Letters to the editor: ‘Our term, reclaimed with pride’

Our term, reclaimed with pride

I do not know why there is such a fuss over Tottenham Hotspur fans’ use of the words, “Yid”, “Yiddo” or “Yid Army”.

And I take special offence that an organisation such as the US-based World Jewish Congress (WJC) – whose knowledge of English “soccer” could probably be written on the back of a postage stamp – has butted in.

I am shocked, too, that the Board of Deputies felt the need to support the WJC on this.
I am certain there are plenty of deputies who are Spurs fans who have no problem with Yid.

As one of the many thousands of Jewish Spurs fans who are proud to be Yids, I wonder if the WJC has waded into the argument that Afro-Americans should use the N-word.

Note I do not use the N-word because I am not an Afro-American or Afro-Caribbean. Like them, we reclaimed the term with pride.

If Jewish Chelsea, West Ham or Arsenal fans have a problem with it being used pejoratively by their own supporters, let them stand up to them at Stamford Bridge, the London Stadium or the Emirates.

Paul Miller, Islington   

Enough! We cut our Labour ties

Everyone seems to be outraged at the latest round of Labour antisemitism, involving Countdown hosts Rachel Riley and Nick Hewer, but I don’t understand it.

The community has more-or-less severed ties to the Labour Party. We won’t be voting Labour en masse at the next election. Why are we flogging a dead horse?

Let Labour self-implode over Brexit and let it sink in that they’ve lost the trust of our community. Stop engaging with them, and stop feeding their troll army of hateful online Jew-baiters. They want us to react to their nonsense and we have to just ignore them. It’s time for some silent treatment.

I feel completely politically homeless, and by engaging with Labour over antisemitism, all we’re doing is giving the party false hope that we may give them our support. I certainly won’t be!

We have a Conservative government, which is about as useful as a chocolate teapot, and which has ingested many of the harsh and nasty elements of UKIP.

Our country is divided – and being run by people who don’t know what they’re doing, but we must not let Corbyn and his mob through the door amid the chaos.

Jacob Keller, By email   

Spurs, please get rid of ‘yid’

I recall attending a football match at White Hart Lane and hearing Tottenham supporters chanting: “We sang it in France. We sang it in Spain. We sing in the sun, we sing in the rain. The thing I love most, is being a Yid.”

In their number were a) non-Jews who would risk arrest for using such a vile racial slur if uttered outside the stadium and b) Jews who know not what they do.

Isaac Cohen, Bushey, 

Reciprocate in kind

Belgium has again shown its true colours, not just by banning shechita in a key part of the country, but lumping it with halal.

It’s time for the Jewish dominated diamond trade to reciprocate in kind and leave Belgium, taking with it a very large slice of the economy, relocating to Jerusalem or more conducive climes.

Jeremy Zeid, By email

I was so shocked at Rubashkin coverage

I’m the proud director of Lubavitch in Scotland for almost 50 years and am deeply shocked at your coverage of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin and all the shmutz you chose to write about this man in your recent edition (Jewish News, 4 January).

Mr Rubashkin has helped thousands of people over time, was victim to a totally
distorted antisemitic trial and you as a Jewish newspaper choose to pour acid on his wounds.

This man has a special needs child – how dare you be so harsh on him?

Let us see a front page apology to him, his family, Lubavitch, and indeed the Jewish community at large.

Rabbi Chaim Jacobs, Lubavitch Scotland

Technion’s role in cancer trials

The good news about trials in the UK of a new method of early cancer detection by means of a patient’s breath was widely reported in the media last week. However, we should remember new medical developments do not start with trials. They
are preceded by years of dedicated research and development. In this case, the details of where this occurred were not shared with the public. Why? It started at the Technion in Israel by an Israeli-Arab, professor Hossam Haick.

Nomi Benari, NW4

Stop hurling stones

I refer to the overly enthusiastic letter by Russell Ballen in your 4 January edition regarding the Jewishness or otherwise of the former Secretary of State for Brexit, Dominic Raab. I found Mr Ballen’s letter to be gloating in the extreme.

People who brag about those who may or may not be Jewish should first look into their own Jewishness, past and present, before talking about others.

Mr Ballen may believe he is ‘Jewish’ but perhaps he should investigate his own and his family’s halachic status going back around, say, a couple of generations, before so eagerly exclaiming with reference to Mr Raab “… but Jewish he is not”

In any case, what’s so special about being a Jew? I am a Sephardic Jew, and a Cohen and, according to Mr Ballen’s reckoning, a Jew!

I am no better than any non-Jew although many so-called Jews
purport to claim they are, as Jews are ‘special’. Stop throwing stones, Mr Ballen. You live in a glass house.

Michael Edwards, By email

Who’s this person?

On 21 December you published a personal attack on me (‘Flailing was too mild’) from ‘Revital Kochavi’ of Woodside Park. There is no evidence of anyone of that name who might write such a letter in the UK, let alone in Woodside Park. She claimed to have attended the ZF Biennial (2 December). But this name does not appear on the signing-in sheet.

Her profile on Facebook is clearly a fake one: seven of her eight ‘friends’ are recent and most of them are well-known traducers of Israel; there is no activity (apart from posting her letter on her timeline).

Moreover, she has no other
social media presence.

Jonathan Hoffman, By email