The Board of Deputies has today reacted to the Foreign Secretary’s announcement of sanctions against Israeli settlements.
“We followed the Foreign Secretary’s statement today with deep regret. Before the Jewish New Year festival of Rosh Hashanah, with concerns for communal security at their highest levels, this will be felt particularly acutely by British Jews.
As we have told both governments over recent weeks, the deteriorating relationship between the UK and Israel has the potential to negatively impact the two countries’ security and their economies, and further inflame community tensions here too.
As proud Brits who love our country, and who also have a deep religious, cultural and family ties to Israel, we feel a deep sense of anguish about this breakdown in relations. We are also impacted directly by heightened rhetoric about the conflict, including policies that focus on the actions of the Israeli government, and do not sufficiently address responsibilities of Palestinian leaders and malign actors in the region.
Announcing such measures during an already heated Israeli election – which has the potential to lead to considerable change to the situation in the West Bank and Gaza – risks perverse consequences which go against the UK’s stated objectives. We urge both governments to avoid pursuing what appear to be party interests over national interests.
We have warned the UK Government that it should know that protesters who cry “From the River to the Sea” will not be placated by any measures short of the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state. At the same time, we have warned the Israeli Government to recognise that intolerable settler violence in the West Bank and provocative measures, not only harm Israel’s international reputation but stand in the way of the peace and security that we all so desperately want.
While we fully expect the coming days and weeks to be fractious and difficult, we will continue to call on both governments to show wisdom and restraint, to safeguard religious freedoms, to find a path to deescalation, and ultimately to realise the hope for lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
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