Despite neither the bride nor groom being halachically Jewish, the wedding of Brooklyn Beckham (one Jewish great-grandparent) to heiress Nicola Peltz (one Jewish father) was — with its chupah, rabbi, monogrammed black kippot and raucous-looking hora — THE big Jew-ish event of the year.
Now it is reported that the £3 million nuptials in April came complete with a big fat simchah broiges too. Oy!
Rumour has it that the new Mrs Beckham isn’t talking to the old Mrs Beckham because of events around the wedding.
victoria beckham GettyImages-602354536
Victoria Beckham
How do we know? Because apparently, neither of the Mrs Beckhams are liking each other’s posts on Instagram (in showbizland this is akin to demanding a duel).
The cause of the supposed fallout is said to be down to several things. (In fact, if reports are to be believed, there appears to be a new reason every day.)
There was claimed to be some friction when Nicola turned her nose up at having her wedding dress designed by the former Spice Girl and chose Valentino instead.
But the real problems, apparently, came on the night, via singer Marc Anthony, whose romantic song You Sang to Me was meant to be for the first dance.
But, instead, Victoria stepped onto the dancefloor with Brooklyn to turn it into a mother-and-son song. To add to the snub, Marc — a former husband of Jennifer Lopez, who once dated Chloe Green — is then said to have made a gushing speech about Victoria.
Poor Nicola was left in tears. The bride is, after all, meant to be the star of the wedding.
More upset has followed. Victoria allegedly didn’t invite her son and wife to her fashion show in Paris; they only found out about it via a magazine. Brooklyn, his mother and his new wife are all said to be heartbroken. Let’s hope they can mend things quickly.
Director and writer Michael Winterbottom is one of those British artsy types obsessed with Israel. You know the sort: loves to sign letters condemning it, backed Jeremy Corbyn.
His last project, the documentary Eleven Days in May, narrated by Kate Winslet, caused controversy because of his co-director Mohammed Sawwaf’s links to Hamas and because it focused on the death of Palestinian children during the fighting in May last year without explaining that some were killed by the terrorist organisation’s own rockets.
His new TV series, This England, features Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson.
Now filming has started in Italy on Promised Land, a project he has been working on for 15 years, which centres on the infamous Stern Gang, whose violent campaign against the British colonial power aimed to hasten the creation of a Jewish state.
Its leader, Avraham Stern, was so obsessed with removing the Brits that he even sought alliances with fascists. Its actions, and those of other anti-British terrorists, were condemned by Jewish organisations worldwide but it wasn’t enough to stop anti-Jewish rioting, even in Britain in 1947, in the shadow of the Holocaust.
Winterbottom’s story is set in 1930s British mandate Tel Aviv. It follows two British officers Thomas Wilkin (Douglas Booth) and Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling) in their hunt for Stern.
But Wilkin is torn between his duty and his love for exotic (my word) Jew Shoshanna Borochov (Russian actress Irina Starshenbaum), whose father is a leading Marxist Zionist.
Stern is certainly an interesting subject; but is Winterbottom the right person to be tackling it?
Jews in the News
Claudia Winkleman
Claudia Winkleman (Photo: Getty)
Claudia Winkleman says she was the last to find out that two Strictly Come Dancing favourites, Oti Mabuse and Aljaz Skorjanec, will not feature in the new series because she’s such a terrible gossip. “They tell me after they’ve told Tess and the press because I’m leaky,” she says.
Jewish actor Shia LaBeouf credits turning to Catholicism after playing a priest in his latest film, Padre Pio, for helping to turn his life around. The star is due in court soon after being accused of sexual assault by his ex, singer FKA Twigs. He admits: “I had been abusive to women. My mother is embarrassed beyond imagination.”
People of the book
I enjoyed Ridley Road author Jo Bloom’s latest, Permission, about a couple who open up their marriage. And I’m inspired by a sneak preview of Ben Freeman’s latest, Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride. Next, I’ll be reading about murder in the Jewish community, in Victoria Goldman’s The Redeemer.
