Queen Elizabeth II will honor an Israeli industrialist after he donated $20 million to projects involving the United Kingdom’s maritime heritage. Sami Ofer will fund the project at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Maritime Greenwich. A new wing at the National Maritime Museum will be named the Sami Ofer Wing. Ofer has been awarded… More ▸
Leaders of the Reform movement in Britain are looking to a new prayer book to help bolster the movement as the main alternative to an increasingly Orthodox British Jewry. The prayer book, published last month, is being billed as a “grass-roots siddur” because it offers a choice of several services. Its publication comes as researchers… More ▸
When Israel asked for European troops, including Germans, to patrol the Israel-Lebanon border area following Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah, it was a salient sign of how far European ties with Israel have come in recent years. “Who would have ever thought that German soldiers would be charged — and trusted — to protect Israelis… More ▸
With anti-Semitism in Britain at record levels, life is changing in subtle and not-so-subtle ways for the country’s Jews. Armed guards escort Orthodox Jews in Manchester walking to synagogue. Vendors sell Arabic-language editions of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion†outside train stations. Academic and labor unions routinely issue calls to boycott the Jewish… More ▸
Britain’s Holocaust education programs still rank among the strongest in the world. That’s the message from British educators and government, contradicting recent reports that the Department for Education and Skills would scrap its Holocaust curriculum requirement. “Holocaust education in Britain is compulsory and there has never been any other suggestion,” Nikki Ginsberg, a spokeswoman for… More ▸
Long after Darfur became a cause celebre for American Jews, Jewish communities in the United Kingdom are beginning to mobilize against the genocide. Under the banner “No more excuses, protect the people of Darfur,” British Jews demonstrated outside the Prime Minister’s Residence on April 29 as part of a worldwide effort to build momentum to… More ▸
Responding to a parliamentary inquiry into the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom, the British government made 35 recommendations to combat what one official called “the absolute scourge of our society.” The recommendations include: improving the recording and reporting of anti-Semitic incidents; reviewing and strengthening the prosecution process; accelerating efforts to confront extremist… More ▸
Jews and Muslims in Britain often are at odds on issues of civil liberties and terrorism, but they’re united in opposing a bill that would require faith-based private schools to admit 25 percent of students from outside the main faith. As the bill was debated last week in the House of Lords, Jewish leaders were… More ▸
At first glance, you might wonder just what the members of the group chatting in a pub in London’s Hampstead neighborhood have in common. There are men and women of all fashions and political persuasions, some work in the public sector, some in the private sector and others in charity. Some are experts in politics… More ▸
Anti-Semitism is rising in Britain, partly as a result of the situation in the Middle East, according to a new study. The Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry Into Anti-Semitism was presented Thursday to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The study was chaired by Labor Party lawmaker Denis MacShane and co-written by a multiparty group… More ▸
