London Jewish school guilty of discrimination
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I LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
The UK Supreme Court ruled that JFS school broke the law by granting admissions based on ethnicity. A Jewish school in London is found guilty of racial discrimination as the UK top court describes the school’s admission policy as based on ethnic origins, not faith. The Supreme Court ruled that the popular JFS school north of the capital broke the law by granting admissions
Passion Islam
based on ethnicity. The ruling, passed by a narrow five-to-four majority by the nine judges sitting on Britain’s highest judicial body, received criticism from Jewish leaders, who argued it could have an impact on other Jewish organizations in Britain. The controversy arose after the school refused to admit a 12-year-old boy whose mother was not born into Judaism but had converted at a nonOrthodox synagogue — a conversion process unrecognized by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of Britain. The school accordingly rejected the boy’s application, saying that his mother was not Jewish, and therefore the boy was not either. The family’s suit against JFS
I January 2010
was rejected until an appeals court overturned the previous rulings in July and said, “The admissions policy should be based on the faith itself, not origin.” The school, backed by Britain’s Jewish community, appealed to the Supreme Court but the judicial body ruled the school had discriminated against the boy on the basis of his ethnic origin. Russell Kett, the chairman of governors at JFS, formerly the Jews’ Free School, said they were disappointed by the decision and would now try to establish a more workable solution for the school’s admission test. www.passionislam.com
Young British Muslims honoured The Muslim Council of Britain honoured those grassroots community organisations who inspire excellence in their work with young people.In holding its second Young Muslim Beacon Awards at the Westminster House, the 2009 winners were the Leicestershire based-BUILD Development Project, the national student body known as the Federation of Students Islamic Societies (FOSIS), and the disability charity the RADAR Leadership Project. The Awards were presented by MCB Secretary General Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari, Lord Altaf Sheikh of Cornhill, MP Alistair Burt, Opposition Assistant Chief Whip and the Chair of the Department for Communities and Local Government Select Committee, MP Dr Phyllis Starkey MP. The ceremony was attended by over 100 of MCB’s Affiliates, youth groups and civic society representative bodies from across the UK, which saw people from all backgrounds converge to celebrate the work of the three organisations receiving the
awards. Speaking on the occasion, Lord Sheikh lauded the contributions of British Muslims to the British society and said they have played a key role in developing a multicultural society in the country. He said the British Muslims by sheer dint of hard work and labour have been able to establish a place for themselves in the various occupations and can be found in all almost all profession including the armed forces. In his commendation of the winners, the Awards’ external judge Neil Jameson, Executive Director of London Citizens, said, “it is inspirational to see all the outstanding work that is happening. The winners have all carried out exceptional work. Their work is to be highly commended and will hopefully serve as examples to the rest of the country”. Presenting the Awards, Alistair Burt said, “The Muslim Council of Britain wants to emphasise what their young people are doing and the contribution they are making to the nation arrives
at the most important time in the development of our society. It’s very, very important that everybody sees this and welcomes it, and I think this is the best counter to those who seek to separate and divide and you’ll find us all standing shoulder to shoulder to defend our unity.” Dr. Phyllis Starkey appreciated MCB’s Youth Committee in encouraging young people within the community to reach out to the communities in Britain to play their full part as active citizens of this country. “It is incredibly important as you are examples for your community and for the country as a whole,” he said.
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