Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl has been forced to defend her policy of engagement with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour during a tense meeting.
Mrs van der Zyl claimed the decision to invite Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner to Monday’s Chanukah celebration event in Westminster, along with an earlier invitation to Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry to the Board's annual dinner were part of policy of engagement with Labour because “it is our belief that in order to win the argument we cannot simply leave the pitch”.
But at the monthly plenary meeting on Sunday, deputies expressed serious concern over the direction the Board had taken under her leadership.
Natalie Shaw, who represents Barnet United Synagogue, said she had been approached by “umpteen people in my community asking why on earth we have been asking the speakers we have been asking over the last few weeks.”
She added: “It has been very difficult for me to defend. I understand what is being said but it is not necessarily the view outside. If we are to be the democratically elected representatives of our communities we have to be listened to. “
Hendon United Synagogue deputy Malvyn Benjamin said: "We have a problem in this community.
"It started with Jewdas who invited Mr Corbyn to a Seder ceremony. We then had the principal of the Liberal Synagogue who invited Mr Corbyn to a Friday night.
“Now we have the Board inviting one of Mr Corbyn’s team to their Chanukah celebration. I think this trend is very regrettable and I’m very concerned about it. I believe until Labour cleans up its act with regard to vicious antisemitism it is premature to start engaging with them at all.”
Ms Rayner's invititation to Monday’s Chanukah event appeared in jeopardy last week when it emerged she had praised Norman Finklestein’s book The Holocaust Industry, which argues that the American Jewish establishment exploits the memory of the Nazi Holocaust for political and financial gain. Ms Rayner later apologised.
Mrs van der Zyl said she believed ms Rayner had been "clumsy rather than malicious” in citing the book.
She added: "There is no evidence that I can see that she has read the book and I understand she has visited Auschwitz twice.”
Speaking about the wider issue of engagement with Labour under Mr Corbyn, Mrs van der Zyl said the community “faces an unprecedented level of challenge and these decisions in uncharted waters are not easy.”
Jerry Lewis, Hampstead Synagogue’s Deputy, said he was “very concerned a nasty edge has crept into our deliberations” and suggested there were “offstage noises and people trying to destabilise the President”.
Highgate United Deputy Adrian Cohen also defended the Board President, saying criticism of Ms Rayner and of the Board was misplaced.
Meanwhile, a caption the Board placed underneath a photograph taken at a Downing Street reception held after last Monday’s Sara Conference on antisemitism and misogyny, raised eyebrows.
The event was organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism and the Antisemitism Policy Trust (APT).
The photograph used in the Board’s weekly Community Briefing bulletin showed, Danny Stone director of the APT – who had been one of the main organisers of last week’s event - alongside Prime Minister Theresa May.
But the Board’s caption neglected to mention Mr Stone – and instead made reference to Mrs van der Zyl, who was standing in the background.
One individual wrote that the caption used by the Board was “most exaggerated”. Another told the JC the caption typified the Board’s “insensitive approach to communal affairs lately.”
