Members of the Churchill family and the Jewish community gathered last night at the St John’s Wood residence of Israeli ambassador Daniel Taub.
Malcolm Rifkind, Lord Rothschild, Randolph Churchill (great-grandson) and the ambassador all spoke movingly of Sir Winston’s enthusiastic support for establishing the state of Israel.
Aurelia Young, wife of Tory Chief Whip Sir George, talked about the bronze bust of Churchill by her father Oscar Nemon, which is in the House of Commons and a copy of which was recently unveiled in Jerusalem. As Nemon worked, Churchill made a sculpture of him, his only known bronze.
Guests including Lord Weidenfeld and William Shawcross were given a copy of Martin Gilbert’s Churchill and the Jews, which describes Churchill’s fury after his friend Walter Guinness, Lord Moyne, the Minister Resident in Cairo, was murdered by the Stern Gang in 1944. Israel has still not apologised for this.
