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It was supposed to be a day of solidarity for British Jews. Instead it will be remembered for how fractured and fearful our community has become since 7 October 2023.

Sunday’s images are now seared into the memory. A 5,000-strong crowd outside Downing Street – an impressive turn out for a short-notice event in August –standing as one in calling for the release of hostages that have languished in Hamas terror tunnels for almost two years. And two mainstream rabbis being shouted down and removed from the stage. In front of cameras. In front of hostage families. In front of a community that prides itself pulling together when it counts.

Two images. Worlds apart.

The rabbis, Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy, may not have intended to provoke. But criticising Israel and speaking for Palestinian self-determination at a rally dedicated to the hostages was always likely to profoundly insult sections of the crowd. They surely knew that. That said, the pair had made it abundantly clear that they would only agree to address the event if they

Continued on page 20

Thousands of people took part in Sunday’s rally in Whitehall

Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy are removed from the stage

Progressive rabbis booed

Chief accuses PM of betraying hostages

The Chief Rabbi has accused the government of dealing a “blow to the lives of each of our hostages” as he questioned how ministers could “live with themselves” if the UK recognised Palestine while the prisoners remained, writes Justin Cohen.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis was among speakers at a rally at Downing Street to call for the hostages to be freed.

The rally was originally advertised under the banner ‘No recognition without the hostages’. This was later watered down to focus on a demand for the remaining 50 hostages to be freed.

While the organisers claimed the demo brought the community together, the coheads of Progressive Judaism Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy were told to leave the stage by organisers after being drowned out by the minority of the crowd.

Sir Ephraim earlier reflected on a conversation with a family member of one of the hostages. This person had asked who would continue fighting for the hostages

as their captivity went on. “I believe our answer has to be all of us,” Sir Ephraim said.

“We are the brothers and sisters of all the hostages. Nothing is going to stop us from doing all we can to secure their release.”

“Hamas is the personification of evil. It is an evil that is inflicting purposefully maximum suffering on its own people, preventing people from having aid.

“But unlike Hamas, none of us wants to see the suffering of any single innocent person.”

Turning his ire to the government, he characterised

the recent announcement from No 10 to recognise a Palestinian state if Israel didn’t move towards peace and even if hostages remain in Gaza as a change of policy.

“After meeting with others and families of hostages they were declaring they would leave no stone unturned for every hostage. Now the government announcement has dealt a blow to the lives of every single one of our hostages,” Sir Ephrain said.

“Emily Damari has said what the government is doing won’t contribute to a solution and is delivering a reward for terror.”

More than two dozen chief executives and senior figures from Jewish communal organisations have condemned the treatment of two rabbis at a London rally, warning growing intolerance within the community risks causing lasting damage, writes Lee Harpin.

It follows scenes when the cochief executives of Progressive Judaism were shouted off stage during their speeches at Sunday’s rally for the hostages – an incident branded as “deplorable” by the Board of Deputies.

Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy were among the last to address the crowds in Whitehall at the end of the event, organised by Stop the Hate and the Hostage and Missing Families Forum UK.

Almost total silence greeted the pair as they came on to the stage and began by condemning Hamas in no uncertain terms, saying: “The responsibility for this war, and for the agony it has brought, lies with them.”

There is “no higher priority” than bringing them home, they

told the crowd.

Reflecting on the demo by 60,000 Israelis, they continued: “They protested both against Hamas and against the policies and rhetoric of this Israeli government.We must be brave and honest enough to do so too.”

The crowd, led by a few vocal protesters at the front, began to heckle and call for the rabbis to be removed from the stage.

The protest grew louder as the rabbis went on to say the Palestinians had a right to selfdetermination at the right time – reflecting the long-held position of every major communal organisation.

“What we reject is a methodology that tries to force this future through violence, terror, and the suffering of civilians,” the rabbis said. “Statehood cannot be built on the blood of innocents, and peace will never grow from the soil of fear.”

Some members of the crowd could be heard loudly rejecting any idea of a Palestinian state. By the time the pair added

... AS STARMER HOLDS FIRM ON TWO-STATES

Downing Street has said Keir Starmer is continuing to push the UK’s peace plan to world leaders to revive the prospect of a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians as part of a determination to see a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release, writes Lee Harpin.

The eight-point plan, was developed by Starmer’s national security officer Jonathan Powell.

It has been criticised by Benjamin Netanyahu and by the main UK communal groups over its proposal for recognition of Palestinian statehood in September, without demanding Hamas release the remaining hostages as a condition.

No 10 said the PM had continued to discuss the plan with allies across Europe, and with Turkey’s president Recep Erdoğan and the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

But diplomats in the UK, France and Germany have reportedly been left “frustrated” by president Trump’s failure to engage with plans toward a two-state solution.

According to The New York Times, French officials, despite being asked several times, have been unable to determine whether the US still supports a two-state plan.

Starmer is also well aware of the overwhelming opposition of the main communal organisations to this part of the plan.

But he is understood to have received supportive messages from within the community in this country, and also significantly from legal, political and human rights activists oinside Israel.

Israel’s announcement on 18 July of further expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and a widespread outcry at photographs of sick and thin children in Gaza the following day, were key factors in influencing the UK government’s decision to announce a plan for peace which included Palestinian recognition.

But days later French president Macron’s annoucement on recognition reportedly took the UK by surprise as it had not been flagged in advance. This came as French diplomats decided he could not persuade Trump to make any move to halt Israel’s military action in Gaza.

The UK then moved to announce its own recognition proposal, followed by the other E3 nation member, Germany.

In talks with Arab leaders the Starmer is said to have referenced the road map outlined in Powell’s document, including the disarmament of Hamas and, again according to The New York Times, the creation of a potential UN-led force to keep the peace after the war ended.

In a statement issued after the talks, the Arab League said: “Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support.”

The New York Times also reported Two senior officials had told it these developments represented a “one-two punch” as anger at Starmer grew over his apparent failure to influence the deteriorating situation in the region.

• Keir Starmer, page 22

Crowds line the streets for Sunday’s rally for the hostages before the two rabbis were shouted off the stage

Chief Rabbi Mirvis front and centre at the hostage rally

off stage

and Baginsky

their position was sincerely held because they “mourn for every innocent Israeli and Palestinian lost”, their words were barely audible above the heckles – and organisers from Stop the Hate asked them to leave the stage.

The Board of Deputies was quick to respond, saying: “Confronting the challenges we face as a community will only be done successfully if we can do it in a united and cross-communal way.

“We deplore the way a section of the crowd treated the co-chief executive rabbis ... and that they were asked to leave the stage.

“It was disrespectful and self-defeating and should have no place in our communal life. Those indulging in this dis-

graceful behaviour should reﬂect that if we cannot even hear and speak to other Jews with respect then they have no chance of convincing wider society.”

Supporters of the rabbis pointed out the remarks from the stage were not as strong as some statements by other UK communal leaders in recent weeks.

It is understood Levy and Baginsky agreed to talk on condition they could condemn Israeli government policy, in line with colleagues in Israel.

Tory Lord Stuart Polak followed the rabbis on stage, commenting: “That was interesting,” adding he wanted to see “dignity extended to all the people of the region”. He added western governments “with the exception of the US” spend more time condemning Israel than demanding Hamas frees hostages.

He was followed by human rights lawyer Natasha Hausdor , who received a huge ovation for her address and applauded the audience for making its views known to the progressive rabbis.

WE WERE HOUNDED OUT BUT WON’T BE SILENCED

BY RABBI CHARLEY BAGINSKY & RABBI JOSH LEVY CO-HEADS OF PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

We came to Sunday’s march to speak for a vision of Jewish community that can hold complexity, speak hard truths, and still stand together.

We believed the platform would reﬂect the breadth of voices in our community, including those of Israeli hostage families who still stand in Hostage Square seeking the release of the kidnapped and an end to the war.

Our speech began with a truth we cannot dilute. On 7 October, Hamas unleashed horror. They murdered, burned and kidnapped, shattering lives and shattering peace.

The responsibility for this war and the agony it has brought, is with them. And still today, they hold hostages, living and dead. They are not statistics.

They are mothers and fathers, children and grandparents. They have names, faces, birthdays missed, embraces delayed and, tragically, funerals delayed too. They must come home. There is no higher priority.

‘Shameful’: Knesset member lashes out

A leading Israeli opposition politician has condemned the “shameful removal” of two Progressive Judaism rabbis from the stage as they spoke at a communal demo in London – and invited them to address a Knesset committee.

Gilad Kariv is a Knesset member for the Democrats Party and chair of the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee. In a post on X, he described the removal of Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy as they attempted to address attendees at the rally as “a violent and cowardly act”. Kariv is a former CEO of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism and the ﬁrst Reform

rabbi elected to the Knesset. He added: “The culture of debate and the ability to unite around a common goal despite di ering opinions are the secret of the Jewish people’s strength—in Israel and in the Diaspora.

“Just as many Israeli citizens oppose the government’s policies as part of the struggle to bring back the hostages, so

too do a signiﬁcant portion of the Jewish Diaspora.”

Kariv also revealed he would invite Baginsky and Levy to join a meeting of the Knesset’s Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee “where we will listen to their words with open hearts and utmost respect”.

Leo Baeck College also issued its own statement “in the face of the abusive behaviour against our alumni”. It added: “We condemn unequivocally the lack of civility, the intolerance in the face of indi erence, and absence of respect displayed by some members of the crowd and the clumsy way the disruption was handled by organisers.”

We said it plainly, the idea of a Palestinian state is not the problem.

What we reject is a methodology that tries to force this future through violence, terror and the su ering of civilians. Statehood cannot be built on the blood of innocents and peace will never grow from the soil of fear.

As Jews in this country, we will not remain silent in the face of Israel’s external threats. But neither should we remain silent when its own government pursues policies that endanger Israelis and endanger the hostages.

The UK Jewish community, committed to Jewish values, to the rule of law, to human dignity, must have the strength and honesty to speak with this brave voice.

It was not easy to stand there. We were heckled and then the organisers removed us from the platform.

But we will not retreat from crosscommunal spaces. If we are not there, others will shape the Jewish future without us and we will not allow that.

We will use our voice, our presence, and our conviction to shape what comes next. The Jewish future will be shaped by those who show up and we will be there.

That night, after Havdalah outside Downing Street, we walked back through the warm evening in our kippot. A woman in a keﬁah stopped, looked straight at us and spat out, “I see you,” her voice full of contempt.

It was antisemitism and ignorance bound together, targeting us for being visibly Jewish after a peace ritual that mourned both Israeli and Palestinian dead. And here is the bitter truth, it is not only voices outside our community that do this.

Across our Jewish world, left and right, we have convinced ourselves that public humiliation is an e ective tool. Havdalah ends with blessings for distinction between light and darkness, despair and hope.

In this moment, we choose hope. We choose to keep showing up, to rebuild together, to light the way toward the world we long for.

And one day those blessings will not be about longing for peace but about living in it.

A Trump administration report has accused the UK of backsliding on human rights over the past year, citing increased antisemitic violence and growing restrictions on free speech.

The annual US State Department assessment, which analyses human rights conditions worldwide, ﬂagged what it described as “serious restrictions” on freedom of expression in the UK.

abuses, but prosecution for such abuses was inconsistent,” the report read.

“The government sometimes took credible steps to identify and punish o cials who committed human rights

The report speciﬁcally said laws limiting speech around abortion clinics, pointing to “safe access zones” curbed expression, including silent protests and prayer.

You can be beyond incredible

Levy

at the rally before being ejected

Gilad Kariv

WCK imposters killed KINDER TURNED TECH PIONEER

The IDF has eliminated five armed terrorists who had disguised themselves as World Central Kitchen staff, with the food aid charity confirming the group had posed as its operatives, writes Daniel Sugarman.

World Central Kitchen (WCK), founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, responded after the IDF released a video on Tuesday showing the activity.

An IDF spokesperson described the video showing “five armed terrorists operating within a vehicle marked with a fake ‘World Central Kitchen’ emblem, despite having no affiliation with the organisation.

“They wore yellow vests and cynically exploited the trust given to aid groups to conceal their activity.”

The IDF subsequently eliminated the five terrorists.

WCK said it had been “contacted

Forensics turning grief into memory

In the aftermath of 7 October 2023, experts in forensic analysis came from across Israel to help with the terrible task of locating and identifying the remains of those murdered, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Among their number were experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority, which found itself operating in scenes of modern destruction, using its archaeological tools and specialists on ancient sites to decipher the present. A powerful new exhibition now tells the awful story of that effort – and its aftermath.

Rising from the Ashes: Archaeology in a National Crisis opened last week at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein national campus for the archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem.

Project director Leora Berry said: “Professionals who developed their skills and tools to engage in interpreting ancient archaeology found themselves digging amongst the rubble of just-destroyed houses, and through their unique expertise were able to see and identify the scant human remains, and thus restored their faces, names and memory.”

Bereaved families closed a loop thanks to the work of the archaeologists, who, in cooperation with the army, managed to locate 16 missing persons whose whereabouts had been previously unknown.

Valuable personal objects were also found that helped to reveal their fate. Stav Miles received jewellery that her mother, the late Yona Fricker had made – which Miles will now wear on her wedding day.

And the family of the late Shani Gabay also received definitive evidence about her fate, after her necklace with a pendant was discovered right at the spot where she was now understood to have been murdered.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Heritage

and the Tekuma Directorate, also established a national documentation project – to reproduce the destruction sites by creating 3D models, or “digital twins,” using modern and extensive technologies that were originally developed to document and present huge ancient archaeological sites.

Visitors can view and interact with advanced sensory and technological displays including a wall with photographs of items found by excavation and screens to explore the 3D models of the destruction sites.

Israel Antiquities Authority director Eli Escusido said it was the authority’s duty “to preserve, document and ensure the survival of the memory of the most difficult episodes in our history, from which we must grow and learn. The Jewish people have always known how to rise from pain, even after the most severe destruction.”

Rising from the Ashes is not suitable for children. The tour, which is open only to groups, not individuals, is accompanied by professional and sensitive guidance.

The TKUMA Directorate was established in the aftermath of the 7 October attack, with a mission to rehabilitate and promote the growth of the region and its inhabitants.

by Israel’s coordinator of government activities in the territories, COGAT, and confirmed the vehicle and persons of interest were not affiliated with WCK.

“We strongly condemn anyone posing as WCK or other humanitarians as this endangers civilians and aid workers. The safety and security of our teams are our top priority.”

The IDF said: “Hamas and other terrorist organisations exploit the humanitarian effort to advance terrorist objectives at the expense of the welfare of the population in Gaza. The IDF, through COGAT, will continue to work in cooperation with international aid organisations to prevent their exploitation for terrorist purposes.”

In 2024, an Israeli air strike killed seven WCK staff, including three British citizens. The IDF’s prelimi-

Dame Stephanie “Steve” Shirley, a Kindertransport survivor who became an IT pioneer famed for championing women’s rights and her philanthropy, has died at 91.

Born in Germany in 1933, she came to Britain in 1939.

In 1959, she launched her company, in which 297 out of the first 300 employees were women. The company operated in this fashion until the advent of the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act.

She adopted the moniker “Steve”, seeing that letters

nary investigation found “those who approved the strike were convinced they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees.

“The strike on the aid vehicles is a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decisionmaking, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.”

An IDF major and a colonel in the reserve were dismissed after the incident and multiple senior officers were formally reprimanded.

The IDF’s chief of staff at the time, Herzi Halevi, described WCK as “an organisation whose people work across the globe, including in Israel, to do good in difficult conditions.

“The IDF works together closely with the World Central Kitchen and greatly appreciates the important work that they do.”

DIES, AGED 91

using the name “Stephanie” were often ignored. Her company’s success saw her amass a £150 million fortune.

Her only child, Giles, was

severely autistic and Shirley helped to fund many autism charities, including Kisharon, now Kisharon-Langdon.

In 2019, Dame Stephanie told Jewish News she would donate her compensation from the German government given to Kindertransport refugees to a charity for “today’s child refugees”.

In her 2012 memoir, she described why she had given so much to charity, saying: “I do it because of my personal history; I need to justify the fact that my life was saved.”

PRENATAL TEST ENDS FALSE RISK WARNINGS

A Rabin Medical Centre team has unveiled a new genetic risk assessment model designed to give more accurate prenatal screening results to parents from closeknit ethnic groups.

The system, led by Prof Idit Maya, addresses what she calls “a major flaw” in global testing standards.

“Measuring genetic proximity of Jewish couples... some level of relatedness is expected”, Maya explained. ”If we don’t take that into account, we end up with false red flags that can lead to heartbreaking decisions.”

The extensive DNA analysis found significant differences between populations which often reflect generations of intra-communal marriage, not a heightened risk of genetic disorders. The team’s algorithm adjusts for this.

The Israeli Society of Medical Genetics has now adopted the model anddMaya says she believes this will reduce stress for families and prevent termination of healthy pregnancies. “This is a big step forward – not just for individuals, but for entire communities,” she added.

A still from the video showing terrorists posing as WCK workers

Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

Dame Stephanie Shirley

Prof Idit Maya in her lab at Rabin Medical Centre

Three pre-ban terror acts linked to Palestine Action

The UK’s main independent body for assessing and analysing terrorism threats identiﬁed three separate acts committed by Palestine Action ahead of the government’s decision to proscribe the organisation, Downing Street has conﬁrmed, writes Lee Harpin.

Details of the three acts were identiﬁed by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which is based within MI5, and have been outlined in full in a closed court, it was conﬁrmed.

“Under the terrorism act the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre identiﬁed three separate acts of terrorism carried out by Palestine Action activists,” the spokesperson said, adding the “very clear assessment” had been supported by “experts across the police and security services.”

Palestine Action is a “violent organisation” that has committed “signiﬁcant injury”, Downing Street added when asked about people arrested as part of protests linked to the group and over the weekend at a mass demonstration in London.

The prime minister’s oﬃcial spokesman said: “We’ve said that many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation, but the assessments are very clear: this is a violent organisation that has committed violence, signiﬁcant injury, extensive criminal damage, and, as I say, it has met the tests as set out under the Terrorism Act to be proscribed.”

They resisted calls to give further details of the information that led to the proscription of Palestine Action, but conﬁrmed again some information was expected to emerge in future court cases related to the group.

“The PM absolutely supports the police in enforcing the law,” the No.10 spokesperson said. ”The law is very clear; expressing support for a proscribed organisation is illegal.”

Asked whether the group Defend Our Juries, which had organised Saturday’s demo in central London backing Palestine Action, was now facing proscription itself, No.10 said it would never comment ahead of any action.

Earlier, justice minister Alex Davies-Jones defended the arrests of more than 520 activists saying supporters of a “terrorist organisation will feel the full force of the law”.

Responding to questions about the protest on BBC Breakfast, Davies-Jones said: “I want to thank the police for their bravery and their courage in carrying out their diligent duties in the line of public protection.”

He continued: “And I want to state that the right to peacefully protest in this country is a cornerstone of our democracy, and of course, we respect that. But with regards to Palestine Action, they are a proscribed terrorist organisation and their actions have not been peaceful.

“They have violently carried out criminal damage to RAF aircraft.

“We have credible reports of them targeting Jewish-owned businesses here in the United Kingdom, and there are other reasons which we can’t disclose because of national security.

“But they are a proscribed terrorist organisation and anyone showing support for that terrorist organisation will feel the full force of the law.”

The Met said after Saturday’s demo oﬃcers from its Counter Terrorism Command would be working “over the coming weeks” to put together case ﬁles and secure charges against those arrested at the gathering.

522 ARRESTED WHILE THREE ARE CHARGED

Two women and a man have been charged with showing support for proscribed terrorist group Palestine Action, it has been conﬁrmed.

The three were arrested at a protest in central London on 5 July, the Metropolitan Police said. Jeremy Shippam, 71, of West Sussex, Judit Murray, 71, of Surrey, and Fiona Maclean, 53, of Hackney are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 September, a spokesman said.

Details were given by Cmndr Dominic Murphy, head of the force’s Counter Terrorism Command, who said: “Anyone who displays public support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, is committing an oﬀence under the Terrorism Act and can expect to be arrested and will be investigated to the full extent of the law.”

Meanwhile, more than 520 people were arrested for supporting Palestine Action at a protest in central London on Saturday. The Met conﬁrmed they were held for displaying an item in support of a proscribed organisation.

The average age of those arrested was 54.

An arrest at Saturday’s PA demo in London

Lammy echoes Gaza NGO plea

David Lammy has joined foreign ministers from 27 countries to urge Israel not to enforce “restrictive new registration requirements” on humanitarian organisations delivering aid in Gaza and the West Bank, writes Lee Harpin.

A statement signed by the UK foreign secretary along with counterparts including those in Australia, Canada, France and Japan, claimed: “The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Famine is unfolding before our eyes.

“Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation. Humanitarian space must be protected, and aid should never be politicised.

“However, due to restrictive new registration requirements, essential international NGOs may be forced to leave the OPTs imminently which would worsen the humanitarian situation still further.

“We call on the government of Israel to provide authorisation for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating.

“Immediate, permanent and concrete steps must be taken to facilitate safe, large-scale access for the UN,

international NGOs and humanitarian partners.”

In March Israel diaspora affairs minister Amichai Chikli called the new policy a “dramatic change” in Israel’s approach to foreign NGOs.

Critics of the registration system say it would force NGO staff to leave Israel by next month — widening the gap of critical aid needed in Gaza and elsewhere in occupied territories.

The EU’s foreign policy chief and United Nations Office for the Coordination Of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have also raised concerns.

They claim Israel is requiring NGOs to share sensitive personal information about their Palestinian employees or

face termination of their humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The statement signed by the UK said all crossings and routes must be used to allow aid into Gaza, including food, nutrition supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water and medical equipment.

Minister Chikli said earlier this year: “This directive marks a dramatic shift in Israel’s policy toward foreign entities that, under the guise of humanitarian aid, undermine the state’s existence, promote boycotts, and blacken its reputation. The Diaspora Affairs Ministry thanks the government for entrusting us with this critical task. Israel will protect its sovereignty.”

France scraps El Al staff visas

France has stopped renewing work visas for El Al security personnel in Paris in a move tied to the Gaza conflict and worsening relations with Israel.

The decision affects Israeli citizens employed as personnel assigned to diplomatic missions. The visas had allowed them to live and work in France legally.

An El Al guard stationed in Paris said: “In the past six months, none of the employees whose work visas expired have received renewals.

“It seems they are trying to end the employment of El Al security personnel in France.”

Staff without visas are classed as working and residing illegally.

Some have secured temporary diplomatic permits via Israel’s embassy, but others have been forced to return home.

El Al’s management has directed affected employees to seek assistance from Israel’s foreign ministry, which said the matter was being handled by the embassy in coordination with the French foreign ministry.

The freeze follows a spate of incidents in Paris targeting Israeli interests.

Last week, vandals daubed “El Al genocide airline” on the company’s offices and splashed

Ramsgate marks

Nearly 1,000 visitors gathered in Ramsgate to mark the 140th anniversary of the passing of Sir Moses Montefiore, the eminent Victorian philanthropist, statesman and tireless advocate for Jewish communities across the globe.

El Al is expanding its UK schedule to an unprecedented 20 weekly flights this winter, as demand for the London-Tel Aviv route continues to grow.

From late October, Israel’s flag carrier will operate 15 flights a week to Heathrow and five to Luton – its highest frequency to Britain – as oversold summer services have driven airfares sharply higher.

Currently, only Israeli airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia are flying between London and Tel Aviv, with British Airways and easyJet suspending operations until at least the end of October. Virgin Atlantic has halted Israel flights entirely.

the entrance with red paint. El Al subsequently evacuated its staff from the French capital, replacing them with a thirdparty provider at the airport.

“El Al proudly flies the Israeli flag on the tails of its planes and condemns all forms of violence, especially antisemitic violence,” the airline said in a statement.

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on X: “Say it ain’t so, France. Say it ain’t so! What happened to France?”

The standoff adds to a growing diplomatic rift, as Paris faces pressure from pro-Palestinian activists and criticism from Jerusalem over its stance on the war in Gaza.

Adding to this was last month’s announcement by French president Macron that his country would recognise a Palestinian state in September, sparking a chain reaction of Western governments proceeding along similar lines.

SURVIVOR DIES AFTER IRAN MISSILE ATTACK

A 91-year-old Holocaust survivor from Rehovot has died weeks after being seriously injured in an Iranian missile strike during June’s 12-day war.

The announcement follows budget carrier Wizz Air’s decision to restart Tel Aviv operations soon.

The Budapest-based airline plans to resume 24 routes from 11 countries, including 10 from eight countries launching flights this month.

Wizz Air is also in discussions with Israel over opening a hub at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Passenger numbers through Ben-Gurion are rebounding, with 80,000 passing through last Thursday – the highest daily total since the 7 October Hamas attacks and the outbreak of war.

El Al has reported record profits during the past two years of conflict, with the airline often operating as a de facto monopoly on the route.

Born in 1784, he married Judith Cohen, sister-in-law of Nathan Meyer Rothschild and made his fortune before the age of 40. He retired from the Stock Exchange and devoted the rest of his life to the interests of poor and oppressed fellow Jews.

He died in 1785 at the grand old age of 100, almost unheard of in that era.

For the past 25 years, Ohel Zadikim, a charity dedicated to preserving Jewish history, has held an annual commemoration at the Montefiore Synagogue and Mausoleum, Sir Moses’s final resting place.

The charity has brought together supporters from far and wide to pay their respects.

Among the largest groups

attending this year were members of Canterbury Camp, at the University of Kent campus.

Led by the Pinter family, it has for generations championed Montefiore’s historical mission and rescue efforts for world Jewish communities.

The Montefiore Endowment continues to steward the estate in Ramsgate and supports rabbinic training programmes.

Montefiore was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1837 and made a baronet in 1846.

Olga Weisberg was among dozens wounded when Iranian missiles struck the Israeli city on 16 June. The sustained barrage killed 31, injured more than 3,000, and displaced over 13,000 across the country.

Weisberg underwent multiple surgeries while in hospital for serious shrapnel wounds. She was discharged to continue her recovery at home but her condition deteriorated suddenly and paramedics from Magen David Adom called to her home were unable to resuscitate her.

It has not yet been confirmed whether her death was caused by her war injuries or by an unrelated medical issue.

Her funeral was held last Sunday at the Gorodiski Cemetery in Rehovot, with the family opting for a private ceremony.

Weisberg is survived by her husband – also a Holocaust survivor – as well as a daughter, grandson and greatgrandson. Her death follows two other fatalities linked to the same wave of missile strikes on Rehovot.

An 85-year-old man died last month after being moderately wounded when a residential building took a direct hit on 15 June.

Days later, the Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed that 49-year-old worker Leah Mosquera had died in hospital from injuries from the same attack, which had left her in intensive care for weeks.

Lammy, right, and French counterpart with Israel’s Yisrael Katz

Netanyahu with France’s President Macron

Moses Montefiore

Damage from the Iranian missile strikes on Israel

Israel threatens to halt UK security tie over recognition

Israel is considering halting defence and intelligence cooperation with the UK if Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer proceeds with unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state next month, diplomatic sources have warned, writes Annabel Sinclair.

According to a report in The Times, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is assessing a range of potential responses, including downgrading security ties, if Britain presses ahead with recognition outside the framework of a peace deal.

Loggerheads:

One o cial quoted in the report said countries “should carefully consider” the consequences of such a move. Another warned: “London needs to be careful because Bibi (Netanyahu) and his ministers have cards they could play too. Israel values its partnership with the UK but recent decisions mean it is coming under pressure, and the UK has a lot to lose if Israel’s government decides to take steps in response.”

Starmer has said Britain will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel signiﬁcantly increases aid into Gaza, halts annexation of West Bank territory, agrees to a ceaseﬁre and enters into a long-term political process. Israel has strongly condemned the move, describing it as a reward for terrorism while hostages remain captive in Gaza.

An Israeli embassy spokesperson said: “This counterproductive move

will certainly not contribute to deepening the mutually beneﬁcial relations between Israel and those who advance this ill faith agenda.”

Defence and intelligence cooperation between the two countries is extensive.

Israeli intelligence has provided MI5 with critical information on Iranian-backed threats in the UK, including details that helped thwart an alleged terror plot targeting Israel’s embassy in London.

Greta to sail to Gaza again on new flotilla

Greta Thunberg has announced that she will take part in another Mediterranean ﬂotilla attempting to reach Gaza, describing it as “the biggest ever attempt to break the Israeli siege.”

The 22 year-old, who made an international name for herself as a teenager due to her climate activism but who has increasingly swapped that for promotion of the Palestinian cause, announced on Instagram that the “global sumud ﬂotilla” would launch

on 31 August from Spain.

“We will meet dozens more on 4 September sailing from Tunisia and other ports”, Thunberg continued.

“We are also mobilizing more than 44 other countries on simultaneous demonstrations and actions to break complicity in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

“Sumud” is an Arabic word meaning “steadfastness” or “perseverance”.

In June, Thunberg was one of the passengers on the

Madleen, a single boat which attempted to sail to Gaza.

Others aboard included Rima Hassan, a French Member of the European Parliament, Omar Faiad, an employee of Al Jazeera and Thiago Avila, a Brazilian who attended the funeral of Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah in February, describing the dead terrorist as a “martyred saint and beloved leader who inspired people across the globe, and a historic ﬁgure in the anticolonial struggle.”

WATER LET-OFF TERROR SALES

Two men who sprayed water at traditionally dressed Jews will not face court action.

Both had been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated assault on Thursday after a video emerged online of two men in a car laughing and joking as they sprayed liquid from water pistols at visibly Jewish pedestrians.

On Tuesday, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the pair had been given community resolution orders over the incident in Farnworth, Bolton. Such orders, which can include an apology, are imposed after a victim agrees they do not want police to take formal action. A GMP spokeswoman said the victims in this case were “happy with the outcome”.

Merchandise supporting banned terror group Palestine Action is available to buy on the UK sites of major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Etsy.

The group was proscribed as a UK terror organisation on 5 July, following their direct criminal action aimed at targets they deemed to be connected to Israel.

Jewish News discovered various t-shirts, made in both the UK and China, emblazoned with the slogan “We are all Palestine Action”. Membership of, or support for, Palestine Action is a criminal o ence.

Jewish News has contacted Amazon, Stickytees and Etsy for comment.

Five men were arrested in what became one of the UK’s largest recent counter-terror operations.

The UK has also used Israelimanufactured drones in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Israeli defence equipment has been credited with saving the lives of British soldiers.

Trade in the defence sector alone is valued at around £6 billion and supports an estimated 38,000 jobs in the UK.

Israeli ﬁrms supply weapons systems, software and components to British defence companies such as BAE Systems.

The impact of a breakdown in ties would be felt on both sides, though sources say Israeli ministers remain divided on how far to go.

According to The Times, some within the Israeli government fear that ending the relationship could damage the Israeli economy and sever crucial British military assis-

tance – including RAF ﬂights over Gaza that are supporting the search for Israeli hostages.

The UK continues to provide spare parts for Israeli F-35 ﬁghter jets, despite suspending other export licences last year due to concerns over potential violations of international law in Gaza.

Any such move to pull security cooperation would mark a historic low in UK-Israel relations.

Tensions have already escalated after the UK imposed sanctions on two Israeli ministers in June, with Israel having barred two British MPs from entering the country in April.

While some analysts believe Israel is unlikely to follow through on the threat, they caution that even raising the prospect signals the depth of Jerusalem’s frustration.

The UK government responded to the report saying: “We do not comment on anonymous speculation about intelligence matters.”

Benjamin Netanyahu and Keir Starmer

Police provide protection to Labour minister’s staff

Sta working for Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard have been given police protection outside his constituency o ce in response to increasingly intimidatory protests by pro-Palestine activists, writes Lee Harpin.

In scenes that shocked both hard-working sta and locals in the area, police were called to the Labour MP’s o ce in Plymouth last Thursday to deal with a protest, amid claims several activists had performed Nazi-salutes.

While sta were fearful of stepping out of the o ce, the demonstration is also said to have impacted on local constituents who were turning up for appointments or seeking access to their MP for urgent support.

With loud music blaring outside, and constant abuse from those on the demo, sources told Jewish

News that some locals mistakenly thought they were witnessing a protest by far-right activists when they saw some on the protest making Nazi salutes.

Police were also visible at the end of the working day on Thursday o ering protection for sta as they left the o ce.

One source told Jewish News: ”Sta have got used to regular protests outside their place of work, but the truth is they are becoming more and more aggressive and intimidating.

you have local people turning up to try to get help for serious issues, but they can’t get into the o ce.

“It was actually sickening to see sta coming out of the o ce on Thursday to go home with police having to give them protection.

“Something needs to be done about the situation, and fast.”

became unbearable. Thank-

“Last Thursday afternoon it became unbearable. Thankfully the police came out quite quickly once they were called, but the protestors seemed to adopt this stance of not engaging with the o cers.

engaging with the o cers.

Pollard has repeatedly been targeted by hardcore pro-Palestine activists, particularly over his role as armed forces minister, and his backing, alongside home secretary Yvette Cooper, for the proscription of the Palestine Action group. He also faced false claims that the UK is actively involved with providing military assistance to Israel in Gaza.

“Some of the sta are now really scared about coming to work each day. It’s an awful situation, especially when

“Some of the sta are now awful situation,

On Monday, activists from the Plymouth Friends of Palestine group posted a video of their demo outside the constituency o ce, at which chants of “Luke Pollard shame shame. all the blood spilled in your name” were heard in relation to Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

LEGACY

Others chants included:”Zionism, terrorism” and “Luke Pollard you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” There is no suggestion this small group of protestors on Monday were involved in Thursday’s more aggressive demo. But a police van was seen parked near the MP’s o ce as Monday’s demo took place.

Jewish News has approached Devon and Cornwall Police and the Labour Party for comment.

Agencies boycott fake photographer

Major European picture agencies have stopped working with a Gazabased photographer after a German documentary revealed he staged an image portraying hunger in the Strip.

Anas Zayed Fteiha, a contributor to Turkey’s staterun Anadolu Agency, was ﬁlmed arranging a photo of Palestinian children with outstretched empty bowls –seemingly queuing for food. But a wide-angle shot in the

Australia will formally recognise a Palestinian state at next month’s UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced, setting strict preconditions for the move and drawing condemnation from Jewish groups.

Albanese said recognition would be “predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority (PA),” including the exclusion of Hamas from any

documentary, broadcast by Süddeutsche Zeitung, shows the scene was constructed in an open area with no aid distribution taking place.

The image, which appeared in outlets including CNN, BBC News, and New York Magazine, was circulated by Anadolu during Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas.

The investigation by SZ prompted swift fallout. According to German newspaper Bild, both Agence

future government, acceptance of Israel’s right to exist, full demilitarisation of Gaza, and the holding of new democratic elections.

France-Presse (AFP) and the German Press Agency (dpa) have conﬁrmed they will no longer accept Fteiha’s work. Questions have also been raised over Fteiha’s impartiality. Archived social media posts reviewed by Bild show him sharing anti-Israel content – including a graphic image of himself wearing a press vest amid Al-Aqsa Mosque domes captioned “Free Palestine,” and a video clip with the words “f*** Israel”.

Other reforms demanded from the PA include ending the “pay for slay” scheme that rewards violence against Israelis and introducing monitoring to prevent incitement in the West Bank. He called the decision “part of a coordinated global e ort building momentum for a two-state solution,” a reference to recent recognition pledges by France, Canada, and the UK – the latter criticised by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis.

Anthony Albanese

Regular protests have taken place by the MP’s constituency office

Luke Pollard MP

‘Pride

and protection for Jewish students’

Louis Danker takes the helm of UJS at a turbulent time, pledging a bold revival of Jewish life on campus, writes Michelle Rosenberg

Last month, one of the community’s key leadership roles changed hands. Louis Danker is now president of the Union of Jewish Students, representing 9,000 members across 85 Jewish societies in the UK and Ireland. His tenure begins during one of the most challenging periods for British Jews – particularly those attending higher educational facilities – in recent memory.

Yet Jewish history is filled with examples of determination in the face of adversity and resilience in response to hostility – and a new generation is continuing in that tradition. The 22-year-old Danker, from north London, sums this up perfectly: “We’ve got the biggest Friday night dinners we’ve ever seen with the most security we’ve ever needed. Everyone is talking about the second part, but no one’s talking about the first part,” he says.

Danker has been preparing for this challenge since well before the presidential phone and office keys were symbolically handed to him earlier this month.

The former Edinburgh University geography student, who led the local JSoc during his time in the Scottish capital, centred his election campaign around putting Jewish pride back on the agenda, running a Jewish culture and history week on campuses around the country, and a plan for a year of zero tolerance on antisemitism.

When the results came in, he had received 938 votes, more than any other candidate in the history of the organisation’s elections.

Speaking to Jewish News a few weeks into the job, he says it’s been “non-stop from day one”, adding: “It’s very much not a nine-tofive, but it’s great. I’m loving it.”

Central to his plans are “putting being proud to be Jewish on campus at the centre of everything that UJS does, and the centre of everything Jewish students do”.

Danker believes Jewish student life has “reacted to unprecedented challenge with unprecedented resilience”.

“I think the most important thing for me is showing the world, the community, and our students that amidst all the challenges – and there are many – we are thriving like we’ve never been thriving before. Jewish life on campus is vibrant, and it’s diverse and it’s constant and exciting.”

While his passion for the role is beyond doubt, Louis Danker is also a realist. He knows there are challenges, but says “fundamentally, we are in such an exciting place. Jewish students have chosen to react to all the antisemitism, and all the hostility on campus, with redoubling their efforts to build such amazing communities.

“I think that is something to behold and something we should be shouting about. So, I will be shouting that from the rooftops constantly.” Supporting him is what he calls “the biggest sabbatical team at UJS in decades”.

As he says: “We’ve got a team of myself plus nine sabbatical officers”, which he says gives them a “greater capability to respond, be reactive, be on it”.

He adds that UJS “needs to continue having the best-in-class response when it comes to antisemitic incidents on campus” adding: “We need to continue providing the expert welfare support and logistical support to Jewish societies as they respond to incidents as they happen.”

The real change is what he calls “the pernicious normalisation of antisemitism on

wants to “understand the work they’re doing and ensure that they are fully focused on protecting Jewish student life”. He adds he will “absolutely be touring around, getting to as many campuses as I possibly can”.

This he regards as “one of the great perks of the job, as I see it – I want to be on the ground talking to students, I want to hear about what they love about UJS and JSoc, and what they want to see more of”.

He jokes with Jewish News about the Leeds blind-tasting “chulent-off” he attended on the campaign, and laughs (nervously) at the thought of how much weight he might put on during his tenure.

campus, whereby it becomes part of campus culture”. He adds: “We are now getting ahead of that. We can’t just tackle the symptoms; we have to tackle the cause.”

That involves “massively upscaling our antisemitism awareness training that we give to student union, sabbatical officers, vice chancellors, university staff and students.”

Danker and his team are spending this month building relationships with JSocs and Jewish students around the country, having come up with a calendar for the year and all the different campaigns and programmes the team want to put in place.

They’ve also written to every university vice-chancellor in the country to request a meeting to scrutinise those officers’ plans for the year ahead. Danker says that’s because he

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS SHOWING THE WORLD AMIDST ALL THE CHALLENGES THAT WE ARE THRIVING AS NEVER BEFORE

With an eye to the future: “I want to make sure every UJS staff member is the embodiment of our message as an organisation –Jewish pride, and living, thriving, fulfilling Jewish lives on campus. Of course, the best way for us to do that is to be there on campus with the students themselves.”

Danker underscores plans to “strengthen our leadership pathway, to ensure that we are creating the Jewish communal leaders not only of today on campus, but in the future as well.” He outlines the rapid expansion of UJS’s schools work, developing the leadership pipeline.

“How great”, he asks, “would it be if the freshers coming into their freshers’ stalls in September already want to be involved in UJS because of the contact they’ve already had with us in sixthform?”

As UJS president, Danker is proud he is the Jewish students’ “elected representative, and we are their union. It is their voice that is the most important thing. So, if I can spend the year listening to their feelings and concerns, and amplifying their voices, that is a year well spent. And if that involves me getting a lot of trains, then so be it.”

Louis Danker speaking at UJS Conference

Danker, left, with ex-presidents Sami Berkoff, Edward Isaacs, Joel Rosen and Hannah Rose

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Trevor Chinn at 90: How to raise a million for charity

Anglo-Jewish knight and leading benefactor for Israel reﬂects on his long life with Jenni Frazer

If you are going to celebrate a big birthday, you might as well do it in style. Sir Trevor Chinn – a remarkable and scarcely believable 90 in July – did just that.

His younger son, Simon, is an Oscar-winning documentary-maker, and made a special ﬁlm screened at a warm and intimate family event at Sir Trevor and Lady Susan’s home and featuring tributes from Israeli president Isaac Herzog and the Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, plus Sir Trevor’s close friends, Gerald Ronson and Harry Djanogly.

It was, says Sir Trevor, “a fabulous evening,” complete with children and grandchildren. His elder son, David, is presently living in Israel, where he is senior partner in management consultant McKinsey.

Over the past seven decades there has scarcely been a good cause which has not beneﬁted from Chinn’s input, ranging from projects in Israel to cultural enterprises and a remarkable campaign for the Wishing Well appeal at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

He was awarded a knighthood in 1990 for the latter campaign, which raised millions, but he is also a holder of the CVO – Commander of the Royal Victorian Order – and, proudly, one of eight diaspora leaders awarded the Israeli president’s medal of honour in 2024.

But this astute businessman who made his fortune in the motor industry and then as an adviser in the private equity world, is swift to point out he does not regard his fundraising for Israel as philanthropy. “I’ve spent my life working for Israel”, he says, “but that’s not philanthropy. That’s a Jewish purpose.”

We meet in Chinn’s “alternative o ce”, Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair, where he holds many breakfast or lunch meetings. Still lean at 90, he recalls his early introduction to raising money for Israel, the cause of his life.

He had a perfect example in his father, Rosser Chinn, who became president of the Jewish National Fund. But after school (Clifton College) and Cambridge University, where he studied economics, he became involved in the Charities Aid Committee, which raised money for JNF.

“I succeeded [future Conservative cabinet minister] David Young as chairman. And in 1958, when I was 23, I went to Israel for the ﬁrst time. I was just blown away. What no-one ever tells you is how beautiful the country is. I went from the very north, Metulla, to Eilat in the south, which had one hotel in those days. That was the beginning of my work for Israel”. Israel didn’t dominate Jewish conversation

until the Six Day War, says Chinn. “We began to think there could be another Holocaust. But in fact people didn’t really talk about the Holocaust either, until 1967. That war really took over the lives of people like me. I was involved at that time with the JIA – actually, it was called the JPA, [Joint Palestine Appeal] and I changed the name later when I became chair.

“My closest friend at that time was [Ladbroke chair] Cyril Stein. We were working together to raise money”. Chinn laughs: “He would always tell me I wasn’t doing enough.”

In 1973, Marks and Spencer grandee Michael Sacher asked Chinn to become JIA chair. Six months later, Israel was facing the Egyptians in the Yom Kippur War. “Basically, Cyril and I were running the campaign, so we could do it how we wanted. We raised £58 million in three weeks. I set out to get million pound gifts, and I think I got 12.

“We came out of synagogue on Yom Kippur to hear Israel had been invaded. We were horriﬁed. And Zionist or not Zionist, people just responded because they wanted to.”

Like former Conservative politician Jim Prior, who chaired the Wishing Well Appeal, I am intrigued to know how one asks anyone for a million pounds. Chinn laughs and repeats what he told Prior: “You just open your mouth and let the words come out”.

He adds: “I always tell people, you’ll feel better after giving.” Do they? “Yes!”.

The largest single amount Chinn raised came from Romanian businessman and Datsun and Nissan importer Octav Botnar, a former member of the French Resistance, who gave £8million, later increased to £10 million, to fund the Institute of Child Health next to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Unlike some in the heady hierarchy of the rich, Chinn is optimistic and conﬁdent about the upcoming generation, and full of praise for the leadership of the Union of Jewish Students. He says when he headed UJIA he put students and youth movements at the top of the agenda for fundraising: “I think it’s paid o and has kept the community Zionist.”

Away from charity work and business, Chinn is a devoted family man and prefers not golf but spending time with his wife and sons. He and Susan met at a reception his and Susan’s father gave to raise money to establish a forest in Israel.

Susan has also been a noted fundraiser, raising millions for the National Theatre. She was awarded the CBE for her work.

Chinn is philosophical about the present

situation and rise in antisemitism. Jews “are living in frightening times” and “for the ﬁrst time ever I am worried for the future of Jews in the Western world”.

But he speaks warmly of Palestinian leader Hussein Agah, whom he says is a close friend, and suggests a change of leadership on all fronts would improve matters.

He describes himself as “a man of the left” politically with good contacts in the Labour Party (though he has also given money to

the Conservatives), and praises the current Labour leadership, saying he does not regret support for individual politicians – or, indeed, any of his actions behind closed doors, where he might have sought to inﬂuence thinking –“because I have always tried to think through the consequences of what I do.” Happy birthday, Sir Trevor.

Sir Trevor Chinn

Israel: Reporter was Hamas

Israel has accused a senior Al Jazeera reporter killed in Gaza of being a high-ranking Hamas operative – a charge the Qatari-based network has rejected as “false”, writes Joy Falk.

Press freedom advocates also warned the allegation had not been backed by published evidence.

Anas Al-Sharif, a videographer for Al Jazeera Arabic, died alongside correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera crew Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa when their tent was struck outside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday.

The IDF said Al-Sharif headed a Hamas cell directing rocket fire at Israeli civilians and soldiers and rosters, training lists and salary records

recovered in Gaza proved his membership since 2019.

In a statement, the military said:

“STRUCK: Hamas terrorist Anas AlSharif, who posed as an Al Jazeera journalist. Al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops.”

The statenent continued: “Intelligence and documents from Gaza… prove he was a Hamas operative integrated into Al Jazeera. A press badge isn’t a shield for terrorism.”

While the post included pictures of supposed Hamas documents showing Al-Sharif’s membership, no public documentation has yet been released to support the claim.

Al Jazeera described the strike

as an “assassination” and dismissed the IDF allegation as a “desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza”.

The broadcaster urged the international community to “take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists”.

After Al-Sharif’s death, an X post appeared on his account – reportedly prepared in advance.

The posting oretold Al-Sharif’s death and read: “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice… I entrust you with Palestine… until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland.”

Separately, a post circulating online claimed to show another message to sympathisers from Al-Sharif’s account.

This urged followers to “remember that we hit them on the head in the middle of their military sites”, and included a picture of a foot placed on the head of a dead Israeli soldier.

A further alleged Telegram post apparently written by Al-Sharif on the day of the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 included the words: “9 hours and the heroes are still roaming the countryside killing and capturing. “

He added: “God how great you are”, as well as referring to the terror attack as “a struggle of martyrdom”.

ARREST OVER WESTERN WALL GRAFFITI

A 27-year old Jerusalem resident was arrested on Monday after graffiti reading There is a Holocaust in Gaza was spray-painted in red across a southern section of stones at the Western Wall.

In addition to defacing Judaism’s second holiest site in the egalitarian area opposite the ‘Ezrat Yisrael’ section, the suspect is also accused of tagging the outer walls of the city’s Great Synagogue with similar graffiti. Police sad the Jewish man was in custody pending a court hearing.

Western Wall rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said: “A holy place is not a place to express protests of any kind, and sevenfold when this is done at the holiest place for the entire Jewish people.”

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He condemned the act at the Kotel as “a serious desecration”.

National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, defence minister Israel Katz and Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz were among others to denounce the graffiti while Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion condemned the “serious act”, adding, “There is no place, and never will be, for harming the national and spiritual symbol of the Jewish people.”

Eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, rght, and Anas Al Sharif

Graffiti on the Western Wall

Harounoff at JW3: Future of Iran is in hands of its people

British-Iranian journalist turned Israeli UN spokesperson Jonathan Harouno launched his ﬁrst book, Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomenLifeFreedom Revolt, at JW3 on Sunday evening in conversation with broadcaster Peter Cardwell, at an event co-presented with Jewish News

Drawing on numerous interviews with voices inside Iran and across its diaspora, Harouno told the audience the work was born from a need “to show there’s a very clear distinction between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the people of Iran”.

The book opens with the September 2022 killing of 22-yearold Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Jina Amini, who was detained by Tehran’s morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab too loosely.

“She was taken to a detention re-education centre where she was beaten to a pulp … three days later she was o cially declared dead,” Harouno said. That moment, he writes, ignited one of the most

widespread uprisings in the republic’s 46-year history, with protests in almost all its 31 provinces.

Unveiled moves beyond the headlines, chronicling women’s deﬁance, Iran’s ethnic diversity and the precarious existence of minorities – including its 10,000-strong

Jewish community, which Harouno said may practice their faith only if they “actively take part” in anti-Israel displays. He recounts how the 12-day war with Israel triggered arrests of around 35 Iranian Jews on espionage suspicions.

Harouno ’s narrative also

explores culture as resistance, from music and murals to social-mediadriven protest. At JW3, he described the song Baraye – “the culmination of dozens and dozens of tweets” about why Iranians were rising – as the movement’s uno cial anthem.

The author’s own heritage –British-Israeli parents and Persian grandparents – runs through the book. “I’ve always been surrounded by Hebrew, by Farsi, by delicious Persian cuisine… and I was always curious about why there’s so much enmity between Israel and Iran,” he said, recalling the era before 1979 when the two states enjoyed direct ﬂights and formal recognition.

When Unveiled situates the revolt in a wider history of uprisings, Harouno insists the next turning point will come from within. He warned against foreign “meddling” but urged Western states to end enabling trade and diplomacy with Tehran, pointing to looming UN “snapback” sanctions as an opportunity to apply pressure.

On the Gaza war, he told the audience: “Hamas is not interested in coming to the negotiation table”, defending Israel’s decision to expand operations to free hostages.

The evening closed with book signings, but Harouno ’s core message – embedded throughout Unveiled – lingered: Iran’s rulers may dominate the headlines, but it is the country’s resilient people who will decide its future.

Jonathan Harounoff discusses his new book with Peter Cardwell

Former Moriah teacher is jailed for child abuse pics

A former Moriah Jewish Day School teacher has been jailed for creating thousands of indecent images of children – including doctored pictures using the faces of his former pupils, writes Annabel Sinclair.

Ezra Davies, 53, was sentenced to 29 months in prison at Willesden Magistrates’ Court sitting as a Crown Court, on Wednesday after admitting three charges of making indecent images of children.

The court heard Davies, who taught at a number of schools, including Moriah, created collage-style pictures by pasting the faces of boys – some he had taught – onto existing sexual images of children. In some cases, he altered the pictures to add sexual imagery or disturbing themes such as circumcision, corporal punishment, religious symbols, and sadistic abuse.

him feeling “betrayed, disgusted, and sick to my stomach,” adding that happy memories of primary school had been “tainted” forever. Davies’ lawyers said he had autism and ADHD, a history of trauma, and had sought help from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which works with sex oﬀenders.

They argued for a suspended sentence, but Judge Ali Staiwright said the seriousness, scale and breach of trust meant only immediate custody was appropriate.

HATE DOCTOR STATUS PROBE

The General Medical Council has been unable to conﬁrm the status of an investigation into a doctor who regularly posts screeds about “Jewish supremacy” and has called for the ethnic cleansing of Jews living in Israel.

Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, who is still registered with the GMC with a licence to practice medicine, was proﬁled by Jewish News last month over her social media posts, which included the claim that “the UK is occupied and controlled by Jewish supremacy –in fact most Christian majority countries are” . She added that “rabbis need to reject the Amalek commandment and the notion that non-jews are lesser than goyim”.

At the time, health secretary Wes Streeting, condemned the GMC for “failing publicly and abysmally in their responsibility to protect Jewish patients”.

He was arrested that September, and oﬃcers seized multiple devices from addresses in London and the north west.

In total, they found over 7,000

The National Crime Agency (NCA) began investigating in 2021 after tracing an online account linked to child abuse material back to Davies.

indecent images across legal categories A, B, and C – with nearly 6,900 of them digitally altered by Davies. Category A, the most serious, included 133 images, of which 31 were of former pupils.

One victim, now in his twenties, said the oﬀences had left

Davies will serve half his sentence before being released on license. He was also given a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, placed on the sex oﬀenders register for 10 years, and had his devices ordered to be destroyed.

The judge warned that breaching the order or the registration could result in up to ﬁve years in prison.

In a speech to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on antisemitism, Streeting went on to say he would be “hauling in the chief executive and chair of the General Medical Council to answer for the situation”.

But Jewish News has discovered that Aladwan has continued to post regular hate messages on social media, with no change in status to her medical licence.

Dr Rahmeh Aladwan

Willesden Magistrates’ Court, where Ezra Davies was sentenced

Bibas family room opens

A new children’s playroom has opened at Schneider Children’s Medical Centre in Israel to honour the memory of Shiri, Ariel and Kﬁr Bibas, who were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, writes Annabel Sinclair.

The space – featuring orange butterﬂies and interactive digital games – was designed in partnership with Toys for Hospitalised Children and created with the full support of the Bibas and Silberman families.

The Bibas playroom features a “digital touch wall”, a gaming table, and a mural of rolling green hills with three orange ﬂowers symbolising Shiri and her two sons. The butterﬂies were inspired by four-year-old Ariel’s love of chasing them on picnics, recalled by his father, Yarden Bibas, in a moving eulogy.

similarly said he had backed the project “to make his mum proud”.

The £118,000 playroom was built inside the hospital’s new Glass Building and was o cially opened in Petah Tikvah, just months after the family’s funeral. It is the third playroom created by the group in Israel.

In her interview with eJewishPhilanthropy, Domb said the project was greenlit only after receiving the family’s full blessing. “I did not want to do anything without the family’s approval and bracha,” she said.

including Yarden Bibas – husband and father of the murdered hostages – and Shiri’s sister Dana Silberman-Sitton. “They gave their blessing and were happy about it. And they will always know that (Shiri, Ariel and Kﬁr’s) memory will be there forever,” Shnaider said.

Photos from the opening ceremony show Yarden Bibas, wearing a Batman shirt, helping to cut the ribbon.

Domb initially wanted to remain anonymous but later chose to speak out “to make my children proud”. She partnered in the plan with Sruli Anatian, another lead donor, who

“I wanted it to be in memory of the Bibas family, the children and the mother,” Michelle Domb, one of the project’s lead funders, told eJewishPhilanthropy in March, while the project was under way.

Toys for Hospitalised Children president Rabbi J J Hecht II met Shiri Bibas’ uncle, Maurice Shnaider, at a hostage vigil in New York. “I said to him, ‘Maurice, we have an idea and we want your blessing,’ and he cried immediately and said, ‘Yes I love it,’” Hecht told eJP Shnaider then spoke to surviving relatives

ISRAELI LAB KIDNEY BREAKTHROUGH

Israeli researchers have successfully grown a fully-formed human kidney organoid in the lab that remained stable for 34 weeks – the longest-lasting and most complete kidney model yet developed.

Led by Prof Benjamin Dekel of Sheba Medical Centre and Tel Aviv University, the team cultivated

the organ using human kidney tissue stem cells. Their ﬁndings, published in The EMBO Journal, are expected to transform understanding of how kidneys form, how diseases develop in utero and how damaged tissue might one day be repaired or replaced.

“We have succeeded for the ﬁrst

time in growing a human kidney in the form of an organoid from the speciﬁc stem cells of the kidney,” Dekel said. “This is in parallel with the maturation process in the uterus that occurs until the 34th week of pregnancy.”

Earlier attempts relied on pluripotent stem cells that can become

any tissue in the body – but which typically failed after a few weeks.

Dekel’s team instead used kidney-speciﬁc tissue stem cells able to grow in a 3D culture for over eight months, forming complex kidney structures including blood ﬁlters and urinary ducts in a process known as tubulogenesis.

We are delighted to invite you to our

Shiri Bibas, 32, was abducted from Nir Oz with her sons Ariel, 4, and Kﬁr, 9 months – the youngest Israeli hostage taken on 7 October. Her husband Yarden was taken separately.

After months of uncertainty and false claims by Hamas, Israel conﬁrmed in February all three had been murdered in captivity.

The new playroom now stands as a tribute to their memory – and a space for other children to play, smile and heal.

With Guest Speaker Brendan O’Neill journalist, author and champion of Israel

Wednesday 17th September 2025 3pm-5pm

Venue: North West London

Price £20 per person

RSVP: 020 8732 6143 or email kklevents@kkl.org.uk

Yarden Bibas opening the playroom

Prof Benjamin Dekel in his lab

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Editorial comment and letters to the editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS

We can’t argue our way to unity

Continued from page 20

could include criticism of Israel’s leadership in line with much of the Israeli public and hostage families. They’d offered to withdraw if this wasn’t acceptable. The question for Baginsky and Levy (who set out their reasoning on page three of this week’s newspaper) is whether the message they delivered was worth the backlash.

Strip away all the heat and here’s the reality. Privately, most Jewish leaders, whatever their faction, acknowledge the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. They know the images of destruction corrode Israel’s standing in the world. They know delivering aid isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s in Israel’s strategic interest. They also believe in two states as a result of negotiations.

The difference between them is not whether they see the suffering, it’s whether they will say so in public at a time when British Jews feel under siege like never before.

Hamas bears sole responsibility for 7 October and the horrors that followed, as the two rabbis made clear in their speech. But Israel must still hold fast to humanitarian principles, even in the thick of war it has no choice but to completely win. That was the core of the rabbis’ point. Many agree with it behind closed doors. Few will voice it with a microphone.

The answer is not to wrench that microphone away. Silencing conscientious voices in our community doesn’t end disagreement – it buries it, making genuine dialogue and common ground impossible when we need it most. After last weekend’s ugly scenes, we’ve never needed it more.

Which brings us back to the start. Can leaders lead without being honest in public or is leadership in times likes these about saying certain things to specific audiences? Is a result of this war that we can’t even stomach views with which we disagree? Have we really become a community for whom the very idea of Palestinian statehood is too much to handle, or that is unable to recognise the humanity of people ‘on the other side’?

From the conversations we have, we genuinely think not. We had better hope not, or our ability to speak both to the next generation of Jews and to the world beyond our bubble will be severely limited.

Then Hamas really will have won.

History’s harsh truths

Further to letters in Jewish News, there is an apparent loss of meaningful information regarding the historical background of Jews in the Islamic world. During the Ottoman period and prior, Jews were “treated worse than dogs”, as recorded by various visitors.

Just how many of your readers and staff have actually read the Hamas and PLO aka PA charters, which confirm their intention to eradicate Israel and slaughter the Jews? Even one Jew in Afghanistan was one too many; he was forced to leave. It is all very well to beat one’s chest and complain about the Government and Netanyahu from the comfort of your living room here in the UK. However, no one will return to the Gaza

DIVERTED FUNDS

The creation of a Palestinian State is a bad move for lasting peace. If Hamas members and supporters will be the politicians and leaders of the new state, this will give these terrorists access to State funds.

envelope or the Lebanese border while the two terror organisations, Hamas and Hezbollah, continue with their plans. Hamas has promised to repeatedly try to complete its plan for a Jew-free caliphate.

To watch Gazan civilians on 7 October spitting on bodies of dead Jews shows their true feelings, even towards murdered Israelis who had shown them personal kindness. One hostage confirmed not a single person acted kindly towards them. Jews should have the right to travel and live anywhere in their ancient homeland. To deny this is akin to saying no Muslims have the right to migrate to the UK and other countries.

Martin Cohen, By email

REGIONAL SHIFT

For obvious reasons, this new state will claim it needs an equipped army you can easily forecast the rest. From past incidents you can guess funds donated to the new state by the US, UK and other nations will be diverted into these terrorists’ hands and pockets.

E. Wilson, Leeds

RISK OR REWARD?

The government does not need our leaders scream ing that Palestinian recognition is a reward for terror.

Science Minister Peter Kyle has proudly announced Pal estinian citizens “need to be rewarded” with statehood.

Shimon Cohen, N2

The Arab League’s recent sweeping condemna tion of Hamas’s 7 October attacks, coupled with its demand that Hamas disarm and relinquish control of Gaza, marks a watershed moment. This shift is not merely symbolic. It signals Hamas’s growing isolation within the Arab world and reflects broader frustration with the humanitarian collapse in Gaza, exacerbated by militant rule and mismanagement. Arab leaders are now aligning with international consensus: advancing the two‑state solution must include a demilitarised Palestinian Authority and a Gaza freed from Hamas’s grip.

In these dark times, this diplomatic realign ment offers a rare silver lining. This declaration is a first step toward reclaiming a new vision for the region.

Alan Hudman, Elstree

THE ORIGINS OF THE NABARROS

Sir David Nabbaro, chairman of the Medical and Scientific Section of the British Diabetic Association and International Health Expert, has passed away at the age of 76. It is not generally known that his origins were Sephardic. His Jewish paternal fam ily originated from Navarre, Spain, but had fled the Inquisition, first to Portugal and then to Holland.

His great grandfather, David Salomon Nunes Nabarro, arrived in London in 1851, with his wife and family. They lived in Bishopsgate, where he worked as a tailor. Sir David’s grandfather married out of the

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religion, and his father, John David Nabarro, became a well known physician and endocronologist.

His flamboyant cousin, Sir Gerald Nabarro MP, attracted the most public attention when he was convicted of driving the wrong way around a roundabout. He had insisted his secretary had been at the wheel of his Daimler, NAB1.

The judge found his behaviour “outrageous”, but he was later cleared on appeal.

Doreen Berger

The Jewish Genealogical Letter of Great Britain

‘So you see, Keir, we both want a two-state solution’

34 questions about the conﬂict but no answers

JOSH GLANCY ASSOCIATE EDITOR, SUNDAY TIMES

If you are Jewish and live in the diaspora, it’s common to think of Israel as a kind of insurance plan, a refuge for when we are eventually spat out of our gentile homes, as we so often are. But what, I find myself wondering in moments of doubt and despair, what if we need an insurance plan from Israel? What if the country is spinning off down a dark path, in which it finds resolution to the Palestinian conflict through crimes that will ring out through history?

This is one of the many questions that haunts me when I search for sleep each night. I used to just doze off, but now I need the distracting burble of a podcast, preferably one that doesn’t touch on the Middle East, in order to hush the anxious patter of my mind. Where does this all end, I wonder. When does it end? How?

What if the worst does happen in Gaza? What if it’s already happening? Making the land unlivable for its inhabitants, potentially reoccupying it for yourselves,

ethnic cleansing is what you’d have to call it – what other phrase is there? What if Hamas has lured Israel into destroying not just the land of Gaza, but its own sense of decency and humanity?

What if the better angels of Israel’s nature died in those tunnels, along with Hersh, Ori, Eden, Almog, Alexander and Carmel? What if the depravities of Nova provoked a revenge spiral that Israel simply can’t pull itself out of?

Some of the questions are more selﬁsh, but I ask them anyway. What will it mean to be a Jew in Britain or France or America by the time this is over? What does life look like for us if Israel is a global pariah?

Do people view me differently now? Am I allowed to stay silent and watch on in confusion and pain? Or do I have to respond publicly to every anguished news cycle, even when I’m not certain what actually happened, just to maintain my status as a “good” person?

So many questions. What happens if the International Court of Justice does eventually rule that what’s happening is genocide? Whatever the motivations of that outcome, the word will become a noose around the country’s neck, tightened by millimetres until it chokes.

And who are these zealots that seek to enact such apocalyptic destruction? Itamar and Bezalel.

They look like cuddly Bnei Akiva madrichim. When did we diverge so dramatically, us and them? Or is it that they were always there, and decades of jihad waged upon Israel have brought these radical fringes into the mainstream? Will they ever go back to the fringes?

But I have other questions too, di erent questions, counterpoints. What if I’ve lost my nerve? What if I’m being a coward, buckling under the criticism because I want to be liked, to be comfortable and unchallenged as a diasporic Jew?

For me, this war is a matter of discomfort and distress. For Israel, it is an existential fight that has been going on for 80 years or more. Perhaps none of Israel’s western critics really know what it is like to sit there in the Levant waging war with evil. Perhaps I don’t either.

What if we’ve all been played? Not about the death and destruction, nor the restriction of aid, none of that is denied in essence. But about the sharpest, most inhumane of the allegations, filtered through gullible media cheerleaders who are so quick to believe the very

worst about Israel’s intentions in every instance, and care little for reliable facts.

What if social media has sent us all a bit mad, unmooring us from our moral and philosophical and journalistic anchors?

What if this is a cruel war being amped and spun up into a world historical crime by people whose dearest wish is the destruction of the Jewish state?

What if this is what war in the Middle East with an enemy such as Hamas, dug in, suicidal, indi erent to the su ering of its own people, looks like? Why do they never, ever seem to criticise Hamas?

But then, what if there can never be victory in such a war, not without losing a vital part of yourself? What price in civilian life and desolation is too high to defeat such an enemy? Surely this barrier was breached some time ago? When is it enough?

“ Od yoter tov, Od yoter tov ,” goes the chorus of an Israeli pop song that has become an anthem of this war, meaning “it will get better and better”. But will it?

To me that’s a strangely un-Jewish way of thinking. It usually gets worse. It seems to be getting worse. Is there a better world on the other side of this?

Right now I struggle to imagine what that looks like. All I have is more questions.

Two states, no Hamas – my plan for peace

On 7 October 2023 Hamas perpetrated the worst massacre in Israel’s history. Every day since then, the horror has continued.

Everything we do in the Middle East is aimed at getting the hostages out, getting humanitarian aid to civilians and accelerating the process towards peace. The suffering is far too great, and it has gone on for far too long.

Our ultimate goal has not changed. We want to see a two state solution, with no role for the evil terrorists of Hamas.

Our demands on Hamas have not changed. The hostages must be released immediately.

Hamas must lay down their weapons and accept that they have no future role in the governance of Gaza – so that the Palestinian people can build a future in peace.

That is the future we are working towards: a safe and secure Israel, along-

side a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. I believe this is the only outcome that can break the endless cycle of conflict which has wrought so much misery and suffering over decades.

So we are setting out a new peace plan to that end and building support for it among our international partners.

I’ve always said we will recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process at the moment of maximum impact for the two state solution.

It’s clear that with this solution under threat like never before, that moment has arrived.

That’s why I announced our intention to recognise Palestine in September, unless Israel takes substantive steps to urgently alleviate the terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza, and commit to a long-term sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two state solution.

We will make an assessment ahead of the UN General Assembly on how far the parties have met the steps we set out – and of course that includes the terrorists of Hamas. No

one side will have a veto on recognition through their actions or inactions.

This is a big decision – but it is one we take in good faith. And I want to be very clear that ultimately, the two state solution can only advance if it represents a defeat for Hamas, who must accept they have no future.

Our stance on this has helped to encourage others in the region to come out strongly too. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt are calling for Hamas to release the hostages, disarm and get out of

HAMAS ARE PARIAHS TO EVERYONE. THE FASTER THEY VACATE THE STAGE, THE FASTER PEACE COMES

the way once and for all.

Hamas are pariahs to everyone. The faster they vacate the stage, the faster peace will come.

While this work goes on in the region, I know the past two years have been incredibly di cult for the community here at home.

The attacks of 7 October – the darkest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust –have been followed by a horrendous rise in antisemitism.

So, I want to say to Jewish News readers that we stand with you, more than ever.

Our approach to antisemitism can be summed up in two words: zero tolerance –and it is backed by real action.

We’re proud to support the Community Security Trust – even though it is abhorrent that their work is necessary.

And we back the police in every action they take to protect the Jewish community and ensure that you can live your lives in the UK, free from intimidation and fear.

We work towards that outcome every single day.

Israel’s closest friends are close to losing their faith

ALEX BRUMMER

CITY EDITOR , THE DAILY MAIL

The heart-rending images of emaciated Israeli hostage Evyatar David digging his own grave in the Gaza tunnels provided a terrible backdrop to this year’s Tisha b ’Av commemorations, a reminder to Jews that the fate of the remaining living Hamas captives is perilous. And on a fast day when prayers are read to commemorate the victims of the Shoah, the lengths enemies of the Jews and Zionists will go to destroy our people.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Alvin H Rosenfeld said the unlikely pairing of ‘militant antisemitism and a revived Maoism’ had revived a credo of resistance and liberation which declares that Jews are the ‘oppressors and must be driven out of polite society’.

The author, director for the study of contemporary antisemitism at Indiana University, went on to say it used to be taboo to say you hated Jews and wanted to wipe Israel o the map ‘but not any more’.

There are many explanations for how the events of 7 October have been turned and damaged Israel’s long and hard struggle for recognition and acceptance. The way much of the global media latched on to shocking images of starvation in Gaza has empowered global haters and engaged swathes of people who know nothing of the Israeli state, its diverse population of Jews, Israeli Palestinians and other social and ethnic minorities.

Images of hunger, privation and the death toll in Gaza are subject to disputation. Israel’s most uncritical supporters rightly question their authenticity. But Jerusalem has done a terrible job in correcting the narrative.

The letter from some 600 retired Israeli security o cials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, to Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end the war shows how divisive the Gaza campaign has become.

Bringing the hostages home will always be priority. The longer the war continues and the more widespread allegations of injury, hunger and starvation become, the greater the threat to Jewish unity around the world.

Foreign secretary David Lammy and Keir

Starmer’s government may think, because of Britain’s colonial past in the region, the UK has a special role. Bit as Boris Johnson made clear writing in the Daily Mail recently, it is not historical responsibility which is driving the UK towards Palestinian recognition.

Johnson wrote of the Starmer initiative that the “craven gesture on recognising Palestine has nothing to do with the horriﬁc scenes in Gaza, nor a future for those who live there. This is about the Muslim vote here and managing his (Labour) MPs.”

As worrying as antagonism to Israel and its supporters is in the UK, there are changing attitudes in the US. Support from Trump and Republicans is holding up but more concerning is the loss of conﬁdence in Netanyahu and the conduct of the Gaza war among Democrats, the party that has long been the natural home of Jews in the liberal strongholds of the East and West coasts.

Support for the Jewish state and US assistance has been unwavering down the years whichever party has been in power but the most recent Gallup poll found approval of Israel’s military actions in Israel has plum-

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meted to just 8 percent among Democrats. Republicans however remain 71 percent supportive of IDF operations.

Democratic loyalists to Israel argue such polling is not a referendum on support for Jerusalem but a case of dissatisfaction with events in Gaza. The risk for Israel is Democratic dissonance becomes more entrenched. If next year’s mid-term elections follow the historic pattern, the Democrats could be empowered in the House of Representatives, where all spending bills begin their journey.

So far Democrats have shown no sign of opposing the $15 billion (£11.2bn) of military aid to the country approved last year. Israel historically has enjoyed huge support in America. But it is fraying, as the recent New York mayoral primary showed with the victory of an anti-Zionist campaigner.

Even before the horrors of 7 October, there were strong signs support for Israel has been badly damaged.

So far none of this has a ected Israel’s status as the most signiﬁcant and unchallenged recipient of US military largesse. But nothing should be taken for granted.

Netanyahu’s new Gaza scheme is unworkable

PETER LERNER

FORMER IDF SPOKESPERSON

Benjamin Netanyahu’s new fivepoint plan to “defeat Hamas” sounds bold. It promises to disarm Hamas, bring home all hostages, demilitarise Gaza, maintain Israeli security control, and create a new civil administration – neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

But scratch the surface and the plan reveals itself as a blueprint for permanent reoccupation of Gaza, with no viable political exit, no international support, and no clear path to real security. Instead of a strategy, it is entrenchment of a dangerous, costly illusion. Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies, responded by suspending all military exports that could be used in Gaza. Its chancellor made clear that Germany’s priority is the release of hostages and achievement of a ceaseﬁre. He expressed “deep concern” for humanitarian su ering in the strip.

This isn’t a hostile act, but a friend’s

warning that Israel is drifting dangerously off course, diplomatically, strategically, and morally.

Let’s break down the plan’s ﬂaws:

Disarming Hamas is essential. No one who supports Israel’s right to exist can tolerate Hamas continuing to operate militarily. But disarmament cannot be achieved by force alone, certainly not through occupying cities and governing civilians. Disarmament requires regional diplomacy, international coordination, and, crucially, the emergence of legitimate Palestinian governance that can replace Hamas in the eyes of its own people.

The returning of the hostages is a moral imperative. But the plan does not articulate a real path to achieve it. If anything, military escalation has made hostage negotiations harder. The more Israel appears to be seeking total control of Gaza, the less incentive Hamas has to engage in diplomacy. Hostages are not liberated by slogans, they’re returned through painstaking negotiations, backed by real leverage and yes, compromise.

A demilitarised Gaza would be a historic achievement, but only if sustained by a

political solution. You don’t disarm a population by decree. That kind of change comes from trusted governance. And that brings us to the biggest flaw of all – Israeli security control of Gaza.

What the government calls “security control” I fear is a euphemism for reoccupation, perhaps even resettlement. It means permanent Israeli military presence inside Gaza, a settlement movement unchecked, with the IDF responsible for law, order and eventually civilian life.

This has enormous consequences. It burdens Israeli soldiers with an impossible task, exposes them to daily threats, and places them at the centre of an unsolvable humanitarian crisis. We left Gaza in 2005 precisely because it was untenable. What has changed since?

A new civil administration, neither Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, deﬁes logic. Who is this imaginary alternative? No credible Palestinian actor will accept power under Israeli guns. They would be viewed by their own people as collaborators. Israel is proposing a government that doesn’t exist.

This plan is not only unworkable, it’s already isolating Israel. Germany’s decision is just the start. If Israel insists on evacuating or controlling all Gaza without rights, representation, or an endgame, it will face escalating diplomatic backlash, economic pressure, and growing public disillusionment in the very countries whose support it most needs.

And make no mistake, the human cost will be enormous. Gaza’s population is mostly young and displaced. Reoccupation will deepen despair, fuel radicalization, and guarantee any security gains are short-lived.

Israel must defeat Hamas, but not by losing its way. Not by occupying Gaza indeﬁnitely. Not as the jailer of another people.

We need a strategy combining military pressure with diplomacy, engaging regional and international actors, and laying the foundation for legitimate Palestinian leadership to emerge. We need vision, not vengeance. Pragmatism, not populism.

Occupation is not strength. It’s stagnation. And we simply cannot afford to confuse the two.

Let’s stop pretending British Jews are united

DANIEL SUGARMAN

JEWISH NEWS, DEPUTY EDITOR

Last week, prior to Sunday’s Jewish communal march in central London, new language advertising the event was published.

“Regardless of our political views” it said, “...we are united in one clear, urgent demand: the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. This... transcends party lines, ideologies and national borders.”

It called the planned march “a powerful testament to that democratic spirit”.

This language was markedly di erent in tone to that originally expressed. The earlier implication had been that the march would tell the British government it would be a profound betrayal to recognise a Palestinian state without the preconditions of Hamas disarming and the hostages being freed.

Suspicions were raised that the new language was an attempt to patch together a fraying coalition.

There were rumours that some in Progressive denominations had been unhappy with how the march had previously been presented. No matter – the cracks had now been painted over, and the event could proceed without a hitch.

Except that this was not what happened.

As we know, the co-CEOs of Progressive Judaism – Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy – were heckled increasingly loudly by the crowd as they gave their joint speech – culminating in representatives of one of the organising groups, Stop the Hate, getting up on stage and asking the two rabbis to leave it.

This deeply unfortunate situation has exposed an awkward truth. Perhaps we should stop pretending our community – by this, I mean its Zionist core – is united. We are not. Two main tribes have formed – A and B. There are people who sit in between (I would place myself here), but these two new blocs effectively operate as follows: Tribe A believes the core ideas that Israel and Zionism were founded on are being continuously eroded by the actions of an Israeli government containing a rogues gallery of bigots and mindless yes-men, presided over by a deeply cynical megalomaniac. While understanding a military operation was necessary in the aftermath of 7 October, Tribe A has become increasingly disillusioned with the way it has proceeded – and in recent months has become much more vocal in that dissatisfaction. They do not understand Tribe B, whom they

perceive to be either ignorant zealots or completely blinded by deep emotional ties to Israel.

For Tribe B, 7 October changed everything. Hamas ran amok, murdering at will and dragging 250 hostages into captivity. As far as Tribe B is concerned, that demonstrated conclusively what the future is for Israel’s seven million Jews if a Palestinian state is created – that all means at such a state’s disposal will be used to wipe out Jewish life in Israel. And they are stunned and sickened that the wider world and the people in Tribe A cannot see this. They view Tribe A as being more concerned with the perceptions of non-Jews than with reality. They also deeply resent what they see as condescending language about how the Jewish community needs to be “brave” and recognise “the truth”. As far as they are concerned, they are the ones who understand the truth.

For both these Diaspora tribes, Israelis are used when convenient, ignored when not. Tribe A will point to regular polling showing approximately three quarters of Israelis support an end to the war and a hostage deal. They are less keen to cite Israeli public opinion on the recognition of a Palestinian state – far less positive numbers.

Group B are eager to highlight the views of Israelis who agree with them. They are less enamoured by discussion of the long list of former heads of the Shin Bet, Mossad and IDF chiefs of sta who oppose the continuation of this war.

Sunday’s rally highlighted that friction. It was announced as a rally for the hostages –but both tribes interpreted that di erently. Tribe A felt – particularly after the Israeli cabinet’s decision last week to fully occupy Gaza – that a failure to criticise that choice would be a profound betrayal of the hostages. Tribe B felt discussion of this point was an attempt to divert attention away from the plight of the hostages, and that this march was to protest the UK government’s policy.

Tribe A saw the removal of the rabbis from the stage as a disgrace - proof the community has been overrun by extremists. Tribe B viewed the rabbis’ speech as being out of touch, viewing their subsequent ejection as an unfortunate but understandable reaction. Perhaps the time has now come for the community to admit that it is divided.

Far better, perhaps, to openly acknowledge such di erences – maybe even ﬁnd a way to debate or discuss them in a context of mutual respect – than to simply continue to pretend they do not exist.

Island dream

How Francesca Segal, daughter of Love Story author Erich Wolf Segal, found the ideal lockdown escape

In the dark days of the Covid-19 pandemic, says author Francesca Segal , she was an “empty vessel”, not thinking, reading or writing properly, writes Charlotte Henry.

At one point, she was taking “one of those Covid walks where I was looping round and round around my house – the same pavement, crossing the road like a crazy person if someone was coming towards me.”

Then she had a call from her editor, asking how she was and whether she was working on anything at the moment.

After learning there wasn’t anything in the pipeline, the editor encouraged Segal to be ambitious and this got the author thinking again. She began plotting her escape from the di culties of lockdown.

While she could not travel, the novelist created Tuga, a ﬁctional tropical island to which she could disappear. “I suddenly had this lightbulb moment and understood writing ﬁction means you can create the world that you inhabit,” she says. “I could go anywhere I wanted.”

She describes it as a “magic portal”, something we all could have done with at that time.

It took Segal to the world’s remotest island – she even plotted the longitude and latitude of Tuga while creating it – and from there, she tells love stories, highlights

issues around female healthcare and talks a lot about tortoises.

She has even gone behind the scenes at London Zoo, meeting experts to make sure the fake reptiles placed on Tuga are realistic, and in Cambridge met the world expert in giant tortoises.

There are also subtle but important Jewish themes throughout the work too. The island features people with Sephardic roots, a moshav and an etrog. However, one thing was central: “It was really important to me to create somewhere that was going to be joy-giving and a really deliberate radical reaching for and leaning into joy.”

The Tuga novels are a trilogy. The ﬁrst, Welcome to Glorious Tuga, introduces the reader to vet Charlotte Walker and the rest of the cast of characters, of which the island is undoubtedly one. Book two, Island Calling, released in June, moves things forward as the story of Dr Walker, her family and new friends from the island continues.

As well as simply wanting to focus on something bright during miserable and disorientating times, there was another reason Segal built the small world of Tuga. “I’ve always been really fascinated by community,” she explains. “I’m so interested in people living collectivist, connected lives together.”

She adds that “once you have the

island, that kind of shapes the character of the people who live there. So, the clearer the island became, to me, the clearer the kind of people became who would live there”.

You can’t help but wonder whether growing up in the close-knit northwest London Jewish world a ected how Segal writes about community. “I’m probably shaped by a fascination with community and all the positive – the beauty and the support of that, and also the inherent comedy and claustrophobia and gossip,” she concedes, while also admitting to loving gossip.

The inﬂuence of living in a close community is highlighted by Segal’s sister and baby niece unexpectedly walking into the co ee shop where we were meeting, just before we start our conversation. It’s the type of thing that might have happened in Betsey’s café on Tuga.

While Segal is successful in her own right, it’s impossible not to ask her about her father Erich, the great author (best known for Love Story) and classicist who passed away in January 2010.

She says the impact of her polymath parent was “incalculable”, explaining “one of the greatest gifts of having a parent who does the creative work you aspire to is just the gift of seeing that it’s possible.”

She adds:“I don’t think anyone can underestimate the power of

having a parent who pays the gas bill by writing ﬁction, because it makes you feel like it’s a serious profession.”

Segal describes growing up in a home that was a “library” and debating the etymology of words over meals.

“The only reason you were ever allowed to leave the dinner table in the middle of a meal was to check the etymology or the deﬁnition of a word,” she recalls, before conceding “my dad was always right”.

She reckons becoming an author was something of an inevitability after growing up in such an environment. “I have never wanted to do or be anything else,” she says.

She had written two novels and a memoir before landing (ﬁguratively) on Tuga. The latest work is fun, enjoyable escapism, with plenty of serious points woven in.

I’m more of a thriller kind of girl, so the books are not the normal type of ﬁction I read. However, at the end of long, tiring days, I found myself ever keen to return to the world of Tuga.

I wanted to be overcome by its humidity, its politics and its quirks. I wanted to disappear into its seclusion. Frankly, I wanted to catch up on the latest gossip.

The pandemic might be over, but for many people the world is still proving to be a disorientating and often depressing place.

The ﬁrst two books of the Tuga trilogy serve as a great way to step away from it all and are a perfect summer read.

■ Welcome to Glorious Tuga (£5.48, paperback) and Island Calling (£12.99, hardback) are published by Chatto & Windus

MAKING GOOD

Why has Netflix’s Israeli juvenile prison series Bad Boy been such a huge success? By

A13-year-old boy is arrested at home in a dawn raid and sent to prison. Sound familiar? No, this is not Adolescence 2.0 but Bad Boy, a gripping Israeli coming-of-age TV series set inside a juvenile detention centre near Tel Aviv. It has reached the Netﬂix Top 10 charts in 46 countries and has turned into the best-performing Middle Eastern title on the streaming service this year. It also swept the Israeli TV Academy Awards with seven wins including Best Drama Series.

Stand-up comedian Daniel Chen, 35, who plays his adult self in the show, is haunted by his experience in prison. The eight episodes interweave ﬂashbacks of teenage Dean Sheinman (as he was then) in detention with present-day standup sets from the adult Chen, o ering insight into how humour became his survival tool.

Co-created and co-written by Ron Leshem, known for Euphoria, and ﬁlmmaker Hagar BenAsher (Long Bright River, The Slut), this tale of friendship and prison survival charts a journey towards purpose through comedy.

Twenty years ago, as a young journalist, Leshem spent time in a juvenile prison (for children of 12-18) to research the story of youngsters born to this fate. “Statistically more than 95 percent of children born to mothers in jail will go to jail themselves,” he tells me. “And I felt compelled to tell their story.”

Film and TV executives told him no one wanted to see a jail story about 12-18 year-olds.

But two decades later, he discovered one of Israel’s prime-time comedians was hiding a secret – he was incarcerated in the same prison Leshem had spent so much time in.

“And I suddenly realised that the humour is the key,” Leshem says. “This is the birth of the soul of a

Louisa Walters

comedian and it creates a unique voice.”

Leshem, with BenAsher now on board, knew he wanted to make a show about a successful comedian who started his life in prison and that is what happened to Daniel Chen. He became a stand-up comedian in prison, and survived prison, even though he was tiny and fragile. Humour saved his life. “This is what we were lured to, because thematically, it is a moving notion that art is a form that can save the world and with everything happening now in the world, we felt that we were delivering some sort of message.”

Leshem now lives and works in

Boston and BenAsher works in New York but they decided to make the show in Israel because “you get complete freedom there”.

They couldn’t ﬁnd a prison to shoot in so despite a tiny budget they built one – on the foundations of a scout camp. “There are no criminals in Israel, so there’s are no prisons,” he jokes.

With his journo hat on, Leshem spoke to Chen’s mother, other people who had been in prison with him and the prison guards. But the real research happened in London – Chen has ADHD and ﬁnds it dicult to focus so Leshem took him to the UK capital “and we walked for a week and a half and I recorded him telling the story when he had nothing to distract him.

“Later on, it was about trying to write what is important for us, and explore from within and just use him as an inspiration.”

The majority of the cast are not professional actors, and there is quite a lot of improvisation in the show. The teenager who plays Sheinman stood out at the audition; he appeared instinctively to under-

stand the story as he su ers badly with ADHD himself.

“I could easily see him making one bad decision and having the exact same life story, because he’s a wild kid,” Leshem says.

There were more than 100 children in the facility Leshem went to 20 years ago. “I had this overriding feeling that they would all be either dead by 20 or living as gangsters. They all go back and forth from jail, but the fact is that they were brought up and even born into this fate and they never stood a chance.

“Bad Boy is about how society cruelly creates this destiny and our guy is the rare case – the one who was able, thanks to the humour, to survive and get out of this.”

Executive producer Emilio Schenker says: “The show, even though it has a lot of depth, o ers a light in the darkness. The beauty of the story is it is full of hope.”

There is a lot of focus in the series on the relationship between Sheinman and his single mother, whose decision to call the police on him creates lasting guilt and emotional distance. “I think she

knows what her mistakes were, but having seen the series she also thinks we were full of empathy towards her,” Leshem says. “Ultimately she is a character you can’t really hate – you feel sorry for her, you understand her, you don’t even blame her.”

Sheinman also forms a deep yet conﬂicted friendship with Zoro, a feared inmate charged with murder. This bond proves to be a lifeline.

There has been hugely positive feedback on Bad Boy, especially from comedians, actors and people who expose themselves on stage or in the media, who feel it shows how intense and fragile their existence is.

Bad Boy opened the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 and was the ﬁrst Israeli show to have the proper red carpet treatment there. Leshem says: “The themes are global – it’s not a show about being Jewish or Israeli. So many people are watching it, and we realise we’ve made something that can a ect people who are not from our little bubble. That’s very powerful.”

 Bad Boy is on Netflix

Scenes from Bad Boy, the gripping Israeli coming of age series that’s hit Netflix top 10 lists around the world

Co-creators and writers Ron Leshem and Hagar BenAsher

•

With Candice Krieger candicekrieger@googlemail.com

WIX RESHAPES HOW WE CREATE AND RUN ONLINE

Two decades

a er transforming web design, the next revolution for Wix is about building entire businesses with AI at the core, writes Candice Krieger

ix, known as the go-to DIY website builder for small businesses and creators, is undergoing a quiet but radical transformation.

Under the strategic leadership of chief operations o cer Ronny Elkayam, the Israeli tech company is doubling down on AI – not just to build websites faster, but to reinvent how people create and run businesses online.

With more than 288 million users worldwide, a market cap of $8.45 billion and operations in nearly 200 countries, Wix’s reach is undeniable. But scale alone isn’t the story — it’s what the company is doing with it. Wix is using AI to reshape the next era of software creation, one deﬁned not by code but by conversation and intent.

“AI isn’t just another tool – it’s becoming the fabric of how people will build and run businesses online,” says Elkayam, a driving force behind Wix’s culture of innovation.

“Ten years ago, we made it possible for anyone to create a website without code. Today, we’re making it possible to describe what you want, and have intelligent agents build it for you — infrastructure, design, even marketing — in seconds. We are reshaping software creation itself.

“The real opportunity is intent driven creation,’ adds Elkayam, who previously served as Wix’s senior vice president of mobile and strategic products and led initiatives including the Wix Mobile App. “We call it ‘vibe coding’ – you describe the vibe or outcome you’re aiming for, and AI handles the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

— and in both cases, the system generates it instantly.”

Wix’s AI ambitions have moved far beyond building websites. “We’re becoming the go-to creative engine for anyone looking to build, brand and scale their business online with AI at the core,” he claims.

The company’s recent acquisition of Israeli entrepreneur Maor Shlomo’s Base44 earlier this year and its development of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) lay the groundwork for fully AIdriven workﬂows. MCP allows websites to communicate directly with AI agents — think LLMs that can check inventory, schedule appointments or pull live data from your store.

a startup into a global technology leader. The Israeli emphasis on collaboration and agility is also reﬂected in how the company operates globally – with the company’s diverse teams coming together quickly and e ectively, reinforcing a strong sense of community and shared purpose.”

Since 7 October 2023, Wix has channelled resources toward long-term recovery in Israel, focusing on education, employment and community support. The company has funded local programmes, trained displaced residents in digital skills and partnered with schools, municipalities and tech groups to rebuild infrastructure and create new opportunities in the country’s north and south.

“A VC might say ‘I need an AI assistant for my portfolio companies’ or a bakery might ask for a custom ordering dashboard

Elkayam points out that this is crucial as search itself goes generative.

Wix’s support for Israeli communities since 7 October highlights a core company principle: using technology to empower people and help them build. The same mission drives Wix’s leadership in AI – not only to make website building faster, but to open new possibilities for online creativity and entrepreneurship.

SENIOR SALES EXECUTIVE

Jewish News is delighted to be entering a digital-first era with the launch of a new website and new regular glossy magazine. We are therefore seeking an enthusiastic, emerging sales force to help navigate this new era and to sell these exciting new products alongside opportunities with our portfolio of events and community-leading social media presence.

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“In a world where people ask ChatGPT or Gemini for everything, your brand’s visibility depends on how those models see you,” he says. “That’s why we created the AI Visibility Overview, giving users a powerful way to understand, monitor and improve how their brand is represented across leading LLMbased search engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude.”

Alongside AI search, Wix is betting big on AI-driven design through Wixel, its standalone generative design platform. Wixel lets users edit images, apply brand styles and generate polished visuals without design experience. “We want creation to feel like play,” Elkayam says. “Drag-and-drop was revolutionary a decade ago. Now, the revolution is describing your brand in a sentence and watching an entire visual identity come to life in real time.”

What a di erence two decades make. Wix was founded in 2006 in Tel Aviv by Israelis Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abraham and Giora Kaplan. Ten years on, it became the ﬁrst to launch a generative AI website builder (ADI). It has grown into one of Israel’s biggest tech success stories. Now a NASDAQ-listed company with 5,300 sta across the globe, Israeli innovation remains in the company’s DNA.

“As Nir Zohar, president of Wix, often highlights,” notes Elkayam, “the dynamic and fast-changing Israeli tech environment has fostered a culture of adaptability, resilience and continuous learning within Wix. This mindset helps the company embrace change and turn challenges into opportunities, which has been key to evolving from

Co-founder and chief executive Avishai Abrahami said: “AI lets people build advanced websites, generate videos, edit images — things that once required entire teams. But our role is to give them the tools, not to replace their creativity.”

Elkayam emphasises Wix’s approach to AI is designed to empower users, not replace them. “Our hybrid approach combines conversational AI with powerful visual editors, giving users the speed of automation with the precision of manual design,” he explains. AI gets you 90 percent of the way there; the human touch makes it perfect.”

Wix is soon launching a Connect-to-Bing feature to help users appear in AI-powered Bing results. “These initiatives ensure Wix users can thrive as AI reshapes how people search and discover content.”

Two decades after democratising website building, Wix now wants to democratise software itself. “The next wave isn’t just building pages,” says Elkayam. “It’s creating the systems that run your business — in seconds, from a single prompt.” • wix.com

Ronny Elkayam

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA

In Parshat Ekev this week, the Torah talks about the Jews travelling through the wilderness. We are told that the reason for this is “...in order to a ict you, to know what was in your heart, whether you keep his commandments or not”. This description makes it sound like their travels through the desert were a torment – lips cracked from lack of water, bodies broken and bent by the demands of the desert.

Yet in the very next verse we are told they had all the food they could desire in the form of the manna from heaven. “Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell for 40 years”. It is accepted throughout the Medrash that there was a well of water which miraculously followed the Jewish people throughout their pilgrimage in the desert. In what way is this an a iction? In what way were the Jewish su ering?

Rabbi Obadia Sforno (1475-1549) explains in his commentary that God’s test to the Jewish people was to ascertain whether “they would do his will without any pain”. This explanation is fascinating, because it suggests that comfort is as much of a test to mankind as discomfort and, furthermore, can cause equal amounts of pain. It is logical to suggest that if the pain being referenced here is not physical – the Jews had all they needed – it must be psychological. Having it all does not mean a lack of pain – to the contrary, it is a sure indicator of emotional torment.

Viktor Frankl, the father of Logotherapy, argued in his book Man’s Search for Meaning that when people do not have a sense of purpose the result is “existential angst” – a feeling of sadness and emptiness. Perhaps once we have all we could possibly need, the sense of purpose which has driven us thus far disappears, and

there is a possibility that without that purpose, su ering results.

Perhaps this was the test with which the Jewish people were faced. In Egypt, the Jews as slaves were challenged by lack – whether for food or clothes. That provided them with clear purpose. Now, as free men and women, they were challenged by plenty. They had it all –clothes that never needed to be changed (such a challenge to the fashion designers among them!), food and water.

Would they be able to ﬁnd purpose in service of God now the challenge of lack had been removed from their midst? Could they change their mindset from one of lack to one of plenty? Could they stop thinking of their next meal, and focus on the idea that the source of all food would ensure they did not lack for anything?

In 2024, the UK held a census of mental health for adults aged 16-64. The ﬁndings were alarming. Nearly 23 percent of those surveyed were found to be experiencing mental health

Viktor Frankl, father of Logotherapy

di culties. This astounding statistic (nearly a quarter!) of our population can have its causes in many things – the cost of housing, climate change, social media, to name just a few.

Perhaps another reason for a lack of mental wellness could be could a sense of having it all, and at the same time lacking any real focus and purpose. Ironically, our generation could be far closer to the ﬁrst Israelites crossing the desert than is ﬁrst apparent.

The common denominator is plenty, and the challenge is purpose.

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

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

RABBI SYLVIA ROTHSCHILD

LEV CHADASH, MILAN

The International Day of Friendship, which we celebrated a couple of weeks ago, was proclaimed in 2011 by the UN General Assembly. It promotes the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals might inspire peace e orts and build bridges between communities.

There are over 100 such international days – dedicated to raising awareness of a multitude of issues in society – and it can feel a little strange and tokenistic to create such moments in the calendar. We might wonder what value such days have in highlighting complex social issues.

But there is no doubt friendship

is a basic human need, possibly the single most important thing in supporting our psychological and physical health.

Without social connections to others, we quickly decline – studies have shown depression and cognitive acuity are a ected by lack of relationships, and this is something our own tradition notes.

Ecclesiastes writes: “Two are better than one… for one can raise the other” while The Talmud tells of Honi HaMe’agel, who woke after 70 years to ﬁnd no one alive he knew.

He was so distressed he prayed for death, and about him Rava said: “This is why people say ‘either friendship or death, as one who has no

friends is better o dead’.” Possibly most famously, in Pirkei Avot we read the advice of Joshua ben Perachia: “Appoint for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend and judge everyone favourably.”

Maimonides comments that this means a person must work hard to create friendship, categorising three types of friend – one who provides beneﬁt in practical matters, one who you can trust and enjoy life with and one “for virtue”, where both of you desire to be better people and help each other to become so by challenging and supporting.

In recent months, many of us have found those we thought were such friends have melted away. Many of my colleagues are questioning the value of interfaith work, given so many of our partners in this work stayed silent after 7 October.

The increasing polarisation of

people’s positions on a variety of social and political issues has meant any chance of discussion or nuanced debate has vanished. Trauma has led to extreme and angry responses.

I take heart from the many Israelis such as Joanna Chen or Jonathan Zeigen, who hold on to the idea of working for the “friendship of virtue”, who continue to build relationships and hold the vision of coexistence in the land. We all need to work at friendships, and to judge each other with compassion.

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