Over 130 inmates of HMP Thameside in south east London will this month learn about the life of Anne Frank, with a surprising twist: their teachers are fellow prisoners.

Eight prisoners were this week trained by the Anne Frank Trust’s Steve Gadd to lead their peers around an exhibition about the life of Anne Frank in a project that aims to tackle prejudice.

Studying in the capital can pose a challenge for Jewish students — particularly those who are observant, live in north west London and cannot attend Jewish Society synagogue services in the city centre.

UCL business management student Benjy Trent found himself in such a situation. He spent his gap year in Israel and grew accustomed to praying every day with people his own age at yeshivah.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived in Cairo in the first Iranian state visit to Egypt since its revolution in 1979 and says he also wants to visit Gaza.

My Dad was always very proud he was Jewish. Growing up in Leicestershire, we didn’t say we were Iranian, but it was OK to be Jewish. Being Jewish will mean recognition, acceptance. It is knowledge, understanding. It is important, when I have a family, that I have that knowledge.

I lived in LA; it was superficial. I felt I wasn’t in the right place. Judaism gave me a direction as to how to approach life. I keep kosher, I keep Shabbat, I keep everything I’ve learned. There is a connection with every person who believes in Judaism, it binds us.

Co-hosting the Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony with Simon Schama and debuting my Magen David a day after I returned from a trip to Ethiopia made me very proud. As a child, my Judaism was a lethal secret but now it is what I hold on to. I reconnected. It feels natural.

I felt something was missing. Judaism has helped me to develop my relationship with God. There is a feeling of peace, of being happy and content after a service. Going to the Beth Din was very emotional, I was so nervous, but it was a new beginning.

I was inspired by some wonderful Jewish neighbours. My stepson Benjamin’s barmitzvah and my marriage to his father were on the same weekend; the entire community was invited to both. The sense of family, and commitment to it, is uppermost.

The Book of Ruth says “your people will be my people.” That rang true for me. Other people in my conversion class had Jewish partners, I was doing it just for me. Now I have a Jewish boyfriend, I’m looking forward to a Jewish wedding and having a Jewish home.

With the UJS centre in Euston closing last year and many students living at home, London universities do not have a reputation for a buzzing Jewish social life.

However, two London JSocs, UCL and King’s, believe that is not true.

The governor of the bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer, has submitted his resignation.

Mr Fischer, who was once tipped to lead the International Monetary Fund, has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will be stepping down on June 30, The Bank of Israel has said.

World Jewish Congress has named London based Robert Singer, director general of World Ort, as its fourth secretary general in under six years.

The WJC is an international organisation which represents Jewish communities and organisations in over 100 countries.

US Senator John Kerry plans to restart the peace process in the Middle East if he becomes secretary of state, the American Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told Army Radio on Friday.

This announcement confirms what Mr Kerry said in his US Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, where he said he hoped the Israeli elections would allow for a renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The threatened sale of the site of the historic synagogue in Penzance, Cornwall will not go ahead after a decision by the local council.

Market Jew Street in Penzance is home to the crumbled remains of what used to be the centre of a thriving Jewish community.