All articles

A chronological archive of everything I’ve published…


Hunger striker with a purpose

For Jewish News August 2023 One of the most vehement critics of the Iranian regime, Vahid Beheshti, says he believes “we are seeing the imminent end of the regime. At any moment, we can expect the final game”. And the British-Iranian national, speaking on the 166th day of his sit-in protest outside the Foreign Office […]

  • 24 August, 2023

Wake-up call for Israel on Ukraine

For Jewish News August 17 2023 Relations between Israel and Ukraine are not at their best. Despite the fact Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish, the situation is fractious, to say the least. For historic and current reasons, Israel has chosen largely to lag behind mainstream global support for the country. There is the burgeoning […]

  • 22 August, 2023

Antisemitism, hard-wired and unpicked

For JN Aug 2023 Not everyone, thinks Marlon Solomon, has the patience or temperament to sit down and read a book about important subjects. He has a different approach: he introduces otherwise “heavy” issues through humour. And you can’t get much heavier than antisemitism, the hatred of Jews which has been around for more than […]

  • 7 August, 2023

Jewish Museum’s last hoorah attracts hundreds

For Jewish News August 3 2023 Hundreds of people, young and old, crowded into the Jewish Museum in Camden Town on Sunday afternoon to bid an emotional farewell to the charity’s building, which has closed after more than a decade on the site. Moderated by interim director Sue Shave and her predecessor Frances Jeens, who […]

  • 3 August, 2023

Ice-cream wars in Berlin

For the Jewish News August 3 2023 It’s instructive, occasionally, to look online and see what else is being said about a story where you might think you had all the facts to hand. Such a case is that of the owner of Cafe Dodo, an ice-cream shop and cafe in the heart of Berlin. […]

  • 3 August, 2023

Chickens come home to roost?

Column JN issue July 20 It’s rare — in fact, I would acknowledge, probably never — that I feel any sympathy for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But I couldn’t help feeling a tiny twinge of empathy in his direction when learning that, fresh out of hospital last Sunday morning, he had a new problem […]

  • 23 July, 2023

Cohen, Cohen… Gone!

Column for Jewish News June 22 2023 It’s not that long ago that the more secular among us were having either a good laugh or a burst of righteous “who-do-they-think-they-are” indignation at Cohenim who covered themselves in plastic bin-liners on flights which overflew European cemeteries. I haven’t seen any visual evidence of the plastic baggers […]

  • 25 June, 2023

UJIA takes radical step on the Green Line to save Israel tours

For Jewish News June 9 2023 UJIA has distributed a new policy making clear that it will not support projects “undertaken in a manner which treats areas being the Green Line” as being part of Israel – in a move which it suggests was essential to saving Israel tours for hundreds of teens this summer.  Jewish […]

  • 19 June, 2023

SuperWoody to the rescue

Column JN issue June 1 I’m sure there are many things of which one could accuse Woody Allen, but I must admit that being practical in an emergency is not one I had previously associated with the controversial film-maker. Notorious for his (to say the least) complicated personal life, the one-time stand-up comedian, gag writer […]

  • 9 June, 2023

Making a mikvah in the desert

For Jewish News Life magazine May 2023 Rabbi Yehuda Sarna is waiting for the winter months with some anticipation. Because then, and only then, will the mikvah in the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue in Abu Dhabi be able to operate. As the Chief Rabbi of the newly opened synagogue — part of the Abrahamic Family […]

  • 9 June, 2023