Former UK chief rabbi Lord Sacks told a panel discussion at the Herzliya Security Conference this week that the BDS movement has partly succeeded in Europe because it has created an environment in which it is almost impossible to speak out in favour of Israel.

"Jews have been faced with a choice: live in Europe and criticise Israel or be silent - or leave Europe," he said.

He added: "Israel was always a uniting factor in Jewish life; it has become a divisive factor."

But US rabbi and author Shmuley Boteach condemned Lord Sacks' speech in the Times of Israel. He called the British rabbi's words "astonishingly defeatist" and argued that Lord Sacks had effectively called on European Jews to give up the fight against the boycotters.

However in an interview with IDC Radio ahead of the Herzliya round-table discussion, Lord Sacks had made it clear that his aim was not to call on European Jews to stop fighting. "The attempt of the BDS movement is to silence the pro-Israel voice and that voice must never be silent," he said.

Afshine Emrani, writing in the Jewish Journal, criticised Rabbi Boteach for his attack, saying: "His brazen voice… comes from a place of self-promotion, fear and anger."