‘We cannot turn a blind eye’. British Jewish establishment members publicly decry war in Gaza

A Palestinian girl walks past a destroyed building following overnight Israeli strikes on Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on 16 April 2025

Felix Pope reports in Haaretz on 16 Apr 2025:

Dozens of members of the representative body of British Jewry on Wednesday publicly condemned Israel’s war in Gaza, warning that “Israel’s soul is being ripped out” by its “extremist” government.

“Silence is seen as support for policies and actions that run contrary to our Jewish values,” read the open letter published in the Financial Times that was signed by 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

“Led by the families of the hostages, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are demonstrating on the streets against the return to war by an Israeli government that has not prioritized the return of the hostages. We stand with them. We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life.”

This was not an official statement of the Board of Deputies, which has more than 300 elected members. Still, this first-of-its-kind public stand against the war by even a small minority of the organization’s members marks a dramatic shift for the British Jewish establishment, traditionally reluctant to voice criticism of the Israeli government.

Among the signatories was Harriet Goldenberg, vice chair of the international division of the Board of Deputies. She told the Financial Times that she and her colleagues had decided to make their views public after their organization had denied a request to release a statement condemning the resumption of hostilities in Gaza.

When reached for comment by Haaretz, a spokesperson for the Board of Deputies attempted to play down the significance of the letter, saying: “This diversity is not unlike the politics of Israel itself, whose rambunctious democratic culture sees a fierce exchange of views about these excruciating life and death issues.”

The letter accuses Israel of choosing “to break the cease-fire and return to war in Gaza” in order to bring Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right politician, back into the government, thereby enabling the national budget to be passed and avoiding an election.

“Since then, no hostages have returned,” the letter says. “Hundreds and hundreds more Palestinians have been killed; food, fuel and medical supplies have once again been blocked from entering Gaza; and we are back in a brutal war where the killing of 15 paramedics and their burial in a mass grave is again possible and risk being normal.

“Such incidents are too painful and shocking to take in, but we know in our hearts we cannot turn a blind eye or remain silent at this renewed loss of life and livelihoods, with hopes dwindling for a peaceful reconciliation and the return of the hostages.” The letter also condemns the Israeli government for “openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, strangling the Palestinian economy and building more new settlements than ever.”

The extremist policies of the current government, the letter contends, have targeted democracy itself, “with the independence of the judicial system again under fierce attack, the police increasingly resembling a militia, and repressive laws are being advanced as provocative partisan populism is bitterly dividing Israeli society.”

“Israel’s soul is being ripped out,” it warns, “and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to.”

Lord Stuart Polak, a Conservative politician and former education director of the Board of Deputies, criticized the signatories for expressing their grievances on the pages of one of Britain’s most respected newspapers.
“If as it seems they disagree with policies of the board, then rather than send a public letter to the FT they should resign their positions,” he told Haaretz. “They certainly do not represent me.”

Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, whose Mill Hill Synagogue is represented on the Board of Deputies, said the letter did not speak for the majority of British Jews.  “It speaks for a vocal liberal minority within the Board of Deputies who have long been more concerned with appeasing Western sensibilities than confronting the grim reality that Israel faces: Hamas is a fanatical terror organization committed to Israel’s destruction, not a legitimate actor in a peace process,” he said.  He added that many British Jews “understand that peace will only come when Hamas is dismantled, not when Israel is pressured into another round of false hope and deadly illusions.”

Baron Frankal, one of the signatories, told the Financial Times that a “considerably higher number” of deputies shared their concerns but were not willing to sign the letter.

This article is reproduced in its entirety