Israel’s involvement in nuclear weaponry, whilst recognized for many years, has certainly been brought to the fore by the Vanunu affair. Yet even before Vanunu’s act of apparent treachery, a small but growing number of Israeli citizens had pressed apprehension at the intention of the government to use nuclear energy for generating electricity. Since 1981, … Read more
THE presence of six alleged war criminals in Britain is a serious and emotional. matter. The issue raises important questions, not least about how they arrived and what should be done with them if they are identified as perpetrators of genocide. Why has it taken until 1987 to bring this issue forward in this … Read more
“BRITISH Jewry in the Eighties” a statistical and geographical study by Barry Kosmin and Stanley Waterman, was recently published under the imprint of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. The study confined itself to such matters as births and deaths, membership of synagogues, geographical distribution and other areas which could be safely and dispassionately … Read more
Recently, ITV’s “First Tuesday” showed Barry Cockcroft’s film about the attempt of the Hungarian dissident Laszlo Rajk to discover and indeed understand his father. The latter, the first Laszlo Rajk, was a leader of the underground Communist Party during the Horthy regime. How was it, the son asked, that a man who courageously struggled against … Read more
The Museum of the Jewish East End at the Sternberg Centre in Finchley has aroused a great deal of interest during the short period of its existence. Its central task has been to convey the rich heritage of the East End to the large number of Jewish people who live in North West London. Although … Read more
On the 50th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War . . . No Pasaran: the Jews who fought in Spain I came to Spain because I felt I had to. Look at the world situation. We didn’t worry when Mussolini came to power in Italy. We felt bad when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, but … Read more
Ceasing a life of double thinking JEWISH QUARTERLY: It is now ten years since the formation of the Moscow-based committee to monitor Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Accord. Why did Orlov, Amalrik and yourself decide to initiate it? ANATOLY SHCHARANSKY: We felt that the Helsinki Agreement between the Soviet Union and the European nations … Read more
ROSH Ha’shana, the Jewish New Year is welcomed with apple and honey but for many Soviet Jews it is the taste of bitter herbs which lingers. In the Jewish year 5746 (1985/6), approximately 1,000 were permitted to leave the Soviet Union. Although Anatoly Shcharansky, Ilya Essas and the Goldshtein brothers have all been permitted to … Read more
“War is Peace” —George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four THE recent expulsion of the head of Syrian intelligence in Britain is an indication of the concerted effort to thwart attacks on Jewish and Israeli institutions in this country. At the Tokyo summit, it was decided to take specific measures and to improve coordination in an … Read more
This year marks the centenary of the birth of Oscar Kokoschka, one of the great figurative painters of this century. He is perhaps best known for his portraits, painted between 1909 and 1914 in Vienna and Berlin, of actors, musicians, artists and intellectuals—such as the satirist Karl Kraus, the architect Adolf Loos and Herwarth Walden, … Read more