Want us to stay in the UK? Don't whinge about circumcision or Kosher slaughter

David here,

Saying to Jews we want you to stay,does mean accepting our right to circumcise males and to slaughter animals according to our religious tradition

There are a few understandable voices within our community which are afraid of staying in  Britain, under what sometimes feels to be a new tide of antisemitism, this time not from the far right, although this still exists, but via the fundamentalist version of the religion of you know who, you the one which is above and beyond all criticism (that is if you wish to remain alive).  

I utterly understand these concerns and a few other people have said to be to note the reassuring noises of Cabinet Ministers( such as Eric Pickles and Teresa May), but this is where the elite seems to get quite confused. Whilst May and co were gushing over the Jewish community and how much she'd like us to stay in the UK, which I utterly applaud by the way, elsewhere in the Jewish News were read about a Judge's opinion of male circumcision, which he not only calls 'Harmful' (without saying why, although I've not felt any ill effects of being circumcised for most of my life) and compares it to female genital mutilation,but that male circumcision is 'tolerated' because society (we could say a lot of other things, such as gay marriage are tolerated today, but as with male circumcision will it be in the future?)  wishes to tolerate it. 

So there you go. If the politicians really wanted to make Jews feel safe, then they'd make sure, by passing legislation and finally getting rid of the human rights bull crap act (in so much as it has become a byword for left of centre ideas about what and who gets human rights) , that both male circumcision was protected in law as was religious slaughter. It's bad enough being attacked by the traditional antisemitism of the far right, the religious fanatics of ISIS, as well as the new fanatics of those atheists and secularists who wish to interfere with my religious freedoms, beliefs and practises. Which is why I don't believe that a secular or atheist state would be any better for Jews than the current arrangement of an established Christianity. 

Is it is over... it seems to be over.... for now

David here,

I am taking a quick dive back into blogging, for this article.

It looks like the current military conflict is Gaza is coming to an end or at least  a long pause, whilst some form of ceasefire is arranged between the 2 sides in Cairo. It has been a tough fight, one in which many Israelis & Palestinians died, not because of Israeli 'imperialism', but because of the sheer intransigence of Hamas. Millions of pounds of aid were misspent by terrorists building these tunnels and the resources of Gaza were all ploughed into projects, not for the welfare of the territories people, but for terrorists purposes. To be sure Israel has NOT overthrown the terrorist regime, which would have been my aim. I can appreciate why Israel did not do so, for various strategic and political reasons. My only fear is that in a couple of years, if not months, this whole thing will happen again, as the terror network is still there .But at least the tunnels are gone and Hamas have been dealt a severe blow.

In respect of the Palestinian threat to join the ICC : this is an utter joke. Not that Israel should recognise this kangaroo court, but  even if it did, I doubt the Pals will go for this, other than by way as a negotiating chip. Why? Well put simply the reason why so many in the west fall for Palestinian propaganda is because the media like 'real time' information and the Hamas give them that, or more accurately lies and utterly ridiculous lies at that. The IDF is often slow to rebut these charges, because they are a modern western PROFESSIONAL fighting force and therefore do thorough investigations when things apparently go wrong, have armies of lawyers, investigators etc  & most of the time when reports are issued, we often see half of what has been claimed by the UN/media/Hamas is a load of distorted and twisted untruths, but by that time the media circus has moved on, so the mud and propaganda victory sticks with one side . The problems for the Pals is that all of this is kept and documented by the IDF, so their lies would be exposed in the full glare of reality if it ever went to a court (not, note, that it should, as Israel has no case to answer anyway).

As for the impact on this for British politics, I won't comment as such on this, because that is my brother Sam's patch (read his blog here). All I will say is that this war has yet again exposed some ugly latent anti-semitism , which is sad because the bulk of the British population- the silent majority- are with Israel and against the terrorists. That we have idiots like the liberal democrats calling for an arms embargo and voter (Islamic) grubbing fools like the Labour party is unfortunate. And then there is Lady "principle" Warsi, to which one asks where was your principle on other occasions it was called for when it comes to 'morally indefensible' outrages ? 

Finally, as ever, we must thank the men and women of the IDF, the young flowers of Israel, who have had to do the fighting to protect the Jewish homeland. Our thoughts are with those who have not come back. May they not be forgotten. As we have said in Britain on Monday, "they gave their today, for our tomorrow". 

G-d bless you all.

Belated Happy Birthday !

Hi All, 

Hannah here .

All of us here are staunch Monarchists and we all love our royal family , especially our Queen[who is also Queen of 22 other countries as well!] and the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. So on a slightly lighter note than other posts we'd all like to wish Prince George a very belated but  Happy Birthday ! 

Small but significant

Hi All,

It's me, Hannah! 

Following the large demonstration on Saturday by the pro-Palestinian side, which such novel placards as'Israel: hitler would be proud' & the second weekend of pro-Palestinian &Jew hate fuelled violence in France. This is a picture from a peaceful counter pro-Israeli demo yesterday, attended by both Jews and Christians :

We might not be as large as the Islamic community, but our voice has a right to be heard and our voice stands with Israel & her people, right now, despite the upsurge in Anti-Semitism. As that placard says the loyalty and commitment of British Jews to Britain & her Queen has never been in doubt. We have contributed so much to British life, despite being a tiny minority.Our contributions have been positive and we have lived here as a group since 1658, maintaining our religion, whilst also integrating into wider society. 

Here is a link to of  British Jews who have significantly contributed to society.  You will note that when it comes to science , politics, writing &entertaining, these have their own pages, given the lists are so large.  All this from a minority which has never been more than 1% of the total British population!

Which is why, now more than ever, I am proud to describe myself as a Jew and a British  Jew of the Sephardim  in particular. 

G-d Save the Queen  !

G-d defend Israel ! 

Sorry Stan, but the Falklands are British

Via the Daily Mail, it seems that Yet another example of NOT using Twitter or facebook and certainly a reason why anyone remotely famous shouldn't use the medium to communicate their beliefs, lest they put themselves into controversy. 

But I felt a need to comment on this one .

The people of the Falkland Islands -all 1,672 of them-  voted  last year in an overwhelming referendum to stay British. This should be the end of the matter, expect that the Argentinians cannot face reality and therefore refuse to do anything other than cause trouble on this issue, despite loosing a war, in which they tried to decide the issue by force. Yes that's right, British soldiers fought for the right of these Islands to self determination and continue to be British [don't ask me why the far left isn't calling for boycotts of Argentine products, given the way the Falklander's are being treated with utter contempt, but then they aren't Palestinians being ground down by the imperialist Israelis and therefore  not worthy of international attention].

The Falkland Islands are as much British territory as the Isle of Wight and therefore no-one's to give away. Furthermore the Argentinians reject the Islander's right to self-determination, despite the fact that  the British descended islander's are are culturally and politically aligned to Britain; even the stunning scenery is reminiscent of the British Isles (see below, except we don't have wild penguins).  If only the Argentinians would respect that, although I doubt it, as that country is run by a populist politician who would rather whip up nationalism and problems with the British, than deal with the problems of her own country. Which is a pity, because before the rise of nationalistic fascistic Peronism in Argentina, Ango-Argentine relations were excellent, with a thriving trade  between the two countries. They even had a Harrods in Buenos Aires....

Great Britain is not a bad old place...

The  Cons and Pros for this Jew living in Britain : 

The cons -

1/ The Israeli as  apartheid smear, which is factually untrue

2/ The ludicrous boycott of Israel brigade, who've forgotten their history of Jews and boycotts

3/The attempts to arrest, in Britain, Israeli politicians for 'war crimes'

4/ The increasing anti -Israeli (& like 'mission creep', anti -Jewish) attitude, such as one of these 'boycott Israel' weeks (yes a whole bloody week) at our daughter's university.

5/ The apparently changing attitudes among some in the established C of E, which is taking a more hostile approach to Israel, but forgetting the atrocities against Christians in Syria.

6/ The hysterical reactions of the far left atheists in respect of demonising  Kosher slaughter and male circumcision.

The Pros -

1/The UK is a fine place to live, most people are pretty decent and like Jews & are supportive of Israel 

2/ Jews are allowed to live in freedom and practise our  faith in liberty 

3/ Our family was welcome in the UK, the British are quite tolerant our family were able to rebuild our lives after the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Iraq.

4/ Alas, whilst  there are people who have particularly strong views on Israel,  but they  are a vocal minority and who have different reasons for attacking Israel, such as the far left, the far right & sections of the Islamic community. No excuse for not challenging these views, but it would be wrong to think Britain is in the grip of an anti-Semitic epidemic. 

5/We've contributed a lot to British society over 350 years & continue to do so (e.g. the head of the supreme court, the speaker of the House of Commons & the leader of the opposition are all Jewish, along with major contributions in arts, science, entertainment etc).

6/Our cooking has lightening up Britain 

Understanding the British....