The president of the Board of Deputies Phil Rosenberg has rejected action against left-wing group Jewish Yachad over its support for a proposed UK ban on trade with West Bank settlements.
In a question at today’s plenary meeting of the representative body, Paul Hart, deputy for Mosaic Liberal Synagogue in Stanmore, asked whether the Board would be taking action against “those board members of Yachad who wrote to the government asking for sanctions on Israel over the so-called West Bank settler violence”.
In response, Rosenberg pointed to the Board’s commitment to make the community “more united, inclusive and outward-looking.”
He went on: We cannot achieve that if our attitude to political diversity in our community is to punish it.”
Quoting from the Board’s current three-year plan, running from 2024 to 2027, he said: “We aspire to ‘make the Board a place where British Jews can come together, regardless of politics or religious affiliation. Our only principled boundaries will be with those who express hatred towards other groups, oppose the continued existence of Israel.”
In July, 1,000 Jews signed a letter organised by Yachad to the then Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer that supported the “UK government's intention to strengthen its response to settlements”.
Last month, the organisation issued a statement in support of Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband’s announcement that the government was considering targeted sanctions in reaction to planned settlement expansion.
Yachad said: “As such, it’s right and necessary that the UK government, alongside international allies, change their approach accordingly and move from words to actions.”
The Board of Deputies has urged the UK government not to take “irreversible steps” that could damage UK-Israel relations and have a harmful impact on the Jewish community here.
Rosenberg told deputies today, following a meeting with the foreign secretary last month: “In respect of measures relating to settlements, we received assurances that our concerns were understood and would be taken into account by government in its decision making.”
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.