The JC - Jewish News, Comment & Culture

Food recall alert for Gilbert's turkey breast pastrami

1 min read

Parliament

Labour MP had whip removed for interview with anti-Israel blogger, sources suggest

By Lorin Bell-Cross

2 min read

Iran

Cross-party call for Iranian regime to face justice for crimes against humanity

Cross-party call for Islamic Republic to face full force of international law and urgent proscription of IRGC

By Lorin Bell-Cross

6 min read

Hendon

MP voices disgust over ‘antisemitic’ rally in Hendon

By Jamie Shapiro

1 min read

Israeli President Herzog speaks to the media as he visits an area hit by a reported overnight Iranian strike in Tel Aviv on March 1, 2026 (Getty Images)

President Isaac Herzog

Herzog: settler violence ‘fuels hatred’ against Jews worldwide

By Jane Prinsley

2 min read

Anti-Israel protests

Filton 24 activist charged after counter-terror arrest

By Daniel Ben-David

1 min read

Some of us are spending Passover apart – but we are a people still together

Zack Polanski – the useful court Jew

The Pitt review: ‘doesn’t entirely live up to the overheated hype, but it works’ ★★★★

The Exodus story inspired American independence

On a visit to Vienna with my baby son, the weight of fatherhood and family history suddenly hit me

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Operation Roaring Lion

Trump reportedly willing to end Iran War without opening Strait of Hormuz

The president is said to have come to the conclusion that any operation to unblock the vital maritime route would ‘push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks’

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

US President Trump speaks with members of the media aboard Air Force One on March 29, 2026 (Getty Images)

Iran

US planning ‘weeks of ground operations’ in Iran

The Pentagon is reportedly preparing to put American boots on the ground for the first time in the conflict, but will stop short of a full-scale invasion

By Jacob Jaffa

2 min read

A view of the Pentagon on December 13, 2024, in Washington, DC (Getty Images)

Iran

Trump delays Iran power plant strikes for another 10 days

The US president claimed talks between the two sides were ‘going very well,’ but Tehran denied any negotiations were taking place

By Jacob Jaffa

1 min read

US President Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 26, 2026 (Getty Images)

Iran

Iran rejects US ceasefire plan

The Islamic Republic said it had not conducted negotiations with Washington, despite President Trump’s claim that it had agreed to his terms

By Jacob Jaffa

2 min read

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran on February 10, 2026 (Getty Images)

World news

Lebanon

Four IDF soldiers killed in Lebanon

By Melanie Swan

1 min read

Smoke rising from the Thai bulk carrier 'Mayuree Naree' near the Strait of Hormuz after an attack (Photo by Handout / ROYAL THAI NAVY / AFP via Getty Images)

Letter from Jerusalem

Israel’s existential conflict may bring economic hardship but for Gulf states there’s no going back

By Natalie Lisbona

4 min read

A Palestinian boy walks past the clinic of Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on January 11, 2026. Banned from the Gaza Strip with 36 aid bodies, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said on January 10 it will have to end its operations there in March if Israel does not reverse its decision. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images)

Charities

Revealed: MSF accused by own staff of Israel ‘obsession’ that breaches pledge of neutrality

By Jane Prinsley

8 min read

An aerial-defense system fires interceptors at Iranian missiles over central Israel, Feb. 28, 2026 (Flash90)

Yemen

Yemen’s Houthis join war until ‘aggression’ against Iran stops

By JC Reporter

1 min read

What is believed to be last picture of Ali Khamenei was originally posted on X by Press TV before being removed (Image: X/Open Source Intel)

Ayatollah Khameini

Iran releases ‘last picture of Ali Khamenei’

By Jamie Shapiro

1 min read

Iran

IRGC recruits child soldiers to operate Basij checkpoints targeted by Israel

By Ali Hamedani

3 min read

Refugees

Faith leaders and charity campaigners in Westminster, including Rabbi David Mason from HIAS+JCORE (centre) (Photo: HIAS+JCORE)

Rabbis join other faith leaders in signing letter opposing refugee reforms

The letter criticises the government’s plans to change the rules for refugee family reunions

By Ben Conway

2 min read

Herzog dubs Iran ‘empire of evil’ in rare US interview Watch: IDF releases video of Hezbollah command centre destruction

UK News

United Nations

Jewish leaders ‘appalled’ after UK ‘abandons principle’ on anti-Israel UN agenda

London’s vote to abstain rather than oppose controversial Item 7 at the United Nations Human Rights Council is ‘inexcusable’ say the Board and JLC

By Jane Prinsley

2 min read

A representative of Qatar delivers a speech on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva on March 16, 2026 (Getty Images)

Syria

Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa visits London for bilateral talks

The former jihadist was pictured shaking Keir Starmer’s hand outside 10 Downing Street

By Jane Prinsley

2 min read

Keir Starmer is pictured welcoming Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa to 10 Downing Street (Photo: Getty)

Metropolitan Police

Jewish leaders ‘deeply concerned’ after Met Police lets anti-Israel protestors march near synagogue on Shabbat

Permission for route given days after force chief Sir Mark Rowley pledged to ‘stand with’ the community

By Jamie Shapiro

3 min read

'Blackburn drummers for Palestine' were among protestors right outside the synagogue as shul-goers left for home

Medicine

‘Inspirational’ and ‘meticulous’ surgeon Professor Harold Ellis dies aged 100

The renowned surgeon qualified as a doctor in 1948 – the year in which the NHS was established

By Daniel Ben-David

2 min read

Harold Ellis (Credit: British Medical Journal)

Opinion

Itamar Ben-Gvir’s revolting celebration of death

Even if you think capital punishment is just and right, it is not something to revel in. Sanctifying life is the cord which runs through almost every aspect of Judaism

By Stephen Pollard

2 min read

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir holds up a bottle of champagne in celebration of the passage of the death penalty law (Image: Knesset TV)

By Alejandro Baer

From Franco’s legacy to Podemos: the roots of Spain’s extreme Israel hostility

The link between Madrid’s rhetoric and the unacknowledged undercurrents of the country’s antisemitism are difficult to ignore. The permanent withdrawal of the ambassador to Jerusalem crystallised this logic

4 min read

By Jonathan Sacerdoti

Press TV exposes Britain’s dangerous permissiveness toward extremism

The UK offers ideal conditions for state and non-state actors – from the Islamic Republic to the Muslim Brotherhood – to exploit liberal freedoms in order to undermine them

5 min read

By Dominic Green

The ‘stab in the back’ myth to blame Jews if the war goes badly

Never before have we seen so concerted an effort to declare a military campaign lost before it has started. A global influence operation, emanating from America’s enemies, is being used to split the US-Israel alliance

3 min read

By David Bennun

They may think of me as a bloodthirsty Zionist – but I still love their art

Their music, films and books belongs to me as much as to anyone else. The possibility that they might hate the joy I take in them is just a bonus

4 min read

By Daniel Finkelstein

God Save the King – he knows that we’re shaken and scared

The monarch is saying clearly that our security is central to his idea of the country he presides over

3 min read

By Nicole Lampert

I reported on Zack Polanski. His thin-skinned response was telling

In just 48 hours, the Green Party leader fired off 32 tweets at or about me and the paper I write for – showing a rather different side to his nicey-nicey, ‘peace and love’ image

4 min read

Haggadah

Why is this Haggadah different from all others?

By Simon Rocker

7 min read

Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary.' (Photo: MGM)

Film

Project Hail Mary review: Gosling brings substance to this alien-buddy sci-fi ★★★★

It’s no ‘Interstellar’, but a fun, odd-couple space romp doesn’t need to be – so long as it’s got Ryan Gosling piloting the spaceship

By John Nathan

2 min read

Books

Meet the world’s first fascist

This is a revelatory biography about the Frenchman who almost fought Dreyfus in a duel

By Robert Low

3 min read

No match: a drawing of the duel between the Marquis de Morès and Captain Mayer, as it appeared on the front page of Le Petit Parisien Illustré

Television

The Jewish Pilgrim’s Progress

Ashley Blaker, once the UK’s only Orthodox comedian, now a tattooed agnostic, is travelling through Northumberland for the new series of Pilgrimage

By Jenni Frazer

6 min read

Spiritual journey: (from left) Ashley Blaker, Hermione Norris, Jayne Middlemiss, Patsy Kensit, Ashley Banjo, Tasha Ghouri and Hasan Al-Habib on their pilgrimage

Dance

Mayerling review: This doomed love affair produces some of the most erotically-charged dances seen on stage ★★★★★

Kenneth MacMillan’s 1978 ballet about a prince and his young baroness mistress is back in London with exquisite performances that build to a tragic end

By Joy Sable

1 min read