Review of Avi Shilon’s Ben-Gurion: His Later Years in the Political Wilderness (Rowman and Littlefield 2016) pp.245 This latest work from Avi Shilon describes in detail Ben-Gurion’s last decade – from stepping down as prime minister in June 1963 until his death in December 1973. They were not glorious years and were peppered by … Read more
Review of Where the Jews Aren’t by Masha Gessen (Schoken 2016) pp.171. When should the Jews leave and when should they stay put? This is the general question which the gay, Jewish, American-Russian writer Masha Gessen asks about her own life. She was beaten in primary school, ostracized at secondary school and barred from university in the USSR because of her Jewishness. Her … Read more
The political life of Shimon Peres lasted almost as long as a normal lifetime – three score and 10 years. The secret of such longevity was his ability to adapt to political reality as he saw it and not to be hidebound by ideological principles. He learned this at the knee of David Ben Gurion … Read more
The roots of the current crisis between British Jews and the leadership of today’s Labour Party, are not new. They are a consequence of debates that stirred passions over 100 years ago in Europe between socialist factions, following the deaths of Marx and Engels; friction between loyalists and critics of the Kremlin within the Communist … Read more
The assertion of Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, that Trotskyists were attempting to join his party, has been a refrain voiced for the best part of a century. The total failure of far-left groups such as the Communist Party to appeal to the British working class meant that entryism into the Labour Party was the … Read more
”I have no doubts that Wallenberg was liquidated in 1947.” So noted the newly emerged diary of Ivan Serov, head of the KGB between 1954 and 1958 during the post-Stalinist thaw, regarding the fate of the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews in wartime Budapest. It seemed to confirm that Raoul Wallenberg had not … Read more
Jeffrey Herf, Undeclared Wars With Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left 1967–1989 (Cambridge 2016) After 1945, Communist East Germany and the far Left in West Germany felt that they had no moral responsibility towards Israel. In their eyes it was just another outpost of imperialism that had placed the yoke of colonialism around the necks of Palestinian Arabs. Prof. Jeffrey Herf’s … Read more
Seventy years ago, on July 22, 1946, the Irgun Commander, Menahem Begin, sat by his radio, eagerly anticipating a dramatic announcement on the BBC. It was not, however, the news that he had expected. A crestfallen and shocked Mr Begin heard that scores of civilians had been killed in the bombing of the King David … Read more
‘For some people, life was split in two on June 22 1941, for some on September 3 1939 and for others on July 18 1936.’ So wrote the Soviet Jewish writer, Ilya Ehrenburg about the start of war against Nazi Germany. Ninety-nine year old Ubby Cowen in his nursing home in Golders Green remembers that … Read more
A RECENT academic survey indicated that 93 percent of British Jews believe that Israel forms some part of their identity. Given the crisis of anti-Zionism in Labour, this poses a dilemma for Labour Jews ‒ where does their loyalty lie, to their Jewishness or to their party? While Jews have historically been prominent in leftist movements, it is also true that a ”Jewish … Read more