By John Pickard
The open letter published last week by a minority group on the Board of Deputies of British Jews is an indication of the growing turmoil within the world Jewish community over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. That also extends to Israel, which, as a result of its one-side war on the population of Gaza, is experiencing the greatest political and diplomatic ignominy in its 77-year history.
The Board of Deputies styles itself as the representation of British Jews, but in fact it only represents those Jews most closely aligned to the political establishment. In general it is a firm supporter of Israel, and has been uncritical of its policies towards Palestinians (See this article in Left Horizons).
For thirty-six of its members, even if only an eighth of the Board membership, to publish an open letter calling for an end to the war in Gaza, shows a serious split even in the upper echelons of the British Jewish community. As one would have expected, the President of the Board immediately published his own condemnation of the minority view.
What took them so long to speak out?
There are a number of issues that are raised by the open letter, published in the Financial Times on April 16, and the reply a day later. The first and most obvious question is why it took the thirty-six so long to speak out.
It was evident within days of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that the response of the Israeli state was going to be savage, overwhelming and hugely disproportional. It was also clear – because there were many previous bombardments of Gaza before October 7 – that the majority of casualties were going to be non-combatants, including children. Yet Israeli’s collective punishment of Gaza in the last eighteen months has exceeded the worst expectations.
“What is happening is unbearable”, the authors of the open letter wrote, “but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out”. The letter says, “We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life”. But we are entitled to ask, why did they not speak out when 10,000 had been killed in Gaza? Or when the death toll was 25,000? Why wait until 51,000 have been killed, including, according to Al Jazeera, over 17,000 children?
The Israeli government is currently six weeks into a complete ban on humanitarian aid going to Gaza, denying the population, food, water and shelter. They are committing a clear war crime, but the authors of the letter waited five weeks into this starvation strategy before “standing up and speaking out”.
‘Sanitised’ language shows a subtle bias towards Israel
One of the ways the western media have tried to ‘sanitise’ Israel’s destruction of Gaza is by a selective use of language. Hamas “kills” Israelis, for example, but Palestinians “are killed”, as if the Israeli Air Force wasn’t even there. The open letter uses the same sanitised language, referring for example, to “the killing of 15 paramedics and their burial in a mass grave”, which to them was an “incident”. In fact, it should be named for what it is – an atrocity, a war crime and mass murder, and committed by the IDF.
The open letter made some telling points, noting that in eighteen months of war, only eight Israeli hostages have been freed by military action, while five were killed by the IDF and 135 freed by two short-lived ceasefires. The letter also points out correctly, that after the recent, January ceasefire, instead of pursuing negotiations, “the Israeli government instead chose to break the ceasefire and return to war”, after which not a single hostage has been freed.
This letter is a reflection of the genuine alarm, even within that part of the Jewish community closest to the political establishment, not that Palestinian rights have been denied for decades, but that Israel is becoming a pariah state as a result of its actions in Gaza. Their underlying support for Zionism still stands out, but the signatories have a deep sense of unease at Israeli policy, because, based as it is on ethnic cleansing and genocide (although they do not use those terms), it is not sustainable.
For western politicians, Gaza’s history only began on October 7
The authors claim to write “as representatives of the British Jewish community”, with a “deep concern for [Israel’s] future” and they conclude by saying that “Israel’s soul is being ripped out”.
As weak as the open letter was, the response of the President of the Board was a disgrace, effectively ignoring the slaughter in Gaza. He issued his own statement, in which he accused the letter signatories of “blame-shifting”, demanding that Hamas be held “accountable”. Like most of the British political establishment, Phil Rosenberg expects people to believe history only began on October 7, ignoring the fact that Gaza was kept by Israel as an open prison, its population without an economy, a hope, or a future. Worst of all, Rosenberg makes no reference at all to the eighteen month slaughter in Gaza, which, if it were the same proportion of the UK population, would mean nearly a million and a half killed. That is some omission.
The response of Phil Rosenberg reflects the views of western politicians in general and, to their disgrace, that includes the leadership of the Labour Party. For the past year and a half, Israel has been killing, on average, a Palestinian child every 45 minutes. While tens of millions of workers and youth around the world demonstrate against this war, there is a stony silence from the Labour leadership. History will judge them for their complicity in the needless deaths of so many Palestinians.
Profound disquiet among British and world Jews
If Keir Starmer and David Lammy are behind the curve of history, a growing number of workers and youth are not, including many members of the Jewish community. Despite the denials of the President of the Board of Deputies – he focuses repeatedly on the fact that the open letter represented a “minority” of the Board – there is profound disquiet among Jews in Britain and internationally over the actions of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.
The disquiet is also growing among Jews in Israel. We should not exaggerate the position: there is widespread opposition to the war, but not yet for Palestinian rights. Opinion polls suggest that most, or many Israelis support ceasefire only until hostages are returned, after which the war could be resumed.
There is opposition too, in Israel, against the closing down of democratic norms by the Netanyahu government, but this too, is unrelated to Palestinian rights for most Israelis. In the liberal newspaper, Haaretz, one commentator even complains about “Ignoring massacres in Gaza City while protesting for democracy in Tel Aviv”.
Within Israel the realisation is dawning that the war is being pursued, and continued, to prolong the political career of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ehud Olmert, Israeli Prime Minister between 2006 to 2009, wrote an opinion piece in Haaretz (April 11), under the heading, Israel Is Closer to a Civil War Than Ever Before.
Olmert’s article is concerned primarily with the assault by the Israeli far right on established legal and political institutions like the Supreme Court. “The war against these institutions (now labeled the “deep state“)”, he writes, “is a vital stage in the well-planned attempt by Benjamin Netanyahu to shatter Israel’s democratic base”.
Apartheid first, ethnic cleansing follows
But underlying of the concerns about the war and the abuse of democratic norms is the question of Palestinian rights and the issues are inextricably linked. The current government is simply following the inevitable logic of the Zionist project: having established an apartheid state in which Palestinians have no rights, the next step is ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and Gaza, using whatever violent methods are necessary.
The problem for Israel is that the whole project comes at a huge political cost – the alienation of tens of millions of workers and youth around the world, the isolation of Israel as an apartheid state, and growing opposition at home. It is a matter of time before this opposition, at this stage a minority, links the war and Israeli democratic rights to the question of Palestinian rights.
What is also notable is that opposition to the war has begun to express itself among growing numbers of Israeli reservists, who are refusing to fight Netanyahu’s “forever war” any longer. Based on publicly known initiatives reported by Israeli media, The Palestine Chronicle estimates that “More than 11,000 influential Israelis—including reserve soldiers, military veterans, former officials, academics, educators, medical professionals, and public figures—have signed various petitions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the return of Israeli captives”.
Numerous petitions are now circulating within army, navy and air force units, some with hundreds of signatures. “According to Israel’s Channel 12” the Palestine Chronicle reports, “the military leadership is concerned about the long-term consequences of such dissent and has moved to prevent active-duty reserve soldiers from participating in protests…” There is concern at high levels in the IDF that opposition to the war will continue to grow.
Appropriation of more Palestinian land in the West Bank
Netanyahu’s government represents the far right of Israeli politics, which unfortunately still has considerable public support. It has pushed Israel into occupying areas of Lebanon and Syria, reoccupying Gaza, appropriation of more Palestinian land in the West Bank and is pushing Israel towards war with Iran.
Palestinians are the principle victims of this policy, but Israeli Jews will pay a huge economic and political cost as well. It is inevitable that the nihilistic racism of this Israeli government will impact also on all those Jews around the world who support Netanyahu. At least, thirty-six members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews can see the writing on the wall.
Postscript. [Published April 22] The Board of Deputies has been so severely rattled by the open letter of the 36 members, that it released a statement today, in which it reported there had been an “extraordinary meeting of the Executive” on the question. As result, “all 36 signatories…are now subject to a complaints procedure…”. The voting members of the Executive also “unanimously approved a motion temporarily suspending the Vice Chair of the International Division [who was one of the 36] from that role and the Executive…”
In other words, in defence of the state of Israel, and in order to suppress any criticism of Israel, the Board of Deputies seems to be prepared to tear itself apart.
[Feature picture shows thousands of Palestinians fleeing from northern Gaza, from Al Jazeera]
