Community leaders have written to the Prime Minister urging the government to provide legal and safe routes for asylum seekers in Calais.
Over 200 people signed the open letter to David Cameron, including Senior Reform Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, senior Masorti Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg and Rabbi Herschel Gluck, expressing dismay at the government’s response to the refugee crisis.
The letter, published on the website of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE), said: “Many of us in the Jewish community are appalled by the UK’s response to the ongoing situation in Calais. Our experience as refugees is not so distant that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to be demonised for seeking safety.
“People fleeing conflict and persecution are not to blame for the crisis in Calais; neither is out welfare system, nor the French government. Above all, we in the UK are not the victims here; we are not being invaded by a ‘swarm’.” – a reference to the language used by Mr Cameron to describe the numbers of migrants trying to enter the UK.
Dr Edie Friedman, executive director of JCORE said: “The Jewish refugee experience is still a vivid memory for many in our community. The government’s failure to even consider helping those fleeing conflict and persecution today shames us as a nation. Rather than shut ourselves off from the world, it is vitally important that we work with the rest of Europe to create safe and legal routes for refugees to claim asylum.”
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg said: “The Torah teaches that God loves the refugee and stranger, ‘giving them bread and clothing’. Can we then do any less?”
At least nine people have died in the past two months attempting to enter Britain through the Channel Tunnel.
