Foreign secretary Ed Miliband has said that he disagrees with the Chief Rabbi over the impact of the newly announced sanctions against Israel on the Jewish community in Britain.
Speaking this morning, he was asked about the response of Sir Ephraim Mirvis yesterday to the measures targeting the settlements that it was a “truly dark day for British Jews".
Miliband said: "I don't agree with the Chief Rabbi.”
Radio 4 Today presenter Justin Webb asked why the government was choosing to focus on Israel and the Palestinians, which Miliband rejected, pointing to Britain’s stand with Ukraine against Russia.
The former Labour leader said he was unable to “sit and watching” the suffering of Palestinian people and stay silent.
Webb went on to ask Miliband whether he was going to attend synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and questioned his perspective on the safety of the Jewish community.
The presenter asked: "I don't know whether you're intending to go to a synagogue this weekend, as many British Jews will be, many of whom will feel less safe. What do you say, not to [Chief Rabbi Sir] Ephraim Mirvis, but to them, to individuals. Are you going?"
Miliband said: "I don't go to synagogue”, after which Webb interjected: "Isn't that then the point? That actually for a lot of British Jews, they really feel this, they have to have security duties at synagogues.
“They know that there have been violent attacks, and that is why when Ephraim Mirvis uses those words they mean an awful lot to them and perhaps, frankly, less to you."
Miliband defended his position, saying: "No I don't agree with that, Justin.”
The foreign secretary added: "We all have a responsibility to call out and act on antisemitism, and I could not be clearer and could not have been clearer yesterday about our responsibilities as a society."
Asked about the effect of Britain’s measures on the upcoming Israeli elections on October 27, and the potential boost for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Miliband said: "We don't set our compass by what is happening in the Israeli elections.”
Miliband said he was “confident” in Britain’s ability to enforce the measures, and did not deny that the sanctions could impact on Israeli banks doing business with the settlements, saying the government was "seeking to have an impact on the services provided to expand the occupation".
He also disagreed with historian Simon Schama’s claim in a speech at the Holocaust Education Trust dinner on Monday night that accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in its war against Hamas is a blood libel.
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