Lady Victoria Starmer

 

Following Labour’s victory in the UK general election on Thursday, antisemitic conspiracy theories about new Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s wife began to spread online.

Antisemites pointed to the Jewish faith of Victoria Starmer as evidence of a theory of broader conspiracy of Jews controlling the world through access to world leaders.

Pro-Assad commentator Maram Susli, also known as Syrian Girl online, claimed that Starmer’s marriage was one of many that were part of “an Israel infiltration agenda” and that it was “not antisemitic to notice it.”

“Britain’s new leader Keir Starmer is married to a Jewish woman. [US Vice President] Kamala Harris is married to a Jewish man. [US President Joe] Biden’s son is married to a Jewish woman. [Former US president] Donald Trump’s daughter is married to a Jewish man. [Former US secretary of state] Hillary Clinton’s daughter is married to a Jewish man. Just how many Jews are there in the world? I don’t believe it when they say it’s been 15 million since the 1950s,” Susli told her over 400,000 X followers on a Friday in response to a Jerusalem Post article on Victoria Starmer.

“All of these individuals are Zionists. [Trump's son-in-law] Jared Kushner is literally in bed with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.”

Victoria Starmer, wife of Keir Starmer, has largely kept a low profile despite her husband's political career. Both trained as lawyers, they married in 2007, shortly before Keir became Director of Public Prosecutions. Victoria, described by Keir as grounded, sassy, and funny, works in occupational health in the NHS. They prioritise their children's privacy, shielding them from public attention. Their family, including their Jewish heritage and ties to Israel, remains central amid the challenges.

On a number of occasions Keir Starmer has stated that he is an atheist.

An article in the Jerusalem Post this week added  more details about Britain’s first lady.

“Lady Victoria Starmer, a Jewish woman with a rich cultural heritage and deep-rooted traditions, is the new British prime minister’s wife.

Intertwined with her Jewish upbringing, her life story plays a significant role in shaping the values and practices of her family.

From regularly observing Shabbat to maintaining strong connections with the Jewish community, Victoria’s influence extends beyond the domestic sphere into her husband’s, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer’s political career.

Lady Starmer’s steadfast commitment to her faith and cultural traditions, as well as her involvement in combating antisemitism, emphasises the unique role she will play.

Victoria Alexander Starmer was born in North London in 1963.

Her father was of Polish-Jewish descent, and her mother, a community doctor, converted to Judaism upon marriage.”

Scrolling back a bit to the time when Jews in Britain lived in peril of their lives. I want to add a personal note. It refers to a visit to York in 1966, shortly after our marriage, Roni and I went on a trip to Europe. Travelling on a shoestring budget we managed to see almost all the places we had planned to visit. We got around mainly by hitchhiking from place to place, and sometimes travelling by affordable public transport. Where possible we stayed with family and friends, but mostly at ubiquitous youth-hostels.

I recall visiting York on our way to Scotland. In particular I remember stopping by Clifford’s Tower. In 1190, one of the worst pogroms in mediaeval England was perpetrated at Clifford’s Tower.

The Normans brought the first Jewish communities to England, where some served a special economic role as moneylenders, an essential but otherwise banned activity. English Jews were subject to considerable religious prejudice and primarily worked from towns and cities where there were royal castles that could provide them with protection whenever they were threatened. Royal protection was invariably granted by the ruling monarch who had a vested interest in protecting his Jewish subjects. A standing royal decree established that Jewish property and debts owed to Jews ultimately belonged to the crown, reverting to the king when a Jew died.

When Richard I left England to join the Crusades, his journey evoked anti-Jewish sentiment in York and other towns which led to savage attacks against Jews. The York Pogrom was, like the other instances of anti-Jewish violence before it, caused by the religious fervour of the Crusades. However, local noblemen saw the pogrom as an opportunity to erase their debts to Jewish moneylenders. The pogrom began when a mob burned the house of Benedict of York, a Jewish moneylender who died earlier during the London pogrom. The rioting mob killed his widow and children. Fearing for their lives, York’s remaining Jews sought refuge in Clifford’s Tower, which at that time was a wooden keep. The villainous mob, local militiamen and noblemen besieged the keep.                                                                                                         The siege lasted for several weeks. At that stage, life became untenable for the Jews trapped inside the wooden tower.

Their rabbi proposed that they should commit suicide to avoid being killed by the mob waiting for them outside. Most of the congregants accepted the rabbi’s proposal and killed their wives and children before taking their own lives, Simultaneously the keep was set on fire to prevent their bodies being mutilated by the mob outside. Several Jews perished in the flames but the majority took their own lives rather than surrender to their persecutors. However, a few did surrender, promising to convert to Christianity, but they were murdered as soon as they left the burning keep. In all, about 150 Jews died in the massacre. 

Research conducted recently reveals that around 20 years later ‘there was once more a thriving Jewish community in the town.'

In 1290, Jews were expelled from England entirely. They were not permitted to return to England until 1656.

Until the 1970s, the pogrom of 1190 was often underplayed by official histories of Clifford’s Tower. Local tour guides omitted to mention it at all. When Roni and I were in York we couldn’t find any information whatsoever about the pogrom. The local tourist information service admitted the ‘oversight’ and promised to correct it. Finally, in 1978 the first memorial plaque to the victims was laid at the base of Clifford's Tower.

 The history of Jewish settlement in Britain can be traced back to the reign of William the Conqueror (William of Normandy). The first written record of Jewish settlement in England dates from 1070, although Jews may have lived there since Roman times. The Jewish presence continued until King Edward I's Edict of Expulsion in 1290. After the expulsion, there was no Jewish community (apart from individuals who practised Judaism secretly) until the rule of Oliver Cromwell. While Cromwell never officially readmitted Jews to Britain, a small colony of Sephardic Jews living in London was identified in 1656 and allowed to remain. The Jewish Naturalisation Act of 1753, an attempt to legalise the Jewish presence in Britain, remained in force for only a few months. In 1858, practising Jews were finally allowed to sit in Parliament after the passage of the Jews Relief Act, which was a significant step on the path to Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom.

The first Jewish knight was Sir Solomon de Medina, knighted in 1700, with no further Jews being knighted until 1837, when Queen Victoria knighted Moses Montefiore.

Since then, many British Jews have received titles from the reigning monarch.

So far, Britain’s new first lady seems to be settling in well at No 10.

Most of what I have written here was obtained  from open-source information.

Before I conclude I want to add that negotiations are being held to bring about the release of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Once that is achieved, we will need to agree on who will rule the coastal enclave on the ‘the day after.’

In the north Nasrallah continues his inflammatory rhetoric, but is less enthusiastic about conducting a full-scale war with Israel, especially now when he can’t count on Iran’s support.

Take care.

Beni,

11th of July, 2024.