The JC - Jewish News, Comment & Culture

Charlotte Nichols MP (Image: Charlotte Nichols)

Parliament

Charlotte Nichols MP on why she lost touch with Zarah Sultana, Jewish representation... and could ET be part of the kehillah?

By Lorin Bell-Cross

5 min read

Obituary

Jewish woman who refused to give Adolf Hitler flowers during Berlin Olympics dies aged 102

By Daniel Ben-David

2 min read

"A fine classic interior": Nelson Street (photo: Acuitus)

East End

Historic East End shul up for sale at £2 million

Nelson Street is one of the few shuls left in an area that was once the heartland of London Jewish life

By Simon Rocker

1 min read

Unifil forces arrive on the outskirts of the town of al-Khiam, southern Lebanon, on January 31, 2026 (Getty Images)

Israel

Israel dropped ‘unknown chemical’ in Lebanon, say peacekeepers

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (L) delivers a press conference with US businessman Jared Kushner (R) upon the signing of the declaration on deploying post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the Coalition of the Willing summit at the Élysée Palace in Paris on January 6, 2026 (Getty Images)

Iran

Witkoff and Kushner to lead Iran talks on Friday

By Jacob Jaffa

3 min read

Ofsted

Chasidic school failing to comply with bar on new pupils, Ofsted alleges

By Simon Rocker

1 min read

Tories urge Sharon Osbourne to stand in Birmingham local elections after star shared outrage over ex-Jihadi candidate

Education sector failing to recognise antisemitism when ‘cloaked in activism’, says former Ofsted chief

France issues court warrants for two Israeli joint citizens over ‘complicity in genocide’

UK’s independent reviewer of terror laws urges ‘immediate’ ban on IRGC

Apple announces acquisition of Israeli AI startup

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isis

'Jihad will never stop': Jailed Isis devotee who planned attacks on Jews vowed fresh terror plots when he is released

Michael Sam Teekaye Jr, of Maryland, was handed the maximum 20-year sentence last week, but will only be 42 when he gets out

By Jamie Shapiro

1 min read

Michael Sam Teekaye Jr in images sent to an undercover federal agent (Screenshot/CBS News)

Palestinian Authority

PA paid out $200m in pay-for-slay despite pledge to end scheme, US claims

The State Department reportedly filed evidence to Congress that the programme, which provides funding to the families of convicted terrorists, continued under a different name

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends a meeting with Russian President Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 22, 2026 (Getty Images)

Culture

Kennedy Centre to stage October 7 play based on survivor testimony

The play uses verbatim accounts from those caught up in the atrocities

By Jessica Russack-Hoffman

3 min read

The Kennedy Centre (Photo: Kennedy Centre)

Iran protests 2026

Trump claims Iran ‘wants to talk’ as ‘armada’ arrives in Gulf

The US has diverted an aircraft carrier to regional waters, with the vessel entering ‘ghost mode’ to avoid targeting satellites

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

US President Donald Trump gestures after holding a signing ceremony for the Board of Peace at World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 22, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland (Getty Images)

World news

Manchester Jewish Museum

Manchester Jewish artist unveils new work to promote ‘harmony and cohesiveness’

By Gaby Wine

1 min read

JW3 Chief Executive Ray Simonson and Marcel Knobil removing padlocks on the Lovelock Bridge at JW3 (Credit: JW3)

Hostages

British Jewish communal leaders rejoice at return of the hostages

By Daniel Ben-David

5 min read

Lebanon

Lebanon ‘will not allow’ Hezbollah to drag it into US-Iran war, PM claims

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

Surgeons speak with one another during a medical procedure (Credit: ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)

France

Two surgeons banned over death of Israeli billionaire during penis enlargement surgery

By Daniel Ben-David

1 min read

BBC headquarters in central London (Getty Images)

BBC Arabic

BBC Arabic fails to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day for first time in five years

By Jane Prinsley

2 min read

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 13: (L-R) Danielle Haim, Alana Haim and Este Haim of HAIM attend An Evening With HAIM at GRAMMY Museum L.A. Live on October 13, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Music

Haim could become first all-female band to win rock album prize at Grammys

By Eliana Jordan

1 min read

Israel-Gaza Conflict

Trial opening of Rafah Crossing taking place on Sunday, February 1, with a view to it reopening on Monday, February 2 (Photo: Getty)

Rafah Crossing to reopen

Around 150 people will be allowed to leave Gaza every day

By Gaby Wine

2 min read

Fears over ‘Gaza genocide’ rapper set to perform at Winter Olympics opening ceremony Yad Vashem nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian MP

UK News

Israel

Encyclopaedia Britannica edits kids’ page featuring map that ‘erased’ Israel

The image labelled the entirety of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank as ‘Palestine’, which it defined as the region ‘between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea’

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

Screenshot of the Encyclopædia Britannica site featuring a map labelling Israel, Gaza and the West Bank as 'Palestine'

Home Office

Extremism-linked groups invited to contribute to government hate crime review

Friends of Al-Aqsa among groups reportedly part of independent consultation process

By Jane Prinsley

3 min read

A coalition of organisations, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, and Stop the War Coalition protest against Israel in October 2023 (Photo: Getty Images)

Iran protests 2026

Iranian dissidents branded ‘filthy Zionists’ by Gaza mob in London

Demonstrators held placards bearing the ayatollah’s face and the words ‘Choose the right side of history’

By Jamie Shapiro

2 min read

A placard branding Iranian dissidents 'Zionist scum' (Photo: Jame Shapiro)

Pro-Palestine marches

Fifteen arrested at pro-Palestine march in central London

There were calls to ‘globalise the intifada’ and images of the ayatollah were on display

By Gaby Wine

2 min read

Pro-Palestine marchers in central London on January 31 in front of large screens set up by counter-protesters Stop the Hate, depicting footage from October 7 and brutal clampdowns on women and dissidents in Iran (Photo: Elliott Franks)

Opinion

Holocaust Memorial Day and the erasure of Jewish victims

The concept of ‘never again” is losing its specificity, as the Shoah is increasingly universalised and the vicious antisemitism that fuelled it diminished

By Evie Robinson

4 min read

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Germany. (Image: Getty)

By Daniel El‑Gamry

David Abulafia: the historian who reshaped our understanding of the sea and civilisation

His Jewish faith and identity came through in a quintessentially British way. He helped secure a permanent home for Cambridge’s Reform Jewish community and guided those seeking to join the faith

3 min read

By Rabbi Dr Benjamin Elton

After Bondi, I understood the dancing at Jewish weddings with new depth

It is a ‘Vihi she’amda’ – not in words but in movement. ‘In every generation they rise up to destroy us, but the Holy One saves us from their hands’

4 min read

By Karen Pollock

The dangerous erasure of Jews from the Holocaust

Every time that the memory of the Shoah is distorted, it is an insult to victims and survivors, and makes it ever harder to combat rising antisemitism

3 min read

By Melissa Langsam Braunstein

From heckler’s veto to divestment: how Jewish life is under assault in New York

The community and its friends need a forceful, coordinated response, reminding the authorities that laws define who can participate in American society – not random anti-Zionists

3 min read

By Mattie Heaven

Iran’s antisemitic regime is slaughtering its own people – and the West is silent

The UK must move from statements to strategy. That means proscribing the IRGC, expanding targeted sanctions, closing legal and financial safe havens, and supporting international accountability mechanisms for crimes against humanity

3 min read