Ben M Freeman

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Glasgow-born Zionist author and settler colonist in occupied Palestine

Not to be confused with the Quincy Institute researcher Ben Freeman (see Targeted Communications Global), the Pinsker Centre executive director of the same name, or the West End actor.
Ben M Freeman

Image Ben M Freeman NPM.jpg
Ben M Freeman, from the No Pasaran Media website
Born 1987 Glasgow
Occupation Author, columnist and Holocaust educator
Known for Jewish Pride trilogy (published by No Pasaran Media); Jerusalem Post columnist
Education University of Glasgow (politics)
Website https://benmfreeman.com

Ben M Freeman (also Ben Maxwell Freeman, and printed Ben Freeman) is a Glasgow-born Zionist author, columnist and Holocaust educator who styles himself the founder of the “modern Jewish Pride movement”.[1][2] He has said that “The M stands for Maxwell”.[3] He worked as a youth worker for the UJIA in Glasgow, set up the Holocaust education project From Yesterday, For Tomorrow in 2012, and later taught in Hong Kong. He is the author of three books published by No Pasaran Media, is a Jerusalem Post columnist, and was a 2022 research fellow of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy.[4][5] On 7 June 2026 he published an essay announcing that he was leaving Britain that day to settle in 'Tel Aviv'; since then he has been a settler colonist in occupied Palestine.[6]

Early life and education

Freeman has said he was born in Glasgow in 1987, attended the city’s one Jewish primary school, and went to a Reform synagogue growing up.[3][7] The ScotlandsPeople statutory birth index records a Ben Maxwell Freeman, male, born in 1987 and registered in Glasgow, Martha Street; Companies House gives the date of birth of the FYFT Limited director Ben Maxwell Freeman as January 1987. The identification is probable: the index gives only the year of birth.[8][9]

He has described being raised in a “very Zionist and very proudly Jewish” community in Glasgow, and has said: “it is not possible to be a proud Jew and to be an anti-Zionist.”[3] He has said he spent a gap year in 'Israel' with RSY-Netzer, the Reform youth movement, before studying politics at the University of Glasgow, where he says he met hostility because of his Zionism.[10][7] He told the Jewish Chronicle in 2022 that he came out as gay at the age of 19.[11]

Family

Freeman has said that his mother was born in Northern Ireland, went to a Catholic school, then moved to Scotland, where she met his father; he describes her as Jewish. He has said he has two siblings.[3] He told the Jewish Chronicle that his late father “didn’t say non-Jews hate us, he said the non-Jewish world. And that’s really important because he was right.”[7] By his account his father died in February 2017, after Freeman had returned from Hong Kong to Glasgow to help his mother care for him, and he sat shiva in Scotland.[3][12] He has not named his parents in the sources consulted.

Public records point to a probable family. Electoral registers for 47 Cedarwood Avenue, Newton Mearns, record a Ben Freeman (2007–2012 and 2014–2016), Malcolm Freeman and Sarah Freeman (2002–2004, 2007–2012 and 2014–2016), Diane Freeman (2002–2004) and Mark Freeman (2002–2003).[13] A ScotlandsPeople marriage index records the marriage in 1979, in Eastwood and Mearns, of Malcolm Harold Freeman and Sarah Lena Samuels.[14] Three Freeman births are returned when the statutory birth index is filtered by the mother’s maiden name Samuels: Mark Jack Freeman, 1981, Glasgow, Park Circus; Diane Rebecca Freeman, 1983, Glasgow, Martha Street; and Ben Maxwell Freeman, 1987, Glasgow, Martha Street.[15] The names match the Cedarwood Avenue household and Freeman’s account of two siblings, and a 1979 marriage in Scotland fits his account of his mother moving to Scotland and meeting his father there. The index does not name parents, so the relationships are probable rather than proved.

The Jewish Chronicle named a Diane Freeman as mazkira of RSY-Netzer in 2006 and 2007, and described her as “the leader of the Reform Synagogues' youth movement, RSY-Netzer.” It is not known whether this is Diane Rebecca Freeman, or whether there is a link to this family.[16][17][18]

The man identified as his probable father, Malcolm Harold Freeman, was the younger son of Louis Freeman and Clarice Freeman (née Teitelbaum). The Jewish Echo announced the birth of a son on 8 March 1932 “to Mr. and Mrs. L. Freeman (nee Clarice Teitelbaum), 47 Camphill Avenue, Langside”.[19] Malcolm Harold, “younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Freeman”, was barmitzvah at Queen's Park Synagogue on 17 March 1945.[20] His birth was registered in Cathcart in 1932, under the mother’s maiden name Teitelbaum, matching the 1932 birth notice; he died in 2017 aged 84 in Eastwood and Mearns, the registration district for Newton Mearns, mother’s maiden name Teitelbaum. The year of death fits Freeman’s account of his father’s death in February 2017; the death index gives the year but not the month.[21][22] An elder son, Gerald, “eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Freeman, 47 Camphill Avenue, Langside”, was barmitzvah at Queen's Park Synagogue on 13 January 1940; he is probably the Gerald Isaac Freeman whose birth was registered in Cathcart in 1927, returned under the mother’s maiden name spelled Titelbaum rather than Teitelbaum.[23][24]

Louis Freeman married Clarice Teitelbaum on 9 March 1926 at the Synagogue, Garnethill, Glasgow, after publication according to the forms of the Jews; the marriage was registered on 11 March in the District of Milton, Burgh of Glasgow. Louis was then 32, a bachelor and a musical director, living at 42 Sinclair Drive, Glasgow. Clarice was a spinster of 49 Camphill Avenue, Glasgow. His parents were Max Freeman, jeweller, and Fanny Freeman, maiden surname most likely Ersler. Hers were Emanuel Teitelbaum, commercial traveller, and Rebecca Teitelbaum, maiden surname Sakolski. Neither set of parents is marked deceased. This makes Louis’s parentage definite: he is a son of Max and Fanny Freeman, and is not a son of Harris Freeman and Rachel Freeman of Ayr.[25]

Max Freeman of 42 Sinclair Drive, Langside, died suddenly on 30 June 1929, aged 71, “deeply mourned by his sons, daughters, son-in-law, daughters-in-law and grandchildren”; an obituary in the same issue of the Jewish Echo called him a “Glasgow Veteran”. His death is indexed in Cathcart, mother’s maiden name Price. Fanny Freeman, his widow, died on 11 August 1936, aged 74, also in Cathcart. No Scottish marriage of Max and Fanny has been found.[26][27][28][29] A 1938 memoriam “to our dear mother, Fanny Freeman” was inserted from 47 Camphill Avenue.[30] Louis is probably the Louis Freeman who died in Glasgow (Martha Street) in 1994, aged 101, mother’s maiden name Ersler; the age matches a birth around 1893–94, as implied by his being 32 in March 1926, and Ersler matches the maiden name on the marriage entry. A Clarice Freeman death is indexed in Eastwood and Mearns in 1988, aged 86, mother’s maiden name Sakolski, which fits Clarice’s mother; that identification is probable.[31][32]

The records place this Camphill family, the Ayr family of Harris Freeman and Rachel Freeman (née Livingston), and the family of Jack Freeman, the Jewish National Fund organiser in Scotland, who was born Jack Fremerman in the Shoreditch registration district of London in 1917, a son of Morris Fremerman and Rose Fremerman (née Hyman), in separate families. No family link between the three has been found.[33][34] A 1938 subscription list had separate lines for “Louis Freeman, 47 Camphill Avenue” and “Messrs. H. Freeman & Sons, Ayr”.[35]

UJIA Scotland dinner, 2011

Guest photographs from the UJIA Scotland annual dinner, Jewish Chronicle, 11 March 2011. The captions “Malcolm and Sarah Freeman” and “Ben Freeman and UJIA Scotland youth worker Jared Ross” appear in the same row. Photos: Steven Winston.
“Malcolm and Sarah Freeman”, Jewish Chronicle, 11 March 2011.
“Ben Freeman and UJIA Scotland youth worker Jared Ross”, Jewish Chronicle, 11 March 2011.
“Elliot Gold, Ben Freeman and Louisa Pinder”, Jewish Chronicle, 11 March 2011.

The Jewish Chronicle of 11 March 2011 reported the UJIA Scotland annual dinner at the banqueting suite of Giffnock and Newlands Synagogue, where Lord Winston spoke. More than 250 guests attended the sell-out event, “raising £81,000 towards UJIA’s programmes for young people and education in the UK and northern Israel.” Among the guest photographs, a single row carries the captions “Malcolm and Sarah Freeman” and, two photographs along, “Ben Freeman and UJIA Scotland youth worker Jared Ross”; another photograph on the page is captioned “Elliot Gold, Ben Freeman and Louisa Pinder”.[36] The captions do not state a relationship. Read with the electoral registers, they place Malcolm and Sarah Freeman as guests at a UJIA fundraising dinner at which Ben Freeman, Jared Ross, Elliot Gold and Louisa Pinder were also photographed.

UJIA youth work

In May 2008 the Jewish Chronicle named “UJiA’s Ben Freeman” among those running the youth component of Glasgow’s 'Israel at 60' event at Eastwood Park, Giffnock; this is probably the same man.[37] In October 2011 the paper reported a UJIA trip to Poland by 21 young Scots, “accompanied by youth workers Jared Ross and Ben Freeman and an Israeli educator, Pauline Kelif”; the trip was funded by the European Claims Conference Subsidy Fund and the Glasgow Jewish Fund.[38]

From Yesterday, For Tomorrow

Freeman says he founded From Yesterday For Tomorrow in 2012.[3] In December 2012 the Jewish Chronicle reported that “Ben Freeman and Jared Ross will be presenting their story and documentary at the national Limmud conference on December 24”.[39]

Two separate bodies used the name. FYFT Limited (SC436075), a private company, was incorporated on 2 November 2012 with Ben Maxwell Freeman and Jared Ross as directors, both appointed that day; Ross resigned on 31 May 2013, and the company was dissolved on 23 January 2015.[9][40] The Jared Ross of FYFT Limited is probably the UJIA Scotland youth worker of that name. From Yesterday, For Tomorrow (SC044183), known as FYFT, was a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation operating in Glasgow City, registered on 5 August 2013 and ceased on 10 May 2018; the register gives no trustee names.[41] The Glasgow Times, interviewing Freeman at 28 after the January 2015 Paris attacks, reported the charity’s work in schools, its charitable status from August 2013, and its ten trustees and four young volunteers.[42]

Hong Kong

Freeman says he moved to Hong Kong in 2015 for Holocaust education work; that after a year there he returned to Glasgow to help his mother care for his father, who died in February 2017; and that he later headed humanities at an international school.[3] In April 2021 the Jewish Chronicle described him as a “Holocaust Educator (based in Hong Kong)”.[43] He has said he joined Twitter in 2018 specifically to oppose Jeremy Corbyn.[7] The Times of Israel described him in April 2021 as Glasgow-born, 34 and a Hong Kong educator, and reported his insistence that proud Jewish identity cannot coexist with anti-Zionism.[44]

Writing and affiliations

His books, published by No Pasaran Media with editing, design and distribution by whitefox, are:[45]

  • Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People (No Pasaran Media, 15 February 2021), ISBN 9781913532130[46]
  • Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride (No Pasaran Media, 24 October 2022), ISBN 9781915036322[47]
  • The Jews: An Indigenous People (No Pasaran Media, 27 February 2025), ISBN 9781916797475[48]

In a January 2025 Jewish Chronicle column he wrote: “I have been building and championing a modern Jewish Pride movement since the release of my first book in 2021”, and “While some claim, ‘We are not against Jews, only Zionists,’ we know they are lying”.[2] His Jerusalem Post columns include “When is it time to leave the Diaspora?” (8 May 2024), “'Queers for Palestine' are forcing LGBTQ+ Jews back into the closet” (16 June 2024) and “Fighting anti-Zionism with indigeneity” (8 September 2024).[5] In September 2023 the Jerusalem Post placed him eighth in its “25 Young ViZionaries” list and described him as a World Jewish Congress Jewish Diplomat.[49] whitefox says he appeared as a commentator in Amanda Kinsey’s film Jews of the Wild West.[45] The British Friends of Israel page for The October Declaration lists him among its public signatories as “Ben M Freeman, author and educator.”[50]

On his website he says his work includes providing “Jewish centered DEI programming for Netflix, Meta, LVMH and the Jim Henson Company, among others.”[1] An ISGAP biography says he “has worked with a variety of companies from Facebook to Hollywood studios, such as The Jim Henson Company.”[4] The Jerusalem Post wrote that he “provides Jewish-centered diversity, equity, and inclusion experiences for renowned companies like Facebook and Netflix.”[49]

The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy lists him as a 2022 research fellow.[4] The Elizabeth and Tony Comper Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism at the University of Haifa describes him as “currently a PhD candidate at the University of Haifa and a Fellow at the Comper Center for Study of Antisemitism.”[51]

In January 2024 he spoke at a pro-Israel rally marking 100 days since 7 October; the Jewish Chronicle reported that “author and educator Ben M. Freeman also spoke.”[52]

Settlement in occupied Palestine

In October 2025 The Independent reported that Freeman was “now based in Scotland” and applying for Israeli citizenship, and that he planned to move “in January”. He told the paper: “Every time I left my house for about a year after October 7, I wondered if I would be attacked or stabbed,” and spoke of becoming a majority in what he called “my indigenous land”.[53]

The move came later than that plan. On 7 June 2026 the Jerusalem Journal published his essay “On the Day I Make Aliyah”, with an editor’s note that he was making aliyah that day; its biography described him as Glasgow-born, having lived in Hong Kong and London, and moving to 'Tel Aviv'. In the essay he cites Corbyn, 7 October and his father’s warnings as his reasons, claims Jewish indigeneity to the land, and ends: “Today, I made mine.”[6] A version was republished on 19 June 2026 by Future of Jewish as “I am leaving Britain and moving to Israel”.[54] His X profile gives his location as “Tel Aviv, Israel”.[55]

Glasgow haircut post, November 2026

On 6 November 2026 (18:04 GMT) Freeman posted on X that he was in Scotland visiting his mother and had gone for a haircut at Westend Hair in Glasgow, where he told the barber that he was “visiting from Israel”. He wrote that the barber asked whether he was worried about 'Israel' “given that it had, in his words, alienated the entire world”, and he accused the barber of blaming 'Israel' for “the worldwide tsunami of Jew-hate” and of calling 7 October “an inside job”. He went on: “I am so utterly sick of non-Jews presuming to tell Jews what Jew-hate is, what causes it and how we should understand our own experiences,” and: “I could not be more glad that I made Aliyah. Experiences like this remind me why I am so happy to call Israel home.”[55] The account of the conversation is his; the salon has not been reported as responding.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 About, Ben M Freeman, accessed 7 November 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ben M Freeman, “Short on New Year resolutions? I have one for you: be proud Jews”, comment, Jewish Chronicle, 3 January 2025, p. 6; archive page.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Ashley Rindsberg, Ben Freeman on Seeing Pride as a Creative Act, The Burning Castle, 7 July 2021.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Fellow profile, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, accessed 7 November 2026: “2022 Research Fellow”.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ben M. Freeman, author page, Jerusalem Post, accessed 7 November 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ben M Freeman, On the Day I Make Aliyah, Jerusalem Journal, 7 June 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Linda Marric, Ben Freeman: Where is our pride?, Jewish Chronicle, 15 February 2021 (print edition 12 February 2021, pp. 35–36).
  8. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of births, index entry: FREEMAN, Ben Maxwell, male, 1987, Glasgow, Martha Street, ref. 603/140, accessed 7 November 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 FYFT Limited: people, Companies House, accessed 7 November 2026: “FREEMAN, Ben Maxwell”, director, date of birth January 1987, appointed 2 November 2012, nationality British, country of residence Scotland; “ROSS, Jared”, director, appointed 2 November 2012, resigned 31 May 2013.
  10. ↑ Podcast interview with Ben Freeman, Ruderman Family Foundation, undated, accessed 7 November 2026.
  11. ↑ Karen Glaser, “People wanted to know the impact Jew-hate has on Jews”, Jewish Chronicle, 28 October 2022, p. 44; archive page.
  12. ↑ Podcast episode on Jewish grief and mourning, Your Jewish Life, accessed 7 November 2026: “Karen and Ben both lost a beloved parent too soon – Ben’s father in 2017”; “How Karen’s experience sitting shiva in Israel differed from Ben’s in Scotland”.
  13. ↑ Electoral registers, 2002–2016, 47 Cedarwood Avenue, Newton Mearns, Glasgow, G77 5LP (Ben, Malcolm, Sarah, Diane and Mark Freeman).
  14. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of marriages, index entry: FREEMAN, Malcolm Harold, and SAMUELS, Sarah Lena, 1979, Eastwood and Mearns, ref. 650/71, accessed 7 November 2026.
  15. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of births, index entries returned by surname Freeman with mother’s maiden name filter Samuels (all years): FREEMAN, Mark Jack, male, 1981, Glasgow, Park Circus, ref. 623/549; FREEMAN, Diane Rebecca, female, 1983, Glasgow, Martha Street, ref. 611/810; FREEMAN, Ben Maxwell, male, 1987, Glasgow, Martha Street, ref. 603/140; accessed 7 November 2026. The mother’s maiden name is not displayed for these modern entries.
  16. ↑ Jewish Chronicle, 23 February 2007, p. 6; archive page: “the leader of the Reform Synagogues' youth movement, RSY-Netzer” and “Diane Freeman was told last week that anti-Zionist statements … had appeared on the site.”
  17. ↑ Jewish Chronicle, 9 February 2007, p. 23; archive page: “RSY-Netzer's Diane Freeman said: ‘It is a real sign that young British Jews are ready to re-engage with Israel … commitment to Reform Zionism’.”
  18. ↑ Jewish Chronicle, 2 November 2007, p. 11; archive page: “says mazkira Diane Freeman”.
  19. ↑ Jewish Echo, 11 March 1932, p. 9; BNA page.
  20. ↑ Jewish Echo, 16 March 1945, p. 6; BNA page.
  21. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of births, index entry: FREEMAN, Malcolm Harold, male, 1932, Cathcart (Glasgow), ref. 644/24/176, returned under mother’s maiden name Teitelbaum, accessed 7 November 2026.
  22. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of deaths, index entry: FREEMAN, Malcolm Harold, age 84, mother’s maiden name Teitelbaum, 2017, Eastwood and Mearns, ref. 650/142, accessed 7 November 2026.
  23. ↑ Jewish Echo, 5 January 1940, p. 7, BNA page; 12 January 1940, p. 7, BNA page.
  24. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of births, index entry: FREEMAN, Gerald Isaac, male, 1927, Cathcart (Glasgow), ref. 644/24/71, returned under mother’s maiden name Titelbaum, accessed 7 November 2026; statutory register of deaths, index entry: FREEMAN, Gerald Isaac, age 81, mother’s maiden name Teitlebaum, 2008, Eastwood and Mearns, ref. 650/158, accessed 11 November 2026.
  25. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of marriages, District of Milton, Burgh of Glasgow, 1926, ref. 644/9/101 (entry 101), registered 11 March 1926; image viewed 11 November 2026.
  26. ↑ Jewish Echo, 5 July 1929, p. 6 (death notice) and p. 4 (obituary, “Glasgow Veteran”).
  27. ↑ Jewish Echo, 14 August 1936, p. 8; BNA page: “Fanny Freeman, widow of the late Max Freeman, 42 Sinclair Drive, Langside, Glasgow. Deeply mourned by sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.”
  28. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of deaths, index entry: FREEMAN, Max, age 71, mother’s maiden name Price, 1929, Cathcart, ref. 644/24/661; statutory register of marriages, index search for Max and Fanny Freeman, no Scottish entry found; accessed 11 November 2026.
  29. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of deaths, index entry: FREEMAN, Fanny, age 74, 1936, Cathcart, ref. 644/19/857, accessed 11 November 2026.
  30. ↑ Jewish Echo, 19 August 1938, p. 7; BNA page.
  31. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of deaths, index entry: FREEMAN, Louis, age 101, mother’s maiden name Ersler, 1994, Glasgow, Martha Street, ref. 613/251, accessed 11 November 2026.
  32. ↑ ScotlandsPeople, statutory register of deaths, index entry: FREEMAN, Clarice, age 86, mother’s maiden name Sakolski, 1988, Eastwood and Mearns, ref. 650/294, accessed 11 November 2026.
  33. ↑ FreeBMD, England and Wales birth index, September quarter 1917, FREMERMAN, Jack, mother’s maiden name Hyman, Shoreditch, vol. 1c, p. 13.
  34. ↑ Arnold Markson, “Family reunited after 47 years”, Jewish Chronicle, 8 September 1995, p. 23, archive page.
  35. ↑ Jewish Echo, 5 August 1938, p. 9.
  36. ↑ “A Glasgow crowd raises £81k for UJIA projects”, Jewish Chronicle, 11 March 2011, Community Life p. C11; archive page. Photos: Steven Winston.
  37. ↑ Lindy Markson, Glasgow guests enjoy passport privileges, Jewish Chronicle, 16 May 2008, p. 42.
  38. ↑ Stephanie Brickman, Scots on emotional trip, Jewish Chronicle, 10 October 2011 (print edition 7 October 2011, p. X05).
  39. ↑ “Looking through the lens at prejudice”, Jewish Chronicle, 14 December 2012, p. A28; archive page.
  40. ↑ FYFT Limited, Companies House, accessed 7 November 2026.
  41. ↑ From Yesterday, For Tomorrow, Scottish Charity Regulator, register entry SC044183, accessed 7 November 2026.
  42. ↑ Rachel Loxton, report, Glasgow Times, undated online, accessed 7 November 2026.
  43. ↑ Jewish Chronicle, 23 April 2021, p. 37; archive page.
  44. ↑ Podcast on left-wing anti-Zionism and Jewish pride, Times of Israel, 15 April 2021.
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Hannah Bickerton, article on Freeman’s partnership with whitefox, whitefox, 12 July 2022.
  46. ↑ Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People, product details, Amazon, accessed 7 November 2026.
  47. ↑ Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride, product details, Amazon, accessed 7 November 2026.
  48. ↑ The Jews: An Indigenous People, product details, Amazon, accessed 7 November 2026.
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 25 ViZionaries: Ben M. Freeman – No. 8, Jerusalem Post, 15 September 2023.
  50. ↑ The October Declaration, British Friends of Israel, accessed 7 November 2026: “Ben M Freeman, author and educator”.
  51. ↑ Profile, Comper Center, University of Haifa, accessed 7 November 2026.
  52. ↑ Jewish Chronicle, 19 January 2024, p. 20; archive page.
  53. ↑ James C. Reynolds, report, The Independent, 7 October 2025, 17:40 BST.
  54. ↑ Ben M Freeman, I am leaving Britain and moving to Israel, Future of Jewish, 19 June 2026.
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 Ben M Freeman (@BenMFreeman), post, X, 6 November 2026, 18:04:36 GMT. Full text quoted from screenshots circulated by @TOliveFern, X, 6 November 2026, 20:03 GMT, whose opening matches the original post.
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