Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has called for Jews to be “brave” and challenge Muslims over Israel following “deeply disappointing” criticism of the Jewish state since October 7.

Advocating a seismic shift in the community’s approach to interfaith work of the kind not seen since the Holocaust, Rabbi Mirvis told a JC event at JW3 on Tuesday that Jewish-Muslim engagement now needed to take place on fresh terms, whereby Israel was no longer the “elephant in the room”.

Urging Jews to “have it out” with Muslims over Israel rather than “cancelling” them, Rabbi Mirvis said in a discussion with JC Editor Jake Wallis Simons: “Israel is not just the geopolitical centre of Jewish peoplehood, it is the heart of our religion… We need to be brave enough, let’s discuss Israel!

“Our engagement with Muslims is a closer one than any other religion,” he said, adding: “Matters pertaining to Israel divide us.”

Mirvis said that “Jews have a blessed future here [in the UK] alongside Israel” but said that since October 7 “there has been a lot of disappointment; the silence of some has been so sad… the outspoken criticism of Israel by others has been deeply disappointing.”

He said that although Jews were ill-prepared to discuss Israel with Muslims, it was critical people engaged in “constructive debate”.

For this to happen, he said, interfaith work post-October 7 “needed a new shift” – in the same way that the Council of Christians and Jews was founded in 1942 as a response to the Holocaust.

Mirvis spoke of his regret that he had not always prioritised Israel in interfaith dialogue, which mostly “focused on what unites us”.

He recalled a phone conversation during the 2021 flair up on Temple Mount with an unnamed British Muslim leader. This leader, who Mirvis considered a “friend”, said Jews in Britain were “ok” because they were not like Israeli Jews. Mirvis said: “I should have taken him up on it”, adding that now, “I would not let that pass.”

He went on: “I would like people [of other faiths] to know about global Jewish mishpocha – we are part of one Jewish body, we are one people.”

Referring to a Church of Scotland report in 2013 that questioned Israel’s right to exist, Mirvis said that he had had “difficult conversations” which ended with the church rewording its report.

Mirvis called this the “Church of Scotland model” and said it could be used to develop interfaith work in which challenging conversations were encouraged.

While some conversations might not be successful, Mirvis said that by having the discussion, “at least then we will know” where people stand on the Jewish state.

Mirvis spoke about Jewish resilience and nekhamá - Hebrew for “calmness” - which Mirvis said also meant the “capacity to change under pressure and pain.” He said he was “heartened to see hundreds more people turn up to shul” and said that the community’s unity after October 7 was positive.

The rabbi said he “saluted those challenging antisemitism online”, but he acknowledged the toll of the war on Jewish mental health. Mirvis said: “There should be no [mental health] stigma”, adding that people should “seek professional help when they need it”.

Mirvis, whose nephew is a commander in the IDF, said that divisions within Israel and the diaspora before October 7 had “weakened our capacity to defend ourselves”. The rabbi spoke of his sadness of the “tragic divide between religious and secular” and said, “after the war, we will need to build a greater trust”.

When asked about the two-state solution, Mirvis said “the Palestinians have a right to self-determination”.

In 2023, Mirvis was at the official inauguration of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, a religious complex consisting of a mosque, church, and synagogue.

The rabbi said that he was “encouraged that the spirit of the Abraham accords will last into the future” and suggested that it was “the strength of the accords that could be the reason we’re now engaged in a war”.

The rabbi continued: “Humankind will look back on October 7 and it will be a major turning point”.

Mirvis stressed that Hamas had to be destroyed: “They are one tentacle of a monstrous threat, the head of which is Iran.”