Running out of entertainment for the rest of this summer? Or have you been wondering what Conservative MPs and peers have been watching and reading over lockdown? We’ve spoken to our parliamentary friends and Israeli experts who have recommended some of their favourite books, TV shows, films and more.
TV Shows
Sharon Bar-Li, Chargée d’affaires at the Israeli Embassy to London – “In recent years Israel has become a superpower in exporting TV formats and having Israeli productions gaining world’s recognition. I would like to recommend the series Our Boys (HBO), set in the summer of 2014, based on the true events, following the kidnapping and murder of the three Jewish teenagers by Hamas, Israel is shocked, shaken and furious”.
Matthew Offord MP, CFI Officer (Hendon) recommends Fauda – “David Cameron was an avid watcher of box sets and the more obscure the better. During the lockdown I rewatched series of Homeland after which James Gurd (CFI Executive Director) told me about Fauda. In the same genre as Homeland, Fauda tells the story of Doron a former IDF soldier who learns of the whereabouts of an enemy whom he believed his unit had killed, and of his plans to attend his brother’s wedding”.
Miriam Cates MP (Penistone and Stocksbridge) – “I recently finished watching McMafia on iPlayer, some of which is filmed in Tel Aviv and is brilliant”.
Mary Robinson MP, CFI Officer (Cheadle) recommends Chernobyl – “A stark reminder of the toll on people and communities when the state suppresses information, dissent and freedom for its own ends”.
Rt. Hon. Robert Halfon MP (Harlow) recommends Caliphate on Netflix – “About how young Swedish Muslims from moderate and law abiding families are radicalised by a local school teacher and end up in ISIS controlled Syria. Each episode is horrific and tragic but you learn much”.
Nicola Richards MP (West Bromwich East) – “The series I enjoyed the most over the lockdown period was Tiger King because it was the best distraction from reality at the time, totally unpredictable and crazy. It somehow launches into a State Governor political campaign and an ongoing case of attempted murder. My favourite Israeli show is Fauda, the latest series certainly didn’t aid any stress relief but it was still so addictive”.
Dehenna Davison MP (Bishop Auckland) recommends Glee (rewatching) – “I love it because (as well as being a fan of musicals!) it covers a lot of major social issues in a very educational and sympathetic way, such as mental health struggles and LGBT acceptance”.
The CFI Team recommends Unorthodox on Netflix, about a young ultra-Orthodox Brooklynite woman who leaves her community for a new life in Berlin, starring talented Israeli actress Shira Haas.
Books
Lord Polak CBE, CFI Honorary President recommends Sam Bourne’s To Kill The Truth – “Although first published in 2019 – if you missed it last year, Jonathan Freedland’s blockbuster is eerily relevant in 2020”.
Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid leader) recommends Roger Scruton’s How to Be a Conservative. Lapid wrote the foreword for the Hebrew edition which was recently published in Israel.
Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP, CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Commons) recommends Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman – “Professor Kahneman is one of the most influential Israeli academics and his work on risk and decision-making has had a profound impact on the worlds of economics, finance and psychology. This summary of his life’s work is highly readable with lots of anecdotes and practical examples of how humans do not behave in rational ways”.
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem – “Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Jerusalem is a masterpiece. The most complete biography of the complex glorious and painful history of Jerusalem. Not a light read; at parts reads like a love letter and in other parts a Game of Thrones episode. It draws from all disciplines to bring us the most vivid picture of life in Jerusalem through the ages and explains the diverse and idiosyncratic city we live in today”.
Robert Largan MP (High Peak) – “I’m currently re-reading the Robert Caro books on Lyndon Johnson. I’ve also just finished Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and The Light, the final instalment in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy”.
Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP (Chipping Barnet) – “My book recommendation would be Robert Harris’s Cicero trilogy – Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator“.
Jonathan Spyer, Middle East analyst – “I recommend Dream Palace of the Arabs by the late Fouad Ajami. It is from the 1990s and is a little dated now, but it contains many priceless insights into Arab political culture and recent history”.
Siobhan Baillie MP (Stroud) – “I’ve been listening to the Mythos audio book by Stephen Fry when up in the middle of the night and reading Isabel Hardman’s book, the Natural Health Service. Isabel Hardman has really captured the benefits of nature for our health and mental health, and why it is necessary to really notice the natural world around us”.
Robert Courts MP (Witney) recommends Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis on audiobook – “The audiobook is a pacy introduction to Israel’s history, managing to squeeze a comprehensive understanding not only of the stormy passage of events but of the incredible successes achieved against sometimes seemingly insuperable odds. The author manages, despite this accessible format, to paint a full picture of the towering personalities of the age, whilst not sparing the more controversial aspects of the times. A highly recommended, gripping introduction to Israel’s formation, struggle to survive, present and future”.
Professor Reuven Hazan (Hebrew University) – “My favourite political book (because it is centrist, critiquing both left and right) is Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land“.
Rt. Hon. Robert Halfon MP (Harlow) – “The best book on Israel is The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. How a small nation of the Shire, composed of hobbits, small of stature, unloved and mocked by all nations outside, took on the evil terrorism of Sauron and the Orcs. In doing so – single handedly saved Middle Earth”.
Films
Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles, CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Lords) – “From childhood I loved Westerns. As I grew older it became a guilty pleasure, then I realised that more than other genres Westerns reflect back how America is feeling about itself. Vietnam and the realisation that a form of ethnic cleansing was perpetrated on Native Americans reduced the westerns popularity, but quality ones are worth watching. Here are two of the best: one old; one new.
1. The Searchers (1956) Dir John Ford, starring John Wayne. A complex psycho-drama in which Wayne plays against type as a racist sociopath intent on murdering his niece. Be warned the portrayal of Comanches is offensive. The film is now remembered for the stunning cinematography and the ending where the door of civilisation shuts Wayne’s character out forever.
2. Hostiles (2017) Dir Scott Cooper starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike and Wes Studi. A revisionist western set in 1892, twenty-four years after the Searchers at the end of the Plains Wars. Moral ambiguities run thought the film, with a kind of redemption at the end. Again stunningly shot outdoors with images that stay with you for a long time after viewing”.
Matthew Offord MP, CFI Officer (Hendon) recommends 7 Days in Entebbe – “Not the film starring Charles Bronson (Raid on Entebbe) but the 2018 update which depicts the background and events leading up to the infamous hostage taking in Uganda in 1976 and subsequent raid by Israeli forces. Daniel Bruhl is a classic baddie but the threatening violence of Rosamund Pike and the brilliant performance by Eddie Marsden make this historical drama a real must see. However, the biggest surprise that caught me at the end of the film was learning of the identify of the one fatal casualty in the raiding force – Yonatan Netanyahu, older brother of Israel’s current Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu”.
Food
Christian Wakeford MP – “My favourite kosher bakery would have to be the Three Bakers [in Bury South]. I was fortunate enough to be able to take Sajid Javid there during the GE campaign, always been a great service with some amazing food with the smell of fresh bread and coffee certainly enticing”.
Matthew Offord MP’s (Hendon) favourite restaurant is Dr Shakshuka at Beit Eshel St 3, Tel Aviv.
If you’re missing Israeli and Jewish cuisine, make sure to support your local restaurants. You can check whether they are taking part in the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme here.
Recipe
A working mum’s quick Cous Cous recipe, by Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem:
1. Fry onions and garlic in a soup pot. Add cabbage, courgettes, carrots, pumpkin and a tin of chickpeas. Add water, not too much. Let it stew like a soup.
2. Add hawaj and baharat spices (if not available you can improvise with allspice).
3. Add a cut of chuck steak and let the whole thing cook on low for a few hours.
4. Take a cous cous packet and add boiling water, and when the soup is done, voila! A bona fide Moroccan meal.
Podcasts
Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP, CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Commons) recommends You’re Dead to Me – “A firm favourite on our long car trips, this entertaining BBC podcast takes listeners off the beaten track of history to shine a light on all sorts of quirky personalities and episodes from the past. A sort of ‘Horrible Histories’ for grown ups”.
Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles, CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Lords) – “My choice for favourite book and podcast combines the two in The Ratline by Philippe Sands. The podcast is still available on the BBC App and the book came out this year. It is the story of SS Brigadeführer Otto Freiherr Von Wächter the Nazi Governor of Galicia and his four years on the run from justice. It examines the escape route for hunted Nazis, the involvement of the church and the complicity of the Allies”.
Col. (Ret.) Miri Eisin, former Israeli government spokesperson recommends Israel Story, a podcast that amplifies the voices and stories of everyday Israelis – “Always interesting, well done and thought provoking”.
Robert Largan MP (High Peak) – “My current favourite podcast is: We Have Ways of Making You Talk, by James Holland and Al Murray”.
Hebrew learning
Christian Wakeford MP (Bury South): “I recently started learning Hebrew during lockdown so if anything, lockdown has actually helped to facilitate the lessons. Granted, learning via Zoom is never as good as meeting in person, although Tel Aviv is quite a commute for a lesson. Now my text book, Hebrew from Scratch has arrived, studying is much easier albeit still very early days”.
If you are keen on learning or improving your Hebrew, take a look at the following resources.
Duolingo – Free and popular mobile phone app that allows you to learn Hebrew in as little as 5 minutes a day with game-like lessons.
Ulpan-Or – Through Guided Distance Learning you can learn Hebrew online from a computer, smartphone or tablet with your own personal, native-Israeli teacher.
Routledge Hebrew – Online site of The Routledge Introductory Course in Modern Hebrew.
