracing a new chapter of life which can be filled with joy, connections, and meaningful experiences. At Birchgrove, we believe that the secret to truly enjoying your golden years lies in the power of community connectedness.

Loneliness and isolation don’t have to be the norm, the warmth of a community of like-minded people can create opportunities for people to form new friendships and meaningful interactions. Birchgrove residents come from diverse backgrounds, bringing a wealth of experience and skills. A simple stroll through the gardens could start conversations and lead to new adventures. Regular coffee mornings are a great place to catch up on what’s happening, and there’s always someone around who may share your passion or interest.

Unlike most other assisted living developments, Birchgrove offers a unique blend of independent living with the benefits of assistance if you need it, while removing the complications of home ownership. Our high-quality apartments are solely for rent – no pressure to buy once you move in. There are no lengthy contracts or confusing small print.

At Birchgrove, our rent is inclusive and covers the large-ticket expenses like energy costs - electricity, heating and water - and many of the rising incidental costs that go along with owning your own home. This includes housekeeping, broadband, window cleaning, gardening, building insurance, security, and a whole host of other things. This all-inclusive approach ensures you can enjoy your retirement without worrying about unexpected expenses.

The rising cost of living is currently impacting most households. Here at Birchgrove, you don’t have any of the headaches or hassles associated with the above. This is because we have one inclusive rent, which is reviewed just once a year, and any increase is in line with the retail price index. A one-off joining fee is also payable.

Lecturer who failed pupil for Hamas criticism refers to ‘ethnic cleansing’

by Michelle Rosenberg michelle@jewishnews.co.uk

A university lecturer previously found to have unfairly failed a student for not su ciently condemning Israel is again embroiled in controversy regarding her teaching methods.

Dr Claudia Radiven, a lecturer in sociology and social policy at the University of Leeds, faces renewed accusations following a lecture on 15 October in which she referred to Israel’s “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.

The lecture, part of a first-year module entitled ‘Identities and inequalities,’ also referenced Israel’s policies as examples of “apartheid”, according to a recording heard by Jewish News.

Radiven told students: “Many international bodies and individuals have identified Israel as an apartheid state… This has included a range of actions associated with ethnic cleansing such as targeted

session of homes… the burning down of villages and farms”.

This latest incident follows a 2023 settlement between the university and Jewish graduate Danielle Greyman, who claimed her essay about the crimes committed by Hamas in Gaza was unfairly marked down because it did not blame Israel.

Radiven, who signed a petition

defending Professor David Miller, who was sacked by Bristol University following his controversial comments about Jewish students, was one of the lecturers who incorrectly marked down the essay, which was regraded correctly on

appeal. The university later reached a confidential financial compensation settlement with Greyman.

Greyman said at the time: “The University of Leeds failed to confirm that I was entitled to my degree until it was too late, and made me wait six months before hearing my appeal, and then a further six months for the re-marking. This has been a long and emotionally draining process, but it is necessary that large institutions know that they will be held accountable for their wrongdoings.”

Jonathan Turner of UK Lawyers For Israel, criticised Radiven’s latest lecture, calling her statements “inaccurate” and “misleading”.

He added: “We’ve seen this before with Dr Radiven. After previously failing a student for not condemning Israel, this latest incident shows her continued

Every single Jew, said Rabbi Yossi Simon last week, is a whole world. Which means that the loss of one is akin to losing a world, writes Jenni Frazer.

So the event at Chabad of Golders Green had an extra poignancy, as the community both celebrated the dedication of its new Sefer Torah and mourned the loss of 1,200 Israelis in the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.

It was just two weeks ago that the tightknit community made a decision to buy a Sefer Torah, in the name of all those who had been murdered in southern Israel, and at the same time to “honour those still in captivity and to act as protection for the young men and women serving in the IDF”.

People – including this reporter – lined up to sit with the sofer ) Menachem Gilbert, who meticulously filled in the last 48 letters of the Sefer Torah, which had arrived from Israel only on Tuesday morning.

Gilbert asked each person to appoint him a agent in order to fill in the last letters. Each of us held up a tiny feathered quill which the sofer dipped into a vegetable ink and then filled in the relevant letter, whose shape had already been outlined on the parchment.

For many it was a revelation that this was a mitzvah which could be performed for women as well as men: but for almost everyone it was a first time in fulfilling this incredibly personal commitment.

bias and obsession with denigrating the Jewish state.”

Turner called on Jewish students to avoid courses led by Dr Radiven, who was a speaker at a 2019 event organised by Friends of Al Aqsa. He also accused Leeds University of being “unsafe” for Jewish students.

The Union of Jewish Students also expressed concerns, emphasising Jewish students should not feel targeted in academic settings. It said it was working closely with campus leadership to ensure Jewish students were supported.

A University of Leeds spokesperson said: “Universities are committed to freedom of expression within the law and encouraging free debate, including on challenging and di cult issues. Our freedom of expression protocol is unambiguous on this point and takes into account guidance from the government and, among other things, the working definition of antisemitism produced by the IHRA.”

Radiven did not reply to a Jewish News request for comment.

Among those present was Shai Shojat, whose uncle, Michel Nisenbaum, 59, from Argentina, was among those killed on 7 October. He was murdered in Sderot but his body was kidnapped to Gaza and not retrieved by the army until 24 May. Shojat, who attended the ceremony with his young children, entered a letter in the sefer in his uncle’s name.

The sefer will be housed in a beautifully embroidered cover designed by Rabbi Simon and his wife Chanie Simon’s children, together with a spectacular silver crown donated by a member of the Chabad of Golders Green community. And during Succot, the congregation danced in the names of those who can no longer dance themselves.

A screenshot from Dr Radiven’s class at Leeds

Claudia Radiven

Rabbi Simon with Shai Shojat, whose uncle was murdered

Care and support to live life your way

We offer five residential and nine supported living homes in some of London’s largest Jewish communities in the boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Harrow, Hertsmere and Redbridge, which are suitable for neurodiverse adults and/or adults who have a neurodevelopmental disability.

Our homes ensure that our residents live in a space where they can receive the appropriate support according to their needs and where they can enjoy being part of a community.

All of our homes offer a warm, supportive environment where Jewish values are at the heart of daily life.

Scan QR code to enquire

If you are looking for residential care for a loved one with neurodevelopmental disabilities, please get in touch.

W: norwood.org.uk/adultservices

E: referrals@norwood.org.uk

T: 020 8809 8809

Jewish Care celebrates 23 volunteers at annual awards

Jewish Care, the community’s largest health and social welfare charity, has celebrated the incredible contribution made by its 3,000 volunteers, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

New chairman Marcus Sperber recognised 23 of them at the Betty and Aubrey Lynes Volunteer Awards, compèred by Ivor Baddiel in the Wohl Synagogue at the Betty and Asher Loftus Centre.

Sperber told the audience the charity “simply couldn’t do what we do without these incredible volunteers and we appreciate how lucky we are to have them”.

The following were among the awards handed out. For the full list, visit jcare.org

Hero Award – Dave Richman One of two recipients for

Jami and Jewish Care, Dave supports members at Jami’s Finchley community hub,

and as a befriending volunteer makes regular visits to a secure psychiatric unit.

Unsung Hero Award – Troy Tate

Troy volunteers at Jewish Care’s Sunridge Court Care

Home and his visits include one-to-one time together, chatting, playing board games, music sessions and quizzes.

Young Volunteer Team

– Evie Rosen and Meir Field

Evie, 13, and Meir, 15, support members at Jewish Care’s Michael Sobell Community Centre to make the day run smoothly, and enable the members to have fun. The duo have been volunteering during school holidays for two years.

Outstanding Fundraiser Award – Patsy Bloom

at The Betty and Asher Loftus Centre, creating speech exercises and activities.

Distinctively Jewish Award – Mervyn Beth Mervyn volunteers at Jewish Care’s Sandringham Campus. He has been volunteering for 11 years, leading Shabbat and Yom Tov services.

Youth Award – Winner

Freddie Spiller

Freddie, 17, has been volunteering for the last 18 months at Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre. Every school holiday, he travels in by public transport from Billericay, which is over two hours each way.

Awards for Contribution to Operational Services

Patsy Bloom, co-chair of The Bridge Extravaganza Committee, was nominated by Ellisa Estrin, Jewish Care’s director of fundraising and marketing. Patsy founded The Bridge Extravaganza over two decades ago.

Chief Executive’s Special Recognition Award

– Jon Gershinson

Presented to Jon by Jewish Care chief executive Daniel Carmel-Brown for his instrumental role in raising revenue from a property portfolio gifted to the charity.

The Sonia Douek Volunteer of the Year Award – Pam Tomback

Presented by Jewish Care head of community services and volunteering Jamie Field in memory of the late Sonia Douek, who dedicated many years to Jewish Care.

Team of the Year Award – Roz Nelson and Deborah Woolf

Roz and Deborah are volunteers at Head Room, Jami’s social enterprise café.

Best Newcomer Award –Joint Winners – Andrew Simmons and Lily Sherling

Andrew volunteers at Jewish Care’s Kun Mor & George Kiss Care Home at The Betty and Asher Loftus Centre, running reading groups, supporting cookery, Namaste and Music for Life sessions. JFS student Lily, 18 has been volunteering

Presented to Jane Rosenbaum, for working behind the scenes and making valuable improvements all the time to Jewish Care services, and Muriel Mizrahi who is an integral part of the Meals on Wheels team.

Innovation and Creative Project Award

Joint winners – the Allotment Team at Piaf’s Garden at Jewish Care’s Sandringham, together with Janice Field for founding and leading The Sandringham Singers Choir.

Couldn’t Do Without You Award

To Adam Selwyn for his volunteering appearances as Chava the Heart, the lively Jewish Care mascot.

Volunteer Patrons

Individuals recognised as volunteer patrons included Aviva Wilford, a volunteer for 15 years, for running Friday night and Shabbat services at Jewish Care’s Anita Dorfman House and Pears Court at Sandringham; and Shoshanah Hoffman, who has volunteered for 17 years at the Memory Way Cafe and Elevenses Cafe at the Michael Sobell Community Centre.

• To find out more about how you can volunteer for either organisation, send an email to volunteering@ jcare.org or sophie. chappell@jamiuk.org

Unsung

The honoured group are among 3,000 who volunteer for the charity. Photo: Claire Jonas

Ariana’s former manager and Gazan join hands

Two men from vastly different backgrounds have come together to help Palestinians in Gaza in the wake of the 7 October massacre of Israelis and subsequent war, writes Jenni Frazer.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, born in Gaza but now living in the US as a resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council, is a prominent peace campaigner and outspoken critic of Hamas. He has lost many members of his immediate family after Israeli air strikes on the Strip.

He was introduced to the philanthropist and music industry executive Scooter Braun, who helped devise the Nova exhibition which has been travelling around American cities since May this year. Braun was singer Ariana Grande’s manager in 2017 when 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena.

In an emotional social media posting, Alkhatib described how he had been invited by Braun, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, to become “an ally” of the Nova exhibit project.

He said Braun had demonstrated “immense capacity for empathy and kindness, acknowledging the tragedy of what took place for my family in Gaza while supporting me in my pursuit of

connection with and compassion for Israeli victims of Hamas’s terrorism”.

“He understands, and we share the view that Hamas is our common enemy”.

Alkhatib, aware that Braun had previously supported humanitarian projects to help Palestinian civilians, asked him if he would do the same for a medical charity that saves lives in the coastal enclave.

He said: “Mr Braun generously agreed

Hasmonean Primary School

Hasmonean Primary School

Proud Past, A Bright Future

to provide a $100,000 donation, which he has just sent to the International Medical Corps, which runs a field hospital and does incredible work to help desperate Palestinian civilians and patients.

“I am grateful for his generosity, which is actually going to make a difference for the people in Gaza. This is what pragmatic engagement, dialogue, conversations and empathy look like and can achieve”.

Calling all Prospective Nursery & Reception families

Tuesday 24th September

Tuesday 24th September

Wednesday 30th October, Thursday 14th November

Wednesday 30th October, Thursday 14th November

we will be holding open mornings at 10am

we will be holding open mornings at 10am

You will have personal tours of our wonderful school, get to meet our Head Teacher and see the school in action. Some spaces are available across the school.

You will have personal tours of our wonderful school, get to meet our Head Teacher and see the school in action. Some spaces are available across the school.

To attend, please email admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk or phone the Office on 020 82027704

To attend, please email admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk or phone the Office on 020 82027704

SHOAH CENTRE IN NEW EXHIBIT PLEA

A Shoah museum is seeking personal materials connected to the High Holy Days families would consider donating.

Holocaust Centre North, based at the University of Huddersfield in west Yorkshire, tells the global story of the Shoah through a northern lens.

In an attempt to expand its unique archive collections as Jewish families mark Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Succot and Simchat Torah, it is

asking for donations including photographs, mementos cards and letters wishing families a happy new year.

The museum says each item holds “immense educational and historic significance and value to the Centre” and any personal treasures will be carefully collected, safeguarded and, where possible, digitised for preservation, “ensuring family histories are shared and never forgotten”.

JEWISH DOCTORS IN DEBUT CONFERENCE

The first Jewish Doctors Conference has taken place over two days at the Brighton and Hove Jewish Community Centre (BNJC).

More than 20 UK medical professionals from across a range of specialities came together to explore approaches to tackling the growing antiJewish and anti-Israel hate in healthcare settings.

The conference also dis-

cussed important religious and ethical issues including dying, death, infertility, mental health and male circumcision.

Organiser and conference chair Dr Sharon Raymond delivered a safeguarding training session on radicalisation and extremism.

Presentations were also delivered by the Israeli Medical Association and General Medical Council,

Leket Israel – the National Food Bank, has been rescuing excess fresh, nutritious food for over 20 years. Each day, it collects surplus fruit, vegetables, and cooked meals from farmers, hotels, corporate cafeterias, and IDF bases, distributing them through nonprofits to feed Israelis in need.

With a 22% increase in demand since the war and a decrease in surplus food available, Leket is purchasing food to redistribute to high-risk populations. Leket’s focus is on intensifying food rescue efforts and supporting Israeli farmers in maintaining operations and recovery. In 2024 so far:

Great shakes: Scooter Braun and Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

Editorial comment and letters to the editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS

Sinwar is dethroned but little has changed

Newly painted graffiti appeared in Tel Aviv this week following the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The ‘butcher of Khan Younis’ is depicted as a rat, next to the optimistic slogan ‘game over’.

But let’s be clear: this devastating dogfight is far from over. And, if anything, the stakes are getting higher.

Toppling the enemy’s king is decisive only in a conventional war or game of chess. For Israel to declare victory would be as premature and absurd as George W Bush’s infamous ‘mission accomplished’ speech on board the the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003. Killing Hamas’ leader like a rat in rubble and calling it victory will not end the barbarism that animated 7 October. Hamas will fight to the end. Death becomes them.

Game of Thrones fans will recognise the White Walkers in Hamas. A foe beyond reason, driven by a darkness that knows no bounds. The only way to stop the White Walkers was to topple their Night King. The only way to stop Hamas, the ‘Green Walkers,’ is to target theirs: Iran.

Right on cue, Tehran’s response to Sinwar’s demise was predictably unhinged: “When Muslims look up to martyr Sinwar… the spirit of resistance will be strengthened. He will become a model for the children who will carry forth his path.”

Sir Keir Starmer called Sinwar’s death an ‘opportunity’. The prime minister, along with other global leaders, feels this moment should be seized to push for a ceasefire and renewed diplomatic efforts.

His words echo the sentiment of US president Joe Biden, who said Sinwar’s elimination was a “good day” for Israel and its allies.

Sinwar’s death may serve as a symbolic victory – hope after a year of heartbreak – but it does little to free the hostages or secure Israel’s borders. This conflict can’t be solved by military force. It needs a deeper, coordinated international strategy.

Peace will come when the Palestinians break the wheel, abandon their century-long loathing of Jewish sovereignty and try to build a state rather than destroy one. That will require leaders worthy of the name, prepared to look forward in hope rather than back in green-eyed fury.

In this context, the killing of Sinwar can only be seen as a small victory in a larger battle with the undead beyond the Wall.

Progressive position ‘warped’

Letter writer David Keys, on behalf of Progressive Jews for Justice in Israel/ Palestine, promotes a blood libel by implication when writing that Jewish communities and organisations “cannot continue turning a blind eye to what is happening in Gaza”.

He thus advocates, along with Israel’s worst enemies, that Israel should politely accept the unprovoked violence, depravity and murderous activities imposed on her and let her enemies destroy her.

Mr Keys appears to advocate no course of action for Israel to defend herself, instead denigrating the heroes of the IDF so that people like himself can claim the moral

I’m sorry that David Keys, who writes on behalf of Progressive Jews for Justice in Israel/Palestine, feels uncomfortable about Israel’s actions in the current war which Israel is forced to fight on seven fronts. (Jewish News, 10 October).

His concern for the impact on the UK Jewish community should not dictate the way in which Israel conducts its war with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, each of which has openly threatened to kill Jews and annihilate the state of Israel. His selfrighteousness is exceeded only by his myopia.

I am particularly incensed by his unjustifiable and unwarranted criticism of the IDF. Where would

high ground at no cost. I have news for “progressives” like Mr Keys. Not even the Israeli left buys into his agenda. The entire country, except for a few renegades, stands together in a just war to fight evil.

He enjoys the freedom to write baseless accusations because the heroes of both world wars fought similar evil by military means.

As for the term ‘Palestine’, as Mosab Hassan Yousef, also known as the Son of Hamas, told an ignorant pundit on television: “It doesn’t exist except in your head.” There is nothing “progressive” about Mr Keys’ agenda.

Warren S Grossman, Leytonstone

Israel and we be without them? He seems to ignore that there is a war on for Israel’s very existence. His criticism is shameful.

As for Israel changing its course, it has. It is now finally on the offensive and its enemies are on the back foot. For 18 years, Lebanon, the UN and the western powers took no action to remedy the breaches by Hezbollah of UN resolution 1701.

Now, suddenly, everyone talks about respect for this resolution and that Israel should stop its “aggression”. What hypocrisy.

Barry Maltz, London and Netanya

EXPORT SUSPENSION WAS POLITICAL

Whatever the perceived merits of possible sanctions against Israel’s finance and national security ministers, Lord Cameron is absolutely correct (Jewish News, 16 Oct) that it was the “wrong path” for the new Labour government to suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel instead.

There are two main reasons why it was indeed “wrong”. The first is that the government misapplied its own test, in identifying only two scenarios of potential international humanitarian law (IHL) breaches by Israel – provision of humanitarian aid and treatment of detainees – while making no attempt to explain how exported arms would be used in those two scenarios. This is unsurprising, as the only plausible scenario would be the conduct

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Unlike other Jewish media, we do not charge for content. That won’t change. Because we are charity-owned and free, we rely on advertising to cover our costs. This vital lifeline, which has dropped in recent years, has fallen further due to coronavirus.

Today we’re asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do. For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with. 100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity. Support Jewish News by visiting our donor page at jewishnews.co.uk

of the actual armed hostilities by Israel in Gaza. And here, the government concedes, admitting that “it has not been possible to reach a determinative judgment” on allegations that Israel has breached IHL.

The second reason is that this was a politically-driven decision. The above test is not a legal one. It arises under the government’s policy criteria on export licences which, under the law, it has the power to design and implement, but the resulting decision is not mandated by the law. This foresight from the previous administration avoided damaging the UK’s credibility in the eyes of its ally, Israel –something the new government has achieved in the blink of an eye.

Naji Tilley, NW4

Lord Cameron in Israel

7/10 planted Israeli flag in our houses of prayer

There’s something deeply comforting about walking into your childhood synagogue on Kol Nidrei. The chazan singing that haunting old tune, absolving us of all vows; rows of familiar faces – the old guard a little shorter and greyer, my peers a little balder and portlier – but all still recognisably themselves.

And yet there was something di erent about Yom Kippur this year. It was the first day of atonement since 7 October and there was a di erent emotional charge, as though the stakes were somehow higher, the desire to pray and repent together stronger than usual.

There were other di erences too. My Jewish observance is sadly minimal these days, so this was only the second time I’ve been in a British synagogue since 7 October. Both times I was struck by the new presence of an Israel flag next to the Aron Kodesh. On Yom Kippur, as the Neilah service drew to a close and my thoughts wandered to large slabs of fresh honey cake, we sang for the first time a rousing chorus of Am Yisrael Chai. And then, to my surprise, the Hatikvah too.

These are small but important changes and it is worth dwelling on them for a moment. The presence of Israel in shul is not entirely new of course, and shul is not an explicitly apolitical space. Every Shabbat we say a prayer for the state of Israel, alongside the traditional prayer for the British royal family. In a canny piece of United Synagogue cakeism, the new Israel flag next to the bimah in my shul is matched by a new Union Jack, mirroring those two prayers: for Britain and Israel.

But clearly the main point of this development is to have an Israel flag in shul, as a response to 7 October and all that has followed. I admit I felt slightly unsettled by this change. Why though, I wondered, as I walked (trotted) home to break my fast. Is my unease a reflection of discomfort over how Israel has conducted its military campaigns since 7 October? Perhaps that’s part of it. Even as I continue to support Israel’s right to self-defence and to destroy those who seek to destroy it in turn, I must admit my feelings towards the Jewish state have at times been soured by the images I’ve seen, the scale of the damage inflicted.

Beyond this, however, faithless Jew though I am, I do still think that some division between spiritual and temporal is worth maintaining.

Synagogue is a place for examining the contents of one’s own soul, pondering the existence of God and observing ancient rituals in the company of fellow Jews.

Shul does not ignore the outside world, but I worry that bringing national anthems and flags into that space blurs the useful boundaries between what the gentiles call church and state. These new customs won’t bother most, but not every shul goer will be an ardent Zionist, so expecting them to sing the Hatikvah has the potential to alienate and distract them from matters of faith.

Does the Israel flag raise an issue of dual loyalty? I don’t really hold with such complaints, which usually carry a whi of antisemitism. It’s perfectly possible to hold multiple deep and abiding

loyalties, to Britain, to England, to Israel, to Arsenal and so forth. Furthermore, just because British Jews share a peoplehood with - and loyalty towards – Israel, as reflected by these new customs, doesn’t mean they should be held directly accountable for its political or military decisions.

But it is true that for many Jews, the balance and focus of their a liations have shifted perceptibly towards Israel this past year (while the opposite will be true for others).

The new flag in shul embodies this change.

My real concern here though is the way that the national Jewish identity, Zionism, is subsuming the diaspora. This has been happening for decades, as Israel increasingly becomes the focal point of world Jewry, but the war has put this journey into fifth gear, reorienting our emotional lives around events unfolding in the Middle East.

There is something totalising

about Israel, the existential threats it faces and agonising wars it fights demand our attention and our fealty. This war has, I sense, permanently reshaped the identity of British Jews in ways we are only beginning to comprehend.

By its defiance of international sentiment, its defiance of history itself – doubling down on an ethno-national project even as the liberal west recoils from such thinking – Israel drags any who are attached to it along on its quixotic, messianic journey. This is proving a bumpy ride.

After more than a year of painful war, accompanied by soaring antisemitism and mounting alienation, many British Jews are now more closely attached to Israel than ever, whether they want to be or not. I know people who now prefer being in Netanya, facing the explosive danger of Iranian ballistic missiles, to the creeping discomfort of being

in London and wondering what your neighbours think of you or what mad new Jeremy Bowenism will appear on Radio 4’s Today

But even those who view Israel with ambivalence cannot escape the way the war has dominated media and social media, inserting itself into conversations, forcing stances to be taken and changing how Jews perceive ourselves in our own country – and how we believe ourselves to be perceived by others.

Of course, these emotions may abate if and when some form of peace arrives. Levels of antisemitism should drop and the global discourse will hopefully move on. But the Israel flag in shul isn’t likely to be removed anytime soon – such changes are rarely undone. And what the flag represents, the growing dominance of Israel over Jewish diasporic life, is a trend that is unlikely to be reversed.

 Josh Glancy is News Review editor at the Sunday Times

Caption to go here

At St John’s Wood United Synagogue community members gather to remember the hostages taken in the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023

JOSH GLANCY

Deradicalise Gaza or a new Sinwar will emerge

JEREMY HAVARDI JOURNALIST & HISTORIAN

Yahya Sinwar, the butcher of Khan Younis, is dead. The slaying of this vile tyrant is a welcome relief, not just for the millions of Israelis who remain traumatised by the events of October 7, but for those Palestinians who were forced to live under his rule.

Sinwar was the key architect of ‘Black Saturday’. He was the chief planner and mastermind of this savage crime, hoping to entice Hezbollah and Iran to ignite a regional war that would engulf the Middle East and destroy Israel. For this reason, Israeli leaders declared him a ‘dead man walking’ and vowed he would be eliminated.

Sinwar admitted that he was prepared to sacrifice vast numbers of Palestinians to his demented cause, an unmistakable sign of the man’s cruelty and fanaticism. Thanks to his actions, thousands of Palestinian civilians lie dead and many areas of Gaza now lie in

ruin. Those who wish to see an end to the war in Gaza should be relieved that its prime instigator has been killed.

The killing of Sinwar represents a timely riposte to the western leaders who were demanding that Israel halt its operation in Rafah, the place where Sinwar made his ‘last stand’. Back in March, Kamala Harris said that the US would not rule out ‘consequences’ if Israeli forces entered Rafah.

Keir Starmer said even more stringently that Rafah could not ‘become a new theatre of war’ while dire warnings were also made by French President Macron and the leaders of Canada and Australia. Israel chose not to heed their advice and demonstrated resolve instead, much to its credit.

Some may argue that the killing of Sinwar will make little di erence, given that he will be replaced by another figure. It is true that there are several candidates, including Sinwar’s brother Mohammed and Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau.

But it is wrong to think that Sinwar’s death changes nothing. He was the char-

ismatic face of the movement, the uncompromising figure around whom the various hostage negotiations were focused. He was also a key figure in building relations between Hamas and Iran and his death is a grievous blow to the ayatollah regime.

A new Hamas leader, perhaps one less beholden to Tehran, may be more inclined to pragmatism and the release of hostages than was Sinwar. This could be aided by Israel’s wise decision to o er an amnesty to those in Gaza who are holding those hostages. But if a new military leader continues the jihadist war against Israel, his political tenure will be short lived, as the successors to Hassan Nasrallah found to their cost.

Some argue that Sinwar’s death marks the end of the war. This may be premature, given that Hamas still has fighters on the ground, albeit with a highly degraded capability to attack Israel. The IDF will need to continue launching military operations against the remnants of the Hamas forces while keeping control of strategic points in Gaza, such as the Netzarim corridor and the bu er zone around the enclave.

A long-term political solution requires an alternative security force to be brought into the area, ready to replace Hamas as the governing administration. This Palestinian force can be supported by friendly Arab nations, such as the UAE and Bahrain, both key allies of the United States and Israel.

Right now, the most likely candidate for a successor Palestinian regime is the Palestinian Authority, a deeply compromised and corrupt administration which has little credibility in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority has form in rejecting Israeli peace o ers, such as those negotiated at Camp David in 2000 and Taba in 2001. It has been guilty of inciting hatred against Israelis and Jews, venerating murderers in their state media and seeking to delegitimise the Jewish state in international forums.

Western leaders must insist on deradicalisation as a key to long term peace building and stability.

If they do not, they may very well set the stage for the next Sinwar to emerge from the rubble.

Yehuda Bauer lived for the truth and loved his family

PROF RUTH-ANNE LENGA

DEPUTY HEAD

DELEGATION

Yehuda Bauer was one of the greatest Holocaust scholars of our time. His pursuit of truth and pioneering work led to the publication of more than 40 books and riveting, brilliantly crafted and unapologetically laconic lectures that would draw in the crowds. He was awarded the Israel Prize in 1998, a towering accolade, yet he had humility, and a tongue-in-cheek humour that would make him approachable, down to earth, una ected by any sort of flattery. He welcomed young historians brave enough to take on the great Yehuda Bauer on some point of historical detail. I witnessed it a few times with bated breath at IHRA plenary meetings. Yet I found Yehuda would gladly reassess and refine his thinking if their argument made sense and was grounded in exten-

sive new research. There are not many scholars of that standing who would go as far as writing a book about rethinking their earlier works, but he did just that. Rethinking The Holocaust, published in 2002, became the essential textbook on the topic.

Yet those who were privileged enough to work with him, like myself, also knew that he would fiercely and resolutely challenge unfounded assumptions with passion and hard evidence from archives and testimonies of survivors. Yehuda was one of the first historians to treat the testimonies of survivors as sources of empirical evidence. I remember when, at a time when there was public debate questioning the reliability of such sources so many years after the Holocaust, he told me that he saw more errors in historians’ work, than he had seen in survivors’ witness accounts.

Yehuda characterised the Holocaust as an unprecedented crime due to the totality and universality of the Nazis’ drive to murder every Jew, everywhere. He taught that any other interpretation was a distortion of truth. Whilst the Holocaust was ‘unprecedented’, Yehuda argued that it is explicable and must

be subjected to comparison with other genocides and mass atrocities on historical grounds but not on the basis of su ering. He taught us well, that there is “no gradation of su ering”.

He would take a brutal yet brilliant swipe at those looking to skew or revise Holocaust history in favour of a false collective narrative, or with the intention of avoiding facing facts about culpability or collaboration.

In more recent times he focused his work on antisemitism’s long history and its contemporary manifestations. The master of irony, he once remarked that events to commemorate dead Jews seemed more palatable to some, than concern for the fate of living Jews.

As a child, he escaped on the last train out of Czechoslovakia as the Nazis approached; became a pioneer of the new state of Israel; and lived his 98 years in defence of truth about the Holocaust. He travelled the world in the eighties and nineties to find those who would support research and educational institutions and never stopped researching, teaching and learning along the way.

I was fortunate to have an insight into the man behind the professor, having married his

nephew, Eden, 35 years ago, and his relationship with Yehuda and his Aunt Shula was a particularly close one. When people occasionally asked about our connection, I used to joke that Yehuda came as part of the dowry.

What I saw during those years staying with the family on Kibbutz Shoval and visiting him at his home in Jerusalem was a man who adored his daughters Danit and Anat, sons-inlaw, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Given a suitable opportunity he would delight us on Shabbat afternoon by singing English sea shanties and Welsh folk songs , bellowed out with perfect pitch in a well-honed Welsh lilt. He had studied at Cardi University on a British scholarship, interrupting his studies to fight in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, before returning to complete his degree, and still cherished his memories of Wales. Hours would go by as the family joined in the chorus of these joyful renditions, attempting feebly to harmonise with our extraordinary lead singer.

Yehuda also wrote amusing poetry to mark family weddings and others landmarks.

May his memory be a blessing and his teachings continue to inspire.

Lessons from my safta on fighting modern hate

DOV FORMAN

AUTHOR & CAMPAIGNER

In a world often marked by darkness and hatred, the lessons from my great-grandmother Lily Ebert, who we called Safta, feel more relevant than ever. Safta, who has passed away at the age of 100, survived one of humanity’s darkest chapters: Auschwitz. Despite witnessing unimaginable cruelty and loss, she lived a life defined by resilience, hope and kindness. She reminded us frequently of the fragility of life and freedom. When she arrived at Auschwitz on 9 July 1944, she could not comprehend the horrors that awaited. She told us of the moment she saw smoke rising from a factory chimney and asked a fellow prisoner: “What are they burning?” The answer – that they were burning her family – was so monstrous she couldn’t believe it. Her mother, brother and sister were murdered and cremated in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau that day.

For 80 years, survivors like Safta have warned us of the dangers of forgetting, shown us how fragile freedom can be, how quickly the world can change. They dedicated their lives to sharing their stories so the world would never forget the depths of human cruelty, and so history would never be allowed to repeat itself.

But antisemitism didn’t die with the liberation of Auschwitz – it evolved. Today, it often disguises itself as political criticism of Israel. Slogans like “From the river to the sea” are not calls for peace but calls for the eradication of the Jewish people, first in Israel and then around the world. Safta saw this danger coming and warned about it often.

Her life was a testament to the resilience of the Jewish people, and her message was always the same: Am Yisrael Chai – the people of Israel live.

In a post-7 October world, this phrase, Am Yisrael Chai, has taken on even greater significance. It has been used by Holocaust survivors for nearly 80 years as an a rmation of life and resilience after the worst atrocities. For Safta, it was a personal creed. She

had been saying it and living it ever since her liberation in 1945.

For my generation, Am Yisrael Chai felt like a historical sentiment, from a time we hadn’t experienced ourselves. The Jewish people had survived, and built lives full of hope and purpose. We never imagined we would need a role model like Safta to show us how to live on in the face of despair.

Safta was the role model I never knew I would need. I thought her story was a lesson in history, not a guidebook for my own life.

Then 7 October happened, and suddenly her life and her promise became more relevant than ever. The lessons she taught us, about courage, strength, and living with purpose even after immense loss, became our guiding light. Her story gave us the strength to carry on, to hold our heads high, and to say Am Yisrael Chai, not just as an historical sentiment, but as a present reality.

The horrors of 7 October brought back vivid Holocaust imagery around the world. The defencelessness of the victims, families murdered in their homes, children, adults and the elderly taken hostage, reminded us of

a vulnerability we thought we had left behind. For so long, we believed the establishment of the Jewish state had given us a sense of safety that could never be shattered.

In the aftermath of these new atrocities, Am Yisrael Chai started appearing everywhere. We had to remind ourselves and the world the Jewish people still live, and we will continue to live.

For my great-grandmother, this was never in question. She lived with the unshakable belief no matter how dark the world becomes we have the strength to survive, to rebuild, and to thrive. The Jewish people had endured for thousands of years, and she knew we would continue to endure.

She taught me and all of us that even in the depths of despair, life goes on. And not just life, but a life full of love, family and purpose.

Safta lived through the worst of humanity, but she never lost her faith in the goodness of people. She believed in the power of love, of family and of community. And that is the legacy she leaves behind – a legacy of resilience, strength and hope.

Am Yisrael Chai. The people of Israel live.

Jewish students grapple with lingering tensions

SAMI BERKOFF UJS PRESIDENT

Since the horrific events of last October, Jewish students across the UK and Ireland have faced an unprecedented wave of anxiety and fear. Once a place for academic growth and social connection, the campus atmosphere is now fraught with tension.

Jewish students have, without choice, been expected to grapple with the implications of a global conflict while trying to maintain a sense of belonging and safety in the already confusing campus space. For many Jewish students, the impact of the past 12 months is deeply personal. Thinking of friends and family members, some a ected directly by the violence and turmoil in Israel, has left students in a state of emotional distress. Their home from home has been shaken during this tumultuous time, adding layers of complexity to their experience, an experience that has been challenged and ridiculed by those around them. Learning to process this grief and fear is compounded by the understanding their loved ones are facing uncertainty and danger.

On campus, the response has been

mixed. While some communities have rallied to support Jewish students, there has been an unsettling rise in antisemitism, often manifesting as hostility or exclusion in social circles. Grief has become politicised and invalidated, there is pressure to articulate and justify their feelings of uncertainty and distress. Fear of being targeted for their identity weighs heavily on Jewish students, leading them to question who they can trust and confide in, questioning whether their friends will stand by them in moments of crisis.

This anxiety extends beyond classroom conversations and into the realm of festivals and clubbing nights, once spaces for celebration and joy. The shadow of fear evinced by events at the Nova festival now looms over festivals and nights out as young people find themselves contemplating the worst-case scenarios. “What if something happens here?” becomes a nagging thought that detracts from the joy of festivals. “What if that was me?” remembering the young Nova attendees who were once students enjoying themselves and feeling free.

Switching o , as it were, has become a precious commodity. The hypothetical situation of needing to flee if similar events occur here looms large, and young people are left

wondering: who would help them run? Would they be able to run in the face of danger?

Many students also grapple with the complexities of their identity during this time. Their ethnicity, heritage and history have been brought into question. The need to advocate for their rights and stand against antisemitism is paramount. Yet, the emotionally exhausting toll this has on young individuals is hardly considered – balancing the need to represent their community while simultaneously processing their feelings.

Jewish students should be students, not advocates against a cycle of hate, but even with this mounting pressure, Jewish students remain emboldened. Attendance at JSoc events has increased massively as they seek spaces to express their fears and find solidarity and comfort in Jewish spaces while standing together proud of their identity.

Looking ahead, concerns about ongoing antisemitism remain palpable. There is a genuine fear that the high levels of antisemitism experienced last year will continue in the coming year. Incoming Jewish students have stepped nervously into campus space, expecting an unwelcome climate.

The question of how their institutions will respond to incidents of antisemitism is everpresent. UJS and Jewish students continue to

call for proactive measures from universities, demanding clear stances against hate and robust support for those a ected.

In this challenging landscape, Jewish students continue to navigate their dual identities as students and members of a community facing external threats. They strive to create supportive environments while yearning for a broader culture of understanding and respect among their peers.

As we reflect on the experiences of Jewish students since 7 October, it is crucial to recognise their needs and fears. Support from allies, understanding from peers and action from universities can help foster a safer, more inclusive environment.

Ultimately, through empathy, education, and solidarity, campuses can become spaces where all students, regardless of their background, can feel secure and valued.

Over the past year, Jewish students have lived in fear, constantly looking over their shoulders and questioning whether they might be the next target of antisemitism.

Yet, they have found strength and resilience in their JSoc community – a home away from home.

This past year has demonstrated that Jewish students are stronger than we ever knew.

‘That

1‘FANTASTIC’ WEEK FOR SUCCOT LEARNING

Pupils at various outlets had a fantastic week learning about Succot. Among them, children at Kisharon Tuffkid Nursery shook the lulav and etrog, built their own succah and crafted decorations. At Kisharon Wohl Campus’s Noé School, a Loftus Family Learning Centre, students made succah decorations, listened to Succot music and visited the Arba Minim centre. All agreed it was a memorable experience for everybody.

2TEAM KISHARON LANGDON TRIUMPHS

Nine superstar runners proudly represented Kisharon Langdon at the Royal Parks Half Marathon, tackling 13.1 miles and raising £5,575 of vital funds and awareness for the charity dedicated to supporting individuals with learning disabilities and autistic people in the Jewish community. The dedicated team included Melanie Angel, Yiddy Gardner, Doron Jacobs, James Jacobs, Tamar Nathan, Alex Pollak, Joshua Rosen, Eleri Russell and Sam Ucko.

3MARATHON EFFORT FOR NORWOOD

Three incredible Norwood supporters ran the half marathon to raise funds for the learning disabilities and autism charity. Noa Taylor, 22, raised £1,400 to say ‘thank you’ to the organisation for providing support for her cousin Leah. Taylor described the event as “not only a personal challenge, as I have never run close to this distance, but also one that is close to me and my family.” Another participant, Jonah, aged 23, completed the run in honour of his aunt, also supported by Norwood, finishing in 01:51:16, while 62-yearold David Lederman completed the challenge in 01:41:07.

4MUSICAL INTERLUDE RAISES £6K-PLUS

Musicians from across north London and Bushey raised more than £6,000 with a performance at Dyrham Park Golf Club featuring the Soul Agents band. The event raised vital funds for the Natal Trauma and Resilience Centre in Tel Aviv, a charity that provides psychologists, counsellors and mental health specialists and has treated more than 50,000 people over the past year. The band featured vocalists Daliah Hearn and Jonny Aaron, bass guitarist Tony Abrahams, keyboards and guitarist Paul Stone, vocals and guitarist Richard Posner, vocalist and drummer David Barnett and sax player Steve Salkind. Now in its 35th year, the 60s and soul band has played hundreds of times for many charities. The event referenced the Nova Festival documentary Surviving October 7, with Abrahams telling how We Will Dance Again was the driving force for the evening.

Movies for our time

Film — as if anyone could doubt it — is increasingly important in telling the Jewish story, whether in harrowing documentaries or cleverly fictionalised versions of true-life issues.

Nowhere demonstrates the breadth of film’s reach more than this year’s UK Jewish Film Festival. It hit the headlines this week after its full programme was announced and revealed that the festival — which begins on November 7 — will be the first to give a UK public screening to An Officer and a Spy, based on Robert Harris’s best-selling novel about the Dreyfus affair.

Showing in a pre-festival event on 3 November with a Q&A featuring Harris, the 2019 film has never been shown in Britain or America because of concerns about the director, Roman Polanski. Polanski, 91 and a Holocaust survivor, was accused of sex crimes dating back to 1977, which led him to flee the US.

He and Robert Harris co-wrote the screenplay for An Officer and a

Spy, which stars Oscar winner Jean Dujardin and scooped up awards at European film festivals, including the grand jury prize at the Venice Film Festival, where Polanski won the best director award.

Now the UKJFF chief executive, Michael Etherton, says it was important “to give audiences the choice of whether they want to watch a film by Roman Polanski”.

He told the Times that the subject matter of the film, which centres on the French military officer Alfred Dreyfus who was wrongfully convicted of being a German spy largely due to antisemitism, was “highly relevant”.

“We were very keen to show that the Dreyfus affair was a key historical social event in France at the time and it pointed the way really to what was to happen many years later in the Holocaust,” he said.

“And as a festival increasingly faced with silence, which often amounts to censorship of British Jewish culture, we don’t ourselves want to be censoring art”.

Frazer

This year’s UKJFF, the 28th, will screen films in London and around the UK. And there are three gala nights — the opening night’s A Real Pain, The Performance, to be shown on the closing night, and a centrepiece gala, Once Upon a Time in Algeria

A Real Pain is said to be anything but — much more of a real gift, a touching, funny, sad drama and family saga combined, starring Jesse Eisenberg on a road trip with his meshuggene cousin, played by Kieran Culkin (yes, one of those Culkin brother actors), to see the home in Poland where their grandmother grew up. The film is sponsored by the Jerusalem Foundation, in tribute to its late president Shai Doron, who died suddenly in London this July, aged 64.

The centrepiece gala film is showing in Southend on November 11 and in London on November 14.

Once Upon a Time in Algeria is described as a love letter to the Algerian youth of director Alexander Arcady, a drama in which the

simmering tensions of a Jewish family play out against the rumbling of Algerian nationalist uprising against the French authorities.

Picked to close the festival on November 17 is The Performance, based on a short story by the acclaimed American playwright Arthur Miller. It’s an improbable but beguiling tale of a troop of US tap-dancers touring 1937 Europe, who somehow end up in Nazi Berlin, to perform to an audience which includes Adolf Hitler. Unfortunately for the dancers, Hitler loves their act and wants them to stay in Germany; even more unfortunately, the lead dancer is Jewish. Jeremy Piven stars. I can’t wait.

Screening on 16 November is the promising-sounding A Good Jewish Boy, a comedy set in working-class Paris with a generational clash as Jews gradually move out of the neighbourhood due to encroaching antisemitism.

This film is part of the European segment of the festival, along with All About the Levkoviches, receiving its UK premiere on 10 November, and Auction, showing on 9 November. The Levkoviches is a Hungarian-Israeli film which explores a series of family

relationships and ties and unties between Budapest and Israel.

Auction, based on a true-life story, is set in the world of high art and equally high finance. There is detective work involved as to whether a painting is a fake or in fact a looted piece of art taken by the Nazis.

If the European segment is appetising, then the Israeli film programme is even more mouthwatering, with 12 different films to tempt the viewer, from documentaries such as Beyond October 7 and the fascinating Golda’s War Diaries, to the thriller Highway 65 in which a stroppy female detective from Tel Aviv attempts to solve a missing person mystery in a provincial northern Israeli town.

There are short films, feature films, dramas and comedies — truly, something for everyone. I want to see everything, and if that means sitting in the dark for the first two weeks of November — I am there.

 The UK Jewish Film Festival runs throughout November is cinemas across the UK. A small selection of feature and short films is also available online. ukjewishfilm.org

An Officer and a Spy

You can call me Paul

A new documentary about Paul Simon charts the magic of his music, his life and his Jewishness. By Darren Richman

If there were any doubts about Paul Simon’s ethnicity, they are dispelled early on in Alex Gibney’s new documentary about the iconic singer-songwriter. Attempting to pick through the rubble of his acrimonious split with Art (Arthur) Garfunkel and all the attendant feelings of bitterness, the octogenarian Simon explains the “Freudian nightmare” of his mother’s judgment: “You have a good voice, Paul, but Arthur has a fine voice.” With a mother like that, how could he be anything other than Jewish?

The documentary, In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, is a three-and-a-halfhour portrait of the artist as an old man that fluctuates between depicting him at work on his 2023 album Seven Psalms while coping with hearing loss and a chronological history of perhaps the most significant American songwriter in the history of popular music.

Simon is touched by magic. The hearing issues make comparisons with Beethoven seem almost too obvious but it feels undeniable that this is an artist of genuine genius whose music will be enjoyed for as long as there are people and they have ears. Songs like Mrs. Robinson, The Sound of Silence, Cecilia, The Boxer, Bridge Over Troubled Water, You Can Call Me Al, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and countless others are canonical standards passed down between generations. He is a modern Mozart and Salieri would have been equally ba ed by the fact that God chooses to speak through this tiny Jew.

The Jewish aspects of Simon’s story are both implicit and explicit. He originally went to law school, obviously, but, less predictably, dropped out after one semester to pursue a career in music alongside his best friend from school. They originally performed as

Tom & Jerry, a name that neatly foreshadows the fractious nature of their relationship in the years that followed. Columbia Records decided the duo should record as Simon & Garfunkel and the songwriter believes this was the first time artists’ surnames had been used in pop music without their first names. These particular names are significant since they are as overtly Jewish as Garfunkel’s trailblazing Jewfro.

Simon’s preternatural gift for lyrics and melody was evident from the outset and it is understandable that we might try to use biographical details to make sense of songs that seem to come from another plane. The subject of the film agreed with the analysis of Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen when he described Simon’s childhood: “A certain kind of New York Jew, almost a stereotype really, to whom music and baseball are very important.

“I think it has to do with the parents. The parents are either immigrants or firstgeneration Americans who felt like outsiders, and assimilation was the key thought - they gravitated to black music and baseball, looking for an alternative culture.”

fighting with Garfunkel, the marriage to Carrie Fisher, the Graceland controversy – it is all immaterial and will fade away, the context irrelevant a century from now. What will survive is the songs.

Perhaps because of the standard of the melodies and singing, Simon is an underrated lyricist whose imagery ranges from restless dreams to national guitars. To pick just one example to illustrate the point when dozens of lines instantly spring to mind is a fool’s errand but this section of Slip Sliding Away is not exactly Sugar, Sugar:

“I know a woman

Became a wife

These are the very words she uses to describe her life

She said, ‘A good day

Ain’t got no rain’

She said, ‘A bad day’s when I lie in bed

And think of things that might have been’.”

This was a new song included on a greatest hits compilation, traditionally a dumping ground for songs not quite good enough for a proper studio album. One senses he couldn’t write a bad song if he tried.

These two nerdy Jews certainly found an alternative culture but there is a certain sadness in hearing them speak now, in their eighties, still not quite able to let go of the resentments of half a century back.

The focus though, as suggested by the title, is on the music, and that is what will last. The

Whether collaborating with George Harrison on Saturday Night Live or a small child on Sesame Street, there is something simultaneously joyous and plaintive about Simon in full flow, perhaps a byproduct of those vulnerable vocals that seem to belie the quality of the songwriting.

His love of world music led to the double whammy of Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints, the latter an underrated gem inspired by Brazilian sounds. It seems hard to believe these were the artist’s seventh and eighth solo records, made while he was in his mid-to late-forties. Gibney does not focus on the albums released between 1990 and 2023 but each contains moments of beauty most young songwriters could only dream of producing. Simon is certainly not lazy after all these years.

On the day of the 2018 World Cup Final

I went with friends to see the Farewell Tour when it rocked up at Hyde Park. On a glorious night in London, this living legend delved into his own personal Great American Songbook and played the hits. Late in the evening, to borrow a phrase from one of his songs, he began the second encore with Homeward Bound just as an aeroplane flew past overhead. It was a perfect moment that seemed almost preordained by a higher power. In other words, it was pure Paul Simon.

 In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon is on digital platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ from 28 October

Paul Simon (right) with Art Garfunkel at the height of their fame

Paul Simon with wife Carrie Fisher

HELP TALIA HEAL

13-year old Talia was evacuated suddenly from her peaceful home in the North of Israel last October and transported to a hotel in Jerusalem for an indefinite period.

Talia is struggling with her ‘new’ life: the lack of space and privacy, the noises of the city, the uncertainty of the future. She is suffering from severe anxiety, which is triggered by loud noises that remind her of the missiles from Lebanon and she has frequent nightmares.

Talia and so many like her, need intense therapy to help reduce the damage and trauma that they’re dealing with.

Need Cash Fast?

RECORD HIGH!!!

Receive the best prices for your unwanted gold today! Call Jonathan 020 8446 8538 jw3.org.uk/jotam-confino Thursday 14 November, 7.15pm £20

Book Launch

Netanyahu’s Israel:

Journalist and expert Middle East correspondent Jotam Confino’s new book explores Netanyahu’s tumultuous legacy, and his impact on Israel’s political and social landscape

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!

@jewellerycave

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

BY RABBI BRENDAN STERN HENDON UNITED SYNAGOGUE

We’ve been a team this year

One year. It’s been a full year since the war erupted on Shemini Atzeret 2023 (due to the Jewish leap year).

That’s 383 days of heroism exhibited by our brave soldiers.

More than 9,000 hours of the wives of soldiers stoically holding the family unit together. More than 550,000 minutes of national generosity and extending a charitable hand. More than 33 million seconds of camaraderie and caring.

Where does this spirit come from?

In the prayer for rain – tefillat geshem – we recite on Shemini Atzeret, we say: “When your treasured people

thirsted for water, [Moshe] struck the rock and out came water… For the sake of his righteousness, grant abundant water!”

If Moshe was punished for hitting the rock rather than speaking to it, why is it invoked as a source of merit?

Additionally, the Torah finishes by praising “… the strong hand… that Moshe performed before the eyes of all of Israel” (Devarim 34:12).

Rashi says this refers to the smashing of the tablets, an act which Hashem both approved of and praised.

If we generally try to finish each section of the Torah on a positive note (Rema OC 138:1), why does the ultimate verse of the entire annual Torah reading cycle invoke the memory of Moshe’s shattering of the tablets, something seemingly so negative?

RABBINIC COUPLE

Our sages (Shemot Rabbah 43) teach us that the tablets were akin to a marriage contract between Hashem and Am Yisrael, and by smashing the tablets, Moshe was protecting Am Yisrael by softening the nature of our spiritual infidelity with the Golden Calf. In so doing, explains the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Moshe was highlighting the principle that the Torah was created for the sake of Am Yisrael, (Tanna Devei Eliyahu 14).

Finishing the Torah with this episode was thus providing the ultimate praise of Moshe – that he was willing to put Am Yisrael’s destiny before everything else, including his own handiwork and legacy!

Similarly, says Rav Meir Shapiro, Moshe hit the rock because he knew it would ‘obey’ and produce water if spoken to, which would reflect

negatively on Am Yisrael, who didn’t listen when spoken to. His actions, although personally detrimental, were for the sake of Am Yisrael, and this is the merit we invoke.

What we have witnessed this year, more than any in recent memory and perhaps more than ever in our history, is the willing-

ness of so many to put the interests of our nation ahead of their own.

We have heard, read and seen first-hand the heroic sacrifice of the holiest of our people.

In the merit of the heroes among us who have selflessly sacrificed for Am Yisrael, may Hashem bless us with the sweetest year ahead.

South Hampstead United Synagogue is a large and dynamic community with approximately 1,700 adult members of all ages and across the religious spectrum.

As our Rabbinic Couple, you will work closely with the Senior Rabbinic Couple, our professional team and lay leaders, to deliver inspirational leadership to the younger cohorts of our community. We are seeking enthusiastic and vibrant candidates who can demonstrate strong leadership skills and who will be excited by the role. You will focus predominantly on increasing engagement with, and developing stronger provision for, our younger families, young professionals as well as overseeing youth and children’s programming thereby enhancing their Jewish journey within the community. The roles will encompass communal activities, pastoral duties, and lifecycle events.

We are looking for outstanding applicants to fill these new roles. This is a superb career development opportunity for an up-andcoming Rabbinic couple to work with the growing number of young people and families in our community.

The successful candidates will be expected to have relevant experience and enthusiasm to take on a significant communal position, building on the strong foundations we already have.

As our Rabbinic couple, you will be integral to helping us map out the future path of our community.

For more information and to apply please scan the QR code or visit: www.theus.org.uk/jobs

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: SUNDAY 1ST DECEMBER 2024

The United Synagogue is committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children and vulnerable adults. Successful applicants will be required to provide a self-disclosure once shortlisted and subject to an enhanced DBS check within the recruitment process. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

When Moses struck the rock, he knew it would obey and produce water

SOUTH HAMPSTEAD UNITED SYNAGOGUE

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBI DEBORAH BLAUSTEN FINCHLEY REFORM SYNAGOGUE

grey than a TV show has time for. According to JPR data from earlier this year, one in three of all British Jews who married between 2010 and 2022 wed a non-Jewish partner.

Ever since Seth Cohen made his adopted brother Ryan a ‘yamaclaus’ for ‘Chrismakah’ during season two of The OC, I knew he was destined to be a rabbi.

What Adam Brody’s character in the early noughties teen show and the one he plays in this year’s Netflix sensation Nobody Wants This have in common is a reality shared with a growing proportion of the Jewish community – navigating Jewish identity in mixed-heritage homes and relationships.

For Rabbi Noah in the hit show, his choice is set out as binary (no spoilers here) – either to pursue a relationship with his non-Jewish girlfriend Joanne or to his progress his career. To have a future together, she must convert.

However, there are many more shades of

Conversion is an enriching choice for many, but it is also no longer the only option for couples wanting to build a home together that is true to their beliefs and enables a commitment to Jewish life.

The antiquated language of ‘marrying out’ has, in many parts of our community, been replaced with the understanding that many of these relationships involve a partner who has ‘married in’, and chosen to build a Jewish or Jew-ish home with a partner who wants to share their culture and traditions with them and the next generation too.

I am continually humbled by the way that non-Jewish parents take such care of and responsibility for their child’s Jewish upbringing: bringing them to religion school and to services, volunteering on the security rota, or in other parts of synagogue life.

Conversion is deeply personal, and it has limitations. It’s a religious choice – you can’t convert

•

•

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

to secular Judaism, but this is what many people in mixed heritage relationships tell me that they wish they could do.

I cringed as I listened to the language on Nobody Wants This, as characters used the derogatory term ‘shiksa’ to refer to Joanne. I’m not naive, and I know that this is language that is still used, but I am glad that in many parts of the Jewish world it is rightly deemed unacceptable to talk this way anymore.

It is so important that we call out its use on television just as I hope people might call it out over the Shabbat table or over a kiddush conversation.

Non-Jewish partners are valued and loved members of our Progressive communities, and it’s the open-hearted welcome that people receive from family and community that often makes all the di erence as to whether a couple feel able to continue to engage in communal life.

Interfaith and mixed-heritage families are a vital part of the fabric of our Jewish community, and I am hopeful of a second season of the show that celebrates love, and Jewish households, in all their beautiful forms.

Rabbi Noah (Adam Brody) and his fiancée Joanne (Kristen Bell) in Nobody Wants This

“How could the result of the US elections a ect the Jewish community?”

Thursday 31st October

Join us for the next instalment of our Westminster Synagogue Symposium Series, where we invite speakers from both within and outside our community to explore a variety of topics.

Diana Shaw Clark — Panellist

Founding Member of J Street, WLS Drop In Centre, and Our Open Kitchen; Lead Fundraiser abroad for Obama who appointed her to Council of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

Professor Larry Kramer — Panellist

President and Vice Chancellor of LSE; 15th Dean of Stanford Law School; former President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Thursday 31st October

7:00pm Discussion

7:45pm Refreshments

8:15pm Q&As

Professor Michael Cox — Moderator

Professor of International Relations at LSE; founding director of LSE IDEAS; author of influential works on post-Cold War politics and international affairs.

Jonathan Paris — Panellist

National security and political analyst; lecturer on the Middle East, US politics, world geopolitics and long-term Global Trends; frequent commentator on Sky News, BBC and Al Arabiya.

Tobias Benn — Panellist

Graduated magna cum laude in History from Harvard, co-founded the Harvard Project on Intellectual Vitality, and interned at the U.S. State Department and UK Parliament. His work focuses on U.S. history.

Tickets £15 non-members, £10 WS members Book westminstersynagogue.org Questions events@westminstersynagogue.org

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

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

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

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN

Qualifications:

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

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

• Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners

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

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

STEPHEN MORRIS

Qualifications:

• Managing director of Stephen Morris Shipping Ltd

• 45 years’ experience in shipping household and personal effects

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

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

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

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

• 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

Sinai Jewish Primary School

Open Events

Open EveningWednesday 12th November @ 7.30pm

Ope n M orn ingThursday 13th November @ 9.30am

Extra-curricular clubs

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

CLOTHING WANTED

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

YOU CONTACT US BEFORE SELLING

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?

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

Sheltered Accommodation

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

patio and garden. For further details and application forms, please contact Westlon Housing Association on

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

Autumn Escapes by the Seaside

Experience seaside charm and countryside serenity just moments from the beach and a short trip from London. Enjoy long autumn walks in the Sussex countryside and cosy holiday homes with secure parking, an on-site gym, crèche, and kosher dining. Daily synagogue services are just steps away.

Don’t miss our new Sunday Roasts, adding warmth to your weekends.

Go to bnjc.co.uk or scan here for more information

Looking for your home away from home?

@bnjcbrighton stay@bnjc.co.uk

Enjoy a Kosher restaurant, deli & catered Shabbat meals

Choose cosy apartments, spacious houses, or penthouses.

Revitalizing Jewish Life in Brighton & Hove