2 min read
A feeling of unease settled over me as I read about the launch of the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration - and judging by the community's response, I wasn't the only uncomfortable one.
It was not the lack of detail, although it does seem bizarre to publicise a series of activities without being able to say what your first key event will be, even allowing for the fact the landmark Manchester celebration is a year away.
Nor was it the designation of November 4 next year as "Balfour Shabbat" that rattled my cage.
It seems almost every Shabbat has now to carry some additional connotation, a day of rest no longer being sufficient after thousands of years of being simply that. Instead Shabbos must regularly now have its own theme, hashtag and expensive communal dinner.
I can't tell you exactly what "Balfour Shabbat" will entail, its organisers so far saying only it will be "cross-denominational… with synagogues across all British Jewish denominations and movements" marking the centenary "in their own way".
Perhaps we will all be expected to grow a bushy moustache and come to Friday night dinner dressed in top hat and tails?
But no, it was not "Balfour Shabbat" which vexed me. Nor the planning "coalition" of 23 Jewish and pro-Israel organisations - which sounded like my idea of sheer hell. I imagined a sort of Champions League of committees, an endless vortex of minutes, mini bagels and points of order, culminating, of course, without resolution or achievement.
The true cause of my angst lies elsewhere. Because while Zionist hearts are pounding in anticipation, the Balfour Apology Campaign is already stealing headlines with its own plans.
Anti-Israel activists, spurred on by Mahmoud Abbas's demands, are working to sign up 100,000 people demanding the government apologise for the declaration. A Parliamentary debate is scheduled for Wednesday.
On Monday, Barack Obama cited the "dust cloud of nonsense" that surrounds issues promoted by activists on Facebook and social media.
We are all too familiar with this phenomenon, thanks to countless examples of distortions around Israel and its relations with Palestinians. So it is not hard to imagine what a year of the haters' counter-narrative will do to the British public's view of Zionism.
Bicom polling figures published last week showed 43 per cent of Britons back the Balfour Declaration, with 17 per cent disagreeing. That may sound positive, but it means another 40 per cent is up for grabs. What will the number be a year from now?
Already the Foreign Office has been called into action, telling Al-Jazeera the government would not apologise for Balfour, while acknowledging "the sensitivities many people have" about his declaration. Perhaps ominously, it said the anniversary would thus be marked "accordingly".
Many in our community are voicing concerns about how badly the centenary will play in some parts of the country. The super-committee needs to have plenty in its armoury to support them in the months to come.
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