The frantic activity that followed October 7 as the Jewish community grappled with the fallout may have abated, but the long-term response is still very much in play.
“I think, as a community, we are not going back to October 6,” says the Jewish Leadership Council’s chief executive Claudia Mendoza. “Things have changed significantly and probably forever.”
She herself is still receiving calls late at night or early in the morning from parents of Jewish children in non-Jewish schools or people in the workplace who are having to confront problems triggered by October 7.
Six months ago, the JLC’s chairman, Keith Black, said the community was facing "the fight of our lives” as he launched “Forging the Future”, the council’s action plan for British Jewry in the wake of the crisis in the Middle East. Four key objectives were identified: to strengthen support for young Jews, to win allies in wider society, to secure fairer media coverage and to co-ordinate legal efforts to protect Jewish rights.
To move the plan from paper to practice, the council recently recruited Claire Mandel, the former chief executive of New North London Synagogue, as its director of strategic programmes. As a trained lawyer who has experience of running a major organisation and who has a large network of contacts across the community, “she is the best person for the job”, says Mendoza.
Claire Mandel, the JLC's new director of strategic programmes (Photo: JLC)
While some of the nine projects set down in the plan are advancing with “full steam”, Mendoza says, others will take longer to put in place, requiring more research or consultation.
But the JLC is certainly not going it alone. Mendoza envisages a collaborative effort with multiple community organisations working in tandem. “We are not looking to duplicate any effort, we are looking to co-ordinate and streamline,” she says.
For example, the council is not about to start running antisemitism awareness training for companies or civil society organisations itself. Its task is to see which Jewish organisations are delivering these, and where, and to diagnose gaps.
“We are reminded constantly of how people out there are doing things and not talking to each other,” she says.
And as for challenges posed by new legislation or cases going through the courts, the council’s role is “to make sure that all the issues that affect the community are being ticked off and looked after by an organisation”.
The JLC is having to raise money to underwrite Forging the Future, although it is too early to put a figure on the eventual cost. But it will not be dipping into its regular expenditure, which ran to £1.2 million last year. “We are not diverting any funds because we already run a tight ship,” says Mendoza, adding that responsibility for funding the action plan “can’t lie solely with the JLC”.
Former UJIA chair Bill Benjamin, who is now chair of the London School of Jewish Studies, has been drafted in to chair discussions with young Jewish people, which will include focus groups in the autumn and a summit early next year to better understand their needs.
A JLC conference (Photo: JLC)
The JLC is also looking at conducting “immersive research”, which is designed to provide greater insight into public opinion in the UK. It would entail going to “different areas of the country for longer periods of time rather than a short, sharp focus group or a poll”, Mendoza explains.
“I think it’s going to be important because traditional research methods have given us a bit, but not enough, to really understand what people think, why they think it and what the levers of change are that can be used to bring someone into a more favourable position.”
In the meantime, the council has had to take on board the arrival of a new government, but “we are not starting from scratch”, she stresses.
Her team has “excellent relationships” with the Labour Party. “As soon as Corbyn was gone, we already started to prioritise re-engagement with the Labour Party, not just because they could potentially be the next government, but because they would always be important, whether… in opposition or in government.”
One of the consequences of October 7 is that Israel has assumed new importance for philanthropy in the community. But whether or not domestic charities are losing out remains to be seen.
“That’s definitely a fear we have seen that exists,” she says. “I do know that some of the care charities do feel like they have lost some support and that has made them anxious about how long term that is.”
But her “instinct” is that people will dig deeper into their pockets to support Israel at the present time while continuing to fund other causes. “I’m always a bit sceptical to go on anecdotes because I think a lot of the time, they are borne out of fear rather than reality.”
The UK Jewish community has probably changed irrevocably since October 7, says the JLC's Claudia Mendoza. A recent rally in London to call for the release of the hostages (Photo: Eliana Jordan)
She believes that some people who may have been disengaged from community activism before October 7 have suddenly “got the bit between the teeth and are raring to go”.
But the funding picture may not become clearer until next year when the JLC will be able to analyse accounts published by charities that cover the period after October 7.
While the council has emphasised partnership and collaboration, it is not, however, about to revive the idea of unifying with the Board of Deputies. While the Board’s new president Phil Rosenberg - who is a vice-president of the JLC, as too is its senior vice-president Adrian Cohen - has come out in favour of a merger, Mendoza is firm. “It’s not on the cards,” she says.
“There is absolutely space and room for our two organisations to exist independently and to always strive and continue to work as closely and collaboratively together as possible.”
