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Sep 29, 2021, 7:21 PM

Keir Starmer is winning the battle for Labour’s soul

Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Brighton. Via Jewish News

Yesterday, as Keir Starmer wrapped up his first full conference at the helm, he welcomed an emotional Louise Ellman back to the party she was forced out of two years earlier over the previous leadership’s wilful failure to tackle racism. That warmest of embraces –...

Jan 27, 2020, 12:55 AM

The story behind Kate’s survivor portraits for Jewish News

The Duchess of Cambridge’s poignant photographs of Holocaust survivors and their families will help bring this crucial initiative to the attention of millions worldwide – puncturing holes in the narrative of denial that still finds a place in dark corners of the internet. But it...

Oct 31, 2019, 1:00 PM

The nightmare before Chanukah?

It’s the moment we’ve hoped for and dreaded in equal measure: the end of Corbyn’s Labour or dawn of Corbyn’s Britain. An early election amid Brexit chaos has long been considered the worst possible scenario by the vast majority in our community, whose nightmare is...

Jun 5, 2019, 7:44 PM

Pride in Israel and British Jewry at first Veteran Games

British and Israeli participants at the inaugural Veterans Games. (Jewish News)

I learnt a new word last week: hoofing. It’s Royal Marines slang to describe anything beyond amazing – and it couldn’t be more fitting to describe the inaugural Veteran Games. Beit Halochem UK and the Israeli Embassy were always on to a winner in bringing...

May 26, 2019, 12:07 PM

She didn’t visit Israel, but May was strong and stable in her support

That Theresa May faced the most unenviable task in recent British politics won’t erase her place in the history books for the wrong reasons: losing the Tory’s majority from 20 points up in the polls and suffering the worst ever Commons defeat being the most...

Jan 11, 2019, 2:59 PM

Loudmouth kicks his own community in attacking Israel

Golders Green Hippodrome building, which is now an Islamic centre (Jewish News)

If there’s one thing British Muslims and Jews can live without it’s a guide to interfaith relations from employees of that bastion of inclusivity and harmony, Press TV. But that didn’t stop Roshan Salih, a contributor to the UK arm of the Iranian propaganda station and...

Jun 9, 2018, 12:32 AM

Ben is a knight by deed, and finally by name

If anyone deserves the title ‘Sir’ it is Ben Helfgott. Both inside and beyond the UK Jewish community, in Britain and internationally, his name has for decades been synonymous with Holocaust education and ensuring the lessons of those darkest of days are passed on. He...

May 13, 2018, 1:45 PM

All of Israel are proud chickens today!

‘We are the Champions’ was ringing out through Rabin Square when I left at just after 4am. Not even an unseasonal downpour (more than enough to disperse an Israeli crowd usually) was dampening this party. I planned to get a taxi from my hotel but...

Apr 25, 2018, 4:57 PM

So deep is the schism that only action will do

If there was any need for further proof of the continuing huge gulf between Jeremy Corbyn and the mainstream Jewish community it came within moments of the end of this week’s crunch talks. A statement released by the Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council...

Apr 4, 2018, 8:17 PM

Why it’s right for community leaders to meet Corbyn

Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn during the Scottish Labour conference at Caird Hall in Dundee, Scotland, March 9, 2018. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Last week, following our exclusive sit-down with Jeremy Corbyn, we declared his reassurances on tackling anti-Semitism within Labour were ‘not good enough’. If the Labour leader’s failure to condemn the characterisation of some allegations of hate as “smears” compounded worries, his description of the fringe...

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About Me

Justin Cohen is News Editor of the Jewish News.