Fresh intervention from Progressive ministers comes as 36 deputies face a petition banning them from Israel over their letter criticisng the Jewish state
April 25, 2025 11:14
A new letter from more than 25 Liberal and Reform rabbis and one cantor, published in the Financial Times today, calls on the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza, uphold international law and allow humanitarian aid into the strip.
Signed by the co-chair of the Assembly of Reform Rabbis and Cantors in her personal capacity, the former senior rabbi to Reform Judaism and several emeritus rabbis, the intervention follows a letter to the same newspaper last week from 36 deputies of the Board of Deputies, which criticised the war in Gaza.
Following an emergency meeting of its executive committee on Tuesday, the Board announced it had launched investigations into each of the signatories under its “complaints procedure” and suspended the vice-chair of its international division.
Today's letter was signed, among others, by Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, the former senior rabbi to Reform Judaism; Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen, who co-chairs the Assembly of Reform Rabbis and Cantors; Rabbi Jackie Tabick, the UK’s first female rabbi; Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith formerly of Mosaic Liberal Synagogue; Rabbi Paul Freedman, senior rabbi at Radlett Reform Synagogue; Rabbi Jeffrey Newman, emeritus rabbi of Finchley Reform; Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah, emeritus rabbi of Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue; and Rabbi Barbara Borts, one of the first women rabbis ordained in Europe.
It states: “As Jewish religious leaders in Britain, we too are horrified by the Israeli government's relaunch of attacks against Gaza.
“We feel it is our duty to remind Israel's leaders of the core Jewish teaching that war can never be waged for revenge or expansion. The Israeli government must uphold international law and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“We stand with all those in Israel-Palestine seeking to bring about a just and lasting peace. We share in their call for an end to the bombing; an end to the siege; and the safe release of the hostages.”
The letter comes as 40 former Israeli military commanders, ambassadors, Knesset members and academics issued a message of “immense gratitude” to the 36 UK deputies who signed the initial FT letter. Dozens of senior Israeli figures praised the deputies' “support in the battle we are fighting for the future and soul of Israel.”
Among those backing the deputies are Colonel Shaul Arieli, former commander of the IDF’s northern bridge in Gaza and a member of Ehud Barak’s negotiation team; Ambassador Colette Avital, a former MK and ambassador to Portugal; Prof Daniel Bar-Tal, Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University; and Han Baruch, former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
The grassroots activist group We Democracy, made up of Israelis living in the UK, also backed the 36 signatories and criticised Board President Phil Rosenberg’s response to their letter, accusing him of “dismissing” the deputies' concerns.
We Democracy cited other public interventions calling for an end to the war – including letters in the Jewish News and The Times from former Israeli security officials, as well as a letter from 250 hostage families and surviving hostages warning that continued fighting was putting the captives’ lives at risk.
Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah, emeritus rabbi of Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue, who signed today’s letter in the FT, separately wrote to Rosenberg over his comments about the 36. In a letter seen by the JC, she said she felt “disappointment and dismay” over the Board’s response to the letter.
Rabbi Sarah accused the board of choosing “to silence the voices of those deputies that do not chime with its sanctioned messaging on Israel.”
However, the letter has drawn intense criticism from others in the community. Objections have been raised over its one-sided criticism of Israel and the false impression it created that the signatories represent the entire Board of Deputies and therefore the British Jewish community as a whole.
Last week, 90 representatives from the United Synagogue questioned Rosenberg during an emergency online meeting over the letter, which was mostly signed by deputies representing Reform and Progressive congregations.
Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, senior rabbi at Mill Hill Synagogue and one of the longest-serving rabbis in the United Synagogue, said of the letter: “It speaks for a vocal liberal minority within the Board of Deputies who have long been more concerned with appeasing Western sensibilities than confronting the grim reality that Israel faces.
"The authors’ appeal to ‘Jewish values’ rings hollow when those values are selectively applied – mourning Palestinian casualties without any moral clarity on why this war began, or how many of those killed were active participants in terror. The brutal truth is that Hamas initiated this war with an act of savagery unparalleled in recent Jewish history.
He accused the signatories of “soft-spoken anguish,” which he said “may play well in polite society or diaspora op-eds, but it does nothing to change the reality in the Middle East”.
Meanwhile a petition has been started by one of the slates on the World Zionist Congress election to ban the 36 signatories from entering Israel.
The Herut UK and Jabotinsky’s Israel joint slate have launched the campaign, claiming the signatories’ “actions empower Israel’s enemies, divide our people, and endanger our future”, adding: “They lend legitimacy to anti-Zionist rhetoric and provide cover for those who seek to delegitimise and destroy the Jewish state.”
The petition has been signed by 218 people at time of writing.
