	<a href='/ads/www/delivery/ck.php?n=a37fd82e&cb=582193' target='_blank'><img src='/ads/www/delivery/avw.php?zoneid=2&cb=582193&n=a37fd82e' border='0' alt='' /></a>	RSS Twitter Facebook Archives Subscribe S & P About
	THE JEWISH CHRONICLE ONLINE	RSS Twitter Facebook Archives Subscribe S & P About

UK news

School cancels 'terror charity' event

By Marcus Dysch, February 10, 2012

A school-based charity event organised by a group with links to Hamas has been cancelled following consultation with anti-extremism experts from the Department for Education.

Human Appeal International was expected to run a women-only social evening at Parrs Wood High School, a specialist technology college in Didsbury, south Manchester, on February 18.

Labour councillor on Holocaust education trip that Aidan Burley joined

By Jennifer Lipman, February 10, 2012

The teacher whose pupils complained that Conservative MP Aidan Burley was "disrespectful" during a talk by a Holocaust survivor is also a Labour councilor.

Dr Suzannah Reeves has been named as the staff member who identified Mr Burley as the MP who joined the pupils at a talk by an Auschwitz survivor in Poland.

Labour councillor on Holocaust education trip that Aidan Burley joined

By Jennifer Lipman, February 10, 2012

The teacher whose pupils complained that Conservative MP Aidan Burley was "disrespectful" during a talk by a Holocaust survivor is also a Labour councilor.

Dr Suzannah Reeves has been named as the staff member who identified Mr Burley as the MP who joined the pupils at a talk by an Auschwitz survivor in Poland.

'Nazi' stag Tory 'disrespectful' during Holocaust survivor talk

By Jennifer Lipman, February 9, 2012

Aidan Burley, who was sacked from his junior government role last year after attending a Nazi-themed stag party, has become embroiled in a row over his "conduct" while listening to a Holocaust survivor.

BBC defends rap song censorship

By Marcus Dysch, February 9, 2012

The BBC Trust has defended the censoring of a rap song which contained the words "Free Palestine".

The Trust's ruling - which was made on the basis of upholding impartiality - prompted pro-Palestinian activists to claim that the Corporation had an "institutionalised bias against the Palestinians".

When rapper Mic Righteous performed on a BBC Radio 1Xtra show, he sang: "I still have the same

Calls for Sir Victor to be made as Blank as Fred

By Jennifer Lipman, February 9, 2012

Campaigners have called for former Lloyds chairman Sir Victor Blank to be treated in the same way as Fred Goodwin and be stripped of his knighthood.

Sir Victor was knighted in 1999 "for services to the financial industry" before he joined Lloyds, but critics argue that his role in its disastrous takeover of HBOS four years ago means he should have the honour annulled.

School apologises for 'terror charity' visit

By Marcus Dysch, February 9, 2012

Anti-extremism experts from the Department of Education have contacted a school due to host an event organised by a charity linked to Hamas.

Human Appeal International will hold a women-only social evening at Parrs Wood High School, a specialist technology college in Didsbury, south Manchester, on February 18.

Coming out - the coming-out videos

By Jessica Elgot, February 9, 2012

Gay and lesbian Jewish activists are stepping up their campaign to have Keshet UK, the Jewish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender forum, advise Jewish schools on teaching about homosexuality, after the controversy over a reference to Jewish gay cure group JONAH in a JFS lesson on the topic.

This week, Channel 4 presenter and ex-JFS pupil, Benjamin Cohen, released a video, promoted by the bro

US and Israel look for UK donations

By Simon Rocker, February 9, 2012

The head of the controversial Israel lobby group J Street will attempt to raise funds for the organisation during a visit to London later this month, the JC has learned.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, its founding president, who will be speaking about his new book at Jewish Book Week, will also hold a number of meetings to enlist support for a fighting fund for candidates in the American elections this year.

After eight years, stalker's victim is awarded £3,500 compensation

By Marcus Dysch, February 9, 2012

The victim of a serial stalker has been awarded compensation after a High Court judge ruled that the Crown Prosecution Service had failed to protect her.

Claire Waxman will receive £3,500 in damages after the CPS dropped a charge against Elliot Fogel, who has been repeatedly jailed for harassing her and her family.

Who's who in the $90b mega-merger

By Simon Round, February 9, 2012

This week mining company Xstrata and commodity traders Glencore announced what has been described as a mega-merger, worth in the region of $90 billion.

The two companies may have a new relationship but the respective bosses go back a long way.

Mick Davis, the chief executive of Xstrata and his counterpart, Ivan Glasenberg, both South African Jews, originally met at the University of Witwater

Shakespeare 'hid his Jewish roots' - or he would have been Bard

By Jennifer Lipman, February 9, 2012

What's in a name? William Shapiro might be able to tell you – but you probably know him better as Shakespeare.

According to a new book by French academic Ghislain Muller, Shakespeare's grandfather was a Jewish immigrant from Bohemia. He claims Richard Shapiro settled in England sometime after 1515, but hid his religion, assuming the name Shakespeare.

Laura marks her Board card for May polls

By Simon Rocker, February 9, 2012

Laura Marks, head of a commission to encourage more women to lead the Jewish community, will stand for election as vice-president of the Board of Deputies in May.

But controversy was brewing this week over a rule change proposed by a rival candidate, which would effectively scupper her bid.

Ms Marks, founder of Mitzvah Day and head of the commission on women set up by the Jewish Leadership C

Missionary runs Holocaust Memorial Day events

By Jessica Elgot, February 9, 2012

A "messianic Jewish" leader, actively seeking to convert Jews to Christianity, hosted a Yorkshire town's Holocaust Memorial Day activities last week, a move condemned as a "perversion" by anti-missionary activist Rabbi Shmuel Arkush.

Selby-based Adrian Glasspole, founder of the UK branch of Chosen People Ministries, who said he was halachically Jewish, described himself as "responsible" for the

No 'cure'- you can't 'pray away the gay'

By Jessica Elgot, February 9, 2012

A Jewish newspaper columnist has robustly defended a controversial piece that she wrote suggesting that homosexuality could be cured.

Doreen Wachmann, who writes for the Jewish Telegraph in Manchester, said last week that she was daring to "put my head above the parapet and write about the forbidden topic" and expressed her "reservations over the contemporary Orthodoxy which dictates that homos

Ask why people are antisemitic, says leading Catholic writer

By Jennifer Lipman, February 9, 2012

Piers Paul Read, the writer of a new book about the 1894 Dreyfus Affair, was criticised this week after saying that the French soldier's treatment could be linked to Jews being a "very powerful influence in finance, in business", and that Jews should ask why people were antisemitic.

English literature Professor Jacqueline Rose, author of Proust among the Nations: From Dreyfus to the Middle East

UK will seek out Auschwitz ﬁles

By Martin Bright, February 9, 2012

The Ministry of Defence has agreed to release all files relating to the father of Israeli President Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Persky, who was held captive as a British prisoner of war at Auschwitz.

Officials and archivists are now on the search for details of Mr Persky's time at Camp E715, situated next to the Buna-Monowitz camp, which provided slave labour to the IG Farben chemical factory.

Protests force end to Nazi surgical tools sale

By Jessica Elgot, February 9, 2012

"Ghoulish" surgical tools belonging to a Nazi war criminal have been withdrawn from auction in Cornwall this weekend, after a furious series of protests to the auctioneers.

The hacksaw and scalpels, engraved with the name Anton Burger - SS commandant of the Theresienstadt ghetto - are set in a velvet-lined wooden box.

Clearer guidelines on campus hatred

By Jennifer Lipman, February 9, 2012

The government has been urged to create a "designated contact point" for universities to work with when extremist external speakers are invited to speak on campus.

The call for clearer government guidance about challenging hate speech on campus came from the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, which carried out a nine-month review of the Prevent strategy.

The report found that the interne

Strictly Soulmates: The BBC's kosher dating show

By Marcus Dysch, February 9, 2012

It was once taboo to admit in public you're struggling to find a date.

But that didn't stop three Jewish twentysomethings taking the dramatic step of looking for love in full view of millions of TV viewers.

Jason Goldstein, Richard Ludwig and Natalie Samuel agreed to take part in a BBC documentary exploring the difficulties faced by singles looking for love within their own religion.