David Davidi-Brown, at The Blogs

May 20, 2022, 4:53 PM

We should all applaud a teenager making a stand just by being himself out loud

Jake Daniels is the football hero I needed when I was 17. Back then I was playing football for Wingate & Finchley’s youth team. I’d like to think I was a decent squad player in what was possibly the first all-Jewish team to win a...

Apr 28, 2022, 4:02 PM

Israel Tour’s back – awesome and accessible for every teen

Israel tour group at the Kotel (Credit: UJIA via Jewish news)

I’ve been to Israel more than 40 times. One tough part of the pandemic was being distanced from places and people I love, so I’m excited by UJIA’s announcement that Israel Tour will return this summer. Much has changed since my first visit in 1998,...

Nov 9, 2021, 1:13 PM

Celebrate Israelis fighting for a fairer future

2021 has been another year of change and challenges in Israel: the pandemic, elections (again!), rocket attacks, violence in Israel’s mixed cities, and then the emergence of an unprecedented broad coalition government. We saw once again how conflict there can unleash hatred towards Jews here....

Oct 15, 2020, 5:33 PM

Covid-19 impact reinforces need to focus on young people’s mental health

JPR’s second report from their survey assessing Covid-19’s impact on UK Jewry addressed the hidden effects of Mental Health. JPR highlighted younger people (16-29) were “more severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak than older Jewish people, which aligns with … findings … among the national...

Dec 18, 2019, 6:23 PM

We can’t be hypocrites when fighting prejudice

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (left) going head to head in the BBC Election Debate. (Photo credit: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire via Jewish News)

For four years most of our community was united in defending ourselves and demanding solidarity from our fellow British citizens. Whilst that work continues, we have an opportunity to learn from our painful experience to ensure we support minorities and marginalised groups. During the fight...

Sep 7, 2018, 3:19 PM

Harness your inner Jennifer Hudson and stay put – scream: ‘We’re not going!’

British and Israeli flags. Would you make the big jump? (Credit: Jewish News)

Humour me. Stick on Jennifer Hudson belting out this Dreamgirls classic and muster your inner diva. Let’s all “Tear down the mountains “Yell, scream and shout”, Corbyn and his cult can say what they want, we’re not walking out. Yesterday the Jewish Chronicle published results...

Jun 22, 2018, 5:31 PM

Only fundamentalists need to fear fundamental British values

This week 7,000 strictly orthodox Jews publicly prayed in response to perceived attacks from Ofsted regarding how they promote British values. Some state-funded schools within these communities have censored images of women socialising with men or felt it appropriate to inquire about parents’ sexual relations....

Jun 12, 2017, 7:08 PM

We must reject the hate of Corbyn’s ‘friends’ AND the Conservative Party’s DUP friends

Welcoming the news that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will likely enable the Conservatives to form the next government, Board of Deputies’ President Jonathan Arkush apparently casts the DUP as a “friend of the community and Israel”. This features in quotes given to the Jerusalem...

Mar 9, 2017, 7:15 PM

Clowns to the left, fools to the right; fighting for a middle way on BDS

Jewdents. Sit on Us. Banning the boycotters. Satire, bad puns, poor policy, but no laughing matter. Let’s start to the left. A group of witty Jewish students (Jewdents) recently launched their #BridgesForBoycotts campaign, together with a Sit on Us Facebook page, a parody of Stand...

Dec 9, 2016, 2:41 PM

The Jewish centre ground can trump populist hate

From the shock election of Donald Trump in the US to the rise of Marine Le Pen in France, populist rhetoric is sweeping away moderate debate. When it comes to our small Jewish corner of the globe, how can we avoid following a similarly destructive...

About Me

David Davidi-Brown is Chief Executive of the New Israel Fund UK, has previously worked for the JLC, UJS, UJIA, and Jewish Care, has volunteered with Limmud and KeshetUK, and is a Schusterman Fellow.