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Daniel Finkelstein

Latest from Daniel Finkelstein

It’s wrong to say Holocaust Memorial Day has been diluted. We must back it

Some say that including other genocides in the annual event diminishes its message. That’s nonsense.

By Daniel Finkelstein

3 min read

Britain's King Charles III lays a candle during commemorations at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland to mark 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camp on during commemorations on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Red Army, in Oswiecim, Poland on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Aaron Chown / POOL / AFP) (Photo by AARON CHOWN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Exclusive Royalty Free Image Nashville Stock Photographer Dieter Spears Inhaus Creative for Istockphoto.com

We all need to know about Santa – even the Charedim

2 min read

I made the mistake of offering a factual comment on Israel

3 min read

Israelis holding photographs of abducted and missing family members protest outside the Knesset (Photo by Yonatan Sindeli/Flash90)

With Hamas, freeing the hostages will not be the endgame

2 min read

More from Daniel Finkelstein

Under Labour, the debate on Israel is only just beginning

We will need to find a way to have a conversation both within the community and with the government about the Jewish state in which not all mainstream Jews take the same position

2 min read

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July 8, 2024 15:00

Attorney General Richard Hermer KC makes his way to Number 10 for his first day as a cabinet minister on 6 July (Photo by Alex McBride/Getty Images)

Despite it all, modern Britain remains one of the best places for Jews to live in history

As my mum put it: ‘Don’t only see the holes in the Emmental’

3 min read

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May 16, 2024 10:28

Pro-Palestinian supporters shout slogans and wave Palestinian flags during a demonstration in central London on January 6, 2024, calling for a ceasefire now in the war in Gaza. Thousands of civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis, have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip entered southern Israel in an unprecedented attack triggering a war declared by Israel on Hamas with retaliatory bombings on Gaza. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP) (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s critics aren’t interested in dialogue or compromise, they just want to hate

Without dialogue, how can there ever be progress toward peace?

3 min read

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March 19, 2024 17:45

Protesters hold placards and chant slogans during a rally in support of Palestinians, outside of the Houses of Parliament in central London on November 15, 2023, to demand Members of Parliament vote for a ceasefire in Gaza. (Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP)

My family now have a lasting memorial in Amsterdam

Deciding where to put the Stolpersteine, a plaque on the pavement marking the last place my grandmother lived in freedom before her captivity, was a journey of its own

3 min read

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February 1, 2024 10:50

Gunter Demnig, founder of the Stolpersteine project, cleans freshly placed Stolpersteine ('stumbling stones') in commemoration of the Gutmann family (Photo by THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images)

Why people refuse to see Jews as an ethnic minority

The BBC’s mistake is another example of the Baddiel hypothesis

3 min read

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December 14, 2023 13:59

Police officers stand by as workmen clean off red paint from the windows at the entrance to the BBC building in central London on October 14, 2023. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Urging Israel to 'use restraint' is to deny Gazans their only escape from hell

A long as Hamas terrorists dominate there can be no liberty, freedom or security for anyone

3 min read

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October 26, 2023 10:55

TOPSHOT - A fireball erupts during Israeli bombardment in the northern Gaza Strip on October 14, 2023. Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants entered Israel in a surprise attack leading Israel to declare war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip enclave on October 8. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Israelophobia review: As original and necessary as Baddiel’s Jews Don’t Count

Jake Wallis Simons' argument that Israelophobia should be added to the lexicon should be listened to

2 min read

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September 15, 2023 13:44

Israelophobia review: As original and necessary as Baddiel’s Jews Don’t Count

How I learned to fill in the gaps in my family’s Shoah story

Even with the stash of records my relatives kept, I still found dead ends — then I realised that there are ways to use other people’s experiences to build on what knowledge I did have

3 min read

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September 7, 2023 16:00

The railway tracks entering the main building at the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi death camp are pictured ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's landmark visit in Oswiecim, Poland, on December 5, 2019. - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will honour Holocaust victims on December 6, 2019 with her first official visit to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, a Nazi German killing factory where more than 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews, perished during World War II. (Photo by JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

RFK Jr is just the latest conspiracy theorist to turn on the Jews

With his traumatic, he's ended up reaching for sinister explanations

3 min read

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July 17, 2023 10:30

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 19: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially announces his candidacy for President on April 19, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. An outspoken anti-vaccine activist, RFK Jr. joins self-help author Marianne Williamson in the Democratic presidential field of challengers for 2024. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

We were lucky to know Sir Ben Helfgott

Now he has gone, we must make sure his story is never forgotten

2 min read

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June 16, 2023 16:55

Holocaust survivors Ben Helfgott and Sabina Miller stand with a memorial candle on the Millennium Bridge in central London on January 27, 2013 to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. AFP PHOTO/Leon Neal (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images)

The past isn’t dead when its everyday objects are with us

The small reminders of historic moments can tell us so much

3 min read

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June 1, 2023 09:33

The past isn’t dead when its everyday objects are with us

Only a democratic Israel can be a true safe haven for Jews

If the Jewish state allows its political system to be eroded until it slides into authoritarianism, it will affect communities throughout the diaspora, which rely on the country as a backstop

3 min read

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April 11, 2023 16:19

Israelis protest against the Israeli government's planned judicial overhaul, utside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, on March 26, 2023. Photo by Yossi Zamir/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** הפגנה דמוקרטיה בית הנשיא ירושלים מהפכה משפטית מעון ראש הממשלה שמאל מעצר בעד נגד