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Last week, Keir Starmer insisted he was “unequivocal” about the need for a Palestinian state, but stressed it needed to be part of a “wider plan which results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis”.

Just 72 hours later, on Tuesday afternoon, the prime minister announced: “Because of the increasingly intolerable situation in Gaza and the diminishing prospect of a peace process towards a two state solution, now is the right time to move this position forward.”

What changed in those hours? Regretfully, the apparent U-turn does not seem like a considered and measured decision, but rather a desperate attempt to quell a rising tide of political pressure – from hundreds of Parliamentarians as well as members of his own cabinet – for such recognition to take place.

It also seems like a kneejerk reaction to France’s decision last week to announce its own similar plans.

The British government’s announcement contained signiﬁcant caveats. Such recognition will only take place in September if Israel fails to take certain actions, such as reaching a ceaseﬁre in Gaza, and guaranteeing the West Bank will not be annexed. Likewise, it will only happen if Hamas takes various highly unlikely actions of their own, such as releasing all the hostages and disarming.

The sad fact, however, is that the UK’s ultimatum, rather than being a signiﬁcant step forward, only shows the severe decline in our country’s inﬂuence on the world stage.

Neither Israel or Hamas are likely to factor the UK announcement – or rather, its threat – into their decision making. We can also ask why, given the cabinet o ce stated that “recognition of a Palestinian state was an inalienable right of the Palestinian people”, the British government seems perfectly

Continued on page 2

Starmer ‘rewarding monstrous Hamas’

Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state if the crisis in Gaza is not ended rewards “Hamas’s monstrous terrorism”, Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week, writes Joy Falk.

Starmer said the UK would refrain from recognition only if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire and signs up to a longterm peace process over the next two months.

Hamas must immediately release all remaining hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and “accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza”.

As well as accusing Starmer of rewarding Hamas, Netanyahu said in a statement on social media site X: “Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails.”

US president Donald Trump, who met Starmer on Monday and discussed measures to end the starvation in Gaza, suggested the pair had not talked about recognising Palestinian statehood but said he did not mind the PM “taking a position” on the issue.

This was a contrast to his reaction to Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France would recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, which the US president said would make no difference.

Other figures in the US administration have taken a harder line.

US state department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce suggested a UN conference called to discuss recognising a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution was a “publicity stunt” and called it a “slap in the face” to the victims of the 7 October attacks.

She also suggested the UK announcement could risk “rewarding Hamas”.

Asked why UK recognition of Palestine was conditional, Starmer said the government’s “primary aim” was getting aid into Gaza and getting hostages released.

JEWISH GROUPS SHUN FRENCH GOVERNMENT

Seven major US Jewish organisations have rejected a meeting with a French minister out of protest over French president Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that he would recognise a Palestinian state.

The move makes France the largest Western country to offer recognition, which 140 other countries have already extended but Israel and the United States oppose.

Critics of unilateral recognition say the creation of a Palestinian state should come only through negotiations involving Israel.

France’s minister for Europe and foreign affairs, Jean-Noel Barrot, approached one of the groups, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, to meet in New York to discuss the recognition move. It declined.

“We are disappointed that our organisations were invited to discuss a policy that appears to already have been finalised rather than being consulted beforehand as partners committed to sustainable peace,” the groups said in a joint statement.

The others joining the conference in issuing the statement are six of its member organisations: the Anti-Defamation League, the

American Jewish Committee, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, B’nai B’rith International, UJA-Federation of New York and the World Jewish Congress.

Conference CEO William Daroff said in a statement the decision to rebuff Barrot’s invitation did not represent a permanent policy.

“We routinely meet with foreign leaders, including when we disagree with their policies,” he added.

“However, in this case, the group of invited organisations unanimously agreed not to attend. Speaking with one voice underscores the seriousness of our objection.

“Should we receive future invitations, we will evaluate them on a case-by-case basis.”

He added he was “particularly concerned that the very idea of a two-state solution is reducing and feels further away today than it has for many, many years”.

While the prime minister signalled the UK could back away from recognising a Palestinian state if his conditions are met, No 10 is understood to believe a two-state solution would also proceed from negotiations towards a sustained peace.

The UK and its allies need to see “at least 500 trucks entering Gaza every day” to deliver aid, Starmer added, and are together “mounting a major effort to get humanitarian supplies back in” by air and by land.

Starmer spoke with a series of world leaders throughout Tuesday, including Netanyahu and King Abdullah II of Jordan, whose nation is leading efforts to airdrop aid into Gaza.

High-level representatives at the UN conference on Tuesday urged Israel to commit to a Palestinian state and gave “unwavering support” to a two-state solution.

The New York Declaration, issued by the conference, sets out a phased plan to end the nearly eight-decade conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza.

The plan would culminate with an independent, demilitarised Palestine living side by side peacefully with Israel, and its eventual integration into the wider Middle East region.

STATE OF DELUSION

Continued on page 1 willing to wield that “inalienable right” as a threat to cow the Israelis.

The questions continue. Will this help bring the hostages home? Will it end the acute hunger in Gaza that we as paper have led our community in highlighting and condemning? Will it help end the reign of Hamas? Tragically, the only answers are no, no and no.

You can’t simply imagine a democratic Palestinian state into being. Certainly not when Hamas is still in a position of authority. As such, this feels like the ultimate empty gesture, which will alienate British supporters of Israel while infuriating British backers of the Palestinians, who will no doubt demand unconditional recognition.

Some in our community understandably lost all faith in the two-state solution after 7 October. This newspaper maintains that it is still the best hope of a lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians – if it is properly thought out and instrumented.

Only courageous leadership will bring about statehood – and there’s no sign of that at the moment on the Palestinian side or, indeed, in Jerusalem. Rather than this week’s move, the UK and others would do better to support leaders who could go down this path and speak truth to the Palestinians about the fact that they too have had agency for the last 80 years and should finally start using it. It was Marx – Jewish yet no friend to the Jewish people – who described how “history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce”. It would appear that we have now regretfully reached that second stage. • More analysis, pages 18 and 19

Israel unis appeal over Gaza hunger

The presidents of five leading Israeli universities have issued an extraordinary public appeal to Benjamin Netanyahu urging immediate intervention to address the escalating hunger crisis in Gaza and to condemn extremist political rhetoric.

In a joint letter, the heads of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Hebrew University, Open University of Israel, Tel Aviv University and the Technion expressed “shock” at the humanitarian situation and implored Netanyahu to act with “decisiveness and clarity”.

“We… call on you to instruct the IDF and other security forces to intensify efforts to address the severe hunger crisis currently afflicting the Gaza Strip,” the letter states, adding the catastrophe is “causing immense harm to innocent civilians, including children and infants”.

The unprecedented intervention also condemns recent comments by Israeli ministers and MKs advocating “the intentional destruction of Gaza” and “forced displacement” of its population.

The letter calls such rhetoric a “loss of moral restraint” that vio-

lates the country’s humanitarian obligations and risks constituting “serious violations of international law… amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

The signatories cite a shared moral imperative “shaped by the trauma of the Holocaust” to “do all we can to prevent cruel, indiscriminate harm to non-combatant men, women, and children”.

They urge the prime minister to issue a “clear and unequivocal condemnation” of such statements and to uphold Israel’s ethical and legal responsibilities.

The letter marks one of the most high-profile domestic criticisms of the government’s handling of the war in Gaza from within Israel’s academic elite.

WATERS SUED OVER ‘HATE CAMPAIGN’

A Jewish broadcaster is suing Roger Waters and political activist Yves Engler for defamation and harassment in a major civil lawsuit filed before the Superior Court of Quebec.

The filing accuses the pair of orchestrating a prolonged hate campaign that sparked a flood of rape and death threats.

Dahlia Kurtz, a prominent media personality with a podcast audience of over 40 million, alleges the pair caused “severe reputational injury, threats to her personal safety and widespread harm to her mental health and professional standing” through a campaign of incitement that has lasted more than a year.

According to the court filing dated 24 July 2025, the campaign began in March 2024 when Kurtz posted footage of a protest with the caption: “Holocaust. They are calling for another Holocaust.”

Engler responded by branding her a “genocidal maniac”, “Jewish supremacist” and “racist genocide promoter” in more than 100 posts. Waters later joined in, calling Kurtz a “sick puppet in support of genocide” who “should be locked up”.

Emmanuel Macron

Starmer: Under fire from Netanyahu

Screenshot from a video said to show crowds queuing for aid

Emily: Starmer move shameful

A British hostage kept captive by Hamas has strongly criticised the government’s move to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state, describing the decision as “a moral failure” which risks “rewarding terror”, writes Daniel Sugarman

Emily Damari, a dual BritishIsraeli citizen who was taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October and survived 471 days in Hamas captivity, described prime minister Keir Starmer as “not standing on the right side of history”.

“Had he been in power during World War Two, would he have advocated recognition for Nazi control of occupied countries like Holland, France or Poland?”

Damari went on to state this “this move does not advance peace – it risks rewarding terror. It sends a dangerous message that violence earns legitimacy.

“By legitimising a state entity while Hamas still controls Gaza and continues its campaign of terror, the prime minister is not promoting a solution; he is prolonging the conflict. Recognition under these conditions emboldens extremists and undermines any hope for genuine peace. Shame on you.”

Protest outside LBC over James O’Brien

Demonstrators outside LBC’s central London headquarters chanted ‘Shame!’ in protest at presenter James O’Brien, whose show broadcast unchallenged antisemitic claims on 22 July, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

More than 250 members of Britain’s Jewish community and allies gathered outside the building in Leicester Square to demand accountability from LBC following the broadcaster’s perceived failure to address what organisers described as a “modern blood libel” airing on national radio.

Speakers at the event organised by advocacy groups Stop the Hate and We Believe in Israel included Alex Hearn from Labour Friends of Israel, Reverend Hayley Ace and Reverend Tim Gutmann from Christians Against Antisemitism.

The protest followed LBC presenter James O’Brien’s reading of a message from a listener claiming Jewish children are taught “one Jewish life is worth thousands of Arab lives” and “Arabs are cockroaches to be crushed” at non-existent “Shabbat schools”.

The claims, which echo medieval antisemitic tropes, were aired unchallenged during a discussion about Gaza on 22 July.

O’Brien’s subsequent 55-second apology the following day, after widespread condemnation from every major British Jewish

organisation including the Board of Deputies, Jewish Leadership Council and CST was described by the protest organisers as “inadequate and insincere”.

The demonstration came amid record levels of antisemitic incidents in the UK, with Jewish schools and synagogues requiring heightened security. Hertfordshire police and crime commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards has called for O’Brien’s suspension, stating: “This is not a question of free speech – it is a question of broadcasting standards.”

Protest organisers said: “The turnout demonstrates the depth of concern within our community. We continue to call on Global Media & Entertainment to take a clear and public stand against antisemitism on its platforms, including a full on-air correction and formal sanctions.”

Saudi ultimatum on normalisation

Saudi Arabia this week reaffirmed it will not normalise ties with Israel unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established, delivering a fresh blow to Western hopes of regional peace amid the ongoing Gaza war, writes Annabel Sinclair.

Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said at the UN on Monday: “For the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, normalisation with Israel can only come through the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

That position was “based on a strong conviction that only through the establishment of a Palestinian state and only through addressing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination can we have sustainable peace and real integration in the region”.

Bin Farhan’s comments came shortly after France announced it would recognise Palestinian statehood in September – increasing pressure on Israel’s allies to follow suit.

Efforts by US president Trump to bring Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords now appear increasingly uncertain. Asked about normalisation prospects, the foreign minister pointed to the war in Gaza as an insurmountable barrier.

“There is no credibility to have a conversation about normalisation with constant death and suffering and destruction in Gaza.”

Trump, standing alongside Keir Starmer in Scotland this week, blamed Hamas for the worsening humanitarian crisis while announcing plans to coordinate a new food initiative for Gaza with European partners.

“We’ve given a lot of money to Gaza for food, Trump said. “A lot of that money is stolen by Hamas and a lot of the food is stolen.”

Meanwhile, Arab and Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, signed a declaration Tuesday condemning for the first time Hamas’s onslaught of 7 October 2023, and calling on the Palestinian terror group to release all the hostages it is holding, disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war in the Strip.

Abbas with Mohammed bin Salman

Emily Damari recovering in hospital

Oxfam workers ‘eyed mezuzahs’

Oxfam has pledged to retrain its fundraisers after video emerged showing charity workers allegedly knocking on the doors of Jewish residents and raising the subject of Gaza. The organisation said it would ensure staff understand the impact the conflict is having on the UK’s Jewish community, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Members of northwest London Facebook community group Inside Mill Hill and Edgware last week claimed a man and a woman representing the charity organisation had gone doorto-door questioning the significance of mezuzahs on Jewish homes.

Some members of the Facebook group claimed houses without the religious symbols were not targeted in the fundraising activity.

Jewish News has seen a letter from Oxfam responding to one concerned res-

ident who complained. It denies the duo were approaching only Jewish homes.

It says the organisation, having investigated the matter, knows “the appalling rise of hate and discrimination in the UK has impacted communities like yours

and we utterly condemn this. Hate, discrimination and prejudice are against everything that Oxfam stands for and not something we tolerate.”

It adds: “The fact that your neighbourhood is a highly Jewish populated area was not a factor in choosing to fundraise there” and Oxfam acknowledges “the feeling of being targeted that this activity generated. For that we are very sorry.”

The charity says the fundraisers “spoke about Oxfam’s work in Gaza, while also speaking about other humanitarian emergencies in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The gifts would fund the whole of Oxfam’s work.

“We acknowledge that this could be seen as insensitive, and will be retraining all Oxfam fundraisers to ensure that they do not refer to any religious symbolism unless first mentioned by the householder,” the letter concluded.

TWO JEWISH WOMEN KILLED IN NEW YORK

A second Jewish victim has been named in the deadly Manhattan office shooting that left four people dead on Monday, after 27-year-old Julia Hyman was identified among those killed on the 33rd floor of 345 Park Avenue, writes Annabel Sinclair.

Hyman, a Cornell University graduate and employee at Rudin Management, was shot alongside two colleagues after the attacker – named as 27-year-old Shane Tamura –stormed the skyscraper and opened fire.

Moments earlier, he had killed NYPD officer Didarul Islam in the lobby before riding up the lift and fatally targeting office staff. He then turned the gun on himself.

Hyman’s death follows that of fellow Jewish victim Wesley LePatner, 43, a senior executive at Blackstone and board member of the UJA Federation of New York. The

Lineker: It was quit or be quitted by BBC

Gary Lineker has claimed his departure from the BBC was a case of “quit or be quitted”.

The former Match Of The Day presenter was asked if his departure from the corporation was “of his own volition, or a case of quit or be quitted?” to which he replied “the latter”, during an interview with The New World, formerly known as The New European.

The 64-year-old left the BBC early following a post about Zionism which featured a depiction of a rat, his-

torically an antisemitic insult, which he apologised for, saying he stands “against all forms of racism”.

The presenter will no longer front BBC coverage of the 2026 World Cup or the FA Cup next season as had been intended. His last episode of Match Of The Day was on May 25.

Speaking about his departure, Lineker said: “That’s what changed after that. I made a mistake and I immediately took it down and apologised, which I thought should have been enough.”

He went on to say he believed he had complied with the BBC’s impartiality rules as he had looked at the war in Gaza “without a vested interest”.

Lineker added: “I’ve got no skin in the game. I’m not Muslim, I’m not Palestinian, I’m not Israeli, I’m not Jewish. I come from a place of complete impartiality. And then it becomes about truth.

“People talked about me being antisemitic. I’m not anti any group of people. Any race, any colour. But I am anti the killing of children.”

Hostage rides with Israel's Tour team

An Israeli hostage held underground by Hamas for 484 days has made an emotional return to public life – by cycling up the Champs-Élysées in Paris with Israel’s national team ahead of the Tour de France final stage.

Ofer Calderon, 60, was kidnapped with son Erez in the 7 October attacks and spent over a year in captivity, much of it in darkness. He emerged from Gaza in March as part of a rare hostage release.

On Sunday, in fulfilment of a promise made while still imprisoned, Calderon rode a bicycle through central Paris, cheered on by Israel-Premier

Tech (IPT), the country’s elite professional cycling team.

“I’m still in shock that I’m here,” Calderon said. “I’m so emotional. But I’m also torn – this joy can’t be complete while hostages are still in Gaza and our soldiers are dying.”

The appearance came just hours before the Tour’s elite riders completed the final sprint. Calderon joined team owner Sylvan Adams and cofounder Ron Bar-On for the ride, fulfilling a pledge made at a solidarity ride led by Erez Calderon earlier this year at the Israeli velodrome.

That event sparked a wave of international ‘Ride for the

Hostages’ events in cities around the world.

“This is so symbolic– but it won’t be a full victory until they all come home,” said Adams, who embraced Calderon at the Arc de Triomphe.

“We brought him here to call for that – from this enormous stage.”

Calderon’s journey through Paris marked his first time in the city. “Everything looks so big… so wide… so many people,” he said, visibly overwhelmed. “But hope kept me going in Gaza. I believed I’d get out. I believed I’d ride again.”

His son Erez was freed in November 2023.

The former England striker asserted he did not blame BBC director-general Tim Davie for his exit, adding: “Tim Davie I know and I get on well with. I know how difficult it is for him with what’s going on.

“Do I dislike people at the BBC? Not the people that I know.”

two women were among four lives lost in what police have described as a premeditated rampage likely aimed at the NFL, whose offices are based in the same building.

Born and raised in Manhattan, Hyman previously attended Riverdale Country School, where she captained the swimming, football, and lacrosse teams.

School head Kari Ostrem said the community was “simply heartbroken by this loss,” remembering Hyman’s “bright smile and infectious laugh” and her “kindness and sense of community”.

At the time of Lineker’s departure, Davie said in a statement the pair had “agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season”, after the former presenter “acknowledged the mistake he made”. Gary Lineker’s rat post

BRITISH CHARITY FOR ISRAELI VETERANS SUFFERS FRAUD

The UK charitable affiliate of an organisation supporting wounded and disabled IDF veterans has contacted its donors, informing them it has been the victim of significant transaction fraud, writes Daniel Sugarman.

Senior representatives of the Beit Halochem UK charity wrote to supporters, describing themselves as “devastated” by the “deeply distressing incident”.

The letter referred to the perpetrator as “a third-party foreign exchange company that we had worked with reliably for over three years”.

In the letter, the organisation’s chairman, Andrew Wolfson, and chief execu-

tive Spencer Gelding confirmed the incident had been reported to the authorities and a formal police investigation was now under way.

They noted that they were limited in what further information they could provide due to the nature of ongoing inquiries into the incident.

But they said they believed at least two other organisations had been targeted by the same perpetrators.

Jewish News understands that the amount stolen from the charity was in the region of £1 million.

The letter from Wolfson and Gelding went on to state that “the amount involved in this fraud represents less than

10 percent of the total funds we have raised since October 7th 2023, and pertains to a single transaction transferring funds from the UK to Israel. Importantly, we have already taken steps to ensure this cannot happen again.

“New financial controls and oversight measures are now in place to strengthen our protection against such risks in future.

“Our mission, to support brave IDF veterans and victims of terror, is more vital than ever. We will not allow this criminal act to derail the work we do or the impact we strive to make.”

Police have been contacted for comment.

A Facebook screenshot of a caller captured on a security camera

Wesley LePatner

400 rabbis call for end to Gaza hunger

More than 400 rabbis from across the UK, Israel, Europe and North America have signed an open letter accusing Israel of “the use and threat of starvation as a weapon of war” in Gaza and warning of a “grave moral crisis” facing the Jewish people, writes Annabel Sinclair.

The statement, coauthored by Senior Masorti Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, Boston’s Rabbi Arthur Green and Tel Aviv-based Rabbi Ariel Pollak, calls on the Israeli government to allow “extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza under international supervision,” bring hostages home “by all routes possible” and end “criminally violent” settler attacks in the West Bank.

Wittenberg, who signed in a personal capacity, told the Jewish Chronicle the letter was drafted by “people who love Israel” but want to see a change in how it conducts the war.

Other British signatories include New London Synagogue’s Rabbi Jeremy Gordon, Liberal Rabbi Alexandra Wright, Reform Rabbi Larry Tabick and Finchley Reform’s Rabbi Je Newman.

The letter warns that “the Jewish people face a grave moral crisis, threat-

ening the very basis of Judaism as the ethical voice that it has been since the age of Israel’s prophets,” and adds: “We cannot condone the mass killings of civilians, including a great many women, children, and elderly, or the use of starvation as a weapon of war.”

It argues that “the severe limitation placed on humanitarian relief in Gaza” and “withholding of food, water, and medical supplies from a needy civilian population” violate core Torah values, including the sanctity of life and the belief that “every person is created in God’s image.”

While a rming Israel’s right to defend

itself and the legitimacy of its campaign against Hamas and Hezbollah, the rabbis say Israel must pursue a political solution and keep dialogue open “to lead toward a just settlement, ensuring security for Israel, dignity and hope for Palestinians, and a viable peaceful future for all the region.”

The letter follows a World Health Organisation warning that large parts of Gaza are “experiencing starvation”. Israel halted most aid convoys in March, citing theft by Hamas, but says aid is now being channelled through a new system, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the US.

In a statement on Thursday, COGAT’s Gaza liaison head, Colonel Abdullah Halabi, denied Israel was blocking supplies and blamed a “lack of cooperation from the international community” for delivery delays. “Approximately 1,000 trucks’ worth of aid are awaiting collection by the United Nations and aid groups,” he said, accusing Hamas of promoting a “famine narrative” to bolster its image.

Jewish News has contacted the Israeli Embassy in London for comment.

SILENCE

CAN'T BE AN OPTION

BY MARIE VAN DER ZYL BOARD OF DEPUTIES PRESIDENT, 2018-2024

There comes a moment in any crisis when the moral imperative to speak becomes undeniable. For many in our community, the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached this point. I feel compelled to add my voice — to a rm the enduring ethical values of our Jewish tradition.

The events of 7 October remain an open wound. I remain in full solidarity with the victims of terror and the families of the remaining hostages. Their su ering must remain at the forefront of our minds. The serious and ongoing threat Israel faces from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran cannot be ignored. Simultaneously, the su ering of Gazan civilians demands our moral attention. These are not competing concerns. Judaism teaches care for all human life.

Jewish ethics require us to respond to su ering. The central tenet of pikuach nefesh teaches that the preservation of life is paramount. Tzedek demands we pursue justice in how we treat others. Rachamim reminds us that compassion must always guide our response — especially in moments of great di culty. These are not abstract ideals, but practical imperatives.

In times of war and trauma, opinions will surely di er. But I hope we can all agree that alleviating hunger, ensuring access to essential aid, and upholding basic human dignity should never be a point of contention. Now, as ever, let our response be shaped by who we are — a people whose history calls us to care, and whose faith demands that we act.

Performer banned from Opera House APPEAL FINDS ‘ERROR’ IN BOARD’S

A dancer who unfurled a Palestinian ﬂag during a performance at the Royal Opera House has been told they will never work there again.

Daniel Perry, a selfdescribed “queer dance artist” who goes by ‘they/ them’ pronouns, held the ﬂag at the end of a performance of Il Trovatore.

In a Novara Media video, Perry says: “When the curtain came down, (Royal Opera House director) Oliver Mears said to me, very aggressively, ‘You will never work for the opera house ever again.’ To which I responded, ‘I don’t give a ﬂying f**k’.’”

erage has been honestly quite comical to me”, that “they’re trying to make a mockery of me and a mockery of my deﬁance".

They said this was an attempt by journalists to "steer the story away from the actual story of what is happening in Gaza right now.”

Perry also repeated claims from the United Nations and the International Court of Justice that Israel’s actions have been recognised as a “genocide” .

Perry stated they “acted alone” because they have “felt alone trying to have these conversations with others in the industry”.

INVESTIGATION

They added: “I chose to do my demonstration during my curtain call. I chose to make it about something bigger than me.

"I did it because I wanted to draw attention to the atrocities that are taking place towards the Palestinian people by Israeli Defence Forces currently in Gaza.”

Perry claims the “right-wing media cov-

He also denounced the Royal Opera House as “disgusting” for calling their “act of resistance” inappropriate.

In a statement, the Royal Opera House said the display of the flag was “an unauthorised action by the artist” and that it “was not approved by the Royal Ballet and Opera and is a wholly inappropriate act”.

An independent appeal panel looking into the procedure that led to 36 members of the Board of Deputies being sanctioned over a newspaper letter criticising Israel has found “an inadvertent error in the initial investigation process”, writes Lee Harpin.

Jewish News understands those sanctioned were given the opportunity to comment on around 10 complaints made against them, but that the Panel assessed up to 40 such complaints to reach their judgements.

Those sanctioned were also not shown the impact statement assessment on their actions ahead of it being submitted to the panel.

It is further understood there were no complaints made directly against the ﬁve signatories given the toughest sanctions. Instead, the panel itself took the view that the ﬁve had breached the code more seriously.

The panel was also reportedly asked to look into claims the Board's executive was compromised by having commented negatively on the actions of the letter writers ahead of reaching its decision on punishments.

Sanctioned deputies have labelled the process a “kangaroo court.”

It has been decided to redress the issues by providing appellants with this information and giving them a further 14 days to respond. The appeals panel will then review this material and decide whether to uphold or amend the original rulings.

Meanwhile, the previousdecisions remain in place.

In April, 36 Deputies signed a letter published by the FT condemning the Israeli government for opting to “break the ceaseﬁre and return to war in Gaza”.

The letter said: “Israel’s soul is being ripped out and

we, members of the Board of Deputies... fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to.

“Silence is seen as support for policies and actions that run contrary to our Jewish values.”

Responding to the appeal panel decision, a Board spokesperson said: “As a democratic and rules-bound organisation we are committed to upholding our Code of Conduct... in this case the Appeal Panel has identiﬁed an error in the process which needs to be corrected.

“The Code of Conduct is there to protect the integrity of the Board and all its diverse stakeholders, whilst enshrining the principles of debate, diversity and free speech.

“We are conﬁdent that the process set out by the Appeal Panel will enable the Board to swiftly draw this process to a conclusion.”

Daniel Perry

A Gazan child receives food from a charity kitchen earlier this month

Aid trucks on the Gaza border

‘He saved lives. Glasto cheered on his killers’

British-Israeli Natan Rosenfeld died a hero. But in his country of birth, he was met not with honour but hate, writes Sabrina Miller

When the FaceTime call connected my heart almost stopped beating

Staring back at me from their home in Ra’anna, Israel was Avi Rosenfeld, 60, and his wife 50-year-old Sam – their eyes clouded with intense devastation.

We are speaking less than two weeks after their son Natan – a British-Israeli IDF soldier – was killed in an explosion while clearing an empty house in Kfar Jabalia in Northern Gaza.

“He didn’t tell us a lot about what he was doing in the army’ Avi, an Independent Contractor, says solemnly And to be honest when he came home we didn’t want to ask him. Every so often I would bribe him with a beer and burger and we would sit and talk. But he was very humble. He didn’t boast about anything.”

Originally from Hendon, the close-knit Rosenfeld family made aliyah 13-years-ago when Natan was just sevenyears-old.

Natan had been conscripted in April 2024 and had been serving as a Combat Engineer in Gaza since concluding his intensive training.

Details of his death are still classified. But the snippets we know prove Natan died a hero – his body acting as a shield to protect the lives of other soldiers.

“We were intensely proud of him when he joined the army’ Avi tells me. “The beautiful boys and girls who serve in the IDF defend Am Yisrael. They are what stands between us and the people who want to annihilate us.”

Natan’s parents claim his friends were everything to him. And the glowing way in which they talk about him is a testament to what a mensch he was.

Mika Shooker, who spent her gap year with Natan, told the Jewish News: “Natan was a boy who never stopped smiling.

“Whenever there were disagreements in the mechina, Natan would simply stop everyone, say something silly, and within seconds, the room would erupt in laughter.

“He brought out the best in those around him – not through grand gestures, but through his quiet, steady kindness, and unwavering optimism.”

His close friend Eden described him as being “full of ambition and joy”.

She added: “When he walked into a room,

the room always lit up with his smile.”

Ben, his friend from the army, said: “He was the most loving and funniest guy I had ever met.”

Tragically the Rosenfeld’s were made to pay “a very heavy debt” for their right to live safely in the Jewish state.

Despite this they have no regrets.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world,” Avi says defiantly.

They remain intensely Zionistic and both of their younger children remain keen to serve in the IDF. “If you have one son who has been killed in the army, the IDF makes you sign a piece of paper which states you give permission for your other children to join kravi (combat unit),” Sam explains. “Ze’evi (our 17-year-old son) has already asked me about this. He is desperate to join.”

Avi and Sam Rosenfeld were informed of their son’s tragic death on June 29, “A man, dressed in army uniform, very,

very calmly and sort of slowly said: ‘Are you mom of Yisrael Rosenfeld?’ They gave me his ID number, and it just… wasn’t really real,” she trails off.

The IDF told Sam that she mustn’t break the news to her husband over the phone.

“She was super calm and just told me to come home”, Avi explains. “But when I walked in the house and saw my wife and the kids red-eyed and the three people standing there in military uniform I knew immediately.

“One of the uniformed men walked over to me and he hugged me. They were like angels. They were with us for the whole week of shiva. They were amazing. They were discreet, subtle but they stuck to us like glue.”

Sam explains: “Straight away they wanted us to tell our family what had happened to Natan, before they put out the public notice.

“They were asking us all of these questions: like what time we wanted to sit Shiva and what photos of Natan to use.

“I mean, you are literally, you’ve just been told this news, and then you sort of have to make all these decisions.

“They eventually put out the notice and the minute they did, people started streaming through the door.

“From morning until night the tent we sat shiva in was packed to the brim with hundreds of people. It was unbelievable. Mothers of other fallen soldiers who had been killed six or eight months ago – people we didn’t know – would come just to be with us.

“And because Natan was an English speaker his story affected a lot of Olim (new immigrants) and a lot of people in Ra’anna.’

Among those who visited the Rosenfeld’s while they sat Shiva was Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

One day before Natan’s tragic death, Bob Vylan stood on the West Holts stage at Glastonbury and chanted “death, death to the IDF”. To see their country of birth gripped by an ”orgy of blind hatred” devastated Avi and Sam.

“It would be hard to say anything to the thousands of festivalgoers who participated in that chant”, Mr Rosenfeld admits.

“But if I had to tell them anything. I would say: ‘Please stop for a minute and stand on the side of truth. Seeing you all at Glastonbury, it was chilling, like a Nazi rally in 1936.’It was hard to watch so many people filled with blind, misguided hate.

“I don’t want to be a dramatist or someone who scares people. But I wouldn’t feel too comfortable walking around with a kippa in London. I’m very worried by what I am seeing in my country of birth. English people are decent people. But the country has an enormous problem. Though I understand it’s not easy [for everyone] to leave.”

Natan’s family speaking at his funeral at Ra’anana Cemetery last month

Natan Rosenfeld

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News / Brighton demo / Rishi tribute

Hundreds march through Brighton

More than 200 Jewish and Israel supporters marched through Brighton in what organisers described as a deﬁant response to an increasingly hostile environment facing Jewish residents since 7 October, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

The March Against Extremism, co-ordinated by Jewish & Proud and Sussex Friends of Israel, drew participants from across the region as community leaders report a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents across Brighton.

Jewish residents have described feeling increasingly isolated and unwelcome in a city they have called home for generations.

Jewish groups from London, led by Stop The Hate and Our Fight, travelled to the coastal city to show solidarity with local organisations.

Participants marched to demand immediate government action on anti-Jewish racism and the release of the remaining hostages, who have now spent more than 660 days in Hamas captivity.

Vicky Bhogal, founder of the Jewish & Proud group, said: “The turnout was incredible and showed Brighton’s Jewish community will not be intimidated.”

She added: “We’ve witnessed a disturbing pattern of incidents that have left our community feeling under siege. This march was our way of saying we will not be driven from our streets or silenced, and the response proves we are not alone.”

Max Royston from Stop the Hate said: “The turnout wasn’t just about

Brighton – it was about standing together as a community across the country.

When Jewish communities face hostility anywhere, we all feel it. Our presence here sent a clear message –we won’t be intimidated or divided.”

Since 7 October, Brighton’s Jewish community has documented numerous antisemitic incidents, including vandalism, harassment and assault, with community leaders reporting many Jewish residents now avoid displaying symbols of their faith or identity in public spaces where they previously felt safe.

SUNAK PRAISES UK JEWS’ CONTRIBUTION

Rishi Sunak praised British Jews for their contribution to the country and shared his personal connection to minority identity during a Board of Deputies tribute event in his honour at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Addressing Jewish community guests, the former prime minister said: “I am so proud and honoured to stand with you tonight. I do know something of what it means to be diﬀerent from others and even to experience hatred directed towards you and your community because of who

you are. “I know what it is like to be part of a community that integrates with others from all backgrounds in society and makes such an extraordinary contribution to our proud multi-faith, multi-ethnic democracy. Thanks for all that you do for your communities and your society – but above all, thank you for everything you do for our country.”

Presenting Sunak with a Chanukiah as a token of appreciation, Board president Phil Rosenberg praised Sunak’s decisive action following the Hamas attacks of 7 October, telling the audience: “We

could not have wished for a more steadfast ally. The warmth, the friendship, the holding of our community at a time when we were really anxious, and the friendship you showed to the State of Israel were deeply appreciated. You bolstered the community’s security to a level never seen previously.”

The evening also featured contributions from Zaki Cooper and Daniel Lightman KC, curators of the Jews in Cricket exhibition at Lord’s, which celebrates Jewish contributions to the sport. The exhibition served as a backdrop to the tribute event.

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Rishi Sunak with Phil Rosenberg

The March Against Extremism, held in Brighton last weekend

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Chief’s Plancey tribute

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis led the tributes to Rabbi Alan Plancey and his wife Miriam at a moving event at the Hertfordshire synagogue the couple served for decades. The former two-time mayor of Hertsmere and Conservative councillor died last month at the age of 84, with his wife dying just a week later.

The ceremony at Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue marked the end of the initial 30-day mourning period and brought together family members, close friends, shul members and dignitaries including the Hertfordshire mayor and Lord Stuart Polak.

Addressing the gathering, Chief Rabbi Mirvis spoke of Rabbi Plancey as the quintessential “rabbi’s rabbi” – a source of wisdom, guidance and support – and shared his deep admiration for Rebbetzen Plancey.

Speakers, including two of the couple’s sons, shared personal memories, highlighted Rabbi Plancey’s civic contributions during his time as a county councillor, his two terms as mayor of Hertsmere, and his later honour as an alderman of the county.

Rabbi Plancey was a leading activist in the Soviet Jewry campaign, a chaplain to the police for more than 30 years and also chaplain to Luton Airport. In 2023, he was appointed in the King’s birthday honours list as a Member of the Order of the British Empire for political and public service.

Rebbetzen Plancey served the BES community for more than three decades alongside her husband, who led the shul from 1976 until his retirement in 2007, and was later appointed emeritus rabbi.

Holocaust refugee dies, aged 101

A Holocaust refugee who forged a career at the Royal Liverpool Hospital to become a highly regarded kidney specialist, has died at age 101. Dr John Henry Goldsmith was born near Dusseldorf and came to UK with his mother, who was a dentist, when Britain allowed a small number of refugees from that profession to come to the UK without having to requalify.

In 1940, aged 16, he was interned and sent to the Isle of Man, as an ‘enemy alien’. On return to the mainland, he joined Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, which became the launching pad for a career specialising in nephrology –diseases of the kidneys – and later he worked as a consultant physician and nephrologist at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

Association of Jewish Refugees chief executive Michael Newman told Jewish News: “John was a stalwart member of the AJR and ... we are grateful to have had the opportunity to capture his testimony as part of our Refugee Voices archive. Capturing experiences like John’s helps preserve the record of the Holocaust and enables us all learn about his remarkable life.”

SURVIVORS IN NEW HONOUR

Three Holocaust survivors who endured forced family separation and displacement have been honoured in London with the launch of powerful new autobiographical books as part of the The Fed’s My Voice project, in partnership with Yad Vashem UK. The three titles – Hidden Pieces by Jacques Weisser, I Still Dream in Yiddish by Rachel Levy and The Boy from Cologne by Kurt Marx – were unveiled at an emotional ceremony hosted by The Fed at the Pears Communal Hall in Hampstead.

Each tells the survivor’s story in his or her own words, compiled through hours of indepth interviews supported by family photos, documents and contributions from My Voice’s dedicated team of volunteers. Since its creation in 2016, the project has published 48 life stories, with 12 currently in production.

“These stories are not just a victory over the silence,” said Juliette Pearce, project manager of My Voice. “They are a beacon of hope for future generations.”

‘Rabbi’s rabbi’: Alan Plancey

Survivors at the book launch

Second Fringe venue drops Jew

A Jewish comedian has been dropped by a second Edinburgh Fringe venue which claimed the move was due to his views on Israel – despite him having “never expressed support for anything other than freeing the hostages and finding a way for peace,” writes Joy Falk.

Philip Simon, whose long-running Jew-O-Rama showcase was cancelled by Edinburgh’s Whistle Binkies venue, has now informed his social media followers his solo show, Shall I Compere Thee in a Funny Way? had now also been dropped by the city’s Banshee Labyrinth venue.

Simon said: “The reason I was given is that my ‘views concerning the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine… are in significant conflict with our venue’s stance against the current Israeli government’s policy and actions’.

“Anyone who knows me will know I have never expressed support for anything other than freeing the hostages and finding a way for peace. It is sad to think that these views could conflict with anyone who wants to see a lasting peace in Gaza and Israel.

“As a Jewish person living in Britain it is possible, and increasingly common, to have a love for Israel without supporting the actions of the government.”

Simon and his comedy partner Rachel Creeger were informed on 18 July that Whistle Binkies, where they have been

performing since 2018, had withdrawn the pair’s bookings for the Fringe.

Writing in Jewish News this week, Creeger described how the venue –which last year had told them ‘no-one messes with OUR Jews’ – had abruptly dropped them, not even directly but by informing the Fringe, which passed the message on to them.

Simon said that he was “still processing the concept that in 2025 I can be cancelled just for being Jewish.

“In the meantime I will still be at the

CLARION OFFERS SCHOOL PLACES

Jewish families still without secondary school places have been offered an alternative at Clarion School in Cricklewood, after unprecedented demand at mainstream Jewish schools.

At an information evening hosted by PaJeS, parents on waiting lists for JFS, Yavneh and JCoSS heard directly from Clarion headteacher Chris Hunt, who outlined tailored provision for Jewish students.

Clarion, formerly Whitefield School, is an entry secondary ranked in the top nine percent of schools and under Hunt’s leadership has a zerotolerance policy on antisemitism and disruption.

The school plans to integrate Jewish pupils across all year groups through its house system and provide fortnightly enrichment sessions in Jewish Studies, along with afterschool Jewish clubs.

Hunt, who personally

teaches Year 7 science, has also opened direct communication with families, an offer which has been warmly received, with parents requesting a follow-up school visit which was set to take place this week.

PaJeS CEO Rabbi David Meyer said: “We are deeply grateful to Chris Hunt and Clarion School for their commitment to supporting Jewish families during this challenging time.

“Their academic record and safe environment make them an ideal partner – especially considering this proposal emerged in the very last week of the school term.”

Fringe for my one remaining children’s show and continue to investigate possible alternative venues for both my cancelled shows.”

He urged Fringe-goers not to boycott the venues in question, saying: “They are hosting some incredible acts who I wouldn’t want to suffer negatively because of this.”

Banshee Labyrinth was contacted for comment but did not respond in time for publication.

• Rachel Creeger, page 20

Faiths unite for festival

A Jewish-Muslim partnership is at the heart of a bold new festival launching this August Bank Holiday, bringing Londoners together for a citywide celebration of diversity, mental health and cross-communal solidarity.

Co-organised by Maccabi and the Faith & Belief Forum, the Interfaith Wellbeing Festival is on Monday 25 August, offering a mix of music, sport, food, reflection and hands-on activities rooted in faith and wellbeing traditions.

Described by organisers as a “truly collective effort”, the event has been co-produced over a year by six diverse partners – including Jewish and Muslim leaders – to break down barriers and create a shared space for connection in a divided world.

For Stuart Diamond, former Mitzvah Day CEO and now interfaith consultant, the approach represents a vital

PODCAST GUESTS SUPPORT HITLER

A podcast with more than 1.5 million subscribers sparked outrage after guests made virulently antisemitic comments – including claims that Jews “deserved” the Holocaust – while the hosts laughed and nodded along, writes Annabel Sinclair.

The clip, which went viral on social media before being taken down, was from the Fresh and Fit podcast hosted by Myron Gaines and broadcast on video platform Rumble. It featured young Americans discussing Jews, with one guest attempting to justify Hitler’s actions and suggesting “Jews don’t want to take accountability”.

“They were up to something so the Germans wanted to take them out,” she said.

“The Holocaust was the only way (Hitler could) take out a huge amount of Jews all in one setting. I already know what’s

going on. I’m not dumb. The Jews did something there.”

Other panellists agreed, with one saying “They started it,” and a third urging her to “Talk s**t about them.” One guest called Hitler “a man trying to save the world.”

The conversation escalated with a suggestion that “We need to take them out,” followed by a chilling comment: “We got to kill the mother****ers.”

At no point did Gaines or any other host intervene. Instead, he was seen smiling, laughing and rolling his eyes. Fresh and Fit has faced multiple controversies over the years. Co-hosted by Gaines – a former fitness influencer and self-proclaimed “alpha male” coach – and Walter Weekes (known as “Fresh”), the show has long been criticised for misogynistic, racist and extremist content.

REFUGEE FOCUS AT DUBS AWARDS

shift. “Often in Jewish spaces, all we see is a reflection of ourselves,” he noted.

“This festival invites people to step outside that bubble. It’s not about coexistence or tolerance – it’s about celebrating difference and discovering the commonalities that unite us.”

He added: “When you actually sit at a table with people you once considered strangers, laugh together, talk about your families, and realise you’re all working towards the same thing –better understanding, wellbeing, and connection – that’s when real change happens.”

Veteran campaigners and Jewish community leaders gathered at Westminster Synagogue for the 2025 Lord Dubs Awards, honouring courage, compassion and community.

The ceremony, hosted by HIAS+JCORE, celebrated two years since the organisations joined forces to build a Jewish movement for refugee rights in the UK.

Four young women supported by the befriending programme JUMP received a standing ovation as they told how the scheme helped them overcome isolation after arriving in Britain alone. One said: “JUMP is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Project manager Eliza Ward, who leads the JUMP programme alongside Natalia Galgos and Eric Schloss, said the initiative had “nearly doubled” its impact over the past year: “We’re now supporting more young people than

ever and working towards 50 matched befriending pairs.”

The third annual Lord Dubs Awards for individuals making outstanding contributions to refugee support in the UK saw the launch of a new category recognising emerging leadership.

This was awarded to Abdullahi Yussuf, a legal campaigner and asylum seeker who works to support others caught in the UK’s immigration system.

The award for outstanding commitment went to Deborah Koder, a refugee advocate and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) course leader at Barnet Southgate College, who co-founded the New North London Synagogue Drop-In for destitute asylum seekers in 2006, and launched the Welcome Programme, which supported 15 Syrian families resettled in Barnet in 2017.

Clarion School

Maccabi Interfaith activities

Comdian Philip Simon (photo: X)

Guests on the Fresh and Fit podcast during the episode

Israeli study: Insects can ‘hear plants in distress’

In a world-first discovery, Israeli scientists have shown insects can “hear” plants in distress –and change their behaviour in response, writes Annabel Sinclair.

The Tel Aviv University study found female moths avoided laying eggs on tomato plants emitting high-frequency clicking sounds triggered by stress, such as drought. Instead, they preferred healthier, silent plants – offering the first direct evidence of acoustic interaction between plants and animals.

“After proving in our previous study that plants emit sounds, we hypothesised that animals capable of hearing them might respond and make behavioural decisions accordingly,” said Professor Yossi Yovel of the School of Zoology.

Conducted by researchers from Tel Aviv’s plant sciences and zoology departments, the study was led by Dr Raaya Zaltsman and Guy Zar-Eshhel, in collaboration with the Volcani Institute’s Plant Protection Department. Their findings were published in the peerreviewed journal eLife

The team previously discovered plants produce ultrasonic pops – roughly one click per hour when well-hydrated, but dozens per hour when under stress. These sounds, undetectable

to the human ear, fall within the hearing range of many insects, including moths.

“Female moths lay eggs on plants to provide food for their larvae once hatched,” said coauthor Professor Lilach Hadany. “We assumed that they seek an optimal site on a healthy plant that can nourish the larvae well.”

In a series of controlled environments, the researchers tested whether African cotton

RABBINIC TESTS ‘MUST BE OPEN TO WOMEN’

Israel’s High Court of Justice has ruled the Chief Rabbinate must finally open its rabbinical tests to women, marking the first time the country has recognised female Torah scholarship , writes Jocelin Weiss.

The groundbreaking decision does not entitle women to be ordained as rabbis in Israel – not something those petitioning the court requested – but is seen as a major step forward in terms of official recognition of women’s knowledge of halacha, or Jewish law.

Rabbi Seth Farber, of ITIM, a religious rights NGO, told Times of Israel there were two major implications from the ruling, the first being “the State of Israel recognises that the rabbinate is subject to the laws and not able to discriminate against women.

“In addition, from the women’s Torah leadership and learning perspectives, it states there is a clear path towards measuring what scholarship is – a huge deal, because until now there has been a tendency to be very dismissive of women’s Torah scholarship.”

While female rabbis have traditionally not been recognised in Orthodox Judaism, there have been significant efforts in recent years to recognise and grant religious status to learned Orthodox women.

Yeshivat Maharat in the US and Midreshet Ein Hanatziv in Israel have been at the forefront of programmes individually and jointly to grant semicha (ordination) to women. In the UK, the Chief Rabbi’s Ma’ayan programme trains women as high-calibre Jewish educators as well as experts in the area of taharat hamishpacha (family purity).

Meanwhile, in Progressive denominations, and particularly in the diaspora, the concept of female rabbis has been very much normalised.

American reform rabbi-in-training Tori Greene is excited about the development. She told Jewish News: “I think, regardless of the kind of Judaism we practice, we benefit from representation and I think Orthodoxy is going to see really wonderful shifts by bringing women’s voices into the conversation as official authorities. Change doesn’t happen overnight.”

London-based reform rabbi-in-training Stacy Hackner shares similar feelings. She said: “There are so many incredibly learned women out there, and this ruling enshrines that in a move against discrimination.

“It’s fortuitous that this ruling has happened in the 50th year of women rabbis in the UK, starting with Rabbi Jackie Tabick, who broke many glass ceilings for us and serves as an inspiration.”

sent – only a speaker playing ultrasonic recordings of distressed tomato plants. The moths laid more eggs on the side with the sound, apparently interpreting it as a sign of plant presence.

When the same experiment was repeated with moths whose hearing had been disabled, the insects showed no preference – confirming sound was the decisive factor.

Further tests revealed moths did not respond to ultrasonic signals emitted by male moths, indicating their reaction was specific to plant-generated clicks.

moths (Spodoptera littoralis) could distinguish between healthy and stressed plants based on sound alone.

In one trial, moths were placed between two identical tomato plants – one in moist soil and the other in drying soil. The moths consistently laid eggs on the healthier, quieter plant.

In another setup, there were no plants to pre-

Despite the clear behavioural shift, the scientists stressed the interaction does not meet the strictest definition of “communication”. “The sounds emitted by drought-stressed plants are probably a cue rather than a signal – they didn’t evolve to convey information to insects,” the team noted in the paper. Still, the implications are vast. “This is just the beginning,” the researchers wrote. “Acoustic interactions between the plants and animals doubtless have many more forms and a wide range of roles. This is a vast, unexplored field – an entire world waiting to be discovered.”

leafworm

The research team at Tel Aviv University. Inset: African cotton leafworm moth

Woman praying at the Western Wall

UJS wins training contract

The Union of Jewish Students has been awarded a million-pound government tender to deliver antisemitism awareness training at university campuses over the next three years on behalf of the Department for Education, writes Annabel Sinclair.

UJS will recruit ﬁve new team members to deliver the new programme – team leader, evaluation and impact manager, training co-ordinator, administrator and resource development co-ordinator.

Developed in partnership with the government, the contract marks a signiﬁcant growth of the UJS’s educational work and highlights the depart-

ment’s commitment to tackling antisemitism in higher education.

UJS chief executive Mervyn Kaye said: “This signiﬁcant investment will allow us to reach many more campuses, ensuring that Jewish students can study in environments free from antisemitism.”

The UJS continues “to rely on the generous support of our donors and community partners to sustain the vital work UJS delivers across our other core activities and our full range of services for Jewish students”.

UJS president Louis Danker said: “The government’s recognition of our work validates what we’ve known

for years – that UJS is uniquely positioned to tackle antisemitism on campus through education and awareness. Our training programmes

have made a real difference, and this funding will mean that even more students and staff will benefit from our expertise.”

Government skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith said: “Antisemitism has no place in our universities or anywhere in society and we are taking action to confront it head on. By training staﬀ to recognise and address antisemitism, this crucial work will help ensure Jewish students feel safe, supported, and able to participate fully in university life.”

She added: “Universities have a duty to protect freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law, but we have been clear that this does not extend to unlawful hate speech or incitement of hatred against any individual or group.”

OFCOM FINES STATION CHARITY BOSS IS JAILED

A UK-based Islamic radio station that aired a hate-ﬁlled sermon accusing Jews of “killing prophets” and being the “biggest enemies of humanity” just days after the Hamas massacres has launched a blistering attack on Ofcom – branding the regulator a “Zionist puppet” and “Islamophobic”.

Salaam BCR, a community station serving Bury, Greater Manchester, was ﬁned £3,500 by Ofcom after broadcasting a 38-minute sermon

by Pakistani imam Shuja Uddin Sheikh on 17 October 2023, 10 days after Hamas’s mass slaughter in Israel.

The speech, recorded in Pakistan, was laced with classic antisemitic tropes. Sheikh accused Jews of “only protecting their own interests”, “instigating war”, and “strengthening their economy” in pursuit of a so-called “Greater Israel”. The rant, Ofcom concluded, amounted to antisemitic hate speech.

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A former director of Jewish Care Scotland has been jailed for 18 months after embezzling more than £54,000 from the charity’s hardship fund.

Catherine Bell, 70, admitted to stealing the money between 2013 and 2018 by falsely claiming it was going to families in need.

At a hearing this week, Paisley Sheriﬀ Court was told Bell, as deputy chief executive and director of social care, exploited her position to authorise payments she kept for herself.

Appearing for sentencing, Bell heard Sheriﬀ

Brian Mohan condemn her actions as “a calculated and cunning campaign”.

He added: “People had no doubt donated to that charity. Your actions would have caused reputational damage.”

The fraud was uncovered in 2018 when the charity’s chief executive, Julie Marshall, launched a routine staﬀ compliance review and discovered Bell was not registered with the Scottish Social Services Council.

An internal investigation followed.

The UJS leadership fellowship cohort for 2024/25

Editorial comment and letters to the editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS

Saying ‘enough’ is not a betrayal

Being Jewish and British today means living with constant, extreme, tension. Externally, we face resurgent antisemitism. Internally, we find ourselves grappling with our response to a situation which is multifaceted in its horror.

The scale of suffering in Gaza is monumental. Hamas has repeatedly made it perfectly clear it cares nothing for ordinary civilian lives. Its leaders, living in luxury in Qatar, are fully prepared to maintain this state of affairs, content in the knowledge that the world will not place the lion’s share of the blame where it belongs – on them.

Above ground, for months Israel and the UN have attempted to stare each other down. The UN has refused to deliver aid via the IDF or the Israel/US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), expressing its preference for working with local – Hamas controlled – Gazan police. Israel has not wanted to provide Hamas with further means – via aid extortion – to maintain its grip. Consequently, there are areas of Gaza where people are approaching starvation. Unsurprisingly, the UN has received zero blame. Similarly unsurprising was the Israeli government’s apparent inability to predict it would obviously receive the entirety of international censure and to act accordingly.

Last week Jewish News published an online editorial, headlined “Jewish moral clarity means saying: Enough”. It talked of starvation in Gaza, and called for an end to the war, with the return of the hostages taken on 7 October. It sparked an intense reaction within our community – indeed, within our own staff. Fury from some. Agreement from others. We were accused of betrayal, of playing into our enemies’ hands. Some readers and advertisers have vowed to boycott us as a result.

Nothing is more personal or painful to us as a people than the tragedy of 7 October. Ending this war is not a betrayal. It is a fulfilment of the promise that Israel makes to its citizens – that none will be left behind. End the war – and bring them all home.

A mission for Starmer

In her Jewish News article Silence is not an option, Marie van der Zyl is being disingenuous when she seeks to divorce the ethical issues surrounding the alleged famine in Gaza from the political realities of the current war. Whatever one’s views, readers will immediately react with the obvious questions of asking why there are food shortages and what can be done to solve the problem – not just for a few days or weeks with a short sharp injection of aid, but permanently.

Many, probably most, in the Jewish community hold the view that Hamas and its Gazan and Islamist supporters are fully to blame for every single death, injury and instance of deprivation that has occurred since 7 October 2023 and indeed

WHEN WILL MAYOR GET THE MESSAGE?

How much more do the Palestinians need to do, and how much louder do they have to shout, for the mayor of London to get the message that they have no interest in a “two-state solution”?

Shimon

Cohen, By email

Sadiq Khan’s call for recognition of a Palestinian state is not just naive – it’s disconnected from reality. The Palestinians, even moderate ones, have never wanted two states. They want one: Palestine. If Khan supports peace, he should start by asking why every offer of a Jewish and Arab state side by side has always been met with war.

Lucy Hassin, Manchester

TRAGICOMICS

continues to occur. Moreover, the entire horrendous situation can be brought to an end by Hamas releasing all the hostages, laying down its arms and arranging for its leaders to leave Gaza.

Anyone who genuinely wants to bring this apparent catastrophe to an end should devote effort to campaigning for that. Indeed, the Board of Deputies, which has excellent relations with the Starmer government, should be lobbying for the prime minister to exert his influence with his counterparts in Qatar and Turkey who support Hamas by asking them to apply pressure there, instead of seeking to threaten Israel with sanctions and more if it does not weaken its stance.

Gary Mond, National, Jewish Assembly

LIBDEMS ALL AT SEA

On 10 June, Calum Miller MP, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, urged the UK government to recognise Palestine as an independent state.

As a long-standing, loyal, and fee-paying member of the Liberal Democrats, I can no longer support a party that seems willing to legitimise genocidal (Hamas) and kleptocratic (Fatah) regimes.

These groups have done little to build democratic or plur-alistic societies and have instead diverted international aid into terrorism or personal gain – yet the party I supported for years now wishes to reward them with statehood.

To make matters worse, Sir Ed Davey – once, in my view, a moderate – who met with Israel’s liberal opposition leader last year, now calls for sanctions against another democrat, Netanyahu, accusing him of ethnic cleansing.

Gaza, however, also borders Egypt – a fact Sir Ed conveniently ignores, with no criticism of Egyptian policy. Why?

David Frencel, Hackney

The Edinburgh Fringe was long the proving ground of dissenting voices. But this year, Jewish performers display a jarring revelation about the state of British public life: staff anxieties over “Free Palestine” graffiti and hypothetical IDF vigils are now sufficient grounds to exclude apolitical Jewish acts. That two separate venues would cancel Jewish acts on such flimsy self-fulfilling premises is not just tragicomic, it is symptomatic of a broader moral collapse. Adam Edwards, Leeds

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I want to thank the thousand-plus rabbis who signed the letter to the Israeli government calling for the needed humanitarian aid to people in Gaza. They are Judaism at its best. I would also like to thank Jewish News for taking a stand on this issue. While Netanyahu thrashes about like a fish on a line, trying to claim no one is starving, many, many Jews, like myself, have been in anguish. I am relieved to at last see calls from Jewish leaders for relief for innocent children. Jonathan Samuel, Hendon

Rachel Creeger and Phillip Simon have their Edinburgh venue cancelled by Whistle Binkies

Daniel Taub in conversation with Rob Rinder

Monday 8 September, 7pm

In our divisive age, argument is seen as a plague to be avoided or a contest to be won. In his new book, Beyond Dispute, diplomat and peace negotiator Daniel Taub argues that ancient Jewish wisdom offers a third way.

jw3.org.uk /argue-better

What UK recognition plan means for Israel

PETER LERNER COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT

This week, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced his intention to recognise a Palestinian state in September. For many in Israel, this will feel like betrayal: this is a close ally shifting position during one of our darkest chapters, while hostages remain in captivity and war continues to rage in Gaza.

But if we allow ourselves only anger and isolation, we will miss the deeper signal behind this decision. The world is no longer waiting for us to lead. It is moving on without us. Instead of retreating into self-righteous indignation, Israel must do something bolder. Lead again.

The international conference on the two-state solution, co-sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, is not a trap. It is an invitation, an opportunity. Not only to be in the room, but to help to shape the room.

For decades, Israel has rightly insisted

that peace can only come through direct negotiations. But here’s the truth. When we turn our backs on the international community, when we allow others to define our future, we forfeit our seat at the table. We abandon the power to shape our destiny.

The world is not turning against Israel because of our existence, but because it can no longer reconcile our legitimate right to security with the devastating images from Gaza, the expansion of settlements, everexpanding extremist settler violence and ministers who weaponise humanitarian aid and mock international law.

We must show them something else. Not because we owe it to the world, but because we owe it to ourselves.

Israel was founded on a dream of coexistence, of moral strength and democratic values. We must reclaim that dream, not by abandoning our security, but by anchoring it in legitimacy, humanity, and courage.

That means standing at the UN this September and saying:

Yes, we want peace.

Yes, we support a two-state solution.

Yes, we will negotiate.

And yes, we demand partners who reject terror, embrace recognition and seek to build, not destroy.

This is not naïveté. This is strategy. It is not weakness. It is moral strength.

Israel cannot win a war of legitimacy by boycotting the table. We win by setting it, by reminding the world that we are the nation that made peace with Egypt, with Jordan, and normalised ties with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco. That we stood on the verge of peace with Saudi Arabia. That even now, we are ready, if there is a partner, to finish the journey we are on.

We must make a clear distinction: the people of Gaza are not Hamas. To confuse the two is to fall into Hamas’s trap. And worse, it erodes our moral standing and clouds the clarity of our cause.

We cannot claim the right to defend ourselves while turning a blind eye to humanitarian catastrophe. We cannot fight Hamas effectively while allowing them to define our identity to the world.

Recognition of Palestine should not be a punishment. It should be part of a process. Israel has the opportunity now to reframe that process, not as capitulation to pressure, but as a strategic reset. A moment to say: We are not the obstacle. We are the opportunity. This is how we reclaim the middle ground. This is how we bring home the hostages. This is how we rebuild trust with the world, with our neighbours and with ourselves.

History will ask: when the world shifted, did Israel dig in, or did it rise up?

Let our answer be clear:

We showed up.

We showed leadership.

And we shaped the future.

Deep hypocrisy behind this dangerous charade

LEO PEARLMAN TV & FILM PRODUCER

In a move planned for September, the UK government is set to recognise formally a Palestinian state unless Israel meets a set of vague conditions. The signal is clear: Heads, Hamas wins; tails, Jews lose.

Let’s not pretend this recognition is the product of long-buried altruism or a newfound clarity of moral vision. It is not. It is a response to 7 October, the single worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel and committed unspeakable atrocities. They live-streamed the horror, promised to do it again and again and, as per their charter, they meant it.

Israel’s military response was devastating, as in the ﬁrst instance any nation’s would be in the face of such existential trauma. However, the refusal of Hamas to return those they kidnapped, allow their own people some respite from the horrors of war and the

likes of Ben Gvir and Smotrich, who shame global Jewry with their horriﬁc statements and lack of humanity, have led to the wholesale destruction of Gaza and a humanitarian crisis that demands our attention.

But rather than look to play a meaningful role in a solution, the UK’s political response, months later, is to punish the victims on both sides of this conﬂict.

This is not happening in a moral vacuum. If Hamas hadn’t attacked, would Starmer, Lammy and co. have suddenly decided in September 2025 that Palestine was due for statehood recognition? Of course not. This isn’t a proactive act of principle, it’s postmassacre politics. It’s a reaction. It’s theatre.

And while that doesn’t invalidate the idea of recognising Palestinian statehood, it absolutely stains the motives behind it. What it exposes is a deep political hypocrisy, and cynical moral posturing that is becoming the hallmark of this Labour government.

Starmer’s announcement places the entire onus for peace on Israel. Conditions are to be met by Israel, demands are made of Israel, but not of Hamas. There is no

insistence hostages be returned, no requirement weapons be surrendered, no demand Hamas’s genocidal charter be renounced, no calls for elections in Gaza or for Hamas to cede power to someone that at least pays lip service to peace. Instead, the reward, recognition of statehood, is dangled as a stick to beat Israel with. As leverage. As punishment.

Any working template for negotiated peace must begin with the terrorists laying down their arms. It cannot be one side being granted statehood while the other is pressured into ever-more painful concessions.

Why won’t Starmer take this approach with Hamas? Because that would require courage, moral clarity and principle. Instead, Labour has chosen the path of reactive symbolism, designed to appeal to the loudest parts of its base, and counter the rise of a Corbynite protest party that threatens to steal its left ﬂank. Foreign policy is now a smokescreen for internal panic.

This decision helps no one. It emboldens Hamas, alienates Israel, divides diaspora communities here in the UK already traumatised by the fallout of 7 October and the

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explosion of antisemitism that followed. It tells British Jews their government has decided in the aftermath of mass Jewish murder it is time to reward the murderers. And it tells British Muslims their su ering is valid only when it can be instrumentalised for partisan gain.

As for the virtue-signalling cosplayers who ﬁll our streets week after week, shouting slogans they don’t even pretend to understand: you are not calling for peace. You are aligning yourselves, directly and explicitly, with terrorists. With Hamas.

That’s the truth – ugly, simple, inescapable and it’s precisely why Starmer refuses to place any conditions on Hamas, or on any of the so-called representatives of the Palestinian people. Because he knows what they stand for, what they’ve enshrined in their charters. He knows they don’t want coexistence, they want annihilation.

And in the face of that, his cowardice isn’t just a moral failure. It’s a betrayal, of Israelis, of Palestinians, and of every British citizen who dares to expect more than this empty, dangerous charade.

‘We protect Jews’ pledged venue, then came the axe

On 14 July, Jewish News published an opinion piece I’d written about Jewish performers’ experiences at the Edinburgh Fringe. I shared how the venue I’d been performing in for the past few years had been incredibly supportive, describing how “I’ve also received kindness and care from peers, venue sta and the festival team I perform with, the PBH Free Fringe”.

It had lovely feedback online and then came out in the print version. I picked up my hard copy when I bought my chopped liver (with a second copy for the archives – aka my mum) and rushed home to cook for Shabbat, casually leaving the paper on the table.

As I skimmed my chicken soup, my phone rang. It was the CEO of the Free Fringe, informing me our longstanding venue had ejected my show, Ultimate Jewish Mother, as well that of my comedy partner Philip Simon, which he calls Jew-O-Rama.

Philip created it nine years ago with fellow

I’m

comedian Aaron Levene and it came as the most enormous shock that the venue we both loved, that had been our safe and happy space, that had in fact told me last year, “We’ll look after you, no one messes with OUR Jews,” had decided having two Jewish shows in their premises was no longer acceptable to them.

I looked over at my copy of Jewish News and imagined all of you, the readers, thinking of the venue in the most positive light, while my head was spinning and heart breaking.

I can only liken it to telling your mates how fantastic your new partner is, only to ﬁnd a voicemail dumping you straight afterwards.

The reasons they cited have already been covered in this publication but were centred around the bar sta feeling unsafe knowing that, as British Jewish performers in 2025, we attracted a bit of extra security.

What a bizarre take – instead of assuming any additional eye from the police or a helpline number for CST made their whole venue safer, despite reassurance there was no expected issue and these were both deterrents and precautionary, they decided it made them feel

THIS WOULD NOT BE TOLERATED BY ANY OTHER MINORITY

more at risk. And it’s particularly surprising coming from an alcohol-serving music venue that gets very rowdy on occasion and has its own big, burly bouncers.

They claimed that last year there was an increase in threatening gra ti on the toilet doors, forcing them to repaint them every three days. This was a bit of a head-scratcher as, being two Jews in our (I’m going to say late 40s, why not?), we were regular visitors to the facilities.

We saw no evidence – there were no threats towards us or the venue on the doors, and no constant smell or sight of paint. And even if that was the case, there are only a handful of cubicles, so it was hardly the Forth Bridge. They

also claimed one of the shows had held a vigil for a fallen IDF soldier, but retracted this when challenged – I assume because it’s quite hard to prove something that simply didn’t happen.

Our working relationship goes back to 2018. They could have reached out to us directly –but they didn’t and still haven’t.

They could have used the CST contact provided and asked for training around the subject, but didn’t. Instead, our lovely shows, which are not about politics or the war, were left homeless with two weeks to go and everything bought and paid for.

Jew-O-Rama, which is a line-up of Jewish, Jew-ish and non-Jewish acts is, a celebratory showcase of our brilliant comedic bones, and Ultimate Jewish Mother is like a warm, funny, challah-scented hug. What a loss to the Fringe. Cancelling British Jewish acts such as ours, klezmer band Oi Va Voi and others must end. It wouldn’t be tolerated for any other minority. Philip and I are not victims. We are performers. We dust ourselves o , and whether or not another venue turns up, this will become part of our story and, in time, comedy material.

a trans Zionist Jew – Trans

Pride will never erase who I am

Iam a proud transgender IsraeliBritish Jew. Since 7 October 2023, I and others like me have felt torn between two identities: that of Jewishness and that of queerness. We have been told repeatedly the two cannot coexist, that we must choose one and forsake the other.

Last week’s announcement from London Trans Pride that those who believe in Zionism are not welcome at their event is simply the latest example of how large-scale exclusion of Jews has become normalised – indeed, it sometimes seems almost mandatory – in supposedly progressive spaces. To say I have felt abandoned since the 7 October attacks by the left-leaning communities I once felt at home with would be an understatement.

To me, this is hideous. Trans and queer Jews deserve to exist in both queer and Jewish spaces loudly and unapologetically. The values of tolerance, acceptance, inclusion and justice-seeking which I hold so dear are precisely because of my identity as a transgender Jew. And yet, queer spaces – the same ones which purport to champion radical acceptance and inclusivity of

all people, have repeatedly sought to erase my lived experience, to deny my connection to my homeland, and even label me their ideological enemy because I reject the notion that the only people not entitled to self-determination are the Jewish people.

I find this utterly hypocritical on their part, and I find myself asking very straightforward questions. Do London Trans Pride’s executives even know the first thing about Jews or Zionism? Or have they instead chosen the same easy path which has itself been used so often against transgender people – exclusion brought about by ignorance and undeserved hostility?

Because, make no mistake, London Trans Pride’s announcement pushes queer and trans Jews out of the very spaces we are supposed to be safe in. Listing Zionism next to such things as racism, misogyny and, ironically, religious discrimination, completely undermines the values organisations like

this are supposed to stand for. It is di cult to ignore the sting of this kind of rejection, as I am once again being ostracised from a community I’ve been present in for most of my life and given time and care to, simply because I support the existence of a sovereign Jewish state in our ancestral lands. It is degrading and hurtful but, after the past two years, sadly not surprising.

There is a part of me that is no longer interested in ﬁghting to be included in these spaces where I am clearly not welcome. There is no part of myself that I am ashamed of – Jew, trans, Zionist – and London Trans Pride’s pathetic subscription to what is now an acceptable form of antisemitism is only encouragement for me to be even louder and prouder about exactly who I am.

The bottom line is this: I will not go where I am not welcome. This is not an admission of defeat, or a sign of weakness, I simply prefer to carve out my own space in society, as my people, Jewish and queer, have always done. I know who I am, I love who I am, and my love for being a trans Israel-loving Jew is far superior to the vitriol of people who have not developed the empathy and critical thinking skills to understand and accept my truth.

London Trans Pride may not welcome Zionists – meaning a signiﬁcant majority of British Jews – but there is a much bigger, brighter and more enchanting party I would rather attend – Tel Aviv Pride. One of the biggest in the world, and the only event of its kind in the entire Middle East and North African region.

London Trans Pride does not want queer Zionists in attendance? No problem. We have survived much worse and will thrive regardless.

RACHEL CREEGER

London Trans Pride

1 ZICHRON MENACHEM MAKES THE CUT

Zichron Menachem, a leading charity supporting young cancer patients in Israel, held its Summer Cut event in London, encouraging 39 girls to donate hair. Each of them donated at least 30cm with the longest being 45cm. Participants then enjoyed fun activities including a bouncy castle, glitter tattoos, nail art and makeup sessions. Ora, age nine, who took part with her best friend, said: “I feel very happy knowing I am helping somebody.” The donated hair will be crafted into wigs, providing comfort and confidence to young cancer patients both in Israel and the UK. Funds raised support Zichron Menachem’s summer camp and various activities held at the charity’s “house of dreams” in Israel.

2 BOREHAMWOOD LAUNCH FOR FRIENDSHIP AWARDS

Borehamwood’s Jewish Life Centre launched its inaugural award ceremony, honouring the many hours that Jewish teenagers have dedicated to The Friendship Circle. The programme sees young people offer friendship and companionship to children with additional needs while also giving their parents much-needed respite. After mayor of Elstree and Borehamwood Cllr Dan Ozarow presented the teens with their awards, 13-year-old volunteer Jacob Kibel said: “These new friendships we’ve developed mean so much to me and I look forward to the time we spend together learning and sharing new skills.”

3 SCOTTISH COMMUNITIES COME TOGETHER

Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation recently played host to the annual table tennis tournament between teams representing the Edinburgh Synagogue and Giffnock Newton Mearns Synagogue. Sixteen close-fought matches were played between 11 players – seven for EHC and four for GNMS. The EHC team was captained by Eli Atad-Ettedgui and featured John Danzig, Nick Silk, Ilia Kutzenov, Tom Griffin, Jonathan Danzig and Fergus Craig. The GNMS team featured Andy McIntyre, Derek Tobias, Norman Tenby and Sue Sinclair. EHC was ultimately victorious by a margin of 10 - 6 and so came away with the Mrs Raie Levstein Cup, named after EHC member Carol Levstein’s mother, who was a formidable table tennis player in her youth.

4 TWO DECADES’ WORTH OF CELEBRATION

Shoshana and Rabbi Adam Hill were presented with a tree planted in an urban forest in the Negev to celebrate 20 years since they joined the Potters Bar and Brookman Park community ‘family’. The ceremony followed a recent special Shabbat service and a celebratory Kiddush held in their honour, where members came together to express their gratitude for the Hills’ unwavering dedication, guidance, and friendship over the past two decades.

5 ROARING GOOD TIME AT NANCY REUBEN

Emily Ben-Ze’ev from Emily’s Adventures in Wonderland visited Nancy Reuben for a fabulous workshop on the Disney hit film and West End show The Lion King. The children dressed up in Zulu costumes and traditional Swahili outfits while enjoying various pursuits including experimenting with a range of African instruments, playing with some African-themed Russian dolls and trying on a variety of African masks.

TEMPLE FORTUNE

For generations of Henrietta Barnett pupils, Temple Fortune will always be remembered as the home of the go-to school outﬁtter that sold those signature navy blue blazers. Tucked within one of Temple Fortune’s arcade parades, Pullens wasn’t just a shop, it was a rite of passage and also sold Hasmonean’s school uniform. When it closed its doors in the early 1990s, local mothers preparing kids for school were left genuinely perplexed. Where do we gonowtopurchasethat£250 must-have uniform?

Equally perplexing is the elegant

anomaly that once stood at the crossroads of Finchley and Temple Fortune: The Naked Lady. Not a real one (Temple Fortune is much too posh), but a 16-foot bronze statue of a naked woman holding a sword above her head. O cially named La Délivrance, the statue became a ﬁxture in 1927, when it was unveiled by prime minister David Lloyd George. Designed by French sculptor Émile Guillaume to commemorate the ﬁrst battle of the Marne, the piece was gifted to Finchley by press baron Lord Rothermere and earned a string of nicknames – Dirty Gertie and The Wicked Woman among them. Removed for restoration (is she coming

back?), her presence adds a cheeky twist to this otherwise well-behaved suburban stretch of northwest London.

Temple Fortune has always been a place of quiet surprises and that includes its name. For the record, the ‘Temple’ refers to the Knights Templar, who held land there in the 13th century (it was a sub-manor of Hendon), and ‘Fortune’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon phrase for a tun, meaning ‘settlement in front’ – in other words just ahead of Hendon.

Temple Fortune was largely rural until 1907, when its transformation took o with the development of Hampstead Garden Suburb. The arrival of trams made

the area more accessible and by the 1930s, it had evolved into a full-ﬂedged suburban hub. Shops appeared, families moved in, and a strong sense of community began to take hold – notably the Jewish community who have been enjoying shabbats and simchas at Finchley United Synagogue (Kinloss Gardens) since 1934. That’s when the US acquired the site, later consecrating a grander synagogue in 1967. With 1,400 worshippers, it was the obvious place for kosher ﬁshmongers, bakeries and delis to set up shop and all within sight of a naked lady. Should she return, she will notice some very welcome new additions...

DANCING ORCHID

8 Hallswelle Parade, London NW11 0DL dancingorchid.co.uk

Dancing Orchid is the neighbourhood’s go-to florist for blooms with flair. Owned by the talented Samira Mohebby and with free local delivery, this boutique flower studio specialises in bespoke arrangements for every occasion – whether it’s a Friday night table centrepiece, a wedding bouquet bursting with personality, or the Home Floral Contract Service bringing floral design directly into your living space. Samira and her team visit your home and curate fresh or faux arrangements that suit your interiors, the season and your personal style. Samira combines her artistic eye with an instinct for colour and scent, crafting floral designs that feel both fresh and elegant. Dancing Orchid also caters to events, creating large-scale installations that bring a natural touch of beauty to private and corporate gatherings. The shop has earned loyal customers not just for the quality of the flowers but for the warmth and creativity behind every bouquet. Stop in to smell the roses – literally.

ONE ASHBOURNE

best. To celebrate the New Year, Jacksons is offering 20 percent off cleaning dresses and suits throughout September – just mention Jewish News in-store.

HANOVER RESIDENTIAL

1017 Finchley Road, London NW11 7ES hanover-residential.com

private events and simchas, offering bespoke event menus and attentive service. Whether you’re keeping kosher or simply love great food, this is one dining spot that’s worth making a regular habit.

JACKSONS DRY CLEANERS

1 Ashbourne Parade, Temple Fortune, London NW11 0AD oneashbourne.com

One Ashbourne brings refined kosher dining to Temple Fortune, offering a fresh take on Jewish culinary tradition in a modern, elegant setting. Located on the Parade, it’s become a favourite with locals seeking somewhere stylish for brunch, lunch meetings or celebratory dinners. The strictly kosher menu blends contemporary European and Middle Eastern flavours with beautifully presented dishes ranging from vibrant mezze platters to grilled fish and plant-based creations. The kitchen prides itself on sourcing high-quality ingredients and serving food that feels both elevated and comforting. With its understated interiors and warm atmosphere, One Ashbourne is also a go-to for

1023 Finchley Road, London NW11 7ES

In a neighbourhood that values quality, Jacksons Dry Cleaners has earned its place as the local go-to for reliable, professional garment care. Conveniently located on Finchley Road, this family-run business offers everything from everyday dry cleaning and delicate handfinishing to specialist stain removal and repairs. Whether it’s a favourite coat, a vintage silk blouse, an evening gown or a wedding dress that needs some post-celebration TLC, or even curtains and roman blinds, Jacksons’ team gives every item personal attention. Alterations are another strength – customers regularly return for the quick turnaround and neat, precise tailoring. In short, Jacksons Dry Cleaners does what a great dry cleaner should: make your clothes look their

Hanover Residential isn’t just another estate agency – it’s a boutique firm built on trust, knowledge and deep local roots. Situated on Finchley Road, just steps from the heart of Temple Fortune, the agency is run by a close-knit team with decades of combined experience in the property market. Whether you’re buying your first home, selling a family property or investing in something special, Hanover offers a tailored, refreshingly personal approach. It covers prime areas across northwest London, with a particular focus on Hampstead Garden Suburb, Golders Green and Temple Fortune itself. What sets Hanover apart is its attention to detail, professional marketing, honest valuations and an ability to match people to the right homes. The team prides itself on being responsive, transparent and utterly client-focused. In a market that can feel impersonal, Hanover brings back the human touch.

ANOUSHKA G

handpicked collections and bespoke designs to suit any body shape.

Inside the boutique, you’ll find a curated selection of gowns, dresses and separates that balance bold statement pieces with timeless silhouettes. Whether you’re dressing for a simcha, a black-tie event or simply want something fabulous for a Friday night dinner, Anna brings both fashion sense and personal attention to the experience. She’s known for helping clients feel confident and stylish without ever straying into overdone.

With tailoring services in-house, garments can be adjusted for the perfect fit, making sure you not only look good but feel comfortable too. This is more than a shop –it’s a styling service, and a trusted name for fashion-conscious women across northwest London.

1025 Finchley Road, London NW11 7ES anoushkag.com

For women looking for something special – be it a standout party dress, mother-of-the-bride look, or elegant evening wear – Anoushka G is a gem tucked right into Temple Fortune. Founded by designer and stylist Anna Hadji, the boutique is a haven of glamour and craftsmanship, offering

Around the corner

NATURAL FOOTWEAR

1021 Finchley Road, London NW11 7ES natural-footwear.com

Stylish, sustainable and surprisingly comfortable, Natural Footwear is the boutique shoe shop that puts wellness ﬁrst without sacriﬁcing on looks. Founded by Vera Lipton, the store champions footwear that’s made from natural materials, designed to support healthy posture and built to last.

From breathable leather sandals to soft, structured winter boots, every pair is chosen with care – often sourced from European brands that prioritise ethical production. The shop also stocks a smart range of orthopaedic-friendly styles that don’t scream “sensible” and cater to people who’ve grown tired of squeezing into trend-led shoes that cause more harm than good.

But it isn’t just about what’s on the shelves – it’s about the service. Customers are ﬁtted with patience, honesty and the beneﬁt of Vera’s knowledge of both fashion and foot health. Whether you have tricky feet or just

remember your order and always have a recommendation for “something new to try”. For kosher food with soul and service to match,

retail

EVERLASTING BROWS

Everlasting Brows

sure the frames are ﬂawless. Specialising in semi-permanent makeup, microblading and advanced brow techniques, this chic beauty studio in Temple Fortune has become a go-to for clients who want to enhance their natural

ring, a timeless bracelet or a meaningful gift for a milestone o ers expert

The store stocks a reﬁned mix of gold, platinum and silver pieces, with something to suit both traditional

also provides skilled repair services, resizing, watch

battery replacements and custom remodelling of heirloom items. It has a sense of pride in helping people mark life’s big (and small) moments with something lasting and beautiful.

want shoes that feel as good as they look, this is simply essential.

good as they look, this small shop has a big reputation in northwest London.

1003 Finchley Road, London NW11 7HB moshes.com

features with subtle precision.

Run by a team of highly-trained artists, the studio o ers more than just brow shaping – it’s a beauty destination for micro-shading,

A cornerstone of the kosher food scene in Temple Fortune, Moshe’s Food is where quality meets heimishe cooking. Founded by Boruch and beloved by the local community, this deli and caterer serves up freshlyprepared favourites with authenticity and warmth. Whether you’re picking up an order of cholent and kugel for Shabbat, some bagels and smoked salmon for Sunday brunch, fresh sushi or planning catering for a simcha, Moshe’s never misses a beat.

The counters are always full – think golden schnitzels, roast chickens, homemade dips, chopped liver and seasonal soups, all strictly kosher and made fresh daily. Moshe’s catering arm is equally popular, known for generous platters, beautifully-presented trays and a menu that satisﬁes traditional palates and modern tastes alike. It’s the sort of place where the sta greet you by name,

THE AVENUE

than just ribbons and wrapping paper. It’s a place where presentation and personal touch come together, o ering hand-picked gifts and bespoke wrapping services that turn any present into a moment.

58 Regents Park Road, London NW11 8DA avenue.uk.com

lash lifts and permanent makeup services that are both long-lasting and beautifully executed. Every treatment begins with a personalised consultation to ensure the result is tailored to your facial structure, skin tone and style preferences.

Clients love the clean, modern aesthetic of the space and the meticulous care taken during procedures, whether it’s their first time or their annual top-up. With a focus on natural results and cutting-edge technique, Everlasting Brows delivers confidence, one perfectly defined arch at a time.

COHENS THE JEWELLERS

1027a Finchley Road, London NW11 7ES cohensthejewellers.co.uk

An established name on Finchley Road, Cohens the Jewellers is where heritage, craftsmanship and sparkle come together. Known for its wide selection of ﬁne jewellery, watches and bespoke designs, this familyrun jeweller is a cornerstone of the Temple

The Avenue Banqueting Suite is a stunning modern venue perfect for any occasion. Located just a stone’s throw from Golders Green and Finchley, this stylish space o ers two gorgeous suites: Madison (for up to 80 guests) and Elysian (for up to 250). With sleek, contemporary décor, customisable lighting and high-end AV systems, its minimalist, contemporary interior can be transformed for weddings, corporate events, parties or bar/ batmitzvahs. The venue also o ers in-house catering and ample parking, making it a top choice for those looking to party or entertain with sophistication and convenience.

WRAP A WISH

Founded by Deborah Eckstein and Tali Schwab, Wrap a Wish specialises in elegant, customised gift packaging for birthdays, weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, corporate events and new arrivals. You’ll ﬁnd beauti-

1023a Finchley Road, London NW11 7ES wrapawish.com

Gifting may be an art – but at Wrap a Wish it’s also a carefully curated experience. Just o Finchley Road, this boutique is more

fully wrapped hampers, themed boxes, seasonal gifts and a curated selection of lifestyle treats, many of them locally sourced or handmade. Need help assembling the perfect thank-you gift? Want a baby hamper that feels unique? Deborah, Tali and their team o ers that hard-to-ﬁnd wow factor. It’s no surprise Wrap a Wish has become a hidden gem in Temple Fortune’s shopping scene –perfect for thoughtful gifters who believe the outside counts just as much as what’s inside.

NW11 7ES

Taste of excellence

INSIDE ONE ASHBOURNE WITH FOUNDER BEN TEACHER

Nestled in the heart of Temple Fortune, One Ashbourne

has become a go-to destination for kosher fine dining — known for bold flavours, refined service and a truly memorable experience. We sat down with the restaurant’s owner to learn more about his journey and what makes One Ashbourne so special.

How did you get into the food business?

I’ve spent over 20 years working in hospitality, gaining invaluable experience across luxury bars, high-end restaurants and exclusive clubs. This broad background helped shape my passion for delivering exceptional food and service, leading me to create the unique dining experience we offer today.

What inspired you to open One Ashbourne?

Food has always been my passion — I love experimenting with different ﬂavours and pushing the boundaries of traditional cooking. I noticed a gap in the kosher market where ﬁne dining options were limited, so I took the opportunity to create something special.

Why Temple Fortune?

I love the area’s community feel and the practicality — including ample free parking. It felt like the perfect place to offer a beautiful dining experience that’s both elevated and accessible.

What are your signature dishes?

Our Tomahawk steak is a standout — flameseared to lock in flavour and finished tableside for a touch of theatre. We also offer a Meat Sharing Board with a curated selection of premium cuts — perfect for groups and celebrations.

Where does your inspiration come from?

The menu reflects the flavours and cultures I’ve encountered around the world – from vibrant Middle Eastern spices to refined French techniques, with influences of modern European and British cuisine throughout.

How would you describe the dining experience at One Ashbourne?

Warm, elegant and full of ﬂavour. Our dishes are handcrafted with care and often ﬁnished at the table. We also take pride in pairing food with great wine.

What brings people back?

People come to celebrate life’s milestones — birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, Bar and Batmitzvahs. It’s more than just a meal - it’s about creating lasting memories.

Do you offer any tasting menus or promotions?

We’re very proud of our Culinary Journey — a ﬁve-course tasting menu for £73 that showcases

the best of what we do. We also offer Steak Tuesday, featuring discounted 300g and 500g hand-cut steaks.

Any current offers readers should know about?

We’re incredibly proud to be the only kosher restaurant in the world included in the American Express Platinum Dining Beneﬁt, which gives cardholders £200 back annually just for dining with us. (Ts & Cs apply).

What has been the highlight?

Welcoming guests like Yotam Ottolenghi, Sacha Baron Cohen, Christoph Waltz, Jonathan Ross and many more — along with all our amazing customers, has made the past eight years an unforgettable journey.

What are your goals for the future?

Our aim is to continue expanding our function and event space, which is available every day to host all occasions.

Any exciting plans?

We’re thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of our brand-new sister restaurant Logan’s (milky). Located in the beautiful Princes Park on Oakﬁelds Road NW11, Logan’s is designed to welcome guests of all ages, with a diverse menu packed with incredible ﬂavours including our famous Crepes & Shakes. We have also introduced a grab and go Peri-Peri Chicken menu, exclusively available on Deliveroo.

For more information, visit oneashbourne.com or follow @oneashbourne on Instagram.

For events enquiries email events@oneashbourne.com or telephone 07721951429 or 0208 7317575

Boy p ow er

James Corden reunited with Jewish bestie Ben Winston for charity. Brigit Grant was there

There was a moment, just before James Corden bounded on stage at South Hampstead Synagogue, when producer and long-time friend Ben Winston looked out at the 400-strong audience and said: “£50 isn’t nothing.” His reference to the event ticket price was noted by Corden, who said: “£50 – no pressure then.” Winston, never one to miss a beat, added with a grin: “It was £80 for David Beckham.” Winston was referring to the launch event of the Lira Winston Fellowships, which was started in memory of his mother who “dedicated so much of her life to education and the community”.

Based on reports of the Beckham evening, no-one in the audience was in any doubt they’d get their money’s worth, but what followed over the next 90 minutes exceeded expectations: a heartfelt, hilarious and unexpectedly intimate look at one of Britain’s most successful entertainment exports, and the friendship that helped make it all happen.

Before the star power took the stage, two of the fellowship’s recipients – Annabelle Rose, deputy head at Kerem, and Benjamin De Jong, assistant head at JCoSS – shared insights into what the programme has meant for them. The fellowship, they said, is “unique… there’s nothing else quite like it, certainly nothing that focuses so specifically

developing the next generation of Jewish school leaders, and nothing that does it with the same quality, flexibility and personal touch.”

Then came the main event, a conversation between Winston and Corden that spanned

decades and carpool lanes. From Gavin and Stacey to Broadway, to the star doing a shift at a New York kosher deli – it was all served up with wit, warmth and more than a few surprising confessions.

Watching a highlights reel from The Late Late Show, which featured everyone from Stevie Wonder to Paul McCartney, Corden reflected: “It feels genuinely like I’m looking at a person I constructed to exist for eight years. You can’t ever really be yourself when you’re hosting a show with your name in the title. You’ve got to create someone who can say ‘Stick around – we’ll be right back’ every 15 minutes and make it sound normal.”

The audience laughed again as the pair

all night after the first Late Late Show aired, scrolling through social media and waiting for the reviews to land.

Corden, meanwhile, was at dinner with Bono in Malibu.

Cue more hilarity:

“Then I got this text from Ben: ‘I know you’re not looking at your phone – but you can. And I think you should. I think we’ve had a great night.’”

There were many “great nights” to follow – and many great guests. Tom Hanks was their first bigname booking, thanks to a favour called in by the show’s booker. But for Corden, the moment that topped them all was driving through Liverpool with Paul McCartney for Carpool Karaoke

“It was probably the pinnacle of the show,” he said. “That, and falling out of a plane with Tom Cruise.”

shared behind-the-scenes stories of their American adventure, including the moment when Winston first heard Corden’s plan to host the US talk show in 2014 and told him: “That is possibly the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life. You’re someone who should be interviewed. Not do the interviewing.”

But Corden changed his friend’s mind. “He told me we could create an hour of television every single day for the number-one network in America,” said Ben. “A blank slate every morning. It was terrifying and exciting.”

Getting it off the ground wasn’t easy.

“Nobody knew who I was,” Corden recalled. “I was seeing that as a negative. Then one morning I thought – hang on. That’s actually my strength. I’ve done my 10,000 hours. I’ve written a sitcom. I’ve been in plays. I have the experience – I just have to trust it.”

Trust fitted well into a night themed on leadership, with Corden adding: “The most important thing about leadership is the ability to trust that you have the right people around you – and let them do the thing they’re great at.”

Winston, clearly one of those people, admitted he stayed up

The clips got another roar of laughter – from those who had watched them the first time, and those watching them anew.

Among the audience were not just local members of the Jewish community, but superfans who had flown in from across the globe. Louisa Wickland, from Maine, joined a group of fellow Harry Styles devotees from Chicago, Malta and France – drawn by Ben Winston’s connection to One Direction as director of their videos and the documentary This is Us. Joining these fans were the Quinn sisters, who had jetted in from Boston and signed up for tickets within hours of seeing the event on Ben’s Instagram.

Sir Robert Winston, Ben’s father – and himself a Late Late Show guest – was also there. And throughout Lira Winston’s life, legacy loomed large. “She would’ve been proud to see this,” said Ben.

For those who came for a night of showbiz sparkle, it didn’t disappoint and Corden’s admission to buying bagels in Primrose Hill every weekend will likely increase traffic in the area.

For those who came to support the next generation of Jewish school leaders, it hit home. And those who missed the Beckham event were treated to something equally special – the opportunity to laugh and connect with a very British friendship that made it big in America. So, £50 well spent.

James Corden and Ben Winston back together at South Hampstead synagogue

Corden with Tom Cruise, above, and, right, Paul McCartney

Founding father

What do Stephen Fry, David Baddiel and Theodor Herzl have in common? By Jenni Frazer

Anyone who has ever driven up Israel’s coastal road from Tel Aviv, heading north, will be familiar with the water tower featuring a cut-out metal sculpture of Theodor Herzl, whose looming figure stands at the entrance to the city named in his honour, Herzliyah.

But beside the numerous Herzl Streets and Herzl Boulevards which are familiar throughout the country, Herzl himself is a somewhat unknown figure whose role in the founding of the Jewish state has become more opaque with the passage of time.

One man, however, has been determined that Herzl should not remain obscure. Taking as his mantra Herzl’s much-quoted slogan, “If you will it, it is no dream”, Sir Bernard Zissman, now a scarcely believable 90 years old, first wrote a well-received book, Herzl’s Journey

Now Sir Bernard, a former Lord Mayor of his home city of Birmingham, has spent 17 long years in bringing Herzl’s story to the screen, and a remarkable documentary — Theodor Herzl, The Man Behind Israel — was given an exclusive showing at Bafta earlier this month.

Eurovision contestant Yuval Raphael and, most recently, David Baddiel.

The difficulty with making a film about Herzl is that photographic material relating to him and his family is rare. So the documentary is a pleasing mixture of live action — Baddiel visiting places across Europe where Herzl lived or made a mark — and rather charming animation.

Additionally the film draws on a series of talking heads, who round out the previously two-dimensional idea of Herzl so that he gradually, in the course of the one-hour film, becomes someone we have got to know.

He is not just a man with a vision who is the cornerstone of the Zionist dream, but a fullyfledged and occasionally deeply irritating person, dashing manically around the world, putting his case for a Jewish homeland to the Rothschilds, the Pope, the German Kaiser — even a British prime minister.

Giving a voice to Herzl with excerpts from his copious writing was Sir Stephen Fry, infusing his words with just the right level of barely suppressed passion and frustration.

The directors of the film are Dominic Howlett and James Dann.

But the undoubted star of the event was perhaps an improbable choice to front the documentary — the writer and presenter David Baddiel, whose uncompromising choice of social media description — “Jew” — tells you much about him and also, one suspects, would have entertained Herzl himself.

Baddiel, of course, has made no secret of his feeling that as a British Jew, he has little or no relationship with Israel. Despite that, the author of Jews Don’t Count confessed to curiosity about Theodor Herzl. Pre-screening, he told the film-makers, Window Zebra Media: “As a British Jew, I’ve grown up with a complex relationship to Israel — one shaped by politics, identity and history.

“But Herzl’s story is something different. It’s about the raw idea of safety — of home — for a people who had neither.

As it is cited in the documentary, ‘this man changed the world’ and I wanted to help tell that story, not to take sides, but to understand the man at its centre.”

Plagued by ill-health, Herzl died tragically young in 1904, aged only 44, and thus never lived to see the establishment of the Jewish state. If he exists at all in popular memory, it is for that symbolic picture of him leaning over the balcony of the Three Kings Hotel in Basel, Switzerland, said to have been taken during one of the Zionist Congresses which he convened. It is a pose frequently re-created by people such as President Isaac Herzog, the

Among those telling Baddiel what Herzl seems to have been like are historian Derek Penslar and the American professor of modern Jewish history at UCL, Michael Berkowitz, plus a brief snapshot from the famed former Prisoner of Zion, Natan Sharansky.

But also giving their take — perhaps surprisingly — are the fiercely controversial Israeli professor Avi Shlaim, a harsh critic of Israel, and the Palestinian campaigner Ghada Kharmi, whose verdict is that Herzl’s dream of a Jewish state was disastrous for the Palestinians.

As Baddiel explains in the film, timing was everything: for Jewish emancipation, or Enlightenment, had arrived in 19th century Hungary, Herzl’s birthplace, in time for him to benefit. “A lot of doors that were previously shut had suddenly opened,” he tells us.

After the death of his adored sister Paulina in 1878, Herzl and his family moved to Vienna. The young Herzl became a student of law at Vienna University and had his first encounter with antisemitism when he joined a strange far-right-wing fraternity, Albia. This group demanded an initiation qualification — a duelling scar. Herzl duly acquired this and wore

his scar as a badge of honour, says Baddiel. But Herzl broke with the group after its members expressed shocking antisemitic views at an 1883 memorial service for the composer Richard Wagner. He picked up his desultory law studies, but soon swapped them for writing “frothy comedy” plays — something we don’t usually link with the father of the Zionist movement.

He married Julie Naschauer but the marriage was a disaster. The couple had three children, each more tragically disturbed than the next. Hans “was circumcised after his mother’s death (in 1907), moved to England… and converted to Christianity”. Although Hans returned to Liberal Judaism, he committed suicide in 1930. His sister Pauline died from drug addiction in the same year. The third child, Trudi, was declared insane and was deported to Theresienstadt with her husband in 1942. Her son became a British diplomat, but he, too, committed suicide in 1946.

Mainly, the film tells us, Herzl became so consumed with the idea of a state for the Jews to protect them from burgeoning antisemitism that he spent as much time as he could running away from his wife and children. Securing a post as the Paris correspondent of the Neue Freie Presse, of which he became editor in 1895, Herzl was profoundly affected

by the Dreyfus Affair, in which the Jewish captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly accused of treason and made a scapegoat for corruption in the French army.

“A sense of existential threat began to overwhelm Herzl about the condition of being Jewish,” says Baddiel. “He started to think that no amount of assimilation would ever resolve the Jewish problem.” As we know, Herzl considered a series of now-derided solutions — including a mass conversion of Jews in Vienna and the possibility of accepting a British offer to resettle world Jewry in Uganda.

Finally, however, he hit on Palestine, which he visited just once in 1898.

For the next six years, Herzl’s life was a frantic series of visits to people whom he believed would support his vision and the convening of the first Zionist Congresses.

Men who we know in the 21st century only as street names, such as his friend Max Nordau, helped make Herzl’s dream come true after his death.

The film has succeeded in making Sir Bernard Zissman’s dream come true, as well — that of telling the story about a man who changed the world.

 Theodor Herzl, The Man Behind Israel will be shown at the UK Jewish Film Festival in November

Herzog and Herzl on the balcony of the Three Kings Hotel in Basel

Sir Bernard Zissman

David Baddiel

Theodor Herzl in 1903

MORE THAN A CAFE, A PLACE TO CONNECT

Step into Head Room, Jami’s social enterprise café, supported by The Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation. It's here, at Head Room, where co ee, conversations and community come together. Also enjoy delicious kosher food and drink, or take part in our unique peer-led community programme, open to everyone. Relax, meet others or simply soak up the atmosphere. Head Room has so much more to o er than just a great cup of co ee.

Business / Secret Food Tours

By Candice Krieger candice@jewishnews.co.uk

GLOBAL CULINARY DISCOVERY PASSES TASTE TEST

Secret Food Tours has grown from an idea conceived over drinks in a Shoreditch pub to an international edible exploration sensation. Its Jewish co-founder speaks to Candice Krieger

ost people dream of eating their way around the world.

Oliver Mernick-Levene has built a business doing just that—and turned it into the largest food tour experience company on the planet.

Secret Food Tours, the company he co-founded in 2013, provides high-end food tours and experiences on ﬁve continents and is growing at a rate of 30 cities per year. Guests are treated to a three-hour walking tour, tasting local specialties at hidden gems while learning the cultural and historical stories behind each bite.

mid-twenties and working in PR, got talking to

Nico Jacquart. “We just started talking about business,” he recalls. “I’d been showing people around London for fun, but always struggled to ﬁnd a truly great food experience.”

“People say we have the best job in the world,” says Mernick-Levene, 38, “and they’re probably right.”

It all started in 2013 over a few drinks in a pub in Shoreditch. Mernick-Levene, then in his

That casual chat turned into a global idea: immersive, story-driven food tours that showcased the real ﬂavours—and people—of a city, and Secret Food Tours was founded. MernickLevene started running tours in London, while Jacquart launched them in Paris.

By 2019, Secret Food Tours had expanded to 60 cities, powered in part by a £1 million investment in 2018 from Andrew Wolfson’s Pembroke VCT, which has since put in a further £1 million.

Today the business runs tours in 88 cities (at the time of writing), with plans to reach 100 by the end of this year.

Mernick-Levene, who grew up in Harrow and went to JFS – the school he credits for fostering his entrepreneurial spirit - admits not everyone believed they could scale that quickly while sustaining the quality. “A lot of people doubted us,” he says. “But we were always obsessed with authenticity.”

Then the pandemic hit.

“It was heartbreaking. We’d reinvested all our proﬁts in 2019 and were just about to recoup it all in 2020.” With borders closed and travel halted, the business ground to a halt.

most successful entrepreneurs.

Mernick-Levene and his team mothballed operations and pivoted. “We started doing virtual tours, which just about kept the lights on. We weren’t even making £10,000 a weekwe were used to making £30-50,000 a day—so that was a shock. They were very dark times.”

The founders redesigned the business model and relaunched in 2021, with Pembroke rebacking them and committing their second £1 million. “They didn’t have to do this. Many people didn’t believe that tours would ever come back but I was very bullish they would.”

And, “in a nice case of full circle,” says Mernick-Levene, “Pembroke is part of Oakley Capital, which is co-founded by prominent entrepreneur and investor Peter Dubens, who also went to JFS.”

Today, the business is three times bigger than before the pandemic, attracting up to 400,000 customers a year. The business employs 80 staff and has over 500 guides worldwide.

In 2024, the company hit sales of £17.9 million, growing at such a pace that it was recognised on The Sunday Times 100 ranking of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies. This June it was named in the Deloitte EMEA Technology Fast 500, ranking number 17 among the fastest-growing tech companies across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The duo also own ﬁve restaurants in Paris. “People think that’s impressive, but they only work because of the tours. It’s the tours and the people that go on them that matter.” The most popular tours? “There are the ones you might expect like Paris, London and Rome but also ones you wouldn’t; Austin, Bologna , Copenhagen and San Antonio (Texas). A lot of places we were told wouldn’t work, but they do. Food tourism is only getting bigger.”

According to Grand View Research, the global culinary tourism market was estimated at $1.5257 billion in 2023 and projected to reach $40.5 billion by 2030. Key trends driving this growth include the increasing popularity of food festivals, culinary trails, and social media’s inﬂuence on travel behaviour.

Despite the growing trends, authenticity remains at the heart of the company’s mission. “We don’t take people to the beach in Barcelona. We take them to family-run cafes. Some of these places now make hundreds of thousands from our tours,” Mernick-Levene says. “We’re helping small businesses survive.”

Secret Food Tours prides itself on sticking with previously hidden gems, even when they become famous. “Everyone knows Bread Ahead’s donuts in Borough Market, but they’re still one of the best things on our tour. We won’t stop just because something’s no longer a secret.”

Earlier this year, the founders sold 40 percent of the business to Harwood Private Capital alongside Growth Partner, a venture capital ﬁrm backed by Richard Harpin, the founder of Homeserve and one of the UK’s

The company’s research team scout new destinations by embedding themselves in local food culture—sampling, testing, and scripting entire tour experiences. “We send our people to two or three destinations a year, and they get to be creative, explore, and help us build the stories we tell,” he explains. As for Israel, Mernick-Levene says they were planning to launch there pre-pandemic but “the timing isn’t right at the moment. Still, I did a food tour in Tel Aviv once and the food was incredible.”

For someone who once just liked showing friends around London, it’s been quite a journey. “It’s an unusual business, I admit,” says Mernick-Levene. “But I love it.”

Oliver MernickLevene

Mernick-Levene with Nico Jacquart

A Secret Food Tours experience in Melbourne, Australia

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA

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

BY RABBI STEVEN DANSKY CRANBROOK SYNAGOGUE

statement, that God has decreed:

This week begins the book of Devarim, the last of the ﬁve books of Moses. In it, Moses begins a very long speech in which he explains to the Jewish people the reason they had to wander in the desert for such a long time until they ﬁnally entered the Promised Land.

Moses goes into detail concerning the story of the 12 spies – how they were sent to bring back reports about the land of Canaan, and how as a result of their negative reports being believed by the people, they were destined to wander in the desert for 40 years.

At the end of this description, Moses says, almost in a throwaway

“You too shall not go there.” This statement of “you too” implies that somehow Moses’ fate is tied together with the fate of his people. The people believed in the lies of the spies, who spoke badly about the land. In the words of Psalms, “they scorned the land of desire”. Their lack of faith in God’s description of the land being ﬁlled with “milk and honey” is the source of their downfall. However, where is Moses’s sin? Why should he be punished for the sins of his people?

The Abarbanel proposes an astonishing insight. When God asked Moshe to send out spies in the book of Numbers, he commanded him: “Send out for yourself spies, and they shall spy out the land.” The command has no details whatsoever as to what the spies should look for. Moses, in an

earnest and honest desire to prepare the people for what they are about to face, adds to the words of God. He asks the spies to look out for the fortiﬁcations and for the relative strength and weakness of the people. This was not part of the brief that was given to him.

In adding these speciﬁcations, Moses inadvertently plants ideas in the minds of the spies. If our leader Moses believes that this is what we must look for, they reasoned, it must be that this should be our focus. Instead of focusing on the beauty of the land and the land alone, Moses’ unintentional command made them focus on the strength of their future enemies, which facilitated the negative reports, fuelling the fear and anxiety of the people to boiling point. God, therefore, tells Moses: “You too shall not go there,” and indeed

this is exactly what happens. We know that Moses dies on the edge of the promised land. He gets to see the land but will not enter, just as the generation who believed the spies did not.

This deeply human and tragic moment reminds us of the responsibility of leadership. Even the most righteous and devoted of leaders can generate unintended consequences through well-meaning words. Moses’ addition may have come from a wellintentioned place, but it subtly shifted

the people’s perspective from faith to fear, from trust in God’s promise to reliance on human calculations. We are reminded that our words, our tone, and our framing – especially in positions of inﬂuence – carry great weight. Whether as parents, teachers, friends or leaders, we shape the way others see the world. Like Moses, we may never fully see the impact of our actions, but we must always strive to align our speech and guidance with values of faith, hope, and trust.

10 Golders Green Road London NW11 8LL Opposite Cafe Nero

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBI CHARLEY BAGINSKY CO-LEAD, PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

Why we must speak out

The same day our Progressive Judaism open letter on Israel and Gaza was published, written to speak with compassion and moral clarity into a moment of heartbreak, I sat in the theatre watching Giant.

It is a bold, uncomfortable play. Set in 1983, it imagines Roald Dahl being confronted over his antisemitism by two Jewish colleagues, publisher Tom Maschler and sales executive Jessie Stone. Neither wants the conversation. Both try to separate their Jewishness from the argument. But Dahl refuses to let them. He drags their identity into the centre, forcing them to answer for it. Watching this unfold, many of us saw how little has changed.

This is what happens when Jewish presence is made contingent on being unthreatening, uncomplicated, detached. When we

are expected to be non-political, as if being visibly, communally Jewish is not already made political by the world around us. We are told not to be “too Jewish”. But our presence is politicised before we even speak.

Later that day, we learnt that two Jewish comedians, Rachel Creeger and Philip Simon, had their shows pulled from the Edinburgh Fringe. Not because of anything they said. Because they are Jewish. The venue cited “sta discomfort” This discomfort is rarely loud. It arrives as pressure, to disavow, disclaim, to explain ourselves before we are allowed to speak. The silence we are talking about is not just censorship. It is exhaustion. The weight of constantly proving we belong.

The play o ers no resolution. Dahl does not apologise. The Jewish characters receive no justice or understanding. Their words hang unanswered. The audience is left in the discomfort. This is not a play about the past. It is a play about now.

Because the most uncomfortable truth is how timeless it all feels. Jewish identity made suspect. Jewish grief selectively acknowledged. Jewish voice pushed to the edge. There are moments that echo recognisable pain, stories of trauma that feel uncomfortably familiar, even across time and place. What is most striking is not just what is said, but what is left out. And in that silence many of us feel a

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A stimulating series where our progressive rabbis consider Judaism in the face of 21stcentury issues

grief that does not ﬁt the narratives around us. Pain too complex to share easily. Fear that lives in our names, in our memories, in our bodies. Our letter tried to hold all of this. The unbearable loss of 7 October. The unbearable su ering in Gaza. The urgency of releasing hostages. The horror of starvation. The pain of rising antisemitism. We said clearly, Zionism must be rooted in justice. Compassion must extend beyond borders. Silence is not a moral option.

And yet more and more we are told to be silent, not always by force, but by fatigue. Fear. The sense that no one wants to hear us unless we ﬂatten our pain and beliefs.

But we speak. Because something has shifted. Because red lines are being crossed. Because to speak is not to betray our people. It is to honour them.

The Jewish voice is being tested. Again. But we are still here. And we are still speaking. Because another path is not only possible. It is essential. And it begins with the courage to be heard.

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