The President of the Board of Deputies, Phil Rosenberg, has warned that many in the community find themselves with “grave concerns about the new government’s foreign policy stance towards Israel”.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Rosenberg suggested that a foreign policy shift away from Israel could pose a threat to national security.
Referring to the government’s decision last week not to pursue an objection to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) jurisdiction over the Israel-Gaza war, “despite the ICC normally being used for countries that, unlike Israel, have no independent judiciary,” Rosenberg warned: “The move has implications for democratically elected leaders around the world.”
The BoD president also questioned the government's proposal to resume funding to Unrwa, “despite allegations that UNRWA’s employees and institutions have actively enabled Hamas’s atrocities”.
Most worryingly of all, Rosenberg said, is the speculation that Britain may impose an arms embargo on Israel this week.
Rosenberg said that such an embargo would be an “astonishing decision to take against a key UK ally and security partner, damaging their ability to defend against terrorist foes like Hamas, or shared UK adversaries like Iran”.
“This, at just the moment that there is a material risk of a full-scale conflict with Iranian proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, and increased conflict with the Houthis, who are bombing British ships.”
It comes after the Chief Rabbi wrote to the Prime Minister to request a to raise his deep concerns about a perceived shift in the government’s policy on Israel, as the JC disclosed on Friday.
The BoD president, who was elected in May this year, added that the UK’s signalling could delay a hostage deal. “The UK’s signalling will encourage Hamas to dig in, prolonging the agony for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” he wrote.
Rosenberg explained that most British Jews have a strong connection to Israel and affirmed, “We all want the new UK government to help end a conflict that has taken far too many lives and caused far too much suffering.”
He warned that the government must “remain credible on national security” and, he concluded, "the government should not take our community’s hard-won goodwill for granted.”
Rosenberg previously served as a Labour Party councillor for Camden, but his column in the Sunday newspaper is likely to further tensions between the government and communal bodies who have voiced concern about the direction of UK foreign policy.
Last week, the BoD released a joint statement with the Jewish Leadership Council condemning the government’s decision to drop its opposition to the ICC arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.
The BoD and the JLC said they were “concerned” that the new government has made a “significant shift in policy away from Israel being a key UK ally”.
Communal bodies fear the UK is now “at odds with our allies” and say the move marks a “strategic and moral error”.
