Heidi Ann Bachram

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British writer, media consultant and pro-Israel campaigner

Heidi Bachram

Image Heidi Bachram X profile.jpg
Profile photo from Bachram's X account, @HeidiBachram
Nationality British
Residence Brighton and Hove
Occupation Media consultant, writer, campaigner
Known for Pro-Israel campaigning after 7 October 2023; complainant in Campaign Against Antisemitism v Reginald D Hunter
Spouse(s) Adam Ma'anit

Heidi Bachram is a British writer, media consultant and campaigner who, since 7 October 2023, has campaigned on behalf of Israeli hostages and against what she describes as antisemitism. A Westminster Magistrates' Court judgment of 23 December 2025 describes her as "a media consultant who has an active social media profile".[1] A Chevrei Tzedek Congregation event page says she "has a BSc in Anthropology" and has been "active on antisemitism since 2015".[2] She is married to Adam Ma'anit, Communications Manager at the Board of Deputies of British Jews.[3]

Name and family

The England and Wales birth index records a Heidi Ann Barker whose birth was registered at Watford, Hertfordshire, in the second quarter of 1971.[4] The marriage index entry for Adam Ma'anit in 2002 gives his spouse both as Heidi A Barker and as Heidi A Bachram.[5] The Jewish Chronicle gave her age as 52 in March 2025, which does not match a 1971 birth.[6]

Bachram has written that her father is Iranian: "My father is Iranian. I have only met him twice when I was a child. I have no memory of him and never been able to find him."[7] In March 2026 she wrote: "My father is Iranian. My mother is Irish. I am British."[8] The Chevrei Tzedek event page describes her as "of Irish Iranian heritage".[2] The surname Bachram corresponds to the Persian name Bahrām, which the Encyclopaedia Iranica traces to Vərəθraγna, "the Old Iranian god of victory" and "one of the principal figures in the Zoroastrian pantheon", whose Middle Persian name was "frequently used in the proper names of persons of the male sex".[9]

The New Arab reported in December 2025 that "Bachram is not Jewish".[10] Bachram has referred on X to "my Jewish husband and child".[11]

Career

Bachram told The Times of Israel in October 2025: "We are very much of the Left. I used to work fighting climate change and on human rights issues, and Adam used to work for an environmental charity."[12] Her author page at Toward Freedom lists one item, "Audio: Iranian Women Speak Out", dated 23 April 2007.[13] ThisWeek Culture described her in January 2026 as an "antisemitism activist".[14]

Activism since October 2023

On 7 October 2023 Hamas-led gunmen attacked Kibbutz Nahal Oz, where Tsachi Idan, whom the Times of Israel and the Jewish Chronicle describe as Ma'anit's cousin, lived with his family. His 18-year-old daughter Ma'ayan Idan was shot dead through the door of the family's safe room and he was taken to Gaza.[12][15] His body was returned to Israel on 26 February 2025, after 510 days in captivity; the Jewish Chronicle reported that he had been "murdered in captivity".[16][6]

According to the Times of Israel, Bachram and Ma'anit, "with others", organised a gathering in Palmeira Square, Hove, about two weeks after 7 October 2023, at which the names of those killed and captured were read out; the informal memorial left there later became "more formalized, with a nightly dedication to a different victim".[12] The Jewish Chronicle reported that the couple "have also overseen the creation of a public memorial to the British victims of October 7 in Palmeira Square", beside which a daily evening vigil honours "a different victim or hostage".[6] The Times of Israel describes it as "a memorial to those murdered by Hamas", "erected by relatives of Israelis murdered in Kibbutz Nahal Oz", and reported that it had been "targeted over 50 times and completely destroyed on five occasions"; the Chevrei Tzedek event page gives the same figures.[12][2] The vigils were held in solidarity with the families of the so-called "hostages", the word used by the couple and by both newspapers. The JC reported that the couple also projected the faces of hostages onto the cliffs at Brighton, unfurled a yellow ribbon along the seafront and released 101 lanterns.[6] The Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, visited the memorial, according to the Times of Israel.[12]

In January 2026 Bachram posted on X a photograph of the Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos holding a keffiyeh, with the words "Pro-Pals grip the keffiyeh like it's a religious object. This movement is a cult."; in a follow-up post she credited the photograph "of Stephen Kapos" to its photographer.[17][18] The blog Skwawkbox, published by The Canary, called the post an attack on "a Jewish Holocaust survivor".[19]

Campaign Against Antisemitism v Reginald D Hunter

On 11 August 2024 the American comedian Reginald D Hunter performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. According to the summary in the prosecution's application, "A British-Israeli couple present at the show objected to the joke" and left after being heckled by other audience members; Police Scotland found that no crime had been committed.[1] The judge later found that the couple were Mark Lewis, a patron of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) who has given it legal advice, and Mandy Blumental, who "formed" the CAA and sits on its committee.[1]

From 12 August 2024 Bachram posted about the incident on X, and Hunter replied on the same platform.[1] On 28 January 2025 the solicitors Edmonds Marshall McMahon applied on behalf of the CAA for a summons for a private prosecution of Hunter. District Judge Michael Snow granted it on 2 April 2025 on three charges under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, concerning posts of 24 August 2024, 10 September 2024 and a third in September 2024 whose date the judgment prints as "1th".[1]

On 23 December 2025 Judge Snow quashed the summons. He found that "The summary of Miss Bachram's tweeting in the application case summary was wholly inadequate. It did not reveal the extent of her tweets directed against RH in the period immediately preceding the complaints (her tweets were sent between 15 August and 11 September 2024). The summary misled me into believing that his comments were addressed to her involvement with the Jewish faith as opposed to his response to attempts that were being made to have him 'cancelled'." He also found that Bachram had "a relationship with Mr Lewis", citing her posts of 2019 and 2020, and that he had "not been given an explanation regarding how Miss Bachram came to report her complaints to CAA".[1] He held that the failures to disclose the matters he listed "were intentional", and that the CAA had "demonstrated by the misleading and partial way in which it summarised its application and its wilful, repeated failure to meet its disclosure obligations that its true and sole motive in seeking to prosecute RH is to have him cancelled. I have no doubt that the prosecution is abusive."[1][20] The New Arab quoted the same findings.[10]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, The Campaign Against Antisemitism -v- Reginald Hunter: ruling of District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) Snow Judiciary UK, 23 December 2025, accessed 2 November 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chevrei Tzedek Congregation, Heidi Bachram: Challenges of British Jewry Chevrei Tzedek Congregation, event of 25 January 2026, accessed 2 November 2026.
  3. ↑ Board of Deputies of British Jews, Adam Ma'anit Board of Deputies of British Jews, updated 16 September 2025, accessed 2 November 2026.
  4. ↑ General Register Office, England & Wales Births 1837–2006: Heidi Ann Barker, registered April–June 1971, Watford, Hertfordshire, volume 4B, page 1507, accessed 2 November 2026.
  5. ↑ General Register Office, England & Wales Marriages 1837–2005: Adam Ma'anit and Heidi A Barker / Heidi A Bachram, registered April–June 2002 (May 2002), Milton Keynes (326), Buckinghamshire, page 0103, entry 035, accessed 2 November 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Daniel Ben-David, Brighton and Hove's Jewish community is united behind the hostages Jewish Chronicle, 19 March 2025, accessed 2 November 2026.
  7. ↑ Heidi Bachram, "My father is Iranian. I have only met him twice…" X, 8 January 2026, accessed 2 November 2026.
  8. ↑ Heidi Bachram, "Dear people of Iran. My father is Iranian. My mother is Irish…" X, 7 March 2026, accessed 2 November 2026.
  9. ↑ Gherardo Gnoli, BAHRĀM (Vərəθraγna) i. In Old and Middle Iranian texts Encyclopaedia Iranica, 15 December 1988 (updated 21 October 2016), accessed 2 November 2026.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Amr Salahi, UK judge throws out 'abusive' summons by pro-Israel group against comedian Reginald D Hunter The New Arab, 24 December 2025, accessed 2 November 2026.
  11. ↑ Heidi Bachram, "My mother is Irish. My family in Ireland always ask me when I'm coming 'home'…" X, 5 July 2025, accessed 2 November 2026.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Robert Philpot, In the UK's 'most progressive' town, a memorial to Oct. 7 victims is repeatedly destroyed The Times of Israel, 7 October 2025, accessed 2 November 2026.
  13. ↑ Toward Freedom, Heidi Bachram Toward Freedom, accessed 2 November 2026.
  14. ↑ Chris Cooke, News Briefing: CAA v Reginald D Hunter case ThisWeek Culture, 6 January 2026, accessed 2 November 2026.
  15. ↑ Anna Foster, 'Hamas said they wouldn't shoot, then murdered my daughter' BBC News, 23 October 2023, accessed 2 November 2026.
  16. ↑ Jane Prinsley, Israel mourns Tzachi Idan, slain Israeli hostage whose daughter died in his arms Jewish Chronicle, 28 February 2025, accessed 2 November 2026.
  17. ↑ Heidi Bachram, "Pro-Pals grip the keffiyeh like it's a religious object. This movement is a cult." X, 16 January 2026, accessed 2 November 2026.
  18. ↑ Heidi Bachram, "Photo by @misanharriman of Stephen Kapos to ensure he gets full credit." X, 17 January 2026, accessed 2 November 2026.
  19. ↑ Skwawkbox, Non-Jewish Zionist Bachram attacks Jewish Holocaust survivor The Canary, 17 January 2026, accessed 2 November 2026.
  20. ↑ Kevin Rawlinson and agency, Reginald D Hunter court summons quashed for attempt to have him 'cancelled' The Guardian, 23 December 2025, accessed 2 November 2026.
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