‘Racism isn’t kosher’: British Jews protest ongoing embrace of Israeli ambassador
Na’amod activists in protest at a Zionist Federation event marking Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely’s first year in the role, London, 21 October 2021
Ben Reiff reports in +972:
British-Jewish activists staged a walkout at a Zionist Federation event at a London synagogue on Thursday, held to mark Israeli Ambassador to the U.K. Tzipi Hotovely’s first year in the job.
The activists, members of Na’amod: British Jews Against Occupation, disrupted the event shortly after it began, raising banners which read “Racism isn’t kosher” and “No hechsher [kosher stamp] for Hotovely.” (Full disclosure: the author of this piece is a member of Na’amod.) After, they gathered outside the venue and handed out flyers to attendees as they left the event, highlighting Hotovely’s most racist comments during her time as ambassador and prior to her appointment — including calling the Nakba an “Arab lie.”
“Hotovely’s disgusting views and actions have no place within our community,” said Cloe Fernandez Barnes, one of the activists who participated in the walkout. “They contradict our values, particularly those of love and justice found at the heart of Jewish texts… We must stop platforming racists if we want freedom for all in Israel and Palestine.”
Hotovely’s record in Israeli politics, in addition to statements she’s made since becoming ambassador, have put her in conflict with the progressive section of Britain’s Jewish community. In June 2020, immediately after news broke that then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to appoint Hotovely (then Minister of Settlement Affairs) as ambassador to the U.K., Na’amod launched a petition calling on the British government to reject her appointment. The petition, which caused a stir within the community and reached almost 2,000 signatures, cited Brazil’s rejection of settler leader Dani Dayan (appointed as ambassador to Brazil in 2015) as precedent for such a move.
Pushback against Hotovely during her first year in the job has not been limited to the far-left of Britain’s Jewish community. After Hotovely’s “Arab lie” remark last December, the former Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism, Laura Janner-Klausner, stated: “My assumption was that when she became ambassador, she would become ambassadorial. You put your own views to the side and say, ‘I’m here to represent the State of Israel.’ It is already clear that she does not do that job. She is therefore mismatched to the role of ambassador to Britain.” The Abraham Initiatives U.K., a charity supporting shared society initiatives in Israel, also strongly condemned Hotovely’s comments as a denial of historical fact.