Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has delivered the keynote speech at a conference hosted by the Israeli foreign minister in Jerusalem and declared:”If you are anti-Zionist, you are also anti-Jewish. “
To applause Mirvis added:”But more than that, you’re anti Judaism.”
Speaking at an event attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and other dignitaries from the UK and elsewhere, Mirvis said:”Today anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism.
“Yesterday, we celebrated Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day, 58 years after the liberation of the city of Jerusalem in the Six Day War, and we recalled the ancient connection of the Jewish people to this land.
“And we focused on the centrality of Jerusalem, not just as the capital of the state of Israel, but the heart of Jewish peoplehood, and more than that, as the heart of Jewish faith. In the Psalms, more than 2000 years ago, were written the words, “Ki vachar Hashem be’tzion ivah le’moshav lo” – “for The Lord has chosen Zion as a place for his habitation”.
“For Jews, the very presence of Almighty God is manifest here in this holy city more than in any other place on earth. And God gave this city and this land to the Jewish people for all time. Israel is not just a geopolitical reality for the Jewish people.”
He continued:”It is far more than that. It’s the centre of our Jewish religion.
“So therefore, if you are anti-Zionist, you are also anti-Jewish. But more than that, you’re anti Judaism, and your animosity affects the very wellbeing of Jews right around the world.”
Delivering his speech inside the headquarters of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mirvis also heaped praise on the “outstanding” IHRA definition of antisemitism, adding “every single country should be adopting it, together with every organization within every country.”
Rabbi Mirvis said he found it “extraordinarily” that there are “people who just don’t have the facts about IHRA.”
He added:” I often say to them, so why aren’t you adopting it?
“And they say, ‘But IHRA will stifle our criticism of Israel. We’d be in breach of IHRA’.
“They usually haven’t read the definition. It is a fact that it specifically allows for a person to make constructive criticism of Israel.
“Of course, doing so is okay if it’s in good faith. After all, if you want to see and hear constructive criticism about Israel, just come to Israel.
“This is one of the most vital and vibrant democracies in the world. However, if one is criticising the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in the State of Israel, if one is treating Israel differently to the way one would treat any other state, that is something very different.”
Mirvis was seated next to the Israeli PM for a dinner to mark the start of the conference on Tuesday evening, which continued throughout Wednesday.
Also delivering a highly moving and emotional speech was October 7th Hamas massacre survivor Tal Shoham, who recalled his treatment at the hands of the terror group in Gaza.
