Dozens of members of the UK’s largest Jewish representative group resumed the attack in Gaza and launched a stinging attack on the Israeli government as they warned that “the Israeli soul is torn apart.”
In an open letter, 36 members of the British Jewish proxy committee said “we cannot blind or remain silent with this new loss of life and livelihood.”
They also condemned violence against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. They said it was encouraged by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right regime, saying, “This extremism will also target Israeli democracy.
“The soul of Israel is torn apart, and we fear that members of the British Jewish subcommittee are afraid of the future of Israel, which we love and have such close relations,” the letter said. “Silence is seen as a support for policies and actions that are carried out against our Jewish values.”
The letter, published in the Financial Times, was the first public show from board members against Israel’s 18-month war against Hamas in Gaza, suggesting an increasing rift in the British Jewish community about how it will respond to Netanyahu’s hard-line policies.
Signatories of the letter pushed the board to issue a statement condemning Netanyahu’s decision to resume Israeli attacks in Gaza last month to a board of directors with more than 300 elected representatives. The move shattered a fragile two-month ceasefire contract in which Hamas agreed to release the hostages.
However, after the board reluctantly criticised the Israeli government publicly, the agent wrote an open letter saying, “We are very prone to look away from us. We cannot stand what is happening, but our Jewish values force us to stand up and speak out.”
Harriet Goldenberg, vice-chairman of the board’s international division and one of the signatories, told the FT “I fear a dishonest emergence, but I feel it is essential for British Jews to speak.”
“If not, we risk conspiring. In Jewish history, silence is not a good thing,” she said.
Asked about the letter, the board said it is a diverse organisation and “others will focus more on Hamas’ fundamental responsibility for this horrifying situation.”
“This diversity is different from the politics of Israel itself, which is itself seeing a violent democratic culture sees a fierce exchange of views on these unbearable issues of life and death,” he said in the statement.
According to Israeli officials, the British Jewish community has largely gathered around Israel since the war exploded in Gaza after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack.
But a significant minority is not, and concerns have risen about the fate of the remaining hostages, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the Israeli attacks in the West Bank, and the revival of Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reforms.
Another signer, Baron Frankel, said the signatories “represent a fairly high number of people sharing these same concerns, but for a variety of reasons, I am not going to say it that much publicly.”
Netanyahu claims it is pursuing a war that destroys Hamas and pressures the group to release more hostages, while denounces extremist groups for refusing to agree to change the terms of the ceasefire deal.
In the letter, the agent warned that the independence of Israel’s judicial system was “under heavy attacks again.” They also described the Israeli police as “increasingly similar to militias and progressing oppressive laws.
The letter added, “This most extremist of the Israeli government openly encourages violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, strangles the Palestinian economy and creates newer settlements than ever before.”
The agent linked Netanyahu’s decision to resume wars in part Gaza with Itamar Ben Gwil, the far-right national security minister who resigned when the government signed a ceasefire with US-brokered Hamas in January.
He rejoined the governing coalition shortly after Israel imposed a full siege on Gaza, resumed offensive attacks and strengthened Netanyahu’s power.
Israel’s attacks on Gaza have already killed more than 50,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
“We are back to a brutal war where the murder of 15 paramedics and burials in the tombs of the masses is once again possible, with the risks normal,” the letter mentioned Israeli attacks on emergency workers in Gaza last month.
“We will face war… we long for the day after this conflict, where reconciliation begins,” it said.
