Proposed British Jewish History Month

Michael Ellis Excerpts

Thursday 11th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Michael Ellis (Northampton North) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) and to speak in this debate about Jewish communities and the merits of having a Jewish history month. Both, of course, have great merit. Recent events alone exemplify why history is so important. As I think Winston Churchill said, those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. One of the things that characterises Jewish communities around the world, as well as in the United Kingdom, is hope. Indeed, the Israeli national anthem is called “Hatikvah”—the hope, and it is not an exuberant or jingoistic melody; in fact, it is a rather melancholy, moving tune that somehow reflects its message of hope rather than jubilation, as many national anthems do.

Rather than speak about the Jewish community, as many Members on both sides of the House have done, I would like to speak, as it were, to the Jewish community. Some weeks ago, I spoke about why there was cause for hope, despite the increase in antisemitism, and I would like to continue on that theme. I say to the Jewish people of the United Kingdom, and indeed any listening, that many civilisations who have persecuted the Jews have risen and then fallen; the Jews continue to thrive. One needs only to look at the Arch of Titus in Rome to see how empires come and go and rise and fall. The arch was built 2,000 years ago by the Romans under Emperor Domitian to celebrate the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem—it depicts the plundering of that temple—but, just a few weeks ago, that arch, celebrating the destruction of the Jews, was lit up in the colours of the Israeli flag by the Government of Italy to mark the pogrom of 7 October.

There are many reasons to be hopeful. We should ignore the haters in communities around the world who have clearly been responsible for the massive increase in antisemitism. We should ignore the haters on university campuses who are bullying Jewish children. I have heard from those young people who are frightened even to go on campus. Eventually, some of those accounts will become widely known, and they will shock the nation. We should ignore those in the international community, and even in the United Nations organisation, where frankly there are blatant examples of antisemitism and where, just before Christmas, Iran was selected to sit on the Human Rights Council.

We should instead celebrate those who are doing so much; those who are agents of peace and reconciliation whom we do not hear enough about. We should applaud men like the Bedouin—not a Jewish man—Youssef Ziadna, a minibus driver who saved 30 lives from the Nova festival in Israel by responding to a call to pick up a customer from that event. He drove into Hamas’s attack and drove out with a minibus full of Jewish people. They are alive because of him. We should applaud the hero Rami, whom I met in Israel a few days ago, who saved over 700 lives by driving to and for, into that war zone, to rescue people.

We should applaud people such as the Crown Prince of Bahrain, who said:

“What Hamas did on 7 October was a war crime and an atrocity, and it is important to get all the…abductees out of Gaza”.

It is not easy for some leaders—Arab leaders especially—to say those truths; that is a true leader. There are also the Emiratis. Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi, a top Emirati official, said that the Abraham accords

“are our future. It is not an agreement between two Governments, but a platform that we believe should transform the region”.

That was an heroic statement. There is also the Saudi Defence Minister, Khalid bin Salman, who visited the White House and reaffirmed his country’s interest in pursuing the Abraham accords. That is real courage and real leadership—things that the Jewish community should and will value in this country and around the world.

We should applaud our own political leaders on all sides—this is not a partisan issue—for standing up and doing the right thing in the face of dissent. We have of course a great hero in our sovereign the King, who can influence events. He has long-standing personal relationships, a love of the Arab culture and a deep interest in the Muslim religion, but in fact he had the Chief Rabbi as a guest before his coronation so that he was able to walk there as it was the Sabbath. Heroes come in many forms; hope comes through many routes.