Leo is the managing partner at Fulwell 73, a leading global entertainment company that creates award-winning content across multiple genres and platforms.
Natasha Hausdorff
Natasha is a British barrister, international law expert, and member of pro-Israel lobbying group UK Lawyers for Israel.
Chaired by:
Daniel Greenberg CB
Daniel is a lawyer specialising in legislation and the legislative process. He currently serves as parliamentary commissioner for standards.
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Big thinking
Must-read columns from Rachel Moiselle, Hen Mazzig and Loay Alshareef See inside
‘Hatred came for us with fire’
British rabbi shares his anguish after 12 injured in Molotov cocktail attack
A rabbi whose congregation members were injured in this week’s firebombing attack in Colorado has called the incident “a nightmare that defies belief,” writes Jenni Frazer.
Choking back emotion as he prepared to attend a vigil, Marc Soloway, who was born and raised in London and has been rabbi of the Bonai Shalom, or Builders of Peace, Masorti congregation in Boulder for 20 years, said he was “devastated and exhausted and incredibly angry” following the incident.
Six of the 12 people injured were members of his congregation.
He reserved particular anger for a member of the eight-strong Boulder City Council, Taishya Adams, who refused to sign a joint statement from the city council condemning the firebombing, because it called the attack antisemitic rather than ant-Zionist.
She wrote on Facebook that she “could not sign a letter that equates
the calls for a ‘Free Palestine’ with antisemitism. Without the anti-Zionist part, the reader will fail to understand a key driver of this terrible attack. Also, the perpetrator, whose actions I condemn fully and that resulted in harm to our community members, was explicit about ending Zionism.”
Rabbi Soloway, who was about to take part in a vigil at the site of the attack convened by the Colorado governor, Jared Polis, told Jewish News: “Now is not the time for pedantic analysis of the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. We are really hurting, really angry and sad.”
He said he could easily have been at the demonstration that was
attacked on Sunday but had been preparing for Shavuot. “I got a text message from a congregant who said, ‘We’ve just been firebombed.’ Then I heard from other people and very quickly I went to the hospital. I was there when some of the victims were arriving and found that half a dozen of them were my congregants.”
He spent time with the least seriously injured people while their burns were being treated.
One of his congregants, he said, “is a woman in her eighties who was lying on the ground and was literally on fire. For Jewish people to see a Jewish body set on fire in a targeted way… I didn’t see it, but I can see it [in my mind].
“Another congregant, who is a doctor, literally lay his body on top of hers to put out some of the flames and probably saved her life — but it is touch and go.” Another victim, it is understood, is a child survivor of the Holocaust.
During Shavuot, “four of the people who had been present at the firebombing [but who had not been hurt] came to shul. Each of them had an aliya and they all said the Birkat Gomel [a prayer of gratitude] and shared something about their experiences. That was very powerful. But
Continued on page 2
PM UNDER PRESSURE OVER GAZA DEATHS
Keir Starmer described the situation in Gaza as “appalling” and intolerable” during heated exchanges in the Commons yesterday as he faced renewed calls to hold Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to account for thousands of Palestinian deaths, writes Lee Harpin.
The prime minister also said the UK “will keep looking at further action along with our allies including
sanctions” after being urged to recognise a Palestinian state.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, MP Claire Hanna asked: “When will the government hold the Israelis to account and recognise the state of Palestine?” Starmer said he is “working at pace with allies on that issue, to take measures to get aid in”.
Scottish National Party MP Brendan O’Hara claimed Starmer's
position on whether a genocide was taking place was “no longer tenable.” Starmer responded: “I’ve said that we are strongly opposed and appalled by Israel’s recent actions, and have been absolutely clear in condemning them and calling them out, whether that’s the expansion of military operations, settler violence, or the dreadful blocking of aid, is completely unacceptable. We must see a
ceasefire, hostages must be released, and there must be aid into Gaza.”
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign staged a ‘red line’ protest outside Westminster yesterday. MPs including John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn joined the event. Jewish News understands a mass walkout of MPs from the Commons to promote the protest was cancelled. Editorial comment, page 16
Floral tributes at the scene of Sunday’s attack in Boulder, Colorado
British-born
Rabbi Marc Soloway
BBC defends Gaza coverage after White House rebuke
The BBC has defended its coverage of the war in Gaza after the White House criticised its reporting of an apparent incident that reportedly left a number of people dead.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the corporation, after updating a headline with new information, had to “correct and take down” its story about the distribution of aid at a centre in Rafah.
The BBC said it had not removed its story and explained that its headlines about the incident were “updated throughout the day with the latest fatality figures as they came in from various sources”, which is “totally normal practice”.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Leavitt responded to a question about the incident and said: “The administration is aware of those reports and we are currently looking into the veracity of them ... unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth.
“We like to look into it when they speak, unlike the BBC, who had multiple headlines. They wrote, ‘Israeli tank kills 26’, ‘Israeli tank kills 21’, ‘Israeli gunfire kills 31’, ‘Red Cross says, 21 people were killed in an aid incident’. And then, oh wait, they had to correct and take down their entire story, saying, ‘We reviewed the footage and couldn’t find any evidence of anything.’”
As she spoke Leavitt held up a document that appeared to show a social media post from X, with the different headlines. The person who
posted the headlines also posted a screenshot from a BBC live blog and wrote: “The admission that it was all a lie.”
The headline from the blog read: “Claim graphic video is linked to aid distribution site in Gaza is incorrect.”
A BBC spokesperson said this came from the a BBC Verify online report, and not the corporation’s story about the killings in Rafah, saying a viral video posted on social media was not linked to the aid distribution centre it claimed to show.
The BBC said the claim that it had taken down a story after reviewing footage “is completely wrong”.
A spokesperson added: “Our news stories and headlines about Sunday’s aid distribution centre incident were updated throughout the day with the latest fatality figures as they came in from various sources. These were always clearly attributed, from the first figure of 15 from medics, through the 31 killed from the Hamas-run
Suspect ‘planned attack for a year’
Continued from page 1 yesterday, on the second day of Shavuot, one of the victims came, wearing shorts and his legs bandaged. He needs skin grafts. But he told us, this is where I need to be, with our community.”
Rabbi Soloway told the governor’s vigil: “It’s astonishing that just three days ago, right here, Jews were literally set on fire, in a targeted antisemitic attack on a group of peaceful walkers raising awareness for the 58 hostages, dead and alive, still in tunnels in Gaza.
“I, like many others, could have easily been on this Run for their Lives walk. The ripples of this trauma are immense. Some of the injured victims, some very seriously, are members of my congregation, Bonei Shalom. The whole Jewish community is reeling, shocked that this hideous crime could happen right here in beautiful downtown Boulder.
“And yet, we have seen this coming, and Jews here and all over America and the world have not been feeling safe, physically or emotionally in the face of demonising hate speech and dangerous rhetoric…. the victims need time to grieve and to heal though the physic and emotional scars will never fully heal. Demonisation of others has to stop. The hate speech has to stop.”
He told Jewish News: “There is no question but that anti-Zionism is being used as the new antisemitism, in pernicious ways.”
Rabbi Soloway, who trained at Leo Baeck College and worked with Rabbi Jonathan Wit-
tenberg, of New North London Synagogue, said the dream of peace, which was a fundamental principle of his congregation, had been “violently and brutally attacked by fire, and it brings up horrific images of our past”.
A former actor and previous co-chair of UK Limmud, Soloway received his semicha (rabbinical ordination) in 2004 from the Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles.
The Jewish community in Boulder has thanked local authorities for support following Sunday’s attack. The wounded range in age from 52 to 88. Three people were understood yesterday still to be receiving hospital treatment.
The suspect arrested had planned an attack on a “Zionist group” for over a year, police statements indicate. He planned to kill, with Molotov cocktails, everyone taking part in the demonstration in support of the hostages in Gaza.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was arrested at the scene. He faces charges including attempted murder in the first degree, and use and attempted use of an incendiary device.
Soliman, who is Egyptian-born, confessed to the attack and told the police he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people”.
This Sunday the Jewish community is due to mark the 30th anniversary of the Boulder Jewish Festival, whose programme has been adjusted to reflect a response to the firebombing.
health ministry to the final Red Cross statement of ‘at least 21’ at their field hospital. This is totally normal practice on any fast-moving news story.”
“Completely separately, a BBC Verify online report on Monday reported a viral video posted on
social media was not linked to the aid distribution centre it claimed to show.
“This video did not run on BBC news channels and had not informed our reporting. Conflating these two stories is simply misleading.”
THREE IDF SOLDIERS KILLED
Three Israeli soldiers were killed and two injured this week when their vehicle struck a hidden explosive device during an operation in northern Gaza, the IDF has confirmed.
Staff Sgts Lior Steinberg, 20, and Ofek Barhana, 20 – both combat medics – and squad commander Omer Van Gelder, 22, died after a Humvee they were travelling in drove over an improvised explosive device (IED) planted along a convoy route in Jabalia on Monday.
The attack was the deadliest single incident for Israeli forces since combat resumed following the breakdown of a ceasefire in March.
All five soldiers were part of the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion, operating under the 9th Armoured Brigade at the time. According to the IDF’s preliminary findings, the convoy was escorting a fire engine sent into Gaza to put out a blaze on an armoured personnel carrier.
As the unit exited Jabalia, the Humvee was hit by the roadside bomb. The area was later found to be riddled with about 20 other explosive devices, which had been planted along the same stretch of road but failed to detonate.
Evacuation efforts were delayed because
of fears of secondary traps. The military said it conducted airstrikes nearby to enable the rescue and was investigating how militants had identified the army’s route and planted the explosives undetected.
Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Our hearts go out to the families in this most terrible moment. We will forever cherish the heroism of our fighters, Lior, Ofek and Omer.”
Barhana, who had recently returned to his high school in Yavne to collect his matriculation certificate, was described by a former teacher as “a born leader” who “chose his role out of a sense of courage and a desire to help others”. Steinberg’s mother, Orly, wrote in a Facebook post: “Love of my heart, I can’t believe you aren’t with us. I’ll love you forever.”
Van Gelder was a relative of Sgt First Class (res) Omer Moshe Gaeldor, killed in November in Lebanon.
Their deaths bring to 423 the number of Israeli military personnel killed in Gaza and along its border since the ground operation against Hamas began. The total includes two police officers and three defence contractors.
Staff Sgts Omer Van Gelder, Lior Steinberg and Ofek Barhana fell in northern Gaza
Mohamed Sabry Soliman
Palestinians with food packages from a United States-backed foundation
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt
The election of UK delegates to the World Zionist Congress was delayed this week because of allegations of voter fraud, writes Lee Harpin.
A statement sent by the Zionist Federation to those who had registered to vote confirmed: “We are currently still in the process of verifying voters.
“Due to an ongoing investigation into alleged fraudulent activity during the voter registration process, the area election committee (AEC) has taken the dicult decision to postpone the actual voting period for the UK election to July 6-10.”
Further concerns have been raised that the management platform used by the American Zionist Organisation (AZM), which was administering the vote, is outdated and may be unfit for a ballot process.
In April, AZM said it was investigating nearly 2,000 suspicious votes that appeared to benefit Charedi Eretz Hakodesh, which is associated with Israel’s Haredi United Torah Judaism party, and Am Yisrael Chai, an Orthodox party targeting young voters.
The online poll in the UK had been scheduled to run from 8 to 12 June, with
voters having a choice of nine lists. The process is overseen by the UK AEC, cochaired by David Regal and David Reuben.
To register voters pay £1, o er proof of identity and agree to the Jerusalem Programme, WZO’s statement of principles.
But the ZF said the committee had taken the “di cult decision” to postpone elections to 6-10 July.
It stressed that “no data breach has taken place” but an investigation was
taking place into allegations of “fraudulent activity”.
Delegates voted in will take part in the 39th World Zionist Congress, the “parliament of the Jewish people,” which will convene in Jerusalem in October 2025.
The 19 UK delegates who will be elected will make key decisions on allocating more than $1bn annually to support the most pressing needs across Israeli society and the Diaspora.
Pro-Pals guilty over intimidation of MP Zionist Congress vote is delayed over ‘fraud’
Two pro-Palestinian activists who accused a UK minister of supporting genocide have been convicted of harassment, writes Lee Harpin.
Ayeshah Behit, 31, and Hiba Ahmed, 26, were found guilty on Monday following a trial at Cardi Magistrates’ Court.
They had filmed a confrontation with Alex Davies-Jones, who had been campaigning in the village of Treforest, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in the lead-up to the general election last June.
Davies-Jones, justice minister and MP for Pontypridd, has spoken out on antisemitism and appeared at an event in March to denounce women’s organisations for their silence on Hamas’ sexual violence on 7 October.
The judge, Paul Goldspring, sentenced Ahmed, a final-year architecture student at Cardi University, to a 12-month conditional discharge and Behit, who has a conviction relating to a protest last year, to an 18-month conditional discharge. They must pay £650 costs.
Giving evidence during the trial, DaviesJones told the court she had been “terrified” after being confronted by the two women.
As she made her way to the campaign meeting place, she saw Behit and Ahmed with leaflets describing her as a “full-blown supporter of this genocide”, referring to the Israel-Hamas conflict. “They asked me about the ceasefire and why I had abstained,” DaviesJones said. “I clarified I hadn’t abstained, I wasn’t in the country, I was paired in that vote.
“It was escalating in terms of passion and intensity. We walked o in the opposite direc-
tion. We felt scared and intimidated, and we wanted to leave the situation. They began to follow us. They were shouting and bellowing down the street at us – ‘why do you support genocide, why are you murdering babies, Alex Davies-Jones, do you support genocide?’”
Later in the day, Behit and Ahmed put posters on the Labour o ce in Pontypridd that referred to politicians “enabling genocide”, and put a poster that read “Alex Davies-Jones supports genocide” on a bus stop; a video of the confrontation uploaded on to social media described Davies-Jones as racist.
In a statement after the conviction, DaviesJones said harassment of politicians was unacceptable. “ We are human beings doing our jobs. And now, I’m back to getting on with mine.”
In March she revealed that her maternal grandmother moved to south Wales from London, where she had changed her surname from Mordechai to Mort, to avoid antisemitism.
MINISTER CLARIFIES ARMS SALES POLICY
Trade minister Douglas Alexander has reminded MPs that 7 October 2023 was an “act of barbarism” by Hamas rather than one of “liberation” as he defended government policy on weapons sales to Israel.
Responding to calls for the UK to stop sales of arms in response to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, he said “the responsibility of Hamas is clear”.
But he then told the Commons that “as a result of Israel’s subsequent actions, the way Israel is conducting its operations is indefensible, disproportionate, and in the view of the UK government counter-productive to any lasting peace settlement”.
Alexander spoke on Monday during an adjournment debate secured by Scottish Labour MP Steve Witherden, who had quoted a British doctor who described Gaza as “a slaughterhouse”.
Witherden’s analysis at first appeared to erase responsibility from Hamas when he said: “Since 7 October, Israel
has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.” He later said he had previously called out Hamas and accepted Israel had a right to defend itself.
Witherden, along with MPs Richard Burgon and Kim Johnson, pressed for answers over UK arms sales to Israel, and asked why the former Labour MP Ian Austin, now a crossbench peer, had been in Israel last week, despite the suspension of the free trade agreement negotiations.
Alexander said the UK and Israel had existing trade, and Austin was told not to have contact with the Israel government on his visit to Haifa.
Clarifying existing sales of arms, Alexander said: “Based on our current assessment of breaches of international humanitarian law we are not licensing military equipment provided directly to the IDF that could be used for military operations in Gaza.” But he added it was correct that UK licences to Israel “cover a wider remit than simply those items that may be used in Gaza”.
You can be beyond incredible
Hiba Ahmed (centre), one of the two women convicted on Monday, leaves court in Cardiff
Delegates at a previous World Zionist Congress event
‘I considered suicide and hid my sexuality’
Former Hamas hostage Emily Damari this week revealed new harrowing details of her 15-month captivity in Gaza –including how she lost two fingers, witnessed her dog being shot, hid her sexuality and launched makeshift “lice battles” to lift fellow captives’ spirits, writes Annabel Sinclair.
In a wide-ranging interview broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12, the 28-year-old British-Israeli woman gave her most candid account yet of life underground, describing the physical violence, psychological toll and small acts of rebellion that defined her 471-day ordeal.
Damari was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on 7 October 2023 after Hamas gunmen stormed the community, murdering her dog Chucha and injuring her during the attack. She was kidnapped in her car alongside neighbour and close friend Ziv Berman. His twin brother, Gali, was also seized.
“I texted Gali to come be with me because I was scared,” she said. “Then I heard them smashing my window. My dog was lying between us – they shot her. The bullet went through her and into my leg.”
She was also shot in the left hand. “I yelled ‘Gali, they smashed my hand!’ and then I probably passed out,” she recalled.
After being dragged into Gaza, she was taken to a house and then transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital, where she was sedated. When she regained consciousness, she learnt two fingers had been amputated.
“I said, ‘Cool. I’m an abductee in Gaza missing two fingers – what could be worse’?
It was the start of a long descent
into captivity marked by physical deprivation, psychological strain and moments of absurdity. Damari quickly gained a reputation among both hostages and guards for her sharp wit and refusal to be broken.
She said she kept her sexuality hidden throughout, fearing the consequences if her captors discovered she was gay.
“They can’t know something like that – they consider it sick,” she said. “We once asked one of them ‘What if your brother were gay?’ and he said, ‘I’d murder him’.”
Damari also revealed how early in captivity she briefly considered ending her own life.
She was given a series of nicknames by her captors: “Fuduli” (Arabic for curious), “Shajaa” (brave), “Spring”, “Tarzan”, “Mowgli” – and even “John Cena”, after the American wrestler.
The guards also grew frustrated with her constant questioning. “I asked them everything,” Damari said “how they built their tunnels, how much money they make off of them – until they had enough of it.”
One incident saw her physically confront a Hamas operative who was manhandling another hostage.
“He was a former bodyguard to (slain Hamas leader) Ismail Haniyeh – a strong fella. He started pushing one of the girls and I flipped out.
“I spoke in Hebrew, not Arabic –‘What are you doing?’ – and pushed him back. He grabbed my arm, and I pushed his hand off. I told him, ‘If you don’t bring your commander and move us, I will yell that there are hostages here.’”
A week later, she and others were relocated. She said she never wanted to show her weakness.
She recalled feeling a strange, morbid excitement when first taken into Hamas tunnels beneath Gaza.
As a Gaza envelope resident, she had always wondered what the tunnels looked like. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I’m finally seeing them’ – just not like this.”
Once underground, Damari said lice infestations became so common that she invented bizarre competi-
tions to keep hostages’ spirits up.
Hamas allowed the hostages to watch Israeli broadcasts. For the first time, Damari saw her mother, Mandy, on screen holding a photo of her abducted daughter.
Damari started shaking and couldn’t breathe. It was the most moving experience of her captivity –realising she was alive, she said.
She also described defying captors who demanded she wear a red jumper – the colour of Hapoel Tel Aviv, the bitter rivals of her beloved Maccabi Tel Aviv football team. In the end, she wore green.
Damari was eventually reunited with her mother on 19 January this year after she was freed in a temporary ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal. But her sense of relief was mixed with guilt. Ziv and Gali Berman, kidnapped alongside her, remain in Gaza. Since her release, she has become one of the most vocal advocates for their return.
“We picked lice from people’s heads, put them on a card and watched which one won. I won’t say whose it was, but it totally devoured the other.”
Despite the horror, one of the most emotional moments came not from violence – but from television. Nine months into captivity,
“Getting on the plane, eating, drinking – all of it comes with guilt. I can’t say it’s not pleasant. But still…” She said she thinks constantly of those left behind in captivity – and of the friends she lived with underground, many of whom she says had little food, no daylight and no contact with the outside world.
“When I saw the girls in the tunnels, I greeted them like it was nothing. They said ‘What’s wrong with you? You’re the first person to enter a tunnel like this’.”
Today, 58 hostages remain in Gaza; 35 are confirmed dead.
BBC ARABIC REPORTER BANNED
The BBC has banned Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alagha from appearing on its Arabic service after it emerged he described Jews as “devils” and claimed: “Israelis are not human.”
Alagha appeared on BBC Arabic twice in May – once just hours after a Telegraph exposé of his record – despite having publicly praised attacks on Israeli civilians and posted dehumanising rhetoric about Jews online.
In one post following Israeli strikes in Gaza, Alagha wrote: “It (the Israeli occupation) is the
embodiment of filth, the unrivalled swamp of wickedness. As for the Jews, they are the devils of hypocrites.”
A day later, he added: “The Israelis are not human beings… they are not even beasts… Perhaps they belong to a race for which no description can capture the extent of their lust and sadism.”
A BBC spokesperson confirmed Alagha was not a member of staff and would no longer be used as a contributor.
A statement said: “His social media posts do not reflect the
BBC’s view… We are absolutely clear there is no place for antisemitism on our services.”
The decision comes amid mounting criticism of BBC Arabic’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war and BBC chair Dr Samir Shah last month announcing an independent review into the channel’s Middle East reporting.
The media watchdog CAMERA UK welcomed the move but said it exposed deeper failings.
The organisation said: “This precedent would be unimaginable were Alagha targeting any other
minority. BBC Arabic’s editors seem trapped in an echo chamber.”
Former BBC TV director Danny Cohen said Alagha’s use was “indefensible”, adding: “It is both horrifying and astonishing a reporter who spouted antisemitism was allowed back on air after his racism was exposed. BBC management needs to get a grip. If the BBC Arabic service cannot be reformed, it should be shut down.”
Alagha’s X account has been deleted. He had been presented on air since January 2024 as a freelance Gaza-based journalist.
Emily after her release and, inset, in Islamic clothing at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, following her abduction
Removed: Ahmed Alagha
Progressive union
Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy discuss the
‘incredible privilege’ of leading new movement built on diversity and dialogue with Lee Harpin
Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy have both welcomed what they say is the “incredible privilege” of leading their respective Liberal and Reform communities into a newly-unified Progressive Judaism movement.
Speaking to Jewish News after last month’s overwhelming vote in favour of the merger was confirmed, the two leaders stressed their fundamental belief that diversity of opinion within their 80 communities in the UK would continue to make Progressive Judaism stronger rather than weaker.
“You know, the idea that we should all agree with one another is not a Jewish idea”, Rabbi Levy reasoned. “And it’s not a particularly healthy idea, actually.”
He added: “I think we welcome the fact that diversity exists within our communities.
“And Jewishly – these are the words of the living God – our task is to find ways of ensuring that our disagreements are constructive.”
When the Reform and Liberal movements announced in April 2023 their intention to
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merge, there were, perhaps understandably, some in the community who doubted it would actually happen. Now, at parallel meetings, the two bodies have taken the historic step of voting to unite.
Each vote easily exceeded the required 75 percent threshold for the move, with about 95 percent in favour. The merger will be launched formally in November.
“I don’t think divisions are just between communities or denominations or movements,” Baginsky says, “we are conflicted internally ourselves. The current situation makes us pull in a thousand di erent directions. To the hostages, to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to the images we see on television, to the joy of watching Israel compete in the Eurovision…
“We are constantly in a moment of feeling internally conflicted. Our job as a movement, as Progressive Judaism, is to be able to help communities to be able to hold that and to be able to say that actually it is complex.
“It is OK to feel two things or to talk about two truths at the same time.”
Baginsky, who had been CEO of Liberal Judaism since 2021, reasons: “It is possible to be a Zionist, a committed Zionist, and to believe there needs to be a humanitarian aid response in Gaza. It is possible to be critical of the Israeli government and at the same time to absolutely feel for friends and family who are serving in the IDF.”
Levy is also keen for the new movement to draw in those who are struggling with their response to the conflict in the Middle East.
“Disagreement, in and of itself, is not unhealthy,” he says. “What is unhealthy is suppressing our disagreements and not allowing people to articulate that.”
Asked if there is room within the Progressive Judaism movement for those now struggling with their Zionism, he responds: “Part of being Jewish is a struggle.
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That the vote in favour of unification was so high has much to do with the drive and dedication of Baginsky and Levy, who as joint CEOs took their vision of a newly strengthened Progressive movement to every community across the country in an exhaustive twoyear campaign.
To those fortunate enough to see them sell their vision in person, their leadership skills have proved both infectious and compelling.
“It feels like an unbelievable privilege,” Baginsky says when asked what she and Levy think of the scale of the vote for unification.
“We have spent the last two years in the heart of our congregations. And now to be able to be here, at this moment of incredible privilege – something I didn’t think I would see in my entire career.”
Levy, the former Principal Rabbi at Alyth Gardens shul in Temple Fortune, adds: “And now there is work to do.
“The decision we have made today is a decision to go on a journey together, to make something new together. The trust our communities have placed in us is humbling, and heartening.
“We now need to do the work of making this new movement one that really represents progressive Judaism in the faith community and in wider communities.”
Both leaders are fully aware the merger comes at a time of great tension, stress and division in the UK community, mainly as a result of the war against Hamas in Gaza.
“So the idea that we should somehow pretend that we are not challenged as a community, as individuals, also a Jewish community – it is not healthy for anybody that we are trying to do that.
“What is also really important is that we speak about the idea that anybody who disagrees with you must either be a fool or have evil intent, or be a liar – and is worthy of the sort of abuse we are seeing on social media.
“The Jewish community needs to learn to disagree well and respectfully, and not to be a source of the sort of inner conflict… that is unhealthy.”
“And to count people out,” Baginsky adds. “That’s the bit that we see constantly, the desire to push people out of the tent.
“Our job is to make sure the tent is open for anybody who wishes to be in it.”
Asked how an increasingly powerful Progressive movement would now conduct relations with the modern orthodox United Synagogue, Levy is keen to stress: “We have very good and respectful relationships. This project is not about trying to compete or take someone else’s voice away.”
“What this project is, in part though, about is making sure the diversity of the Jewish community in this country is amplified. We want all of the diverse voices of our community to be heard.
“This isn’t in any way about trying to compete with central Orthodoxy.”
Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Paul Langsford, Dr Ed Kessler MBE, Karen Newman and Rabbi Josh Levy celebrate the formation of Progressive Judaism. (Pic: Zoe Norfolk)
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Parish councillor defends Hitler
A parish councillor in Cornwall has been filmed claiming the Holocaust was “massively over-exaggerated” and defending Adolf Hitler’s actions – remarks now at the centre of a political storm, writes Annabel Sinclair.
Peter Lawrence, who sits on Mylor Parish Council and represents the far-right British Democrats, made the comments at a protest in Truro on 24 May.
In footage published online, he is head saying Hitler “didn’t have beef with the Jews” and that “world Jewry declared war on Germany”.
He claimed: “They were bankrupting them from the Treaty of Ver-
sailles… They were blockading the food, starving them out. Hitler didn’t have beef with the Jews – he just didn’t want them disrupting what was going on.”
Challenged further on whether Hitler was right to kill Jews, he said: “From what I’ve read, the revisionist historians I’ve read cannot find a single order from Adolf Hitler calling for the execution of the Jews.”
When asked directly if he believed in the Holocaust, Lawrence replied: “The Holocaust has been massively over-exaggerated.”
The remarks, made in a public square and captured by the activist
group Cornwall Resists, have triggered widespread outrage and prompted an o cial response from Mylor Parish Council.
The council has called an extraordinary meeting for today, during which councillors will vote on a motion to condemn Lawrence’s statements and disassociate the council from them.
A formal proposal tabled by two councillors, Patrick Polglase and Paul Baker, reads: “Whilst Councillor Lawrence at no time claimed to be speaking as a Mylor Parish Councillor, it is our contention that his words have brought all councillors
and thus this council into disrepute by association.
“To make such assertions regarding a truly horrific time in our history is deeply insulting and o ensive to the memory of all those who lost their lives and their families.”
Lawrence stood as an independent parliamentary candidate in the 2024 general election. His online posts have included warnings about Britain becoming a “communist melting pot” and criticism of multiculturalism and LGBTQ+ rights.
Jewish News has contacted Lawrence and the British Democrats for comment.
KNEECAP AT GLASTO DESPITE TERROR CHARGE
Hip-hop trio Kneecap’s appearance at Glastonbury Festival this month has been confirmed after organisers announced the full line-up.
Communal organisations including the Board of Deputies have called for Glastonbury chiefs to cancel their appearance after footage emerged of them saying “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.
The group’s Liam Óg ÓhAnnaidh was later charged with a terrorism o ence, with the Metropolitan Police saying he
aroused “reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation”. He is due to appear in court on 18 June.
House of Commons leader and cabinet minister Lucy Powell has also said in parliament: “I’m sure that no one in this House would want to see them playing at Glastonbury.”
But announcing the full line-up on Tuesday, Glastonbury confirmed that Kneecap would appear on the West
Holts stage at 4pm on the Saturday of the festival.
The group have already been axed from several other UK dates including Glasgow’s TRNSMT festival, but an appearance at London’s Wide Awake festival went ahead.
A number of music agents and Jewish lawyers have written to Glastonbury founder Emily Eavis and two of the festival’s organisers to urge them to cancel Kneecap’s planned performance.
An Unmissable Evening With HOSTAGE SURVIVOR OMER SHEM TOV
For the first time in the UK, hostage survivor Omer Shem Tov, kidnapped from the Nova Festival and held by Hamas for 505 days, will share his powerful story live. Join JNF UK for an exclusive screening of “Home: Omer Shem Tov Speaks”, the gripping new documentary by acclaimed Israeli
Peter Lawrence
ÓhAnnaidh (left) with the band. He is due in court on 18 June
Binstocks to retire after 30-year role
The rabbinic couple leading one of the United Synagogue’s most prominent congregations will retire next year after their 30th anniversary in the role, writes Daniel Sugarman.
Dayan Ivan and Rebbetzin Rachie Binstock of the St John’s Wood and Saatchi community have announced today that they will step down at the end of February 2026.
In a message to congregants from Michael Abraham and Rosanna Burr, the chair and vice chair of the Synagogue, the lay leader paid tribute to the Rabbinical couple’s “wisdom, warmth and unwavering commitment”, which they said had “shaped St John’s Wood Synagogue into the vibrant and welcoming congregation it is today”.
The letter went on to say that the Binstocks’ “decision to retire at this time has been made to ensure a smooth transition as we enter a momentous milestone – the 150th anniversary of our beloved shul. This will allow us to honour their incredible legacy while looking ahead to the future leadership of
our community.”
In a further message directly from the Dayan and Rebbetzin, they quoted the book of Kohelet, saying that “’Lechol zman va’et – everything has its time and its moment’.
“It has been the greatest privilege to serve this exceptional congregation for nearly three decades. You have become our extended family, and we have shared in your joys and sorrows, just as you have
shared in ours.”
The rabbinical couple described how “we are deeply proud of the warmth, vibrancy and inclusivity of our shul, blending its rich history with the excitement and dynamic of our international membership”. They added: “We have been fortunate to work alongside outstanding rabbinical colleagues, youth leaders, honorary O cers and devoted o ce sta .”
‘ANTI-ISRAEL’ GCSE EXAM PAPER PULLED
Pearson Edexcel has removed a GCSE English language paper from circulation after a proIsrael legal group claimed it contained politically biased content relating to the 2014 Gaza war, writes Annabel Sinclair.
According to the Jewish Chronicle, the 2023 International GCSE exam included a reading task based on an extract from David Nott’s memoir War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line, describing his experience treating patients in a Gaza hospital during the conflict.
The passage focused on a young girl wounded in a bombing and Nott’s decision to stay with her despite fears of an imminent strike on the hospital.
One line described his action as “a pointless act of defiance against the warmongers”, a phrase UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) said could be interpreted as referring to Israel.
In a formal complaint to Pearson, UKLFI said the inclusion of such an extract in an unseen comprehension task could place “students who are supportive of Israel in an invidious position” when answering exam questions.
They also warned that its continued availability online risked “similar detriment” for mock exam candidates.
In response, Pearson removed the exam paper, mark scheme and examiner report from its website, and said its anti-piracy team had been instructed to issue takedown notices to third-party platforms hosting the material.
In a letter to UKLFI, the board said the passage was “no longer considered appropriate” in light of the October 2023 Hamas attacks and the subsequent escalation of conflict in the region.
In a statement, the board said: “Following a review, we have removed a 2023 International GCSE English Language exam paper from our website.”
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Dayan Ivan and Rebbetzin Rachie Binstock
Rediscovering the art of agreeing to disagree
Daniel Taub, a
former
Israeli envoy to the UK, draws on rabbinic teaching to tackle modern-day disputes, writes Jenni Frazer
If there is one takeaway message from Daniel Taub’s new book, Beyond Dispute, it is that we should all listen more.
Taub, arguably one of Israel’s more successful exports, is the London-born diplomat who served as Israel’s ambassador to the UK between 2011 and 2015, and has a long track record as an international lawyer and negotiator. He also has a lesser-known sideline as a playwright and, separately, as the creator of a successful TV soap opera in Israel, In the Rabbi’s Court
His book is subtitled “Rediscovering the Jewish art of constructive disagreement” — and though he says it is avowedly not a “how to” guidebook to resolving conflicts, what it is, is a charming deep dive into the world of Jewish studies, specifically the Talmud, and what it can teach us.
Through personal anecdote drawn from his
own career, and a hugely entertaining number of Jewish jokes, Taub takes the reader by the hand, to survey the endless pitfalls awaiting the unwary negotiator or disputant.
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the triggers to write the book came from a mediation process he was involved in, alongside a sheikh, at a community mediation centre in east Jerusalem.
At one point in the dispute, Taub says, “he started speaking not as a mediator, but as an imam. There was something about the way he was channelling that Islamic tradition that changed the dynamic of the conversation entirely. It was extraordinary to see.”
After that Taub was mediating between two Jewish organisations. He thought: “You both claim to be heirs to Jewish values. Isn’t there something in our tradition that could help us to have this conversation more e ectively?”
The more he looked into it, he says, the more
engagement with others”.
We need to be strong and secure in our own identity, and “be resilient enough to withstand di erence and be strengthened by it”.
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struck he was “by how many of the insights, in the Jewish, rabbinic approach to argument, are now being echoed in modern social science”. He believes that the way the rabbis hammered out arguments might have a useful and practical application to present-day disputes. “My hope is, that particularly in hotbutton areas like campuses, that these tools might help people have more e ective conversations.”
Throughout the book there are striking examples of surprising recognition of these principles. One such is Taub’s revealing account of discussions with Syria in America in 2000. The Syrians, he reports, were all in formal suits, the Israelis in more casual dress. “The Syrians were under firm instructions that there be no… small talk, no handshakes…the Syrians point-blank refused to enter any of the common spaces if any Israelis were present.” Taub says he was “taken aback” and that in previous “no less charged” negotiations with Egyptians and Jordanians, the Israelis had been able to discuss, over late-night co ee, not just conflict, but families, literature, sport and philosophy. “We were negotiators, but we were people too.”
echoed application to present-day disputes. button areas like campuses, that these present.” Taub says he was “taken aback” and that in negotiations with Egyptians and Jordanians, the discuss, over late-night but we were people too.” learn several things: side, that
We have conversations and dialogue all the time, says Taub — “but very rarely do we step back and ask ourselves if we could have done them better”. He also observes that his book has another useful approach: not simply how to improve discussions, but also to identify “which conversations are likely to be e ective, and where you probably shouldn’t waste your energy”.
By nature an optimist, Taub notes that while “the rabbis liked to say there were 70 faces of the Torah, that didn’t mean that there is not a 71st face [which perhaps had not been considered]. In Jewish tradition, it’s very rare that somebody is ruled illegitimate because of the position that they hold. The tradition was to hear what people have to say. But they are ruled out if they don’t buy into the process, if they are not interested in having the argument.”
One can easily think of numerous protagonists who might fall into this category.
Taub describes the time-honoured way of Torah study, still carried out in presentday yeshivot, of two people engaged in the chavruta, or partnership process, described as “adversarial collaboration”. They argue, discuss, parse texts, analyse. This approach, says Taub, has evolved from the principle of the concept “argument for the sake of heaven”, which he says is “a recognition that our path towards truth is integrally entwined in our
From which we learn several things: that it is important to recognise the humanity of the other side, that food and music – often vital icebreakers – are reminders of such humanity, and that listening, sometimes instead of declaiming the instructed opinion, can be even more constructive. All these years later, incidentally, Taub thinks the Syrians were right: “They realised the importance of the human dynamic.”
Taub also now acknowledges that he has changed. Given the opportunity, he says, to go back to diplomatic encounters, he would be more inclined to listen. He adds: “Over time, I tried to move conversations from areas of wellcharted territory, where everybody knows what the other side is going to say because I find those [conversations] generally unproductive.
“In the book, there’s a story about the arms negotiations between the Russians and the Americans, that were making no progress. At one point, the American negotiator says to the Russian negotiator, you’re not giving way on anything, how are we going to move forward?
“And the Russian says, don’t you understand? You keep asking me questions to which I have the answers. Why don’t you ask me questions to which I don’t have the answers?”
Daniel Taub may not have all the answers. But he makes readers ask questions, which can only be to the good.
• Beyond Dispute, by Daniel Taub, is published by Hodder & Stoughton at £25
Daniel Taub: our tradition is to hear what people have to say
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Academic’s Hamas appeal
A senior lecturer at Middlesex University is publicly backing e orts to de-proscribe Hamas as a terrorist organisation and has previously written that “our work isn’t done until all Zionists are removed from our institutions and shamed, alongside all racists, into nothingness”, writes Michelle Rosenberg.
Dr Tarek Younis, a full-time psychology academic at the institution in Hendon since 2019, made the admission on social media, where he said he was “proud to have contributed” to an application submitted by the law firm Riverway for Hamas to be removed from the list of groups banned under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The London firm behind the application argues that the UK’s ban on Hamas “breaches
the European Convention on Human Rights”.
The post, made on 9 April on X, is the latest in a series of incendiary interventions by Dr Younis, who has platformed extreme antiZionist and anti-Israel views.
He previously claimed that Labour Friends of Israel were “involved in the blatantly racist suppression of Palestinian solidarity”.
And although he later deleted the post about Zionists being “removed from our institutions and shamed… into nothingness”, screenshots of the remark continue to circulate.
As reported by Jewish News , he had been due to speak at an Islamophobia panel at the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies but the session was scrapped after the extreme anti-Zionist
sentiments of several panellists were revealed.
The Health and Care Professions Council, which regulates psychologists in the UK, told Jewish News: “We take any accusations that a registrant may have breached our standards extremely seriously. Anyone can raise a concern that a registrant may have done so through our fitness to practise (FTP) process, and this will then be investigated by the FTP team.”
Middlesex University is in the top six UK institutions in the 2024 Times Higher Education Young University Rankings. Jewish News contacted Dr Younis for comment.
THERAPISTS’ GROUP SORRY FOR ‘GENOCIDE’ REMARK
The British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies has apologised to members for the inclusion of the phrase “genocide taking place in Gaza” in an article on Islamophobia, writes Michelle Rosenberg.
The piece was published in the professional body’s February 2025 issue of magazine CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).
In the apology, seen by Jewish News, association chief executive Tommy McIlravey said the inclusion “was the subject of a number of complaints from both members of BABCP and wider interest groups”, adding that the term ‘genocide’ “remains contested and is the subject of an ongoing legal case in the International Court of Justice”.
McIlravey said he apologised on
behalf of the organisation “for any distress caused by the unqualified use of the contested term”.
He went on to say: “What is beyond argument is that Islamophobia and antisemitism are both scourges upon our society.
“They a ect our members, friends, colleagues, neighbours and clients.”
Accompanying the apology was
the publication of a column about antisemitism and mental health, written by psychologist Dr Sandi Mann, in which the link is made between anti-Israel hate and antisemitism.
BABCP also cancelled a training session on Islamophobia after several of the invited speakers were found to have published or shared highly problematic extreme anti-
Zionist social media posts. In one post, which has since been deleted, Dr Tarek Younis wrote: “Our work isn’t done until all Zionists are removed from our institutions and shamed.”
Prof Ghazala Mir, of Leeds University, shared social media posts which included the claim that Israel is “intentionally destroying as many Palestinians it can”.
Dr Tarek Younis: ‘proud to have contributed’
‘Helping others is what my girls would’ve done’
Sigal Manzuri lost her daughters and future son-in-law at Nova. Now she’s building a sanctuary for vulnerable girls, writes Annabel Sinclair
On the evening of 6 October 2023, the Manzuri family gathered at home in Hod Hasharon for a Shabbat and Simchat Torah dinner. Norelle, 25, and Roya, 22, were excited about the Nova music festival they would attend the next day with friends. They toasted love, the future, and a summer wedding on Norelle’s birthday.
By morning, three of the six people at that table would be dead.
“I live every minute with that dinner in my heart,” Sigal tells Jewish News. “It was the last time I saw my daughters alive.”
Norelle and Roya, dual Israel-American citizens, were among the more than 360 people murdered by Hamas terrorists at the festival in Re’im, southern Israel. Also killed was Norelle’s boyfriend, Amit Cohen. For days after the massacre, Sigal and her family clung to the hope that the three had been kidnapped.
“That was the only scenario where they might still be alive,” she says. “That’s how unimaginable the alternative felt.”
Now, Sigal lives to preserve their memory. Her project, Nora’s Vision, is a tribute to the future her daughters didn’t get to live: a sanctuary where girls in crisis will be supported through fashion, art, therapy and care. “I couldn’t protect them,” she says. “But I can carry their dreams.”
Norelle was born in Los Angeles in 1998.
“She opened my heart to motherhood,” Sigal says. “She was my best friend.” From a young age, she showed a gift for styling, emotional intelligence, and ambition. “She wanted to combine fashion and psychology to help women in crisis. That was her vision.”
Roya was a gentle spirit – creative, playful, and full of artistic flair. She painted, wrote poetry, and dreamed of studying jewellery design and film in New York. “She touched everyone with light,” Sigal says.
The sisters had a bond that was more than siblinghood. “They were each other’s anchors,” their mother says.
After army service, Roya joined Norelle and Amit on a trip to Panama. “They travelled together, celebrated life, and grew even closer.”
Back in Israel, they rented a flat and began planning a wedding. “They were ready to build a life together,” Sigal says. “We were all so hopeful.”
On 7 October at 6:29am, Sigal and her husband Manny woke to sirens. “We called the girls right away. They were lying on the ground, trying to protect their heads from rockets,” Sigal recalls.
Soon after, they were told to evacuate the festival. Norelle, Roya, Amit and two friends got into a car and texted the family: they were safe, on the way home. “We told them to drive carefully,” Sigal says. “We were waiting for them.”
But police redirected tra c away from the north. Forced to turn back, the group took cover in a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Be’eri. Dozens of others had gathered there. What followed was a massacre. Gunmen arrived, lobbed grenades, and opened fire inside the shelter. Twelve people survived. Norelle, Roya and Amit did not.
Sigal and Manny spent the next days searching hospitals, calling news outlets, clinging to hope. Roya’s death was confirmed first. Then, during a Zoom call with President Biden and other hostage families, Sigal received a knock at the door. It was confirmation that Norelle, too, had been killed. “I screamed,” Sigal recalls. “It was unbearable.”
In one week, Sigal buried her daughters and future son-in-law. “It felt like molten lava inside me,” she says. “Like something had burnt out of my chest.” She and Manny quit their jobs. Shai, 16, left school.
But through the grief, a mission began to form: Nora’s Vision. “It’s what my daughters would have done,” she said. “They wanted to help others through creativity and care. I’m building that for them.”
Already, the family has begun styling sessions for girls in shelters, using Norelle and Roya’s clothing – not as donations, but as tools for storytelling and empowerment. “It helps these girls feel seen,” Sigal says. “And it lets people learn who my daughters really were.”
Next week, Sigal will travel to London to take part in Eternal Embrace, a photography exhibition by Israeli artist Ifat Peer as part of the MomToo project. The exhibition focuses on bereaved mothers, honouring their lost children and sharing their last embrace.
“It’s more than an exhibition,” Sigal says. “It’s a cry of pain – and a call to action.”
When asked what her daughters would think of Nora’s Vision, Sigal’s voice softens. “They would be proud,” she says. “That gives me strength to keep going.”
Sigal with daughters Norelle (left) and Roya
Norelle and Roya Manzuri with Norelle’s boyfriend Amit Cohen
Survey: British Jews among most fearful
British Jews are among the most concerned in the world about rising antisemitism, according to a major international survey by Voice of the People, a global initiative backed by Israeli president Isaac Herzog, writes Annabel Sinclair.
The 2025 Jewish Landscape Report , which gathered responses from more than 10,000 Jews across the globe, found that 76 percent identified antisemitism as their most urgent concern – well ahead of Israel-diaspora tensions (56 percent), internal divisions (49 percent) and cultural preservation (46 percent).
Marchers taking part in an antisemitism demo in the UK
Among British respondents, 81 percent said they felt the need to conceal their Jewish identity in public spaces –one of the highest figures recorded.
The data, compiled through digital outreach and community-led surveys, was described by organisers as a “global Jewish reality check”.
Voice of the People CEO Shirel DaganLevy said: “The findings reflect a com-
munity that is hurting but is also more united than ever in its desire to stand tall, protect its heritage and shape a stronger, safer future.”
Younger Jews, particularly Gen Z and millennials, reported high levels of fear and isolation, with more than 80 percent globally citing antisemitism as their number-one concern.
Older respondents focused more on long-term threats to Jewish continuity
and drew historical parallels with previous waves of persecution.
In the US, 78 percent cited increasing hostility in academic and professional settings. French and German participants reported a growing loss of faith in institutions. In Latin America, many expressed fear – but also renewed pride in Jewish identity.
The findings will inform the creation of a Global Jewish Council, a new 150member body of Jewish leaders from Israel, North America and beyond, tasked with developing strategic responses to the issues raised.
“This was about meeting Jews where they are – online, across continents and across generations,” said Neta Danciger, the project’s chief marketing officer.
“We were able to capture authentic, real-time insights that reflect the challenges Jews face today but also the resilience and unity that define our future.”
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BBC SORRY FOR 7 OCT DENIAL
BBC Arabic has issued an on-air apology after one of its presenters denied verified facts about the 7 October atrocities during a broadcast, as the corporation as a whole faces a thematic review into its coverage of the war in Gaza, writes Daniel Sugarman.
It follows an interview in April when Israeli researcher Idit Bar was challenged by BBC Arabic’s Talking Points show presenter Mohamed Abdelhamid after she stated “we were attacked on October 7, 2023. They slaughtered entire families, they kidnapped little infants as well, they raped our women, burned families... and also kidnapped elderly people.”
Abdelhamid interrupted Bar, saying “there is no evidence” for “burning whole families”.
When Bar asked to be allowed to complete what she was saying, Abdelhamid responded that he was “obliged to comment if you
repeat several stories which do not have any evidence”. There is overwhelming evidence regarding the burnings of Israelis on 7 October, including families in their homes.
After a complaint from media watchdog CAMERA Arabic, BBC Arabic apologised on-air last month stating that in the April 28 episode of Talking Point, Idit Bar “was interrupted in a way contrary to fact[s] and our editorial guidelines. The BBC apologises for this mistake.”
BBC chairman Samir Shah has told Times Radio the broadcaster will be conducting a thematic review of its coverage since 7 October, stating specifically: “The BBC Arabic service, we are looking at it, we’ve been examining it.”
Calender of hope for the hostages in Gaza
A group of Manchester women who have held weekly vigils for Israeli hostages since 7 October have set up a calendar project to raise funds for the families of those still held in Gaza.
Titled Hope is Mandatory: A Year of Courage and Solidarity, the 2026 calendar will spotlight Jewish activists, influencers and campaigners who have “refused to stay silent” in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks.
Participants include journalist Eve Barlow, Instagram campaigner Melissa Chapman, and Samantha Ettus, producer of the October H8TE documentary. Each month will feature a different person, with October reserved as a memorial to the victims of the massacre.
“All the money is just going straight to the hostages,” organiser Amanda Roith told Jewish News “We’re not keeping anything. This is about giving something back and making sure they know we haven’t forgotten them.”
She is joined by Davina Fairclough, Georgina Brownhut Silver,
Ruth Megitt and Shani Memfy, who met through Sunday vigils in Manchester city centre.
“We’ve had support from all kinds of people – Jewish, not Jewish – passing by,” she said. “But also, a lot of abuse. You get shouted at: ‘From the river to the sea’. We thought, instead of just standing there, let’s create something meaningful that supports the hostages and educates people at the same time.”
Describing themselves as “lionesses”, the women say they are undeterred by the hostility they’ve faced. “We’re not scared. I wear a T-shirt that says We Will Dance
Again in Nova. The others have Bring Them Home Now. We walk around Manchester like that.”
Each calendar page will include a quote, photo, and a QR code linking to Shabbat and festival times in multiple time zones. The group hopes to price the calendar at £10-£15 and says all proceeds will go to all the families of hostages still held in Gaza.
The group is seeking corporate or private sponsors to help fund printing costs. “We’d love support from national charities or companies who stand with us.” Those interested in supporting the project can email lionessesunite@gmail.com
REFUGEE HONOURED
Dorit Oliver-Wolff, a refugee from Nazi persecution, has been awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Eastbourne in recognition of her contribution to Holocaust education and campaigning work for human rights.
The honour, the town’s highest, was bestowed at a ceremony in the Town Hall.
Born in Yugoslavia in 1936, OliverWolff’s family was forced to flee their home country after the invasion by Nazi Germany in 1941. They endured years of hiding and near starvation. On one occasion, she and her mother were arrested by the Gestapo and accused of spying for the communists. Her father was worked to death hacking stones for the Germans.
After the war, Oliver-Wolff became a singer and top ten recording artist in Germany.
In recent years, she has dedicated herself to sharing her story and educating others about the Holocaust.
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “This award is recognition of all that Dorit has done to educate students in the South of England and across the country about the Holocaust.
“Dorit is unstinting in her efforts to make sure that the 6 million Jewish men, women and children murdered
in the Holocaust are remembered, and that we all learn from the past. We are so proud of Dorit – a unique woman with such a big personality –not only for the impact of her work, but for the engaging way she shares her testimony. Her warmth, strength and presence leave a lasting impression on all who hear her speak. Mazel Tov, Dorit, thank you for all you do!” Freedom of the Borough is a ceremonial honour that dates back to the Middle Ages and recognises eminent services or achievements. Oliver-Wolff was also awarded a British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education and awareness in 2019.
Dorit Oliver-Wolff with her award
One of the Manchester vigils where the women behind the project met
Editorial comment and letters to the editor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
VOICE OF THE JEWISH
NEWS
Let the cameras into Gaza now
Another round of accusation and counter-accusation. Hamas this week claimed that at least 27 people had been killed and 90 injured by the IDF while waiting for aid overseen by the new Israelapproved Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was meant to mark a turning point. It was supposed to prevent aid from being hijacked by terrorists and ensure civilians received lifesaving supplies.
But without eyes and ears on the ground, the very narrative Israel is hoping to promote is floundering under the weight of unverifiable claims and horrific footage of chaos and carnage.
This is no longer just a humanitarian crisis. It’s a credibility crisis. And there’s only one way out of it: to allow independent international journalists into Gaza, now.
Letting journalists into Gaza would enable verification of events, providing a clearer picture of the situation on the ground. It would also allow for accurate reporting on the effectiveness and safety of the new aid distribution system, and whether it is being manipulated by any parties.
Surely we all want to see Jeremy Bowen on the BBC 10pm news, reporting on the ground as Israeli-organised aid is received by Gazans. His presence, along with that of war reporters from across the spectrum, will bring accountability.
Transparency is not a threat, it’s a lifeline. If Israel wants the world to see the truth, it must let them see it.
Media access puzzle
The plea by leading UK Jewish journalists for international media access to Gaza (22 May) should first be applauded for being one of the rare letters to address the request at both Israel and Egypt, and not just the Jewish state.
However – and this is partly owing to Israel’s own PR failures – the letter’s signatories are still overlooking legitimate, live security reasons for preventing such access (outside of IDF embeds), however respectable their view that this would in theory lead to more accurate reporting.
that the IDF cannot guarantee their safety are indeed risks that those journalists and media organisations should be allowed to judge for themselves.
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There are at least three such reasons. The first has been subject to a well-rehearsed back-and-forth on airwaves several times, and on this, I sympathise to an extent with the signatories. The claims that journalists may become caught up in live combat zones and
I appreciate this is a topic on which one can very much argue the toss, with legitimate arguments on both sides. If the signatories still believe these security reasons are insufficient to overcome the otherwise obvious public interest in media access to Gaza, I suggest their concerns would more properly be directed at Egypt, which (unlike Israel) is not a party to this war and does not share the same live security concerns.
That said, these journalists should again be applauded for their determination not to single out Israel in isolation on this issue.
Naji Tilley, Hendon
SHOCKING CRITICISM BY BOARD
It was bad enough that 36 Jewish members of the Board of Deputies caused a chillul Hashem by writing to the Financial Times in a derogatory way about Israel. We now have the Board’s very own president chastising Israel for the fact that aid is not reaching the “innocent” Palestinians – when that blame falls squarely and solely on the shoulders of Hamas – and agreeing with the unjust stance of the UK government.
Israel is fighting a war against the barbaric Hamas, which has been proven to have its terrorists cowardly operate under the cover of schools and hospitals, while the IDF continually uses its
best endeavours to avoid casualties. The Board of Deputies should not be seen to denigrate Israel, especially in the public forum and when there are so many antisemites out there willing to give succour to our many enemies.
Righteous people such as Douglas Murray and Richard Kemp, who may not agree with all the tactics of the Israeli government, know when to keep schtum and how to emphasise that the blame for the difficulty in aid reaching Palestinians, and any casualties, rests only on Hamas and not on Israel.
B Brodkin
London
REALITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE IN EILAT
Josh Glancy’s recollection of teenage family holidays captured something of the period when Eilat was briefly a winter sun destination for London Jews. But as someone with close family there and having visited at least twice a year for the past 20 years, I can tell him he misunderstands the Eilat of then and now.
First, like every Israeli town, it is a real place, with its own vibrant culture quite apart from its modern role as a getaway destination for Israelis from the
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centre. Second, it’s definitely not off the front line –on my last trip, the Iron Dome went off directly overhead as I cowered with the crowd in the shelters.
My father’s flat is 600m from the Club Hotel hit by a rocket in 2014. Eilat residents for decades have fought in the IDF in Israel’s defence. Eilat is real, Josh, not a Hampstead Garden Suburb fantasy.
Joseph Mintz
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This is how a terrorist movement flourishes
DAVE RICH DIRECTOR OF POLICY, COMMUNITY SECURITY TRUST
And just like that, a terrorist movement in the West is born.
On Sunday, in Boulder, Colorado, a peaceful vigil in support of Israeli hostages was attacked by a 45-year-old Egyptian national, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who used a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to burn them.
Police said 12 people aged 52 to 88 were injured: a video of the aftermath shows victims lying on the ground while others try to put out the flames and treat their burns.
In one video, Soliman is heard shouting: “How many children you killed” and “End Zionists”. And of course, as he carried out the attack, he shouted “Free Palestine”.
Eleven days earlier, in Washington DC, Elias Rodriguez shot dead Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as they left an American Jewish Committee event at the Jewish Museum.
Milgrim and Lischinsky both worked for the Israeli Embassy, but it is not known whether Rodriguez knew who they were, or if he just picked them out because they had been at the AJC event. And he, too, shouted “Free Palestine” after gunning down his victims.
According to one witness, he followed up with “There’s only one solution, Intifada revolution” – a chant heard on many a demonstration, in the US and in the UK.
Neither of the two events attacked was overtly political. But that isn’t the point. If the goal is to “End Zionists” or to instigate “Intifada revolution”, the actual views or behaviour of Jewish or Israeli targets is a trivial detail.
It is not as if the pro-Palestinian movement has been entirely non-violent up to now: antiJewish hate crimes have spiralled, there have been dozens of acts of terrorism or extreme violence globally. But until now, the terrorism that has happened around the world in relation to the conflict in Israel and Gaza has been largely from supporters of jihadist groups like Islamic State, or individuals full of anger but expressing little by way of ideology.
Groups like Palestine Action have made
the violent destruction of property a regular occurrence, but this is the first time we have seen deadly terrorism that is leftist in its political rhetoric and pro-Palestinian in its motivating ideology.
Rodriguez had been active in different far-left groups in the pro-Palestinian movement in the US, had been on their protests, and his political ideas come squarely out of that world. Details are yet to emerge about whether Soliman was similarly politically active, but again, the language he used – talking about children being killed, and ending Zionism – is ubiquitous in the pro-Palestinian movement.
Left-wing terrorism historically was the preserve of Cold War-era groups like BaaderMeinhof in Germany or the Red Brigades in Italy: Marxist-Leninist, often with links to Communist states, and tightly organised around cells and secret structures.
This is different, and more similar to recent extreme right-wing terrorism, where individuals act alone but do so against the backdrop of a global (and largely online) community supportive of their aims and means.
Each attack inspires the next, with mani-
festos, slogans and livestreams posted and shared to glorify each attacker and encourage future atrocities. You don’t need an organisation to build a terrorist movement today: just a collective worldview and a network of social media accounts to spread the message.
What this means for Jews around the world is obvious: more security, more fear, and the need for greater resilience and determination. What it should mean for a pro-Palestinian movement that has made calls for “resistance” and “intifada” the centrepiece of its rhetoric is a period of introspection on how this movement has produced its own brand of terrorism in the West. But that won’t happen.
This is how a terrorist movement is not just born, but grows. Individuals act alone, but they are not alone: they emerge from a political subculture steeped in violent discourse and imagery, and that justifies terrorism when it is in pursuit of an approved cause.
The main surprise is it has taken this long for this kind of terrorism to emerge in the West. The fear was the Washington shooting, would inspire more attacks. Now there are two, and it is inevitable there will be more.
We’ve witnessed the deadly cost of our media’s credulity
HEN MAZZIG JOURNALIST
The media didn’t throw a Molotov cocktail at Jews in Colorado.
But it might as well have this when it poured gasoline on the same fire.
When reports surfaced of a supposed Israeli massacre of Gazans near an aid distribution point, every major news outlet – from CNN to Sky to the BBC – ran with it. Their sources? Hamas-a liated “health o cials”. Their evidence? An unverified viral video already making the rounds online. Within minutes figures like Piers Morgan jumped in: “Horrific. This cannot go on.”
What really cannot go on is this: a global media machine that runs Hamas’ press releases as breaking news and influencers who amplify them without hesitation or scrutiny.
The result is a narrative that feels urgent and appears morally clear and would be if it was anchored in truth. This footage has since been completely discredited. The BBC confirmed it wasn’t even from the aid site in
question. It was filmed in a di erent location, at a di erent time of day, with no demonstrable connection to the alleged incident. The IDF, meanwhile, clarified that warning shots were fired away from the distribution zone, directed at suspects who ignored multiple warnings and moved toward Israeli soldiers. Remember: Gaza is an active, dangerous war zone. Nevertheless, aid distribution, the IDF confirmed, continues uninterrupted. But none of those facts made it into the headlines. Not because they weren’t available, but because they weren’t consistent with the distorted messaging making the viral rounds online.
What both the haters and an unwary public was fed was outrage: innocent Palestinians gunned down while collecting food.
That narrative fits neatly into the worst assumptions about Jews and Israel.
And once it took o , even if the news outlets had been serious about retracting or correcting it, that wouldn’t have mattered.
If you don’t believe me, just ask those who were gunned down in Washington DC or set on fire in Colorado.
The distorted report was just the cue the
Colorado fire bomber was waiting for when he attacked with Molotov cocktails yelling, “How many children have you killed?”
Weeks of disinformation – like the fabricated claim that 14,000 babies could die in 48 hours, finally reached a crescendo in his warped and hateful mind. A lie that originated on activist channels but was massaged into credibility by mainstream outlets and echoed by high-profile voices. At a certain point, a lie is no longer just speech. It’s incitement.
This violence isn’t a backlash because of a foreign conflict. It’s an intentional campaign that is fueled by viral headlines, validated by someone with a blue checkmark, and ending in violence that exists solely to maim Jews.
This isn’t about shielding Israel from criticism. It’s about insisting on the bare minimum of journalistic responsibility, during a war against a genocidal terror group that has openly weaponised civilian casualties to promote antisemitic narratives.
Of course, every country must facilitate aid to civilians during war. But singling Israel out as somehow uniquely genocidal for returning fire at those using human shields is hardly
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a reasonable assessment of what is going on. What is going on is that no other people – except the Jews – are asked to justify their humanity every time a false headline spreads.
We don’t expect integrity from Hamas. But we should be able to expect it from global newsrooms and the public figures who claim to care about truth.
The social media landscape has given misinformation fatal new momentum. A story hits the internet. It confirms a bias. It travels the world before the facts catch up. And if those facts don’t fit the moral arc people want, they’re ignored entirely.
This is how antisemitic myths evolve now: not whispered in dark corners, but broadcast under bright studio lights. And every time a false story is left unchallenged, it builds the amoral sca olding for real-world violence.
If we actually care about saving lives –Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, or anyone else – we have to break this cycle. We have to raise the cost of getting it wrong.
Because if the world keeps rewarding those who spread lies, it’s not just truth that dies. It’s people.
LOAY ALSHAREEF
In a region where symbols often speak louder than words, Jordan’s recent move to ban the Muslim Brotherhood might be more than just a legal decision – it could be a message to the region and the world at a consequential moment in Middle Eastern politics.
For years, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has walked a tightrope. With limited resources, a diverse population and a longstanding peace treaty with Israel, Amman has played the role of a regional stabiliser.
Yet within its borders, the presence of the Muslim Brotherhood – a political Islamist movement with deep ideological roots – has been both tolerated and regulated. That balance now appears to have tipped.
The timing of this decision is crucial. The Middle East is not what it was a decade ago. In the wake of the Abraham Accords, a new bloc of pragmatic states is emerging –
UAE-BASED EGYPTIAN ZIONIST ACTIVIST RACHEL
Inations like the UAE, Bahrain and, increasingly, Saudi Arabia – that prioritise stability, economic modernisation and regional cooperation over ideological entanglements.
By banning the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan seems to be signalling its alignment with this evolving reality.
Let’s be clear: this is not merely a domestic policy decision. It’s a recalibration of Jordan’s identity in the regional order.
The Brotherhood, often viewed by Gulf monarchies and Egypt as a threat to political stability, has long been under pressure. In Egypt, it was outlawed after the fall of Morsi.
In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, it is seen as a dangerous ideological export. By taking this step, Jordan may be seeking deeper strategic integration with these countries –politically, economically and perhaps even in matters of security.
Historically, the Brotherhood has had a unique space in Jordanian politics. Unlike its more militant branches in other countries, Jordan’s Brotherhood has generally operated through legal political mechanisms, particularly via its political arm, the
Islamic Action Front. For decades, it participated in elections, built social services and maintained influence, especially among Palestinian-Jordanians who saw the movement as a voice for identity and resistance.
But times change. Jordan is no longer willing – or perhaps able – to host an organisation whose ideology runs counter to the tide of moderation that is now sweeping across much of the Arab world. The recent decision comes amid economic pressures, generational shifts and a growing youth demographic that is more interested in TikTok, trade and tech startups than ideological slogans.
There are risks. Banning the Brotherhood may push its supporters underground, fuelling radicalisation rather than containing it. The Brotherhood, for all its flaws, has long been a controlled outlet for dissent. Removing it from the legal political arena could backfire.
However, Jordan’s leadership may be betting the movement has lost its moral appeal. Unlike during the Arab Spring, when the Brotherhood rode a wave of populist
The Ireland I left behind and the Israel I found Surge of hope in Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood ban
enthusiasm, now it feels outdated, more like a relic of the 15th century than a solution for the 21st. The young are not chanting Brotherhood slogans; they’re chasing opportunity.
As someone who speaks and writes often about peacebuilding and ideological extremism in the Middle East, I see Jordan’s move as part of a larger cultural and political shift. The Muslim world is undergoing an intellectual recalibration. There’s a rising appetite for pragmatism, tolerance, and regional cooperation. The Brotherhood, once a symbol of political awakening, is now increasingly seen as an obstacle to progress.
Jordan’s decision will be debated. Some will see it as a crackdown on political freedom. Others will call it overdue. What matters most is what comes next. Will Jordan invest in political alternatives that reflect the aspirations of its people? Will it provide space for moderate, reformist voices to emerge? If so, this decision could mark not just an end, but a new beginning.
And in a region where new beginnings are rare, that might be a new beginning for Jordan.
n The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain recounts his impressions of The Holy Land during a 1867 visit:
‘...a silent, mournful expanse…a desolation is here not even imagination can can grace with pomp and action…’
Of course, visiting Israel today you will encounter a land so drastically altered from Twain’s account as to be unrecognisable. Last week I travelled to the country for the wedding of a very dear friend. My personal chaos of trying to get there – multiple cancelled and rebooked flights – was surpassed by the wonderful, dynamic, and oft infuriating chaotic experience of Tel Aviv.
One single hour in this city would shatter the misconceptions that too many in the West hold about Israel. Indeed, so many of the visuals I bore witness to in Israel – the Yemenite filigree shop in Ja a, the black Orthodox man in Jerusalem, a Muslim woman wearing a hijab sitting next to an IDF soldier at a bus stop on the outskirts of Tel Aviv – prompted feelings of disheartenment within me about how the people of Israel have been so egregiously misunderstood in my own country of Ireland. In some cases,
particularly by the Irish establishment, they have been cynically and intentionally misrepresented. Growing up in Dublin, if you had no connection to the Jewish community, you would be forgiven for believing that Israel is a ‘white coloniser entity’ composed of ontologically evil beings and one on the brink of destruction. Walking through the bustling streets of Tel Aviv late in the evening – filled with people of every colour – impresses upon you just how delusional this hateful fantasy is.
I admit to experiencing intense frustration and despair regarding the enormous success of the dehumanising narrative in Ireland that positions Israelis as a whole as illegitimate settlers: irrevocably stained from birth for being born on a Land that they have, in the Irish consciousness, no claim to.
I often bemoan the fact that there has been such a profound failure to communicate the complexities of Israel, the diverse story of the Jews, and the Jewish connection to the Land. I also often get further irked that when I say this, I am often met with defeatism from Israeli friends: ‘the world hates us and has always hated us, nothing we do or say to educate people matters’. This is an approach that I strongly disagree with. Antonio Gramsci wrote that his mind was pessimistic, but his will was optimistic. This is the
attitude that I adopt: through this optimism of the will, I have faith that my compatriots would have less bigotry towards Israelis and Jews if they weren’t so misinformed. So why won’t Israelis just help educate them?
However, as I people-watched one night on the energetic streets of Tel Aviv, a thought struck me. These people are living the wildest dreams of their ancestors, unburdened by having to explain themselves to a world that has inflicted devastation upon the Jewish people across generations and continents.
This is what sovereignty after a millennia of persecution looks like. I still maintain that Israelis and Jews need far better o cial communications teams, but I agree that the average Israeli should not have to turn out their pockets for a hostile world.
As for myself, amidst the chaos of Tel Aviv, I felt a sense of calm and ease during my week-long trip that I haven’t felt for a very long time. Dublin is and always will be my beloved home. However, the reality is that vicious anti-Israel sentiment – one that is most certainly not confined to legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and one that often crosses the line into antisemitism – has become an insidiously su ocating background hum. Until my trip last week, I did not realise just how much I had been looking over
my shoulder in Dublin since 7 October.
Candidly, I also didn’t realise how lonely and isolated my life had become until I arrived in Tel Aviv and was inundated with messages of people wanting to spend time with me. It is a sad paradox that, while my online presence grows due to my public advocacy in support of the Jewish people, my life in Dublin has become infinitely smaller.
I have lost Irish friends that I have had since childhood. I perceive that as their callousness at best, antisemitism at worst, in the face of the worst massacre of Jews since the Shoah. They would of course have a di erent perception. Ultimately I think all parties would agree that there was a breakdown in understanding between us. What a relief it was to be in Tel Aviv around people who understand. How deeply profound it was to walk through streets filled with open displays of Jewishness.
I felt acutely what a tragedy it was that 58 people who should have been there in Israel at the same time as me, were not. The hostages. As the world derides their su ering, Tel Aviv holds them deep in its heart’s core and screams with a unified voice: Bring Them Home. Those three words echo in my own heart returning to my own home in Dublin. Bring Them Home.
1
TEE-ING UP IN AID OF BEIT HALOCHEM
Dyrham Park Golf Club hosted a charity Golf Day for 88 participants in aid of Beit Halochem UK, raising more than £21k to help provide critical support and rehabilitation to Israel’s wounded heroes. Guests heard from Liam Spilman, a 27-year-old IDF veteran from Netanya who was critically wounded by a Hezbollah drone while serving on Israel’s northern border in November 2023. After surgery and a month in intensive care, he is now rebuilding his life with help from Beit Halochem Tel Aviv and is an active member of the Young Veterans Club.
2 LSJS HOSTS JEWISH TEACHERS’ SEMINAR
The London School of Jewish Studies held its annual conference on 21 May, with 80 participants from Turkey, the Netherlands, Romania and Israel. Introducing the day, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, president of LSJS, said: “We learn from Mishlei that, as when digging for treasure, a person’s search for Torah education needs to be accurate and persistent.” The conference included sessions on Israel education, using AI in schools, and how to prepare students for life on campus post-7 October.
3 INTERFAITH PRAYERS FOR THE HOSTAGES
Christian and Jewish friends came together in St Ives, Cornwall, to raise awareness and express their growing concern for the remaining 58 hostages in Gaza, of whom 23 are believed to still be alive. The group say they will not stop praying and standing up for the remaining hostages until every single one is brought home.
4 RADLETT HOSTS A SWEET SHAVUOT
Radlett Reform Synagogue hosted a Tikkun Leyl Shavuot service, with guest shuls and their rabbis sharing in leading the service and study sessions. Study was preceded by a supper, which of course concluded with festive cheesecake. Synagogues taking part included Elstree, Edgware & Hendon, Kol Chai Hatch End, Mosaic Stanmore and Stevenage.
5 A BLOCKBUSTER DAY FOR MACCABI GB
Sunday 11 May was a blockbuster day for Maccabi GB as supporters came together for two fundraising events. First up was the Tough Mudder challenge in Henley, taken on by a team of seven, including Daniel Morris and Joel Freedman, who said: “Everyone who took part absolutely smashed it and we really did have the team spirit needed.” Next up was a Sports Quiz Night for more than 200 guests at Mill Hill United Synagogue, where the organisation’s chief executive Ashley Lerner said: “We use the power of sport to improve health, strengthen Jewish identity, and build a confident, inclusive community that proudly contributes to a more cohesive Britain.”
A powerful documentary focuses on the effect of the Hamas attacks on the Israeli children who experienced them. By Charlotte Henry
This was not what social media activist Montana Tucker planned to do with her career. Despite being proud of the roots laid down by her Holocaust survivor grandparents, she gained a huge following due to her dancing and singing ability and had never even really spoken publicly about being Jewish.
Then 7 October happened and, as was the case for so many, it changed her life.
“I just knew that I had to do everything that I could,” she says. “If I have a platform of over 14 million followers [across all social channels] and I’m not standing up for what I believe in, and I’m not educating, what what’s the point of having these followers?”
“Furthermore,” she says: “I know my grandparents – if social media was around back then, they would have used their platforms to speak out on what they believed in.
“So I knew I kind of had to take over the legacy for them, for
my ancestors and our future generations.”
Montana, 32, who lives in Florida, has been to Israel six times since the massacre of that day in 2023. After visiting Auschwitz in 2022 (her grandparents were Holocaust survivors) she made a TikTok series about the experience, which was viewed over seven million times. This was then adapted into a documentary.
Since 7 October she has been vocal and vociferous in her support for Israel and was moved to produce another doumentary.
The Children of October 7, which is now available to watch in the UK on Paramount+, having previously only been available in the US, focuses on the e ect the attacks had on the Israeli children who experienced them first hand.
“These are innocent children who went through the absolute worst of the worst, and everything was live-streamed for the world to see,” explains Montana.
“Hamas purposely wanted the world to see what they did. And
now these are the testimonies of these innocent children.”
Thirty-seven children were murdered by Hamas on 7 October and 35 were kidnapped to Gaza.
More than 100 children lost one parent, more than 20 lost both parents, hundreds were injured and thousands were displaced from their homes.
Nobody can fail to be moved by the Palestinian children caught up in the war triggered by the October 7 atrocities. Montana certainly is. Yet the horrors endured by their Israeli peers seem to have been almost entirely dismissed by many around the world. “I don’t hear anything about the Israeli children in the media,” the creator says. “I felt it was my responsibility, my duty, to make sure that I at least could bring attention to what was going on with that, what happened to the Israeli children, and what continues to happen to the Israeli children.”
Montana wasn’t exactly sure what the fate of The Children of October 7 would be after she made it.
Watch with Montana
She was encouraged by many people to put it out via YouTube because they felt it would be “too controversial… too political” for a mainstream studio to pick up. Consequently, “I keep making sure that people understand this is not political. This isn’t controversial,” she says. “It’s about the torment inflicted on innocent children.”
She is nonetheless grateful to Paramount and MTV for putting it out.
“Andrea Ballas [vice-president, communications] from CBS, who I met with, believed in the project, and we got it to Shari Redstone [Paramount’s non-executive chair], who I am so beyond grateful for. She is a force.”
At not much more than halfan-hour in length, The Children of October 7, the earnings from which Montana says she sent on to support the children featured, might not be long. That doesn’t stop it being an extremely tough watch.
The film starts with images of some of the victims, including the Bibas family, whose sons Ariel and Kfir were the youngest children taken that day. One of those featured, Yael Idan, says of the attack: “It’s like everything that felt safe wasn’t safe anymore.”
Rotem Mathias lost both parents on Kibbutz Holit and hid
under the body of his dead mother for an hour in order to survive.
“When [the terrorists] leave, they laugh,” he recalls. We also hear the voicemail he sent to the family WhatsApp group letting them know about the murders.
Among the children there is an amazing sense of resilience.
Mathias believes his parents’ deaths gave him a second chance at life. Eitan Yahalomi was kidnapped into Gaza on a motorbike. Released after 50 days in captivity, he now races such bikes for fun.
Perhaps the most painful moment comes from Ella Shani. She was 14 years old when the Hamas attacks happened and she lost her father, with whom she says she had a somewhat strained relationship. She reads the text that she wrote for him upon learning about his death a few days after the attack. It brings Tucker to tears and is almost unbearable to watch.
But watch it we must. As the terrible war in Gaza continues, The Children of October 7 is a painful reminder of how it started.
Now on a mainstream channel in several countries, it needs to be seen by as many people as possible – Jews and non-Jews and Jews alike.
■ The Children of October 7 is on Paramount+
Music for Jewish life
British-Israeli violinist Itamar Rashkovsky has set up a summer school to take place at JW3. By Alex Galbinski
ABritish-Israeli violinist has launched a music school for children believed to be the first of its kind in London, combining conservatoire-level music education with Jewish cultural content.
Itamar Rashkovsky has set up the Miriam School of Music (MSM), a music school based at JW3 that also o ers instrumental lessons in people’s homes. And, while traditional conservatoires for children run on Saturdays, his school aims to be accessible to all Jewish families by running on Sundays.
“The project’s aim,” explains Rashkovsky, “is to create a vibrant, welcoming space where children of all musical backgrounds and standards can explore a Jewish-based curriculum with conservatoire-level educators.
“The two worlds – that of Jewish music and of conservatoire-level education – are quite separated. Jewish students shouldn’t have to choose between spiritual observance and musical ambition, and it has been really interesting to have people with conservatoire backgrounds teaching technical skills through examples of Jewish music and Jewish culture.”
The summer school at JW3 – which runs on 15, 22 and 29 June – will involve choir, theory and learning musicianship through song, dance and interactive games for groups as well as year-round one-to-one instrumental lessons taught by conservatoire-trained teachers. Both are available to beginners as well as more experienced learners, and the instrumental lessons, which are more
centred on the individual’s needs, can be taught in their home, the teacher’s home or remotely.
Rashkovsky, who grew up in Earl’s Court and now lives in north London, is passionate about teaching music that reflects and celebrates Jewish heritage and culture.
“Music is a huge part of our tradition, our celebrations and our mournings. It is integral to our lived experiences, our shared histories. Music is part of Jewish life – from the joy of Simchat Torah to the solemnity of Kol Nidre. MSM encourages children and families to connect with Jewish sound and spirit. This is a call to action: let’s bring more Jewish music into our homes, our gatherings and our identity.”
He points to the fact that many of the 20th century’s greatest classical musicians were Jewish – Yehudi Menuhin, Jascha Heifetz, David Oistrakh, Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz.
“It’s a community with such a rich background in violin and music. And I thought that there needed to be more outreach to embrace the talent within the community and to find and nurture the next generation of stars and unlock their potential,” he adds.
Rashkovsky, 29, whose parents and sister are all professional violinists, admits that when he first picked up the instrument he did so “very reluctantly”.
“At the age of seven, I wanted to play the guitar, but they gave me the violin –and now I understand why – it’s a bit of a family trade. And I was very reluctant until about the age of 13. At that point, I don’t know what it was, but I became
obsessed with the instrument and I started practising really hard and began to win prizes.”
Aged 10, he was accepted into the Royal College of Music (junior department), receiving a full scholarship aged 14. He now teaches at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Junior Guildhall – and was the youngest violin faculty member at a junior conservatoire in the UK at the time of his appointment in 2021.
You might be forgiven, then, for thinking that Rashkovsky devotes his entire working life to music but you’d be mistaken; he is a management consultant.
“Management consulting is a job I enjoy. Music is something that I grew up with – I come from a musical background. Music means so many things – it expresses what words can’t or what some people would struggle to put into words. So it’s the language that starts when spoken language ends.
“It’s almost like the more I do in music, the more energy I have to give to other areas of my life. Music gives me energy, and especially in my teaching, which is so important to me. To see your students grow and to see the real impact you have on their lives – and, whether or not they become musicians, that’s really meaningful and powerful.
“To me, music is really a passion and I want to give more of that to the Jewish community.”
Parashat Nasso opens with a command: “Lift the heads of the sons of Gershon…” (Numbers 4:22). This lifting - nasso in Hebrew - is more than a census. It is a recognition of dignity, of role, of belonging within the broader tapestry of Israel’s sanctity. Each Levite family bore a distinct responsibility in transporting the Mishkan, God’s portable sanctuary. No role was too small, no burden unworthy of spiritual merit. It is striking, then, that in our own generation there is a spiritual and communal burden that resonates deeply with Nasso’s message: the responsibility of standing tall in Jewish identity. At the Global Conference on Antisemitism in Jerusalem last month, Chief Rabbi
Ephraim Mirvis made a declaration that reverberates with this Torah reading: “If you are antiZionist, you are anti-Jewish.” His statement underscores what Nasso teaches implicitly: that identity, once embraced by covenant, must be borne with pride and courage. Zionism, he reminded his audience, is not simply political ideology - it is central to Jewish religious life and continuity. Denying the legitimacy of Jewish peoplehood and statehood is a form of modernday denial of Jewish spiritual existence.
These are heavy words. But Nasso gives carried the weight of the sanctuary – the
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar, who organised that conference, warned that attempts to impose an arms embargo on Israel in its current state of conflict are, in e ect, an e ort to “annihilate the state of Israel”. These are heavy words. But us the language to understand them. The Levites did not have easy tasks. They carried the weight of the sanctuary – the physical vessels of holiness that allowed the divine presence to dwell
among the people. Likewise, defending Jewish sovereignty and security is no less a sacred burden today, and a heavy one at that. When security is threatened under the guise of moral criticism, it is the equivalent of removing the sanctuary’s support beams. The house cannot stand.
Among the most moving sections of parashat Nasso is the priestly blessing, words recited to this day by Kohanim around the world: “May the Lord bless you and protect you…” (Numbers 6:24–26). That blessing is a spiritual shield. But the political and physical shield of Israel is no less essential.
The portion concludes with the dedication of the altar by the 12 tribal leaders. Though their gifts were identical, each one is recorded separately in the Torah. This teaches the significance of individual
expression in spiritual and material life. In a world where Jewish voices often feel drowned out, delegitimised, cancelled or gaslit, Nasso reminds us that every act of visible Jewish identity – each prayer, each word of support, each refusal to hide – is sacred and counts.
As we read parashat Nasso this Shabbat, we too must have the courage to lift our heads – nasso et rosh – with pride, bearing the burden and blessing of Jewish identity in a world that still tests its strength.
• This piece is dedicated to the Alon Ohel Yellow Piano Project, which is raising awareness globally about the remaining hostages alive in captivity in Gaza.
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Anti-Zionists are anti-Jewish, Chief Rabbi Mirvis has said
Gideon Sa’ar
LEAP OF FAITH
BY RABBI MIRIAM BERGER RABBI EMERITA OF FINCHLEY REFORM SYNAGOGUE AND FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF WELLSPRING UK
I was struck by the headline of a London news bulletin announcing three London football teams celebrating trophy wins. It was referring to Tottenham’s Europa League victory, Arsenal women winning the women’s Champions League and Crystal Palace lifting the FA Cup.
Now this isn’t just the musings of the mother of a heartbroken Arsenal (men’s team) fan with no prizes for coming second (with salt in the wounds from the gloating Spurs fans at school) but rather a middle-aged woman who cannot remember a time previously when women’s football was given this kind of equal footing.
I am really impressed by how far we have come, yet that journey also provides an important lesson.
The media had to get behind the sport in order to change the national narrative.
Once it started talking about women’s football in the same way as men’s, people took it seriously. They didn’t start reporting on it because people were taking an interest, they started reporting on it to create interest. Only in that way did tens of thousands come to fill the stadiums to watch, and due to encouraging news items the hoards came to witness the trophy’s homecoming.
So if the media can change the dialogue around women in sport, kicking out the misogyny and validating the game, getting it on an equal footing with men, what other cultural narratives are they creating or encouraging and is there anything we can do?
There is another far more sinister narrative that the media are manipulating. There are those who say that Benjamin Netanyahu has blood on his hands and has to find a way to end the war in Gaza; however, the international media who are creating an antiIsrael, pro-Palestinian agenda also have blood on their hands.
The murdered Israeli embassy staff in
Washington, those injured in Colorado, and the vandalism in France are all examples, among many, of the tragic events that follow specific narratives being stirred up. I fear that it is only a matter of time before such
A stimulating series where our progressive rabbis consider Judaism in the face of 21st-century issues
an event takes lives here in the UK, although I feel reassured to know that the Community Security Trust will do everything it can to avoid that threat from becoming a reality.
The horrific su ering of the Palestinians is most certainly something media outlets have an obligation to report and yet they also have to take their responsibility seriously. Every person harmed in the diaspora in a deliberate demonstration of support for Palestinians is a result of the way the war in Israel and Gaza is being manipulated by the press.
When you find yourself glued to the UEFA Women’s Euros this summer and smile when you think how far we’ve come in the world of sporting gender equality, take a moment to think about how much society is conditioned to respond to the way with which we are presented in any situation.
What is being said and what is being implied? Where is this narrative coming from and to what end? Who is being vilified and why? And most importantly, how do I find my voice to amplify my truth in this moment?
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