P F ap re er e o We f th ek e ly Y ea r
on Bright ideas Fun the run!
LI FE MAGAZ INE
Summer 2024
The REAL Zone of Interest
Election Special
What Jonathan Glazer forgot
Will the NEW government deliver?
PROUD VOICE OF OUR JEWISH COMMUNITY 27 June 2024
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21 Siivan 5784
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Issue No.1373
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@JewishNewsUK
PLUS Tempting travel Israel’s Olympics
WIN a stay at
London’s Hotel Amano
ER! R YOUR SUMM COLOU r Women making the future brighte
We’re a Thousands race magazine in Mill Hill P22-23 next week so don’t miss the sizzling summer edition of Life
‘Beware of fairweather friends’ Sunak’s last-ditch appeal to JN readers as Labour leads communal voting poll by Lee Harpin lee@jewishnews.co.uk @lmharpin
Rishi Sunak has accused Keir Starmer’s Labour Party of trying to “bully” Israel into early recognition of a Palestinian state. Speaking to Jewish News as the election campaign enters the final straight, the prime minister accused Starmer’s deputy Angela Rayner of “saying just a few weeks ago that Labour would recognise Palestine very quickly”. Under his leadership, Conservatives Sunak said, the
“would never use such an approach to bully Israel when it faces such a great threat to its security”. With polls showing a big dip in support for the Tories ahead of the 4 July election, the prime minister stressed that he had been firm in his support for Israel’s right to defend itself after the 7 October Hamas atrocity. “It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve not wavered from it,” he told Jewish News this week. That’s what you’ll get from me. I am not a fairweather friend.” In the defiant interview, Sunak said he was only too aware of the opinion polls suggesting that Labour was
heading for a resounding victory in the election, called early by him. A poll of Jewish voters by the respected firm Survation, published last week, had shown that while Sunak and the Tories still had more support than Labour, Starmer’s party was enjoying a surge in popularity from the community. A second survey, conducted by the Institute for Policy Research, even suggested that more British Jews would vote Labour rather than Tory next week. “There have been many polls and Continued on page 2
VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS
WHAT A DIFFERENCE FOUR YEARS HAVE MADE When we last analysed pre-general election polls, in the winter of 2019, the community was on shpilkes fearing a Jeremy Corbyn-led government. It was a prospect, as the three main Jewish newspapers put it, that would have presented an existential threat to our community. Nearly five years on and however you view the
two contenders for Downing Street, no such threat exists. Under successive Tory prime ministers over more than a decade we’ve enjoyed a golden era for UKIsrael relations. We’ve seen recordbreaking trade, the banning of Hezbollah and, finally, an official Royal visit – by Prince William – to Israel, followed quickly by a second – by
King Charles. Domestically, the government has backed up good intentions with funds for community safety and Holocaust education. At the same time, there is little doubt that Sir Keir Starmer has done almost everything he could to make good on his pledge to fight the antisemitism that plagued his party. On Israel, he has remained steadfast
in defending Israel’s right to defend itself, even at the cost of support in his party and in parts of the country. That doesn’t mean Starmer has convinced everyone in the community. Despite the latest poll suggesting a big lead for Labour among British Jews, many remain unconvinced that he will stick with Israel through thick and thin.
If the many constituency hustings we’ve supported have shown anything, however, Jews will cast their votes on a wide range of issues. Whoever you want to run the country, there’s little point in staying at home and shouting in frustration at the telly on election night. This is your chance to make a difference, so use it wisely.