Jewish Left Media
Why Vashti Matters
By Josh White
No March for Palestine in London would be complete without the Jewish Bloc in attendance.
Far from uniform, the bloc ranges from secular anti-Zionist groups to non-Zionist semi-communal organisations.
The Jewish Bloc for Palestine, as it’s otherwise called, defies the British right’s attempts to brand the pro-ceasefire demonstrations as “hate marches”.
Members of the leftist group Na’amod are perfectly welcome at these protests despite what the Campaign Against Antisemitism claims.
Amid this, Vashti Media set out to establish itself as the voice of a rejuvenated British Jewish left.
Founded in 2019, the platform has evolved into a workers’ cooperative running a newsletter on readers’ donations and subscriptions.
Rivkah Brown was one of the founders of Vashti Media before moving on to Novara Media, where she is an editor and presenter.
Five years later, the publication looks very different, with a new logo, structure, and funding model.
Today, the Vashti editorial collective overlaps with other publications.
For example, editor Francesca Newton is also an associate editor at the old Labour left journal Tribune, while editor Ben Reiff wears the same hat at Tel Aviv’s +972 Magazine.
When Israel invaded Gaza in October 2023, Vashti Media was already positioned to help provide an alternative to the right-wing narrative that the carpet bombing of civilian areas was a justifiable response to the 7/10 attacks.
The case for alternative Jewish media is stronger than ever against this backdrop.
Left Counterweight
Consider the context.
Since 7 October, the longstanding Jewish Chronicle has backed Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to the hilt.
Competitor Jewish News has been more restrained yet similarly lacking in its political commissions.
Both have played into the Great British Culture War over Gaza, decrying leftist protestors as Antisemites and devoting more editorial space to Israel than British Jews.
Something is badly missing in the two papers, where readers are all but forced to adopt an Israeli politics separate from their own.
And not just any politics but those of the Israeli far right, as represented by Netanyahu’s coalition government.
These longstanding titles certainly have a readership but are far from representing the full range of Jewish opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This is where Vashti Media steps in with a simple offering of a weekly newsletter, appropriately titled The Pickle. It’s sent out every Friday, except on Jewish holidays.
Just last week, The Pickle ran an interview with members of North London Peaceniks. NLP is a group of Jewish grans campaigning to raise awareness about Palestinian suffering.
“We feel that older Jewish women standing against Israel and for Palestinians makes a powerful statement,” LPN’s Marsha Sanders said. “We can’t be written off as young radicals or antisemites.”
Vashti Media does not have the scale or reach to rival a national newspaper. But it does have a unique readership proposition. The progressive outlet will publish work that The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News consider beyond the pale for a Jewish newspaper.
For example, Vashti interviewed children’s author Michael Rosen early on. The most important British writer in his genre, Rosen talked about Jewish identity and history in East London, particularly the importance of Yiddish, humour and irony to his family.
By contrast, the children’s author is treated like a whipping boy by The Jewish Chronicle for his Palestinian solidarity politics. Whenever the newspaper platformed him, Rosen gets described in pejorative terms such as “the poet Zionists can’t bear”.
Rosen’s views are a known quantity and have been for years. Yet, to this day, The Jewish Chronicle still can’t restrain itself from knocking him, noting in 2021 how his monologue “Don’t Mention the Children” is “often quoted by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign”.
Hence, the significance of a Jewish platform that welcomes Rosen and treats the writer with the respect he deserves. Long overdue, it’s more than just an exercise in solidarity. There’s a community-building aspect to it, which helps heal the divisions in British life over Israel.
Diasporic media are not just about identifying threats and separating insiders from outsiders. This is a significantly pronounced issue in Jewish community publishing, which every Israeli government has sought to leverage to secure foreign support for their security policies.
Gaza War and More
Going into 2025, Vashti Media has plenty to do, not least because Netanyahu’s war efforts show no sign of slowing down.
It’s not just about Israel. Few can remember a time when far-right identity politics played such a big role in the United Kingdom.
The threat this environment poses to all minority communities in the country is enormous, and rising Antisemitism is a part of it.
Vashti Media brings a unique perspective to ethical debates on issues such as assisted dying while taking a strong position in the culture wars, supporting trans rights, promoting feminism and opposing racism.
It’s one of the few publications to platform the Black Jewish Alliance (BJA) when it staged a protest against the German government this summer. Germany has taken its terrible history as a reason to equate Jewish values with bombing Palestinian civilians.
The BJA positioned itself outside the German Embassy in London with banners such as ‘Free Palestine From German Guilt’. Another slogan included “From the River to the Sea, Fuck You Germany”.
All the while, Vashti Media maintains a critical edge.
Early in the Gaza war protests, it published a helpful piece explaining why the Haredi Neturei Karta, a common sight at Palestinian solidarity events in Europe, is not a group the broader left should embrace.
Molly Lipson interviewed Rabbi Ahron Cohen, drawing out his views on the Holocaust. “Even if you’re harmed by someone else, as far as the victim is concerned, it’s the will of the Almighty,” Cohen said.
“The victim has to ask himself, why is the Almighty doing this to me?” Cohen asked. “He has to repent on anything which he finds as a possible reason.”
Despite this, Neturei Karta activists are often mistaken for being mainstream Ultra-Orthodox by non-Jews at pro-Palestine demonstrations. Blame it on their outfits.
In stark contrast to Neturei Karta, Vashti has covered other Haredi groups in a sympathetic light – particularly Satmar protests in New York City. However, Vashti Media is far more attuned to secular, left-wing Jewish life in Britain.
Right-wing critics will claim the platform is unrepresentative of British Jews, but this misses the point: conservative media does not speak for Jews who oppose this war of annihilation. This is why Vashti Media has a growing following.
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Photograph courtesy of Alisdare Hickson. Published under a Creative Commons license.