Shneur Zalman Odze (born 3 March 1981) is an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

rabbi and

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

(UKIP) politician.

Political career

Odze was elected as a Conservative Party councillor for the New River ward on

Hackney London Borough Council Hackney London Borough Council, also known as Hackney Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney, in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority c ...

in 2002. He resigned from the council in 2004 when he moved to Salford. He was a Conservative candidate in Bury council elections in 2004 and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

(Sedgley ward) and then in the Salford City Council elections in 2007, in Kersal ward which had until then been a safe Labour ward with Conservatives a distant third, where he lost by 34 votes (1.35%),

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. He stood for UKIP in the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2014 Salford City Council election The 2014 Salford City Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Salford City Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections. The composition of the Council following the 2014 elections: Ward result ...

. Odze was a UKIP candidate for the

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

in the European Election 2014. During the campaign, he declined to shake hands with female voters due to his

religious beliefs A belief is a subjective attitude that something is true or a state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some stance, take, or opinion about something. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to ...

, which prohibit physical contact with any woman other than his wife. One of the party's regional organisers resigned in protest. In 2014 he organised a group of people including some Israelis to travel to

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

in protest after

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...

declared the city an "Israel-free zone". Odze helped to set up the "Friends of Israel in UKIP", the logo of which featured a pound sign (the logo of UKIP at the time) in the centre of a

star of David The Star of David (, , ) is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the Seal of Solomon was used for decora ...

. When it was pointed out that linking Jews and money had unfortunate connotations, Odze said this was more oversight than conspiracy. He condemned the party's policy against

kosher slaughter In Judaism, ''shechita'' (anglicized: ; ; ; also transliterated ''shehitah, shechitah, shehita'') is ritual slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to ''kashrut''. One who practices this, a kosher butcher is called a ''sho ...

as "wrong". He sought the UKIP nomination for the

2016 London mayoral election The 2016 London mayoral election was held on 5 May 2016 to elect the Mayor of London, on the same day as the 2016 London Assembly election, London Assembly election. It was the fifth election to the position of mayor, which was created in 2000 ...

, but was unsuccessful. He was the UKIP candidate in the 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election, where he came sixth with 1.9% of the vote. At a Manchester hustings he was criticised by

Jane Brophy Jane Elisabeth Brophy (born 27 August 1963) is a British politician who was a Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the North West England (European Parliament constituency), North West England be ...

, the Liberal Democrat candidate because he refused to shake her hand as dictated by his religious beliefs. She said he should treat women and men equally. In 2017 Odze burned a Christian evangelical Hebrew-English Bible which had been placed in a synagogue without permission on the eve of

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

. Odze initially denied that this event had taken place. Odze subsequently apologised following a ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' article showing a Twitter post he had made which included a photograph of the book on fire. He is said to be a close confidant of

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

and

Paul Nuttall Paul Andrew Nuttall (born 30 November 1976) is a British politician who served as Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2016 to 2017. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, and ...

Personal life

Odze's mother comes from Morocco, and his paternal grandfather, who fought in General Anders' Polish II Corps at Monte Cassino, where 55,000 Allied troops died, was from Poland. He was born and brought up in Hackney. He is married with four daughters and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odze, Shneur 1981 births Living people Councillors in the London Borough of Hackney Conservative Party (UK) councillors UK Independence Party politicians British Orthodox rabbis Jewish British politicians British people of Moroccan-Jewish descent British people of Polish-Jewish descent 21st-century British rabbis