Bravo, Boy George!
Boy George’s release of We Will Dance Again is worthy of comparison with Émile Zola’s publication of J’Accuse...! in 1898. Both are expressions of moral outrage at the treatment of Jews. Zola wrote in the pages of L’Aurore; Boy George addressed the global village through the internet.
The significance of his decision to do so is incalculable. At a time when many public figures have remained silent, equivocal or critical, he chose to speak plainly.
Remarkably, only two lines of the song’s lyrics seem open to challenge. The first is, “You never mention October 7.” The word “never” is too absolute, as some who go on to criticise Israel at length do acknowledge the atrocities of October 7, however briefly.
The second is, “I don’t feel brave, I just need to behave like a human.” It is difficult to believe that Boy George did not appreciate the criticism and hostility his song would inevitably attract. His decision required courage, very considerable courage.
Brian Kaplan
London, NW6
I agree with Jonathan Harounoff that for Israelis exhausted by nearly three years of war, and for Palestinians seeking a future free from both Hamas rule and perpetual conflict, the prospect of a truly demilitarised Gaza governed by civilian institutions, is worth pursuing (Trump’s Hamas deal deserves credit-but the true test is whether the terrorists will disarm, JC July 31). Unfortunately, Trump’s latest announcement that Hamas has agreed to disarm under the Board of Peace, will achieve no such thing because Trump rarely delivers what he promises. On the other hand, the release of the pro-peace song We Will Dance Again by Boy George and his condemnation of fellow musicians for acting like sheep, gives one hope. An artist who I’d previously regarded as shallow, has shown great courage. Bravo George!
Stan Labovitch
Windsor
Burial rights
Further to your front-page article (Burial society members ‘paying twice over to switch shuls’ JC. July 31), I recently attended a stone setting in one of the oldest parts of Bushey Cemetery, and was appalled to see the lack of maintenance to pathways and areas between the memorial stones themselves, with some of the growth entirely covering the stones. The main pathways were breaking up and extremely uneven and people could easily trip up. I would question just how much maintenance is carried out to the older parts of the cemetery?
Sue Lander
Radlett
I am in the same position as several of your readers who wish to transfer their burial rights. I wonder if I should take up a late relative’s request who wanted to be buried at Brent Cross where she felt her grave would be visited at least once a month by her children!
Llewellyn Gaba
Cardiff
Abbott and Labour
Labour’s decision to allow Diane Abbott’s re-entry to the party shows contempt for the Jewish community, as well as for travellers. In her tweet last Thursday, Abbott apologised for the “hurt” caused by her reference to the IDF as “the Jewish Defence Force”. Apologising for the hurt and not the comment itself is a classic non-apology apology. Moreover, she did not specifically refer to the more egregious and contemptible comments in her Observer letter of 2023 where she denied that Jews or travellers were victims of “racism”, explaining instead that they suffered from “prejudice”, like “redheads”. Given that antisemitism is at a historic high, and given the prevalence of attacks against gipsy, traveller and Roma communities, such comments are malevolent and show a blindness to history. Abbott should not have been re-admitted without genuine contrition for her remarks and a willingness to undertake anti-racism training.
Dr Jeremy Havardi
Director, B’nai B’rith UK Bureau of International Affairs
Blood libel
Dr Jonathan Lewis writes that by hearing Kairos II, the Church of England has legitimised “the pernicious racial libel” of genocide (Letters, July 31). It is worth remembering that the original libel has never been formally retired anywhere in Europe.
In 1899, in the Bohemian town of Polná, a 19-year-old Catholic woman named Anežka Hrůzová was found murdered in the woods. A local Jewish drifter, Leopold Hilsner, was convicted of ritual murder and served 18 years. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, then a law professor and later Czechoslovakia’s first president, defended him and was driven out of his own lecture hall for it. This paper interviewed Masaryk in 1900.
Charles Heller, grandson of Hilsner’s legal guardian, told the story in these pages in 2023 (The blood libel which still stains Czech history, JC, September 14, 2023). His article closed with the Czech Ministry of Justice refusing, once more, to reopen the case.
That has now changed. On July 7, Česká justice reported that the justice minister Jeroným Tejc is considering a complaint for breach of law brought by the lawyer Lubomír Müller. If he files it, the Supreme Court will hear the case.
Hilsner left no heirs. There is no compensation to pay. It would cost the Czech state nothing but the admission.
Alfred Dreyfus was cleared in 1906. Leopold Hilsner is still, in law, a ritual murderer.
Bryan Felber
SteelAnt Productions,
California
Happy Edgware memories
Reading the obituary of author Rosalind Friedman (obituary, July 24) brought flooding back all the memories of growing up around Broadfields Avenue, how lucky we were to have the brilliant Dr Friedman as our community doctor on the corner of Franklyn Gardens, the cherry blossom glorifying the view in the spring, the local shopping parades in Glengal and Watford Way, a growing Rosh Pinah school, the well-attended local shul built from the leftovers of the Festival of Britain, our families working together to get us a pool at Broadfields school. So many memories. We really didn’t realise how lucky we were.
Jacky Bednar ( Dennerstein)
Stanmore
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