Communal asylum charity chief urges politicians to stop using immigration to fuel hate

The executive director of a communal charity that aims to influence policy around race and asylum has given a poignant pre-general election warning to politicians who use immigration as a divisive issue.

Speaking at a packed anniversary event for the newly amalgamated HIAS+JCORE organisation, Rabbi David Mason told the audience at New North London Synagogue that attempts to dehumanise and “other” those seeking to escape persecution was a recipe for hate to “grow and fester.”

Mason spoke of a need to “wrench asylum out of high politics and into the sphere of solutions” as he vowed to step up the work his organisation does in working towards “a more welcoming United Kingdom” and a country that “is less racist … more cohesive and brings communities together.”

During his speech he  said:”“While we want an asylum system that is ordered and fair, it must also be one built on compassion.

“Isn’t that what many of our grandparents or great-grandparents wanted when they came here from Russia or Germany or elsewhere?”

Mason, formerly the United Synagogue rabbi at Muswell Hill Synagogue, noted how the Torah had commanded us to love the stranger, adding: “Our very founding story was the story of asylum and being persecuted for that. We as a people cannot stand by while refugees suffer today.”

Monday evening’s event also featured a fascinating discussion with keynote speaker Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think-tank, who was quizzed by Judith Flacks-Leigh, chair of the trustees of the HIAS+JCORE.

Katwala, who spoke of his shared British, Indian, and Irish background, is the author of the widely acclaimed book How to Be a Patriot  on British national identity and immigration, which was recently updated to include a chapter on the impact of the October 7th Hamas massacre on the Jewish community and others in the UK.

Praising the work of the charity Katwala said:”It is incredibly important to have a strong British Jewish movement for refugees. And a strong British Jewish movement for anti-racism.

“Those are different challenges. ”

He spoke of the important need to get these issues right for the wider society, but also said there “are challenges in getting it right.”

Katwala added:”Telling stories and saying the Kindertransport was very important and so on, and therefore you have just got to be as willing as you can… there are lots of questions within the Jewish community about what we need to do now in this moment to get it right.

“And to actually get anti-racism right, so that Jewish people can be part of anti-racism. It is getting much harder. If we are saying ‘oh well, you’ve got privilege now, you’ve been here a long time.'”
Katwala said on occasions so-called anti-racism did now sound like that. 

He continued:”It’s incredibly important to get our argument right.

“Anti-racism refugee issues are not the job of the migrant minority communities, they are the job of the country. And therefore I think the Jewish voice is actually incredibly important on the issue for everybody.”

The evening, which also aimed to raise vital funds for the charity’s work also saw Hias+Jcore deputy director Amos Schonfield  speak with Josh Stein, a volunteer with the group’s innovative Jump scheme where volunteers befriend asylum seekers who arrive in this country often knowing nobody, and without help to fill in documents to stay here.

Stein, who was made aware of the scheme from a colleague at his shul in Streatham, has spent the past five years helping Mo, a refugee from Somalia, get used to life in London.

Also honoured posthumously was the late social justice campaigner Dr Richard Stone, a former HIAS chair, with two of his now grown up children attending the event to collect the Lord Dubs award, named after the peer, who came here on Kindertransport and continues in the Lords to speak out on refugee and asylum issues.

JCORE founder Edie Friedman said Stone had honoured the “Jewish prophetic tradition” by always fearlessly speaking out on justice matters. 

In attendance at the anniversary event were former chair of trustees and international development partner at Mishcon de Reya legal firm Adam Rose, along with Brent Central Labour MP Dawn Butler and Sarah Sackman, the party’s parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green.

Michael Wegier chief executive at the Board of Deputies also attended, along with former president Marie van der Zyl, and Michael Ziff, who had impressed during the recent elections at the communal organisation.

Mason became executive director over the newly merged the Jewish Council for Racial Equality and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society from the USA, just over one year ago.