Gilad Atzmon, a Jew, has backed down from playing the saxophone at a London jazz club after complaints from the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.
Israeli-born Atzmon, who has called himself “a proud self-hating Jew” and a “Hebrew-speaking Palestinian,” was due to appear at Club 606. The club’s Jewish owner, Steve Rubie, defended inviting Atzmon, saying, “I feel confident in saying that Gilad is not anti-Semitic. Vehemently anti-Zionist certainly, but that, I suggest, is a different thing.”
Atzmon agreed to stand down to “protect the venue’s reputation” after the CAA threatened to picket the club. “I decided that in the light of the CAA’s threats I am withdrawing from the gig,” he said.
Police Commend Shomrim
Shomrim, a charedi neighborhood watch group, received a police commendation for bravery and “exemplary services to the community” last week.
Detective Inspector James Rawlinson hailed the “great presence of mind” of volunteers Shimon Ostreicher and Shmuel Denciger in apprehending a robbery suspect in North West London in 2017.
The Shomrim volunteers identified three suspects who may have stolen a wallet and a phone and chased them down for the police to arrest.
The inspector said, “When searched by the officers, the suspects were found to be carrying knives. Mr. Denciger and Mr. Ostreicher showed great presence of mind, and their actions resulted in a successful arrest of the robbery suspect and the removal of knives from the streets of North West London.”
Government Official: Accept Anti-Semitism Definition or Else
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has pledged to cut funding to universities and councils that refuse to adopt the popular IHRA definition of anti-Semitism.
Jenrick, whose wife Michal Berkner is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, announced that only 136 of the 343 councils in England have accepted the definition.
Jenrick told the Conservative Friends of Israel jokingly that he looked “forward to the day” on which the British Embassy would be moved to Jerusalem. “We have a patch of land in Jerusalem that has been waiting for our embassy for some time,” he said.
Terrorist Wasn’t a Friend of Jews
Terrorist Sudesh Amman, who was responsible for Sunday’s stabbing of two people in London’s Streatham, had made anti-Semitic remarks on a family WhatsApp group.
Amman was jailed for possessing and distributing terrorist material in December 2018. He was released from prison two weeks ago after serving half his sentence. He wrote to his family before his conviction that Jews were behaving worse than Nazis to Muslims and that Muslims were living in worse than “concentration camps” conditions.
Amman was shot dead by police in Sunday’s incident.
Mayor Kahn Donates £300,000 to Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation
London Mayor Sadiq Khan recently donated £300,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, partly to try to stop the Polish government from “rewriting history.”
The Muslim mayor told the Jewish News he was concerned that the Polish government was portraying its role in the Nazi genocide primarily as a victim.
Thanking the mayor for his donation, the Polish Embassy in the UK responded, “Claims that history is being rewritten in Poland are unfounded.”
Scottish Minister Announces New Security Effort
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced at Glasgow’s Garnethill Synagogue last week a £500,000 effort to provide security at places of worship.
Scottish Justice Secretary Houmza Yousaf said, “I hope this scheme will provide reassurances to all faith communities.”
Rabbi Dismisses Rival Group
Rabbi Avraham Pinter of Chinuch UK has dismissed Chinuch Ledoros, a new charedi educational body.
The head of London’s Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School told The Jewish Press, “They are well-meaning people, but with no educational experience. I am not quite sure what it’s about.”
Chinuch Ledoros aims to take a more pro-active approach than that of Chinuch UK, which it characterizes as “softly softly.”
Meanwhile, charedi schools are continuing to be downgraded by Ofsted. The body said “secular subjects were not sufficiently broad and lacked depth” at Lubavitch Yeshiva Ketanah of London and that pupils’ literacy skills were “often below those expected for pupils of that age.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office recently rejected a request from the Jewish Chronicle for Ofsted inspectors’ notes on how some charedi schools managed to pass equality inspections while others did not. It said the release of these notes would “enable a school in the future to take steps to imitate the sentiments expressed by schools praised by the inspectors, without necessarily meaningfully enacting these sentiments.”
Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman reported that nearly half of Jewish independent schools were failing to meet its standards. She called for stronger powers to inspect unregistered institutions like yeshivot.
Boarding School To Drop ‘Blood Libel’ Insignia
A Lincolnshire boarding school will be dropping its nearly 100-year-old logo after being told it symbolized an anti-Semitic blood libel.
The insignia features a ball flying over a wall, representing the 13th century myth that a Jewish family murdered a young boy after his ball bounced over a wall and he was invited to retrieve it.
After being told of the significance of the logo, headmaster Jeremy Wyld said, “I can entirely understand how the circle on the logo could be inflammatory…. We base every element of the education that we offer on fundamental British values and we hold dear the principles of mutual respect and inclusivity.”