The Board of Deputies has suspended plans for a “divisive” survey of deputies’ views on Israel.

The move comes after President Marie van der Zyl voiced opposition to the plans for the questionnaire, which had been backed by Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mrs van der Zyl, said: “British Jews are overwhelmingly a proudly Zionist community.

"There is a high degree of consensus around the centrality of Israel to Jewish identity and concern for the welfare of its citizens. However, there are inevitably differing views on some of the issues as would be expected of a representative body.

“Last year, the International Division embarked on a piece of work around a survey of Deputies’ views on Israel, as a means of understanding what the views are and thereby finding a constructive means to represent them.

“However, despite the good intentions of this initiative, it has become clear that the survey itself is proving as divisive as the issue itself. With that in mind, we have decided to conclude work on the survey and explore other – less contentious – means to consider views on Israel.

“We have already come up with a couple of ideas and will ask the International Division to consider these and other proposals to bring back to the Executive in due course.

“I would like to thank everyone for their input on this issue, and particularly our Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb and the International Division she leads for their work to-date.” 

Speaking at Sunday’s monthly meeting, Mrs van der Zyl said the proposed survey of all 350 deputies was something she did not “personally” support.

"The BoD is wrong to scrap the survey of deputies' views on Israel and should reverse this decision.

In a statement, Yachad, an organisation which advocates a two-state solution, said: "A representative body, such as the BoD, should embrace an opportunity to find out what our community actually thinks, not fear it.

"The BoD claims that a survey will be too divisive, but in Jewish tradition divisions and arguments are celebrated, not silenced. Our strength as a community stems from our ability to disagree respectfully and being true to our values.

"It is concerning that the BoD -- which acts as our communal voice -- prefers to remain ignorant of our community’s views on Israel."