Leaving the Jewish Chronicle

Since the change in ownership, the paper has read more like a propaganda sheet for Benjamin Netanyahu

They say that newspapers are the first draft of history.

None more so than the Jewish Chronicle. It has literally chronicled the history of my small community for over 180 years. It’s reputation survives on that history.

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It’s the paper that reported in the trials and tribulations of Anglo-Jewry. It reported on the Jewish sweatshops of the East End, the Balfour Declaration, the rise of Adolf Hitler.

It was one of the first papers anywhere in the world to report on Kristallnacht. It led our community in the fight against antisemitism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.

It has held a mirror to our community internally by exposing scandals and pointing out needless division – see the Hugo Gryn affair. It has broken stories that later led national newspapers and news bulletins.

It’s connections to individual families are as deep as its age. I first read it, perhaps aged 10, at my grandparents house where we used to congregate with other family members on Friday nights.

A few short prayers to help bring in Shabbat, a meal, and then while several of the more senior members of the family broke with religious rules to switch on the TV to watch American cop series Hawaii Five-O, I’d devour the stories in that week’s JC.

I’d often start by reading the obits, then the sport, but often I’d also find myself drawn to the more politically-centred news stories. The debates around Zionism, and yes, anti-Zionism, which wasn’t always labelled antisemtism back in the late 1970s.

Like so many Jewish familes, our births, marriages and deaths were announced in the paper.

Writers for the paper often have long histories with the paper. Its previous editors and owners have understood the readership of the JC, and its need to be a pluralistic newspaper. Covering left, right and centre – on domestic politics, Israeli politics, synagogue politics and the breadth of Zionist opinion.