Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg has pledged his support for demonstrators protesting against the Iranian regime.
Speaking at the Board of Deputies Plenary meeting on Sunday, Phil said:
“Many of us have been overwhelmed by the bravery of the protesters facing down a really oppressive regime, calling for their freedom. We’ve seen what the Iranian regime has done to its own country but more widely in the region and around the world. So we say to those protesters, ‘We are with you’.” He repeated the message in Farsi before continuing. “That’s the message we send out to these protesters.”
Phil also told Deputies about his priorities for the upcoming year. These are: Fighting for the soul of the nation; the pursuit of peace and security at home, in Israel and around the world; and less ‘oy’ more joy – a reference to the beginning of the first-ever Jewish Culture Month in May/June 2026.
Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, the plenary was addressed by HMDT Chief Executive Olivia Marks-Woldman and by its chair, former Home Secretary Sir Sajid Javid:
Sir Sajid, in his first public address to the Jewish community since taking up the key role, said:
“Our job at the HMDT is more important and HMD is more important than ever. It’s not just about remembering those who are no longer with us but it’s about educating the living about the Holocaust and about the centuries of persecution of Jews and where this led.”
He added:
“The number of schools marking HMD has fallen by 60 per cent. We have to deal with this head on. One of my missions is to get this number back to previous levels and even beyond that. Educating the next generation is perhaps the most important thing we do.”
Also addressing the plenary was Union of Jewish Students President Louis Danker, who gave a ‘State of the Union’ address about the situation on campus. He said:
“Jewish students are engaging in UJS work in higher numbers than ever before, with more pride than ever before and with more resilience than ever before. It’s time to bring an end to two years of Jewish life on campus being defined by the hate that we face. My mission as UJS president is to empower Jewish students to regain our agency and to write our own Jewish student story.”
Senior Vice President Adrian Cohen then led an open session on challenges to the rules-based international order.
During the meeting, Deputies voted to admit two new organisations – the Jewish Volunteering Network and the Cambridge Jewish Residents Association, continuing the recent growth of the Board of Deputies and bringing the number of Board of Deputies constituencies up to 193.
