Jewish philanthropists, advocates: Israeli government causing ‘lasting damage’ to world Jewry
A London Initiative event
Judy Maltz reports in Haaretz on 7 August 2025:
More than 4,000 Jews from Diaspora communities worldwide – among them prominent philanthropists and rabbis, as well as former government ministers – have signed a letter, sent on Thursday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that his government’s policies and rhetoric are causing “lasting damage” to Israel and world Jewry.
The letter, signed by Jews in 18 different countries, urges Netanyahu to ensure the provision of food and humanitarian aid to Gaza, to end the war, bring home the Israeli hostages and declare that Israeli will not resettle Gaza or “pursue or advocate any policy of expulsion of Palestinians civilians under any guises.”
It also calls on Netanyahu to crack down on Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank. “If Israel’s military, when given the bold order by you, can send a missile through a window in Tehran to take out an Iranian general with unerring accuracy, it surely has the ability to maintain order in the West Bank, prevent Jewish extremist violence, protect Palestinian civilians and apply the law,” the letter says.
Among those signed on the letter are Irwin Cotler, former Canadian justice minister and prominent advocate for Israel; Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former British foreign secretary who served under Margaret Thatcher and John Major; Charles Bronfman, the Canadian-American billionaire who co-founded Taglit-Birthright, the program that brings young Diaspora Jews on free trips to Israel; and Susie Gelman, immediate past chair of the Israel Policy Forum and past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.
Other signatories include Dame Vivien Duffield, chair of the Clore Duffield Foundation in Britain; Sir Trevor Chinn, president of Britain’s United Jewish Israel Appeal; Jonathan Wittenberg, the senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism in the United Kingdom; Rabbi Sharon Brous, one of America’s most influential rabbis; and popular British comedian Simon Brodkin.
“We are under no illusions about the actions and intentions of Hamas, other extremist forces and the states that support them, and we acknowledge the painful dilemmas any Israeli government would face in addressing these threats,” they write.
“Yet we also cannot escape the fact that the policies and rhetoric of the government you lead are doing lasting damage to Israel, its standing in the world and the prospects of secure peace for all Israelis and Palestinians. This has severe consequences for Israel but also for the wellbeing, security and unity of Jewish communities around the world.”
Netanyahu must stop giving free rein, the letter says, to far-right members of his government who “use the language of incitement” and are “eroding the standing of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people and undermining Jewish communities as we face a surge in antisemitic, anti-Zionist hate.”
“They undermine all our efforts to strengthen the connection to Israel of future generations of Jews. Yet they seemingly do so with impunity,” the letter warns.
The signatories say they will urge the Jewish communities and agencies with which they are associated to treat Israeli government members who advocate for policies of starvation or expulsion or who use racist language as persona non grata in their respective countries.
The letter was initiated by The London Initiative, founded last year by Sir Mick Davis, a former CEO of the British Conservative party, and Mike Prashker, a British-Israeli social activist engaged in Jewish-Arab shared society initiatives.
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