Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke weighed just 3lb when her skeletal mother gave birth to her on a coal cart at the gates of Mauthausen concentration camp on 29 April 1945.
Fifteen members of her family were slaughtered at Auschwitz-Birkenau including her architect father – shot just a week before it was liberated. But Eva’s survival was miraculous.
extraordinary birth. Credit: Imperial War Museum – www.iwm.org.uk/history
When her Czech-Jewish mother Anka initially arrived at Auschwitz, she was met by ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele, demanding to know if she was pregnant. Had she admitted it, she would have been sent to the gas chamber.
She was thus deemed fit for work elsewhere, eventually arriving at Mauthausen in Austria. She was so shocked to see the name of the death camp that she went into labour. And Eva was born just a day after the Nazis ran out of gas to run their killing machine and just days before US troops liberated the site. Anka weighed just five stone and told Eva later that she wouldn’t have lasted much longer if the Americans hadn’t arrived.
She was so shocked to see the name of the death camp that she went into labour
Antisemitism on campus: the UJS report’s cover is a compilation of social media and graffiti images denigrating ‘Zionists’ – those who believe Israel has a right to exist At 80, Eva is one of the youngest Holocaust survivors and she has since put her horror story to good use, educating the public about this dark history for which she received the British Empire Medal in 2019.
Jewish students targeted
One in five British students would be unwilling to share digs with a Jewish student, according to a new survey by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS).
denigrating ‘Zionists’ – those who believe Israel has a right to exist.
Others say they have seen one in four students targeted for their Jewish religion or ethnicity.
Half of students (49 per cent) have seen Hamas and Hezbollah glorified on campus, and 47 per cent have seen the 7 October 2023 attacks justified.
The UJS, that represents 9,000 Jewish students in the UK and Ireland, is calling for urgent cross-party action to combat antisemitism on campus following the publication of its ‘Time for Change’ report.
The report also contains testimonies from students who cite strained friendships, social ostracisation, harassment, intimidation and even physical assault.
The UJS president, Louis Danker, told Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme (16 March), that antisemitism is becoming “normalised” and “nothing is being done about it”.
There is a glimmer of hope, however. The findings show that 69 per cent of students “broadly disapprove” of protests that disrupt their learning.
The polling of 1,000 students in late January to early February 2026 was commissioned by JL Partners
‘Arab Zionist’ converts to Judaism
Rawan Osman, who describes herself as an Arab Zionist, believes Jews have every right to live in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank).
between Jews and Arabs. Credit: Screenshot via ynetnews.com
“It is part of their story, of their past, and it must be part of their future,” she told a Jerusalem conference.
Born in Damascus to Muslim parents, she grew up marinated in antisemitic attitudes. “Growing up in Lebanon, I was fond of Hezbollah. I belonged to the masses of useful idiots. And I hated Israel—and the Jews.
“Whatever we were told about the Jews and the Israelis, we believed it – especially because there were no Jews left to contest what was said about them.”
It was only after moving to France and encountering Jews that she was able to free herself from the indoctrination of her upbringing. She studied, researched, eventually became a Zionist and is now converting to Judaism.
France aims to criminalise anti-Zionism
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the government intends to criminalise anti-Zionism, announcing plans to advance legislation that would outlaw certain anti-Zionist expressions, citing concerns that such rhetoric amounts to a denial of Israel’s right to exist.
Lecornu made the announcement during remarks at the annual gathering of the French Jewish Institutions Council, where he said the government would move beyond existing penalties for what he described as classic antisemitism.
Pension warning over Israel
The company managing the pension investments of London’s local authorities has been warned about the potential legal risks of yielding to pressure for divestment from Israel.
UK Lawyers for Israel has raised concerns with London CIV chief executive Dean Bowden over calls by activist groups to sell holdings in companies alleged to be linked to Israel. They argue that pension fund managers have a duty to act in the financial interests of Local Government Pension Scheme members, rather than act out of political motives.
A noticeable spiritual awakening has been unfolding within the IDF in recent years, and it has intensified since the events of October 7, 2023.
The publishers of the longest-running English-language encyclopaedia have come under fire for a map of the Middle East that replaced Israel with ‘Palestine’