Event: Palestine

The UK’s most senior progressive rabbis have warned that Israel’s current political direction risks becoming “incompatible with Jewish values”, while insisting that criticism of the country’s government is “a Jewish obligation” rather than an act of disloyalty.Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, co-leads of Progressive Judaism – the newly formed movement representing around a third of synagogues in the UK – said Israel’s trajectory could pose an “existential threat” not just to the country itself but to Judaism.Speaking ahead of the launch of the movement’s first book, Progressive Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel, they also expressed hope that change remains possible.“We’ve often talked about the direction of Israel being an existential threat not to Jews per se, but to Judaism,” Baginsky said. “What happens when the direction of the government within Israel takes Israel down a line that makes it incompatible with our Jewish values? That’s a huge worry.”That question lies at the heart of the book Baginsky co-edited with Levy, which brings together 40 essays from Jewish clergy and community leaders, reflecting a wide range of perspectives on the fraught debates surrounding Jewish identity, Zionism and Israel.Levy argued that exploring these tough questions is not a sign of disloyalty to Israel or to the Jewish community. “It is to be part of a millennial conversation about Jewish values and what God wants of us in the world and our relationship with the land.”He added: “What the government of Israel does reflects on us as Jews and reflects on our Judaism. Therefore, it is our Jewish obligation to be in dialogue with that in some way.”While Progressive Judaism is a Zionist movement committed to a Jewish, pluralist and democratic state in Israel, the collection of essays also includes contributions from voices who would not describe themselves as…

A student is under police investigation for comparing a Palestine activist’s headgear to a ‘tea towel’. As much as prime minister Keir Starmer may wish to convince himself – and the public – that the UK does not have a free-speech problem, the evidence is overwhelmingly stacked against him. Nowhere is Britain’s free-speech crisis more starkly exposed than in higher education. Since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas two-and-a-half years ago, we have seen academics hounded out of their jobs, students ostracised by their peers, and visiting speakers subjected to militant attempts to silence them for expressing lawful views. But the case of Brodie Mitchell is one of the most egregious examples yet. The now 20-year-old Royal Holloway student faces the prospect of criminal prosecution after he compared a keffiyeh worn by a pro-Palestine activist student to a ‘tea towel’ during Freshers’ Fair in September last year. Mitchell made the remark to Huda El-Jamal, president of the Friends of Palestine Society, after she called him a ‘wannabe Jew’ and questioned why he was not wearing a Jewish ‘hat’, a reference to a kippah. What began as a flippant comment – made in response to her remarks about his headgear, or lack of it – has since spiralled into something far more serious. In a striking display of double standards, Mitchell was handed a seven-week suspension as the university launched an investigation into ‘alleged conduct that could be considered hate speech’. His comments were branded ‘Islamophobic’, ‘racist’ and ‘anti-Palestinian’. He was barred from campus and was given less than 48 hours to vacate his student accommodation. Meanwhile, El-Jamal has faced no disciplinary action. But the most sinister development in this affair is that Surrey Police have passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). This means that Mitchell –…