INTERFAITH
Vice President Marie van der Zyl and Interfaith and Social Action Officer Anthony Silkoff held a series of meetings in Leeds with the Gypsy/Roma/Traveller community along with representatives from human rights charity Rene Cassin and the Leeds Jewish Representative Council.
Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg attended a roundtable on the situation of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, hosted by FCO Minister Lord Ahmad and DCLG Minister Lord Bourne.
Phil Rosenberg and Parliamentary Officer Joel Salmon attended a reception in Parliament to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Baha’u’llah, the spiritual founder of the Baha’i faith.
Phil Rosenberg and Government Affairs Officer Daniel Elton met Michelle Morton and Ratidzo Starkey from the Bank of England to discuss faith in the Bank’s context.
INTERNATIONAL
Chief Executive Gillian Merronwrote to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to express concern regarding proposed legislation by the Polish Government which would make it more difficult for Holocaust survivors and their heirs to reclaim property lost during the Shoah. The Board of Deputies has been coordinating its response with the World Jewish Restitution Organization.
Gillian Merron represented the Board of Deputies at the 4th National Community Directors Forum of the World Jewish Congress in Cape Town, joining Chief Executives from Jewish communities across the world. The Forum discussed tackling boycotts, divestment and sanctions with South African anti-BDS activists and considered global, regional and country-specific issues and campaigns. The chief executives also met leaders, parliamentarians and diplomats along with meeting with colleagues and seeing the work of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and the community.
Senior Vice President Richard Verber wrote to the Bulgarian Ambassador to express gratitude for the Bulgarian Government’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism.
Richard Verber wrote to the Ukrainian Ambassador to condemn the erection of a statue of a Ukrainian nationalist leader responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Jews.
Richard Verber wrote to the German Ambassador to thank the Federal Government for its adoption of a working definition of antisemitism based on the IHRA definition, while calling for further steps to be taken.
President Jonathan Arkush and Richard Verber hosted a private dinner with Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Director of European Affairs Andrew Srulevitch and Director of the ADL’s Center on Extremism Oren Segal to exchange views on combatting antisemitism and extremism.
Jonathan Arkush met Elie Kagan, head of crisis management at the European Jewish Council’s security centre.
Jonathan Arkush attended a concert at the Austrian Ambassador’s Residence. |
|
Grassroots and Advocacy Consultant Steven Jaffe met Jonathan Turner of UK Lawyers for Israel to discuss legal challenges facing the community.
Steven Jaffe took part in a panel discussion hosted by South Coast Friends of Israel at Fareham in Hampshire. Over 150 people attended the event chaired by Pastor Chris Wickland. Fellow speakers included Elad Ratson of the Israeli Embassy and Michael McCann of the Israel Britain Alliance. The Portsmouth Jewish community’s Michael Zeffert closed the event with a recital of traditional Jewish prayers.
Steven Jaffe spoke at the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Leyton in East London. Steven’s visit was organised by Christian Watchmen over Zion and he was welcomed by Pastor David Akomolafe of the Church.
An interview with Steven Jaffe and Rev Nick Gray of the Balfour 100 Christian committee to promote the Celebration of the Balfour centenary at the Royal Albert Hall on 7 November was broadcast last weekend on Revelation TV.
EDUCATION
Vice President Sheila Gewolb and Education Development Manager Sara Perlmutter were at King David School Manchester, which hosted the regional conference for Jewish SACRES (Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education). Sara organised the programme for the regional conference including an introduction about the success story and vast changes to King David Manchester, which was presented by Joshua Rowe.
Jonathan Arkush attended reception at BDO UK LLP to mark the successful outcome of the discussions with HMRC on issues relating to Gift Aid in schools.
COMMUNITY RESEARCH
Phil Rosenberg met Dr Jon Boyd and the team at the Institute of Jewish Policy Research and Professor David Katz, Co-Chair of Milah UK to talk about the collection of data on Jewish births.
POLITICAL
Joel Salmon met representatives from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue to discuss common work on countering antisemitism and extremism online.
CAMPUS
Joel Salmon met Rachel Kaye, Campaign Executive at We Believe in Israel, to discuss future opportunities for our Students and Young Professionals programmes to collaborate.
Joel Salmon met Aviva Shlomich, International Campus Director of CAMERA.
UK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
The Board of Deputies is delighted to be supporting the 21st UK International Jewish Film Festivalfor the third year running. The Festival will present 115 screenings from 9-26 November at 18 cinemas across the UK and includes a wonderful array of film premieres, special events, panel discussions and Q&As with leading directors, producers, actors, journalists, academics and others. The Board of Deputies is sponsoring the film ‘Remember Baghdad’, screenings of which will take place in London and Manchester with Q&A sessions. For more information and to buy tickets, click here. |