THE MURDER OF YITZHAK Rabin on 4 November 1995 was a watershed in the campaign of incitement of the Israeli far right against the Oslo Agreement. Yigal Amir, Rabin’s assassin, was not considered insane or unbalanced before the killing, merely another right wing activist supporting the settlers. He was swept along by the rising tide … Read more
The recent British Labour Party conference was seen as the first stage in the transfer from a Blair government to a Gordon Brown administration. Many comparisons were once again drawn between these two long-time rivals, but one commentator interestingly pointed out that their hostility toward Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, is a rare issue … Read more
Much has been written about contemporary anti-Semitism in Britain, often fuelled by apocalyptic comment from outside the British Isles. Internet bloggers recall the 1930s while emailers plead with British Jews to save themselves before it is too late. Yet there are no pogroms on the high street, no concentration camps in the parks, no crematoria … Read more
I am sitting at home, writing about David Ben-Gurion’s historic debate with Agudat Israel about a constitution for the new state of Israel, when the telephone rings. A colleague from Israel asks if I’m OK. “OK? Everyone’s fine.” A silence. “You had better watch the BBC,” he says. “There have been explosions in London.” A … Read more
The British newspaper The Guardian has had a long and illustrious association with Jews and Zionism. The original owners, the Scott family, befriended Chaim Weizmann and its editorial writer, Herbert Sidebotham, was a powerful advocate of the Zionist answer to the Jewish problem at the beginning of the 20th century.Within weeks of Turkey’s entry into … Read more
At the end of August 1929, nearly 80 Jews were killed in Hebron and Safed in an outbreak of Arab violence, instigated by the Mufti of Jerusalem. In all, 13q Jews and over 120 Arabs died in the disturbances. The investigating Shaw Commission, set up by the British- government, emphasised that the root of the … Read more
Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, believes there has been a concerted attempt to label his paper as a receptacle for liberal anti-Semitism due to its criticism of current Israeli government policies.In Daphna Baram’s incisive new book, “Disenchantment: The Guardian and Israel,” (Guardian Books, £17.99), he is quoted as saying: “And, of course, once … Read more
Andreas Whittam Smith (Opinion, 19 April) quotes selectively from a harsh English translation of Jabotinsky’s famous article “The Iron Wall” which was originally published in Russian in 1923. Jabotinsky wrote in the aftermath of Arab attacks in 1920 and 1921 and was actually protesting about the British inability to protect the Jews or arm them. … Read more
Just over one year ago, Ariel Sharon was returned as Prime Minister of Israel in an election in which the Likud and its allies easily attained a blocking majority of 61 seats in the Knesset. The candidate of the Labour Party, the dovish Amram Mitzna, was effectively trounced and resigned his position shortly afterwards. During … Read more
Reading The Guardian: Jews, Israel-Palestine and the Origins of Irritation According to the organisation ‘Reporting the World’, there were 4393 mentions of Israel and the Palestinians in the British press from the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada, 29 September 2000 until 20 March 2001. 1 The coverage of the Intifada by The Guardian, in … Read more