Courage award

Egyptian playwright and journalist Ali Salem, 72, whose work has been banned in Egypt, has been presented with a civil courage award in recognition of his work on peace in the Middle East.

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Conductor appointed

The Israeli conductor and violinist Pinchas Zukerman was named this week as principal guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He takes up the post in January next year.

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Family blasts ‘racist’ Israel over aliyah wait

A black family from South London who converted to Judaism spoke this week of their exasperation at being kept waiting more than a year to go on aliyah.

Carl and Maleka Levy and their five daughters had hoped to move to Ashkelon in August 2007, but Israel's Ministry of Interior has so far failed to approve their application.

Since their situation was first reported in the JC last November, the family had refrained from further comment, but now they have broken their silence.

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Australians in bid to ban BNP leader

Australia's Jewish and Islamic communities have united to urge the country's immigration minister to deny a visa to British National Party leader Nick Griffin.

Griffin, who has a 1998 conviction for incitement to racial hatred for material denying the Holocaust, plans to visit Sydney and Melbourne in December.

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Foreign Office honours the spies who saved us

The heroic efforts of a group of British diplomats who helped thousands of Jews escape the Nazis in Germany and elsewhere in occupied Europe were finally officially recognised last week.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband unveiled a plaque commemorating their selfless actions on a main staircase wall in the Foreign Office.

There are no names on the plaque because there was no record of the actions they took. At least 11 are known. Frank Foley was arguably the most famous, while Robert Smallbones and Thomas Preston were two more.

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Muslim advocates on tour

Two members of a Muslim advocacy group implicated in a trial of Hamas funders were due to begin a speaking tour in Scotland this week.

Yaser Tabbara and Ahmed Rehab are members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations which was listed as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in a trial which found the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, and five of its former leaders, guilty of funding Hamas to the tune of more than $12 million (£7.8m).

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Oxford student Jew jibe sparks anger

An Oxford University newspaper has published a front-page apology after an article advising students how to save money was headlined "Jewish Economic Policy".

Editors of The Newt, run by students at New College, claimed the piece "was intended to be satirical", but apologised for causing offence

following complaints from readers. A fortnight ago, players from the university's under-21 rugby team carried moneybags and wore fake sidelocks) as part of a "bring a fit Jew" party.

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Scottish U-turn over Holocaust trips for pupils

Months of lobbying by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) paid off this week when the Scottish government decided it will, after all, pay for students to visit Auschwitz.

Scottish education secretary Fiona Hyslop announced on Wednesday that £214,000 will be set aside to send two pupils from every Scottish secondary school.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the HET said: "We are delighted that the Scottish Government has recognised the value of the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz' project and we look forward to working with them to involve more Scottish pupils in our work."

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