The citizen journalist, British rights activist and bete noir of the British political and media Establishment Tommy Robinson has recently been on a trip to Israel. This trip, one which has severely triggered many leftists and some members of the British Jewish Establishment, was in my view an absolute triumph. It was a triumph for Mr Robinson as we see him not as the British mainstream media and political classes see him, which is a dangerous radical who needs to be stopped, but as a man who can see that Israel is a modern democratic society which is not only a haven for the world’s Jews but is also an equitable home for Israel’s Moslem and Christian citizens.
Mr Robinson showed the world what outlets like the BBC don’t show when it comes to Israel. He showed a country that is doing astoundingly well despite being hated by the political Left and large portions of the Islamic world. He of course recognises in his coverage of Israel that not all is perfect in Israel but then the same could be said about every country in the world.
Whether you like Mr Robinson or not or are ambivalent about Israel or not I’d strongly advise you to watch Mr Robinson’s videos from Israel. You may learn something about Israel and how the country is seen by someone like Mr Robinson. You can find the playlist of the videos via the link below.
However there is one area of Mr Robinson’s coverage of Israel and Israeli life that I must sternly and vehemently take issue with. It’s an important one as it relates to something that is present in the United Kingdom as well as in the UK. No, no I’m not talking about the shared threats from Islamic extremism that both the UK and Israel face, it’s something different from that.
What has vexed me greatly is Mr Robinson’s review of one of the Israel branches of the McDonald’s burger outlet. He said that the kosher branches of the chain had a bad reputation but had a positive experience of the non kosher branches.
Here’s Mr Robinson’s review of a non-kosher McDonald’s in Israel.
I must strongly disagree with Mr Robinson opinion on the matter of McDonald’s in Israel. Whilst I did not eat in any of the non-Kosher McDonald’s when I was last in Israel, I did eat in a couple of the kosher outlets of McDonald’s when I was there and I was astounded at the difference between the non-Kosher British McDonald’s and the Kosher Israeli McDonald’s. I found the kosher McDonald’s in Israel to be very much superior to UK non-kosher McDonald’s.
I know the difference because I haven’t always followed the Jewish kosher dietary laws. In the past, before I submitted to the discipline of kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws, I have eaten my fill (and more) of McDonald’s in the UK and from lots of different branches. I have a pretty good idea of what non-kosher McDonald’s tastes like and looks like. I used to like it but I turned my face away from it not just because of the meat sources but because of the mixing of meat and milk in non-kosher McDonald’s.
However in Israel, I tried the kosher McDonald’s and I found the meat of superior quality to the meat in British McDonald’s. The burgers had a proper meat taste and texture and the vegan cheese that came with the burger (the only cheese allowed in a kosher McDonald’s outlet in Israel) was streets ahead of any vegan cheese that have had from any supermarket or restaurant in the UK. Some of the vegan cheese I’ve had in the UK has the sort of texture that you might imagine rubber car steering bushes might have if you ate one and the taste is often yukky and not at all ‘cheese-like’. But the Israeli vegan cheese is much better. Israel seems to have most certainly won the ‘fake cheese war’ at least in my opinion. I don’t know what Israeli food scientists have done to the base materials (probably some non dairy milk such as soy or whatever) that have gone into making their McDonald’s vegan cheese, but they’ve succeeded. If I’d had had more time I Israel last time I might have tried to source something similar to vegan McDonald’s cheese as well as the lovely sliceable semi soft white cheese that you get in Israel. However even if I had found that holy grail of vegan cheese I probably wouldn’t be allowed to bring it back to the UK and I didn’t fancy being nicked at the UK border for being a cheese smuggler.
Over the years Mr Robinson has been proven to be correct on a number of the things that he’s commented on or campaigned over. He’s been proved right about the Middle East conflict in that it’s not a conflict over land it’s a conflict that exists only because Islam hates Jews, he’s been right about the rise of Islamism in the UK but has also gone to great lengths to show that there are Moslems that reject that path. He’s been proven to be on target about the rape gang phenomenon in Britain and the Establishment’s covering up of those crimes and has experienced and spoken about the growth of two tier policing and justice in Britain.
Despite Mr Robinson’s admirable correctness about certain issues I can’t agree with him on the issue of McDonald’s in Israel. The non-kosher McDonald’s probably source their product from similar places and to similar standards as elsewhere in the world which is why Mr Robinson found zero difference at the branch he went to. Maybe on his next trip to Israel he should try a McDonald’s from one of their kosher meat branches. They will be different as they will have different meat sourcing and food preparation techniques along with the different ingredients choices but different is not always wrong. It would be great if he did that and let people know what he thinks. In my view at least the kosher McDonald’s in Israel although different, is a difference so good as to be something to be worth remarking positively upon in comparison to McDonald’s elsewhere.