Synagogue persuades Barnet to take more refugees

The synagogue has been at the forefront of a Barnet Citizens campaign, along with Middlesex University students and refugee support groups, for the council to act.

Local Conservative MPs Thereas Villiers and Mike Freer were due to join Syrian refugees who have settled in the borough at a Succot service at the synagogue this evening which will celebrate the council’s efforts and also the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport which brought 10,000 children to Britain from Europe before the Second World War.

Charlotte Fischer, of Citizens UK, who has been active in the refugee campaign, said, “The UK cannot turn its back on these children but the government continues to insist that local councils don’t want to help. It is fantastic that Finchley Progressive Synagogue, Middlesex University Students Union and the members of Barnet Citizens have secured a pledge from Barnet council to take more child refugees, sending a clear message to government that our local politicians and communities are ready to help these incredibly vulnerable children.”

Rabbi Danny Rich, Liberal Judaism's senior rabbi, said: “Whilst the Barnet success is to the credit of locals, I am proud of the early pioneering leadership of the Syrian refugee campaign by Liberal Judaism before it was popular."

Liberal Judaism, he added, would be holding its fourth year of "Sanctuary Succot" events to raise awareness of the plight of Syrian refugees, which would take place in Birmingham, Lambeth, Kingston and Leicester as well as Barnet.