The Diary

Poignant reel-time memories

February 21, 2013

Out today is Lore, the new film by Australian director Cate Shortland, which is based on Rachel Seiffert’s book The Dark Room.

The plot follows the five children of a Nazi officer in the last days of the Second World War who are trying to reach their grandmother. On the way, they meet a Holocaust survivor who shows them photos.

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Lieberman lobbied by Brits

February 21, 2013

Former Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman popped out for a breather from government coalition talks taking place last week at the Kfar Maccabiah hotel. And was instantly collared by a delegation of British Jews in the lobby.

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Happily curtains for shop on TV

February 21, 2013

You have to hand it to those who lay bare their lives for our entertainment on TV.

Last week it was the turn of the Freedman brothers, inheritors of their grandfather’s curtain business Alf Onnie, who exposed themselves to the formidable scrutiny of Alex Polizzi in BBC2’s The Fixer.

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The Bafta for best yarmulke

February 14, 2013

Sunday night’s Bafta awards brought some surprise when cameras repeatedly cut to show a kippah-wearer in the audience.

The young man was seated with members of the Django Unchained entourage, and just in front of the film's director Quentin Tarantino.

Rumours on Twitter suggested the chap was actor Christoph Waltz’s son, who is believed to be a yeshivah graduate in Israel.

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It’s Chico time for the ZF

February 14, 2013

Uri Geller and Vanessa Feltz will be among the celebrities at the Zionist Federation’s gala concert for Israel’s 65th birthday in April.

But the bill also includes a more unusual guest, Jahloul “Chico” Bouchiki, a co-founder of the Gypsy Kings, famed for that staple of restaurant muzak, Bamboleo.

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All paws for Valentine day

February 14, 2013

Vet Marc Abraham made a dogs dinner of his latest charitable venture — a three-course gourmet steak dinner, that is.

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Burchill's island treasures

February 14, 2013

Britain’s most unabashed Israel-lover Julie Burchill was in full swing when she was the guest of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs at the weekend.

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A woman's place is in the home

February 7, 2013

This is one of those “I don’t believe it!” moments and, for a while, I didn’t.

Gerald Scarfe’s now notorious Sunday Times cartoon, showing Bibi Netanyahu bricking Palestinians into a wall with blood for mortar, sparked a massive furore. So it was natural for the Orthodox weekly Hamodia to cover the story.

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Coronation street party

February 7, 2013

Could the blue-and-white flags fill Trafalgar Square again in summer? Five years ago, British Jewry turned out in force at a rally to celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday.

Now I hear that a similar party could be on the cards for the 65th. One date that has been mooted for the occasion is June 2, which is also the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

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An Essex girl goes to Israel

February 7, 2013

Welcome to the new face of hasbarah; Samantha Faiers, star of the ITV reality show, The Only Way Is Essex.

The 21-year-old boutique owner was recently taken for her first trip to Israel as a guest of the Israeli Embassy.

She said that she would “definitely recommend” the country after visiting Jerusalem, partying in Tel Aviv and relaxing at a desert spa with her mother and friends.

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