Miliband enters Rabbi Bayfield’s ark

The words of Reform Judaism head Rabbi Tony Bayfield clearly resonated with Foreign Secretary David Miliband at a banquet at London’s Mansion House attended by over 100 foreign ambassadors.

Delivering grace in his capacity as chaplain to Lord Mayor of London Ian Luder, Rabbi Bayfield referred to “the ark of nations. If one nation is greedy or covetous... or is viciously racist, every other nation is affected. The ark of nations is threatened by the waters of ambition and self-seeking.”

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MP: no need to alter arms to Israel policy

Andrew Gwynne, parliamentary chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, says there is no need for the government to change its policy over arm sales to Israel following a review of exports announced last week by the Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Mr Miliband told the Commons that the government was “looking at all extant licences to see whether any of these need to be re-considered in light of recent events in Gaza”.

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UN chief says Israel’s Gaza policies fuel radicalism

Israeli policies in Gaza have proved counterproductive and are only fuelling more radicalism, according to the head of the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees there.

John Ging, director of operations for UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency), met Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Foreign Office officials in London on Monday on the way to Washington to brief officials of the Obama administration.

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Board asks for help for Iran Bahá’is

The Board of Deputies president, Henry Grunwald QC, has written to Foreign Secretary David Miliband with a renewed call to the government to support the persecuted Bahá’i community in Iran.

The Board made representations to the government last May when six community leaders were arrested and detained. The group, including a seventh leader already in custody, has now been charged with various crimes including “insulting religious sanctity”, “undermining the Islamic Republic of Iran” and even “espionage for Israel”.

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Meeting Miliband

Concern over rising antisemitism since the Gaza conflict was voiced by Manchester Jewish leaders in a meeting with David Miliband during the Foreign Secretary’s visit to the city last Thursday.

Regional student chaplain Rabbi Y Y Rubinstein told the minister that religious students were being advised not to wear kippot. “The very thin line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is always crossed when things are going on in the Middle East. The minister listened to this and took written notes,” Rabbi Rubinstein said afterwards.

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Miliband puts faith in democracy

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called on Israel “as a beacon of democracy” to help find a political solution to its conflict with Hamas.

He told MPs that Israel argued against accepting UN resolutions which saw equivalence between a democratic state and a terrorist organisation.

“There is and can be no equivalence,” said Mr Miliband. Hamas had shown itself over a number of years “ready to be murderous in word and deed”.

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