I will be blogging a little less frequently in February as I have a lot of work to get done ahead of my trip to Israel. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say when I get back and I’ll update the blog whenever possible in the meantime.

Here is my latest column for Jewish News:

As a blogger and keen Facebook user I am well aware of the power that the online world has to draw attention to good causes. However, I’m also becoming aware of the downside of that power. When I first signed up to Facebook (strange to think it once didn’t exist, no?) I was immediately bombarded with environmentalist web-links from a couple of users. When I questioned some of their simplistic, scaremongering propaganda they replied that if we didn’t all stop what we were doing to the planet ‘right now’ then the human race would be wiped out within a few years.

I wondered why, if they truly believed that, their effort to prevent this consisted merely of pasting YouTube links and clicking the word ‘forward’. Surely if they thought we were all done for they would be acting a bit more urgently than that? Look at the suffragettes. They went on hunger strikes, stepped in front of huge, galloping horses and chained themselves to railings – and this just to win the right to vote. I say ‘just’ not to undermine the importance of their quest, but compared to saving the very future of the planet theirs was a lesser issue.

Not that Greens are alone in such a curious contrast between message and effort. My inbox is often bombarded with links about Islam. I do not doubt there is a grave problem with extremist Islam, but much of what I receive is simply hysterical and effortlessly-debunked nonsense. Like with the climate-change hysterics, if one questions any of it one is faced with apocalyptic warnings that we will all be either nuked to smithereens or living under fascist shariah law within a few years.  And once more it is hard not to wonder why, if the proponents really believe what they say about this impending catastrophe, they can only be bothered to send a few videos featuring the ridiculous Geert Wilders to their friends’ email addresses.

If I believed half of what they and the environmentalists claim I would be shouting it from the rooftops, chaining myself to Parliament and embarking on a to-the-death hunger strike, not just lazily clicking the ‘forward button’ on my computer screen a couple of times a week. Still, let them get their doomsday fantasies out of their system online, I suppose.  The modern day equivalent of those loons who used to walk up and down the high street with their ‘End Is Nigh’ sandwich boards, it’s better that such people stay indoors.

People I wish would get out a bit more are those who support Israel. The decrease in Hamas rocket-fire that came about as a result of Operation Cast Lead was most welcome, and over here there was an additional positive outcome: the increased activism of those who love the Jewish state and wish to defend it from unfair demonisation. I recall three inspiring pro-Israel demonstrations in London in little over a week: at the Israeli Embassy, at Trafalgar Square and at the Iranian Embassy.

For one week, many of us became like the Zionist Federation’s ever-heroic and tireless Jonathan Hoffman, getting off our backsides and defending Israel with actions as well as words. Our events made many passers-by think about the issue, and meant a lot to people in Israel. The contrast between our peaceful, respectful vigils and the hate-mongering mobs on the other side did not go un-noted by many of the British public either.

But all too quickly the urgency diminished. Once again Facebook is awash with people who will mourn anti-Israel sentiment in Britain, but look the other way when an opportunity arises to change it.  Online consciousness-raising has an important part to play. As a pro-Israel blogger I believe that strongly. But there is so much more we could be doing – writing a status update is a good start but this is a movement that needs less armchair activism and more Jonathan Hoffmanism!

(If you are not in the newspaper’s catchment area you can read it in full online here.)

This is my latest column for Jewish News…

BBC executives at a corporation seminar were once asked to rule on a theoretical broadcasting dilemma. They were asked how they would react if a guest on BBC2’s Room 101 show nominated the following items to consign to the dustbin of history: some kosher food, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a Bible and the Koran. The response from the executives was that all the items would be allowed with the exception of the Koran, for fear of offending Muslims. This is ironic because their verdict is actually offensive to Muslims, suggesting as it does that Jews and Christians can take a joke but Muslims cannot.

Comedy is a funny world – and not always in the way it intends to be. I grew up as a wave of so-called ‘alternative comedians’ vowed to sweep away the old-school comics and truly shake up the establishment. Naturally, as their waistlines expanded their rebelliousness withered away. Many of them were soon parking their considerable behinds on the primetime television schedules and becoming fully paid-up members of the establishment. Fair enough. The only guaranteed way to avoid selling out is have something nobody wants to buy.

For the current comedy generation though the aim is often not to follow the ‘right-on’ humour of the 1980s, but rather to shock and offend. I’m not worried about offensive humour per se, but I’m sick of jokes about the Holocaust. It’s always wrong, all the more so given the younger generation’s regularly revealed ignorance of the issue (one in six British schoolchildren recently polled thought Auschwitz is a theme park). Jimmy Carr cracked an inappropriate joke about the Holocaust live on stage, prompting roars of laughter. But the memorable part was not the joke, nor the laughter itself but the round of applause that followed the laughter. It felt unsettling.

Not that Carr is alone in making such jokes. David Mitchell made one about Anne Frank, so too have Ricky Gervais and Russell Howard. Perhaps I’m a wimp but I don’t like it. And in my experience many of the comedians who like to push the boundaries of humour by making such quips prove less courageous when it comes to other sensitive areas, particularly extremist Islam. But then if you offend the Jewish community the worst that will happen to you is a few letters of complaint and perhaps a statement of condemnation from the Board Of Deputies. No bloodcurdling mobs, death threats or worse.

Not that I’m suggesting the latter response would be a good idea. But I do think that comedians should stop kidding themselves that they’re being brave by joking about the Holocaust or even Israel, when their comedic courage is so selective. The only comedian I can think of who will ‘go in studs-up’ consistently is Frankie Boyle. He’s made tasteless jokes at Israel’s expense but also at the expense of militant Islam and a range of other targets. You might think that being universally offensive is a bad thing, but at least he’s consistent and he’s actually very funny.

Which is more than you can say for the likes of Jeremy Hardy, with his egotistical film ‘Jeremy Hardy vs The Israeli Army’. Plenty of comedians make repeated quips at Israel, Bush, Blair and the war on terror but rarely speak about Hamas, the Taliban or Saddam Hussein. It’s easy to sneer at Blair in a London television studio, would any of them would be brave enough to stand on a street corner in Kandahar or Baghdad and poke fun at the extremists that our troops are bravely fighting?

If comics want to carry on slamming Israel and sniggering at Anne Frank then they can prove how taboo-breaking they are by fearlessly tackling some other sensitive areas like Islamic extremism. Until they’re willing to do that their jokes about the Holocaust and Israel will be doubly contemptible.

You can visit the Jewish News website here.

As some of you already know, I now have a fortnightly column in Jewish News. Here is the latest…

I see that acid attack survivor Katie Piper is delivering this year’s ‘alternative’ Christmas message on Channel 4, but I wonder who else was on the network’s shortlist? I will always remember my horror when I learned of last year’s choice: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Dorothy Byrne, Channel 4’s head of news and current affairs, spent months convincing him to do it. I wonder if she entertained any doubts during those months of courting.

Did she consider the millions of people brutalised and murdered during the Nazi holocaust, which Ahmadinejad denies even happened? Did she think about the women and children killed by Hamas rockets and suicide bombings, which are bankrolled by his regime? What of the women, gay people or peaceful protestors that have been slaughtered on the orders of Ahmadinejad?

Did she chase the Iranian bad boy despite his views and track record…or because of them? It’s a fair question because as we keep seeing, for every nasty Middle Eastern tyrant there are  plenty of Western softies who get a thrill from being associated with them.

Channel 4 is a strange network when it comes to Israel. Its news anchor Jon Snow suggested a disdain for Israeli lives when he claimed “nobody gets injured” by the rockets that have murdered, maimed and terrorised the people of southern Israel. I discussed this with Mr Snow over email recently. Fair play to him for answering emails, but it was a revealing exchange. At first he was polite and chatty, explaining that unfortunately he couldn’t comment as he was unable to check what he had said on the broadcast.

So I sent him a link to a video of what he had said and provided references to the Israeli civilians who have been injured and killed by the rockets. He dropped the friendliness and told me: “Stop wasting my time”. Has there ever been a crime against the Jewish people that someone, somewhere will not deny happened? I shouldn’t have been surprised: anyone who has seen Snow’s ‘interviews’ with Israel’s Mark Regev can see where he stands. ‘Twas ever thus with Israel: comment is free, facts are sacrificed.

The same is true of Peter Oborne, whose Dispatches programme Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby was astonishing. If a journalism student had presented that show as an assignment they would have been thrown out of campus. He failed to find anything remotely controversial or improper but was still given an hour on primetime: a bit of innuendo here, a conspiratorially-whispered piece to camera there, and clever conflations of the blood of Palestinians with Jews eating dinner in London. Disgraceful. Just days later Channel 4 was sneering at the Haredim of Israel in Unreported World.

The is the sort of obsession we have come to expect of the Iranian-regime-sponsored Press TV. George Galloway’s shows there are strangely compelling, in part because – hateful as his views often are – he oozes charisma. Which is more than you can say about those who call his Comment show on the network. One, for instance, rang Galloway to tell him that Coronation Street is a Zionist plot. The Rovers Return will never seem the same again. Welcome to your fan-base, George. You deserve each other.

The concept of a season of goodwill seems to be lost on Israel-bashers. Last year we had Annie Lennox whining to the press that Operation Cast Lead ruined her festivities. Yes, because it’s all about you isn’t it Annie? This year we’ve had two Israel-bashing Christmas carol services in recent weeks in London. I attended a counter demonstration outside the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s service at Bloomsbury Baptist Church. I was surprised by some of the things the PSC supporters shouted at us. “I wish Hitler had killed you,” screamed one lady. “Jews are cannibals,” shouted another. Channel 4 is probably on the phone to them as we speak…

If you are not in the newspaper’s catchment area you can read it in full online here.

As some of you already know, I now have a fortnightly column in Jewish News. Here is the latest…

You always remember your first time: biting through the rye bread into the juicy heap of greasy, tender, peppery pastrami…and here comes that mustard kick – wonderful. There are few joys in life as glorious as the hot pastrami sandwich of the American Jewish deli. It’s little wonder that Meg Ryan so noisily enjoyed hers in When Harry Met Sally, prompting a fellow diner to quip “I’ll have what she’s having.”

I know just what she means. Some of the happiest moments of my life have come while noshing away in such Stateside establishments. From the famous Carnegie and Katz in New York, to the under-rated Sam LaGrassas in Boston and the starry Canters of Los Angeles I have pumped my veins full of cholesterol and lived to tell the story. Along with the sandwiches and the soup, the hefty side order of Jewish wisdom and humour that the staff of these establishments routinely serve up are music to the ears of this philosemite. “My food will kill you,” was the memorable – and strangely tempting – boast of one of Manhattan’s most famous deli owners.

The banter is part of the menu. Which is I was why bitterly disappointed when – contrary to reputation – not a single member of staff at Stage Deli in New York was rude to me, however long I deliberately lingered and stuttered over my order when I visited last year. I’ve replayed the visit in my head many times and I still don’t know what I did wrong to not get ticked off. What am I? Chopped liver?

My pastrami passion extends to my bookshelf. One of my favourite books is How To Feed Friends And Influence People, which is the story of the Carnegie Deli, and more recently I have been devouring the excellent Save The Deli by David Sax. I even own a copy of the 2nd Avenue Deli Cookbook, though the less said about my efforts to reproduce its dishes in my Berkshire kitchen the better. As a friend who sampled my efforts put it: “This is a day that will live in infamy”.

As you might have guessed, I am obsessed with these delis and I’m far from alone. Visitors to the States flock to such establishments, queueing with  the locals for a sandwich, some soup or a knish. But why do we even need to fly thousands of miles for the pleasure? It puzzles me why nobody in the UK has cashed in on this popularity and opened such a place here. It seems a glaring omission from our culinary scene.

True, there are outlets selling pretty decent salt beef sarnies, including Blooms on Golders Green Road, Gaby’s on Charing Cross Road and Birley’s in Canary Wharf, but I’ve never found anywhere in Britain that does anything remotely like the gargantuan, juicy joy that is the Carnegie hot pastrami sandwich. We have every other ethnic food stuff represented on our high streets: Indian, Thai, Chinese, Sushi, Ethiopian, burgers, Italian, Greek, Lebanese – isn’t there room for one New York-style Jewish deli in the whole of London?

It would surely be a popular venture for both locals and American ex-pats. If nobody opens one soon I’ll do it myself. I can see the newspaper headlines as my clear-eyed business vision is vindicated by mile-long queues outside the UK’s first proper New York-style deli: “Brits go barmy for Chas’s Pastrami” (The Mirror); “Cheryl Cole balloons after just one sandwich”(Daily Mail); “Thousands suspected dead in Zionist catering massacre” (The Guardian).

Dear readers, you’ll all be very welcome to look in for a freebie. Jackie Mason said: ‘A sandwich to a Jew is just as important as a country to a gentile.’ Only you can tell me if he’s right but if he is – count me in.

If you are not in the newspaper’s catchment area you can read it in full online here.

I now have a fortnightly column in Jewish News, starting in today’s edition. If you are not in the newspaper’s catchment area you can read it in full online here.

Here is my first column:

So apparently I am a philosemite – it sounds like a medical condition or a multi-legged insect doesn’t it? Before you call a doctor or an entomologist, it actually just means I am a Gentile fan of all things Jewish. Well, that’s true enough. Although goy in heritage, I am enthralled by your history, culture and religion. My trips to Israel were joyous occasions and I’ve even been lucky enough to visit a couple of synagogues in London, and one in Amsterdam. I run hundreds of miles each year to burn off the colossal Shabbat meals I enjoy at the homes of my indulging Jewish friends. I always love them and the festivals too: I personally think that the Pesach Seder is over far too quickly. Why the rush? I blog in support of Israel and against antisemitism (as well as about far less serious topics) at www.oyvagoy.com

Another non-Jew who has backed Israel is Tony Blair. I’ve no party political affiliations, but I mostly admired him during his reign – particularly for his foreign policy. It was never more admirable than during Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah. He was halfway out of Downing Street and was under a lot of pressure to speak out against Israel. With his legacy already compromised by Iraq, he must have been tempted to give in – I’ll wager that his missus was piling on pressure too – but he bravely resisted and remained supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself against terror.

Admirable stuff, and I nearly got to tell him so in person. I was in Israel a few weeks after the Hezbollah conflict ended. My friend Susi and me got wind that he was staying just down the road from our hotel in Tel Aviv. We both had the same idea: find him, shake his hand and congratulate him on his foreign policy. We really wanted to do it, but didn’t fancy our chances of getting close to a still-serving Prime Minister, especially in Israel of all places. I admire the Shin Bet and Mossad with all my heart, but I’m happy to not meet any serving members up close. So we stayed by the pool instead.

Although I admire him, I can’t say I’m backing Blair’s bid to become EU President. Perhaps he would do a good job in that curiously nebulous position, but I’d actually rather he took power closer to home – as the next Prime Minister. Come on, choosing between Gordon Brown and David Cameron at the next election will be like choosing between gastroenteritis and root canal. Much better to bring back someone we can at least semi-trust do the job, who won’t get lost on his way to the loo at Downing Street and who could show Barack Obama that it is possible to be a good speaker and actually stand for something.

The Bring Back Blair campaign starts here. While we’re in nostalgic mood, let’s go really retro and put the Great back into Britain. I want the lovely Leona Lewis back on The X Factor as a contestant, Patrick Vieira to rejoin the Arsenal midfield, and That’s Life to make a toothy, bawdy return to the Sunday night TV schedules. Got it? I don’t like change (although the addition of White House Express to Golders Green Road has caused surprising levels of excitement in my Gentile, Berkshire household – oh my Solly’s of long ago…)

Returning to Blair, while trying to keep my self-aggrandisement under some sort of control I must say I feel personal kinship with the man. He has an enthusiastic, boyish smile that reveals eye-catching dentistry…and so do I. He loves exercise and drinks too much coffee…and so do I. He is one of the most influential men on the planet…and I have a fortnightly column in Jewish News.

So I’ll see you next time.