Recent Articles
On Benjamin Moser’s ‘Anti-Zionism’
In the years 1897-98, three political movements were formed which fashioned the destiny of the Jews during the 20th century. The socialist General Jewish Labour Bund was founded in Vilnius in October 1897 and advocated cultural autonomy in the areas of the great empires in which Jews were concentrated. The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party…
Iran’s Campaign against Diaspora Jews
Shortly after midnight last Sunday morning, a local resident in an English country village outside RAF Fairford contacted the police to inform them that three white vans were parked near her driveway – and that she had seen masked men. Armed police arrived accompanied by sniffer robots on the lookout for explosives. Five Londoners in…
Weimar: ‘The Jew Republic’
‘Berlin has been defiled – shame on a people that considers itself among the world’s civilised’. This was the editorial in the social democratic daily, Vorwärts, commenting on a pogrom enacted in the city against the poor emigrant ostjuden (Galician Jews). This attack took place ten years before Hitler rose to power. Victor Sebestyen’s Weimar Germany: Death…
On Ed Miliband’s Speech
“The impact of settler violence and terrorism has been catastrophic for Palestinian communities. Settlement expansion and attempts to create irreversible divisions on the ground threaten peace, security and the prospects for a viable Palestinian state. Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of a two-state solution.” So stated the new British Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband,…
A Rosh Hashanah Resolution for Jewish Leaders
With the next election in Israel now only two months away, the desire of the far right to remain in power has become more explicit and more bizarre. The Minister for National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, recently proposed that 30 to 40 Palestinians in Gaza be “eliminated” every night. While this is expected from Ben-Gvir, the…
Ed Miliband, social democracy and Israel
Last Monday, Andy Burnham “kissed hands” with King Charles and became the fourth prime minister in the king’s short reign – and the fourth prime minister in as many years. Burnham sees his task as the rebuilding of the UK after a decade of instability following Brexit – to provide “a circuit breaker” in the…