Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has said it is the responsibility of every Jew to give “unequivocal support” to Israel as it fought for its survival against the evil represented by Iran.
In a powerful address at a Jewish Chronicle event on Sunday to reflect on the year after October 7, the spiritual leader of central Orthodoxy in Britain called on world leaders to recognise that Israel was fighting “in the frontline” for civilisation.
Rabbi Mirvis said the Hamas massacre had contained “echoes of the Shoah”.
The key lesson was that it was “not just an incident between Hamas and Israel and the Jews. The eyes of the world were opened to recognise that Hamas and Hizbollah and Houthis and Boko Haram and Isis and others are tentacles of the monstrous evil being, the head of which is Iran.”
And therefore “the reset button for our civilisation” after October 7 was “not only relevant for the Jewish people and the state of Israel; it is relevant for all of humankind.
“Global leaders must realise the prevalence of evil and the true intent of Iran and its proxies. Global leaders must recognise that Israel is on the front line fighting for us all. And those leaders who close their eyes to this reality or who open their eyes but refuse to act upon it do so at our collective peril.”
In the past year, it had become clear to Jews how important it was to have a strong state of Israel, he stressed.
While some commentators reacting to the rise of antisemitism argued that we were in an equivalent period to the 1920s or the 1930s, he disputed the parallels. “We are not in the 1920s and we are not in the 1930s. We are in 2024, and we have Medinat [the state of] Israel. Because we have Medinat Israel, we are strong, and nothing quite like the Shoah would happen again.”
But a strong state of Israel was, he said, “dependent upon the support of diaspora Jewry to give it added strength. That is why I strongly believe we in the diaspora have a responsibility to give Israel our unequivocal support.”
That did not mean agreeing with every policy of the Israeli government or every military tactic by the IDF, he explained.
“But right now the conflict that Israel is engaged in is not just another battle, another conflict… It is a fight for survival and at a time such as this, Israel deserves the full backing of every single Jewish person in every single Jewish community around the world.”
He emphasised the importance of appreciating the support of those outside the community and warned of the danger of becoming more insular, insisting on the responsibility “to ensure we fulfil our prophetic aspirations to be a true light unto the nations”.
Speaking at Finchley United Synagogue, the Chief Rabbi, who is about to make his sixth visit to Israel post October 7, revealed that he still kept the app on his phone which alerts Israelis to sirens warning of rocket attacks to keep in touch with what was going on there. “Wherever we are, our hearts are in Israel,” he declared.
He referred in his remarks to the trauma and grief experienced by “innocent Palestinians in Gaza and Lebanese. We recognise that their suffering is a result of their leadership which has purposely placed them in harm’s way… It brings us enormous pain to see that human toll as a result of the current conflict.”
The traditional Jewish response to an event like October 7, he explained, could be encapsulated in the Hebrew word nechamah, which meant more than “comfort or consolation”, but also a determination to find a fresh direction.
“I have no doubt that in the centuries to come, we will look back on the October 7, 2023, as a major turning point in Jewish history,” he said.
“And it is in our hands to strive to guarantee that we will now attain true nechamah, that it will serve as a positive, constructive turning point not just for Judaism but for our entire world.”
(l-r) Ayelet Svatitsky, Ron Avidan and JC editor Jake Wallis Simons
At a panel discussion afterwards, British-Israeli campaigner for the hostages Ayelet Svatitsky - whose two brothers were murdered by Hamas - spoke of the past year as “one long day”.
Roi died on October 7, while her other brother Nadav Popplewell was kidnapped but then killed in Gaza. Their mother, Chanah, was also abducted, at the age of 79, but released in November.
“’Happy’ is one of those words I’ve lost in the last year,” she said. “It’s disappeared from my vocabulary. Hopefully I will get it back one day.”
Expressing hope for the return of the hostages, she said :“Then we can truly, truly begin our healing”.
Allison Pearson, the Daily Telegraph’s chief interviewer, who was one of the founders of the British Friends for Israel initiative after October 7, was roundly applauded for arguing that young people needed to be told that Israel’s fight was “our fight. It is the fight of every decent person in the world.”
As was Andrew Fox, a retired major in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army, who is now a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and currently investigating Hamas casualty claims. Defending the IDF’s operations in Rafah in southern Gaza, to where he had been taken on an organised visit, he said that while the destruction had been appalling, “there is an exceptionally good military reason for it - no other army in the world would do it any different than the IDF - and probably do it less well”.
(l-r) Jake Wallis Simons, Andrew Fox and Allison Pearson
Chaired by JC editor Jake Wallis Simons, the panel also featured Ron Avidan, chief executive of Azorim, one of Israel’s leading public companies which has erected some of its most iconic buildings and which co-sponsored the event along with El Al.
