Knighted in the Queen’s New Year honours, former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has defied the boycott lobby by announcing a concert in Israel in June. Sir Ringo and his All-Starr Band will perform two shows at Tel Aviv’s Menorath Mivtahim Arena from June 23–24. The news comes more than 50 years after the Israeli government barred the Beatles from performing in Israel in 1966 over concerns that the band would negatively influence the Jewish state’s youth. They later apologised for the decision. Sir Paul McCartney performed in Israel in 2008.
Petitions gather pace
A Christians United For Israel (UK) petition calling on the government to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has now reached 26,000, and a separate petition calling for the banning of Hezbollah has exceeded 14,000 signatures (a Parliamentary debate on this was scheduled for 25 January).
Jewish store torched
On the third anniversary of a terror attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris, a kosher grocery store in the city was vandalised and torched in an apparent anti-Semitic incident. No-one was hurt, but the fire damaged much of the premises.