Among its many recommendations is to revamp the authorities’ approach to antisemitic crimes.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A newly published, government-backed report found that antisemitism is becoming “increasingly normalized” in the UK and demanded immediate action to combat the phenomenon.

Lord John Mann, the Labour government’s independent antisemitism adviser, and former Conservative defense secretary Dame Penny Mordaunt took on a six-month-long investigation commissioned by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish community’s primary umbrella group.

“We heard about the noisy demonstrations and how intimidating people find the current environment, but as we dug deeper, what really scared us was the increasing normalization of far more extreme, personalized and sometimes life-changing impact directed at individuals purely and simply because they are Jewish,” the distinguished peers said in an interview in The Telegraph Saturday.

Antisemitism was particularly prevalent in the National Health System (NHS), higher education and the arts, they found.

“Many Jewish employees within NHS organizations” felt that their complaints of abuse by colleagues were being “swept under the carpet,” they said, while such cases skyrocketed.

On college campuses, like in the U.S., there were record numbers of students and faculty being threatened and even physically assaulted.

Leading unions in both fields have passed anti-Israel resolutions, which Jewish members felt were antisemitic.

In the arts, a field replete with progressive proponents who have adopted the pro-Palestinian narrative, the researchers found “substantial evidence” of Jewish performers being “cancelled” and suffering discrimination.

British musicians have recently unleashed antisemitic outbursts, leading audiences of thousands in chants against Israel. Even as Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it “appalling hate speech,” no legal action has been taken against them to date.

Of particular concern to the authors is how the police are responding to the fact that British Jews are often being “held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government,” and antisemitic incidents have exploded.

Since Oct. 7, there have been almost weekly demonstrations against the Jewish state in London.

The Community Security Trust, a Jewish non-profit dedicated to community protection, has consistently highlighted the authorities’ lenient treatment of anti-Israel protestors, failing to make arrests even in cases of violence, intimidation of passersby, defacement of public property with graffiti, or unpermitted demonstrations.

The report, among its 10 recommendations to combat anti-Jewish prejudice, suggested a complete overhaul of the authorities’ approach to antisemitic crimes.

The report stated that there must be “a consistent standard and understanding of anti-Semitism across all police forces throughout the country,” defining Jew-hatred as “a form of racism.”

Another recommendation was that Judaism should be nationally recognized as an ethnicity as well as a religion so that anti-discrimination and anti-hate laws can be more easily applied to offenders.

A third proposal suggested that all employers should require their workers to undergo a “Anti-Semitism Training Qualification” to help them identify when their behavior may exceed acceptable limits.

“If Britain’s Jewish community is experiencing discrimination, it is evidence of a profound failure within British society itself,” said Mann and Mordant, who noted that they come from opposite sides of the political aisle but were equally “stunned into silence” over the results of their research.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner “welcomed” the Board of Deputies’ Commission on Antisemitism when it was announced in November and vowed to “look closely at its recommendations as part of our work to keep communities safe.”

The post Government-backed report finds antisemitism ‘increasingly normalized’ in the UK appeared first on World Israel News.

The union admitted that it had never before asked its members to clearly choose sides in an ongoing conflict.

By World Israel News Staff

The largest union of journalists in the United Kingdom is facing backlash after asking its members to “show solidarity” with the Palestinian cause by donning keffiyehs and dressing in red, black, and green, and urging them to post photos of their outfits on social media.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) distributed directives from the UK’s umbrella labor group, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which encouraged members to participate in a “Day of Action for Palestine.”

The NUJ advised journalists to wear symbols and colors associated with the pro-Palestinian movement in their workplaces, as well as “visibly ‘show solidarity’ by posting pictures of themselves in such clothing on social media,” according to a Jewish News report.

Due to the blatantly political nature of the request, a number of journalists have withdrawn from the union.

At least a dozen reporters are formally resigning from the organization, the Jewish News reported.

Among those who are leaving are BBC employees, who cited the request as a clear violation of the broadcaster’s ethical standards.

“BBC journalists, who pride themselves on impartiality and who fought to keep their NUJ free of politics, are being encouraged to break the BBC’s editorial guidelines by supporting a political cause,” a BBC staffer told Jewish News.

The “hypocritical and antisemitic” action on the part of the union was making them reconsider their membership, the staffer added.

In response to a query by Jewish News, the union admitted that it had never before asked its members to clearly choose sides in an ongoing conflict.

The union confirmed that it had not requested that its members dress in the colors of the Ukrainian flag following the Russian invasion.

The Board of Deputies, a UK Jewish advocacy group, criticized the trade unions in a statement of “playing student politics on a conflict on whose facts they appear to be plainly ignorant.”

The organization added that “whatever the stated intent, attempts to bring this issue into the workplace in such a fashion will undoubtedly add to the belligerent atmosphere which many Jewish staff have been facing.”

The post ‘Wear keffiyehs in solidarity with Palestine’ – UK journalists union appeared first on World Israel News.

British Jewish community organizes largest gathering in decades at Trafalgar Square.

By JNS

Several days after London police shut down the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s billboards showing images of kidnapped children held in Gaza, 15,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square “to stand in solidarity and to call for the release of the hostages taken by Hamas terrorists,” per the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Pictures that the nearly 265-year-old representative body shared on social media showed seas of Israeli flags and people holding signs bearing photos of people whom Hamas kidnapped—imagery that resembles the displays that the police had canceled days before.

The solidarity rally was called “Bring Them Home.”

“To give you some idea of what we’re talking about here, this is more than 5% of the entire Jewish population of the UK, assembled at less than 48 hours notice, even taking into account allies in the crowd,” wrote Daniel Sugarman, public affairs director for the Board of Deputies.

“The largest gathering of the British Jewish community in decades.”

“We are here today to speak on behalf of those who have been taken from us and have no voice,” said Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies, at the event. “We stand here united, with one voice, to say, bring them home.”

In an Oct. 12 press conference in London, family members had shared their anguish having not heard from loved ones, whom Hamas was holding hostage.

“People who survived the Holocaust found themselves facing another one,” Noam Sagi, a British-Israeli psychotherapist whose mother was taken hostage, told reporters. He urged reporters to “call Hamas for what they are.”

Sharon Shochat, the British-Israeli director of Defend Israeli Democracy UK and organizer of the press conference, said it was the “biggest hostage crisis the world has faced” in recent years.

The post 15,000 rally in solidarity with Israel in London appeared first on World Israel News.

British PM hosted by UK Jewry org in traditional hut marking the Sukkot festival.

By World Israel News Staff

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited a Sukkah – an outdoor hut where observant Jews eat their meals during the ongoing Sukkot festival – and performed a traditional Jewish ritual on Tuesday.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, an umbrella organization that has been advocating for UK Jewry for centuries, built the Sukkah outside of the Conservative party conference, which is currently being held in Manchester.

We were delighted to be visited at our #CPC2023 Sukkah this morning by Prime Minister @RishiSunak. Wishing you all a Chag Sameach! pic.twitter.com/v6Cae00nSa

— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) October 3, 2023

“We were delighted to be visited at our #CPC2023 Sukkah this morning by Prime Minister @RishiSunak. Wishing you all a Chag Sameach!” wrote the Board of Deputies on X, the social networking platform formerly known as Twitter.

Sunak was photographed standing outside of the Sukkah and participating in the shaking of the lulav (date palm frond) and holding an etrog, as part of the customary holiday rituals.

In September, Sunak released a statement wishing UK Jews and Jews in the Diaspora a happy new year, ahead of the Rosh Hashana holiday.

“British Jews play an integral part in the success of this nation, and I am delighted the vibrant and diverse Jewish faith continues to thrive across the country,” Sunak said.

The premier reiterated his opposition to the BDS movement and said that he would work to combat Jew hatred and anti-Israel bias in the country.

“I will always stand with you,” he added.

You can count on me to keep you safe, to champion the ban on boycotts, divestments and sanctions, and fight antisemitism in any form.”

In December 2022, Sunak referred to the Abraham Accords normalization agreements as “one of the greatest achievements in the history of diplomacy in the Middle East.”

He emphasized that the UK “will continue to do all it can to leverage our strong ties with other Gulf States to expand the number of signatories to the agreement and enhance the already blossoming opportunities opened up by these ground-breaking agreements.”

The post PM Sunak visits Sukkah, performs Jewish holiday ritual appeared first on World Israel News.

 The authors take no stance on these issues and are not aligned with any organization. They are simply facilitating conversations with professionals with the tools they have designed for healthy arguments. 

By World Israel News Staff

A major Jewish organization in the UK tweets that a member of the new Israeli government would not be welcome in their community. Sound plausible? In fact, it’s exactly the type of situation that two educators are teaching Jewish leaders to navigate.

Israel-based educators and researchers Abi Dauber Stern and Robbie Gringras have been using their expertise over the past few years to train Jewish leaders around the world to engage in constructive and healthy arguments about contentious issues relating to Israel.

The two colleagues use fictional, reality-based “argument-stories” to facilitate difficult conversations.

Last May, they launched, “For the Sake of Argument,” an educational initiative that offers a fresh approach to arguing. They now travel to communities and educational settings around the world training others to lean into the arguments that arise when complexities are addressed rather than shy away from them.

Most recently, since the last Israeli national election resulted in the most right-wing government in the history of the country, Dauber Stern and Gringras have been focusing particularly on helping Diaspora Jewish leaders, many of whom disagree with the platform, to deal with this new reality.

In this regard, they have just released their latest “argument-story” called, “Tweeting Israel,” about the backlash that ensues when a fictional CEO of a Jewish Federation tweets about a far-right Israeli politician not being welcome in his community.

Hundreds of leaders in the U.S. and the UK have pledged to block certain Israeli government officials from speaking in their communities. Right or wrong, many professional and lay leaders are concerned that policy changes regarding religious pluralism, conversion, and LGBTQ+ rights will negatively affect their relationship to the State of Israel – although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to uphold the status quo regarding immigration to Israel and recognition of all Jewish denominations, as well as appointing an openly gay Likud member to the prestigious position of Knesset speaker.

“If these conversations are not conducted well, these issues have the potential to break apart the fabric of organizational life and tear apart communities,” Dauber Sterne says.

“We are not trying to get everyone to agree; we know that’s not going to happen. We are trying to help people understand how others come to their decisions so that they can understand and learn from each other,” the colleagues said.

“By the time we reached the point of publishing the book, there was a growing realization that we needed to supplement the stories with a way of arguing,” Gringras told World Israel News in a telephone interview.

“There have always been reasons to argue,” he said. “I don’t think the relationship between world Jewry and Israel has ever been entirely smooth.  But our ability to disagree without shunning or avoiding each other… It’s gotten worse over the decades. Why?

“There are all sorts of theories, and they’re probably all a little bit right.”

Juggling with differences of opinion

For example, “there’s certainly an element of developing my identity and my ability to discourse through a lot of online interaction, which means that I can find a community of friends who entirely agree with me, which not only strengthens my own specific conviction but it also means I have far less practice with being in communication with somebody with whom I disagree.

“I think there has also been a growing desire to put safety rails around our conversations so as to reduce harm, which is extremely valuable and can sometimes dampen down our ability to touch on stuff which is disagreeable to others.

“And I think it’s become more and more difficult to differentiate between when you disagree with me and when you find me disagreeable. Whether you don’t like my opinions or you don’t like me. And it can go in both directions. Sometimes I’m afraid that when you’re critiquing my opinion, you’re critiquing me. And sometimes that’s true, that we judge people on their opinions.”

Their latest story, based on a true situation in the UK, deals with the values held by a significant portion of world Jewry that conflict with those of several of Israel’s new government ministers and their platform. How does the organized Jewish community juggle with those differences?

“We fictionalized it,” setting the story in the U.S., where the project is based, Gringras explains. “What we do is provide the story and background for the story, and it’s very much up to the people talking through the story or reading it or working with it if they read the background material. But for this particular story, it quotes directly what happened…

“It’s really important for us to deliberate amongst ourselves about what we think is right about it or wrong. Our challenge is that there’s a lot to deliberate about and that much shrinking space to talk. So all these stories are with no intention to suggest what is the right thing to do. Each story presents a challenge, a clash of values,” and will not necessarily find a solution.

“It’s there in order to provoke, to complexify an argument so that we can have these conversations. There’s a very clear theory that until you actually clarify what you disagree about, you’re never going to actually be able to reach a deep agreement.

“So what often happens, especially in the organized Jewish world,” he continues, “is that we will jump to try and find a solution without digging into what we actually believe and feel. If we deliberate further, we may come up with that solution and at least we will better understand each other even if we don’t agree with each other.”

Moving beyond the Jewish world

“We’re exploring two things, basically,” Gringras said. “We’re exploring how we can teach people to argue and how we can teach through argument. And so we’ve started with how can you teach about Israel through argument, and that’s stage one. That’s the field we know best. Our aim most certainly is to explore beyond Israel education and beyond the Jewish world at some point.

“We’re sharpening our skills in the area we know best…Together with the Jim Joseph Foundation, we’re doing a great deal of applied research out in the field and in workshops, evaluating what’s going on so that we can be specific and say, here’s what a healthy argument looks like…and then let’s see whether we can apply this to other subjects, other countries.”

Will the rift get worse between Israel and the Diaspora?

“I think we’ll have to redefine what we mean by a relationship and what we mean by a strong relationship,” Gringras said.

“The relationship between Israelis and Jews around the world is going to have get more resilient. My feeling is that we need to get better at arguing openly with each other,” rather than shunning each other.  “As you know, even a marriage is stronger when we’re able to also deal with our differences and our disagreements.”

The post Researchers train Jewish leaders to argue constructively about Israel appeared first on World Israel News.

“We are committed to two viable states as the only just and realistic solution to the present situation,” the Movement for Reform Judaism said in a statement.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

On the heels of an announcement from new UK Prime Minister Liz Truss that she is seriously weighing moving the country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a British group of Reform Jews issued a statement warning against the potential move.

“We are committed to two viable states as the only just and realistic solution to the present situation,” the Movement for Reform Judaism (MRJ) said in a statement.

“Consequently, we would caution against the government taking action that might undermine peace in the region.”

The MRJ statement added that the organization is “unequivocally Zionist and has a non-negotiable commitment to Israel and its security. We believe the pursuit of peace in Israel is the highest ideal and priority.”

The group’s position that moving the embassy to Israel’s capital would be inherently provocative comes in stark contrast to the view of the Board of Deputies, the UK’s oldest Jewish organization.

The Jewish Chronicle reported that Board of Deputies president Marie van Zyl praised the potential move during a pro-Israel conference last week.

“We are really hopeful that the government is going to move the embassy, like America, to Jerusalem – the capital of Israel,” JC quoted her as saying.

At the same conference, Health Minister Robert Jenrick said that the UK already has “a site in Jerusalem [for a new embassy] waiting to go.”

He added that “it is time we took responsibility and built that Embassy and recognized that the true capital of the State of Israel is obviously Jerusalem.”

“As you know I am a huge Zionist, I am a huge supporter of Israel, and I know that we can take the UK-Israel relationship from strength to strength,” Truss said in early October.

“In this world – where we are facing threats from authoritarian regimes who don’t believe in freedom and democracy – two free democracies, the UK and Israel, need to stand shoulder to shoulder and we will be even closer in the future,” she said.

The post Moving UK embassy to Jerusalem could ‘undermine peace,’ warns Reform Jewish org appeared first on World Israel News.

Dr. Rev. Steven Sizer, who attended a Holocaust-denial conference in Tehran, insists he’s only critical of Israel, not antisemitic.

By World Israel News Staff

A prominent Church of England vicar who met with Hezbollah commanders and posted on social media that Israel was the true perpetrator behind the September 11 terror attacks is facing removal from the church for antisemitism.

The British Board of Deputies, the umbrella organization of UK Jewry, filed a complaint with the church outlining 11 instances of antisemitic behavior by Dr. Rev. Steven Sizer, mainly focused on his social media and writing.

Sizer was suspended from his position as Vicar of an Anglican parish in Surrey after posting two separate articles claiming that Israel was the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The posts violated Sizer’s pledge to pause social media posts for six months after a previous complaint about earlier antisemitic posts.

His creation and reposting of antisemitic content fosters hatred against Jews, and is unbecoming for his role as public-facing church official, the Board of Deputies said.

But Sizer denies that he is bigoted against Jews, and claims that his posts are legitimate criticism of the state of Israel.

Although church tribunals are typically private, Sizer chose to make his public in order to “clear his name,” according to the Church Times.

The Board of Deputies was particularly concerned that Sizer met with Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, a “senior commander of Hezbollah forces” in Lebanon in 2006.

Nicholas Leviseur, the attorney representing the Board of Deputies at the tribunal, noted that Hezbollah does not distinguish between Israelis and Jews.

“Hezbollah is a parastatal organization with its own army which exists for the extermination of Israel and the Jews within it, but its use of language is what makes it so serious,” Leviseur said, according to UK media. “They never speak of Israel, it is always Jew, Jews and Jewry.”

Sizer’s lawyer claimed that he met with Hezbollah commandos in order to negotiate the release of Israeli soldiers held captive by the terror group — but did not provide any evidence or confirmation from authorities to support that claim.

In 2014, Sizer attended an anti-Israel, antisemitic conference in Tehran in which topics of discussion included “Zionist Fingerprints on the 9/11 Cover-up” and “9/11 and the Holocaust as pro-Zionist ‘Public myths.’”

In 2018, he wrote on Facebook that former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was ousted for his cover-up of widespread antisemitsim within the party, was “a victim of the hidden hands of Zionists.”

The tribunal is currently ongoing, and a ruling is expected next week.

The post Antisemitic priest who blamed Israel for 9/11 may be expelled from church appeared first on World Israel News.

The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said that the vicar’s opinions were “enough to make me sick forever.”

By Ben Cohen, The Algemeiner

A Church of England cleric is facing expulsion after an internal tribunal heard of his involvement in pushing Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories related to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist atrocities and similar content rooted in antisemitic prejudice.

The Rev. Stephen Sizer, who was ordained in 1984, is the subject of a clergy disciplinary hearing examining 11 separate cases of antisemitic agitation between 2005 and 2018. The case, which is being heard in the courtroom of St Andrew’s Church in central London, is the first of its kind to be held in public.

The hearing was told on Monday that throughout the period under examination, Sizer had appeared on platforms alongside Holocaust deniers and shared antisemitic material on social media, including posting a link to an article titled “The Mother of All Coincidences,” which sought to blame Israel for the 9/11 attacks carried out by Al Qaeda in New York and Washington, DC, as well as another piece with the headline, “9-11: Israel did it.”

In 2014, The Algemeiner reported on Sizer’s presence at the so-called “New Horizons” conference hosted in Tehran by the Iranian regime.

Also attending the same event were the French-Cameroonian provocateur and comedian, Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, the originator of the antisemitic “quenelle” gesture; Thierry Meyssan, the French author of a book claiming that the 9/11 atrocities were carried out not by Al Qaeda, but by the U.S. government; Ahmed Rami, a former Moroccan army officer who set up the violently antisemitic “Radio Islam” website based in Sweden; and Manuel Ochsenreiter, a German far-right activist.

On his return from Iran, Sizer angrily rebuked his critics, arguing that “Jesus called his followers to be ambassadors of reconciliation” and warning that those “who criticize this kind of conference must think very carefully of the consequences of their words for Jews and Christians in countries like Iran.”

Speaking at Monday’s tribunal, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which brought the complaint against Sizer, said that the vicar’s opinions were “enough to make me sick forever.”

“There is a whole series of behaviors in the complaint that you cannot say are not antisemitic,” Marie van der Zyl said. “It is so hurtful, especially the stuff about the Holocaust. It’s really awful.”

Defended by Jeremy Corbyn

In 2012, Sizer posted a link on his Facebook page, later deleted, to an article promoting Holocaust denial.

Among those who rose to Sizer’s defense in this matter was the former leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, who claimed that the posting of the link was a “technical oversight,” and that Sizer’s critics were “intent on discrediting the excellent work that Stephen does in highlighting the injustices of the Palestinian-Israeli situation.”

Sizer’s conduct is alleged to have been “unbecoming or inappropriate to the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders.” The case against him states that he “provoked and offended the Jewish community and/or engaged in antisemitic behavior.”

Nicholas Leviseur, the barrister making the case against Sizer, argued that the vicar displayed “deliberate behavior which we say is difficult to characterize as anything other than antisemitic.”

Stephen Hofmeyr, who is representing Sizer, countered that the vicar had “written a book in which he says that racism is a sin and so is antisemitism, and both must be repudiated unequivocally.”

He also insisted that there was a clear distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, asserting that “the former is directed against Jewish people, the latter is against the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Middle East.”

Hofmeyr added that if Sizer’s “words or conduct have been antisemitic, he accepts that will amount to misconduct.”

The post Disciplinary tribunal for Church of England vicar accused of antisemitism begins appeared first on World Israel News.

A High Court judge had denied planning permission due to its proposed location contravening a century-old law.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The British government on Friday appealed a High Court decision to prevent the building of a national Holocaust memorial in a park in central London.

“We remain completely committed to constructing the Memorial at this location, which was carefully selected to reflect its national significance – next to Parliament and close to other important memorials including the Cenotaph,” said a spokesperson for the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Department.

The appeal is the latest step in a seven-year battle to construct the £100 million memorial. The design that won an international contest envisions 23 tall, long bronze fins standing close to each other in Victoria Tower Gardens, representing the number of countries in which Jews, Roma, the disabled and gay people were persecuted by the Nazis during World War II.

Each narrow pathway between the fins would lead to the entrance of an underground, high-tech learning center containing survivor testimonies that would also teach about the dangers of antisemitism as well as the causes of later mass murders such as those committed in Cambodia and Rwanda.

The High Court ruled last month in favor of several groups that had argued that a law enacted in the year 1900 forbade using the site for anything other than a public garden. There was an “enduring obligation” to use the land for the purpose for which it had been donated, Justice Thornton wrote.

Barbara Weiss, a co-founder of one of the groups, “Save Victoria Tower Gardens,” said in response to the ruling, “We have argued for many years that the government is pursuing the right idea in the wrong place. Today’s judgment sends a strong message about the protection of public parks.”

While more than 170 members of both houses of Parliament support the project, including Conservatives and the head of the opposition Labour party, the Jewish community itself is divided over the planned memorial.

The umbrella group representing the Jewish community to the government, the Jewish Board of Deputies, is in favor of the current location, as is Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

Considering the “hateful rhetoric on the rise across the world,” he said, “it is more urgent and vital than ever” to teach what he called “the essential lessons of the Holocaust.”

The potential educational effect of having the memorial “next to the seat of our country’s democracy” should overrule the planning objections that had been raised, he added.

At least eight Jewish peers have publicly stated their opposition, however, as did Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Romain, leader of the Reform Maidenhead Synagogue near London.

“We know from the resurgence of antisemitism in countries abroad with powerful Holocaust museums that buildings do not change minds,” he said. “It will be far better for the UK to use the £100 million to have an education program in schools nationally than a London-centric memorial.”

A memorial to victims of the Holocaust already exists in the country’s capital and is the site of a yearly commemorative ceremony. Built in 1983 in Hyde Park and surrounded by a copse of silver birch trees, it consists of two boulders lying on a gravel bed.

They are inscribed with a quote from the Book of Lamentations in both English and Hebrew: “For these I weep. Streams of tears flow from my eyes because of the destruction of my people.”

The post UK appeals ruling against building Holocaust memorial near Parliament appeared first on World Israel News.

Royal Court theatre conducts internal investigation after antisemitic character sparks backlash, but some British Jews believe it’s too little, too late.

By World Israel News Staff

After formally apologizing to the Jewish community for a character in a play who was depicted as a greedy capitalist and had a stereotypical Jewish name, a London theater released the results of a report examining antisemitism within the institution.

Last week, the Jewish Chronicle discussed the report with the Royal Court’s Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone, who said she was previously unaware that many British Jews in the country’s theater scene feel that the industry is riddled with antisemitism.

The Royal Court controversy erupted in November 2021, when the character of an immoral billionaire, who pillages precious natural resources from native Bolivians, was given the name Hershel Fink in an upcoming play.

At first, the Royal Court denied that the character could be linked with antisemitic stereotypes, claiming they were unware that the name had Jewish connotations.

Several prominent British Jewish celebrities challenged the theater’s response on social media.

“The Royal Court claims they didn’t realize ‘Hershel Fink’ was a Jewish name. Hmmm. Somehow it just sounded so right for a world-conquering billionaire,” comedian David Baddiel wrote on Twitter.

Soon afterwards, the theater apologized and changed the character’s name, then launched an internal investigation examining its attitude towards antisemitism.

“The big learning for me has been about how few Jewish artists have felt that they can be out about their Jewishness with their work at the Royal Court and in other areas of culture,” Featherstone told JC.

The fact that “people in theater often feel uncomfortable in disclosing that they are Jewish” absolutely shocked her, she said. She pledged that the Royal Court would make different choices moving forward.

However, some British Jews have noted that previous incidents suggest antisemitism may be deep-rooted in the theater.

“We made it clear that this was not seen by our community as a one-off incident,” said UK British Jewish organization the Board of Deputies.

“Instead, this was one in a series of terrible decisions made over the last 35 years, and to fail to acknowledge that would be extremely unwise. We also stressed that the theatre would need to properly reach out to the Jewish community in order to help fix its reputation.

“Today’s report appears to have been a missed opportunity to both properly acknowledge the past and set out a vision for the future.”

In 2009, the Royal Court hosted the premier performance of Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza. The play was widely viewed as promoting antisemtic blood libels.

“The mainstreaming of the worst anti-Jewish stereotypes — for instance, that Jews glory in the shedding of non-Jewish blood — is upon us,” wrote Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg at the time.

The post UK theater apologizes for antisemitic character, but critics say problem goes deeper appeared first on World Israel News.

After taking his cellphone, the thug punches his victim several times when he tries to get back his property.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

London police are investigating an attack on an ultra-Orthodox Jew in London Friday. The victim was beaten up and his cellphone was taken.

In video footage publicized by the local Jewish neighborhood watch group Shomrim, a black man can be seen confronting the Jew in a hallway of an apartment block in Stamford Hill, a neighborhood known as a hub of the Orthodox community.

After a short exchange of words, the man whips the Jew’s cellphone out of his hand and starts walking out the door. The victim tries to grab back his property and hangs on to the arm of the would-be thief, who starts pummeling him to get away.

The fight spills out to the landing outside, where the thief breaks free but continues to punch the victim’s stomach and face several times before shoving the Jewish man back through the door, where he falls down. At this point, the perpetrator turns around and strides away,  and the victim gives up.

The attack took place in broad daylight, around 1:45 p.m. Police say there is no evidence as yet to suggest that it was religiously or racially motivated.

There have been several attacks on religious Jews in London over the last two months. At the end of January, two men were violently assaulted, also in Stamford Hill, by an 18-year-old who was subsequently arrested and charged with a hate crime. Coming on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it a “terrible reminder” that antisemitism “remains a very real problem in society” that must be “stamped out.”

During the Chanukah holiday in December, a man yelling alternately in English and Arabic attacked a Jewish man who saw him tearing down a menorah in a public square. After punching him repeatedly in the head, the thug showed him a knife and said repeatedly, “I am going to kill you,” before the victim managed to escape.

The most notorious incident on Chanukah occurred when a group of men hit and spit at a bus full of Jewish boys that had come to a stop on a London street, showing them the Nazi salute and yelling at them. The BBC was excoriated by the British umbrella organization of Jewish groups, the Board of Jewish Deputies, for blaming the victims, saying that a Moslem slur could be heard coming from the bus.

Even when in was proven that there was no such slur, the BBC refused to apologize and its internal review cleared the reporter of any wrongdoing.

The Jewish Community Security Trusts released a report last week stating that 2021 was the worst year in terms of antisemitic attacks since the watchdog began keeping records.

MK Betzalel Smotrich, who visited pro-Israel groups in the UK last week , said that the  British Jewish community must confront the problem by strengthening Israel and their connection to the Jewish state instead of “repeat[ing] the awful strategy of German Jewry ahead of World War II, who thought if there is antisemitism, let’s be more like the non-Jews and they will forgive and accept us. The opposite is true.”

The Board of Deputies had told Smotrich to “go home” on Thursday, saying his “racism” and “homophobic” views were unwanted there. The right-wing parliamentarian, who heads the Religious Zionist party, wrote in a long rebuttal on Facebook that the group only represents a “minority” of British Jews who are “leftists and Reform Jews.”

Smotrichsaid he was inundated with speaking invitations from members of the traditional and religious sectors, which he said are the majority of Jews in England.

The post Religious Jew attacked in London, police say no evidence of hate crime appeared first on World Israel News.

British author of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ was also known for anti-Semitic and anti-Israel outbursts.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

The family of famous British author Roald Dahl published an apology for anti-Semitic comments he made years before his death in 1990.

In a short statement on the Roald Dahl website titled “Apology for anti-Semitic comments made by Roald Dahl,” the family tried to clear up a part of Dahl’s ugly past in which on different occasions he repeated anti-Semitic tropes and fired anti-Semitic insults at Israel.

“The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply apologize for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl’s statements,” the statement said. “Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl’s stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations. We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words.”

In an interview with the New Statesman in 1983, Dahl said: “There’s a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean there is always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”

In another article that year in The Spectator, Dahl railed against Israel’s military actions in Lebanon in 1982, saying the Jews as “a race of people” had never “switched so rapidly from victims to barbarous murderers.” Dahl went on to say that America was “so utterly dominated by the great Jewish financial institutions” that “they dare not defy” Israel.

The rationale behind the quietly issued family statement was questioned by Britain’s largest and oldest Jewish national Jewish organization.

“This apology should have happened long ago – and it is of concern that it has happened so quietly now,” the Board of Deputies of British Jews President Marie van der Zyl said in a statement.

“Roald Dahl’s abhorrent anti-Semitic prejudices were no secret and have tarnished his legacy,” van der Zyl said, adding, “The apology should be restated on the questionable Roald Dahl Day on 13 September,” Dahl’s birthday, which is marked in Great Britain and several other countries.

The Board called on the Dahl family to teach new generations about tolerance.

“As well as recognizing his undeniable impact on children’s literature, teaching of Dahl’s books should also be used as an opportunity for young people to learn about his intolerant views,” van der Zyl noted.

Dahl was a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force and was stationed during World War II in the Middle East, where he crashed and was seriously wounded with a fractured skull, but he recovered and returned to active duty. He shot down several Nazi aircraft and was stationed in Haifa before recurring symptoms from the crash forced him to stop flying. He spent the rest of the war in diplomacy and espionage, working at one point with author Ian Fleming.

Dahl was a prolific writer of children’s books and adult stories, many of which were adapted for the screen or television. The two most well-known were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the screenplay for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, written by Fleming, the creator of the James Bond 007 character.

The post Family of famous author Roald Dahl apologizes for his anti-Semitism appeared first on World Israel News.

Baroness Altmann says that an official Jewish stance on annexation of parts of Judea and Samaria “offers succor to Israel’s enemies.”

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A prominent Jewish member of the House of Lords on Tuesday publicly backed the head of organized British Jewry’s call to stay out of the annexation debate in Israel, saying that such talk simply “offers succor” to Israel’s enemies.

“There’s a big difference between expressing views as private individuals…and public statements by official bodies that represent the Jewish community,” said Baroness Ros Altmann, CBE, in a video of British Jewish communal leaders posted to YouTube.

“And that’s why I support the position taken – in the face of some fierce opposition – by Marie van der Zyl, who does not want the Board of Deputies to take any public views on the annexation issue.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews is the main body that represents the community to the British government.

At a plenary meeting in May, Van der Zyl, , president of the Board of Deputies, rejected a demand by left-wing members to come out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise to apply sovereignty to 30 percent of Judea and Samaria.

“There isn’t going to be a consensus that is going to be reached, and I am very concerned that the Jewish community stays together as a community at what is clearly a divisive time,” she said.

Altmann noted the “passionate exchanges of opinion” in the local Jewish press and social media on the issue, and agreed with van der Zyl that because it is so contentious, the Board should continue remaining silent on the matter.

First on her list of reasons was that “I don’t believe that the British Jewish community can claim to have a superior view of what Israel should be doing, to that of the Israeli government itself,” she said. “Yes, we will disagree on the personal level. But as friends of Israel, why offer succor to its enemies?”

She then echoed the Board president, saying that at a time when everyone is struggling with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, “surely that word ‘community’ is more important than ever. Let’s look for ways to minimize division rather than unnecessarily encouraging it.”

The Conservative peer’s third fear was that taking a public stance “could add to the already increasing level of anti-Semitism,” as Jew-haters would say it proved that Diaspora Jews could influence Israeli policy and therefore it is correct to blame them for what Israel does or doesn’t do.

The call to stay out of a hot issue of Israeli politics stands in marked contrast to the Board’s position last February, when it asked electioneering politicians to support a manifesto that included a commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state in exchange for the British Jewish vote.

The post British baroness says organized Jewry should avoid position on annexation appeared first on World Israel News.

Tzipi Hotovely slams British Jewish group for advocating Palestinian state, which they know the Israeli government opposes. 

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely criticized the British Board of Deputies on Friday for including support for a Palestinian state in the manifesto they would like politicians to commit to in order to gain Jewish support in the U.K. elections this week.

“There was no prior consultation regarding this document [by the Board] with the government of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nor with our ambassador, nor with any other political authority,” Hotovely told Israeli weekly Olam Katan, which picked up the story WIN broke on Monday.

Although emphasizing that Jewish Diaspora groups do not have to consult with the government before they speak, Hotovely did not mince words in criticizing the Board’s move.

“In every meeting between Jewish organizations around the world and politicians – the prime minister, foreign minister or myself – we emphasize that the idea of a Palestinian state is one that the State of Israel completely opposes.

“We have a rule regarding international election campaigns, and it that we do not take a stand on the domestic affairs of the Jewish community. But an organization that supports the establishment of a Palestinian state is clearly working against Israeli interests.

“It is important to say explicitly: A Palestinian state is a danger to the State of Israel,” Hotovely said. “Its establishment contradicts the official policy of the State of Israel in general and the Foreign ministry in particular. On the contrary, we are doing everything possible to advance the legal status of the settlements – the opposite of the idea of ​​dividing the land.”

In a statement, the Board of Deputies defended its Manifesto’s Fifth Commitment advocating that British politicians should promote the establishment of a Palestinian state.

A “thriving and secure Israel,” its spokesperson said, “will be achieved through the resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians. While we recognise that there are a diversity of views on the preferred outcome to the conflict, the two-state solution is still the preferred outcome of most U.K. Jews, most of the international community and, significantly, also most Israelis.”

In a poll conducted last month for Israeli Channel 12’s Meet the Press, however, a majority of citizens opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, 48.7% v. 43.8%. The other 7.4 percent said they didn’t know.

A Haaretz poll in March also found that 42 percent of respondents support at least some form of annexation of Judea and Samaria, while only 34 percent said that the preferred solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is two states.

The post Israel slams British Jewish group for advocating Palestinian state, ‘utterly against Israel’s interests’ appeared first on World Israel News.

A video posted by U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Twitter champions the cause of diversity of those who “wear a hijab, a turban, a cross,” and are “black, white, or Asian,” but Jews are neither seen nor mentioned.

The post WATCH: Corbyn skips Jews in celebration of diversity campaign video appeared first on World Israel News.

A British Zionist group opposes the inclusion of support for a Palestinian State in the Board of Deputies’ manifesto, as does Israel’s Likud party.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In a controversial move, the Board of Deputies of British Jews is urging political candidates in the U.K.’s upcoming elections to support the creation of a Palestinian state.

The body is the main representative of British Jewry. It was established in 1760. As its website says, it’s “the first port of call for Government, the media and others seeking to understand the Jewish community’s interests and concerns.”

Its Jewish Manifesto contains 10 items that it would like potential U.K. policymakers to support, including opposing anti-Semitism, defending the right to a Jewish way of life, promoting Holocaust education, tackling poverty and supporting other socially sensitive issues.

Commitment No. 5, however, delves into international politics, as it asks candidates to “advocate for permanent and comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that results in a secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state.”

The Zionist Federation of the U.K. and Ireland (ZF), a pro-Israel umbrella organization with over 50,000 affiliated members, took a different approach.

Its “Call to Action” didn’t endorse any particular solution, it merely asked candidates running in the December 12 election to sign a pledge “to support those who genuinely seek to promote and establish a permanent, just and comprehensive peace between Israel and its neighbours.”

In February, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “a Palestinian state will endanger our existence.” He joined all the senior leaders in the governing Likud party who had already pledged their resistance to allowing such a state to be established.

Netanyahu’s current rival for Likud leadership, Gideon Sa’ar, explained their firm opposition to the idea in an interview with Israel Hayom just two days before the prime minister’s statement.

“I oppose a Palestinian state,” Sa’ar said. “In my eyes it’s a dangerous idea for the future of the Jewish nation in their own land. The left says that the creation of an Arab state will solve the demographic problem, but the opposite is true.

“A state means they control their borders, and that means the entry of a Palestinian and Islamic population, which will want to be at the forefront of the fight against the Zionist entity. So in essence, the entire Zionist enterprise which we’ve reached will be in reverse, because a Palestinian state will cause an Arab majority in Israel. And anyone who wants to prevent such a majority must oppose it.”

The post Britain’s main Jewish group asks election candidates to commit to Palestinian state appeared first on World Israel News.