All articles

A chronological archive of everything I’ve published…


Zangwill’s enduring mystery

Israel Zangwill for Times of Israel by Jenni Frazer August 23 2015 He was known as the Charles Dickens of the Jews, and in his day – the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th – the writer and journalist Israel Zangwill was a famous name in the English-speaking world, renowned […]

  • 28 August, 2015

Ambassador Taub goes home

By Jenni Frazer for Jewish News August 6 2015 After four frenetic years, Israel’s envoy to the UK, Daniel Taub, packed up and returned home this week. He spoke to Jenni Frazer about his busy posting There are cardboard boxes stuffed with books all over the floor, and on the computer the ambassador is writing […]

  • 6 August, 2015

Scotland fights back on boycott

By Jenni Frazer for Times of Israel August 5 2015 LONDON — This month an intense group of pro-Israel campaigners sat for hours in a stuffy room in Glasgow, home to Scotland’s largest Jewish community. Most of the campaigners, busy planning a conference to be held in the city on August 20, are enthusiastic non-Jews. […]

  • 6 August, 2015

The road to Bletchley Park

By Jenni Frazer for Times of Israel August 6 2015 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, England — Back in 1929, United States Secretary of State Henry Stimson coined the immortal phrase “Gentlemen don’t read other gentlemen’s mail.” So saying, Stimson closed down the State Department’s cryptanalytic office, the legendary Black Chamber. Fortunately for the outcome of World War II, […]

  • 6 August, 2015

Lone warrior battles against anti-Zionists

By Jenni Frazer for Times of Israel August 3 2015 LONDON — A familiar figure at anti-Israel demonstrations, with his gigantic bushy red beard and white crocheted deep skullcap, he could well be — at first sight — a white Englishman who has converted to Islam. But Joseph Cohen, 32, is in fact a lone […]

  • 3 August, 2015

Antisemitism figures rise

By Jenni Frazer for the Times of Israel July 28 2015 Britain’s antisemitism figures are up by a staggering 53 per cent for the first six months of 2015. But the Community Security Trust (CST), which has collated the statistics, says the rise is due to an increase in reporting of incidents, rather than an […]

  • 31 July, 2015

Weidenfeld and JNF to the rescue

By Jenni Frazer for the Times of Israel July 16 2015 LONDON — On the eve of Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, 19-year-old George Weidenfeld escaped Vienna for the United Kingdom. He began work at the British Broadcasting Corporation and within ten years had co-founded the publishing firm Weidenfeld & Nicholson. The former […]

  • 16 July, 2015

Censor and sensibility

Column for the Jewish News July 17 2015 Like an endlessly weeping wound, the issue of boycott and delegitimisation of Israel continues to trouble all those who care about the Jewish state. At last month’s Israel strategy conference, a project of the Jewish News, it was all many speakers could talk about. Cynics might usefully […]

  • 14 July, 2015

UK Jews wary on Labour leader race

By Jenni Frazer for the Times of Israel July 13 2015 LONDON — Britain’s pro-Israel community is viewing the race for the Labour Party leadership with concern after the UK’s biggest union, Unite, threw its weight behind the hard Left MP, Jeremy Corbyn, who has expressed open support for Hamas and Hizbollah. Corbyn, MP for […]

  • 13 July, 2015

London welcomes Israeli foodie invasion

By Jenni Frazer for the Times of Israel July 5 2015 LONDON — Yotam Ottolenghi started it, and now the names of Israeli chefs and their cheerful and relaxed style of cooking are as familiar to London foodies as Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver. For the past six years, the annual Gefiltefest has been a […]

  • 5 July, 2015