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JLC to invest in Israel advocacy by recruiting in regions

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The Jewish Leadership Council is to recruit a team of six regional fieldworkers as part of a broader plan to invest in Israel advocacy.

It follows a pledge made by JLC chairman Sir Mick Davis last autumn to increase funding for pro-Israel campaigning in response to the Gaza conflict a year ago.

In the JLC's monthly newsletter this week, its chief executive Simon Johnson said the fieldworkers would "support activist groups".

They would, he said, "provide rapid, on-the-ground support, working with established local organisations and help to build relationships with local policymakers".

While the JLC already oversees the anti-boycott Fair Play campaign with the Board of Deputies, the fieldworker plan marks a significant increase in its involvement in Israel activism.

Mr Johnson said the JLC, the Board and Bicom's We Believe in Israel campaign were also co-operating over the launch of a Local Government Friends of Israel.

Last September, Sir Mick promised that the JLC and its member organisations would create a support network for grassroots Israel groups; set up a "world-class" social media operation; put more resources into campus: and increase funding to those who built "bridges of understanding" for Israel.

The community's leading organisations had come under fire last summer over the reaction to the mounting wave of hostility towards Israel over Gaza. Sir Mick accepted afterwards that "we have not done all we might".

The Board of Deputies has for a number of years provided back up to regional Israel organisations through consultant Steven Jaffe.

Board president Jonathan Arkush this week commented that "with communal resources tight, we are keen to avoid duplication. Mick Davis and I have asked our respective CEOs to meet to talk through the detail of these new resources and discuss how the proposed programmes are best delivered for the community, whose well-being is always our primary focus."

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