The Board of Deputies has always claimed to be the ‘voice of the British Jewish community’. But it is a voice whose volume is increasingly selective depending upon the subject, and one which follows its own rules as opposed to the feelings and conscience of many members of our community.
I write this having closely followed the Board’s public statements over the past few weeks. It has commented on a variety of subjects including BBC Editorial Standards on Israel, the unification of Liberal and Reform Judaism into a single body and much more. That is all fair in seeking to represent the broad interests of our diverse community.
In addition, the Board devotes considerable energy to commenting on the situation in Israel. That is again natural given the strong connection between the overwhelming majority of British Jews and Israel, alongside the terrible situation that has unfolded since Hamas’s murderous attacks on 7 October. But the Board’s commentary offers a view that represents a narrow perspective, flying in the face of its declaration that it ‘advocates the sentiment of the Jewish community”.
By way of example, on 15 May it issued a statement following the murder of a pregnant Israeli woman killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank. There is no disputing the horror of that incident. A few days previously the Board justifiably celebrated the freeing of American-Israeli hostage, Eden Alexander, after almost 600 days in captivity at the hands of Hamas.
Richard Miron
But in that same week, it is estimated that at least 280 Palestinians – the majority of whom were civilians – were killed in Gaza as a result of IDF strikes. At the same time, the Israeli government had stopped all humanitarian assistance from entering the Strip for almost 11 weeks. Reports of hospitals running out of drugs and malnourished children proliferated. The Israeli government only agreed to ease the situation in recent days to allow ‘minimal aid’ into the territory, following reports that it was on the cusp of famine.
But none of this human suffering merited one word of comment by the Board. It claims it is the voice of our community, but many of us who feel a bond with Israel are horrified by the actions of the Israeli government and its seeming indifference to Palestinian death and distress. What we are seeing in Gaza runs counter to all that the Jewish state is meant to represent. But the Board only sees fit to comment on Israeli pain, not when it is Israel that is inflicting pain.
This, of course, follows the Board’s loud condemnation of deputies who wrote a letter to the Financial Times last month, in which they expressed deep concern about the conduct of the war in Gaza by Netanyahu’s government, and his efforts to undermine democracy in the country.
Many of us who feel a bond with Israel are horrified by the actions of the Israeli government and its seeming indifference to Palestinian death and distress
For the Board’s President, Phil Rosenberg, this criticism of the Israeli government represented a “deeply regrettable loss of perspective”. For him “unity”, i.e. compliance to a singular narrative devoid of criticism for the Israeli government, is preferable.
When Palestinian children go hungry or are deprived of medication because Israel has decided to punish the general population as a means of pressuring Hamas, shame is the only right response
The Board currently approaches the subject of Israel with a perspective that is out of step with many in our community. If you care about Israel, then you must care not only about the fate of its people but also about how it conducts itself according to Jewish, democratic, and human values. As a community we applaud its triumphs and feel its pain when it suffers.
At the same time, when Palestinian children go hungry or are deprived of medication because Israel has decided to punish the general population as a means of pressuring Hamas, shame is the only right response. When bereaved parents stand over the corpses of their children killed in Israeli air strikes, outrage is fitting.
Being true to Israel, means also speaking truth to power. First, the Board of Deputies is remiss in not calling out the Israeli government for its recent actions.
Diaspora Jews are not here just to applaud Israel or to defend it under all and any circumstances. We are here to give our own perspective, as Jews and as British citizens who feel a particular bond with Israel.
Second, the Board is wrong in thinking that most British Jews stand behind it when it remains silent. We want our leadership to speak with moral courage and conviction on Israel as in other matters.
Its failure to utter a word about Palestinian suffering does not represent what we as a community are meant to stand for. We have a loyalty to Jewish values of preserving and protecting human life which should never be compromised or silenced.
But if the Board cannot find its voice on this most important of issues, then it risks losing its standing with the community it says it represents.
- Richard Miron is a former BBC reporter, UN Middle East spokesman and senior World Bank communications official.
