| Board of Deputies President: Corbyn does not care if his actions signal support for racist attitudes |
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| Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl has written to Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, telling him ‘the Jewish community is entitled to an apology for this failure to speak out against prejudice against our community when confronted with racism’.
She was replying to Mr Corbyn’s letter in which he claims not to have endorsed the antisemitic content of JA Hobson’s book ‘Imperialism’ in the foreword he wrote to the 2011 edition.
She wrote: There is ‘an impression that you either do not care whether your actions, inadvertently or deliberately, signal support for racist attitudes or behaviours’. She adds: ‘Whilst you, quite correctly, explicitly commended Hobson’s criticism of caricatures of African and Asian people, there is a failure to make even a passing reference to |
| the blatant antisemitism in the book that you enthusiastically endorse.’
Marie added: ‘In your letter, you claim only to have ‘reserved praise for some of the broad themes’ of Hobson’s book and that you ‘totally deplore’ the antisemitism that was commonplace in ‘this era’. However, we note that your lengthy and detailed foreword of over 3500 words, variously describes Hobson’s work as “great”, “remarkable”, “interesting”, “brilliant”, “painstaking”, “very powerful”, “attractive”, “valid”, “correct”, “prescient” and “very prescient”, without any qualification referring to the antisemitism within it.’
You can read Mr Corbyn’s letter here, Marie’s letter here and her original open letter to Mr Corbyn here.
Read the BBC report here and the Guardian articlehere. |
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| Condemnation for fatal Hamas rocket attacks |
Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl has reacted to the Hamas rocket attacks against Israel over the weekend.
She said: “We utterly condemn the terrorism of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who have fired 450 rockets into Israel from Gaza so far. Our hearts go out to the family of Moshe Agadi and also to a Gazan mother and baby, senselessly killed by the terrorists’ onslaught. This must stop.”
Read the Jerusalem Post report here. |
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| The UK’s new Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre becide the Houses of Parliament – Register your support |
| Now is your chance to register your support for the UK’s new Holocaust Memorial and Learning centre next to the Houses of Parliament. The planning application is live on Westminster Council’s planning portal until 10 June. You do not need to live in Westminster to submit a comment. Currently, objections far outweigh supportive comments on the site.
If you support the plans and the symbolic location in Victoria Tower Gardens, please email your comment to yourvoice@big-ideas.org. Please also provide your full name, address and include the following statement: “I give permission for my comments to be logged on to the Westminster planning portal by Big Ideas on behalf of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation.” Your comments will be added to the official planning consultation on the Westminster Council website, but will remain anonymous.
For further information on the proposal, click here |
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| Thousands gathered at Hyde Park for the Yom Hashoah UK ceremony last Sunday. Pictured left to right: Vice President Amanda Bowman, President Marie van der Zyl, Treasurer Stuart MacDonald, Vice President Edwin Shuker, Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb and Chief Execuitve Gillian Merron. Public Affairs director Phil Rosenberg and Fincance Director Gregory Lyons also attended. You can see the film of the ceremony here |
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Home Secretary Sajid Javid with Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl at Sunday’s 45Aid Society dinner. The society was set up to raise money for charitable causes by Holocaust survivors taken in by the UK. Heritage and Archive adviser Dawn Waterman also attended. You can read about the event here
Photo: John Rifkin |
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| ACTIVITY REPORT |
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| INTERNATIONAL |
| Treasurer Stuart MacDonald has written an account of his experiences on this year’s March of the Living in Poland. You can read it here.
Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb and International Relations Officer Marius Bischoff met the Argentinian Ambassador and members of his diplomatic staff to discuss an event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Amia attack.
Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb attended the Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut event at Finchley United Synagogue celebrating 71 years of Israel’s Independence and 80 years of Bnei Akiva.
Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg was interviewed by Argentine Jewish radio station Radio Jai about the European Jewish Congress report on rising antisemitism. You can listen to the interview (in Spanish) here.
Chief Executive Gillian Merron and Parliamentary Officer Joel Salmon met Sam Khavin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to introduce her to the work of the Board of Deputies and the main issues in the UK’s Jewish community.
Government Affairs Officer Daniel Elton met Steve Scott, Director of the British Israel Trade Union Dialogue |
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| INTERFAITH |
| Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg was one of the honorees at an event compered by ITV’s Alistair Stewart at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lambeth Palace residence to celebrate the ‘21 for 21’ young faith leaders making a difference to community relations. Phil was nominated for his interfaith work with the Board of Deputies, the Camden Faith Leaders Forum and previously at the Faiths Forum for London. Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl was among the guests at the awards ceremony. The project was organised by the Jewish News, the Church Times and British Muslim TV, with support from the Coexist Foundation, the Faith and Belief Forum and leading communal philanthropist David Dangoor. You can read more about the event in the Jewish News and Church Times. |
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| ANTISEMITISM |
| Parliamentary Officer Joel Salmon met representatives from Facebook UK to discuss combatting antisemitism and extremism on social media. |
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| MEDICAL |
| Government Affairs Officer Daniel Elton spoke at a training day for Medical Examiners at Church House, Westminster, to explain what they can do to ensure a faith-sensitive post-death legal system. |
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