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David Beckham says he’s proud to be ‘part of the Jewish community’ at London synagogue event
(JTA) — British soccer icon David Beckham is known globally for his bevy of championships as well as the “bend” he could put on the ball during 20 seasons of play.
But on Sunday, approximately 600 people in a London synagogue saw him exhibit a different talent: saying “Hamotzi,” the Jewish blessing over bread.
That moment of Hebrew came during an interview Beckham gave at St John’s Wood Synagogue about his Jewish heritage as well as his career. According to accounts in British Jewish publications, the event was a fundraiser hosted by JW3, a Jewish community center, for a Jewish education fellowship. It cost nearly $100 a ticket and sold out in under an hour.
“I am part of the Jewish community and I am proud to say it,” said Beckham, whose grandfather was Jewish.
“My grandfather always made sure we would keep up with certain traditions,” he said. “We went to bar mitzvahs and weddings and I would wear a kippah. Every Saturday morning, I used to go to see my grandfather – you’d walk in the house to my grandmother preparing chicken soup and matzah balls and latkes. We always kept to those traditions; it was always about the family coming together and spending time together.”
Beckham was interviewed by television producer Ben Winston, son of the late Lira Winston, a Jewish nonprofit leader and educator for whom the fellowship is named.
Winston, a TV producer who is friends with Beckham — and with Harry Styles — remarked, ”I’ve never felt less good-looking on a stage.” (Beckham is also known as a model and the star of advertisements around the world.)
Winston also quizzed Beckham on his Jewish knowledge, reciting the first half of the “Hamotzi.” Beckham completed the blessing perfectly.
Beckham also spoke about the triumphs and regrets he had over the course of his two decades as a professional soccer player beginning in the early 1990s, much of which was spent with the powerhouse Manchester United club. Beckham also played for Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, both also elite teams, as well as the L.A. Galaxy. He is regarded as one of the best players of his generation and as a cultural icon.
This is not the first time Beckham has spoken openly about his Jewish heritage. He has a Hebrew tattoo reading “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” a quotation from the Hebrew Bible’s “Song of Songs.” His wife Victoria Beckham, a fashion designer and former member of the Spice Girls, had a matching tattoo that she reportedly had removed in 2015.
In 2008, the couple sent their son Cruz to a Jewish preschool in Los Angeles. And in front of a JW3 audience in 2016, Beckham spoke about his grandfather, and how he was sad that only his oldest son, Brooklyn, had gotten to know him.
In 2022, Brooklyn married Jewish American heiress and actress Nicola Peltz in a Jewish ceremony, which included a huppah, the breaking of a glass and the signing of a ketubah, or Jewish marriage contract.
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The post David Beckham says he’s proud to be ‘part of the Jewish community’ at London synagogue event appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.