Tuesday 19 March 2019

Latest Threat to "Jewish Life in the UK"?

From a bizarre open letter to The Times (paywalled):

JEWISH VIEW ON LABOUR PARTY

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is launching an investigation into whether the Labour Party’s handling of anti-semitism within its ranks complies with equalities law. We British Jewish Holocaust survivors do not believe that any prejudice against or hostility towards Jews is being perpetrated by Labour; and if any exists within the party, it is minimal and no more prevalent than in any other political party.

Jeremy Corbyn has in fact bent over backwards to help Jewish people. Media attention on the Labour Party in general, and on Corbyn in particular, is being generated by anti-Labour and anti-Corbyn mischief makers, who unfortunately are over-represented within the so-called Anglo-Jewish leadership — a leadership whose legitimacy is not recognised by the mainstream Haredi (strictly Orthodox) Jews.

The real current threat to Jewish life in the UK is the anti-religious education policies being relentlessly pursued by Ofsted. To our chagrin, they receive full backing and support from these so-called Anglo-Jewish leadership organisations, together with certain secularist groups, which display no compunction in discriminating against people with religious beliefs.

Jacob Ostreicher, Avigdor Langberg, Leah Stern, Minia Meisels, London E5;

Mendel Glausiusz, Eli Schreiber, Kurt Winter, Tauba Posen, Roslie Kornbluh, Abraham Just, Hushi Schreiber, London N16;

Hyman Bindinger, Tyne and Wear


Strangely, they've got that first bit completely right but what are the threatening "anti-religious education policies being relentlessly pursued by Ofsted"?

We're talking about the new New relationships and health education in schools initiative:

All schools will teach children about good physical and mental health, how to stay safe on and offline, and the importance of healthy relationships under bold new plans published today by Education Secretary Damian Hinds.
Under the proposals, all pupils will study compulsory health education as well as new reformed relationships education in primary school and relationships and sex education in secondary school.

Predictably, the initiative came under fire from a number of religiously minded people, although they appear mainly Muslim.

It would appear the signatories of the above open letter aren't very representative of British Jews as a whole.

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