Write to the Board of Deputies!

Full text of letter to Phil Rosenberg, President of the Board of Deputies

Update (2nd May): After just over four days, this letter has more than 300 signatures! Keep them coming!

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Dear Mr Rosenberg,

As <insert number> members of British synagogues, who should be able to hope that the Board of Deputies will speak on our behalf, we are dismayed at your response and that of the chief executive to the recent letter from 36 deputies condemning the Netanyahu government for its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank.

The letter made powerful criticisms of Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war, citing the breaking of the ceasefire, the blocking of food, fuel and medical supplies, and the killing of the 15 paramedics and their hasty burial in a mass grave. It added that in the West Bank, extremist settlers and accelerated settlement building threaten the livelihood and the lives of Palestinians living there. And finally, it accused the Netanyahu government of targeting Israeli democracy and attacking the judicial system.

In response, you and the Board’s chief executive argued that the signatories are a tiny minority of the Board’s deputies, and that they should suppress their ‘unrepresentative’ opinion for the sake of unity. But this unity does not exist: even nine months ago, a Jewish Policy Research (JPR) poll showed that 56% of British Jews felt ashamed of Israel to some extent; that number is very likely to have risen since then. Nearly half felt that the IDF had not done enough to protect Gazan civilians, more than the number who felt that they had done. Whatever the horror of the attack of October 7th, nothing justifies the collective punishment being inflicted on the people of Gaza.

But instead of answering their criticisms or even merely acknowledging the Jewish tradition of debate, the Board has chosen to investigate the 36 signatories for alleged breaches of the Board’s Code of Conduct. But it is not their courageous letter in the Financial Times that poses a threat to the good name of the Board or to Jewish communal unity; rather, it is the Board’s disproportionate reaction that is likely to undermine freedom of speech and to bring the Board’s name into disrepute.

Whatever the outcome of this investigation, you cannot hide the true situation: British Jews are deeply divided about the behaviour of the Netanyahu government, with many of us strongly opposed to the conduct of the Gaza war, believing with good reason that it is being prolonged for political reasons at incalculable cost to the lives of the Gazans, and also to the chances of the hostages being returned. We maintain that this is contrary both to Jewish and universal values, that the 36 deputies are speaking for us and for many other British Jews, and that our voices cannot be silenced any longer.

Grahame Gross (Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation)
Claire Jackson (Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation)
Susie Jacobs (Sukkat Shalom Edinburgh)
Adam Kessler (Bristol and West Progressive)
David Keys (Ark Synagogue)
Barrie Levine (Sukkat Shalom Edinburgh)
Maurice Naftalin(Sukkat Shalom Edinburgh)
Caroline Salinger (Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation)

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