As tens of thousands of Roger Waters fans streamed into The O2 earlier this week, they were caught between two forces battling for their attention. On the left, several dozen hardened pro-Israel campaigners organised by the National Jewish Association and assorted Zionist groups. Waving the blue and white flags of the Jewish state they chanted “hey Roger, leave them Jews alone” as attendees walked past. On the right, men in Guantanamo Bay style orange jumpsuits held placards calling for the release of Julian Assange alongside a life-size cardboard cutout of the imprisoned activist. The rival f ..read more

Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo has been criticised for retweeting an article that claims the IHRA definition of antisemitism is “propaganda” used to target anyone with a “viewpoint that is critical of Israel” as antisemitic. The outspoken actor and activist took to Twitter on Thursday to share a quote with his 8.3 million followers from Lina Assi, advocacy manager at the US-based Palestine Legal. She told The Intercept news site: “The IHRA working definition is a culmination of lobbying efforts to instrumentalize and accelerate the use of false accusations in order to censor protected speech, to ..read more

The chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has called for the government to investigate scientists at British universities who helped the Iranian regime develop technology that could be used in drones and fighter jets, following a JC investigation. Alicia Kearns said the exposé demonstrated that academics “believe themselves to be above the realities of geopolitics, and that is wrong”. Scientists from at least 11 British universities, including Cambridge and Imperial College London, collaborated on research with possible military applications. The UK bans the export of military and “dua ..read more

My father Isaac would not have considered himself a feminist. And the last time I spoke to him, he reminded me of this fact as he worried aloud about what he was leaving behind for my mom. Would she have enough for the rest of her days? “She’s fine!”I responded blithely. “No,” he said, regretfully, “I didn’t make enough money.” That morning, my dad looked small and sunk in the depths of his brown corduroy chair, a hospital bed-like monstrosity that moved up and down noisily at the press of a button. I proceeded to debate this claim, but my dad— there was fire in him yet—pounded a fist onto ..read more

Peace with Saudi Arabia would be a “quantum leap” forward for Israel and could help end the Palestinian conflict, Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Speaking at his office in Jerusalem, the prime minister said negotiating a normalisation agreement was one of the “great goals” he set himself when he returned to office in December of last year. “I think it would fashion the possibility of ending the Arab Israeli conflict and I think that would also help us solve the Palestinian Israeli conflict, because the Palestinians are only two percent of the Arab world,” he told Sky News. “The reason [Palestinia ..read more

For more than half of his 70 years, Rabbi Geoffrey Hyman has taken on cycling challenges. He has participated in bike rides in Israel in support of Ravenswood and ridden from London to Paris and London to Amsterdam in aid of Shaare Zedek Hospital. For his 40th birthday, he took the Land’s End to John o’ Groats route for charities including Magen David Adom. For his 60th, another marathon cycle raised funds to renovate a Sefer Torah dedicated to the memory of child Holocaust victims. Now to belatedly celebrate his 70th, the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation minister will next week em ..read more

Adult and family educational charity Seed has raised more than £1.2million from a 36-hour matched funding campaign, launched on a high with a sponsored abseil from buildings in Manchester and London. Among the participants was Gideon Gabriel from Edgware, who said it had been “an unbelievable experience. I’m so happy to have stepped out of my comfort zone and abseiled down a 50-metre building. Seed has been a big part of my life and I’m proud to be part of a community of lovely people whose sole aim is to enrich people’s lives and strengthen their Jewish identity.” Seed CEO Rabbi Malcolm Her ..read more

Jonathan Sacerdoti is not the first person to complain about Martin Sherman’s one-woman play Rose which is currently being performed by Maureen Lipman in the West End. When Olympia Dukakis took the monologue to New York in 2000 there were also complaints that it was anti-Israel. This is because Sherman’s fictional heroine Rose is a Holocaust survivor whose daughter was murdered in the Warsaw ghetto but who when we encounter her (spoiler alert) is mourning the death of a Palestinian girl shot dead by her grandson, a soldier in the IDF. Such complaints see the play as presenting the Holocaust a ..read more

The top UN official in the Palestinian territories has defended Roger Waters amid allegations the singer was using antisemitic tropes at recent gigs. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, waded into the controversy following a controversial performance in Germany by the Pink Floyd singer. Jewish community groups are now calling for Roger Waters’ UK shows to be axed after the rock legend wore a Nazi-style uniform at a Berlin concert last month in what he called a statement against fascism. German police are investigating whether the Pink Floyd cofounder ..read more

A Spanish Socialist politician who called a rival a “Jewish Nazi” has resigned from her party following a tense row.  Amparo Rubiales said she would step down as the chair of the Andalusia branch of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party after comments she made about centre right Popular Party politician Elias Bendodo Benasayag. Rubialies, a former congresswoman for the Spanish Socialist party until 2004, reacted to an interview in which Bendodo said that “Spain is not strong enough to withstand another five years under Pedro Sánchez”. Benasayag was born to a Sephardi Jewish family in Malag ..read more