Foreign Secretary David Miliband is due to attend a dinner tonight to honour Henry Grunwald, who retired as president of the Board of Deputies and chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council in the spring.

Leading figures in British Jewry will gather at the event at a top London hotel.

It will be Mr Miliband’s first appearance at a Jewish function since he sparked controversy with his attack earlier this month on some of the Conservative party’s East European allies for alleged far-right links.

When David Miliband read the JC last Friday, he blew a gasket.

The cause of his fury was the interview with Michal Kaminski, Polish MEP and leader of the Tories’ new allies in the European Parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists.

He had read Mr Kaminski’s frank remarks about his refusal to apologise for the notorious massacre of Jews at Jedwabne in July 1941 and his view that he did not judge this atrocity as being on the same scale as other crimes of the Holocaust.

The row over the Conservative Party's alliance with right-wing political parties in Europe intensified this week after it emerged that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised concerns about the issue during her visit to Britain last weekend.

The Tories have been under intense attack from Labour ministers for joining the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, which contains parties with alleged antisemitic and neo-Nazi links.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has urged David Miliband not to accept the UN’s Goldstone report into Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, which found Israel guilty of war crimes.

Mr Barak has embarked upon a telephone campaign to key European foreign ministers to persuade them to criticise the report ahead of the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, who will discuss the report on Thursday.

Foreign secretary David Miliband made it clear that the government will not back attempts by Palestinian supporters to try to have Israeli politicians arrested as war criminals.

Speaking at the Labour Friends of Israel fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Mr Miliband said: “This will never become a country where ministers of Israel are unable to come and have proper dialogue with the government of the United Kingdom.”

Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak will meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband at the Labour Party conference in Brighton to discuss the growing nuclear threat from Iran.

But Mr Barak's visit may be hampered by a Palestinian group who have sought to obtain an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes committed by Mr Barak.

The group, represented by solicitors Irvine Thanvi Nataz, submitted the request to Westminster Magistrates, seeking the arrest under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 and the Criminal Justice Act.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has sent a Rosh Hashanah message to the UK's Jewish community, where he addressed the issue of hopes for a Middle East peace settlement in the coming year.

Mr Miliband said: "Rosh Hashanah is a time of celebration for Jewish communities in the UK and around the world. A chance to look forward to the coming year and make plans, but also a period of reflection and soul searching.

The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has expressed dismay that Israel boycotts are being discussed by trade union congresses and conferences.

He said this week: “Ivan Lewis, minister of state responsible for the Middle East, is meeting representatives of leading British unions in order to make clear the government’s firm belief that calls for boycotts of Israel cannot and do not contribute to peace.