The Board of Deputies has distanced itself from Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim Israel is "not a country of all its citizens", after 50 deputies signed an open letter rebuking it for not condemning his alliance with an ultra-nationalist party.
Mr Netanyahu provoked widespread criticism – including from President Reuven Rivlin – for making the claim Instagram on and then saying the country was "the nation-state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people.”
On Monday, the Board responded, breaking the silence on the Israeli elections it maintained when Mr Netanyahu allied with an ultra-nationalist party last month, despite the shock it caused among diaspora Jews.
The Board’s Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb said: “The Board of Deputies is committed to supporting the ‘complete equality of social and political rights’ for all Israeli citizens, regardless of characteristics such as religion, race or sex, as envisioned in Israel’s Declaration of Independence.”
