Rabbi Wittenberg Speaks About Judaism & Equality After the Murder of George Floyd

June 5, 2020 Article

Monotheism means the indivisibility of God. This is not just the basis of Jewish theology, but of universal humanity.

When the Torah, in chapter one, teaches that every human being is created in God’s image, it leaves no place for the notion of ‘children of a lesser God’. There exists no one who doesn’t matter, whose life is less important than anyone else’s. Black lives matter; God is the ‘life of all life’, ‘God of all flesh’.

The shocking and cruel death of George Floyd at the hands of a policeman, and the racism, contempt and injustice it has highlighted, shock our societies and souls. The violence which has followed is frightening. But the vast majority of protesters and protests have been peaceful and courageous, and how and by whom the destruction has been manipulated remains complex, sinister and opaque. The record of disdain from the highest office has inflamed the land and disgraces the history of often brave American leadership.

Reverend Anthony Jackson, whose grandfather founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference together with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, addressed the Jewish community in the columns of The Forward. What we need from you, he wrote, is to help us put an end the murder of innocent Blacks with the exact same fervor, dedication and commitment that you show towards preserving and defending your own families, that you show for Israel…. We need you to understand that Blacks and Jews are in this together; white racists view you as the N-word, too. We need you to embrace Blacks as absolute equals. Jews have used their influence to make a difference in society… We need you to use it again. As Rabbi Abraham Heschel once said, “The Black church is the salvation of Judaism.” We need each other.

Rev Jackson’s words remind me of the line I’ve italicised line in Dan Pagis’s searing Holocaust poem

No. no, they were created in the image

Uniforms, jackboots…

As for me, I had a different creator…

Judaism knows of no such entity as a ‘different creator’ and no such human being as someone with lesser rights. There are no geographical, racial, religious or gender limits to our equality before God as understood, and as should be practised, in Judaism.

But that is not the reality we witness in our societies. We are not at liberty to do nothing about it. We cannot limit ourselves to idle outrage. Examining prejudice in our own minds, communities and conduct is not comfortable, but, as was said in our synagogue just before lockdown, acknowledging and entering the zone of our discomfort is an essential first step.

Just as God’s oneness underlies the equality of all human beings, so it informs the interconnection of all of nature. If God is within all life, if Ruach Elokim, God’s spirit, breathes in all creation, then no species, forest or river is merely dispensable.

Here again, whatever this may say to us theologically, it means everything practically. The very future of life on our planet depends on the realisation that we and all of nature are interconnected. Today is World Environment Day, instituted by the United Nations in 1974. Interestingly, the date has a second name, ‘People’s Day’, because our own future, our children’s lives, depend on how we now act.

Indifference is no option: we must waste less, plant more, cherish this earth. For me, this concern, this passion, migrated long ago from my head to my soul; it’s a terror, a hope, a split vision: the world as arid and bleak, the world as wonder and beauty.

Though seemingly separate issues, how we behave to each other and how we treat nature are united within the prophetic call for justice and humility. We have no right to conduct ourselves as superior, neither to one another whatever our colour, nor towards nature, nor towards God, who weeps in our soul at every outrage and abuse.

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Categories: George Floyd, Judaism, News, Rabbi Wittenberg

Madeleine McCann suspect ‘confessed to abduction in 2017’

June 5, 2020 Article

The German suspect in the Madeleine McCann case allegedly confessed to her abduction on the 10th anniversary of her disappearance in 2017, according to reports.

The Sun newspaper claimed that the man admitted to a friend he had “snatched” the young girl as they drank in a German bar.

The suspect reportedly shared the revelation as the pair watched a TV news report on the case, with him claiming he knew what had happened to Madeleine.

The claims come as police received hundreds of contacts from the public following the launch of a new appeal for information on Madeleine’s disappearance.

DCI Mark Cranwell, who is leading the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Grange investigation into the case, said more than 270 calls and emails had been received by 4pm on Thursday.

It followed British, German and Portuguese authorities launching an appeal for information on Wednesday night relating to the suspect.

German prosecutors have said they believe Madeleine is dead and are investigating the child sex predator on suspicion of her murder.

The suspect is a 43-year-old German national named in media reports as Christian Brueckner and is reportedly serving a seven-year prison sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005.

He is known to have lived on the Algarve coast and his Portuguese mobile phone received a half-hour phone call in Praia da Luz around an hour before Madeleine, three, went missing on May 3 2007.

Scotland Yard said he was believed to have been living in a distinctive early 1980s VW T3 Westfalia camper van at the time and re-registered a 1993 Jaguar XJR6 in someone else’s name the day after her disappearance.

Operation Grange still considers the case a missing person inquiry because there is no “definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”.

German newspaper Braunschweiger Zeitung have reported the suspect, who has been partially identified as Christian B by local media due to the country’s strict rules on the naming of criminals, was convicted of rape in Braunschweig District Court in December last year.

Der Spiegel reported he is serving a prison sentence in Kiel, having been initially extradited from Portugal in 2017 and convicted of drug trafficking.

The German magazine said his criminal record contains a total of 17 entries, including child abuse while he was still a teenager

Christian Hoppe, from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), has said that German police have not ruled out a sexual motive for the alleged crime against Madeleine.

He said that the suspect may have broken into an apartment in the Ocean Club complex, where Madeleine was on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie, before spontaneously kidnapping her.

German prosecutors said the suspect was living in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007, where he funded his lifestyle by committing crimes.

A £20,000 reward is available for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance.

The Met’s investigation was tipped off about the German national, already known to detectives, following a 2017 appeal 10 years after she went missing.

Madeleine disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday, while her parents were eating dinner with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.

Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, in Leicestershire, have welcomed the appeal, saying: “We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive.”

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Categories: German suspect, Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine McCann, News, Portugal

BAME people more likely to be arrested under coronavirus laws, figures suggest

June 3, 2020 Article

Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people were nearly 50% more likely than white people to be arrested in London using coronavirus laws, new figures suggest.

The total number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) handed out by the Metropolitan Police between March 27 and May 14 was almost a fifth higher for those from non-white communities.

While people from Asian, black, mixed and other backgrounds make up around four in 10 of the capital’s population, according to Office for National Statistics data, they account for more than half of the fines and arrests for alleged breaches of Covid-19 legislation.

Black people make up 12% of the population but received 26% of the 973 fines handed out by police and accounted for 31% of arrests.

Asian people, who account for 18% of London’s population, were handed 23% of fines and were subject to 14% of arrests.

The UK’s largest police force admitted “higher proportions of those in black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups were issued with FPNs or arrested across London as a whole”.

But the Met said the reasons “are likely to be complex and reflect a range of factors”, adding: “This includes interactions between the areas subject to significant proactive policing activity targeting crime hot-spots and both the variation in the age-profile and geographical distribution of ethnic groups in London.”

Police were given powers to break up gatherings or fine and arrest people for breaching restriction of movement rules under the Health Protection Regulations 2020, from March 27.

The data released on Wednesday shows 973 FPNs were issued by the Met up to May 14.

Some 444 were given to white people, with the total figure (526) 18% higher for non-white people, including 253 issued to black people, 220 to Asian people and 53 to others, according to the information recorded by officers.

The Met made a total of 747 arrests, although just 36 were for alleged breached of Covid-19 regulations alone, with the majority coming alongside arrests for other offences.

There were a total of 414 arrests for those who classify themselves as black (232), Asian (106), mixed (47) and other (29), some 46% higher than the 284 arrests of white people.

While non-white people make up 41% of London’s population, they account for 54% of fines and 55% of arrests, with no ethnicity stated in 7% of the arrests.

Former chief superintendent Owen West said racism was a potential factor in the number of fines handed out to BAME people.

“We have a real issue in the UK around the disproportionate effect of police powers and coercion in the UK,” the retired officer told BBC Five Live.

“Of course the UK police service has massive issues with discrimination, has massive issues in relation to the use of coercive powers and the use of fixed penalties and criminal justice issues in this country. And I really do think now is the time to confront it.”

Asked if racism has played a part in the giving out of fines, he said: “There is a potential for that, and we have to confront it.

“And there are many, many communities out there that feel that that is their experience, that feel that stop (and) search, that feel that Covid fixed penalty notices are there on the basis of discrimination by officers.”

Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said officers had taken enforcement action in a “very, very low” number of cases among “millions of encounters” between officers and members of the public.

But she said she did not see the data as “extremely surprising” with any apparent disproportionality in line with other trends.

She told the London Assembly police and crime committee: “Nobody is happy, for example, that our black and minority ethnic friends, family and colleagues are subject to far higher levels of victimisation.

“Nobody is happy that there are lots of differences in society in that way.

“And nobody is happy, I suppose overall, that when the police are enforcing the law they often, at this time in our history, are coming into contact with people in different ways across society.”

Rosalind Comyn, policy and campaigns officer at human rights group Liberty, said: “These figures reflect the unjust reality that affected communities are well aware of, even when lockdown is not in place.

“In the short term the Government needs to create a right to appeal these fines, in the long term they need to listen to those most affected by overbearing policing and take meaningful steps to address long-standing disparities in the way we are policed.”

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Categories: BAME People, Black and Minority Ethnic, Corona Virus, COVID-19, Minority Ethnic BAME, News

UK police stand with those appalled by George Floyd death

June 3, 2020 Article

Chief constables from across the UK have issued a joint statement saying they “stand alongside all those across the globe who are appalled and horrified by the way George Floyd lost his life”.

They have also urged people who want to make their voices heard to be aware that “coronavirus remains a deadly disease and there are still restrictions in place to prevent its spread, which include not gathering outside in groups of more than six people”.

In a statement, the chief constables, the chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the chief executive of the College of Policing and the President of the Police Superintendents’ Association said: “We stand alongside all those across the globe who are appalled and horrified by the way George Floyd lost his life. Justice and accountability should follow.

“We are also appalled to see the violence and damage that has happened in so many US cities since then. Our hearts go out to all those affected by these terrible events and hope that peace and order will soon be restored.

“In the UK we have a long established tradition of policing by consent, working in communities to prevent crime and solve problems. Officers are trained to use force proportionately, lawfully and only when absolutely necessary. We strive to continuously learn and improve. We will tackle bias, racism or discrimination wherever we find it.

“Policing is complex and challenging and sometimes we fall short. When we do, we are not afraid to shine a light on injustices or to be held to account.

“The relationship between the police and the public in the UK is strong but there is always more to do. Every day, up and down the country, officers and staff are working to strengthen those relationships and address concerns. Only by working closely with our communities do we build trust and help keep people safe.

“We know people want to make their voices heard. The right to lawful protest is key part of any democracy, which UK police uphold and facilitate. But coronavirus remains a deadly disease and there are still restrictions in place to prevent its spread, which include not gathering outside in groups of more than six people. So for whatever reason people want to come together, we ask that people continue to work with officers at this challenging time.”

“The legislation around the maximum number of people in gatherings varies across the devolved nations of the UK.”

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Categories: #BlackLivesMatter, Chief Constables, George Floyd, National Police Chiefs Council, News, Police Brutality, UK Police forces

Coronavirus: Latest updates from around the world

June 2, 2020 Article

Coronavirus has infected more than six million people across the world and killed more than 370,000, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Here are the latest updates on the pandemic from around the world:

INDONESIA

Indonesia’s government has decided not to participate in this year’s hajj pilgrimage because of the coronavirus outbreak, an official said.

Indonesian religious affairs minister Fachrul Razi said Saudi Arabia has not announced it will open the July hajj pilgrimage to other countries, and it is too late to prepare if it does so now.

“The government will not send the 2020 hajj pilgrimage,” Mr Razi said.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, normally sends the largest contingent to the pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. It was expected to send 221,000 pilgrims this year.

PAKISTAN

A leaked government document reveals authorities ignored experts who wanted a month-long lockdown in Pakistan’s Punjab province and who estimated 670,000 might have been infected in the provincial capital of Lahore.

After media published the experts’ report, residents criticised the government for easing the restrictions last month instead of heeding the recommendation.

The report was based on a sample survey done in Lahore, which had 245 deaths through May 15. Since then, Punjab has reported nearly 200 more fatalities related to Covid-19.

The document surfaced hours before prime minister Imran Khan relaxed more coronavirus restrictions implemented in March, saying Pakistanis must learn how to live with the virus since lockdowns do not treat the disease. Pakistan has registered 1,621 fatalities amid 76,398 cases.

SINGAPORE

Singapore has reopened 75% of its economy as part of a three-phase controlled approach to end a virus lockdown in place since early April.

Finance, electronics manufacturing and logistics are among sectors that resumed operations after a two-month closure with strict safety requirements.

Schools will also reopen in stages this month but most retail shops, personal services, dining in at restaurants and social gatherings are still banned.

The affluent city-state has more than 35,000 cases, one of the highest in Asia. More than 90% of cases involved foreign workers living in crowded dormitories and the government says it will only lift further restrictions if infections remain low.

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Categories: Corona Virus, Figures, Latest Update, News, Pakistan, Singapore

Woman accused of stalking screamed racist abuse at DJ’s wife, court told

June 1, 2020 Article

The wife of a BBC DJ has told a court she had racist abuse repeatedly “screamed” at her by her husband’s accused stalker at their home.

Sarah Jayne Rook, 43, is accused of subjecting DJ Gilles Peterson and his family to a campaign of harassment in February and March of this year.

Mr Peterson, 55, previously told east London’s Stratford Magistrates’ Court that Rook repeatedly turned up outside his north London home and hurled abuse which included “all kinds of stuff from paedophile to Hiroshima and rapist – all very extreme words that were shouted at my house”.

Mr Peterson, whose real surname is Moehrle, also previously said he found a torn-up picture of himself clipped to the windscreen of his car and that he had been scared by a tweet sent to him while on air reading “f****** kill him”.

Giving evidence behind screens on Monday, Mr Peterson’s wife Atsuko said she was called a “Hiroshima bitch” more than 20 times in one torrent of abuse.

Mrs Moehrle said the first incident began around 10pm on February 15 after a woman knocked on the door asking for Mr Peterson.

She said: “I didn’t open the door because I knew there was something very wrong.

“She started shouting ‘you f***** bitch, open the door bitch’. She just started screaming obscenities.”

Mrs Moehrle said the woman, said to be Rook, “didn’t say many sentences, just words”.

She told the court: “She repeatedly said ‘Hiroshima bitch’, she called it more than 20 times.

“It was racist words. it was targeted towards me. She asked if I was Atsuko, so she was aware of my name too. Obviously that’s my background. I’m Japanese.

“She was not just shouting, she was screaming, the entire street could hear it.”

The court was shown footage, recorded by the couple’s son Luc, of Rook outside the family home repeatedly shouting the word “c***” and yelling “you dirty rapist c***” towards the house.

Mrs Moehrle said Rook knocked on the door of their family home again at around 5pm on March 6, pretending to be a charity worker and asking for her email address.

She said: “I recognised her voice straight away. It was quite a traumatic experience.”

Mrs Moehrle added Rook then tried to push her hands through the letterbox and began to scream expletives and “open the door bitch”.

“I tried to call the police but my hands were shaking.”

Mrs Moehrle said Rook began banging on the window, adding she was scared she might be trapped if the window broke.

The following day, Mrs Moehrle was alerted to a woman sitting on a building site opposite their family home by a neighbour.

She told the court: “She was sitting on the building work inside the scaffolding, it was the same person.

“I didn’t go close to her, I was scared.”

On March 8, Mrs Moehrle said she saw Rook trying to open Mr Peterson’s car outside their north London home before hitting it with a pole “three or four times”.

Rook, of Surbiton, south-west London, denies harassing Peterson and his family at their home and studios in north London.

She pleaded not guilty to harassment, stalking, racially aggravated harassment and racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.

The trial continues.

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Categories: BBC DJ, Harassment, Jayne Rook, News, Racist Abuse

Robert Jenrick hopeful places of worship will open in ‘the coming weeks’

May 31, 2020 Article

Places of worship in England will probably open for private prayer before opening up for small weddings and services, the Communities Secretary said.

Robert Jenrick said he understands why people of faith may find it “strange” that places of worship would remain closed when shops and other places may open in the coming weeks and months.

He said he is working closely with faith leaders and has convened a taskforce which has brought together “the main faith leaders”.

Mr Jenrick was asked at the daily Downing Street briefing about the reopening of places of worship, and he said he wants them opened “as quickly as we can”.

He added: “I understand how important it is for millions of people in this country, and I can understand how people of faith would consider it strange that shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, many other settings, might be open in the weeks and months ahead, but not somewhere as important as a place of worship.”

Mr Jenrick said some faiths have already produced detailed guidance, working alongside Public Health England, on measures including cordoning off sections, ensuring cleanliness, training volunteers and restricting the number of people allowed in at any one time.

“I think the first logical step is probably to open places of worship for individual or private prayer, and that’s what we’re working towards with the faith leaders, and then that will be a springboard hopefully, conditional on the rate of infection obviously, to small weddings, for example, again very important to many people, and then in time to services,” he said.

Mr Jenrick added: “I’m hopeful that the work that we’re doing with faith leaders will bear fruit, and that we’ll be able to see places of worship open in the coming weeks.”

He said what is to be avoided is large gatherings in places of worship, “particularly because of the demographic in some faiths”, and referred to the particular problem of exhalation during the singing of hymns.

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Categories: Churches, COVID-19, MHCLG, News, Places of Worship, Robert Jenrick

Prisoner admits sending threatening letter to Boris Johnson and female MPs

May 29, 2020 Article

A prison inmate has admitted sending a threatening letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Rakeem Malik also pleaded guilty to making threats to kill against MPs Jess Phillips and Rosie Cooper, and sending threatening letters with the intention of causing “distress or anxiety” to both Theresa May and Ms Phillips.

The 53-year-old admitted eight offences in total during a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.

Malik, who the court heard is currently a serving prisoner at HMP Birmingham on an indeterminate sentence, spoke only to confirm his name and enter pleas to the charges.

He admitted to sending a letter “which conveyed a message which was a threat and your purpose in sending it was it could cause distress or anxiety” to Mr Johnson on or about December 6, 2019.

Malik also pleaded guilty to sending similar letters to Birmingham Yardley MP Ms Phillips in December 2019, and to former prime minister Mrs May in September 2019, and when she was still in office in December 2018.

He also admitted three counts of making threats to kill West Lancashire MP Ms Cooper in May 2019 and a similar charge of making threats to kill against Ms Phillips in November 2019.

Simon Davis, prosecuting, asked for a short adjournment to allow the Crown to speak with the victims about the impact of Malik’s communications.

“The main reason is that we’ve had insufficient time in order to canvas the views, if I can put it in very general terms, of the victims, in this case,” he said.

“Also we’ve not been able to get ourselves in a position to formulate an appropriate (court) order to address any future offending.”

Granting the prosecution’s application for an adjournment, Judge Melbourne Inman QC, the Recorder of Birmingham, said: “It’s obviously necessary for the case to be put off for a short time to enable the Crown to deal with matters outstanding.

“Mr Malik has now pleaded guilty and sentence will be passed on June 11.

“There’s no requirement for Mr Malik to be brought to court, the case can be dealt with as a remote video hearing.”

Malik, who appeared over a video-link for the 30-minute hearing, was remanded back into custody until next month.

After the hearing, Ms Phillips tweeted: “Today I hope will be some way towards a conclusion in this case in court.

“Sending massive thanks to the police and also to my staff and other parliamentary staff who are often the first to receive gruesome threats and frightening aggression.”

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Categories: Jess Phillips, News, Prisoner, Rakeem Malik, threats, Threats to MPs

Minneapolis officer charged following death of black man in custody

May 29, 2020 Article

The Minneapolis officer who was seen on video kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died in custody after pleading that he could not breathe, has been arrested and charged with murder.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Derek Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

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Categories: George Floyd, Minneapolis, News

Officer who put knee on black man’s neck ‘should be charged over death’

May 27, 2020 Article

The mayor of Minneapolis has called for criminal charges to be filed against the white police officer seen on video kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed black man during an arrest, even after the man said he could not breathe and stopped moving.

Based on the video, mayor Jacob Frey said he believes officer Derek Chauvin should be charged over the death of George Floyd.

Chauvin and three other officers were fired on Tuesday. The video recorded by a bystander shows Chauvin with his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for several minutes as Mr Floyd is on the ground with his face against the pavement.

“I’ve wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” said Mr Frey, who is white.

He later added: “I saw no threat. I saw nothing that would signal that this kind of force was necessary.”

But despite the officers’ swift dismissals, whether the death will be considered a criminal act or something less, like excessive force, is a more complicated question that will likely take months to investigate.

Mr Floyd’s death prompted protests, with thousands taking to the streets where he died.

Many protesters marched more than 2 miles to the police station in that part of the city, with some damaging the building’s windows and cars and spraying graffiti. Police in riot gear eventually confronted them with tear gas and projectiles. Tense clashes went on late into the evening.

The FBI and state law enforcement are investigating Mr Floyd’s death, which immediately drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in 2014 in New York after he was placed in a chokehold by police and pleaded for his life, saying he could not breathe.

In the Garner case, local prosecutors, the NYPD’s internal affairs unit and the Justice Department all finished investigations into the case before the officer was ultimately fired. Mr Garner’s family and activists spent years begging for the officer to be removed.

The officers in the Minneapolis case have not been publicly identified, though one defence lawyer has confirmed he is representing Chauvin. The lawyer, Tom Kelly, declined to comment further.

The police union asked the public to wait for the investigation to take its course and not to “rush to judgment and immediately condemn our officers”.

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Categories: Black man, Criminal charges, George Floyd, Minneapolis, News