The long-ago BBC Jerusalem correspondent, Michael Elkins, once lamented that too many war reporters had not served a journalistic apprenticeship by working on a local newspaper. How, he asked, could they understand the grief of a woman in Beirut devast...
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
Most of the debate about last week's appearance by Ed Miliband at a meeting of the Board of Deputies has dwelled on the Labour leader's remarks about Zionism. Which is a pity. Because much else happened that day that says a good deal about him - and something rather unexpected about us.
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
What matters about last month's Israeli elections is what kind of government they produce. Talk of how those elections were covered in the media is, I know, secondary. So forgive me if I focus on a view that has bubbled up here and there in the blogosp...
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
On Sunday the Board of Deputies of British Jews will decide whether it should go ahead with a joint project with Oxfam, in which the aid organisation will train 25 Jewish volunteers, equipping them to become better campaigners. The idea is that Jewish organisations working against poverty and hunger — the likes of, say, World Jewish Relief or Tzedek — will gain expertise from a body with unmatched experience in the field.
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
Some people love politics the way others love soap opera. They follow the plots and intrigue not out of a worthy interest in this or that policy but for the sheer human spectacle. For those so inclined, I often recommend an obsessive interest in the US: the outsized egos, the extravagant characters, the perennial culture wars are all reliably gripping.
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
You wait years for big elections that will shape the world, or at least shape a part of the world you care about, and then three come at once. This week, has seen a US presidential contest and a change at the top in China (admittedly without a single democratic vote cast). And the third? That’s coming in Israel in January.
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
You've probably had your fill of atonement for this year. You'd be forgiven if you didn't want to think of Yom Kippur for another 12 months. But, before we leave it behind, one last thought about what we just did. We stood and, in the Al Chet prayer, ...
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
Normally we wait till it's too late, so let's get this clear in advance. The usual pattern - manifested during the Lebanon war of 2006 and again during Operation Cast Lead - is that we diaspora Jews are apparently caught by surprise by Israeli military action, then plunged immediately into debating it, defending it, debating whether we should be defending it or defending the fact that we're debating it.
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
It is hard to remember now, amid all the talk of expensive tickets, congested roads and corporate sponsors, but the Olympic Games was always meant to be about an ideal. Those behind the Olympic revival at the end of the 19th century did not merely want to create a new fixture on the international sporting calendar. They sought to resurrect a lost and ancient tradition, at the centre of which was the high ideal known as the Olympic truce.
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle
Journalism is a competitive business but sometimes the competition comes from a wholly unexpected source. I'd planned a while ago to write in this slot about the Jewishness of Ed Miliband. Little did I know that the latest edition of the New Statesman,...
Published by: The Jewish Chronicle