Jewish erasure
I was astonished to hear the BBC’s Holocaust Remembrance Day news bulletins refer to the six million people murdered in the gas chambers without once stating that they were Jewish. Apologies are no longer acceptable.
This omission is not a trivial matter of wording. The Holocaust was the systematic attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. To strip that fact from the narrative is to distort history itself.
One is left to ask how such an omission could occur. Is it the result of institutional antisemitism within the BBC? Or does it reflect an entrenched ideological bias among parts of the organisation that is too ready to accommodate, excuse, or reproduce antisemitic tropes?
Either way, this failure points to a serious problem. What is required is a genuinely open and independent review of the BBC, followed by urgent and comprehensive reform. Staff found to hold extremist or discriminatory views should be required to undergo meaningful training and be subject to monitoring, or otherwise be asked to leave the organisation.
Looking ahead, new appointments should include rigorous scrutiny of candidates’ attitudes toward Jewish people and antisemitism. This is not about policing opinion, but about ensuring that those entrusted with informing the public are capable of reporting historical and contemporary realities accurately and responsibly.
If the BBC wishes to regain the trust of its audience as a genuinely balanced and impartial public broadcaster, such measures are not optional. They are essential – and they are overdue.
David Collins
Tel Aviv
Stephen Pollard is, of course, right to point out the BBC’s glaring omission of Jews from its Holocaust coverage (Why the BBC is one of the most dangerously antisemitic organisations in the West; thejc.com January 28). However, even more concerning to me is the lack of programming on the BBC’s television channels for Holocaust Memorial Day. In previous years, there have been multiple documentaries shown on the BBC about this part of history. Even if they are repeats, this is to be welcomed.
This year, the programming seemingly consisted of a couple of films and a repeat of A House Through Time, which includes relevant stories, but is not focused on the Holocaust (this repeat is just part of a series). We can only speculate on the reasons why the BBC has neglected to schedule any factual programmes specifically about the Holocaust this year. Is the corporation now scared to broadcast factual history that might elicit sympathy for Jews?
Channel 4’s programming amounted to a late-night repeat of the documentary Night Will Fall. ITV and Channel 5 again broadcast nothing. For our major public service broadcasters, this is poor. These documentaries may be an uncomfortable watch, but they are vital to us continuing to remember the Holocaust.
Theo Morgan,
London W9
Tackling trauma
I recently attended Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue on the Mental Health Shabbat weekend. A post-service talk focused on the level of mental health problems in the UK Jewish Community
One area was the mental stress suffered since the horrific events of October 7, 2023 and the massive rise in antisemitism in the UK since then including the Heaton Park synagogue attack. It was estimated that those adversely affected amounted to approximately 26 per cent of the community.
It feels as though our community leaders have not actively addressed this trauma, although organisations such as Jami are trying to. This is a serious and worrying matter, not to be ignored.
It does not help when community leaders carp at and criticise leading Israeli politicians including the elected prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and certain members of his cabinet. This only increases the stress and the feeling that as Jews we are not being fully supported or protected.
Israel remains our sanctuary and our security. All the criticism does is increase our feelings of insecurity and mental stress and provide more fuel and ammunition to our enemies. Remember: “less is more” and “if you have nothing good to say, don’t say it”.
The late Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks said in 2010: “The Jewish community should focus on the bigger picture. We may disagree about Israeli politics… but right now we need to focus our energy on ensuring the survival and recognition of Israel.”
I suggest that those who want to carp about Israeli politics should make aliyah to Israel and criticise from there.
Jonathan Metliss
London W1
Teacher training
I am saddened but not surprised that NEU (National Education Union) members shared teaching materials after the October 7 pogrom, asking pupils whether they would fight back if they lived in Gaza and inviting them to empathise with Hamas (The radical lesson plans of NEU teachers should worry the country, JC January 23). As an ex-teacher myself, I have worked with many highly motivated colleagues who shared a passionate belief in racial and gender equality-but for the usual reasons of intersectionality (Jews don’t count), had a visceral antipathy towards Israel. It is today’s fashionable issue of conscience, like South African apartheid was in the 1970s and 1980s. But this is not just about the antisemitism that this would undoubtedly sow in the impressionable minds of our precious children. It is about the integrity of teachers, whose lessons should be unflinchingly apolitical. It is about shielding Muslim pupils from the claws of Islamism. It is why the Holocaust must be taught in schools.
Stan Labovitch
Windsor
Anti-Zionism
In order to second Nick Cohen on the fallacious contention that hostiles can be anti-Zionist without being antisemites (The shallow claim that anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, JC January 30) we only need go to the 19th-century campaigns for Italian and German national unification and governments – or for Irish and Indian independence or any other ex-imperial territory in the late century.
To contest any of these as Metternich dismissed Italy as “a geographical expression” is to offend the people of those countries, their persons, interests and self-determination. As for ethno-states, which European or Arab state is not one? As for imperial cavalier treatment of other nations, what have the Arabs, Turks and Mughals done – and are still doing courtesy of the Muslim Brothers?
Frank Adam
Prestwich
Reform on immigration
I was interested to read your article about Richard Tice of Reform, suggesting some support for our community. I have written several times to Mr Tice and in the absence of a reply, to Nigel Farage, to my local Reform councillor and to the Reform head office. In each case I explained that while agreeing with the need to control illegal immigration, I noted that one of their policies is to restrict “non-essential” immigration. I enquired how they define that: for example, immigrants – many from countries such as Poland and Russia – emigrated to this country at the turn of the 19th century. I asked whether those immigrants might today be classed non-essential as they had no known home in the UK let alone place of work.
To date I have heard nothing back.
Peter Fineman
Barrow Street
Wilts
Women rabbis
I appreciated the breaths of fresh air from Benedict Roth and Daniel Jonas (Letters, January 30) concerning women rabbis.
What is the male Orthodox rabbinate unwilling to let go of?
Halachah is derived from written and oral Torah, and translates as the way to go, or of walking. If Judaic traditions and ways of living are to avoid becoming fossilised, they need to be not just walking, but treading new paths. Why should only male views prevail?
Perhaps that was the cultural context 2,000 or so years ago. It shouldn’t be the cultural context now.
Lewis Herlitz
Leigh on Sea, Essex
Family sought
Ajex is seeking family of the late Henry Brookner who died in service in the Royal Navy in 1947 and is buried in East Ham Jewish cemetery. His family may be living in Borehamwood. Please contact me at martin.sugarman@yahoo.co.uk.
Martin Sugarman
Ajex Archivist
A cyclist’s lament
Maureen Lipman is entitled to champion black cab drivers. However, her apparent hostility towards cyclists is misplaced. I cycle daily and would encourage others, especially older people, to do the same if able. Like many cyclists, I obey traffic laws and try to be considerate to other road users. Some cyclists behave badly, just as some black cab drivers do, but it would be wrong to judge either group by its worst examples.
Dr. Eli Jaldow
NW11
Dog days
I adore dogs, I’ve had three over the years. But a kickstart siddur for pets? (Rabbis launch appeal to fund siddur for pets, JC January 30). How about pets bar(k) and bat mitzvahs?
And if Dr Charles Middleburgh can afford to keep six dogs, may I suggest that he’s overpaid.
John Barrell
NW4
Correction
Our report on Holocaust Memorial Day last week referred to Arek Hersh as “the late Arek Hersh”. We are glad to confirm that Mr Hersh is very much alive, and offer heartfelt apologies for this editing error.
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