Jonathan Metzer

"It's a special thing to be a human and it's a special thing to be on planet Earth." Remarks from Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman upon arriving to @NASA_Johnson.

Incredibly moving 🌕

“The Judeans have something that no other people have” a very special conversation with star historian @holland_tom of @TheRestHistory for an all new episode of Unholy

A belated Passover offering x.com/Simoncgordon/s…

Extraordinary. Godspeed Artemis II 🚀

To be absolutely clear - and to rebut the inevitable slurs that have cropped up here: Hatzola serves the whole north London community - Jews and non-Jews alike. It is run by volunteers, just like St John's Ambulance. Donate here to fight the hate: charityextra.com/hatzola-emerge…

Hatzola NW - Charity Extra charityextra.com/hatzola-emerge…

I grew up in this community and I have a few thoughts I want to share. A short thread.

Powerful editorial from the Jewish News in defence of the iftar in Trafalgar Square. jewishnews.co.uk/voice-of-the-j…

@holland_tom And the stories of Tara Brown (who ‘blew his mind out in a car’) and the 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire we’re also Daily Mail — on 17 January 1967…

I learn from Steve Turner that the Daily Mail gets a name check in Paperback Writer “because it was John’s choice of newspaper.”

Law Pod UK Ep.233 Proscription and Protest: The Palestine Action Decision. Lucy McCann is joined by Jonathan Metzer to discuss the Divisional Court’s ruling in R (Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 292 (Admin). #LawPodUK 1cor.com/london/2026/03…

It was great to be back on Law Pod UK to discuss the successful challenge to the proscription of Palestine Action with @lucyfmccann and to try to read the tea leaves as to what may happen on appeal… open.spotify.com/episode/6Z9P7p…

@michaelwhite I didn’t offer a view on the extent to which the protests were not racism — I took (strong) issue with expecting a Jew to ‘concede’ that the rise in antisemitism is driven by the Gaza conflict, as the language of ‘concede’ implies that this could justify it…

Oh Jonathan, you’re a lawyer, surely you can do better than straw men? 1) you chose to clock wealth. I clocked a clever self made man, daft enough to pick Germany. You too refuse to “concede” that much of what that much ( most?) protest against IDF savagery in Gaza is not racism

@michaelwhite (1) Why should wealth be relevant to risk from antisemitism? (2) Why ‘wait for it’? (3) What do you mean ‘concede’? How could the Gaza conflict justify a rise in antisemitism? We — rightly — don’t seek justifications for other forms of racism.

Here’s an odd Times story of Very Rich self-made Brit feeling uncomfy over anti semitism here (actually Wales which can’t help), so he may move to - wait for it - Germany. As usual he doesn’t concede that rise in AS is Gaza linked

The Iranian regime’s longstanding support for terror armies, its ballistic missile programme and nuclear ambitions have sowed destabilisation and fear across the Middle East. Tehran represents a clear and present danger to the national security of the UK and our allies and partners in the region and beyond. Time and time again, the regime has shown it has no interest in diplomacy, simply using negotiations as an opportunity to rebuild its nuclear capabilities - whose aim are to to fulfil Tehran’s repeatedly stated desire to wipe Israel off the map. The Moscow-Tehran axis is aiding Putin’s war against Ukraine, providing the Kremlin’s war machine with drones and missiles to terrorise Ukrainian civilians. The regime is at war with the Iranian people. Its violent suppression of last month’s protest movement - in which more than 30,000 people are believed to have perished - was simply its latest act of unconscionable savagery. In the UK, Tehran is responsible for supporting terrorism and plotting assassination attacks against the Jewish community, Iranian dissidents and journalists. The US and Israel are right to act in defence of the Iranian people, to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent the regime continuing to threaten international peace and security. Our thoughts are with the brave people of Iran who have suffered under a brutal theocratic tyranny for four decades. And they are with the Israeli people, who are once again in bomb shelters as Iranian ballistic missiles are indiscriminately fired at innocent civilians. We pray for the safety of Israel, the Iranian people and the whole Middle East.

@AndrewGilbert1 Thank you, Andrew.

Very helpful

My ‘extended look’ post for @ukhumanrightsb on the Palestine Action case: Tl;dr — I think it is potentially vulnerable to a successful appeal… ukhumanrightsblog.com/2026/02/23/div…

The decision to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 has been declared to be unlawful by the High Court as: (a) the decision by the Home Secretary breached her own policy on when she would exercise her discretion to seek an order proscribing an organisation. This is because she unlawfully took into account that proscription would be advantageous because it would mean that the offences at sections 11 to 13 of the 2000 Act could be used against any person supporting Palestine Action, and the statutory consequences of proscription would provide further powers to disrupt Palestine Action. (b) the decision to proscribe was disportioncate to the very significant impact it would have on the right to freedom of assembly. Although some of PA's actions did constitute acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000, the nature and scale of PA's activities falling within the definition of terrorism had not yet reached the level, scale and persistence to warrant proscription. The proscription itself remains in place for now whilst the court hears submissions on what happens next. The Home Secretary has said she will seek permission to appeal. The court has the option to keep the proscription in place until the outcome of any appeal (assuming the Home Secretary gets permission, which I suspect she would). The court could also strike down the proscription even notwithstanding an appeal, but if the HS gets permission I think the first option is more likely (this is what happened in the Liberty case re changes to the Public Order Act 1986). The ruling and summary are here. I am just reading the judgment and may post some further thoughts in the replies to this post. judiciary.uk/judgments/huda…

@SCynic1 Mazal tov Simon!

ויקרא שמו בישראל יעקוב בן דניאל ונאומי

I could literally reduce the Crown Court backlog in 9 steps starting tomorrow. And precisely none of it would involve tampering with jury trials.