Letters to the Editor: Who’s the happy couple
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Who’s the happy couple? Who’s the happy couple
I was scanning the photograph and slide collections of my late grandfather and amateur photographer Victor Sassoon, and I came across these wedding photos.
I’m not entirely sure when or where they were taken, but I imagine it was the 1950s or earlier.
I’d love it if the people whose wedding this was could see these images. Perhaps readers know who they are?
I’m sure the family would be absolutely delighted to see them!
Harry Sassoon, By email
It’s dangerous to cry wolf
One of your readers rightly pointed out that it was misleading to criticise the BBC for not mentioning Jews in one of its news bulletins on Holocaust Memorial Day when it had, in fact, dedicated time to the subject (Jewish News,6 February 2020).
I believe such criticism reflects on the overzealousness many of us have in crying “antisemitism”. A case in point – one of the approximately 15 articles in Jewish News last week about antisemitism was about an entry on a website and a mug that was for sale with this word.
However, even a rudimentary glance at the website will show that most of its more than 10 million entries are offensive, and that with a click of the button any one of the entries can be printed on a mug.
We must ensure we do not get obsessed with antisemitism to the extent we trivialise it by constantly ‘crying wolf’.
Anthony Lewin, By email
Tottenham must be rid of yid
I am appalled at Jewish supporters of Tottenham who think the term Yiddo is acceptable. It is not. I’ve complained to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Rachelle Marks, By email
Begum decision bad for us all
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) dismissed Shamima Begum’s appeal against the government’s decision to revoke her UK citizenship. This outcome must be of concern to all British-born Jews.
The right of virtually anyone born in the UK to acquire British citizenship automatically has been radically eroded. The Secretary of State may now deprive anyone of British citizenship if they think they were responsible for acts seriously prejudicial to the national interest, and if they are further satisfied deprivation of British citizenship would not render the person stateless.
In the case of British-born Ms Begum, the government has argued that, because she is eligible to apply for Bangladeshi citizenship, she is not being left stateless.
Every Jew here is eligible to apply for Israeli citizenship. This SIAC decision will put in jeopardy the UK citizenship birthright of British-born Jews, who must now accept their UK citizenship is second-class.
Ms Begum left the UK voluntarily to join Islamic State in Syria. If the government believes she has perpetrated crimes, let her stand trial. But, for all our sakes, her status as a UK national must be upheld.
Professor Geoffrey Alderman, University of Buckingham
MP must recant on graves
I have visited Alderney since I was three. My father lived there after retirement and family members are still part of the community. Recently, Matthew Offord MP called for the excavation of the graves of Second World War slave workers on Nazi-occupied Alderney, many of whom were Jewish and housed in the only concentration camp on British soil.
But the excavation of Jewish graves goes completely against the rules and traditions of the religion. He advocated for “the identification of bodies” – how is that possible without digging them up and how will they be identified? And who is to say Longis Common, where most of the victims are believed to have been buried, is not “a proper resting place”? Mr Offord must fully and unequivocally withdraw his words.
Matthew Diebel, By email
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