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That’s Esther! My pledge

7.10.23 – IN MEMORY OF THOSE WE LOST 8 October 2026 • 27 Tishrei 5787 • Issue No.1492 •

@JewishNewsUK

Personal tribute to the television legend whose kindness changed lives P28-29

to UK Jews Andy Burnham on three years since 7/10 P25

One year ago, two Jews were killed at this shul Congregants gather outside Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester to pay their respects to Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz

VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS It is no secret that our community is home to many internal disagreements. Whether on Israeli government policy or aspects of Jewish law, there is seldom unity. We are monotheistic, not monolithic. So when the heads of all major religious denominations, as well as Jews of every stripe, up to and including a proportion of those who would describe themselves as anti-Zionists, are in complete public agreement, it is incumbent upon other people to listen. The “Zionism is Racism” motion passed by the Greens at their annual conference is the most insidious policy adopted by a supposedly mainstream party in living memory. Zionism is the belief in the right of the Jewish people to a state, in their historic homeland. Supporters of the Green Party motion – as well as the party’s leader, Zack Polanski – have argued that Zionism is racist, based on how the history of this ideology has Continued on p22

Now the Green Party blames the shul

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Jewish News 8 october 2026

News / Met Police warning / Conservative Party Conference

Met chief: Extremism laws are no longer fit for purpose by Rosa Doherty and Marcus Dysch

Successive governments have failed to act on warnings that extremist ideologies are falling through gaps in British law and being allowed to flourish, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said. Speaking to Jewish News for a new threepart documentary series called What Next? Britain’s most senior police officer said the authorities were too often left tackling the intimidation, hate crime and violence produced by extremism, while its ideological roots remained largely untouched. Rowley helped lead a landmark review with former counter-extremism commissioner Dame Sara Khan examining whether existing legislation was equipped to deal with hateful extremism. Published in 2021, Operating with Impunity: Hateful Extremism – the Need for a Legal Framework warned that extremists could legally radicalise others, spread violent propaganda and undermine democratic freedoms without crossing the threshold into terrorism or hate crime.

Sir Mark Rowley in conversation with Marcus Dysch and Rosa Doherty

“The recommendations made in that report haven’t been acted upon,” Rowley told the Jewish News documentary. “We’ve got law that’s constructed around terrorism and we’ve got law that’s constructed around hate crime, but extremist

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ideologies can fall between the cracks of those two legal frameworks. “There were things in there: some of the survey data then was worrying, and it’s even worse now in terms of antisemitic attitudes; the prevalence of content online; recommendations about sharper online regulation; and concern that some of the most extreme material was still not illegal.” The review argued that some extreme material relating to terrorism and terrorist violence should be illegal to possess, in the same way as child-abuse material. “We suggested there should be a legal framework around extremism,” Rowley said. “Those recommendations haven’t been acted on.” He acknowledged the difficulty of balancing new restrictions with freedom of speech, but pointed to democratic countries such as Germany, where laws intended to protect democracy extend beyond tackling an immediate threat of violence. “Their law has protections that are

about protecting democracy that go beyond dealing with the threat of violence, because it’s about countering the threat of ideologies which are designed to undermine a democratic state,” he said. “We don’t really have that in our legislation at the moment.” Rowley said successive politicians and governments had expressed interest in the proposals but had failed to take them forward amid concerns about freedom of expression. Dame Sara Khan told Jewish News that although Rowley had previously touched on the issue, including in an interview with the Telegraph, he had not discussed it publicly “in that depth”. She described his intervention as “brilliant to see”, adding that the failure to tackle hateful extremism was “clearly a continuing worry of his”. Rowley said the consequences of that inaction were now being felt across society, with antisemitic ideologies increasingly escaping the fringes and entering mainstream discourse. “There have always been racists at the margins of society,” he said. “But what we’re seeing now is the level of racism, the level of hate crime, which is when racism becomes a crime and we get involved. “You’re more likely to be a victim of that as a British Jew than you are [as members of ] other religions and other protected characteristics. So it’s felt most intensely.” He added: “I’m concerned that it’s become part of mainstream debate. It’s not just vile individuals who propagate these ideologies. There have always been people like that and there always will be, but they’ve been way beyond the extremes of society. They might be extreme right-wing neo-Nazis or Islamists, but now antisemitic ideologies are almost ubiquitous online.” Watch episode one of What Next? on the Jewish News website and social media channels from 15 October

Polanski’s Greens ‘seek to erase Jewish identity’ Kemi Badenoch accused Zack Polanski’s Green Party of “seeking to erase Jewish identity” in her speech at the Tory Party conference yesterday. To loud applause from party supporters inside the hall at the Birmingham ICC, the party leader said: “You know what’s taking us backwards? The disgraceful antisemitism we saw at the Green Party conference last weekend. They are seeking to erase Jewish identity. Shame on the Green Party and shame on Zack Polanski.” Speaking on the third anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, Badenoch said: “Exactly three years ago today, we saw the horrific October 7 attacks, the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. “The Conservative Party stands with the Jewish people. We will never stop fighting

antisemitism.” Attacking remarks by senior Reform UK figures on race and English identity, Badenoch also said: “Back in the day, let’s never forget, we were the ones who put out a poster saying, ‘Labour says he’s black, we say he’s British.’ We are still the same party. “I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but I am black, I am British, I am proud of my country, I’m proud of our history, all that we have done, and all that we will do in the world. “Our best days are not behind us, and we will not let this country go backwards.” Badenoch said the country “deserves better” than Labour or Reform and that the Tories will not unite with Reform. She said Labour under Andy Burnham was the “same old high tax, high spend Labour” with “no common sense”.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

8 October 2026 Jewish News

Z-word debate / Conservative Party Conference / News

Communal heavyweights debate the Z-word’s future by Annabel Sinclair annabel@jewishnews.co.uk

Historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore and top lawyer Anthony Julius have debated whether it is time to move beyond the term Zionism, as the meaning of the word faces renewed debate both within and outside the Jewish community. Sebag-Montefiore argued that Zionism’s original goal was realised with the creation of Israel in 1948, while Julius said the word remains useful in describing Jewish selfdetermination and should not be surrendered because opponents have appropriated it. The pair were speaking at an event organised by Jewish News and West London Synagogue and chaired by Sunday Times columnist Hadley Freeman, exploring what Zionism means today and its place in Jewish life in the 21st century. The discussion came one day after Green Party members voted at the party’s conference in Brighton to adopt a policy formally establishing it as anti-Zionist. The motion, passed by 1,022 votes to 813, says Zionism should be treated as a form of racism and backs a single democratic state across Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Introducing the speakers, Jewish News news editor and co-publisher Justin Cohen said: “Despite all the Greens would have us believe, to be a Zionist is a badge the vast majority of us in this room wear with pride.” “It is a word whose real meaning we know and refuse to relinquish to the mob.”

Simon Sebag-Montefiore and Anthony Julius says Jews should not surrender the word to the Greens

But Cohen said Zionism was also “widely misunderstood, both through ignorance and, without doubt, often deliberately and maliciously”. For Sebag-Montefiore, Zionism was a political project with a defined objective: the creation of a Jewish state in the Jewish homeland. “In my history books, I just don’t use the word Zionism after 1948 because the project is complete,” he said. “This isn’t retiring the phrase. It retains all its power.” Sebag-Montefiore said that continuing to use the term could imply that Israel’s existence remains an unresolved question. “What I believe Israel is doesn’t need to explain itself, doesn’t need to offer

its existence,” he said. Julius took a different position, describing Zionism as a belief in Israel as “an enterprise in Jewish self-determination”. That, he stressed, “doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be equal rights for the Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel”. “As a matter of principle, I don’t think we should surrender or retreat from the language that we feel accurately describes our views, merely because people have appropriated some of those terms and use them against us,” he said. Despite their different positions, both argued that Jewish debate should not become consumed by responding to those hostile to

Israel. “The fights that we have with our enemies are mostly pointless,” Julius said, arguing that more attention should instead be paid to conversations within the Jewish community about its own future. The discussion also turned to contested language surrounding Jews and Israel, including “antisemitism”, “blood libel”, “genocide” and “apartheid”, and whether words with specific historical or legal meanings were increasingly being used without sufficient precision. Sebag-Montefiore linked this to what he sees as a wider deterioration in historical understanding, saying misconceptions about Zionism, Israel’s creation, the

Nakba and 1948 were among the reasons he wrote his latest book, The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East. He said that after 7 October he encountered numerous “calumnies” and historical quotations circulating online without their proper context. “That’s why I wrote this book,” he said. The impact of these debates on younger British Jews was brought into focus when Freeman invited younger audience members to describe the conversations they were encountering. A recent graduate of a UK university said the past few years had been “really challenging for Jewish students”. “It was really tiring. It was really tiring to always start with, ‘Have you justified this? Well, how can you defend that?’” The graduate, who said he had headed his university’s Israel society for three years, said his most productive discussions were with people with whom he could “agree on certain realities”, allowing them to have an ”informed and polite conversation” despite different opinions. Sebag-Montefiore said Jews ultimately needed to determine their own identity and language rather than allowing opponents to dictate the terms of debate. “We presumed that all these battles had been won forever. They haven’t been,” he said. His closing argument was that Jews should decide which language they want to use, stand up for their identity and choose which battles are worth fighting.

BADENOCH UNCLEAR ON ‘WHAT A ZIONIST IS’ Kemi Badenoch has questioned the meaning of the term “proud Zionist” and declared herself to be “certainly pro the state of Israel” and also “very pro-British Jews”, writes Lee Harpin. Interviewed by ITV political editor Robert Peston at the Conservative Party conference, the Tory leader was asked: “Are you a proud Zionist?” She replied: “Well, I don’t know. I don’t know what people mean by that, but I’m certainly pro the state of Israel. They have a right to exist.” Badenoch added: “I am very proBritish Jews. I think that they are under threat in this country. We need to protect them. I see huge antisemitism or a huge increase in antisemitism in this country.”

She also said she was “appalled” by the Green Party’s decision to pass a Zionism is racism motion at their conference in Brighton last weekend. Ahead of giving her own leaders’ speech in Birmingham, Badenoch said: “I’m appalled by what the Green Party did at their conference.” “Throwing around words like Zionist, you know, people like to use these labels. “I’m not sure exactly what those people mean by that, but if you mean supporting the state of Israel and its right to self-determination, yes, I do believe in that. “I do believe in a two-state solution, and I think that anyone who talks about there not being a state of Israel is actually talking about

wiping them off the face of the Earth. I think that’s completely wrong and I will do everything I can to fight against that.” Asked by Peston how she would respond to now being called a “racist” for her support of Israel by the Greens, Badenoch said: “Well, I think that the Green Party is full of a lot of people who are antisemites and are quite frankly not okay. This is disgusting. “These are not people whose opinions we should be respecting. These are people who we should be calling out as being shameful. “I’m embarrassed that a political party in this country would actually do something like that.” Meanwhile, Badenoch has been forced to backtrack after initially

claiming that her party’s proposed £10bn ‘Britannia Shield’ air defence system was “modelled on Israel’s Iron Dome”. Badenoch wrote in The Sun: “Modelled on Israel’s Iron Dome, Britannia Shield will invest £10bn over 10 years in the radar, missiles and technology needed to detect these threats and stop them before they reach British soil.” The party proposed allocating £1bn a year over a decade towards building the system. Former army general Richard Barrons told Times Radio that the cost of a system comparable to Israel’s would be “upwards of £100bn”. However, when questioned on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Badenoch sought to distance the

Britannia Shield proposal from comparisons with Israel. “We are not building the Iron Dome,” she insisted. “We are doing what other European countries are doing: Greece, Benelux countries – Belgium and the Netherlands – and Germany. We are designing something specific for the kind of threat that we face.” Speaking at the party conference in Birmingham, shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said: “The phrase ‘Iron Dome’ has come to be used a bit like the word ‘Hoover’ to generically refer to missile defence systems – and this is clearly a missile defence system. “Is it the exact same Iron Dome as Israel? No. ... Britannia Shield is a bespoke UK system.”

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Jewish News 8 October 2026

News / Green Party Conference

‘Zionism is racism’ author linked to al-Qaeda terrorist The Green Party member behind the “Zionism is racism” motion has links to an al-Qaeda terrorist, it has been claimed, writes Joy Falk. Party members voted for a motion at their conference in Brighton which established as policy that Zionism, the movement to develop and protect a Jewish state in Israel, will be “treated as any other form of racism”. It also supports the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of its historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”. The Telegraph reports the member behind the motion, Lubna Speitan, is friends with an al-Qaeda terrorist who plotted to bomb passengers from Israel at Heathrow. The newspaper says Speitan even offered to give evidence in the defence of Minh Quang Pham, jailed in the US for a plot to detonate a backpack filled with shrapnel dipped in rat poison in the airport arrivals lounge.

Court documents from 2015 reportedly describe them as “close friends” and, when asked by The Telegraph, Speitan is said to have confirmed that is still the case. A Green Party spokesperson said they have “internal processes” to investigate when a member expresses views that do not align with the party’s values. The spokesperson said: “Lubna Speitan holds no party positions other than being a member. The Green Party takes all allegations of this nature seriously. “Where members have expressed views that do not fit in with the party’s values, we have internal processes to investigate.” The “Zionism is racism” vote came just days before today’s Holborn and St Pancras by-election, where Green Party leader Zack Polanski is a candidate. Polanski abstained from the vote, having already left the conference to return to campaigning in Sir Keir Starmer’s old constituency. In the wake of the vote, the

Lubna Speitan has been linked to an Al-Qaeda terrorist

Wales Green Party’s deputy leader announced his resignation on Tuesday, and said he had left the party after seven years. In a video published online, Phil Davies said he had been thinking about leaving for “a couple of months”, but it was “accelerated” by the “Zionism is racism” motion. He branded the motion “imperialistic” and “idiotic”, adding it

A Green Party member clahes with a protester outside the conference hall and a supporter of the motion

Policy prompts Israel to bar Polanski entry Green Party leader Zack Polanski has been barred from entering Israel after party members voted to define Zionism as racist. Polanski did not take part in the vote on the motion, having left the party conference after his speech on Friday to campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Israel accused the Green Party of legitimising “the destruction of the State of Israel” with a “clear antisemitic text”. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Greens’ resolution “constitutes a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA definition, as it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination”. “Therefore, as a first step, foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar has decided this evening to declare Green Party leader Zack Polanski barred from entering Israel,” a statement said. “Today, the Green Party in Britain adopted a resolution equating Zionism with racism,

legitimising armed struggle against Israel, and calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea’ – meaning the destruction of the State of Israel.” In a statement with Green MPs and his deputies, Polanski said there is “no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people”. Members in Brighton backed the motion with 1,022 votes in favour and 813 against. It declares the Greens to be an “antiZionist party” and sets into its policy that Zionism, the movement to develop and protect a Jewish state in Israel, will be “treated as any other form of racism”. It also supports the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”. Supporters chanted “Zionists are not welcome here” as Greens for Palestine, the campaigners behind the motion, spoke to the media.

“doesn’t materially achieve anything in the real world” and “why are we, as people in Britain, telling people in the Middle East what their future is to be?” A group of cross-party MPs, meanwhile, has written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), asking the watchdog to consider whether the party has broken the law through its adoption of the motion. As reported by The Spectator, more than a dozen Labour MPs signed a letter to the chair of the EHRC, saying they believe that “the adopted policy, the reported rejection of safeguards for members affiliated with synagogues and Jewish organisations, and the reported exclusionary chanting provide substantial grounds for the Commission to investigate. “We ask you to obtain the relevant evidence and consider opening a

formal investigation under Section 20 of the Equality Act 2006.” The letter says the complaint is could Jewish people face discrimination within a British political party because of their beliefs, the synagogue they attend or the Jewish organisations they belong to? The letter goes on: “The rejected safeguarding amendment is particularly concerning. Attending a synagogue or belonging to a Jewish organisation does not establish someone’s views on every issue concerning Israel. “If those connections are treated as evidence of racism, Jewish members could face unfair treatment because of their ethnicity, religion or protected beliefs. “We ask the Commission to establish how the policy is being interpreted, how it interacts with membership and disciplinary rules, whether any members have already been affected, and what safeguards exist to prevent discrimination.” The Labour MPs ask the EHRC specifically to consider whether there has been discrimination because someone is Jewish, rules that disproportionately disadvantage Jewish members, harassment related to Jewish ethnicity, whether there is proper protection for beliefs, and how those who have raised concerns have been treated. Several of the signatories have also written to Sussex police about potential antisemitic offences at the conference.

HACKNEY IGNORES FOI OVER TWINNING DEADLINE Hackney Council has breached Freedom of Information (FOI) law by failing to meet its own extended deadline for releasing internal correspondence over its controversial move to give an Israeli city until the third anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack to respond to a proposal to end their twinning relationship. In July, Hackney Council, which is controlled by the Green Party after it won an overwhelming majority in the local council elections held in May, voted to cut ties between the borough and Haifa. Subsequently, the elected mayor of Hackney, the Green Party’s Zoe Garbett, wrote to Yona Yahav, the mayor of Haifa, informing him of the intention to break the twinning between the two cities. Jewish News submitted a FOI request to Hackney Council last month, asking for any e-mails, WhatsApp messages or other communications between council employees, councillors or any others on the letter sent to mayor

Yahav, the deadline of 7 October included in the official letter from mayor Garbett to mayor Yahav, and the decision for the consultation into the detwinning process ending on 7 October. In August, the council responded to inform Jewish News it would be “extending the deadline for this request by a further 20 working days”, saying that it was “considering the Public Interest Test (PIT) for applying exemption s36, Prejudice to the Effective Conduct of Public Affairs”, an extension “permitted under the Freedom of Information Act”. It specified the new response date was Monday 28 September. When Jewish News contacted the council on Monday 28 September, the Information Governance Team confirmed the information requested had been collated, but that the required “redactions” were undergoing “quality review”, and the full response would be received “by Friday (2 October) at the latest”. No response has been received.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

8 October 2026 Jewish News

flydubai hijack / Envoys threatened / News

Co-pilot ‘planned to crash hijacked plane in Tel Aviv’ The co-pilot behind the attempt to hijack a flydubai aircraft with 182 passengers on board planned to crash it into Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media reports. The Omani national, widely named across news outlets as Hamam al-Hammami, grew up in Dubai and remains under arrest for questioning in the United Arab Emirates. He has allegedly told investigators that after attacking fellow pilot Captain Smit Machchhar with the cockpit’s crash axe, he intended to continue piloting flydubai Flight 1073 as normal, be cleared for landing and then crash into a building or Ben Gurion Airport. Passengers and crew subdued the alleged attacker as the plane dropped from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (10,000 metres to 5,100 metres) in about a minute. The co-pilot, who officials said nearly crashed the aircraft, had

Hamam al-Hammami before and after he was subdued

been barred from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views, according to news reports. The aircraft, travelling from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv, was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Israel media reported that alHammami visited Ben Gurion

several times and planned to crash a plane in July but decided against doing so after becoming friendly with the crew. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Israel had asked the UAE to expand its questioning to include the flight attendants following allegations from passengers who successfully subdued al-

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Hammami that members of the cabin crew confronted them and demanded that they untie him. Other reports said that the suspect told investigators: “I looked into which airline flies to Tel Aviv. That’s why I chose flydubai. I planned it even before I was accepted.” The Ynet news website said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had acknowledged publicly for the first time that the incident exposed significant failures and security gaps. Emirati sources have told the news outlet that once all investigations are completed, al-Hammami faces the death penalty. The sources also reported that “Mossad personnel and Israeli aviation experts had arrived in Abu Dhabi to take part” in the questioning, working alongside senior Saudi and Omani intelligence officials and at least two representatives of US intelligence agencies.

UK THREAT TO EXPEL 27 ISRAELIS The UK has threatened to expel 27 Israeli diplomats if Israel goes ahead with its decision to close the British consulate in East Jerusalem, which it announced after UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband declared a ban on West Bank goods. According to Israel’s Ynet outlet, UK ambassador to Israel Simon Walters has told Israeli officials if the Jerusalem consulate, where 27 British diplomats work, is closed, Britain will respond by expelling one Israeli diplomat for every British diplomat affected. The British consulate in East Jerusalem operates as a de facto embassy to the Palestinian Authority, while the real embassy remains in Tel Aviv, despite Jerusalem being Israel’s capital. Miliband announced last month the UK would officially recognise Israel’s presence in the West Bank as illegal under international law, a position which Israel strongly disputes. As well as a ban on settlement goods, the UK also led a coalition of countries in announcing sanctions against individuals and companies which it claims support, facilitate or profit from settlement activity. One of the responses from the Israeli authorities was to announce that the British consulate in East Jerusalem would be closed, and that its British staff had 30 days in which to leave the country.

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Jewish News 8 October 2026

News / Schama talk / Fairford arrests / Nurses accused

‘Miliband has lost right to lecture on anything’ by Jenni Frazer @Jennifrazer

Sir Simon Schama has launched a blistering attack on Ed Miliband after the foreign secretary was pictured shaking hands with Iran’s foreign minister, despite allegations of Tehran links to plots against the UK and British Jews. Historian and broadcaster Sir Simon was speaking in London to mark the publication of his Jewish Quarterly essay Jew-Hatred, the latest edition, one day after Andy Burnham said there were strong indications Iran played a role in the terror incident at RAF Fairford. Sir Simon said: “Any foreign secretary who went out of his way to shake the hand of the foreign minister of the Republic of Iran, whose regime murdered 40,000 people, has not got the authority to sermonise about anything, ever again!” Interviewed by author Natalie

Livingstone in front of a packed audience of nearly 500 people at the Nobu Hotel, he acknowledged Miliband told his party’s conference the UK stood with Israel against its enemies. But Sir Simon suggested there was far more gusto behind what he called Miliband’s “performative” statement that Labour had been wrong and pro-Palestinian campaigners right over the war. “Could votes have been an issue? Oh, surely not!”, he asked sarcastically. Together, Livingstone, author of Sunday Times bestseller The Nuremberg Women, and Sir Simon unpicked the essence of the current wave of antisemitism. He said he had initially been moved to write as he had witnessed as a professor at Columbia University in the US a gradual worsening of the climate post-7 October, when instead of the sympathy for those murdered, he saw swastikas

Sir SImon interviewed by author Natalie Livingstone

in the student dormitories and the “extreme fright” of Jewish students. He noted what he said was “the obligation to be a good Jew, which became conditional on denouncing Israel”. He accused the Free Pal-

estine supporters of “Jew-hatred, based on a TikTok level of stupidity,” adding that “they want to lie on a bed of fanatical ignorance”. It was Sir Simon’s mother, according to his essay, who pre-

dicted as early as 1990 that “it’s over — the good times, the safe times for Jews here [in the UK]”. But while he writes that “a whole generation of Jewish children is growing up … robbed of the freedom to express their ethnic cultural and religious identity in public”, nevertheless he deplored a narrative which described Jews as either “victims” or “bullies”. He decried the fact there is currently no permanent home for London’s Jewish Museum following its closure in Camden in 2023 and made a passionate call for additional resources, suggesting this was at least as important as the new Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre planned for Westminster. In a powerful message, he urged the audience not to leave Britain despite the current climate, saying gatherings like this, Jewish Book Week and the programmes at JW3, were part of the answer to hate.

UK-IRANIAN ARRESTED IN FAIRFORD INVESTIGATION A dual UK-Iranian national has been arrested in connection with the suspected RAF Fairford terror plot. The Counter Terrorism Policing unit (CTP) said the 27-year-old man was arrested in the borough of Westminster on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. He is the sixth person to be arrested over this incident. CTP said a 26-year-old UK national has also been questioned under caution.

Five British nationals, all in their mid-20s, were arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and terrorism near the military site in Gloucestershire over the weekend of the incident before being bailed under investigation. Senior CTP national co-

ordinator Vicki Evans said: “The investigation into circumstances surrounding events in Gloucestershire is hugely complex, and our specialist teams are interrogating multiple lines of inquiry. “As we’ve made clear, we’re looking at all possible angles – including possible foreign state involvement. “I’d like to thank the public for their continued support and patience whilst we work through this investigation.”

NURSES IN HIGH COURT Two former nurses accused of threatening to kill Israeli patients at a Sydney hospital are challenging the charges against them in Australia’s highest court. Ahmad Nadir, 28, and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 27, are accused of making threats during an online conversation with Israeli influencer Max Veifer last year. Both have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to allegedly menacing and offensive behaviour. Their lawyers are now preparing a challenge to the High Court of Australia,

arguing the charges unlawfully restrict freedom of political communication. Nadir’s solicitor, Zemarai Khatiz, told The Australian Abu Lebdeh’s lawyer had already notified the NSW District Court of the planned challenge and he was preparing a similar notice. The move could delay the trial of the accused, currently scheduled to begin next Monday, until next year. The allegations emerged in February 2025 after footage circulated online showing the pair speaking to Veifer

through Chatruletka, a website that connects strangers for video conversations. The nurses, from Bankstown Hospital in Sydney, allegedly said they would refuse to treat Israeli patients and made threats of violence against them. Both were subsequently removed from their nursing roles. The footage sparked widespread attention after Veifer shared it on social media. In June, a judge ruled the recording could not be used at trial as it had been obtained without the nurses’ consent.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

8 October 2026 Jewish News

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Jewish News 8 October 2026

News / Magistrate reprimanded / Doctors sanctioned

Magistrate reprimanded over posts A magistrate has been reprimanded for serious misconduct after publishing social media posts about Jews and Israel, including one on the Heaton Park Synagogue terror attack last year which asked: “Why there is always an attack on a Jewish person when Israel wants to divert media attention?”, writes Adam Decker. Ansar Gulzar, who is also believed to be a Labour Party activist, had been reported to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) by the UKLFI campaign group over four Facebook posts published between June 2025 and January 2026. On 2 October 2025, in the hours following the Heaton Park terror attack, Gulzar, a magistrate in Buckinghamshire, posted: “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims of Manchester. “Every life matters. Question both-

ering me is why there is always an attack on a Jewish person when Israel wants to divert media attention?” In another post, he wrote: “America has a long & brutal history of slave trade. Africans were American slaves between 16th & 19th century. Americans are Israeli slaves from 19th century.” Gulzar, a member of Aylesbury Labour Party who stood as a Labour candidate for local election as recently as last year, took full responsibility for the Facebook posts, saying he believed the posts could be seen only by his family and friends and were intended for general discussion. The JCIO said: “Following an investigation under the Judicial Conduct (Magistrates) Rules 2023, a nominated committee member found the allegations proven and concluded that Mr Gulzar’s conduct amounted to serious misconduct.

Ansar Gulzar (forefront)

In reaching this recommendation, the nominated committee member found that the four posts formed a course of conduct rather than a series of isolated incidents, that they expressed views on highly controversial and political matters, that they had

the potential to cause emotional harm and undermine public confidence in the judiciary, and that Mr Gulzar had referred to his judicial office on social media contrary to the applicable guidance.” UKLFI said: “We welcome the finding that Mr Gulzar’s conduct amounted to serious misconduct. Judicial office-holders must command the confidence of everyone who comes before them, including Jewish people and those connected with Israel. It was particularly important that these social media posts were considered as a course of conduct rather than in isolation. A serving magistrate who publicly expresses highly controversial political views capable of creating an impression of prejudice risks seriously undermining the justice system.” The Labour Party has been contacted for comment.

169 COMPLAINTS, BUT ONLY SIX DOCTORS SANCTIONED Just six doctors have been sanctioned by Britain’s medical regulator after 169 were accused of antisemitism since the 7 October attacks, new figures reveal. Two doctors were struck off the medical register, two received warnings, one was suspended and another was required to agree to undertakings, according to figures

reported by The Times following work with the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) group. A further 34 cases remain under consideration by the General Medical Council (GMC). Internal records seen by The Times reveal how some allegations of antisemitic or other racist behaviour were considered

serious enough to be passed to a doctor’s employer or responsible officer, but did not result in a formal GMC investigation. They included claims that doctors had made reference to “Jews rule the world” and posted a “Star of David with a swastika” on social media. A GMC spokesperson said: “Hateful behaviour is completely

unacceptable. We do not make decisions on the allegations alone. “We are required to ensure that there is sufficient evidence to establish the facts before deciding whether a fitness to practise investigation is required, but our data shows that we do not shy away from this when the evidence supports it.”

Staff at an NHS hospital

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8 October 2026 Jewish News

7 October anniversary / News

7 October strengthened Jewish identity but not religious faith The 7 October attacks brought British Jews closer together and strengthened their ties to Israel but did not lead to the widespread return to Jewish religious life that some had predicted, a major new study has found, writes Annabel Sinclair. Research by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) reveals that while Jewish solidarity has grown since the Hamas attacks three years ago, so too have fears about antisemitism and personal safety in Britain. The study, which followed more than 2,500 British Jewish adults through six surveys between 2020 and 2025, found that half now regard antisemitism as a very big problem in the UK, compared with just 17 percent before 7 October. Researchers also recorded a lasting rise in anxiety among British Jews, alongside declining feelings of safety and security. Yet despite these concerns, the findings suggest that the attacks did not fundamentally change how religiously involved British Jews are.

Synagogue attendance, religious practice and the overall strength of Jewish identity remained largely unchanged, challenging claims of a Jewish revival following the attacks. The report examines the idea of the so-called ‘October 8 Jew’, a term used to describe people who became more connected to their Jewish identity after 7 October. While researchers found little evidence of a widespread religious awakening, they said they identified a significant shift in attitudes towards Israel. The proportion of British Jews who said they felt very emotionally attached to the country rose from 38 percent in May 2023 to 51 percent in June 2025. Meanwhile, 66 percent identified as Zionist in 2025, up from 59 percent in 2022. The proportion identifying as anti-Zionist remained at around 10 percent. Supporting Israel also became a more important part of Jewish identity, with 48 percent describing it nine months after the attacks as

Closer together – Jewishness celebrated at a pro-Israel march

“very important”, compared with 35 percent beforehand. JPR executive director Dr Jonathan Boyd said the findings

painted a more complicated picture of how British Jewish life had changed. “This is not really a story about

Jewish revival. It is a story about a community drawing closer together under pressure. British Jews emerged from 7 October more united and more connected to Israel, but not fundamentally transformed. This solidarity has endured, but solidarity forged in crisis should not be mistaken for renewal.” He warned that greater unity alone would not guarantee a stronger future for Jewish life in Britain. “Resilience is enormously valuable, but resilience alone cannot secure the future of Jewish life.” Boyd also urged community leaders to build on the stronger sense of solidarity, while calling on the government to recognise the wider impact of antisemitism. “The challenge is not only to keep Jews safe, but to rebuild their confidence in Britain’s future,” he concluded. The report, October 8 Jews: the impact of October 7 on British Jewish identity, was written by JPR senior research fellow, Dr David Graham.

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News / Alan Senitt Leadership / Bus blow

100 young upstanders honour Alan’s legacy More than 100 teenagers have been honoured for their commitment to interfaith dialogue and social action at the Alan Senitt Upstanders Leadership Programme graduation – in the year marking two decades since the young Jewish leader’s tragic death, writes Michelle Rosenberg. Alan was murdered in Washington DC in 2006 while defending a friend from attackers. The Alan Senitt Memorial Trust was founded in his memory and in 2007/08 launched its leadership programme to champion leadership, building bridges between people and standing up for others. The initiative, delivered on the Trust’s behalf by Maccabi GB and facilitated by Streetwise and Stand Up! Education Against Discrimination, has supported more than 2,000 young people to date. This year’s cohort came from Copthall School, Guru Nanak Sikh Academy, Hendon School, Immanuel College, JCoSS, JFS, King Solomon High School, Nower Hill High School, Watford Grammar School for Boys and Yavneh College. Throughout the year, students worked

The graduates of the 2026 programme

in mixed-school groups at seminars hosted across the participating schools, learning about project planning, informal education, group dynamics and giving and receiving feedback. They then planned and delivered a social action project in their own communities. Yavneh College students ran a golf day

with Friendship Circle for people with learning disabilities whilst other students donated nearly 200 care packages to people facing homelessness and period poverty, published an eBook telling the stories of 114 women hidden from history, made a short documentary on religious hate crime and created a purple handprint mural to

raise awareness of violence against women and girls. Chair of the trust, Emma Senitt said: “Twenty years after losing Alan, it is incredibly special to have built a legacy that continues through the upstanders programme. I would have never imagined standing at the 19th Graduation. Seeing another group of young people carrying Alan’s values of leadership, kindness, community and standing up for others makes us so proud. “We now want to make sure the programme can continue for many more years and we hope that the community and our supporters with help raise funds to make it possible.” Abi Wander, head of education at Maccabi GB, added: “It is a privilege for all of us who deliver this programme to spend our year with young people who are willing to do just that. We firmly believe our graduates will carry Alan’s legacy into the future.” Guests were welcomed by Jonathan Prevezer, chair of Maccabi GB, and the evening included a message from Matt Lucas, patron of The Alan Senitt Memorial Trust.

UJIA LAUDS TRAILBLAZERS Nearly 500 guests filled the ballroom at a central London venue as UJIA brought together its next generation of trailblazers. Attendees included Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Christian Cantor, Israel’s Chargé d’Affaires to the UK, Dan Senor with UJIA leadership new UJS President Raphi Leon and Board of Deputies The evening’s featured president Phil Rosenberg. trailblazers included Amit Guest speaker Dan Senor, Fahima, a farmer and agriauthor of Start-Up Nation and cultural leader; Libi Fileman, host of the Call Me Back pod- UJIA’s Birthright Growth cast, was in conversation with manager; Yoni Nemko, Bnei UJIA trustee and former UJS Akiva and Tribe young leader; president Edward Isaacs. Yaron Waksman, co-founder

and chief executive of HaGal Sheli, an Israeli non-profit using surfing as a tool for education, therapy and resilience; and Rebecca Freeman, director of programme and youth at FZY. Addressing guests, dinner chair and UJIA trustee Hilda Worth said: “We are living in difficult times; difficult times to be Jewish, and difficult times to be a Zionist.” She urged the audience to “continue to stand firm in our unwavering support for the people of Israel. “

BUS ROUTE COSTS £2.6M A bus route introduced to provide a safer direct link between the Jewish communities of Golders Green and Stamford Hill costs around £2.6 million more a year to run than it brings in from fares. Transport for London pays £3.3m a year to operate the 310, while the service generated £690,000 in fare revenue between April 2025 and March 2026, according to numbers first reported by MyLondon. The figures come just four months after TfL confirmed the route would be made permanent following a campaign to retain it by Jewish communal groups and London Assembly member Anne Clarke. The 310 was launched in September 2024 after a campaign lasting more than 15 years for a direct bus between two of north Lon-

don’s largest Jewish communities. Before its introduction, passengers travelling between Golders Green and Stamford Hill generally had to change buses at Finsbury Park. Sadiq Khan highlighted concerns about antisemitic abuse when the service was launched. “I have listened to the concerns of Jewish Londoners, and I understand they are real,” he said. I was struck by recent conversations with members of the Jewish community, who described being frightened by the significant increase in antisemitism since 7 October. “Some families shared that when changing buses at Finsbury Park while travelling between Golders Green and Stamford Hill, they experienced abuse and felt unsafe.”

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8 October 2026 Jewish News

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Jewish News 8 October 2026

Special Report / Cable Street anniversary

‘Zionism is fascism’ chants tarnish Cable Street march When ‘Zionist’ Jews were told they weren’t welcome at an event commemorating the 1936 Battle of Cable Street march, they organised their own Protesters chanted “Zionists are not welcome here” and “Zionism is fascism” as thousands marched through the East End of London to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, writes Joy Falk. Demonstrators marched from Tower Hamlets Town Hall in Whitechapel to St George’s Gardens in Cable Street on Sunday to mark the anniversary of the clashes. The Battle of Cable Street on 4 October 1936 saw demonstrators block Oswald Mosely’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) from marching through the East End of London. The anti-Semitic BUF’s decision to march through the area, then home to a large Jewish population, was regarded as a deliberate provocation. Anti-fascist organisations rallied large crowds to prevent the march. Protesters at Sunday’s march carried placards reading “Stop Islamophobia, Stop the far right” with pictures of Tommy Robinson, as well as others saying “Stop Trump, Stop Farage”. Those at the front of the march carried a banner: “No to: Antisemitism, Islamophobia, all racism. 1936 they did not pass. 2026 they will not pass.” Other protesters carried “From Cable Street to Garvaghy Road, smash fascism” banners in reference to the Drumcree parade dispute in Northern Ireland.

People march past the Cable Street mural in Whitechapel, east London, to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street

Groups participating in the march included trade unions, including Unite, and organisations such as Jewish Bloc for Palestine. Protesters joined in chants of “Zionists are not welcome here” and “Zionism is fascism”. There was a confrontation between marchers and two counter-protesters carried flags reading “Campaign Against Antisemitism”. The Metropolitan Police said one man was arrested for breach of the peace and then later arrested for public order offences. A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Instead of commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, those marching today hijacked it. “In 1936 the British Union of Fascists sought to drive Jews from the streets, and in 2026 at the Unite the Union march attendees shouted ‘Zionist scum off our streets’.

“There were other similarities too: there was no audible intervention from the Government, and the police facilitated the march of these vile bigots rather than taking action. “Ninety years ago, brave Londoners recognised anti-Jewish racism and stood with their Jewish neighbours against it. Ninety years ago, they did not pass. Today, despite the efforts of a valiant few, they did.” Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman said “migration, immigrants, the indigenous communities together have made Tower Hamlets what it is: a great borough”. He said: “The 1930s and the early 1940s was a taint of dreadful, dreadful world history. “Mosley ran riot across the country and tried to run riot in Tower Hamlets. “Our forefathers said, ‘No, you’re not coming here. You shall not pass’. And they

couldn’t pass. And we say that again now: the fascists, the far right, will never run riot in Tower Hamlets.” Jeremy Corbyn spoke at a demonstration after the march, criticising “racist language used today by Farage and Reform and all the others who are now blaming refugees and migrants”. He said: “Anti-racism means we oppose every form of racism, whatever it is, wherever it raises its head, because it destroys the unity that we need in order to improve the living standards of the poorest people within our society. The biggest proponents of ... Islamophobia are the far right across Europe. “They are funded by Elon Musk. And the big money that flows into those parties, you need to know where it comes from and who is providing it.”

HOW THE LEFT STOLE CABLE STREET by Nicole Lampert

This is a tale of two marches. Ostensibly, they were commemorating the same occasion: the Battle of Cable Street, the time the Jews of the East End, alongside their allies from the unions, the communists and the Irish dockers, stopped Oswald Mosley’s fascists from marching through the Jewish East End 90 years ago. The first was defiantly Jewish. It was led by the descendants of those who fought at Cable Street. The second not only tried to erase Jews from the story but then turned on us. They accused us of being the new fascists. They screamed “Zionist scum off our streets” and physically tried to remove me from Cable Street. These people appropriated our history to attack us. We are way past irony. For some years, Cable Street has become a touchstone for the story the Left and the far left tells itself about its proud history of antisemitism. Jeremy Corbyn used to farcically insist that he could not

Police at the Battle of Cable Street 90th anniversary march

possibly be anti-Semitic. Not only did he not have a single racist bone in his body, but his mother was at Cable Street. Ah, Cable Street! The romanticised version of the left’s civil rights movement against fascists. In their retelling, they came together to defend the defenceless Jewish community. The fact that Jews fought at

Cable Street, that Jews led the Cable Street defence and had pleaded with their communist and socialist allies – who were unwilling to give help – isn’t part of their story. In fact, in recent years, Jews haven’t been part of their version of the Cable Street story at all. Instead, it has become a kind of mushy, all-encompassing fight against racism. There were two marches on Sunday, because in the first one, organised by the union Unite, the word ‘Jew’ wasn’t mentioned in the original announcement. The union apologised and signed up anti-Zionists Zack Polanski and Michael Rosen as speakers. Only the right kind of Jew was invited. For Eve Kay, who earlier this year led protests against the attacks on Gail’s bakery in Holloway, this was too much. “The fact the Unite leaflet about Cable Street didn’t mention Jews made me so angry that I decided, along with friends and Jewish activists, to organise a commemoration that put Jews front and centre of their own history,” she said. “It is an important day for both Jewish and working-class history. It

8 October 2026 Jewish News

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Cable Street anniversary / Special Report was a day that started in shame because the leadership of the Labour Party and the trade unions abandoned the Jews of the East End, but it ended with honour because the ordinary people, the ordinary trade unionists, dockers, Community Party members, and resident joined with their Jewish neighbours defending their streets from the fascists. “In some ways today we still have the shame and the honour. We have been attacked for being the wrong kind of Jew by the official organisers, but we’ve got the honour of standing up to these assaults and campaign of vilification with a brilliant turnout.” The march is estimated to have been 1,000 strong. Cath (who asked for only her first name to be used) was among the non-Jewish allies there. “The final push for me was seeing the way the plane hijacking was reported – as if it was just a brawl and the Israelis were making things up. I knew I had to be here,” she said. For Debby Lee, whose grandparents Esther and Moishe Stockell were at Cable Street, and who has helped organise some of the cultural activities around the event, it was important to mark this milestone in British Jewish history the right way. “This is a moment in history we should all be proud of,” she said. “This is not about Israel and what is happening in the Middle East, but about our history. My grandparents were early members of the trade union movement; they were staunch communists and Zionists. My mum said my grandparents used to talk about it a lot.” Michael Bennett, a sprightly 94-year-old who was at the original battle, was among those marching. “The lesson of Cable Street is that we must stand up for ourselves and fight,” he said. At first the plan had been for a Jewish bloc at the main demonstration, but Unite seemed unwilling. A few days before the event, the official Cable Street 90 Organising Committee released an inflammatory press release that accused the Jewish groups of fascism and proximity to far-right agitator Tommy Robinson and said its members were “not welcome” on the Cable Street 90 march and rally.

Top: Debby Lee attended with a placard of her grandmother Esther Stockwell, who was at Battle of Cable Street; Left: Eve Kay, who led protests against the attacks on Gail’s bakery

Former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen posted on social media: “I heard on the grapevine that organisations related to Tommy Robinson’s groups were considering doing something provocative. Are they not ‘far right’?” He could not be more wrong. None of the organising groups were far right. The only provocative thing that happened was that Jews were there. The march moved in comradely spirit, even when there were several waits as roads – including Cable Street – had to be closed because the crowd was so much bigger than estimated. As one march ended, the other began in a different direction: one police officer told me his colleagues were already having problems with them as they were refusing to take off face masks.

Briti s

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i w s h. P e J . h

There were no face masks on the Jewish run demonstration. There was no need. An hour after the first demonstration dispersed, the second came into the small park next to the Cable Street Memorial, where a stage was set. Problems began from the start: wearing T-shirts from the first march were pushed away by this keffiyeh-brandishing crowd. As the demonstration of around 400 people came into view, there were disputes among them. One man pleaded: “Look, I’m an anti-Zionist Jew, but that is not on. Today is meant to be about unity.” His comrades not only ignored him, but one grabbed a loudspeaker and started screaming, “Zionism is fascism! Zionism is fascism!” Inside the park, they spotted me. “You are a Zio!” one shouted. Again with the loudspeaker: “Zionists are not welcome here.” People told me to move. I tried to point out the hypocrisy of trying to tell a Jewish woman to move from Cable Street while holding a “No Pasaran” banner. One tried to push me away with his placard. So they decided to surround me with the “No Pasaran” sign while screaming, “Zionist scum off our streets”. Later on, a “Stand up to Racism” steward, who had been tapping me with her placard, but denied this, said: “You are a racist Zionist woman! You need to leave! You are here to cause trouble. If I touched you, you wouldn’t be alive.” More stewards moved her away. I stayed to listen to Michael Rosen and Jeremy Corbyn drone on. By the time the crowd was whipping itself up into a new “Free Free Palestine” frenzy, it was time to leave. The racist anti-racists had shown their true colours. I’d had an inkling of what it must have been like for our ancestors – including my great uncle – who were at Cable Street. Whether it’s the fascists of the left or the right, the hatred feels the same. It is dangerous and frightening and we don’t know where this ends.

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News / Badge uproar / Heaton hero

Probe into Tube worker filmed handing out Palestine stickers Transport for London (TfL) has launched an investigation after a woman wearing a London Underground uniform was filmed apparently handing out pro-Palestinian stickers to members of the public, writes Annabel Sinclair. The video, which has been widely shared on social media, shows a man approaching the woman near the ticket barriers at a busy Tube station after apparently hearing her say “Free Palestine”. When questioned, she hands him a sticker and describes it as an “RMT thing”, referring to the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, saying it is meant to be displayed in windows. The footage has raised questions about political campaigning on London’s transport network, with TfL confirming its employees are prohibited from distributing political material while working. Responding to the video, a TfL spokesperson said: “We are aware of this video and are investigating the circumstances. TfL staff are bound by our code of conduct, which does not allow the wearing or handing out of political material.” The incident prompted criticism online, including from Jewish campaigner Heidi

Footage allegedly showing pro-Palestinian badges handed out at a London Tube station

Bachram, whose relatives were among those killed and taken hostage during the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.

MY PREMONITION, BY HERO OF HEATON PARK ATTACK A security guard who held off a knife-wielding terrorist at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue has recalled having a “strange feeling something was going to happen” before the attack. Andrew Franks had been a volunteer security guard at his family synagogue for about a year when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, wearing a fake suicide belt, drove into the gates on 2 October last year, and attacked with a knife. Speaking on the first anniversary of the attack, the 53-year-old chef from Greater Manchester, who suffered life-changing injuries, said he thought he was “going to die” during the ordeal. Franks has now won a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Award for Outstanding Bravery after he fought to stop the attacker getting in the synagogue. “He stabbed me three times, yelling he was going to kill me,” Franks told The Mirror. “I shouted ‘lock the doors’ and quickly ran inside. “Everyone barricaded the doors while my 80-year-old dad held me as I was bleeding from my neck.”

Andrew Franks

Franks said when he arrived at the synagogue “I noticed a guy standing on his own outside the shops. It was odd because he was taking photos of the building. I had a strange feeling something was going to happen. I was keeping an eye on him. Something wasn’t quite right.” The guy then came over and asked the other security guards if he could park his car in the synagogue, was told he couldn’t, then “started shouting about Jews and stumbled off. I told the security guards to dial 999.” Al-Shamie rammed his car into the gates of the synagogue a few minutes later, and began

attacking with a knife, killing 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz in the onslaught. “He was shouting, and I didn’t realise at this point that he’d already killed someone and had a knife on him,” Franks told The Mirror. “I went to grab him and thought he stabbed me once, although I found out it was three times. “It felt like my ear was hanging off. “He shouted, ‘I’m going to f****** kill you, you Jewish…’. “Then I managed to trip him up as he was running towards the synagogue and trying to get inside. “Then I got up, I still don’t know how, and shouted ‘lock the doors!’” Franks was chased by AlShamie and attacked again, but managed to escape and was let into the synagogue by a worshipper. Members of the congregation barricaded the doors until Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born British citizen, was shot dead by police. Adrian Daulby, 53, was also struck in the chest and killed by a stray bullet that went through the door.

Sharing the footage on X, she wrote: “This looks like a member of staff on the London Underground giving out pro-Pal stickers to

the public. These spaces should not have divisive politics in them. I don’t want to be handed one of these by one of your employees. What is going on @TfL?” Conservative London Assembly member Susan Hall also called on TfL to investigate and provide an explanation. “If this person works for @TfL could it be looked into please,” she wrote. “If it is a member of staff on duty, it is totally unacceptable. Please make sure I get an official answer TFL.” Conservative peer Baroness Foster also criticised the incident, writing: “@TfL need to get a grip!!” The woman in the video appears to suggest the stickers are connected to the RMT, which represents workers across Britain’s rail and transport networks. However, it has not been established whether the union produced or authorised their distribution. It remains unclear at which station the footage was recorded, whether the woman was on duty at the time or whether any disciplinary action will follow. Jewish News has approached RMT for comment.

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Mum’s appeal / Immanuel celebrates / News

Mum’s £400k appeal for baby Sebastian’s life-saving surgery A Jewish mother is racing to raise £400,000 to take her three-year-old son to the US for specialist heart surgery after being told there were no further surgical options available to him in the UK, writes Annabel Sinclair. Hannah Silver has launched an urgent fundraising appeal for her son Sebastian, who was born with a rare combination of serious heart conditions and has spent much of his young life undergoing hospital treatment. The appeal has already raised more than £38,000 from over 750 donors towards the cost of treatment at Boston Children’s Hospital, plus travel and accommodation. Sebastian’s heart problems were first detected during Hannah’s 20-week pregnancy scan. He was born two months prematurely by emergency Caesarean section and transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). Doctors found he had several conditions, including congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA), criss-cross heart, an underdeveloped right ventricle, ventricular and atrial septal defects and WolffParkinson-White syndrome. At just two weeks old, Sebastian underwent his first procedure, with a pulmonary band fitted to help stabilise his condition.

Hannah Silver with her children Sebastian and Sidney

But his most serious crisis came at 18 months, when surgeons attempted to repair his ventricular septal defect. Five hours after the operation, Sebastian suffered a 90-minute cardiac arrest and was placed on life support. When his heart was unable to cope with

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the repair, surgeons carried out another highrisk operation to reverse it. He survived, but remained in hospital for four months. Hannah, who is also raising Sebastian’s older sister Sidney, described being forced to divide her time between her critically-ill son and her daughter at home.

“As a single mum, I was torn in two – trying to be at Sebastian’s bedside in ICU while trying to comfort a terrified, heartbroken daughter at home who just wanted her mum and baby brother back,” she wrote on her GoFundMe fundraising page. Hannah says she was subsequently told by GOSH all surgical options available in the UK had been exhausted and Sebastian should return home and begin palliative care. Determined to find another possibility, she approached specialists overseas and says doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital believe Sebastian could undergo a specialised double switch biventricular repair. The proposed treatment is expected to cost at least £400,000 once surgery, tests, intensive care, medical travel and accommodation during his recovery are included. In her appeal, Hannah says: “I can’t do this alone, but with your help I will be able to give him a fighting chance to grow up to be the amazing man I know he can be,. She added: “Every single donation, no matter how small, brings Sebastian one step closer to Boston.” Sebastian’s appeal is at “Help Save Sebastian’s Life” on GoFundMe

IMMANUEL CUTS RIBBON ON SIXTH-FORM CENTRE Five months after facing imminent closure, Immanuel College in Bushey has opened a new sixth-form centre as it embarks on an ambitious new chapter. Formally opened by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis , the centre is one of the first major developments to be completed since the school was rescued from closure earlier this year when it was due to shut after 35 years before more than £12m was raised in a fundraising drive in April. Now with a revamped leadership team, Immanuel is developing pathways towards Oxbridge, Ivy League and others, plus internships, mentoring and links with employers. Completed over the summer in less than two months, the new centre will serve Immanuel’s sixth form of just under 100 pupils with dedicated classrooms and study areas, staff facilities and a fully equipped common room. Chair of governors Aaron Etingen, who took over following the rescue, used the inauguration to set out how rapidly the school had changed. “We raised £12.4m. We delivered a dedicated and freshly renovated building for the sixth form. We turned an already excellent management team into easily one of the country’s strongest,” he told guests. He highlighted the appointments of CEO Rabbi Cobi Ebrahimoff, head teacher Chris Jones and director of sixth form John Wilson, as the school sets its sights on developing routes into leading universities and careers. He also paid tribute to the parents and donors who rallied behind Immanuel when its future hung in the balance. The Chief Rabbi hailed the turnaround as an achievement that once seemed impossible.

The Chief Rabbi with Aaron Etingen and governor Elena Gabay at the ceremony

“There was a miracle. It has been inspirational for me and the entire Jewish community,” he said. “This is a lesson in life, never say never. The students here are blessed; Immanuel is not just alive, it is thriving.” The school’s future had looked very different in April, when governors announced financial pressures meant it would close at the end of the academic year. The decision was reversed within days and Etingen, founder and CEO of Global University Systems, was brought in to lead the next phase of the school. For head teacher Jones, joining Immanuel at such a pivotal moment was a “special opportunity”. He told Jewish News: “I feel very privileged and incredibly lucky,” adding he had been struck by the “joy in the community” even before taking the role. His focus now is on widening opportunities beyond the classroom, with plans for internships, employer partnerships and greater use of the school’s alumni network.

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News / Diversity rewarded

Dangoor Awards mark decade of London faith community unity Philanthropist Dr David Dangoor hailed London’s diversity as a source of strength, as the awards bearing his name celebrated a decade of grassroots community action, writes Annabel Sinclair. Speaking to Jewish News at the tenth London Dangoor Awards, the philanthropist said the capital should embrace the different communities and backgrounds that make it what it is. “London is a diverse realm. It’s a great thing, taking difference and making it rich,” he said, adding the work recognised by the awards offered a positive counterpoint to negative narratives surrounding communities in London. Hundreds of charity workers, volunteers and faith leaders gathered at the Royal Society of Medicine in central London for the anniversary ceremony, which opened with a performance by the Citizens of the World Choir. The awards were established through a partnership between Dangoor, outgoing lord lieutenant of Greater London Sir Kenneth Olisa and the Faith & Belief Forum, as part of Olisa’s wider work to strengthen connections between London’s communities. Over the past decade, 1,132 projects have been recognised, and 348 winners celebrated, spanning communities across London and a

Guests celebrate the tenth anniversary of the London Dangoor Awards

wide range of faith and belief backgrounds. This year’s awards spanned eight categories: Tackling Poverty, Schools and Educational Establishments, Interfaith Relations, Environmental Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing, Inspiring Youth, Promoting Inclusion and Supporting Women. Of the anniversary, Dangoor said: “We are not just celebrating faith and belief. We are

celebrating values – values many of us share, whatever faith or beliefs we have. This is about recognising the hard work and dedication of some incredible unsung heroes, and highlighting the power of diverse community groups to generate social resilience.” Jewish organisations were among those recognised during the anniversary celebrations. The Jewish Volunteering Network was one

of eight groups presented with a special tenyear award. The Barnet-based charity connects volunteers with opportunities across the Jewish community and wider charity sector and helps organisations strengthen their volunteering programmes. Several Jewish projects were also among the winners, including Hand in Hand Support, which received an Inspiring Youth award. It began in 2015 as “Shabbat Walk”, when Jewish teenagers from Golders Green walked to a local hospital on Saturdays to visit lonely patients. The organisation has since grown to more than 1,200 active volunteers and supports more than 2,500 people each year, with young people volunteering with vulnerable children, families and isolated adults. Mother to Mother, which primarily supports Jewish families during the early stages of parenthood, received a Health and Wellbeing award. Since 2018, the Barnet project has supported more than 850 families, provided more than 21,000 meals and generated more than 10,000 volunteer hours. Jewish Care’s Jami Head Room café was also recognised for its mental health work, with UK Jewish Film among the winners in the Schools and Educational Establishments category.

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Advert withrawn / Kinder mourned / News

TfL pulls ‘next stop, gas chamber’ advert Posters bearing the words “next stop, the gas chamber” which appeared on buses in north London this month have been pulled by Transport for London, writes Beatrice Sayers. Passengers travelling on routes in Burnt Oak and Mill Hill found themselves seated beside the adverts, positioned on the exterior of buses between the upper and lower decks. The adverts are part of a campaign against animal slaughter by gassing being run by the vegan group Viva but their prominent positioning prompted criticism from Jewish passengers, who said the words were disturbing because of their association with the Holocaust. Passengers who use the 114 route contacted Jewish News to say they considered the ads were in poor taste. After being contacted by Jewish News, TfL said it was removing them. A TfL spokesperson said: “We continuously work to ensure public transport is a safe environment for everyone and always consider how

The advert on a 114 bus outside Burnt Oak tube station on 4 October

an advert may be received. However, following further review of this campaign, we have decided that it should not continue to run on our bus network. It will be removed as soon as possible.”

Juliet Gellatley, founder and director of Viva, told Jewish News the charity was very sorry for the offence caused by the advert. She said she accepted the “uniquely horrific associations” that

the words ‘gas chamber’ have with the Holocaust but went on to maintain the advert campaign had not been intended as a comparison with the Holocaust. Viva’s target is Pilgrim’s Europe, a supplier of pork products based in Uxbridge, north-west London. The charity says 90 percent of the 10.7m pigs slaughtered each year in the UK die by gassing in a process in which the animals are lowered into pits or chambers that contain high concentrations of carbon dioxide. Gellatley said: “The words ‘Next stop, the gas chamber’ referred specifically to the journey pigs make to these killing systems. “They were not intended to depict bus passengers as victims or to make any comparison with the Holocaust.” She added: “We fully appreciate the uniquely horrific associations that the words ‘gas chamber’ have with the Holocaust and no comparison with the Holocaust was intended.”

Bernd Koschland

EDUCATOR KOSCHLAND DIES AT 95

Kindertransport refugee, minister, teacher and dedicated Holocaust educator Rev. Bernd Koschland has died at the age of 95. Born in Fürth, Germany, on 27 January 1931, he witnessed Kristallnacht as a seven-year-old, when his father was arrested and taken to Dachau. In March 1939, he was sent alone to Britain on the Kindertransport. His sister Ruth later also escaped, but their parents did not survive. Koschland devoted much of his life to Jewish education and teaching and was a longstanding member of the Association of Jewish Refugees and closely involved with its Kindertransport group.

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THIS WEEKEND'S SHABBAT TIMES... Shabbat comes in Friday night 6.08pm

Shabbat goes out Saturday night 7.05pm

Sedra: Bereishit

Mr Polanski’s grasp of colour appears as shaky as his grasp of history. Perhaps he simply confuses the green of a once-respected environmental party with the green of a Hamas headband. It is an easy mistake for a man who marked Yom Kippur by posting a photograph of himself tucking into a bowl of chips. Meanwhile, Jewish members of his party now face investigation for the offence of going to shul over the High Holy Days. Groucho Marx famously refused to join any club that would have him as a member. The Greens have kindly spared their Jewish members that dilemma. Shimon Cohen, By email

REMEMBERING THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES AJEX will be at The Royal British Legion 98th Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey this November. Our association will lay 225 Magen David markers that will represent the thousands of Jewish men and women who gave their lives to secure our future while serving in HM Armed Forces. If you had a member of your family who served in the British or Commonwealth armed forces and was killed in action, please inform us no later than the 27th October. AJEX will lay a Magen David marker in their name. Please contact us at headoffice@ajex.org.uk. With their rank, name, age,

date of death and the unit that they served in. The Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey will be open on Thursday 5 November to the public from 1pm to 4pm. From Friday 7 until Sunday 15 November the Field is open from 9am to 4pm. In this age of renewed antisemitism, it is extremely important that we show the wider community that we as Jews since 1745 have served and continue to serve in HM Armed Forces and that we remember their service and sacrifice.

A SICKLY GREEN

HERO OF THE AIR

Back in 2021, the Green Party adopted antisemitism guidance incorporating the IHRA definition, with examples including denying Jewish selfdetermination by claiming Israel’s existence is in some way racist. By now declaring Zionism racist, the party has shown itself to be antisemitic by a standard included in its own guidance. The Greens need not take their critics’ word for it. Their own antisemitism guidance condemns them.

The word “hero” is used too easily, but Captain Smit Machchhar appears to be the genuine article. Seriously wounded after being attacked in the cockpit of a passenger aircraft carrying 174 people, his instinct was for their safety, not his. Yet this act seems entirely consistent with the man. Long before this flight, Captain Machchhar described his job in wonderfully simple terms: what mattered was that passengers walked safely off his aircraft. Last week, those words were tested in circumstances no pilot could reasonably expect to face. Sid Haim, By email

Brian Bloom, AJEX vice president

Eli Cohen NW11

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Continued from page 1 played out. They seem less keen to acknowledge that if this is the metric by which to judge an ideology, both communism and Palestinian nationalism (both of which have far more adherents in the Green Party than Zionism) should receive similar censure. Imagine people deciding you are unworthy of a basic level of standing in general society, based on a belief you hold specifically because the last 2,000 years of the history of your people has shown, repeatedly, that it’s not just rational, but vital, for you to hold it. That is what the Green Party has now done. But just to make sure that everyone knew just how deeply antisemitic they were determined to be, Green members overwhelmingly rejected an amendment to that motion, which said it “shall not be used to pressure, proscribe or discipline members based on affiliation with Jewish community institutions, such as synagogues, community centres or denominational groups, that describe themselves as Zionist, or used to discipline or sanction Jewish members for holding views that would be non sanctionable if expressed by non Jewish members (such as supporting a binational state, or two-state solution).” Other political parties have condemned this move. But words are not enough. There desperately needs to be a cordon sanitaire established by society, to make it clear that such abject bigotry will not be tolerated. And this is where Labour and the Liberal Democrats, in particular, need to be held to account. All polling suggests the possibility of a hung parliament, even without the rumoured changes to a proportional representation system of voting which would effectively guarantee coalition governments forever more. The UK’s mainstream political parties need to make it publicly clear that they will not ally themselves with the Greens on any level. British Jews, and indeed wider society, should know what they are voting for. Without such assurances, many may understandably hesitate to cast their ballots for parties willing to countenance post-election pacts with an organisation which seeks to render almost every Jew a pariah.

How reassuring to learn that the leader of the Green Party has at last found a cause more urgent than the melting ice caps. For Zack Polanski, it seems, the planet can wait; Israel’s war against Hamas cannot. Anyone doubting his priorities need only have attended the recent Board of Deputies hustings. There he favoured a room full of fellow Jews with a lecture on genocide, while his London party helpfully went online to brand them “genocide supporters”. Why the Board rolled out the red carpet for this performance is a question worthy of a Talmudic commentary.

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HAS KHAN FULFILLED HIS EARLY PROMISES? ‘Sorry. When I say I’m thinking of joining United, I mean the United Synagogue!’

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Opinion

The legacies of Cable Street and René Cassin MIA HASENSON-GROSS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RENE CASSIN

n Sunday, Britain marked the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when ordinary Londoners stood together to stop fascists marching through the East End and sent a powerful message: hatred would not go unchallenged. The following day marked the birth anniversary of Monsieur René Cassin, the French Jewish jurist who became one of the principal architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted in 1948 in response to the horrors of the Holocaust. At first glance, these anniversaries may seem unrelated. If Cable Street represents the courage to confront injustice, Cassin’s legacy represents the determination to build something lasting in its place. Cable Street showed what happens when people refuse to be bystanders; René Cassin

showed how those lessons can be turned into lasting protections for everyone. Yet both respond to the same danger: the dehumanisation of minorities and the failure of societies to protect the dignity and rights of all. Cable Street reminds us that democracy is not self-sustaining. Cassin reminds us that courage in the moment must be matched by protections that endure. Human rights begin when people refuse to be bystanders. In the Battle of Cable Street, people chose solidarity over fear, recognising that an attack on one community weakens the safety of everyone. That lesson feels painfully current. Anti-Jewish hatred in the UK is not a relic of the 1930s. It adapts to new language and new platforms, appearing in conspiracy theories, abuse, intimidation and the casual normalisation of rhetoric that casts Jews as outsiders or threats. Following the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents reported since October 2023, many British Jews have felt a renewed sense of vulnerability and uncertainty. The challenge today is not identical

to 1936, but the moral question is familiar: what do citizens do when hatred re-enters public life? René Cassin’s legacy rests on the same moral insight, expressed through law rather than protest. As a French Jewish jurist shaped by war and persecution, he helped turn the promise of “never again” into a universal language of rights. His work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights insisted that dignity is not granted by governments but must be protected by them. It belongs to every human being and must be protected before prejudice becomes violence or policy. While Cable Street showed people resisting hatred in the street, Cassin sought to build protections strong enough to prevent hatred from becoming policy. Both were necessary. Courage without structure can be heroic but temporary; law without public commitment can become hollow. Together, they show that Jewish history in the twentieth century produced not only grief and remembrance but also a deep commitment to justice, solidarity

and universal human rights. This matters because Jewish safety and universal human rights are sometimes presented as if they are in tension. They are not. Jewish safety cannot be guaranteed without human rights. Efforts to weaken human rights protections ultimately undermine the security of Jewish communities as well. The protections that safeguard minorities are interconnected. When rights frameworks are weakened, no community remains unaffected. A society that tolerates antisemitism, racism or the dehumanisation of any group erodes the foundations of safety and dignity for everyone. This is also the principle that underpins René Cassin’s – the UK’s only Jewish human rights organisation – work today: making the case for human rights by and for the Jewish community. It means recognising that the Jewish experience carries both particular responsibilities and universal insight. The memory of persecution should strengthen, not narrow, our concern for our rights and the rights of others.

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Opinion

Remembrance not enough – now we must take action ANDY BURNHAM, MP PRIME MINISTER

he 7 October attack on Israel was the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. Three years on, we remember the 1,200 people whose lives were senselessly taken by Hamas terrorists, the families they were taken from, and the Jewish people in Britain and around the world who still carry the weight of those events with them every single day. But if the three years since have taught us anything, it is that remembrance alone is not enough. According to the CST, there were nearly 2,000 reported cases of antisemitism in the first half of this year – up a fifth on the same time last year. That is almost twice the monthly rate recorded before 7 October. We have seen where that hatred can lead. Almost exactly a year ago, a terrorist attacked Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester. People had gone to synagogue to

worship in peace on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Two of them would not return home again. And since then, there have been further attacks on Jewish people and institutions in London, including arson attacks and a terrorist attack in Golders Green. Antisemitism has become more visible, more aggressive and, in some places, more normalised. It’s simply unacceptable that there are people in this country who now feel they have to hide who they are to stay safe. This should worry us all. Because antisemitic attacks are not just attacks on our Jewish community, they are an attack on us all. When we talk about our national security, we usually go straight to our borders – and, of course, that’s a huge part it. But national security is about the strength and resilience of the country within our borders too. It is about whether people feel safe in their homes and communities, whether they trust their neighbours have their best interests at heart, and fundamentally about how

easily it is for our enemies to turn us against one another. Today, we live in a world where a conflict overseas can be on someone’s phone in any part of this country within seconds. We live with devices and algorithms that can push people further towards hatred and conspiracy without them having to even leave their bedroom. And we use technology every day that can take the actions of a government thousands of miles away and, with a couple of clicks or swipes, twist them into hatred of minority communities here at home. Hostile states are actively using these methods to exploit us. They are peddling lies and conspiracy theories about minority communities right here in Britain, including Jewish people. Because those who want to weaken this country understand something that our politics has sometimes been too slow to understand: division is a threat to our security. We are putting record levels of protection around Jewish schools, synagogues and community centres, with more police on

the streets in Jewish neighbourhoods and stronger counter-terrorism capabilities. But we won’t get real security with higher walls around synagogues or more guards outside Jewish schools. Dealing with the symptoms of this hatred simply isn’t enough – we have to deal with the hatred itself. That means tackling the poison spreading online and teaching young people to recognise attempts to radicalise and divide them. And it means bringing people together and reminding them that there is far more that unites us than divides us. Because, ultimately, the strongest defence against those who want to divide Britain is a country that refuses to be divided. Where we allow antisemitism to take root, we allow this country to become weaker. So on the anniversary of 7 October, I want my message to the Jewish community to be clear. We will do more than just remember. We will change this country and we will not stop until every Jewish person in this country feels safe in the community they call home.

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Opinion

Sick and tired of empty words without action PROFESSOR DEBORAH LIPSTADT

EMORY UNIVERSITY

n 1964, during the height of the American civil rights struggle, a leader of the black community, Fannie Lou Hammer, declared: “All my life I’ve been sick and tired. Now, I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” I’ve thought of her declaration frequently in the past few months. I’ve fought antisemitism and hatred all my professional life; in classroom and courtroom, on the pages of scholarly journals and widely circulated newspapers, in the halls of the US State Department and foreign capitals. I assiduously track antisemitic incidents wherever they may occur. My social media algorithms feed me news of them continuously. I track them because I feel professionally obligated to be aware of what is going on. But I also know someone will accost me at the supermarket, shul, gym, or some airport lounge, with two questions: “Did you hear what just happened in Manchester, Ontario, Washington,

Paris, etc.?” That question is invariably followed with another: “Why now?” Unlike so many who, though deeply disturbed by this development, feel helpless to make their voices heard, I have that opportunity. During my time in office as the United States’ Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism and since, I have had many opportunities to sit with officials worldwide to discuss responding to this scourge. After impressing upon them the gravity of this situation, I warn them not to think of this as solely an attack on Jews or Jewish institutions. In fact, they and the societies they lead are in the crosshairs. Those engaged in these attacks – rightists, leftists, and Islamist jihadists – are also aiming at democracy, rule of law, and international security and stability. The plethora of incidents of Jew-hatred rolls off the tongues of those who follow these developments, like some sort of incantation: Washington D.C. (2 dead), Boulder, Colorado (1 dead), Golders Green (2 stabbed), Manchester (2 dead), Ontario (2 seriously wounded), Pittsburgh (11 dead), San Diego (1 dead), Bondi Beach (15 dead). The list goes on.

But I knew this was the case when I entered this field of study and when I accepted the presidential appointment as an Ambassador with the portfolio of addressing this hatred. No, what has left me sick and tired are the pious sympathies and sincere regrets issued by government leaders, prime ministers, mayors, university presidents and so many others. Their aides must have a computer file they can expeditiously open when something happens. Maybe it’s entitled: “Reactions to Attacks on Jews.” They just need to cut and paste from previous declarations. Last year, after the Golders Green stabbings, this newspaper listed those platitudes on its front page. I was exhausted just reading them. [“Our thoughts and prayers are with you”; “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us”; “We stand with you.” And the one that I find most infuriating: “This hate has no place in our society.” Has no place? It’s already here… and it’s thriving.] Of course leaders should condemn these acts, unequivocally, expeditiously and with no contextual hesitations. But those condemnations must be accompanied by action, including that with potential political costs. Leaders must

be willing to specifically name the source of these attacks and demand that communities and political enclaves spit out hate mongers who have taken refuge in their midst. Leaders must do this even at the risk of losing votes. They must also recognise, as those in the UK, Canada, and France, among other places, have failed to do, that when their most energetic foreign policy actions are aimed at Israel and reward Hamas even when it has made no moves towards peace, the attackers are invigorated. Despite being warned, as Ed Miliband was by Chief Rabbi Mirvis and other Jewish leaders, that singling out Israel motivates attackers to harass, attack, and murder Jews worldwide, they ignore the warnings. Why, my interlocutors ask me, is this happening now? In part because the haters know there rarely are consequences for attacking Jews. So please spare me your pious sympathies, sincere regrets, and worn-out protestations. I am not just sick and tired of them, I consider them – and you – to be hypocritical and self-serving. I – together with so many others – have had enough. • Andy Burnham, page 24

The unthinkable deal that could topple Bibi DANIEL SUGARMAN

DEPUTY EDITOR, JEWISH NEWS

n 1990, the Likud Party, led by Yitzchak Shamir, was in an uneasy unity government with Labor, led by Shimon Peres. Disagreement came – then as now, over the issue of the West Bank. Peres secretly negotiated with Charedi parties to support a motion to dissolve the government and form a new coalition together. The move became known as HaTargil HaMasriach – The Dirty Trick – due to perceived duplicitous dealing by Peres. While the Labor leader succeeded in bringing down the administration, his attempt to form a new government in coalition with the Charedim ultimately failed, as the firebrand religious authorities behind the strictly-orthodox political groups railed against any alliance with “the eaters of hares and pigs”. With all that was to follow – Oslo, Rabin’s assassination, the Second Intifada – The Dirty Trick became little more than a footnote. Much has changed since. For one thing, less than a decade later, Charedi parties did enter a governing coalition with the left. For another, the Israeli left is now a shadow of its former self, while Charedi political presence has grown.

This month Israel will hold another election. And despite the disaster of 7 October, ongoing corruption trials and the Qatargate revelations, current polling suggests Benjamin Netanyahu may still be able to recreate a coalition similar to that he has maintained for the last four years. Netanyahu is the most successful politician in Israel’s history. He has led it for more than a quarter of the period since 1948, and continues to weather an avakanche of scandals. Given this, you would assume those opposed to him would be working on a plan to beat him. But there is no real indication this has been happening, and the most likely reason is because they do not want to face reality. That reality is simple. Electoral maths shows the only way an anti-Netanyahu coalition, even including the Arab Ra’am party, can bring down their bête noire permanently is via a deal with the Charedim. This would inevitably involve an agreement to withdraw the proposed compulsory draft for yeshiva students. That reality is profoundly unpopular. The knowledge Charedim can avoid the army service compulsory for others has long rankled – both with secular Israelis and increasingly with religious Zionists. There are also understandable concerns about the grip on religious authority exercised by the Orthodox rabbinate in Israel – over marriage, Shabbat observance

or basic religious rights of Progressive Jews. Those who hold such reasonable concerns will have to decide if these are outweighed by the alternative – another Netanyahu coalition, with both the Charedim and the far-right parties of Smotrich and Ben Gvir. That means a renewed – and likely successful – attempt to strip the Supreme Court of its powers. It means no state commission of inquiry into the catastrophic failures of 7 October. It means a repeated attempt to annex the West Bank, which world opinion has shown will lead to Israel becoming a pariah. It means Netanyahu will continue to insert allies into positions from which they can tamper with the mechanics of the state – the decision by the electoral commission to try and ban Arab parties is the latest affront to democracy. Politics is full of unenviable choices – this one is no different. There is a temptation to cite recent interparty squabbles as proof that Bibi’s current rickety coalition – even if revived after the election – will soon collapse under its own weight. That is misguided. Netanyahu is the prince of prevarication, endlessly stretching out a process in the hope his opponents splinter or exit. Some of the parties opposing Bibi are include politicians sceptical about including Ra’am in a governing coalition. All Netanyahu

needs is to have allies cajole or bully certain vulnerable individual MKs, and a government hostile to him collapses - as in 2022.. Second, unless anti-Netanyahu parties offer the Charedim an alternative, they will continue to support him, even via a supply and demandtype deal. From a Charedi perspective, a Netanyahu coalition with at least token willingness to listen to their concerns, or an anti-Netanyahu coalition with little but contempt for their positions, offers a clear choice. Israel faces two major challenges from the 74% of its population which are Jewish; the rise of an ethno-nationalist far right, and the exponential growth of a Charedi sector that largely refuses to serve in the IDF and pays 4% of tax revenue despite making up 14% of the population . Both these challenges may be existential to the State – but only one has the potential to destroy Israel within the next decade. I sympathise with those who view this column’s suggestion with concern. But that is the choice; those politicians who want to bring Netanyahu down will have to decide whether offering the Charedim an alternative is worth it. If they go for it, they cannot be sure a future generation of Israelis won’t ultimately describe that attempt as another “Dirty Trick”. But if politics was about making easy choices, the stakes would be far lower.

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Community / Scene & Be Seen JUDAISM 1 PROGRESSIVE CELEBRATES SUKKOT

Thousands of people took part in Sukkot celebrations at Progressive Judaism’s 77 communities across the UK and Ireland. From sukkah-building days and communal meals to cheder activities and entertaining guests, the festival was marked in many ways. At Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue, the community enjoyed an ‘Into the Woods’ outing to celebrate the nature around them. Rabbi Mark Goldsmith said: “We build a little village of sukkahs from wood and leaves found on the forest floor, tell stories, sing songs and wave the lulav – connecting with the natural rhythm of the Jewish year.”

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25 YEARS OF 2 CELEBRATING ROSETREES CARE HOME

The latest news, pictures and social events from across the community

Barnet mayor Zahra Beg joined Jewish Care to celebrate the silver anniversary of Jewish Care’s Rosetrees care home, which was officially opened by the then Prince Charles 25 years ago. The celebration marked a special milestone for residents, families, staff and volunteers. The charity’s director of care and housing services, Rita Rousso, said the care home is “filled with friendship, compassion and care, supporting generations of residents and their families. We look forward to continuing to celebrate an incredible legacy and to creating many more happy memories in the years ahead.”

Email us at community@jewishnews.co.uk

COUNCIL IN 3 NORWOOD NEURODIVERSITY SUPPORT

The leader of Barnet Council met with Norwood staff and families at the charity’s Kennedy Leigh Family Centre in north London on Tuesday 29 September. Speaking to Councillor Barry Rawlings, Norwood’s director of children and family services, Emma Gray explained how the charity’s early intervention approach supports neurodivergent children and young people while equipping parents and carers with the tools they need to thrive.

CALL TO ACTION 4 AJEX FOR REMEMBRANCE DAY

At Westminster Abbey this November, AJEX will lay 225 Magen David markers representing the thousands of Jewish men and women who gave their lives whilst serving in HM Armed Forces. If a member of your family served in the British or Commonwealth armed forces and was killed in action, please inform the organisation no later than 27 October and AJEX will lay a Magen David marker in their name. Please contact head office@ajex.org.uk, with their rank, name, age, date of death and the unit they served in. The Field of Remembrance will be open to the public on 5 November from 1pm-4pm. From 7-15 November, the Field is open from 9am-4pm.

CAMDEN IN ART 5 CHABAD CALENDAR CELEBRATION

On 8 September, Chabad Camden held a launch event for its new art calendar, based on the work and book of the artist Ahuva Zeloof. Rabbi Yossi Baitz told Jewish News: “Her works are based on stones that she has collected along the beach in Caesarea for the past 30 years, some of which she has recreated in bronze. When I look at them, I see figures, stories and scenes from the Torah.” Chabad worked on the project with Zeloof’s curator, Avshalom Gur, a highly-respected figure in the art world. Rabbi Baitz added: “The event was much more than an exhibition. It was a celebration of the launch of this extraordinary calendar, of many months of creativity and dedication, and of the beautiful collaboration between the art of Ahuva Zeloof and Chabad Camden.” Jewish News is reliably informed one of the collectable calendars has pride of place in the office of Israel’s president.

32 Jewish News 8 October 2026

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Thank you Esther – that was a glorious life Dame Esther Rantzen’s kindness to my family after my father’s death revealed the woman behind the television legend. By Brigit Grant

here are some people whose death feels unexpectedly personal however famous they are. For me, Dame Esther Rantzen, who died last week aged 86, is one of them. For more than half a century she was part of British life: broadcaster, journalist, campaigner, founder of Childline and The Silver Line, and most memorably for millions of us, the face of That’s Life! But for me and my family, Esther was also the woman who helped us when nobody else would. I first knew her when I was a journalist on the Ham & High and she lived in Hampstead with her husband, the distinguished documentary filmmaker Desmond Wilcox. Local journalists inevitably bothered famous residents and Desmond occasionally complained. Esther’s response on my behalf was: “She’s just doing her job.” It was a small kindness, but very Esther. She understood journalists because she was one – and a very good one. It was only after my father died that I discovered just how seriously she took the responsibility that came with the job.

My father drowned in a rip current in Israel on 6 October 1989. He was a strong swimmer and his death was devastating and difficult to comprehend. I wanted to raise awareness about beach safety in the hope that what had happened to him might prevent another family suffering the same loss. I was a journalist, but I could not interest anyone in the story. Then I approached Esther. She listened, understood its importance, and featured my father’s death and the issue of beach safety on That’s Life! What that meant to my late mother is difficult to overstate. She wrote to Esther afterwards to thank her, sent flowers – her name was sacred in our home. More than 30 years later, when I interviewed Esther, I reminded her of what she had done for us and asked how stories were selected for That’s Life! “There were two possible reasons,” she told me. “Either the story was so serious we had to report it and sometimes, as in your case, it was a matter of life and death. Or it was far less serious, a faulty washing machine for instance, but

Dame Esther made her first TV appearance on Braden’s Week

Brigit with her late mother Carole and Dame Esther Rantzen

affected many people.” Then, characteristically, she turned the thanks back on me. “We depended on the courage of people like you, who told us what had happened in their lives and allowed us to tell their stories in order to protect others.” It encapsulated the purpose of That’s Life! and the woman who made it. “Making a difference is addictive,” she told me. For Esther, it clearly was. Her appetite for campaigning had begun before That’s Life!, when she worked as a researcher on Bernard Braden’s Braden’s Week. Consumer journalism taught her that asking questions wasn’t enough. “It gave me a taste for finding solutions to protect people in the future. And it meant as a journalist I was not only asking questions but trying to find answers.” That became the thread running through her extraordinary career. That’s Life! began in 1973 and made Esther one of the most recognisable women on British television. Its peculiar genius was its ability to move from the ridiculous to the deadly serious without diminishing either. Misshapen vegetables, talking dogs and consumer disasters could sit alongside investigations into subjects that needed public attention. Esther had the professionalism to make that unlikely mixture work. She was warm but persistent, meticulously

prepared and instinctively understood the power of the enormous audience the programme commanded. She once talked to me about audiences of 15 to 20 million – numbers almost unimaginable now – and what could be achieved when that many people were listening. Most significantly, That’s Life! led to the creation of Childline in 1986 after the programme investigated child abuse. It became one of Esther’s defining achievements. She didn’t simply put her name to the charity – she remained involved and worked as a volunteer counsellor on the helpline. Decades later, she recognised another group whose voices were too easily ignored and founded The Silver Line for lonely and isolated older people. When we talked about it, Esther worried particularly about those being left behind by technology. “Isolated older people run the risk of being even more isolated by the digital switchover,” she told me. “We need to be advised and guided by humans, not just by robots in call centres.” Then she remembered one of the first people to call The Silver Line. “When we launched the helpline, one of our first callers told us: ‘When I get off the phone I feel like I’ve joined the human race’.” For Esther, that went to the heart of it. “An older person should never feel they are not valued. We all have our place.” Family was at the centre of Esther’s own

8 October 2022 Jewish News

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LIFE

Esther and Desmond with children, Miriam, Rebecca and Joshua

life. Her three children with Desmond – Miriam, Rebecca and Joshua – and her five grandchildren were a source of enormous happiness. Her marriage to Desmond, who died in 2000, remained a defining relationship. When I asked if there was a gift from him she particularly treasured, Esther didn’t mention jewellery or some precious possession. It was “our garden in the New Forest”, she said: “It gives me constant pleasure and is filled with memories of our life together.” And when I asked what she most cherished about being a mother and grandmother, her answer was equally uncomplicated. “The fun of it.” Children laughing, drawing consequences, treasure hunts, storytelling and “the unexpected cuddle. Nothing can be

nicer or more precious”. I saw that sense of fun when I interviewed Esther and Rebecca on their UK stage tour, Esther Rantzen: That’s Life. Rebecca, herself an experienced television producer and presenter, took on the role of interviewer – questioning her mother on stage before handing over to an audience who could ask almost anything. They were a formidable and very funny double act, with the easy sparring of a mother and daughter who knew each other inside out. Esther loved the unpredictability of a live audience and the tour also gave mother and daughter the rare luxury of guaranteed time together. Her Jewishness mattered too, although her religious belief had changed. “I recognise how much I owe to being

Sir Nicholas Winton on That’s Life!, surrounded by the children he saved from the Nazis

Jewish,” she told me. “The closeness of my family, the priority of education, the culture we share as Jews are the basis of so many of my values.” She described herself as agnostic, while her observant daughter kept her connected with the High Holy Days. But she believed strongly that knowing what it was to belong to a minority brought with it a responsibility to extend tolerance and opportunity to others. And then there was Sir Nicholas Winton. Of all the remarkable moments created by That’s Life!, the reunion with the children he had helped rescue from the former Czechoslovakia before the war has endured like no other. Winton helped save 669 children, most of them Jewish, from the Nazis. In 1988, Esther revealed his story to the nation and he discovered that some of the adults sitting around him were among the children whose lives he had saved. For a woman renowned for maintaining her composure, it overwhelmed her. “It was the only occasion when I had to stop the recording,” she told me. “I was in tears, as was the whole audience. Such an inspirational moment. All our team felt privileged to be in the studio.” It also began a friendship she treasured. To Esther he was Nicky. She loved his modesty, optimism and refusal to believe that apparently impossible problems could not be solved. One of his sayings stayed with her: “If something isn’t blatantly impossible, then there must be a way of doing it.” There was also a mischievousness she adored. She told me that on his 90th birthday, Nicky decided he would no longer turn down an invitation to try something for the first time. It resulted in him going up in a microlight piloted by the daughter of one of the children he had saved. His principal observation afterwards was that it had been very draughty up his trouser legs. It is easy to understand why Esther loved that story. For all the seriousness of her work, she was funny. She liked people, liked conversation – and

retained a delight in the absurd that anyone who watched That’s Life! could recognise. When she announced in 2023 that she had lung cancer, which had reached stage four, I cried. Perhaps that sounds strange as her relationship with me was primarily professional, but Esther occupied a different place in my life. I knew what she had done for us. Gratitude like that doesn’t disappear with time. Illness did not silence Esther. Cancer presented her with one final great campaign. After joining Dignitas in Switzerland, she became one of the most prominent voices calling for a change in the law on assisted dying, arguing that terminally ill people facing unbearable suffering should be allowed a choice over the manner of their death. It was a difficult and divisive subject, but there was something entirely consistent about Esther choosing to confront it publicly. She had spent her career asking awkward questions, bringing uncomfortable subjects into people’s living rooms and allowing those directly affected to be heard. Faced with her own mortality, she did the same thing with herself. There will rightly be much written about Esther’s remarkable career, her campaigns, awards and honours. I remember all of those things, but when I think of Esther, I will also think of my mother. And I cannot help but notice that her passing came so close to my father’s yahrzeit on 6 October. At the height of her fame, Esther took our family’s tragedy seriously when others did not. She understood that telling the story of my father’s death might prevent another family suffering the same loss, and she used the enormous platform she had to make that possible. It was what she did throughout her life – for frightened children, lonely older people, aggrieved consumers and, in her final years, for those facing an unbearable death. Making a difference, as Esther once told me, was addictive. She spent a lifetime proving it. I will never forget her.

Esther with her daughter Rebecca, who she toured with in an ask-me-anything live show

34 Jewish News 8 October 2026

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JN LIFE

A chance family revelation led playwright Julia Pascal to discover an obscure wartime camp and shameful chapter in France’s history. By Jenni Frazer

hat would you do if you discovered a family member – someone you barely knew about – had been imprisoned in the early years of the Second World War? And, to add to that, the incarceration was in a place you’d never heard of ? For many people, that might have been a story consigned to dust. But for writer and playwright Julia Pascal, the very mystery set her on a detective trail nearly 10 years ago. The result will be unveiled tonight (8 October) as her play, The Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt, France 1940, opens at London’s Arcola Theatre. Julia’s work will be familiar to Jewish News readers: since her early production, Far Above Rubies, in 1983, she has dipped in and out of Jewish and feminist themes, exploring issues which have resonated with the community. Her plays often have a multimedia format with song and dance on stage. She is, she would agree, innately curious. She traces the beginnings of this new play to a conversation with her cousin David Daube on holiday in France in 2017. “My mother’s sister married a German Jew, Albert Daube,” she told me over Zoom. “One day, my cousin David, Albert’s son, said to me: ‘My grandmother and my aunt were in France in 1940, they were imprisoned in Gurs’.” Julia did not know about Gurs, what it was or even where it was. But she knew there was a story there. So she went to see what remains of Camp Gurs, built in 1939 and dismantled in 1946, and also to visit archives in the city of Pau. Gurs is in south-west France, close to the

Women in the camp in Gurs

And Julia decided to amalgamate the characters of David Daube’s cousin Eva, a 16-year-old Communist schoolgirl when she was arrested, with information from the life of Eva’s elder sister Trude, who disappeared in 1933 and whose fate remains a mystery. The reason for the arrests of the three women – among nearly 15,000 individuals, around 4,000 of whom were German Jews – was a decision by Edouard Daladier’s government to intern those foreign Anja Fahlenkamp and Anna refugees who had previEckhard in rehearsals Photo: Ella Muir ously sought asylum in France. The authorities Spanish border. It was originally built by the French government cast their net wide – one to intern Spanish citizens fleeing woman, Julia says, was on Franco’s regime. her way to her wedding when In her research, Julia discovered she was captured. Julia’s own family came that Hannah Arendt, who coined the Mai Weisz from Romania and Lithufamous phrase “the banality of evil” ania, so for her this was a novel engagement in her reporting of the Eichmann trial in with the liberal and often secular culture of Jerusalem, had also been in Gurs and had German Jews. written about it. She survived the Holocaust She says it was very hard to find evidence and became an important political writer and of the 1940 arrests, described in French philosopher in the US. history as the internment of “The UndeJulia notes: “Before Gurs, Arendt was in sirables”. Eventually she tracked down just the Paris Vélodrome, where foreigners were one book where there is an account of what mandated to report or face arrest. But when I researched in Paris, I was told by archivists: happened in 1940 Paris and then at Gurs. “It’s ‘The arrests that happened in the Vélodrome a shameful part of French history,” she says. were in 1942, not 1940’. Unlike what happened later on in “I knew that this denial masked the earlier the war, the situation at Gurs sounds arrests of 1940. That the Germans had been chaotic – and in the confusion between responsible for the 1942 round up of Jews the fall of France in May and June in Paris was undeniable, and could shift 1940 and the beginning of the Vichy the responsibility for the round-up to the government in July of that year, a invader. But the 1940 round-up in the Vélonumber of Gurs captives escaped. drome [known as the Vel d’Hiv] was under They included Hannah Arendt and the order of the French Republic. This was an Eva Daube, who eventually made it to the US. embarrassing historical fact.” Another important historical figure who Charlotte Salomon, sadly, was sent to Gurs was the artist Charlotte had no one abroad to vouch Salomon, from a troubled Berlin Jewish for her, and so remained living family, many of whose members committed with her grandfather in Nice suicide. Charlotte survived Gurs but died in until 1942, when she is said Auschwitz in 1943. to have poisoned him with an omelette. She and her husband were captured by the Nazis in 1943 and transported to Auschwitz. The confusion at Gurs was exacerbated by when the camp commandant set fire to the place – Julia says this meant the destruction of Gurs internment camp

many records, which could have helped paint a clearer picture of what was taking place. So Julia had her three vital protagonists in Hannah Arendt (played by Israeli-born actor Mai Weisz in the show), Eva Daube and Charlotte Salomon. With a six-person cast – sometimes “playing thousands of women” – she has put together a production of music, narrative and song. She says: “I’ve used mime, cabaret, pictoral images, Jewish irony and Jewish humour. At times it’s almost like a prison drama, but it’s a fractured line, because it’s telling a story of exile and displacement.” The stories woven through the Arcola production have a resonance for today, Julia believes. She adds wryly that “a major arts centre in Camden” had originally said it would consider taking the show, but then unaccountably found it was “booked for the foreseeable future”. She is grateful to the Arcola team for agreeing to stage the show, in what she terms “a whole atmosphere of antisemitism” in current British theatre. The Banality of Evil: Hanna Arendt, France 1940 at the Arcola Theatre from 8 October to 7 November

Julia Pascal

8 Octobber 2026 Jewish News

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Business / Cigar culture

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With Candice Krieger

THE CUSTOMER WHO CALLED EVERY DAY FOR 10 YEARS... THEN BOUGHT THE SHOP

Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Lopez and Jason Momoa are among the high-profile customers of luxury cigar business Sautter

efore he bought it, Laurence Davis was perhaps the most persistent customer of cigar enterprise Sautter. Davis, 65, has been a cigar enthusiast since his grandfather gave him a box of Montecristo No. 2s for his 21st birthday. Years later, he asked Sautter’s then-owner, Desmond Sautter, if he would sell him the business. Sautter declined, but promised that Davis would be the first to know if he changed his mind. “I called him every day for the next 10 years,” Davis recalls. “We had the same conversation every day.” Then, in 2005, Sautter told him: “I think today is the day.” His asking price was £1m. Davis’s response? “I’ll meet you at your lawyer’s office at three o’clock.” At the time, Davis was a London property developer with experience in residential and

commercial projects, but cigars were his passion. He admits he had surprisingly little knowledge about the business he had just agreed to buy. “I knew there were no debts on the balance sheet,” he says. Today, Sautter sells premium cigars from its Mayfair and Knightsbridge shops, alongside an online business. Prices start at around £20 for a single cigar and reach £6,000 at the top end. The Knightsbridge branch also has a lounge, where customers can sit, talk and explore its extensive whisky collection. Davis, who is in one of the stores daily, says the group sells between 20,000 and 30,000 cigars a year and is on course to turn over around £5.5m this year. For Davis, the appeal goes beyond the product. He describes the Knightsbridge lounge as a place where customers from different walks of life strike up conversations. He recalls an Israeli and an Arab customer debating the

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conflict there. “They may not agree on everything,” he says, “but they can still have a proper conversation without raising the temperature.” Davis, a member of Western Marble Arch Synagogue, estimates that around 500 of Sautter’s 3,000 to 4,000 customers are Jewish. He believes Jewish customers are “disproportionately represented” among cigar smokers. Asked why, he says: “I think it’s seen as a marker of success and the chance to enjoy one of life’s luxuries.” He is also seeing an increasing demand from religious customers, some buying cigars as gifts. Davis is currently working on creating a range of kosher for Pesach cigars to be ready for next year. The wider luxury market has had a difficult run. Sales of personal luxury goods fell two per cent worldwide in 2025, according to Bain & Company, although the consultancy expects a modest recovery this year. Davis sees a similarly mixed picture among his own customers. “The top end aren’t cutting back – they’re buying more,” he says. “Customers in the middle of the market, meanwhile, have moved away from increasingly expensive Cuban cigars towards alternatives from Nicaragua and Honduras. “People are buying less, but better.” Sautter has nevertheless lost some valuable regulars. Davis says around 500 customers left the UK amid changes affecting non-doms. “Some were visiting the shops once or twice a week. But there are still plenty of people with money to spend. People will give up other purchases to keep buying what they enjoy.” Regulation is also on his mind. From January 2027, the Tobacco and Vapes Act will prohibit the sale of cigars to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. The government is separately consulting on extending plain packaging rules to cigars. Davis argues that cigars are too often treated in the same way as cigarettes and worries that the proposal could mean losing their decorative boxes. Despite those pressures, Davis remains

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Davis was persistent to own Sautter

Laurence Davis, owner of Sautter cigars

confident in the industry and is expanding Sautter’s reach. His wife Melanie, who has worked in fashion for more than 30 years, designed a Sautter-exclusive jacket with dedicated pockets for cigars and a lighter. “She got tired of me always leaving my cigar case behind in restaurants,” he says. Priced at £175, they have sold around 3,000 units. The couple have since added shirts and gilets, with the clothing range reaching customers in the US, Europe and Israel. The expansion goes beyond clothing. Sautter supplies cigars to restaurants including Carbone at The Rosewood and the Wild Tavern group, and has been chosen to provide cigars at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as part of November’s Formula One weekend. He is also developing Sautter’s own cigar line for a planned launch in March 2027, alongside a wholesale operation in the US. Davis says he has agreed two deals there: one involving an initial 22 locations, and another for a standalone store. His longer-term ambition is to franchise the Sautter name into hotels and terraces. For Davis, retirement holds little appeal. He is in one of his London shops every day he is in the country. “I love the social interaction, which is why I prefer selling in person than online.” Business runs through the family, though his children have chosen different paths. His son Barney is a football agent, while his daughter Grace works in music and celebrity management. Davis is also grandfather to five-year-old Maxi. Would he recommend entering the luxury market now? Davis’s answer is characteristically emphatic. “You can’t play at this. It’s not a hobby – you have to be all in.” And, he adds, a would-be founder needs enough money to see the idea through.

 sauttercigars.com

8 Octobber 2026 Jewish News

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Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH RABBI RICHARD JACOBI

EAST LONDON AND ESSEX LIBERAL SYNAGOGUE

AI, loneliness and the essence of humanity The BBC series Ann Droid is about an unlikely bond between lead character Sue, who is grieving the death of her husband, and Linda, her robot carer. At times, Linda appears to be more sensitive and caring than the humans in Sue’s life. Not many of us have robots, but most will have experienced AI echoing our views and choices back to us. Researchers have coined the term “sycophantic AI” to describe the effect of it being designed to increase user engagement. Every conversation with Claude, or whichever your bot of choice is, is about you, not about Claude. Your opinions are reinforced and you like the technology for agreeing with you, so you use it more. AI learns from every chat or task, and what’s now emerging from studies is that we start to adopt the thinking modes of the bots! Author and journalist David Brooks recently contrasted human thinking and feeling with the

AI models, trained to seek rewards, are consequentialist

simple, cold, somewhat Machiavellian endsjustify-the-means thinking of AI. He wrote: “Consequentialism in its raw form is the belief that moral actions can be judged solely on the basis of their outcomes. AI models, which are trained to seek rewards, are consequentialist.” Consequentialist logic, to give one

example, would suggest that it is a good thing to kill one person in order to use their organs to save five lives. Most human beings are not consequentialist. Instead, our thinking includes other dimensions of our own moral code and the ethical systems we have learned, including those of Judaism. Last year, the World Health Organiza-

A stimulating series where our progressive rabbis consider Judaism in the face of 21stcentury issues tion published a landmark report entitled From Loneliness to Social Connection. In it, they estimated that one in six people experienced loneliness in the period between 2014 and 2023. Globally, they estimate loneliness accounts for 871,000 deaths per annum. In this context, our Judaism would provide two teachings, at least. First, that allowing people to be left in a state of loneliness is a potential violation of our fundamental duty of pikuach nefesh – to save lives. Secondly, Hillel the Elder’s three-part teaching is: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” We in our Jewish communities need to redouble our year-round efforts to increase social connection. We cannot delegate this task to AI, because it is an inadequate and possibly dangerous substitute for social connection and the warmth of human-to-human engagement. We shouldn’t avoid using AI completely, but it becomes even more important that we inoculate ourselves against its potential dehumanising effects. So let’s take seriously our obligations to one another. Let’s strengthen our communities. Let’s take responsibility for bringing in anyone and everyone who might be lonely.

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA

In our thought-provoking series, rabbis, rebbetzins and educators relate the week’s parsha to the way we live today RABBI BENJY MORGAN OLAMI UK

The work of creation The opening words of Bereishis are familiar: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Yet the world that follows is not immediately ordered and bright. It is tohu va-vohu — unformed, unsettled, dark. Then comes the first command in the Torah: “Let there be light.” Light does not arrive because the darkness was imaginary. It arrives because darkness is not the whole story. As we commemorate the third anniversary of October 7, that distinction matters. We

remember lives taken, families changed for ever and a sense of safety shattered. To speak of light must never mean looking away from grief or asking those who mourn to move on. It means refusing to let cruelty have the final word. Bereishis presents creation not as a single moment in the distant past, but as the beginning of a task. God brings order where there was confusion, gives shape to what was formless, and makes space for life to flourish. The Torah’s account therefore asks something of us, too. When the world feels broken, what can we help build? When fear narrows our vision, can we make room for courage? When hatred divides, can we choose acts that restore

human dignity? There is no simple answer to suffering. Faith does not make loss painless, and hope is not a prediction that everything will quickly be well. Hope is the belief that what we do still matters: the life we protect, the kindness we offer, the community we strengthen, the truth we refuse to abandon. Every week, Jews begin the Torah again with the story of creation. We are reminded that the world is unfinished — and that each of us has a part in its repair. The first light in Bereishis was a gift. The light we bring into the world is also a responsibility. In a time that has shown us how much darkness human beings can create, what will we choose to create instead?

Destroyed cars at the entrance to the Nova Festival on 7 October 2023

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