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Jews Faced Massive Antisemitism in Ancient England; Can That Inspire Us Now?
Anti-Judaism was often driven by two agents, religion and politics, and the same applies today. It was the same story in England with different actors long ago.
The Jews were expelled from England by Edward the First in 1290. During the reign of Elizabeth the First, some Jews had come to England, but virtually all the English knew about Jews was from the plays of Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, both of whom portrayed Jews negatively.
It was not until the civil war which led to the execution of King Charles First and the appointment of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector in 1653, that a serious effort was made to officially readmit Jews to England. Two factors played a part in this development. One of them was theological. The rise of Protestantism emphasized the Bible and an interest in Judaism. The other had to do with the financial success of the Jews expelled first from Spain and then Portugal, moving to Amsterdam, Hamburg, the Caribbean, and South America.
One of the most prominent Jews of Amsterdam at the time was Menashe Ben Israel, the rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam. He was so popular that even Queen Henrietta Maria (the wife of King Charles the First) visited his synagogue in 1642. In 1650, he wrote a book called Spes Israelis, in which he argued that the Jews were condemned to be scattered across the world as a punishment for not accepting Christianity and that there would be no second coming until they were scattered everywhere. It was necessary, therefore, for Jews to be readmitted to England to usher in a new Christian messianic era.
Although a strongly committed Protestant, Oliver Cromwell was not a mystical man, but a very practical one, and he saw the commercial advantages of welcoming Jews to England. He took advice from two of the major legal authorities of the time, Sir John Glynn and William Steele, and they said there was no law forbidding Jews to return. The original expulsion had not been a law, but a royal decree. The matter was debated over five sessions, and then opened to the public. Both the clergy and the merchants were strongly opposed, and reacted in the most prejudiced manner, claiming the Jews would convert St. Paul’s Cathedral into a synagogue, forcibly convert the English to Judaism, and steal their businesses. Cromwell spoke eloquently in favor of the proposal, but seeing the strength of the opposition, suspended the council with the matter unresolved.
Nevertheless, he turned a blind eye to the arrival of Jews in public, and in 1656, a small synagogue was opened in Cree Church Lane and a cemetery was acquired in Mile End, East London. A rabbi named Nathan Shapiro from Jerusalem was welcomed, and all cases against Jews as unwanted illegal interlopers were dropped or overturned. The settlement of Jews was tacitly condoned, though it continued to be opposed and constant attempts were made to incite or remove them.
When Cromwell died, attempts were redoubled to deny the Jews settlement. But the new King Charles the Second, who came to the throne in 1660, had dealings with Jews on the continent while in exile. Like Cromwell, he saw the value of a Jewish community and supported them. During 1663, there were four petitions to Parliament to expel the Jews. But in 1664 ,Parliament officially recognized Jewish residence (not citizenship ), although there was no formal invitation to return. Antisemitism continued to fester at all levels of society, and yet the Jewish community flourished and began to play an important part in English life.
Succeeding monarchs continued to support Jewish life. Queen Anne donated material towards the new synagogue of Bevis Marks. But the masses remained opposed. As I wrote a few months ago, in 1753, a bill granting Jews all civil rights passed the Lords 95-16 and then the Commons and was signed by King George. But the outcry from the mercantile and clerical communities was so full of hate and lies that the bill was repealed six months later. And it would take another 100 years (long after the United States did so) before Jews were granted complete equality.
The readmission of Jews was not the noble act of tolerance that it is often made out to be. It was a practical accommodation. We now live at a time when “Kill the Jews” reverberates again. Anti-Judaism is as common and insidious as it was in those days. We managed to survive hatred and prejudice then. This, if anything, gives us some comfort that however uncomfortable we may be feeling at the moment, in the long run, we will survive.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
The post Jews Faced Massive Antisemitism in Ancient England; Can That Inspire Us Now? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Here’s the Truth About Palestinian National Identity
The Western Wall and Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Of the steady stream of Palestinian Authority (PA) lies, possibly the most farcical is its claim to be a 6,000-year-old nation — combined with its denial of the thousands of years of Israel’s documented history.
The below cartoon appearing on an official Fatah website reinforces the lie.
While the PA knows that there is no such thing as an ancient Palestinian Arab history prior to the last few decades, it appropriates the history of multiple ethnic groups present in the Land of Israel thousands of years ago as its own, declaring them to be “Palestinian.”
This propaganda is constant, coming from all PA leaders, so-called academics, and religious figures — and it is prevalent across all the PA’s controlled education and media. The headline of the cartoon above is called “The history” and the caption states:
The Palestinian people have a long history of culture, and they were part of ancient cultures, as their lands were characterized by diverse cultures over the generations, from the Canaanites to the Phoenicians.
[Falestinona, Fatah’s Information and Culture Commission in Lebanon, Feb. 19, 2025]
Cartoons like these are a snapshot of how the PA systematically brainwashes its people to deny Israel’s right to exist through distortion or denial of history. This education forms the core of how the PA educates children, and is also preached consistently by PA leadership.
One example of how this kind of PA/Fatah false education can be seen in Fatah’s children’s magazine:
Palestine has belonged to the Palestinians for thousands of years. Therefore, the Palestinian people rejected this [UN] resolution that gives rights to our land and our homeland to foreigners who came from all ends of the earth, foreigners who did not know Palestine and did not live in it — neither them nor their fathers and forefathers. Their color is not our color, their skin is not our skin, and their customs are different from our customs. They do not even have one color or one ethnic origin — they are a strange and odd mixture of different races.” [emphasis added]
[Waed, Issue 36, p. 2]
The facts are that Israel/Judea suffered invasion and expulsions by the Assyrian Empire (722 BCE) and the Babylonian Empire (586 BCE); experienced invasion and return from exile under the Persian Empire (538 BCE); occupation by the Greek Empire (329 BCE) and expulsions by the Roman Empire (70 CE and 135 CE), who also renamed the land “Syria-Palestina” in 135 CE.
Since then, Jews remained and survived in the Land of Israel and in exile during 2,000 years of invasions and occupation by foreigners until the State of Israel was reestablished in 1948.
None of this matters to PA/Fatah. Besides denying Israel’s ancient history, it instead rewrites actual aspects of Jewish history as “Palestinian history”:
The Canaanite Arabs settled the land of Palestine … Palestine underwent dozens of invasions, and many peoples entered it such as the Babylonians, the Persians, the Samaritans, the Assyrians, the Hyksos, the Hittites, the Pharaohs, and the Hebrews… One hundred years ago the British invaded it. Their invasion was the most dangerous because they deliberately arrived to give our land to the Jews, whom they brought with them. In the end, Palestine fell under the Zionist occupation, which continues to this very day …
The occupation will cease to exist just as what was before it ceased to exist. As we said, Palestine underwent many invasions that coveted it. All the invaders were defeated, and Palestine returned to be free and Arab.” [emphasis added]
[Waed, Issue 32, pp. 5-6]
Since, according to the PA/Fatah, Palestinians are descendants of the 5,000-year-old Canaanite-Palestinians and since the PA says Jews have no history in the land, Palestinians then have the “absolute right to take back its rights in full” [Waed, Issue 26, page 12] and therefore: “The Palestinian people will not surrender; just as it fought in the past to defend its land, it is returning to fight in order to take it back and return to it… The Palestinian people refused to surrender … Its men and women set out to seek ways to return Palestine to us.”
On the level of the PA leadership, the same nonsense is preached from the highest levels, be it by the former Palestinian prime minister or by Mahmoud Abbas’ top advisor:
Posted text: “[Fatah Central Committee member and former PA Prime Minister Muhammad] Shtayyeh emphasized that all the Israeli attempts to erase our Palestinian heritage, and through it to erase the history of our people and our Palestinian national cause, as well as Israel’s attempts to create a fake history and non-existent heritage, will not succeed because we will continue our steadfast adherence to this rich heritage that passes from generation to generation.”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, Nov. 29, 2024]
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “We have been living in this land for over 6,000 years. The Palestinian people is the one that created the civilization and history of this land. It is the one who built all the cities in most of the territories of Palestine — the Gaza Strip, which was built by the Canaanites, and Jerusalem, which was built by the Jebusite Canaanites.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Feb. 12, 2025]
The fact is that no amount of cartoons or reinvented education will help the PA escape the facts. The Palestinians have no history prior to the modern period and no connection to the Canaanites or the Phoenicians. On the other hand, Jewish history for thousands of years in the Land of Israel is proven by an abundance of evidence.
Itamar Marcus is Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)’s Founder and Director. Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
The post Here’s the Truth About Palestinian National Identity first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Media Echoes Hamas Propaganda by Equating Torture of Israeli Hostages with Palestinian Prisoners
Eli Sharabi reunites with his family after his release from Gazan captivity. Photo: IDF spokesperson’s unit
Adam Schrader’s latest piece in UPI, “Freed Israeli hostage says Hamas mirrored Israel in treatment of captives,” is nothing short of regurgitated Hamas propaganda.
While it is not the first time that Schrader has spewed the talking points of the Gaza-based terrorist organization, his latest article takes bias to a new level, equating Israeli hostages with Palestinian prisoners convicted of horrific crimes and sourcing so-called human rights organizations that are tied to Hamas.
Trust @UPI‘s Adam Schrader to abuse the torture of released Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi by twisting the story to falsely claim Palestinian prisoners are being treated in the same way.
Enough of this false equivalence between Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
pic.twitter.com/9legWHTAl8
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 3, 2025
Schrader effectively twists the words of recently released hostage Eli Sharabi, whose first interview to Israeli media describes the cruel physical and psychological torture his Hamas captors subjected him and his fellow hostages to. Sharabi, who was taken from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri, was held in Gaza for almost 500 days. He survived on a single plate of pasta or one pita a day.
The same lack of food cannot be said of the Hamas terrorists, who have shown up to hostage releases full-bellied, not to mention the fact that there should be no equivalence between the deliberate starving of Israeli hostages and the conditions of ordinary Gazans.
There was no famine in the Gaza Strip. But that doesn’t stop Shrader from referring to “famine-like conditions” faced by “Israeli hostages & Palestinians alike.”
Fully fed Hamas terrorists deliberately starved Israeli hostages. There is no “alike” here. pic.twitter.com/8d26XdL5B0
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 3, 2025
Throughout the war, Israel has coordinated the entry of thousands of tons of aid — mainly food — into the Gaza Strip. Yet Schrader deliberately omits these facts to subtly imply that ordinary Palestinians are suffering equally with Israeli hostages kept in tunnels underground.
Despite no signs of famine, if anyone is responsible for what Schrader describes as “famine-like conditions,” it is Hamas which has continuously diverted and stolen aid.
While Israel’s often blamed for restricting aid to Gaza, Gazans are speaking up about the real culprit: Hamas.
Instead of distributing aid, Hamas seizes it—selling what should be free and taking food right out of families’ hands. (via @N12News) pic.twitter.com/CBNfdjM4RC
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 12, 2024
These misleading claims echo Hamas talking points no more than Schrader’s primary source: the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. What Schrader describes as an organization that seeks to “combat falsehoods spread by Israel,” is, in reality, an organization acting on behalf of Hamas.
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) January 22, 2024
To consistently present a Hamas-front organization as credible further undermines the integrity of Schrader’s reporting, because a narrative of disinformation and anti-Israel bias takes precedent over fact.
It is telling that Schrader spends more time focusing on the treatment of Palestinian prisoners accused of terror offenses than he does on Eli Sharabi, who was held by a terrorist organization for the “crime” of being an Israeli.
There is absolutely no moral equivalence between the two, regardless of Schrader’s attempt to suggest otherwise.
Over 80 percent of the terrorists being released in hostage deals with Israel are convicted of violent offenses including murder, shooting, and assault. The vast majority of the Palestinian prisoners being released are affiliated with terrorist organizations. Portraying them as victims held unlawfully considerably reduces their culpability.
Rather than honorably telling the story of the hostages held in Gaza, Schrader chooses to present a contorted version of reality, equating their experiences with those of convicted murderers.
From manipulating Eli Sharabi’s experience as a hostage to whitewashing terrorists in prison for terror-related offenses, Adam Schrader has turned his work at UPI into a platform for spreading Hamas talking points. This isn’t journalism; it’s propaganda designed to distort the truth and mislead readers.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Media Echoes Hamas Propaganda by Equating Torture of Israeli Hostages with Palestinian Prisoners first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Kosher Restaurant in Madrid Targeted in Arson Attempt
People demonstrate in the city of Santander, Spain, under the motto ‘Let’s stop the genocide in Gaza,’ on Jan. 20, 2024. Photo: Joaquin Gomez Sastre/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
A kosher restaurant in central Madrid was targeted in an attempted arson attack, prompting a police investigation, as Spain continues to face a rise in antisemitic incidents since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023.
On Tuesday night, an unknown individual entered the Rimmon Kosher restaurant in the Spanish capital and “sprayed a liquid with a strong gasoline smell on the entrance, intending to set fire and burn down the premises,” according to a joint statement from the Jewish Community of Madrid (CJM) and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE).
Before the police arrived, the attacker fled the scene. However, the restaurant staff’s quick response prevented the fire from being lit.
In a press release on Wednesday, CJM and FCJE condemned the foiled attack as “an antisemitic act aimed at causing harm, targeting public spaces frequented by the Jewish community, and terrorizing its members.”
“This is an act driven by hatred, with a vile and brutal intent, that threatens coexistence, freedom, and tolerance — values that have always defined the citizens of Madrid,” the statement continued.
Comunicado de la Comunidad Judía de Madrid ante el intento de incendio del restaurante Rimmon Kosher de Madrid. pic.twitter.com/SESEm9J8ay
— Comunidad Judía de Madrid (@cjm_es) March 5, 2025
As of now, a police investigation is underway, with authorities focused on tracking down the perpetrator and determining the motive behind their actions.
“We hope the perpetrator’s identity will be determined soon and that this person will be arrested quickly,” CJM and FCJE addedt. “In the meantime, we are ready to cooperate with the authorities and the restaurant owners in any way needed.”
The Israeli Embassy in Spain also condemned Tuesday’s attack on the kosher restaurant, near the main synagogue, and expressed full support for the staff, owners, and customers of the establishment, as well as solidarity with the Jewish community of Madrid.
“We are facing yet another case that shows how hate-inciting rhetoric leads to violence,” the embassy posted on X/Twitter. “We fully trust that the authorities will act decisively to prevent violent and antisemitic incidents from recurring in Spain.”
La Embajada de Israel en España condena enérgicamente el ataque perpetrado contra un restaurante casher en Madrid, próximo a la sinagoga principal.
Expresamos nuestro total apoyo al personal, propietarios y clientes del establecimiento, así como nuestra solidaridad con la… pic.twitter.com/4jTqZLq6CH
— Israel en España
(@IsraelinSpain) March 5, 2025
Since Hamas started the Gaza war with its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Spain has been a fierce critic of the Jewish state.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, Spain halted arms shipments from its own defense companies to Israel and launched a diplomatic campaign to curb the country’s military response. At the same time, several Spanish ministers in the country’s left-wing coalition government issued pro-Hamas statements and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with some falsely accusing Israel of “genocide.”
More recently, Spanish officials said they would not allow ships carrying arms for Israel to stop at its ports. In response, the US Federal Maritime Commission opened an investigation into whether Spain, a NATO ally, has been denying port entry to cargo vessels reportedly transporting US weapons to Jerusalem.
Additionally, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged other members of the European Union to suspend the bloc’s free trade agreement with Israel over its military campaigns against Hamas in Gaza and the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In May, Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state, claiming the move was accelerated by the Israel-Hamas war and would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli officials described the decision as a “reward for terrorism.”
The post Kosher Restaurant in Madrid Targeted in Arson Attempt first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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