Pages

▼

Friday, October 02, 2026

10/02 Links Pt2: Holocaust education is not working in the fight against contemporary antisemitism; Thoughts from Neriyah’s bedside; VDH: The Islamo-left takeover of the Democrats

From Ian:

Holocaust education is not working in the fight against contemporary antisemitism
This universalising impulse turns Jews into symbols, not people. It encourages students to see Jews only as historical victims, stripped of contribution, culture, and survival. It lavishes attention on Auschwitz, Anne Frank and memorial candles while ignoring the lived reality of Jews today, their attachment to Israel and the antisemitism they face.

Jonathan Frisher, a British teenager who persuaded his school to teach about today's antisemitism and is campaigning to make this nationwide, pointed out that the education at his school made no connection between the events of the Second World War and today's antisemitism, thus failing to ensure that young people recognise it.

Maybe I am alone in finding it strange that the annual memorial event in the Foreign Office includes speakers about other genocides and concludes with wine and sandwiches. The Canadian academic, Professor Ruth Wisse, has warned for decades that treating Jews as metaphors rather than neighbours is itself a form of antisemitism. When Holocaust education becomes a generic lesson about tolerance, it erases Jewish particularity and makes it harder to understand why antisemitism persists.

The second failing, which is evident in Holocaust memorials, is placing antisemitism safely in the past: Germany, Nazis, and nothing to do with today. Holocaust education often frames antisemitism as an historical problem located safely in 1930s Germany, an interesting subject for films. Students learn about Hitler, Nuremberg Laws, ghettos and concentration camps, but almost nothing about where antisemitism comes from, how it mutates, or why it remains potent. It teaches them that to upset Jews of today, Nazi symbolism is very effective.

Are young people taught about the elimination of Jews from most Middle Eastern states in the 1940s? The history approach creates a dangerous illusion: antisemitism is something only “the Nazis did,” not something that exists in Britain, Europe, or the wider world today. It places responsibility for Jew-hatred firmly in the past, absolving contemporary societies of any need for understanding.

The result is moralising rather than history. Students are encouraged to “not be bystanders,” “be kind,” or “stand up to hate,” but are not taught what antisemitism actually is: its theological roots, political uses, conspiracy structures, or modern expressions. They are not taught why despising Jews has become normalised again, or why Jews today report rising fear, harassment, and exclusion. The very word “Holocaust” is misused. With survivors dying, the emotional storytelling model is losing its power, and even so their very stories and their age again fixes antisemitism in the past. And because students have not been taught how antisemitism mutates, they are not equipped to recognise or resist contemporary Jew-hatred. They know how Jews died, not how Jews live, or why Jews are still targeted. How many of the young visitors to Auschwitz later defend the existence of Israel?

The third failing is ignoring Israel: the missing piece of contemporary antisemitism.

Perhaps the most striking omission in Holocaust education is Israel. Students are taught little if anything about why Jews need a state, how Zionism emerged, or why today’s antisemitism is overwhelmingly focused on the only Jewish state. This silence is not neutral. It leaves students unable to understand the central driver of modern antisemitism: the political demonisation of Israel and the delegitimisation of Jewish self-determination.

Without explaining Jewish history up to the present, Holocaust education cannot explain why antisemitism today looks different from antisemitism in 1936, yet is rooted in the same ideological patterns. One would not teach people not to discriminate against black people by teaching only about slavery. Yet we teach about antisemitism by teaching and commemorating only the Holocaust and not about the living Jewish world and its state. The UCL Centre for Holocaust Education has reported on the defects of current education courses, but their criticisms have had no impact so far. The UK Jewish leadership and organisations have too much invested in the current model to be open to constructive change.

Dara Horn has put forward a new model of Holocaust education in her most recent book The Final Solution to the Jewish Question: A Love Story for the Living, pointing out that Holocaust education has preserved memory but that alone cannot counter contemporary antisemitism.

I agree with her that we need a new model that teaches:
- Jewish civilisation, not just Jewish destruction
- Jewish survival and contribution, not only Jewish victimhood
- The history and legitimacy of Israel
- The roots of antisemitism, past and present

Horn, Wisse, and Bauer all point toward the same conclusion: education must present living Jews, not only dead ones. It must teach who Jews are, not only what was done to them.

Sir David Bell has been commissioned by the government to report on antisemitism in schools and colleges. His report is imminent and one can only hope that he will understand how Holocaust education has failed and what has to be done to make it relevant today.

Only then will students be equipped to recognise and resist the antisemitism of their own time, not just mourn the antisemitism of the past.
What does the pro-Palestinian movement really reward: Aid or ideological conformity?
That same moral scrutiny becomes even more interesting when following Macklemore beyond the donation itself.

In 2025, when Macklemore performed the halftime show for Qatar’s celebrity-fueled sports event, he was hosted by and performed for Qatar’s International Media Office. The event reached over 25 million viewers across television and social media.

Macklemore’s fee is not public information. The relationship between him and Qatar is.

But Macklemore’s participation in a Qatari state-linked cultural spectacle produced no corresponding international boycott campaign. “Censorship,” his followers cried when venues refused to host him earlier this month.

Yet losing a private booking is not quite the same thing as state censorship. If censorship is the principal issue, why does the principle appear to stop at Qatar’s border in this case?

None of the celebrities that attended the 2025 Qatar-funded event had any issues with the censorship of this terror-funding state, and its human rights violations were of no concern to the audience currently crying over Macklemore.

The same cultural ecosystem willing to treat a warm-up artist’s loss of a private performance as a free-speech crisis seems remarkably comfortable engaging with a state whose laws restrict free speech.

Perhaps Macklemore’s defenders genuinely believe his removal represents censorship. Perhaps they believe cultural boycotts create political pressure.

Perhaps Pink’s critics sincerely believe a decade of humanitarian advocacy should be forfeited over a repost she explicitly clarified was not a statement. And donating money obviously does not buy immunity from criticism. All fair.

But principles must survive consistent application. If humanitarian relief matters, Sheeran’s millions matter. If humanitarian advocacy matters, Pink’s UNICEF work matters. If artistic freedom matters, Qatar’s restrictions on expression matter.

If institutional integrity matters, UNRWA’s documented October 7 employee cases matter. And if institutional association itself morally contaminates an artist, that principle cannot conveniently expire when the stage is in Doha.

After all the petitions, canceled artists, tour withdrawals, boycotts, festival threats, violence, and purity tests, does the cultural machinery being constructed in Palestine’s name actually improve the daily life of a Palestinian?

Perhaps the most revealing thing about the entertainment industry’s Palestine activism isn’t whom it supports. It’s what it rewards.

When the same cultural class can cry censorship in Massachusetts and apparently misplace the principle somewhere over Doha, perhaps the currency was never free expression in the first place.

What is the moral currency of the pro-Palestinian movement: humanitarian assistance or ideological conformity?

And if Palestinian welfare is the objective, perhaps the cultural world should start measuring its activism not by how many artists say the approved words, lose their jobs, abandon stages, or sign petitions, but by what actually reaches Palestinians.

And perhaps humanitarian due diligence should include asking exactly which institutions receive the money.

That is where the moral accounting should begin. Because humanitarian assistance is measurable. Ideological conformity merely has better celebrity endorsements.
Robert Kraft’s Wikipedia entry edited to describe pro-Israel media watchdog as ‘genocide’ denier
A Wikipedia editor added a disputed description of the pro-Israel media watchdog Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s biography days after Kraft barred rapper Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium with Ed Sheeran, raising questions about the entry’s neutrality.

Macklemore was removed from Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour after saying “free Palestine” during a Sept. 4 performance at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., said Macklemore would not be permitted to perform there because of what he described as the rapper’s “broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.” Messina Touring Group, the tour’s promoter, subsequently announced that Macklemore would not perform at the remaining dates after multiple venues said they would not host shows with him on the bill.

On Sept. 19, five days after Macklemore’s removal from the tour, a Wikipedia editor added material to Kraft’s entry based on a Sept. 18 article in The Intercept about his philanthropic giving to pro-Israel organizations, including the Kraft Family Foundation’s $63,500 donation to CAMERA.

The Wikipedia entry had described CAMERA as “an organization that has denied Israel’s genocide in Gaza and has organized pressure campaigns against those it considers ‘anti-Israel,’” mirroring language used in The Intercept article. The phrase “denied Israel’s genocide in Gaza” also linked to a Wikipedia page titled “Gaza genocide denial.”

The description, which is not included in CAMERA’s own Wikipedia entry, was removed on Thursday afternoon and replaced with recognition of a 2018 contribution from the foundation “with the memo line ‘fighting antisemitism.’” As of press time, the entry has not been reverted to reflect the anti-Israel language.


Amb. Yechiel Leiter: Thoughts from Neriyah’s bedside
As I sit here at my son Neriyah’s bedside, I am thinking about what the most appropriate message would be as we enter the Simchat Torah holiday.

Neriyah is still on life support and my first thought is one of immense gratitude for the support and all the prayers on his behalf. Your prayers have given my family and me tremendous strength in the knowledge that prayers matter. Prime Minister Netanyahu visited us in the hospital today to share a much-needed sense of comfort and support.

My second thought is of the importance of reminding ourselves, and anyone still willing to listen, that the October 7 attack on Simchat Torah three years ago was cultivated in an ideology that believes killing Jews is admirable and that there is no place for an Israel, any Israel. It is the same ideology that murdered Nathaniel Shukrun just before Yom Kippur, tried to murder my second son right after Yom Kippur, and tried to crash a passenger jet on its way to Tel Aviv two days before the anniversary of Israel’s own September 11. Until we defeat this ideology, we are all like Neriyah, on life support.

And thought #3: People don’t understand Israeli resilience. Neriyah is Hebrew for “G-d’s candle.” We gave him that name because he was born just before the Sabbath when the Biblical portion that begins with Numbers 8:2 is read in synagogues. In the verse, G-d instructs Moses to tell Aharon to set up seven lamps in a way that they face forward and give light in front of the Temple’s golden lamp stand.

Aaron’s merit in this task was greater than all the other leaders who participated in the consecration of the holy Temple. Greater why? Because the consecration was a one-time occurrence, while illuminating the Temple, Jerusalem, was a permanent and ongoing duty.

History has proven the light’s eternity. Mark Twain perhaps put it best:
“If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvellous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

Please continue to pray for Neriyah’s recovery, perhaps next Simchat Torah he will be able to rejoice together with his darling wife and children.


Spiked: The Islamo-left takeover of the Democrats
Victor Davis Hanson – historian, journalist and author of The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement – sits down with spiked’s Fraser Myers to discuss why the midterms are tighter than they seem, how the Democrats emboldened their craziest fringe, the plot to destroy Donald Trump, why the AI panic is overblown, how to win the economic war with Iran, and why Europe needs to get a grip of its borders.

0:00 – Introduction
0:31 – Will the Republicans lose the midterms?
1:56 – The Iran war and oil prices
2:50 – Affordability and the Biden inflation legacy
3:45 – The good economic news nobody's heard
5:45 – 'A socialist Islamist group' and the Democrats
7:29 – Was the Democratic Party already ripe for radicalisation?
9:15 – Who are the Democratic Socialists of America?
10:40 – The foreign-born factor: Piker, Omar and Mamdani
14:45 – Israel, turnout and the polls
18:47 – Would the Democrats impeach Trump again?
22:46 – Is the AI panic overblown?
27:37 – Why Iran might not be going so badly
34:24 – Europe's refusal on Iran and the future of NATO
38:18 – What if the Iranian regime falls?
42:28 – What Europe should learn from America
46:23 – Canada's leftward drift
49:13 – How Trump came back from political oblivion


UEFA can no longer ignore anti-Israel discrimination on the football pitch
Throughout my decades working in football, I have been guided by one key principle – keep politics off the field. Sport, like music, enriches us and should provide an escape from the hard realities of everyday life. Football is one of the world’s greatest unifiers but this is jeopardised the moment the divisiveness of politics creeps in.

In the fractured world we live in this is becoming increasingly difficult. Sporting organisations and personalities are constantly posturing for such causes. With its worldwide audience, football is particularly prone to these distractions. Taking the knee, the wearing of armbands and other symbolic adornments, displaying inappropriate flags, lighting the Wembley arch and commentators airing their ignorant prejudices. These are all examples of an increasing trend which is out of hand. These actions are clearly supported by some but are an extreme irritation to what I would guess is the silent majority. Additionally, these public exhibitions tend to be highly and disproportionately selective and dangerously simplistic. They distract from the event itself and create resentment and counter actions.

This is particularly relevant when it comes to Israel. Last autumn, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were scandalously banned from a European match at Villa Park. West Midlands Police’s shambolic performance was a disgrace and it was found to have fabricated evidence and misled Parliament as it kowtowed to the threats of antisemitic Islamists in Birmingham. Shortly afterwards, UEFA’s Euro 2028 launch event in Central London was hijacked by the same anti-Israel fanatics.

Matters reached a new low in the build-up and playing of the recent Israel v Republic of Ireland game. Not only was the fixture relocated from Dublin to Hungary due to fears of local protests, there were concerted efforts within Ireland to prevent their country’s footballers even taking the field. This was compounded by inflammatory remarks by the Irish football manager which inevitably included references to the well-worn “genocide” falsehood.

The game itself was characterised by patently insulting, inappropriate and unsportsmanlike behaviour. The pre-match buildup was disrupted as the Irish team voted on whether they should play. The Irish team wore black armbands in an unmistakable anti-Israel gesture; one of which was taken off and waved in celebration by a player who had just scored. The Irish team refused to shake hands with their opponents and Irish heads were “symbolically” bowed when the Israeli national anthem was played. It was an insult to the multi-ethnic and diverse Israeli squad which includes Muslims and Druze proudly playing alongside their fellow Jewish countrymen.

These are behaviours that would normally be taken up by UEFA, and we will have to see if that is the case on this occasion. I consider it highly likely that Ireland’s petulant and divisive stunts breeched the rules governing international football.

The Football Association of Ireland hasn’t only made a mockery of the traditions and customs of international football. By singling out Israel they have betrayed their own ignorance. No such qualms existed when Hamas’s financiers in Qatar came to Dublin for a friendly fixture. Nor did its national cricket team who saw fit to welcome the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan this summer. I’m not saying that Ireland should have boycotted these games, but the very least the country could have done is speak out about the grave injustices associated with those two countries.

The Israeli FA and its players have shown admirable restraint in the face of such flagrant provocation. They possibly reason that if they had risen to the bait, they would have been treated disproportionately.
The Times of Israel: Alan Shatter: Palestine 'cult' endangers future of Irish Jews
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus. Each Friday, join host diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.

It was a stormy week politically in Ireland.

It wasn't over an attempted terrorist attack like we had here in Israel this week. It wasn't over the rising cost of energy or immigration, like elsewhere in Europe.

It was a soccer match against Israel.

That was enough to dominate the country's headlines.

How did Ireland become so focused on Israel, and so hostile to the Jewish state?

Alan Shatter, a leading Jewish figure in the country and former justice and defense minister, says a pro-Palestine 'cult' has taken over the country's politics.

The country has always had a checkered past with its Jews, he said. The Provisional IRA had deep ties with Palestinian terrorists, and their political movement Sinn Fein 'contaminated' Irish politics by putting the Palestinian cuase front and center.

That obsessive focus has spread from politics across Irish society, Shatter lamented, and now trade unions, teachers, artists, and athletes have significant pro-Palestinian movements.

The angst over the soccer match against Israel a new "level of complete and utter absurdity," he said.

Now, he said, many Jews are asking whether they have a future in the country in the face of daily abuse online and a toxic environment around Israel.

"There's a deep problem here," Shatter said. "It's one the government refuses to recognize. It's one the government is contributing to."

Lazar Focus is available on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Gabriella Jacobs and video edited by Ari Schlacht.


Austrian President criticised by Jewish groups, Jerusalem for anti-Israel statements
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has sparked a diplomatic crisis with Israel at the UN in late September when he accused the Jewish state of “war crimes” with respect to the construction of residences in the West Bank.

Van der Bellen’s attack on Jerusalem came amid Austria’s decision to participate in a meeting on September 28 to mark the 25th anniversary of the UN Durban conference, which critics have long asserted espoused antisemitic rhetoric.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar fired back at Van der Bellen on X, writing “Austria’s President @vanderbellen should be ashamed! Someone who represents a country whose past is bound up with the gravest crimes against humanity and the Jewish people dares to level a false accusation against the Jewish state, which is still fighting a jihadist axis that relentlessly tries to eliminate it.” He added “ Of course, no Austrian citizen should be held responsible for the vile nonsense uttered by their President.”

Stephan Götz-Bruha, a spokesman for the President, told the Jewish Chronicle (JC) that “Federal President Van der Bellen is a friend of Israel, as he has demonstrated through numerous statements. He has condemned in the strongest terms – on many occasions – Hamas’s brutal attack on peaceful Israeli citizens, and he will continue to do so. He has also consistently emphasised Austria’s historical responsibility.”

He continued that “At the same time, he is observing the events in Gaza and the West Bank with great concern. He therefore decided to address this issue during the press conference held immediately after the opening of the UN General Assembly. In doing so, he explicitly affirmed Israel’s right to exist. Other heads of state – such as President Macron and King Abdullah of Jordan – have also expressed similar views during the General Assembly.”

The Austrian Foreign Ministry told the JC that “Austria stands as a close partner on Israel’s side. For Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, this solidarity with Israel does not preclude the demand that international law be observed. Establishing violations of the law is the task of the courts.”

The Austrian paper KURIER reported that the Chancellor’s office said that the wording had not been coordinated with Van der Bellen. The Chancellery said “Because of its history, Austria has a special responsibility toward the State of Israel. Israel’s right to exist is beyond question. Equally beyond question for us is the binding nature of international law. Determining whether a violation of the law has occurred is the task of the courts.”

While the Austrian President’s role is largely ceremonial, the President’s rhetoric and actions still carry weight, according to commentators and the Jewish community. The former Green Party politician triggered outrage when he congratulated Iran's sanctioned president-elect Ebrahim Raisi in 2021. Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in 2024, was previously sanctioned by the US for his role in the mass murder of Iranian dissidents in prison and protesters. Raisi played a key role in the executions of at least 5,000 innocent political prisoners in 1988. He was part of a four-man "Death Committee" that sent dissidents to their slaughter without an iota of due process.


Seattle mayor hosts book talk with authors who warn of Christian Zionist ‘Armageddon’
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson hosted authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor at Town Hall Seattle on Sept. 24, praising their new book and calling the war in Gaza a “genocide.”

During the event, which was recorded by the Seattle Channel and uploaded on Thursday, Wilson interviewed Klein and Taylor about their book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World. The book examines what the authors describe as an alliance among religious fundamentalists, Silicon Valley technologists and ethno-nationalists who share apocalyptic visions of the future.

“Your work is so important to the left, and I am proud to share a stage with you tonight as we build power not only to defend against fascism, but to create a better world,” Wilson said.

The mayor cited “that juxtaposition of the genocide in Gaza with that AI-generation paradise where someone’s obviously going to make a lot of money selling condos,” referring to the plan to redevelop Gaza.

During a discussion of “religious end-timers,” Klein, 56, a Montreal-born Jewish Canadian author who lives in Vancouver and supports Jewish Voice for Peace, said U.S. President Trump had appointed “Mike Huckabee, who is a Christian Zionist, to be the ambassador to Israel.”

Trump nominated Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, for the post, and the Senate confirmed him in April 2025. Huckabee has publicly identified as a Christian Zionist and has expressed support for Israel and its claims to Judea and Samaria.

According to Klein, evangelical Christian support of Israeli “incursions onto Al-Aqsa are lighting a match in an already very volatile region,” for the purpose of triggering “World War III with nukes. So they have the power to create an Armageddon that we are all in.”

She said she and Taylor, 46, a Winnipeg-born Canadian American writer and activist, had studied the significance that some Christian Zionists attach to “spotless red heifers” and animal sacrifices in connection with end-times beliefs.


Miliband has lost right to lecture on anything ever after Iran handshake, says Schama
Sir Simon Schama launched a blistering attack on Ed Miliband last night after he was pictured shaking hands with Iran’s foreign minister despite allegations of Tehran links to plots against the UK and British Jews.

The historian and broadcaster was speaking in London to mark the publication of his Jewish Quarterly essay, “Jew-Hatred, the latest edition”, just a day after Andy Burnham said there were strong indications Iran played a role in last weekend’s 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 this week that the UK stood with Israel against its enemies. But the acclaimed historian suggested there was far more gusto behind what he described as his “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.

During the hour-long event, the audience — who included former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, broadcaster Jon Sopel and novelist Santa Sebag Montefiore — heard that the date of the event, October 1, marked 80 years since the judgment in the Nuremberg trial of the leading Nazis who perpetrated the Holocaust.

Together, Livingstone, author of Sunday Times bestseller The Nuremberg Women, and Sir Simon unpicked the essence of the current wave of antisemitism. As he puts it in his essay: “For all the chants, this paroxysm of rage is, at its ideological core, not about Palestine, Israel or even the Jews. The hatred is about the haters: a failure of self-recognition; a displacement of the obligation to make amends.”

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-October 7, when instead of the sympathy for those murdered, he saw swastikas in the student dormitories and the “extreme fright” of Jewish students.


Polanski faces questions over incorrect claims that his ancestors ‘faced the Nazis’
Zack Polanski has faced questions regarding claims that his “ancestors” faced Nazi persecution in Poland before coming to England, after it was revealed that all four of his grandparents were born in the UK before Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.

In his 2025 conference speech, the Green party leader told the crowd that his Jewish ancestry was “confusing and muddling” because we were “constantly on the run”, but that from what he could gather, “my ancestors started in Latvia in a Jewish town, but they fled because of pogroms. They fled to Ukraine where they faced more pogroms. Then they ended up in Poland where they faced the Nazis. Then they arrived in England and met antisemitism here too.”

As reported by The Mail, all of Polanski’s grandparents were born in Northern England over a period ranging from 1916-1934, meaning that his great grandparents were in Britain by that time. In the wake of his 2025 conference speech, Polanski regularly repeated the line that his family had fled from Poland in the wake of the Nazis. Appearing on a panel for a BBC Question Time immigration special in December last year, he said that “My great-grandparents lived in Latvia. They’re Jewish and we fled because of Pogroms.

“We ended up in Ukraine. We fled again; more Pogroms. Then in Nazi-occupied Poland. Then fled again. And this is what people have done throughout history.”

However, in a September podcast interview, he said that “My great-grandparents actually came here way before the Second World War”.
Hackney Council in breach of Freedom of Information law over 7 October deadline to Israeli town
Hackney Council has breached Freedom of Information 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 the Israeli city. 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.

Garbett said that “Hackney and Haifa have shared a civic bond since 1968; however, in my view the relationship no longer reflects the strategic priorities of the council.”

Describing how “maintaining a civic connection in Israel is at odds with our anti-racist values”, Garbett told Yahav that she was “writing to formally invite the views of your administration on the proposal to terminate the twinning agreement. I’d be grateful if you could send me any views on this matter by e-mail…by 7 October 2026.”

After widespread disgust over the choice of date, given the 7 October massacre carried out by Hamas, Garbett issued a follow-up letter in which she described the date as “a deeply regretful oversight”.

Jewish News submitted a freedom of information request to Hackney Council last month, asking for any e-mails, whatsapp messages or other communications between council employees, councillors or any others on three issues: the letter sent to Mayor Yahav, the deadline of 7 October included in the official letter from Mayor Garbett to Mayor Yahav, the decision for the consultation into the detwinning process ending on 7 October.


Ultra-Orthodox anti-Israel protester living in US faces deportation to Israel
Yehonatan Ovadia, an Orthodox Jew from the anti-Zionist Satmar Hasidic sect, has joined a number of protests around New York and New Jersey against Israel.

Now, he’s at risk of being deported there.

Ovadia, 35, is originally from Israel and moved to the US on a temporary religious worker visa in 2022, according to the text of a lawsuit requesting Ovadia’s release. His legal status in the US was revoked earlier this year in connection with a November 2023 protest that he attended during which an Israeli flag was taken down from the town hall of Ramapo, New York. Ovadia said he was there but did not tear down the flag, and hate crimes charges against him were dropped.

But after a request to extend his stay in the United States was denied on the grounds of that protest, according to government documents shared with JTA, Ovadia was detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in August and remains in ICE custody in New York.

“In violation of our nation’s laws, he overstayed his welcome and refused to depart,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “He will receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his immigration proceedings.”

ICE’s nationwide surge affected the area’s Jewish community earlier this year when the agency detained Ari Ladino, a Jewish bridal shop owner in Teaneck, New Jersey, and his mother. Both are originally from Bogota, Colombia.

Ovadia’s arrest by ICE comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration has cracked down on pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activism, including last year’s high-profile detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent anti-Israel protest leader at Columbia University. The administration has accused Khalil and other pro-Palestinian activists and campus protesters of antisemitism.

Such an accusation would be particularly fraught against Ovadia, who is Jewish and holds anti-Israel views for religious reasons. Satmar Jews believe that a state of Israel cannot be established before the arrival of the Messiah.

In a lawsuit filed in August requesting Ovadia’s release, his lawyers argued that the Trump administration was penalizing him for protected speech motivated by religious beliefs. The government took “an official position,” Ovadia’s lawyers wrote, by preferring “one religious position within Judaism and [penalizing] an adherent of another.”

Unlike many Satmar Jews, who oppose Israel but are not active in political pro-Palestinian spaces, Ovadia has protested against Israel a number of times, including alongside members of the anti-Israel Hasidic group Neturei Karta.
Palestine Action group ‘armed with kebab skewers attacked Elbit Systems guards’
Palestine Action activists armed with “large metal kebab skewers” attacked security guards during a break-in at Israel-linked weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, a court has heard.

Qesser Zuhrah, 21, Zahra Farooque, 26, Kamran Ahmed, 29, Heba Muraisi, 31, and Liam Mullany, 34, went on trial at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday charged with criminal damage and violent disorder over the break-in during the early hours of August 6 2024.

Jurors were told that a security guard suffered a 4cm laceration to his head after being attacked at the site in Filton, near Bristol, which manufactures defence technology equipment including drones.

The five defendants are accused by prosecutors of being part of a “black team”, wearing black jumpsuits, whose role was to overwhelm security guards so a “red team”, wearing red jumpsuits, “could break into the factory and start smashing up property”.

Opening the trial, Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said: “The black team did that by threatening, intimidating and, if necessary, assaulting the guards by throwing fireworks at them, brandishing weapons such as whips and hammers and large metal kebab skewers.

“Although they may not have gone into the factory and wielded the crowbars and sledgehammers in the building to smash up Elbit’s property, each of them signed up to a plan to help the red team do just that, and thereby to shut Elbit down for as long as possible.”

Ms Heer added: “The attack was carefully planned, not only had the premises been targeted in advance, but willing participants had been identified and a step-by-step plan of action devised and agreed upon.

“Everyone taking part knew what their role was and what was required.”

Footage of the break-in, shown to jurors, appeared to show black team members lighting fireworks and flares and launching them toward unarmed security guards, while others cracked whips and raised kebab skewers as they swore and shouted at guards to “back off”.

Ms Heer told jurors: “Their intention, no doubt, was to frighten and intimidate them and so prevent them from intervening to stop the red team from entering the factory.”

The prosecutor said security guard Nigel Shaw suffered a 4cm laceration to his head after being struck by members of the black team, whose faces were masked to conceal their identity.
Met urges students to cancel 7 October anti-Israel march
The Metropolitan Police have urged pro-Palestinian student groups to abandon plans for a march through central London on the third anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel, warning of the distress it could cause Jewish students and staff.

The demonstration is planned for Wednesday, 7 October, with students expected to march from King’s College London (KCL) to University College London (UCL).

But police say they have been unable to identify anyone willing to take responsibility for organising the event, despite attempts to make contact.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman has now publicly appealed to those behind the march to change the date.

“Serious concerns have been expressed about the impact of this march on students and staff, particularly those who are Jewish – the route and the day it is being held,” he told The Times.

“Finding the organisers has so far proved difficult. So I use this opportunity today to urge them to reconsider and to make contact with us urgently, so they can plan their events on a different date.”

The march is being promoted by the University of London coalition, a network of pro-Palestinian student groups, which has called on supporters to demonstrate against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Police have contacted KCL, UCL, the London School of Economics (LSE) and SOAS, asking them to help prevent Jewish students and staff from feeling threatened or excluded on campus.

Officers have warned that restrictions could be imposed if the protest goes ahead and there is evidence of a risk of serious disorder, disruption or intimidation.
Mob vows to wear keffiyehs and confront ‘Zionists’ at Cable Street 90th anniversary event
A mob has vowed to don their keffiyehs and confront “Zionists” attending the Battle of Cable Street commemoration taking place this Sunday.

A diverse collection of participants, from trade unions to Jewish groups, will march from Tower Hamlets Town Hall through East London to St George's Gardens on Cable Street to mark the 90th anniversary of the famous battle in which Jews – among other members of London’s working class – saw off Oswald Mosely’s fascist gangs.

However, messages being sent on WhatsApp understood to have been circulated by anti-Israel group IJAN urge activists to converge on the march to show that “Zionists are not welcome”.

Naming “aggressive Zionist” campaign groups Stop The Hate, Our Fight and Christians Against Antisemitism, the message urges activists to bring “Palestine flags and keffiyehs, to show Zionists that anti-fascism means anti-Zionism.”

Contacted by the JC, a Stop The Hate spokesperson described the message – especially given it related to a day on which Jews remember the European antisemitism that made Zionism necessary – as “shameful”.

They said: “In recent years, British Jews have faced a horrifying resurgence of antisemitism. We have seen the terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue, Jewish men stabbed in Golders Green and Hatzola ambulances set ablaze. Once again, British Jews have been forced to confront the reality of hatred directed at our community.

“That is why it is particularly shameful that some anti-Israel groups attending Sunday’s commemoration, while presenting themselves as anti-fascists, have sought to tell Zionist Jews that we are not welcome.

“Cable Street is part of our history. Nobody gets to erase Jewish people from our own story, and nobody gets to decide that Jews may commemorate our history only if we first pass a political purity test.

“We will not accept the suggestion that being Zionists somehow excludes us from remembering the Jewish men and women who stood against Mosley’s Blackshirts.”

Stop The Hate also called for unity and tolerance despite the potential for political disagreements between those planning to march.

They said: “Our message to everyone attending on Sunday is simple: you are welcome to commemorate Cable Street alongside us. For one day, surely we can stand together in remembrance of those who confronted fascism 90 years ago. We hope others will extend that same tolerance to us.

“So on Sunday, we will walk through Whitechapel with pride: proud as Jews, proud as British citizens and proud of those who came before us.

“And we will carry a message that should unite every genuine opponent of hatred – ‘Jew hatred is Jew hatred, no matter the mask’.”


Ugly Vigil in Sydney - AJA quoted on News24
News24 Host James Macpherson filling in on the Bolt Report quoted AJA in calling out an ugly event being held on the anniversary of October 7 in Sydney.

Macpherson quoted AJA President Robert Gregory who said "October 7 was the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. It was a day of mass murder, rape and kidnapping, yet these groups are holding a ‘Vigil for Gaza’ on its anniversary and telling Israel not to ‘steal the date’.

They have no shame. Of all 365 days of the year, they have deliberately chosen the anniversary of the October 7 massacre for this event. That says a great deal about the movement and its complete lack of sensitivity towards Jewish victims.

You don't get to massacre Jews and then complain that the victims remember the anniversary. Just as the Holocaust will forever be associated with Nazi Germany, October 7 will forever be associated with the Palestinian perpetrators who carried out those atrocities.

Israel can't steal October 7 from them. The rape, murder and kidnapping of Jews on that day will forever be associated with the Palestinian perpetrators who carried it out. They chose the date, not Israel.”




Sydney nurses accused of threatening to kill Israeli patients fight charges 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 that the charges unlawfully restrict freedom of political communication.

Nadir’s solicitor, Zemarai Khatiz, told The Australian that Abu Lebdeh’s lawyer had already notified the NSW District Court of the planned challenge and that he was preparing a similar notice.

“We are in the process of preparing a constitutional challenge to the High Court of Australia in Canberra relating to the validity of the charges, on the basis that they impermissibly burden the implied right of political communication,” he said.

The move could delay their trial, currently scheduled to begin on 12 October, 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, who worked at the Bankstown Hospital in south-west 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 that the recording could not be used at trial following arguments that it had been obtained without the nurses’ consent.

However, prosecutors successfully appealed, and the video was allowed back into evidence in July.
Students, alumni refile lawsuit against George Washington University alleging that it failed to address campus Jew-hatred
Jewish students and the advocacy coalition Compliance, Accountability, Policy, Ethics – Ed, or CAPE-Ed, have filed an amended federal lawsuit accusing George Washington University of failing to adequately address antisemitic harassment and discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students.

The amended complaint, filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, follows U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden’s July dismissal of the plaintiffs’ original complaint. McFadden dismissed the case without prejudice, ruling that the nearly 200-page filing and more than 1,000 paragraphs violated federal pleading rules because of its length. He gave the plaintiffs 30 days to file an amended complaint.

The lawsuit, originally filed in May 2025, centers in part on a 13-day anti-Israel encampment in the university’s University Yard in April and May 2024. The complaint describes confrontations involving Jewish students, including protesters shouting, “Zionists, go to hell” and “We don’t want no Jewish state.”

The plaintiffs also allege that Jewish students faced further harassment and intimidation and argue that the university’s response denied them equal access to their education. They are suing under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the D.C. Human Rights Act.

The case follows a 2025 investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice that found GW had violated federal civil rights law by acting with “deliberate indifference” toward a hostile educational environment affecting Jewish, American-Israeli and Israeli students and faculty. The department cited harassment and intimidation during the 2024 encampment and said GW had failed to take meaningful action in response to complaints.
Jewish teachers in Canada launch human rights case over antisemitism and alleged reprisals
Twelve Jewish teachers in Canada have launched human rights legal action against four school boards and two teaching unions, claiming they were punished for speaking out about antisemitism at work.

The educators say they faced discrimination because they were Jewish, with some allegedly disciplined or accused of racism themselves after reporting antisemitic incidents.

In one case, a teacher reportedly discovered a swastika on their desk. Another was allegedly publicly reprimanded during a union meeting after raising concerns about antisemitism.

The complaints were filed with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario on Thursday, with each educator seeking C$150,000 (approximately £80,000) in damages, as well as compensation for psychological counselling.

Toronto lawyer Kathryn Marshall, who represents the group, said Jewish teachers had repeatedly been let down by the organisations responsible for protecting them.

“Many of the teachers over the past years and months, when they’ve reported the antisemitism, when they’ve reported things that have happened to them, they’ve been disciplined, they’ve been not believed, they’ve had the tables turned on them,” she told reporters, according to the Toronto Sun.

“They’ve been accused of being racially insensitive, they’ve been accused of discrimination themselves.”

The legal action names the Toronto District School Board, York Region District School Board, Simcoe County District School Board and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

Two teaching unions, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, are also named in the complaints.

The educators accuse the organisations of failing to address antisemitism and, in some cases, retaliating against those who raised concerns.
Hamas-backing professor booked for UC Berkeley event with pro-Palestine student group day before October 7 anniversary
A pro-Palestine group at UC Berkeley is proudly hosting Hamas sympathizer and former Columbia professor Mohamed Abdou the day before the 3rd anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks.

The university confirmed to the California Post that Abdou will appear via Zoom before a group of students in an on-campus event space. He’s also set to appear before Claremont College students on Oct. 7.

Abdou is infamous for writing on social media, just days after the Oct. 7 attacks, that he is “with Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.” The post led to his firing from Columbia University.

The controversial professor is currently on his “Death to the Akademy” tour launched earlier this year.

And he’s already stirred up controversy with more anti-American and pro-jihad comments. “Be proud of your hate for America,” Abdou said over Zoom to NYU students.

“You love Islam, and you should be loving Islam more than this barbarous colony. It’s a plague upon the Earth. And yes, in that sense, you need to be a threat. We all need to be a threat,” he added.

He even encouraged those attending to seek martyrdom. “If we are to meet Muhammad, then our blood serves as a testimony,” he said. “We do not fear death.”

A UC Berkeley spokesperson emphasized that Abdou is not physically visiting the campus and said that the university will not cancel the event “based on fears or expectations of what might be expressed.”

The spokesperson said the university understands “and regrets how upsetting the event and the rhetoric will be for many members of the Jewish community on our campus, and far beyond.”

“Through the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Jewish Life we consistently and continuously engage with the Jewish members of our campus community to ensure we can address their needs and interests, and to ensure that during events like these Jewish community members receive the support they may need,” the spokesperson added. “And while we do not publicly discuss or disclose security measures, nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our campus community members.”


In updated guide, Southern Poverty Law Center says campus Jew-hatred crackdown a ‘weaponization’ of antisemitism
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that was indicted for allegedly funneling donor funds to members of white supremacist groups, updated its antisemitism resource on Thursday, adding “weaponization” to its list of examples of prominent antisemitic narratives.

In July, the list included “the anti-immigrant ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory,” “the demonization of LGBTQ+ people,” “male supremacy,” “anti-diversity, equity and inclusion” and “instrumentalization.” The updated resource replaced the latter with the more widely-used term “weaponization.”

The updated terminology accuses the “hard right” of treating Jews “not as individuals, but as tools to serve a political agenda.”

“Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, this dynamic has dramatically intensified,” the center’s guide states. “Political actors have increasingly deployed accusations of antisemitism to silence pro-Palestinian voices, especially on college campuses, freezing billions in university funding, detaining and attempting to deport legal residents for constitutionally protected speech and calling for the impeachment of federal judges who ruled against those deportations.”

It cites, as examples, the Trump administration freezing university funding over antisemitism on campuses, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) fast-tracking the Antisemitism Awareness Act, “legislation that would mandate that the Education Department adopt a definition of antisemitism that critics, including many Jewish organizations, warned would effectively criminalize criticism of Israel.”
First line of Wikipedia Oct. 7 entry says Hamas terrorists came from ‘blockaded’ Gaza, seeming to justify attacks
The main entry on Wikipedia—one of the most visited sites on the internet and one that reportedly feeds into the ways that artificial intelligence tools answer questions from users—essentially blames Israel for being attacked on Oct. 7, the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Jew-hatred watchdogs and pro-Israel groups have long accused the crowdsourced encyclopedia, in which almost anyone can post to the site, of antisemitic bias. But the fact that its main entry on the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks states in its first sentence that the terror attacks were “a series of coordinated armed incursions from the blockaded Gaza Strip” adds insult to injury, experts told JNS.

“It’s yet another example of the Wikipedia editors’ anti-Israel bias,” Alyza Lewin, president of U.S. affairs at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, told JNS. “They modify entries to support a distorted narrative that erases Jewish history and the Jewish experience. This time they added the word ‘blockaded’ to try and justify Hamas’s barbaric Oct. 7 massacre.”

The claim on the Wikipedia page recalls statements from anti-Israel protesters, “who claim that ‘resistance is justified’ or U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’s assertion that Oct. 7 ‘did not happen in a vacuum,’” Lewin said.

The edit to the main Oct. 7 page to include the word “blockaded” took place in February and only got minimal pushback from another editor at the time on the entry’s “talk” page.

Discussion was revived in August, as more editors pushed back, which prompted a formal discussion on Sept. 11 to determine if there was consensus among editors—which can be any active Wikipedia user who has edited for at least 30 days and made at least 500 edits—whether the word “blockaded” should remain in the opening sentence.

“The edit ignores Hamas’s history of diverting humanitarian aid intended for Gaza’s civilian population,” Lewin told JNS. “Indeed, Hamas used pre-Oct. 7 aid to build a massive terror tunnel network under homes, schools and mosques from which it launched its attacks, cynically exploiting civilians as a human shield and then crying ‘genocide’ when Israel defended itself.”

Shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks, Guterres said at the U.N. Security Council that the attacks “did not happen in a vacuum” and that “the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.” At the time, Gilad Erdan, the Israeli envoy to the global body, said that the secretary-general’s comment “expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder.”

The Wikipedia user who launched the formal discussion stated that “Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip is a defining feature of this topic and necessary context for a non-specialist reader” and that the highest-quality sources support using the word “blockaded” in a neutral voice in the opening sentence.

The editor cited Rashid Khalidi, whom the editor called the “preeminent expert in modern Palestinian history,” to support using the term. Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has noted that Khalidi was a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization when the PLO was a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Khalidi has denied that.


Florida man indicted for threatening to ‘hunt’ Jews
Duncan Fraser MacDonald was indicted on Thursday for threatening to “hunt” Jews and displaying his guns in videos that he posted on social media.

MacDonald, of Clay County, Fla., faces a count of transmitting a threat to injure, according to the indictment filed in federal court in Jacksonville. He allegedly threatened to “take them out because the Austrian painter was correct,” referring to Adolf Hitler.

The criminal complaint alleges that MacDonald also texted, “Shabby service tomorrow is gonna be epic,” which an FBI agent interpreted as referring to Shabbat services.

A Jewish community security director alerted the FBI to the videos on Sept. 17, according to the complaint. MacDonald was arrested on Sept. 20.
Massachusetts man charged with cyberstalking GOP adviser, referring to her husband as ‘Jewish Nazi’
A federal grand jury in Boston returned an indictment against John Anthony Proia III, 41, of Waltman, Mass., who was arrested for allegedly cyberstalking a former Republican political adviser, whom he is accused of calling more than 40 times, using multiple phone numbers, in the past two months.

Among the messages he allegedly sent to the woman’s parents was an attack on her husband, whom he is accused of calling a “Jewish Nazi/white supremacist.”

“As alleged in the indictment, the defendant repeatedly and relentlessly targeted the victim, her husband and her family with deeply disturbing communications that profoundly disrupted their lives,” stated Leah Foley, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

“Cyberstalking can inflict real fear and harm, and we take these allegations extremely seriously,” Foley stated. “Those who use technology to harass, intimidate or torment others should understand that attempts to anonymize their criminal conduct will not shield them from prosecution.”

“We will find you, and we will hold you accountable,” she stated.

The defendant allegedly called the victim multiple times a day, “including calls late at night,” the Justice Department said. “The calls that were answered by the victim, as well as voicemails, were allegedly made by what appeared to be a male caller employing a menacing tone and often using expletives.”

The department referred to the victim’s husband as a “high-level federal government employee.” The victim lives in the Washington, D.C. area.

The FBI was involved in the case. Proia was arrested on Oct. 1 and faces a count of cyberstalking.

“Terrorizing someone isn’t some sick game,” stated Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division. “It’s a crime, which is why the FBI and our partners take it so seriously as we work to protect and serve everyone in our communities.”
When I saw Moscow Jews defying the KGB on Simchat Torah to proclaim: We are still here
Foreigners were usually easy to recognise in Moscow. The shoes alone could be a dead giveaway: the gap in quality, style, and colour was immense. Foreigners also tended to walk with greater confidence, less fearful of standing out or being noticed, less preoccupied with who might be watching.

As an obvious outsider, I was pulled into one group after another, one dancing circle after another. And when it was discovered that I spoke Russian, the questions came from every direction. About me, my Russian, America, Israel, Simchat Torah, the Jewish world.

They were desperate for information, human connection, and a means of sending messages to family and friends abroad. No less importantly, they wanted the eavesdropping officials to know they were not alone – that there were those from abroad who cared and who would, they prayed, carry the truth back to the West.

Eventually, I made my way into the synagogue itself. This was Moscow’s main synagogue, surely kept open in large measure as a showcase for visiting diplomats, journalists, and tourists.

But inside, in contrast to the big crowds outside, only a few, mostly elderly, Jews were participating in the Simchat Torah service itself, marking the completion of the year-long reading of the Torah and the beginning of a new annual cycle. Presumably, they posed no threat to the Soviet system as “relics” of what the authorities believed was a rapidly disappearing Jewish remnant.

From that October day, I began going to the synagogue every Saturday morning. Usually, only a tiny number prayed inside, while many more gathered outside to make a statement by their presence, draw strength from one another, and perhaps meet a visiting foreigner eager to show solidarity.

During the week, I went to the homes of refuseniks, those denied permission to leave the country and often left for years in a perilous limbo.

All this turned out to be too much for my Soviet hosts, who wanted me to spend my free time at the ballet or in the concert halls, where the Soviets shone, and not with Jews considered disaffected or politically suspect. That led to my detention one Saturday afternoon near the synagogue, followed a few days later by my expulsion from the country.

But the story did not end there. More and more people in the West, Jews and non-Jews alike, chose the path of engagement, not silence. Together with brave Jews in the Soviet Union, and supported especially by the governments of Israel and the United States, the Soviet Jewry movement became one of the most successful human rights struggles in history.

And yet today, that Soviet Jewry movement receives far too little attention in Jewish communal life and education. It was a compelling saga of the few against the many, of the inextinguishable Jewish flame, and of courageous souls who put their lives on the line for their faith and identity.

It is high time to tell the story again – not least on Simchat Torah, when thousands of Jews gathered, year after year, in the capital of the Soviet Union to proclaim, against the immense power of the state, that they were still here.





 


at