91Èȱ¬

British Jews and the Dream of Zion

Jonathan Freedland

For many Jews, Israel is like your family: it deserves your loyalty, you could never disown it and when others attack you leap to its defence.

Jews who criticise Israel are sometimes condemned as 'self-loathing' by members of their own community. Devout Jews pray daily for Israel - or Zion as it's known in the ancient texts. Israel and Zionism are sensitive subjects, regarded as going to the heart of what it means to be Jewish.

Yet the relationship between British Jews and the state of Israel is a new one, not yet 60 years old. To what extent does the modern state represent the 'promised land' of scripture?

In these two programmes, journalist Jonathan Freedland explores how British Jewish attitudes to the idea of a Jewish homeland - and to the reality - have evolved, examining the perspectives of both secular and religious Jews and exploring Zionism's dual role as a religious and political movement.

In the first programme, we hear from Jewish historian Colin Schindler as well as figures caught up in the history of Zionism - including Tony Benn (a former Zionist) and Dame Simone Prendergast (of the Marks and Spencer dynasty).

The second programme explores attitudes to Israel and Zionism among Jews in Britain today - from Michael Rosen and Melanie Phillips to Howard Jacobsen and the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks.

Jonathan Freedland

Jonathan Freedland writes a weekly column in The Guardian and a monthly piece for the Jewish Chronicle, and presents Radio 4's contemporary history series, The Long View.

Jonathan Freedland

Jonathan's first book, Bring 91Èȱ¬ the Revolution: the Case for a British Republic, was both acclaimed and controversial - arguing that Britain was in dire need of a constitutional and cultural overhaul, one that could learn much from America. It was later adapted into a TV series for 91Èȱ¬ Two.

His areas of specialist interest are the USA - he has written for a variety of US publications - and the politics of Britain and the Middle East. Jonathan has presented several programmes for Channel 4, including a debate on the legacy of the Second World War.

His book Jacob's Gift tells the stories of three generations of his own family as well as exploring wider and urgent questions of identity and belonging. He was named Columnist of the Year in the What the Papers Say awards of 2002, and praised for his "incisive, original, strong and very outspoken views."