The Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis criticised the BBC for “so many” cases of antisemitism as he hailed the media’s “enormous role in strengthening social cohesion in Britain”.
Sir Ephraim was speaking at the Religion Media Festival in London.
Asked if the broadcaster was “institutionally antisemitic”, he said: “There are some people who are far more familiar with the BBC than me who claim that is the case. Unfortunately, there have been so many instances of antisemitism within the BBC.”
He said that while challenging the BBC’s reporting of an antisemitic attack on Jewish teenagers celebrating Chanukah on Oxford Street, he had encountered “an outright atmosphere of demonising Jews emanating from the BBC”.
Sir Ephraim said he had raised concerns privately with successive directors-general on “many occasions”.
He also claimed that Jewish BBC employees had required support from his office, saying the “normalisation of antisemitism is a blemish on UK society, and unfortunately within the BBC it is prevalent.”
The Chief Rabbi gave a keynote at the event at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, entitled: “How the media should challenge hate crime and promote social cohesion.”
He said: “The media has an enormous role, I believe, in strengthening social cohesion in Britain today.
“The media must surely highlight everything which we, as British citizens, have in common. But part of the problem is many of us fail to recognise what our true values are, so we’ve still got quite a lot of work to do and the media can help us in this regard to identify what it means to be British, and then to show how all of us share these true British values.”
He went on: “But even that will not be enough – we can’t only focus on all that which brings us together to create strong social cohesion, which will withstand all challenges.
“We need as well to recognise differences and to be open about that, and to debate those differences with respect. It is in that way that we can genuinely move forward.”
At the event, the Chief Rabbi also called for the chanting of “death to the IDF” to be made a criminal offence.
It is “a call to kill” millions of Jews in Israel and “directly incites” anti-Jewish hatred, he argued.
He said the Israel Defence Forces exist “to prevent the annihilation of Israel’s people”.
He wants the law to be changed after police concluded that chants heard during Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance last year did not meet the criminal threshold.
Responding to that decision, the Chief Rabbi said: “With regard to some of our laws, sometimes people interpret them in one way and others in a different way, and I believe that on that occasion the interpretation given was the wrong interpretation.”
He continued: “We as a society need to change our laws in order to not allow such a statement to be made, which directly incites.”
Referring to the Glastonbury performance, he criticised “the enthusiasm in which [Bob Vylan] whipped up hysteria in the crowd following those particular words”.
Speaking about how he interpreted the chant, the Chief Rabbi said: “This is about millions of people in the state of Israel, fellow Jews. It’s a call to kill them.”
Asked by former BBC home editor Mark Easton, who was chairing the discussion, whether criticism of Israeli military action in Gaza was antisemitic, the Chief Rabbi replied: “No.”
He also said it was important for Palestinians “to live a life of dignity”, adding: “I care about Palestinians.”
However, he argued that “the vast majority” of Palestinian suffering in Gaza had resulted from “their leadership, who have placed them directly in the path of being hurt and of being killed”.
He also reiterated that denying Israel’s right to exist should be regarded as antisemitic.
The Chief Rabbi appeared on stage alongside Qari Asim, senior imam at the Makkah Mosque in Leeds, with the pair announcing the creation of a new Council of Muslims and Jews, modelled on the long-established Council of Christians and Jews.
The initiative aims to strengthen ties between the two faith communities and promote a united stand against hatred.
The imam said the council would demonstrate that “we stand together against all forms of hatred and the viruses that are affecting [society]: anti-Muslim hostility, Islamophobia, antisemitism and all other forms of hatred.”
Sir Ephraim said of the initiative: “We are as one.”
A BBC spokesperson told the JC: "We are very live to the threat of antisemitism, which is why we have rolled out mandatory antisemitism training to all staff across the BBC last year."
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