The first was the creation in Britain of an alternative to the British Board of Jewish Deputies- the umbrella body representing Jews in the United Kingdom. This body, to be called the Independent Jewish Voices is founded on by over one hundred Jewish Britons who claim that the Board of Deputies is not representative of all British Jewry being as it is overly pro-Israel and stifling of any opinion that is not clearly pro-Zionism.

The alternative Independent Jewish Voices is a collection of Jewish minds who claim that they are though Jewish, willing to criticise Israel even harshly and denounce her, because they sympathise deeply with the plight of the Palestinians, a people robbed of their land and dignity for more than fifty years. They claim that the unity of international Jewry behind Israel and its repeated violation of international law is a façade as there are disagreements among Jews on Zionism, and also on the plight of the Palestinian people. Also among their number are those who tried from within the established bodies to express dissenting views, but who claim to have been shunned and even to have met with hostility and ostracism.

As is routine, these crusaders for justice and the shared bond of humanity have met cries of betrayal and even the ultimate insult, that they are self-hating Jews. This is of course common place now with veterans of international calls for universal justice including Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and South African Ronnie Kasrils suffering a similar fate. However, the formation of a public group of this sort, actively opposed to the traditional representative bodies is a first.

The second event was a lot closer home and in some ways a lot more powerful. John Githongo, formerly of the Ethics and Governance desk at the Office of the President, has had to endure not just threats on his life, but also charges that he is perfidious not just to his family and tribe, but also that he is unpatriotic and a spy for the British. Even the most cold-hearted among us will sympathise with Githongo's predicament. Having to do what he did, especially considering the close relationship between his father and the President, or the fact that the alleged perpetrators of the Anglo-Leasing scandals include people he went to school with.

That such courage should in turn suffer the ultimate ignominy of being called treacherous, often by the very same people for whom he almost literally put his life on the line in defence of, is very disheartening. However, just as with the IJV above, John Githongo's example ought to be a light to all those who believe in values higher than those decreed by religion, or by racial, tribal or national affiliation. That we throw away such inanities as ‘blood is thicker than water' and act instead on a higher morality, united not in blood but in an eternal humanity. Not  faith and belonging in an accident of birth, but in a choice to serve righteousness over wrong.