British Jewish leaders have warned that government plans to impose trade restrictions linked to Israeli settlements risk harming British Jews, damaging relations with Israel and fuelling a wider boycott movement.
Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the organisation had urged the government to avoid “irreversible steps” that could further damage the UK-Israel relationship and have a “harmful impact on the UK Jewish community”.
The Jewish Leadership Council separately warned that broad measures could “inadvertently become a wider boycott of Israel”, while “placing increased scrutiny on British Jews at a time when antisemitism in the UK is more prevalent and more violent than ever.”
Their interventions follow an outspoken warning from Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, who said the proposed measures, apparently driven by “domestic political considerations”, risked “inflicting real harm” and could have a “disproportionate” impact on British Jews because of their close ties to Israel.
Last week, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband condemned Israel’s plan for 1,200 new homes in the E1 area of east Jerusalem as “unacceptable and destructive” and warned of “a comprehensive set of measures” to be set out soon, possibly before the Labour party conference next month.
Rosenberg said: “We have urged the UK government to avoid irreversible steps that could further damage the UK-Israel relationship and have a harmful impact on the UK Jewish community, especially in the run up to an Israeli election that has the potential to bring significant political change.”
While stressing that the Jewish community “overwhelmingly condemns violence by extremist settlers” and opposes actions that undermine prospects for peace, he said there were “significant concerns” about the unintended consequences of measures being considered.
“These include the risk of harming the legitimate connection between British Jews and places of great religious and cultural significance,” Rosenberg said.
“It also includes the risk of encouraging a wider boycott movement that rejects Israel's very existence, and which marginalises and stigmatises British Jews for our close cultural, emotional, and personal ties to the world's only Jewish state.”
He also warned that an approach which “focusses narrowly on the actions of the Israeli government” while failing sufficiently to address the responsibility of Palestinian leaders and other regional actors “fuels a climate of hatred not only towards Israel but towards British Jews”.
The JLC said it was “deeply concerned” by reports that the government was preparing restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements.
“Throughout the summer, we have urged the government to avoid irreversible steps that could further damage the UK’s relationship with Israel and have a harmful impact on the UK Jewish community,” it said.
The organisation said it shared concerns about settler violence and extremism but questioned “why Israel is being singled out for this form of economic action”.
It added that previous punitive measures had failed to influence events on the ground and warned that further intervention could instead “embolden extremist factions within Israel”.
The JLC also urged ministers to consider the consequences for Jewish religious and cultural links to Israel.
“These include the risk of harming the legitimate connection between British Jews and places of great religious, cultural and historic significance, including the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site,” it said.
“Broad, untargeted measures may inadvertently become a wider boycott of Israel, giving legitimacy to those who reject Israel's very existence, and placing increased scrutiny on British Jews at a time when antisemitism in the UK is more prevalent and more violent than ever.”
Their warnings echo those made by Sir Ephraim after a meeting with Miliband on Friday.
The Chief Rabbi said many British Jews would view the proposed measures with “deep dismay” and warned that difficulties in defining and enforcing settlement-related restrictions meant they could “spiral into a de facto boycott of trade with Israel more broadly”.
Such a development, he said, would damage “the long-term relationship between our two countries” and threaten the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers.
“These measures will also disproportionately affect British Jews because of our close religious, family, charitable and educational ties to Israel,” Sir Ephraim said.
He also warned of the potential consequences for antisemitism in Britain, saying: “Over recent years, we have seen repeatedly that when rhetoric towards Israel escalates, hostility towards Jews is never far behind.”
Sir Ephraim also challenged the government’s justification for the proposed measures, pointing to previous peace plans under which the E1 area would have remained under Israeli sovereignty.
“It is therefore difficult to escape the painful conclusion that domestic political considerations are driving foreign policy,” he said, warning that the impact was negative both for prospects for peace and for the UK Jewish community.
The Chief Rabbi condemned violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers but said the government’s proposals would “only embolden the tiny minority who support such criminality, while penalising countless others who abhor it”.
The government has not yet set out the precise form any new measures would take.
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