June 11th 2025
Dear Phil,
Thank you for responding to the letter sent to you on 11 May (signed by over 300 members of more than 65 UK shuls).
We were puzzled by some aspects of your response. You mentioned that the process relates to whether the 36 deputies “did or did not misrepresent their views as the views of the Board of Deputies” and to “whether or not, by their actions, they brought the Board of Deputies into disrepute.”
You had previously issued a statement (April 17: https://bod.org.uk/bod-news/the-board-of-deputies-stands-firmly-with-israel-not-that-letter/ ) asserting that “the impression that has now been put forward by certain national and international news outlets is that [the] letter published in the Financial Times, signed by approximately ten percent of Deputies, is the position of the Board of Deputies as an organisation, and therefore the position of the UK Jewish community as a whole”.
We searched high and low to try to find any evidence in any major UK national newspapers and UK Jewish media to try to discover whether your apparent belief (that the media had tried to portray the 36 signatories as representing the views of the Board) was accurate
We thought that you might be interested to know that we found not a single piece of evidence in any of the media articles. The only significant instance of a media error was in a headline (above an FT article, although the piece itself was accurate). So any information you received from your advisors, suggesting that the UK media in general had misrepresented the situation, must therefore have been erroneous.
For your information, and in case it is of any use to you and your colleagues, here are relevant extracts from many of the major UK national and UK Jewish newspaper etc articles on the topic:
FT, 16 April
Dozens of members of the UK’s largest Jewish representative body have launched a stinging attack on Israel’s government for resuming its offensive in Gaza and warned that “Israel’s soul is being ripped out”. In an open letter, the 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said they could not “turn a blind eye or remain silent at this renewed loss of life and livelihoods”.The signatories to the letter had pushed the board, which has more than 300 elected deputies, to release a statement condemning Netanyahu’s decision to resume Israel’s offensive in Gaza last month. But after the board was unwilling to publicly criticise the Israeli government, the deputies wrote the open letter, saying: “The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out.”
The Guardian, 16 April
‘But the letter, signed by about one in eight of the board’s members, is highly critical of recent actions by the Israeli government.’
BBC, 16 April
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c77ndzkz778o
Dozens of members of the largest body representing Jews in the UK have condemned Israel’s government for the “heartbreaking war” in Gaza.
In an open letter published in the Financial Times, external, 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said they “cannot turn a blind eye or remain silent” at the “renewed loss of life and livelihoods” as a result of Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza. The letter is the first show of opposition to the Gaza war by some members of the board – made up of more than 300 deputies.
JC, 16 April
Dozens of members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews have published an open letter declaring that they can no longer support Israel in its war in Gaza.
In the letter, published in the Financial Times, 36 members of the Board said that “as British Jews,” they could “no longer stay silent on the war” and sharply criticised the Israeli government’s actions and expressed deep concern for Israel’s future.
Signed by members representing a number of shuls of various denominations, the petition read: “We write as representatives of the British Jewish community, out of love for Israel and deep concern for its future.
Jewish News, 16 April
Thirty-six members of the Board of Deputies have expressed open opposition to Israel’s continued war in Gaza and to the country’s “most extremist of governments” in a significant letter published by the FT newspaper.
The communal representatives – who include Harriett Goldenberg, Baron Frankal, Sophie Hasenson and others – write that “what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and speak out.”
The tone of the letter, published by the influential newspaper on Wednesday, is significantly different to that of the leadership of the Board, who have not issued any criticism of the Israeli government’s war aims since the conflict began following the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023.
The signatories, all representing Reform or Liberal communities, also show their support for the Arab League plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, which would be managed by a Palestinian leadership other than Hamas.
Channel Four News,16 April
https://www.channel4.com/news/enough-is-enough-leading-british-jewish-body-criticises-israel
Baron Frankal: I think it’s very difficult because we’re all conflicted and we all face feelings of sadness and anxiety and despair. I think you can get a sense at the end of the day – 36 of us – 36 members of the board – deputies – out of 300. I would say at least that number again feel the same way, but didn’t feel able to say so publicly. But it’s difficult because you put your head above the parapet, don’t you?
The Standard, 16 April
Dozens of members of Britain’s largest Jewish advocacy group have condemned Israel for the “heartbreaking war” in Gaza, saying they cannot “turn a blind eye or remain silent” over the continued assault of Palestinians.
The Board of Deputies said it understood about a tenth of its members were signatories “and potentially others would associate themselves” with its message.
A spokesman said: “Others would no doubt put more emphasis on the fundamental responsibility of Hamas for this ghastly situation and the need to ensure that they are prevented from ever repeating the heinous crimes of October 7.”
It is of course possible that we missed an article, but I’m sure that you would agree that this shows the overwhelming majority of UK media outlets (including broadcasters) did not give any impression that the 36 were speaking on behalf of the Board or indeed on behalf of the whole of UK Jewry. We also looked at a number of overseas media outlets and they seem to have followed the same accurate pattern as the UK ones.
So it is not clear to us how you, and potentially others at the Board, reached the conclusion that the media tried to portray the 36 as speaking on behalf of the Board as a whole.
We are also puzzled as to why a friendly resolution of the whole affair was not achieved. According to the Board’s code of conduct (appendix G, paragraph 3.1.3), the Board’s constitution committee should have attempted to arrange a friendly resolution. Doing so would obviously have needed an adequate amount of time for a disinterested conciliator to be found and appointed and appropriate fact-checking, discussions and negotiations held. Was this attempted at all? Examining the timeline of events, it seems to us that relatively little time, if any, was spent exploring such a solution.
As members of many shuls across the UK, most of which are affiliated to the Board, we do not want to see the Board’s disproportionate conduct over this whole affair cause lasting division within UK Jewry. We very much hope that you and your colleagues will be able to de-escalate the situation as rapidly and effectively as possible.
Best regards
Maurice