Board of Deputies president’s speech at Israel vigil
search
home page

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here
More issues

BLOG – Israel at war; Hamas hostages: Day 56

Israel-Hamas ceasefire extended for 24 hours; at least 8 hostages expected to be released on Thursday

October 9, 2023, 8:49 pm Edit
Hostages released since the truce: Eitan Yahalomi with his mother and Emily Hand with her father
Hostages released since the truce: Eitan Yahalomi with his mother and Emily Hand with her father
Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Read more

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more:
8:49 pm

Board of Deputies president’s speech at Israel vigil

“Thank you all for coming to this vigil at such short notice.

The tragedy of the last few days cannot be easily expressed. 50 years to the day since Israel was attacked on Yom Kippur, it has happened again, this time on the Festival of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. A period which is traditionally filled with happiness and rejoicing has been transformed into one of profound mourning and grief.

Hamas, a terrorist organisation with genocidal antisemitic aims, has murdered more than 600 Israelis. They have dragged scores of hostages into Gaza. We have seen their despicable treatment of the captured and their defilement of the dead. Make no mistake – this was a pogrom. And it took place in front of the eyes of the entire world. There can be no more equivocation and no more misrepresentation, particularly by media outlets who appear to prefer not to call Hamas what they are and what they have been proscribed as by the British Government – a terror organisation. This must end now.

Hamas, under its founding charter, believes in the murder of all Jews it can reach, and it demonstrated this vividly on Shabbat. Those worldwide who are cheering them on, including in this country, are despicable. They should be shunned as pariahs by anyone with a shred of decency.

I want to thank the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition for their unequivocal support for Israel in the face of this murderous rampage by Hamas. I would also like to thank the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London for publicly making it clear that the safety of the British Jewish community is a key priority, given the record of increased antisemitism here whenever Israel responds to Hamas attacks. And of course, we are grateful to both the police and the CST for their vigilance against those who would do us harm.

We are here this evening, united. Left and Right, Orthodox and Progressive, Young and Old. We are here to mourn the fallen, to stand with the survivors, and to say, loud and clear – Am Yisrael Chai – The Children of Israel Live!”