In a new series for every issue during 2016, we look back at events that took place in the same week over the JC’s 175-year history.
January 16 1948
The JC’s front page story declared that there would be a “Jewish state by October”. The report said that the Secretary General of the UN had “promised… the full support of the Security Council in carrying out its task in Palestine, namely to take all necessary measures for the establishment of independent Jewish and Arab states…by not later than October of this year.”
January 12 1973
A Conservative rabbi was invited to recite the opening prayer at Richard Nixon’s inauguration as United State’s president. Rabbi Seymour Siegel accepted the invitation, despite the event falling on a Saturday, saying “there is nothing that will violate (my) religious convictions”. Traditionally, Liberal rabbis had been asked to speak at inaugurations.
January 14 2000
Historian David Irving launched his High Court libel action against American academic Deborah Lipstadt who had branded him “one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial”. Irving, who told the court that “Holocaust” was “an arti-ficial label” lost the case.