Former senior Board of Deputies vice-president Gary Mond is reportedly involved in efforts to set up an alternative to the representative organisation.

Mr Mond, who had been the deputy for JNF UK, resigned in January after the Board launched an investigation into historic social media posts on Islam.

A source told the JC this week that Mr Mond has been trying to recruit assistance for something called the British Jewish Assembly and claimed it would be “a rival” to the Board.

A notice advertising a meeting next month for the assembly in Finchley appeared recently on social media.

Asked about it, Mr Mond said on Tuesday evening: “I have no comment.”

A limited company called National Jewish Assembly with Mr Mond listed as sole director was registered in late February.

His departure from the Board followed the emergence of social media posts which included one in 2016 in which he said: “We just have to hope that our leaders wake up to the fact that all civilisation … is… at war with Islam”.

He later explained he had been referring to the perpetrators of the Bataclan terrorist attack in Paris in 2015 and his remarks were “certainly not aimed at all Muslims”.

In a fiery parting shot, he accused the Board of having “cancelled” his views, saying it had become “unwilling to take account of differing views in recent years”.

He claimed it faced “a crisis of legitimacy, and their behaviour towards me demonstrates this. The leadership of the Board leans to the political left with the silent majority not being heard.”