Many a manual man among Jews

David Byers (JC April 14), from his inability to change a light bulb, generalises that  Jewish men are incapable of manual work. 

I’m too old now but I can recall spending a week repainting the whole of my three-bedroom house as well as growing vegetables. In an earlier house I did the wallpapering.

And what about all those immigrants of 100 years ago who were tailors, cap-makers, shoemakers or,  like my grandfather and father, were cabinet-makers?
Harold Pollins, 
Oxford OX3

Hard choice

I think Patrick Schicker (JC April 14), not intoxicated I hope, is misinterpreting the concept of God’s chosen people. Some arrogant Jews may hold to that in perpetuity.

My take on it is simply that, of the many tribes around, the wandering Israelites were “chosen” to receive God’s word. There is a prevailing view that some of us wish God has chosen someone else for all the tsores that went with the job.
Barry Hyman, 
Bushey Heath

Too democratic

A Syrian refugee from Damascus has told the BBC he felt “oppressed” by left-wing  protesters in London who shouted him down when, at a “Stop the War” demonstration outside Downing Street against the recent US air strike on a Syrian air base in response to the chemical weapon attack, he tried to challenge them by asking why they were protesting against that reprisal when they should be protesting against President Assad. 

He also told the BBC that for those British left-wing protesters to have shouted down a Syrian trying to speak on Syria at a demonstration about Syria was “insane”.

He’s right, and such insanity explains why the left so loathe Israel: it’s too democratic for their instinctively authoritarian tastes.
Steven R. Harvey, 
Cheshire SK8 

Defending the faith

Geoffrey Alderman might not have been the best choice to review Defenders of the Faith, the new history of Jews’ College (Books, April 7). 
We all know Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler died in 1911.

I wrote (p95) that he resigned as chair of the College Council in 1908; obviously he didn’t resign as Chief Rabbi. Professor Alderman also accuses me of being needlessly polemical. Should one not be critical about the treatment of a vital community organisation, known for years as the Cinderella of Jewish Charities? 

As far as the delicate and confidential discussions over the departure of the Chasidic senior lecturer in 1985 were concerned, to which he refers,

I wonder if Professor Alderman can remember who carried “the miniature tape recorder I’d accidentally secreted about my person” (JC July 16 2004, p25) when at the meeting with Chief Rabbi Jakobovits? Far from being “polemical”, I am well aware that there are occasions when “discretion is the better part of valour”. 
Derek Taylor, 
London NW11

In praise of Maajid Nawaz

I want to pay tribute to LBC presenter Maajid Nawaz for his staunch  defence of Israel last Tuesday morning . This was as cogent and thought-provoking an exposition of unfair bias against Israel as I have heard broadcast for years .

Mr Nawaz, born in Southend to a British Pakistani family , is a former member of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. He was arrested and imprisoned in Egypt in 2001 , where he remained until 2006 . In that time, reading books on human rights and the like, he changed his stance and came to renounce his Islamist past . 

He has since been an author, columnist and Liberal democratic candidate. Most recently, he has come to be known for his excellent weekend programmes on LBC.

What was so impressive about Mr Nawaz’s criticisms of those who question Israel’s legitimacy, was that his comments came during a heated debate about Hamas. Although he spoke honestly about being an anti-Israel activist in the past, his standpoint is now that of “enough is enough “as regards talk of Israel’s right to exist.  Most hard-hitting was his attack upon endless, disproportionate  singling out of Israel, comparing other “colonial projects”, such as those giving rise to Australia and America —  and pointing out how those, by way of example,  are never questioned. On the other hand, as Mr Nawaz highlighted so vividly , focus upon the very existence of the state of Israel constantly serves to distract from concentration upon “ very real genocidal problems”, such as those in Syria and  Iraq —  and in relation to Isis .

Mr Nawaz’s broadcast  clearly and profoundly underlined the unfair, impartial and uninformed way the media target Israel negatively all the time. He is to be thanked for his courage and tenacity in openly promoting the fact that Israel is the only secular, democratic country in the Middle East . 

His knowledge and experience on relevant issues is extraordinary. His comments were honest, incisive and passionate. He is to be listened to, not least because he is correct .
Jeremy Dein QC, 
London WC1

Friends and Labour

Over the past few months, I have frequently asked my friends who are Labour sympathisers how they can reconcile their backing for the party, when it is under the leadership of a man with the views, and the “friends”, of Mr Corbyn. 

With the announcement of a General Election, the moment of truth has arrived. Whatever the merits of any local Labour candidate, a vote to put Mr Corbyn into Number Ten is incompatible with any desire for a free, flourishing and sustainable Jewish community in the UK.
David Wolfson QC, 
London EC4

With a seven-week notice period for the election, I hardly think that the adjective “snap” is correct.
Martin Levin  
London E4