The JC - Jewish News, Comment & Culture

Mothin Ali, Deputy Leader of the Green Party, on the first day of the party's conference at Bournemouth International Centre on October 03, 2025 (Getty Images)

3 min read

Saima Akhtar was an inclusion and diversity coordinator at the multi-academy trust which runs Bristol Brunel Academy

Education

School that blocked Jewish MP’s visit sacks diversity lead after Hamas ‘heroes’ post

By Jane Prinsley

3 min read

VAT on independent schools

Anxious Immanuel parents wait to hear where their ‘distraught’ children can go next year

Some 300 children will have to find alternative schools in September after the college announced its closure

By Simon Rocker

3 min read

Technology

Israeli startup creates world’s first lab-grown chocolate bar

By John Jeffay

1 min read

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 16, 2026 (Getty Images)

Donald Trump

Trump Middle East policy not driven by Israel, insists Hegseth

By Melanie Swan

1 min read

The Ernst & Young offices in London (Getty Images)

USA

Former EY employee sues consulting giant over firing after viral Gaza speech

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

Exclusive: MPs and peers condemn ‘disproportionate’ punishment of student who called keffiyeh ‘tea towel’

A nice Jewish boy in the circus

Israeli Border Police officers jailed for having barbecue on Shabbat

I’m backing my future here. I have faith in Britain

Move over Ottolenghi, there’s a new flavour genius on the chopping block

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US Politics

Senate votes down Sanders’ bid to block bulldozer and arms sales to Israel

The veteran Vermont senator’s motion fell by a margin of 59-40, but was backed by three-quarters of Senate Democrats

By Andrew Bernard

1 min read

US Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during a 'Tax the Rich' rally at Lehman College in the Bronx borough of New York City on March 29, 2026 (Getty Images)

Animal welfare

Vegan US rabbi announces £7,000 grant for UK shuls who explore plant-based lifestyle

The Synagogue Vegan Challenge is open for applications from UK communities for the first time

By Ben Conway

3 min read

Iran

‘Not the agreement we have’: Trump cautions Iran over Hormuz tolls

The US president guaranteed oil would be allowed through the vital shipping line after striking a ceasefire deal with Tehran

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

US President Trump speaks about the conflict in Iran in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 6, 2026 (Getty Images)

Basketball

American-Israeli basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire gets spot in Hall of Fame

The six-time NBA All-Star converted to Judaism after retiring

By JC Reporter

1 min read

Amar'e Stoudemire speaks during a press conference for the 2026 Inductees to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

World news

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C) speaks during a meeting with Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad (2R) and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (2L) at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026 (Getty Images)

Ceasefire

Trump announces Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

By Jamie Shapiro

1 min read

Konrad Berkowicz holding the flag (Image: YouTube/ TRTWorld)

Poland

Far-right Polish politician holds up Israeli flag with swastika on same day as March of the Living

By Jamie Shapiro

1 min read

Iran

Boastful Iranian leaders signal ever more hardline views as regime insiders tell JC that IRGC is in control

By Ali Hamedani

3 min read

(L-R) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Lebanese Prime Minister Aoun (Getty Images)

Lebanon

Leaders of Israel and Lebanon to hold talks for first time since 1993

By Melanie Swan

1 min read

Left Lord Mayor of Dublin Ray McAdam, right former-Israeli President Chaim Herzog, background Herzog Park (Lord Mayor of Dublin, Getty Images, Google)

Ireland

Lord Mayor of Dublin apologises for scrapped plan to rename Herzog Park

By Jamie Shapiro

2 min read

Last week the UK announced it would not permit West to enter the country this summer (Image: Getty)

France

Kanye West postpones Marseille gig indefinitely as officials ‘very determined’ to prevent show

By Jamie Shapiro

2 min read

Letter from Jerusalem

From Lebanon and Iran to Gaza, three sets of talks to define Israel’s future

With all eyes on failing negotiations between US and Islamic Republic, the Jewish state was pursuing resolutions on every front

By Natalie Lisbona

6 min read

Unearthed papers reveal how Austria’s Nazi judges went back to work after 1945 The thriving Jewish centre 70km from Auschwitz that is the final riposte to the Nazis

UK News

Iran

Teen and two men charged over Iran International firebomb attack

The channel claimed the attack was symptomatic of a ‘campaign of transnational intimidation aimed at silencing independent journalism’

By Jacob Jaffa

2 min read

Reza Mohaddes, a presenter and editor-in-chief for Iran International, prepares for a news broadcast at the network's studio in London (Getty Images)

Hatzola ambulance attack

Counter-terror police investigate Hatzola ambulance and Finchley shul arson attacks

Met police probe also includes targeting of Iran International ‘due to the nature and circumstances of the three incidents’

By Jamie Shapiro

1 min read

Burnt-out Hatzola ambulances after the arson attack in Golders Green last month (Getty)

Leeds

Housing charity wins praise for its community impact

The Mayor of Leeds hosted a celebration for LJHA staff to recognise their hard work

By Ben Conway

1 min read

Left to right: Mark Grandfield, Councillor Dan Cohen, Lady Mayoress Mrs Elayna Cohen and Craig Simons, LJHA's director of operations (photo: LJHA)

Iranian dissidents

Three arrested over attempted arson of Iran International offices

The suspects were detained after a high-speed car chase with police

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

Reza Mohaddes (C), a presenter and editor-in-chief for Iran International, taking part in a news broadcast at the network's studio in London (Getty Images)

Opinion

‘Zaftig’ is a state of mind – at least it is since I discovered Mounjaro

Why should a person’s weight (and the way they decide to lose it) become a moral issue – ‘cheating’ even?

By Miranda Levy

4 min read

The author during her honeymoon in New York (Image: courtesy of Miranda Levy)

By Lord Pickles

The Holocaust began with words and then ordinary people normalising hate – the same pattern we see today

This is the full text of a speech delivered by Lord Eric Pickles at Northwood and Ruislip Synagogue on Yom Hashoah, April 14, 2026

13 min read

By Vivian Bercovici

In Carney’s Canada, the law protects antisemites, not Jews

Rather than confronting the violence and incitement on Toronto’s streets, police treat the very regular hate-fests as a spectator sport

5 min read

By David Bennun

The Kanye West affair isn’t as bad as it seems –it’s much, much worse

It is a curious irony that of only one people on Earth is it demanded they must at all times behave with perfect Christian charity – and that is the Jews

3 min read

By Arsen Ostrovsky

Amid rising antisemitism, the unbreakable solidarity between Jews worldwide

From Manchester to Sydney, from London to Melbourne, our communities increasingly find themselves bound not only by shared heritage and faith, but by a shared vulnerability

5 min read

By Dominic Green

Trump disowned ‘kooky’ Tucker Carlson – only for the BBC to leap into the gutter for the conspiracist

A democracy can survive admitting a clown like Kanye West into the circus at Finsbury Park. But it loses its moral compass when its chief broadcaster airs a hateful fake on one of its main political shows

3 min read

By Stephen Pollard

Lewis Goodall and Israel’s alleged world domination

Accusations that eerily echo classic antisemitic conspiracy theories, repackaged with the Jewish state standing in for the Jews, have now entered the mainstream

3 min read

Trust me, I'm a doctor: Noah Wyle as Dr Michael 'Robby' Robinavitch and Lucas Iverson in The Pitt

Television

ER star Noah Wyle: Why I’m playing a Jewish doctor in The Pitt

By Elaine Penn

6 min read

Past indiscretion: Robert Pattinson and Zendaya

Film

The Drama review: Zendaya and Robert find love in a very dark climate ★★★

Not since Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings has the combination of floppy-haired British charm and American cool generated such chemistry

By John Nathan

2 min read

Books

Himmler’s Curtains: How my survivor mother ended up living in a Nazi leader’s house

This beautifully written memoir is full of startling vignettes, but using a psuedonym in this age of disinformation and denial feels a disservice to the reader

By Jennifer Lipman

2 min read