Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

U.K. renters’ union rejects Jewish applicant saying ‘sorry, no time for Zionists’

(JTA) — A renters’ union in England apologized after rejecting a membership request from a Jewish person in a message that said “sorry, no time for Zionists.”

The renter also was told in a message sent through the Instagram account of the Acorn Union in Manchester that “we are a pro-Palestine organization.”

On Monday, the union issued an apology “for the upset and offense caused” to its Jewish members and to the general Jewish community. It called the messages anti-Semitic.

The Acorn Union told the London-based Jewish Chronicle that it has opened an internal investigation into the incident. The union has not yet identified the person who sent the messages, according to the newspaper.

After rejecting the Jewish renter, Acorn also blocked the man on Instagram, the U.K. Jewish News reported.

The union was aware that the applicant is Jewish since he uses his Hebrew name on his Instagram profile, and his Instagram profile image uses a Star of David and a hashtag of NoSafeSpaceForJewHate, according to the report.

The union, according to its website, is “a community-based union of working-class people” and a “member-led campaigning organization supporting and empowering low-income communities across the country to fight for a better life.”

The post British renters’ union rejects membership for Jewish applicant saying ‘sorry, no time for Zionists’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.