Mystery surrounds the venues that ‘banned’ Jewish author
I do love a good old “mystery surrounds” story, don’t you? It’s the kind of story newspapers pump out in the summer months, supposedly when keen eyes are off the ball and the official “silly season”...
View ArticleTimes get its facts in a twist over uni shambles
Flicking idly through the newspapers on Shabbat morning, my eye was drawn to a small news story on page four of The Times. The headline was “Antisemitic university”, casually wedged in between a story...
View ArticleRestore Lord Janner’s name or Carl Beech will have won
The story of Carl Beech, the serial liar and predatory paedophile, would be repellent enough, were it not for the trail of misery he left behind him as he starts his 18-year prison sentence for...
View ArticleWilliamson’s ‘AsAJews’ do like to be beside the seaside
For some time now I have been aware that I am “the wrong kind of Jew”. I am, you see, the kind of Jew who takes pride and pleasure in Judaism and (most of) the Jewish community. The kind of Jew...
View ArticleThree men behaving badly, but for now I’ll name only two
Most readers, I suppose, will be familiar with the sitcom Men Behaving Badly but, sadly, what is grist for TV comedy is often far removed from amusing in real life. Unfortunately, we are overwhelmed...
View ArticleWe owe everything to everyday people
Sometimes it seems as though we reach out to mark anniversaries when the present-day news is almost too much to handle. It’s safer, somehow, to look back: the outbreak of the First World War, the...
View ArticlePictures at Auschwitz is a matter of selfie respect
Inadvertently, I’ve been caught in a social media war because of a selfie. I should explain. It took me years, despite writing professionally about the Holocaust and all its horrors, to visit the worst...
View ArticleWhy party conferences are just a giant con
By the time most people read this Rosh Hashanah will have been and gone and we will be getting ourselves in gear for Yom Kippur and a whole lot of contemplation. I freely admit to being — if not the...
View ArticleLet’s wave a luvav in admiration of the student who confronted Williamson
On the whole, I’m not in favour of boycotts. Those of us who oppose the BDS crowd and their frequently noxious activities ought to be consistent when the pendulum swings the other way. Thus, in my...
View ArticleRichard Branson’s press pack adored Israel, with good reason
Journalists, on the whole, are a cynical bunch. Often quoted, but never bettered, are the 1930 lines by writer Humbert Wolfe, who was said to be immensely proud of his Jewish heritage despite...
View ArticlePresident Trump the flat-out liar is a reminder that words matter
If there is one thing this year’s American elections have taught me, it is that journalism was perhaps not the best career choice. The only way to go, in this increasingly deranged world, is the path...
View ArticleOh, it’s fine, we asked some Jews and they said it was okay
Last week a story floated around which has almost become overlooked in the tsunami of news we have been dealing with recently — including the remarkable Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)...
View ArticleYad Vashem should remain politically neutral
Who is Effi Eitam and why should you care about him? On the one hand, he is a decorated Israeli soldier, who retired 20 years ago from the Israel Defense Forces with the rank of brigadier-general. On...
View ArticleCountries falling over themselves to give peace a chance
Just over a year ago, I attended an amazing summit in London, of Arab representatives from many countries in the Middle East. Constituting themselves as the Arab Council for Regional Integration, the...
View ArticleA hero’s welcome, but spy Pollard is no hero
In all the flurry of articles celebrating the end of 2020, one news story perhaps did not get the attention it may have sought. That was the arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport on December 30 of a heavily...
View ArticleIsrael should sit back and watch the sulking
I don’t know about you, but all anybody in my neck of the woods is talking about is vaccines. Have you had it, when are you getting it, when are you getting the second shot, does your arm hurt — that...
View ArticleBaddiel’s apostrophised insult won’t make “******* frummers” more law-abiding
David Baddiel, as is well known, is a prodigiously clever man who has used his deserved public profile as a writer and comedian to challenge antisemitism and hateful stereotyping. His Twitter...
View ArticleCome for the vaccine, stay for the cholent
This week, with Pesach thundering towards us at a rate of knots (I know, I know, we haven’t done Purim yet but Pesach is definitely on the horizon), I got to thinking about food. Well, the truth is...
View ArticleReal hate is more of a threat than TV drama
It has long been my belief that, all too often, people – particularly on social media — get aerated about paltry issues, raising them to the level of screaming hysteria. Sometimes, I think, ignoring...
View ArticleTwo huge reasons to readjust our thinking
I was going to write this week about the new United Arab Emirates ambassador to Israel, Mohammad Mahmoud Al Khajah, who is quite honestly one of the best-looking diplomats I have ever seen. Ambassador...
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