Column for Jewish News July 15 2022 Once upon a time, O best beloved, there was a brand-new state of Israel. There was a brand-new army, and a whole raft of brand-new politicians. And all these shiny new people set out to create a brand-new government for the brand-new state. Except, of course, that no […]
Kotelgate for JC by Jenni Frazer May 10 2022 It’s not hard to wonder whether Yaakov Hagoel, the pro tem chairman of the Jewish Agency, has an evil twin, who is also called Yaakov Hagoel and is chairman of the World Zionist Organisation. As the old joke goes, they are never seen in the same […]
Column for Jewish News January 20 2022 It won’t come as any great surprise to Jewish News readers that every so often there is a call for Israel to get its hasbara act together, in which diaspora Jews (mainly) deplore the inability of the country to distil its public image with wit and wisdom. We […]
Column for Jewish News January 7 2022 To subvert a phrase, it is a truth not universally acknowledged that a man in a position of power may all too often abuse that power. This is a story of voices, men’s voices and men’s voices, and no, that is not a typo. Because there are very […]
Column JN issue Dec 17 2021 Prepare to get out the smallest violin you can find and play a requiem today, for two men at entirely opposite ends of the political spectrum. One is an egregious and avid Jewish antisemite, the Brighton-based Tony Greenstein. And the other is the former Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. […]
Column for JN Nov 19 2021 It’s been a fun few weeks in the OK Corral, hasn’t it? To be honest, the antisemitism lunacy has escalated to such an extent that I have scarcely known where to turn. If it’s not swastikas daubed near a synagogue in north-west London, it’s mad anti-vaxers adopting the yellow […]
Column for Jewish News November 5 2021 Israeli society, when it is not dividing itself into pro- and anti-Netanyahu camps (who? yes, you remember him – the graceless former prime minister who refused to attend a public ceremony marking the anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination) – was awash with chatter last week about the alleged […]
Column for Jewish News October 22 2021 Something very odd is going on in Germany, as reports indicated on Sunday. Older Jewish News readers will recognise the surname “Ofarim” as belonging to the 1960s singing duo, husband-and-wife Esther and Abi. Israeli-born and raised and then resident in Germany, the couple enjoyed brief worldwide success before […]
Column JN Sept 19 2021 A woman died in Israel last week, whose name was once on the lips of almost every Jewish activist in Britain and America — and yet I’d lay bets that today you’d be hard pushed to find people familiar with her story. Ida Nudel, who died aged 90, was an […]
For Jewish News August 17 2021 Generally speaking I’m not in favour of ad hominem attacks on people, in much the same way as I’m not keen on boycotts — because I believe that both can so easily be turned upon the accuser. In the case of film-maker Ken Loach, however, I’m ready to make […]