Boris Johnson wishes the Jews of Britain a Happy Chanukah
“To all our Jewish friends, neighbors, and relatives, wherever you are in the world, let me wish you a very happy Hanukah,” said Johnson…
…Today, as Britain’s Jews seek to drive back the darkness of resurgent anti-Semitism, you have every decent person in this country fighting by your side.”
“Because Britain would not be Britain without its Jewish community.”
Some biographical notes on Boris Johnson’s own rather diverse heritage: did you know that Johnson had a paternal great-grandfather named Ali Kemal who was a Turkish writer and politician during the Ottoman Empire?:
Kemal was a journalist who travelled widely and took his holidays in other countries. On one of several visits to Switzerland, he met and fell in love with an Anglo-Swiss girl, Winifred Brun, the daughter of Frank Brun by his marriage to Margaret Johnson. They were married in Paddington, London, Middlesex, on 11 September 1903.
Early in his life, Kemal had acquired strong liberal democratic convictions, which caused him to be exiled from the Ottoman Empire under Abdul Hamid II, but immediately after the end of the Sultan’s personal rule in July 1908, he became one of the most prominent figures in Ottoman journalistic and political life. Because of his opposition to the Young Turks who had made the revolution, he spent most of the following decade in opposition.
Much more at the link, but I think it’s interesting that Boris Johnson is also a journalist as well as a politician.
But Boris Johnson’s heritage is more diverse than that. He had a maternal great-grandfather who was a Russian Jew:
Johnson’s maternal great-grandfather was a Russian Jewish immigrant named Elias Avery Lowe. Lowe was not a practicing Jew but was descendant of a strictly Orthodox Jewish rabbi from Lithuania…
Throughout his political career, Johnson has been a strong advocate for Israel. Writing for The Jewish Chronicle, Daniella Peled reported in 2007 that Johnson is, “an enemy of politically correct anti-Zionism and immensely proud of his own Jewish ancestry.” She quoted Johnson saying, “I feel Jewish when I feel the Jewish people are threatened or under attack, that’s when it sort of comes out. When I suddenly get a whiff of antisemitism, it’s then that you feel angry and protective.”
In addition to his Jewish ancestry, Johnson has even stronger ties to Israel through his Jewish stepmother, Jennifer Kidd Johnson, who married his father Stanley in 1981.
In 1984, Johnson, age 20, and his sister Rachel spent six weeks in Israel, volunteering on Kibbutz Kfar Hanasi, approximately 22 miles north of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel.
Quite a contrast with Corbyn.
[NOTE: Here’s a look at Kemal from an Armenian perspective. Interesting. That article also mentions that Kemal was “the son of a Circassian slave and a Turkish business magnate.” And if you want to know something about Circassian slaves, see this:
A large percentage of officials in the Ottoman government were bought slaves, raised free, and integral to the success of the Ottoman Empire from the 14th century into the 19th. Many slave officials themselves owned numerous slaves, although the Sultan himself owned by far the most. By raising and specially training slaves as officials in palace schools such as Enderun, where they were taught to serve the Sultan and other educational subjects, the Ottomans created administrators with intricate knowledge of government, and fanatic loyalty…
Circassians, Syrians, and Nubians were the three primary races of females who were sold as sex slaves in the Ottoman Empire. Circassian girls were described as fair and light-skinned and were frequently enslaved by Crimean Tatars then sold to Ottoman empire to live and serve in a Harem. They were the most expensive, reaching up to 500 pounds sterling, and the most popular with the Turks.]
I doubt that Johnson’s diverse heritage will stop some on the Left from calling him a racist.
When trying to do go back through genealogy I have found possible Jewish heritage through both my parents’ lines. These possibilities are quite far back so how can one determine if those links are true?
Both family names seem to come from Ashkenazi families, one from Germany and another from the Ukraine. Both show conversions to Protestant before coming to the US.
I would like to know if I am descended from the families, no matter how far removed.
eeyore:
Take a DNA test. I think Ancestry,com is the best. They can tell pretty accurately. The tests can show even if only about 1% of your DNA is of Jewish origin, which can represent 7 or 8 generations back.
We’ve taken DNA tests and are using them to track down a “missing” great-grandparent or two.
Coincidentally, I just read this interesting article – DOD is mostly worried about having undercover intel agents outed, but that would take quite a bit of work, I think:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/23/pentagon-warns-us-military-not-use-home-dna-testing-kits/
I was checking out the shows and movies included with Amazon Prime when I saw that they had a large catalog of Billy Wilder films. Wilder was an Austrian Jew and one of Hollywood’s great screenwriters and directors.
So I watched Irma La Douce, Avanti, Witness for the Prosecution, The Fortune Cookie, and Stalag 17. “Witness …” is a very fine adaptation of an Agatha Christie story with Charles Laughton as the centerpiece.
But I was surprised by Stalag 17 because so many of the features that were familiar from “Hogan’s Heroes” and even “Mash,” both the movie and TV series, were developed first in Stalag 17. The Hogan’s Heroes producers were sued by the various creators of Stalag 17 (it was originally a play) and some sizeable settlement was made.
An interesting fact of Hogan’s Heroes is that most the actors portraying Nazis were played by Jews. In particular, the character Col. Klink was played by the Werner Klemperer who was the son of famous conductor Otto Klemperer. Werner almost backed out of the role at the beginning, until the producers assured him that all of Col. Klink’s Nazi schemes in the show would end up looking foolish, or rendered useless by quirks of fate.
Also, Stalag 17 was very successful at the box-office, but Wilder had his take reduced because his previous film, Ace in the Hole, was a big money loser. Ace in the Hole is a very dark and cynical look at the newspaper reporting business. Now, Ace in the Hole is consider one of Wilder’s best.
Speaking of the dark underbelly of newspaper reporting, I saw “Richard Jewel.” Ignore the self serving critics, and go see it. In the film, the wife of Richard Jewel’s defense attorney says, “In my home country, do you know how we tell if someone is innocent? When the government tells us they are guilty.” She’s an emigre from the Soviet Union.
It’s interesting that the last quote block mentioned Nubian female sex slaves. I saw that Boston renamed a square from “Dudley Square” to “Nubian Square”.
https://www.masslive.com/boston/2019/12/bostons-dudley-square-renamed-nubian-square-after-years-of-protests-over-districts-namesake-a-1600s-colonial-governor-who-benefited-from-slavery.html
Despite a non-binding vote that indicated that 54% opposed the name change, the locals decided that most of the people in the area around the park supported it. It seems that there was a local store called Nubian Notions which closed in 2017 that they were trying to honor. Yea, sure, go with that story.
To a midwesterner, I am more aware of the Nubian slave trade than the history of some dude from the 1600’s or a closed local store. In 50-100 years, what history will they remember?
The renaming issue is a funny issue. In Oklahoma City area, there was a concern last year about “Lee” and other names. If I remember correctly, local research showed that the Lee school was actually named for someone who was important in the early formation of OKC and not related to General Robert E. Lee. Another school was named for a significant Indian in OK history, but he was also a slave owner. Note – I said “Indian” since I cannot remember which tribe – there are only 38 federally recognized tribes in OK. I cannot remember the outcome of the name change proposals.
Thanks to TJ for the background on Billy Wilder and Stalag 17/ Hogan’s Heroes. It reminded me of my mother, long ago, who disapproved of Hogan. It was no joke, she’d say; there’s nothing funny about it.
TommyJay:
And Otto Klemperer was a cousin of Victor Klemperer, the brilliant diarist of the Nazi era. I’ve written about Victor K. in many posts.
Billy Wilder…he made an silent interesting film while still in Germany, ‘People on Sunday’..I reviewed it here:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/48575.html
Neo,
Those Victor K. posts were before I showed up here, except for one that I don’t remember (sigh). Never read any Klemperer. Is it fair to call him and C. Hitchens reluctant or hesitant communists?
Scanning your posts a bit, I recall the brownshirts and the beatings and murders in dark alleys. Also, that a substantial number of journalists were targeted in those attacks. I can see that there was laziness and inertia among the citizens, but there was just plain fear too, in my limited opinion.
The diary that I’ve had on my reading list for awhile is “A Woman in Berlin: 8 weeks in a Conquered City” by Anonymous.
_____
Estoy Listo,
In Stalag 17, the film opens with two POWs being killed and their bodies put on display. So Wilder clearly did not want to ignore the ruthlessness of the regime. But it doesn’t stop the comedy. Plus there is a subplot of real justice vs. vigilante justice developed.
Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!
By which I mean:
Boris and Bibi and Donald, gee gosh!
Anybody notice Boris names the wrong Antiochus Epiphanes, calling out “III” rather than “IV”? Seems like, anyhow.
Still, evenso, well done Mr. Johnson, well done.
Boris can recite “The Iliad” in Ancient Greek https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/eezaad/boris_reciting_the_iliad_from_memory_in_ancient/
Re: Circassian slaves, and other slaves. My husband is of Balkan ancestry. In North Africa and Turkey, he is often taken to be “from around here.” This is because of the many, many people, both men and women, taken from the area as slaves by the Ottomans.
can recite “The Iliad” in Greek
Some portion, permit me to suppose: whereas I had a college chum who could swallow sufficient air to enable him to belch the entire first line of the Iliad in Greek. Let Boris try that!
Meinertzhagen was an @$$whole. But he was exactly the @$$hole you needed back then. And now. A genius with a bayonet.
Sorry. Got dragged off to other things. Meinertzhagen was despite the name British. A British army officer. During WW1 he commanded what was known as the Jewish battalion. He was, I believe, a colonel at the time. When a British general disparaged Jews in front of his troops he and them forced the general to apologize at the point of their bayonets.
Maybe I have the story wrong. Maybe it never happened. But I know enough about Meinertzhagen to know that is exactly the kind of thing he would have done
It is not common knowledge but the largest mass lynching was if 11 Italians. New Orleans 1891. Look it up. I am of Italian descent. But here is the deal. This is still the best country on earth.
Fun fact: I am more Cherokee than Elizabeth Warren. My dad served in USS, later the WMEC Cutter, Cherokee.
I don’t want to make light of the situation. But I grew a visceral dislike for people like that.
I think it is appropriate to observe on this holy day that while divine my eternal God chose to enter this world as a Jew. In the line of David.
Merry Christmas. And if Israel needs me I will be there if I have to crawl.
Besides I never got that port visit in Haifa the Navy promised me which I hear is awesome.
Hey. All the apostles were Jews. Bad Jews according to the Jews but still Jews.
I mentioned Meinertzhagen. He was the @$$hole I as an officer always aspired to be. Sometimes it is possible to be such a huge @$$hole you wind up being a saint. I am reminded by this by the earlier reference to Hogan’s Heroes.
William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection wrote about this.
Eddie Rodmonds was a Master SGT in the U.S. army captured by the Gernans during the course of the Battle of the Bulge. Shortly after his capture he was ordered to give up the Jews
We are Americans. We don’t give up the Jews. On the appointed morning all the Americans fell out. The Nazi said you can’t all be Jews. And Redmonds said “We are all Jews here.” When the Nazi put a gun to his head he told him to give ahead. If you shoot one of us you have to shoot all of us. The Nazi walked away.
Yes. Bravery is a choice. .
It was Roddie not Eddie. Duh. He was still the bad @$$ I aspired to be.
Oh, and not one of the Americas didn’t fall our. Because $$%@ you. Roddie Esmonds is righteous among nations. But here is the deal. Every single American who gave the Germans the giant middle finger was a hero.
Roddie Edmonds. I will leave out the swear words. But I wanted to use them.
Roddie was the guy who told the Germans to $@<& @ off.a