BOARD OF DEPUTIES OF BRITISH JEWS- COMMUNITY BRIEFING

by Comunidad Judía · 10 Av 5780 – 31 July, 2020

Jewish community demands answers from Twitter and Facebook in aftermath of Wiley’s extended antisemitic rant

The Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust this week wrote to Twitter and Facebook to demand answers as to why the two social media giants allowed the rapper Wiley to broadcast “unadulterated hatred” on Twitter and the Facebook-owned Instagram platforms last weekend.

In the letters to Dara Nasr, Managing Director of Twitter and Nick Clegg, Vice-President of Global Affairs and Communications Facebook, the three organisations said: “The propagation of anti-Jewish conspiracies and glorification of violence were almost certainly in breach of existing UK laws but without question broke your community standards and terms of service. For the duration of his outburst, not only was your platform not a safe space for Jews but through your delayed action – many people, including young people, were able to see the posts.”

The letters, signed by Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl, incoming Chief Executive of the CST Mark Gardner and JLC Chair Jonathan Goldstein, demand answers on the three main issues concerning the Jewish community. These are: what went wrong; how they will stop a repeat of this shameful episode; and how they intend to address the wider impact of hate speech on their platforms.

The Board of Deputies, the JLC and the CST observed a 48 hour social media silence as a protest against the lack of any meaningful response to Wiley’s extended tirade of abuse, under the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate.

You can read the letter here

Twitter’s Head of UK Government, Public Policy & Philanthropy Katy Minshall replied to the letter. In response, the Board of Deputies, JLC and CST released this statement: “Following our joint letter to Twitter yesterday and the walkout by the community and our allies under the #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate banner, we have received the following response from Twitter. We have been absolutely clear that the incredibly slow and faltering response from Twitter to this very serious incident was completely unacceptable and we will need to see significant changes going forward. We will be very clear on holding the company to account on both the review and their performance going forward.”

You can watch Marie van der Zyl’s interviews here on Sky News here (at 2.33) and i24 News here. You can read coverage in The Times here and on the BBC here. Marie wrote an opinion piece on JTA. You can read it here.

Website celebrating Jewish archives in Britain is launched

This week, the Board of Deputies launched Hidden Treasures; celebrating Jewish archives in Britain that tell the story of Jews in this country

Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl introduced the event, describing the Board of Deputies as “central to the history of Jews in Britain”. Archives and Heritage Manager Dawn Waterman outlined the project, emphasising the breadth of different archives participating, from national and local government institutions to university and Jewish community archives. She encouraged other archives with material about Jews in this country to get involved.

Chief Executive Gillian Merron chaired the event which was addressed by Nigel Grizzard, Yorkshire Jewish researcher, historian and tour guide, Dr Sean Cunningham of The National Archives, and Dr Toby Simpson of The Weiner Holocaust Library.

Each expert brought with them an astonishing “treasure” from their archive, an image of workers relaxing in Montague Burton’s sun-room (from the West Yorkshire Archives Service), a mediaeval doodle, a caricature of a Jew drawn by a clerk on a legal document and a German 1930’s board game Juden Rauß – “Jews Out”.

Dr Simpson summed up the project “With archives, people just need a way in. Once you’re in, then you’re hooked”.

Watch the event Finding Treasure: gems from the archives here. Take a look at the new Hidden Treasures website here.

INTERVIEW: Sara Radivan

In the first of our series of interviews with honorary officers and staff, Simon Round speaks to Regional Coronavirus Advice Capacity Help (Co-Ach) Manager Sara Radivan about Jewish life in the regions and the challenges of lockdown.

Sara Radivan has been in her post at the Board of Deputies since April. Despite being a valued and popular member of the professional staff team, she has yet to meet any of her colleagues in person – or indeed anyone else. This is of course one of the many consequences of the Coronavirus emergency. In fact, Sara’s role – to support regional communities – was prompted partly by the disruption caused by the onset of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.

Sara, the Regional Coronavirus Advice Capacity Help (Co-Ach) Manager, has enjoyed her first few months in the job and has found ways provide support to the regions during the crisis despite the restrictions. She says: “It’s been a very busy but also a really rewarding few months so far. This is a job which was created in response to needs identified in consultation with rep councils around the country. Of course it’s frustrating that I can’t get out there and start meeting people, including my own colleagues. However, one of the advantages of Zoom is that communities in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have come together to share experiences and information about the crisis. This has really brought the communities together at a time when we have been physically isolated and the Board has been the glue in this process, which is gratifying.”

Read the full interview here.

British Government strongly affirms support for Holocaust-era property restitution in Poland

The UK Government has strongly reaffirmed its support for Holocaust-era property restitution in Poland and other countries, in reply to a question asked in the House of Lords by Baroness Ruth Deech.

Speaking on behalf of the Government, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minster of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development, said: “We are in regular conversation with the Polish Government on the restitution of property seized during the Nazi occupation. The UK post-Holocaust issues envoy, my noble friend Lord Pickles, is working with the US and other parties to call on Poland to pass legislation to provide restitution to provide restitution of, or compensation for, private property.”

Poland is the only country in the European Union that has not passed comprehensive legislation for restitution or compensation for private property taken during the Holocaust by the Nazis and/or subsequently nationalised by the Communists.

“This is a powerful statement of Britain’s commitment to supporting Holocaust survivors and their families in their quest for justice,” said Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl. “The United Kingdom has long played a leadership role working with international partners to encourage the full implementation of the Terezin Declaration. By asking the question about Holocaust-era property restitution in the House of Lords, Baroness Ruth Deech has helped raise awareness on this issue.”

Read a full report here.

ACTIVITY REPORT

ANTISEMITISM

Vice President Amanda Bowman, Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg and Public Affairs Officer Daniel Sugarman met Lord John Mann, the Government’s independent adviser on tackling antisemitism, to discuss the fight against antisemitism on social media, in politics, at university campuses and in football.

Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg and Public Affairs Officer Daniel Sugarman met Twitter’s public policy team to express the community’s anger and distress at the way that the platform had handled grime artist Richard Cowie (Wiley)’s antisemitic rant against the Jewish community.

Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg and Public Affairs Officer Daniel Sugarman met the Public Policy Team at YouTube to discuss ways of tackling antisemitism on the platform.

INTERNATIONAL

Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb and International Relations Officer Talia Ingleby held a virtual meeting with the Charge D’Affaires of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to express concerns over the ongoing Holocaust restitution dispute between the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) and the Dutch Jewish Community, supported by the World Jewish Restitution Organisation.

Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg, who is also a member of the World Jewish Congress’s Jewish Diplomatic Corps, joined a WJC conference call with counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany and Israel to discuss ways of better engaging young people with the work of leading Jewish communal bodies.

COMMUNITY

Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb addressed a meeting of the Hertfordshire branch of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) where she spoke about the work of the Board and her role within it.

Vice President Edwin Shuker and Community Engagement Officer Lauren Keiles attended the first British Indian-Jewish Association webinar ‘Bagels and Samosas with Lord Dolar Popat’.

Vice President Amanda Bowman attended the final session of the Jewish Community’s Trustees Conference.

Community Engagement Officer Lauren Keiles and Government, Religious and Affairs Officer Daniel Elton attended a meeting with the GLA organised by the London Jewish Forum to discuss community volunteering in the recovery of Covid and for any future emergencies.

Chief Executive of the S&P Sephardi Community David Arden presented to the Board of Deputies professional staff team in the ‘Bitesize Training’ session in order to strengthen work between both organisations.

President Marie van der Zyl and Community Engagement Officer Lauren Keiles met the Chair of Liberal Judaism Ruth Seager and Vice Chair and Deputy Karen Newman to discuss future areas of collaboration between Liberal Judaism and the Board of Deputies.

Chief Executive Gillian Merron, Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg, Operations Director Judy Silkoff and Government, Regional and Religious Affairs Officer Daniel Elton met the Office of the Chief Rabbi’s Chief of Staff Ari Jesner, Director of External Affairs Dan Bacall and Director of Communications Mark Frazer to discuss current and shared priorities.

Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg met the JLC’s Interim Co Chief Executive Claudia Mendoza to discuss key public policy issues facing the community.

RACIAL INCLUSIVITY

Stephen Bush, Chair of the Board of Deputies’ Commission on Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community, chaired the first Evidence Gathering Meeting with Black Jewish participants. Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg and Interfaith and Social Action Manager Anthony Silkoff attended as observers.

ECOSYNAGOGUE

Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg, Interfaith and Social Action Manager Anthony Silkoff and Eco Synagogue Project Manager Andrea Passe joined an Eco Synagogue Steering Group meeting with rabbis across the Jewish denominations to discuss plans to engage the community in activities to tackle climate change.

EcoSynagogue Project Manager Andrea Passe facilitated the inclusion of Jodi Coffman to speak and lead Q&A in Environment workshop for Youth Plenary in August.

EcoSynagogue Project Manager Andrea Passe spoke to Angelina Doherty of West London Synagogue’s Green Team to discuss moving forward with their membership of EcoSynagogue. Angelina has agreed to help test the new survey being developed.

INTERFAITH

Interfaith and Social Action Manager Anthony Silkoff attended the Faiths Community Forum of the Inter Faith Network, where Rabbi David Mason was the guest speaker. He gave an update about Eco Synagogue, which works in partnership with the Board of Deputies.

THE BODCAST

The Board of Deputies has broadcast the first two in its BoDCast series – online webinars for the Jewish community addressing current key issues in our community. You can see George Floyd and Racism against Black People: How Should Jews respond here and Not All Black and White – An Introduction to the Charedi Community here.

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