I bet they had a lot to do with Tony Blair support of the war in Iraq.
British Jews and the Dream of Zion
Jonathan Freedland
Jonathan Freedland explores the complex relationship between British Jews
and the Jewish
homeland in a programme recorded to mark the 60th anniversary of the
creation of the state of
Israel.
Monday 28 April and Monday 5 May, 20:02, BBC Radio 4
For many Jews, Israel is like your family: it deserves your loyalty, you
could never disown it
and when others attack you leap to its defence.
Jews who criticise Israel are sometimes condemned as 'self-loathing' by
members of their own
community. Devout Jews pray daily for Israel - or Zion as it's known in
the ancient texts.
Israel and Zionism are sensitive subjects, regarded as going to the heart
of what it means to
be Jewish.
Yet the relationship between British Jews and the state of Israel is a new
one, not yet 60
years old. To what extent does the modern state represent the 'promised
land' of scripture?
In these two programmes, journalist Jonathan Freedland explores how
British Jewish attitudes to
the idea of a Jewish homeland - and to the reality - have evolved,
examining the perspectives
of both secular and religious Jews and exploring Zionism's dual role as a
religious and
political movement.
In the first programme, we hear from Jewish historian Colin Schindler as
well as figures caught
up in the history of Zionism - including Tony Benn (a former Zionist) and
Dame Simone
Prendergast (of the Marks and Spencer dynasty).
[Audio clip: Programme 1: history of Zionism - 28 April 2008, BBC Radio 4]
The second programme explores attitudes to Israel and Zionism among Jews
in Britain today -
from Michael Rosen and Melanie Phillips to Howard Jacobsen and the Chief
Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks.
Jonathan Freedland
Jonathan Freedland writes a weekly column in The Guardian and a monthly
piece for the Jewish
Chronicle, and presents Radio 4's contemporary history series, The Long
View.
Jonathan's first book, Bring Home the Revolution: the Case for a British
Republic, was both
acclaimed and controversial - arguing that Britain was in dire need of a
constitutional and
cultural overhaul, one that could learn much from America. It was later
adapted into a TV
series for BBC Two.
His areas of specialist interest are the USA - he has written for a
variety of US publications
- and the politics of Britain and the Middle East. Jonathan has presented
several programmes
for Channel 4, including a debate on the legacy of the Second World War.
His book Jacob's Gift tells the stories of three generations of his own
family as well as
exploring wider and urgent questions of identity and belonging. He was
named Columnist of the
Year in the What the Papers Say awards of 2002, and praised for his
"incisive, original, strong
and very outspoken views."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/history/zion.shtml
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