Letters to the Editor, December 19 2025

Director, B’nai B’rith UK Bureau of International Affairs

While the world’s leaders pour over their thesaurus to find a different word to describe their feelings following the horrific murder and maiming of Jews on Bondi beach, the one word that is absent, is action. When they searched their houses for a scented candle to put on their windowsill in commemoration of murdered Jews, or for a grim photo op, they forgot that responsibility for these horrific murders, in the public spaces of their democracies, lies in part with their government’s inaction.

Platitudes or candles to mourn Jews is not their job. They need to let us light candles and celebrate our religion, and they need to stop terror attacks. When will our Government put an anti-extremism lead into all places of worship, when will they ban foreign funding coming into places of worship and registered charities, when will they ban hate speech when it applies to Jews, when will they ban the incitement to kill that is “globalise the intifada,” when will they instruct the police to stop giving succour to verbally violent extremists who roam our streets with impunity?

Until I hear of the actions that our Prime Minister is taking now, I am not interested in how saddened, sickened, horrified or pained he is feeling.

Shimon Cohen,

London N2

I do not know what Nigel Farage may or may not have said at school fifty years ago, but I do know that, after the horrific attack on Bondi Beach, in contrast to the meaningless words from other politicians, he was the only one to acknowledge that we Jews face a similar threat all around the world.

Rowland Aarons

London NW4 

Last weekend, on a leading British radio station, I heard something chilling. A “compassionate” presenter reacted to calls about the Bondi Beach murders by saying how moved she was because the victims... “were not even Israelis”.

This was not a slip - it was a reflex. As if the murder of a ten-year-old girl, or a Shoah survivor shielding his wife, would have been less shocking had they had Israeli passports! To her, Israeli lives sit lower on the moral scale. Have we not seen it, and heard it, all before?

This is Britain in 2025, yet the logic is old. Violent antisemitism does not always return with boots and banners. Sometimes it clears its throat on the radio and listens for applause.

David Frencel

London N4

Pep talk

The Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that he is “embarrassed and ashamed “ for berating a camera operator at the end of Manchester City’s recent defeat by Newcastle."

More significantly , he should also be embarrassed by his open support for the “ Palestinians “ demonstrated inter alia by his support for the recent game between Catalonia and Palestine in Barcelona, recent statements such as “ the world has left Palestine alone We ‘ve done nothing . They are not at fault for being born there “ and his accusation that Israel has committed massacres and genocide in Gaza

This is an inappropriate intervention by a sports personality and he should be reprimanded appropriately by his club Manchester City and the Football Association . He should be concentrating on his football activities and not openly getting involved in politics of which he knows little or nothing. Football and politics do not mix and football should not be used as a political platform

I trust that his club Manchester City and the relevant football authorities and other clubs take appropriate disciplinary action against him and others in the football world such as William Saliba of Arsenal who are more than happy to make such ill advised political comments of this nature

Jonathan Metliss

Chairman , Action Against Discrimination

Comfort zone 

How pleasing to see Rachel Reeves declare herself a Zionist and call out the many blatant acts of anti-semitism that we have witnessed in the past two years for what they actually are. However, we should note that this support for our community was in front of a welcoming audience at a Labour Friends of Israel lunch. How more meaningful would her statements have been if she - or any other front-line Labour politician for that matter - had found the courage to make these comments in front of a broader, non-Jewish audience and been seen to have stood alongside our community? One hopes that now a senior member of the Cabinet has found their voice to support our community, we can expect to hear more of this and not just at cosy functions attended mainly by Jews.

Dan Adler

N20

Reform and Israel 

The article 'I resigned from my synagogue because I disagree with its stance on Israel’ certainly reflects a delineation between the overall viewpoint towards Israel, between the Orthodox and Reform communities.

In general it is fair to say that the Reform movement is overall left wing, while the Orthodox community are on the right and manifest a greater support for the right wing Israeli parties and government.

As a long term member of the Reform movement, I am comfortable in a synagogue where men and women are treated equally, worship together and can serve as rabbis or cantors, but I find their stance on Israel troubling. There should be greater acceptance of the fact that Reform Jews can also be staunch Zionists, and Progressive leaders need to take a more balanced political stance on Israel and leave room for debate.

 

Kay Bagon

Radlett