Concern as Bradford Festival schedules two Israel-Palestine talks on Shabbat

Mr Schiff, 65, from Mirfield, near Bradford, said: “For most people there, they will be supporters of Palestine. I would feel quite intimidated if I did go.”

Syma Aslam, the managing director of the festival, said organisers were aware of Shabbat, but a Saturday was the only day they could accommodate the speakers and the venue.

Because of the popular nature of the events, Ms Aslam said, organisers opted not to hold the events on a week day.

Although fewer than 300 Jews are estimated to live in Bradford, the city was home to a large Jewish community in the middle and late 19^th century, and Bradford Reform Synagogue is the country’s oldest reform synagogue outside London.

An Orthodox synagogue was later founded, in 1881, by Russian Jews who had recently arrived in the city.

The Bradford Literature Festival will feature a number of other Jewish-related events, including a heritage tour of the area of the city which was home to a large German-Jewish community.