For Jewish News October 5 2023 What do you think of when you hear the word “Romania”? Perhaps some weak jokes about Transylvania and Dracula, echoed by the rubbishy fridge magnets and keyrings I saw last week in the duty free shop at Iasi airport. It’s certainly not mass murder of Jews which springs first […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Column for JN Jan 20 2023 It’s sad to admit this, but very few things said by politicians shock me these days. Even the repellent Andrew Bridgen, who finally lost the whip for his comparison of the implementation of Covid vaccines to the Holocaust — it was terrible, of course, but Bridgen should have lost […]
Column JN issue Sept 1 2022 I was looking something up online the other day when I fell down a research rabbit hole, and happened on an incredible story — which ought to be a film. Perhaps that should be “rabbi hole” — because this was the almost unbelievable story of a kidnapped child and […]
Column for JN June 8 2022 In Britain and Israel in the past several weeks it has been anniversary time, from the Queen’s ‘Platty Joobs’ as I learn we must call Her Majesty’s 70-year-long reign, to Israel’s Independence Day and then Jerusalem Day. Jerusalem Day, of course, was created in order to mark the reunification […]
Column JN June 29 2022 Have you heard of Amnon Shefler? If it helps, he’s a lieutenant-colonel in the Israel Defence Forces. I’m disappointed to report I’ve only now heard of Lt-Col Shefler — because he is leaving his post as the IDF’s foreign press spokesman after just a year in the job. In my […]