Communal leaders urged to boycott Israeli minister on UK visit
Israeli diaspora affairs minister Amichai Chikli is expected to visit the UK next week, but Defend Israeli Democracy activists are urging communal groups including the Board of Deputies not to meet him
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Communal leaders are being urged to decline an invitation to meet with the controversial Israeli diaspora affairs minister Amichai Chikli ahead of an expected visit to the UK next week.
A letter sent to the Board of the Deputies, as well as the other main communal organisations by the anti-Benjamin Netanyahu Defend Israeli Democracy UK group claims Chikli’s arrival in this country, and his request to meet with Jewish leaders here “is an attempt to legitimise the far-right government in which he serves.”
Jewish News understands that along with requested meetings with organisations including the Board, the Jewish Leadership Council, the Community Security Trust, Chikli will take part in other pre-arranged events designed to attract positive publicity, including a reception at the UK Israeli embassy.
It is understood that protests have been arranged to coincide with Chiki’s visit to the UK, by campaigners opposing the Netanyahu’s increasingly far-right government.
As diaspora minister in the Netanyahu government, Chikli is responsible for managing relations with Jews abroad, including tackling antisemitism.
Last month, when he attended a Tisha B’Av event in Israel, he was greeted with cries of “shame, shame” from anti-judicial overhaul protesters.
The Likud lawmaker has a history of making inflammatory comments, both in relation to antisemitism, and in a succession of remarks about the LGBT+ community.
In their letter to the Board, supporters of the Defend Israeli Democracy UK group, who are themselves Israelis living in the UK, suggest that some of Chikli’s past comments “if used by a non-Jew would be seen as perpetuating antisemitic tropes.”
The letter writers, who have been at the forefront of the campaign against PM Netanyahu’s controversial judicial overhaul also accuse Chikli of showing “contempt towards progressive Jews in the diaspora and LGBT+ people.”
In February, Board president Marie van der Zyl and chief executive Michael Wegier confirmed they had a “positive, full, and frank discussion” with the Israeli minister in Jerusalem.
They add that if the meetings in the UK do go ahead “while we think this would be a mistake, we request that you challenge him in the strongest possible terms” over his past record of inflammatory statements.
Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl and Chief Executive Michael Wegier had a “positive, full, and frank discussion” with Israeli Minister of the Diaspora, Amichai Chikli, in Jerusalem. @bodpres, @MichaelWegier, @AmichaiChikli, @IsraelDiaspora pic.twitter.com/14GtcmeBdu
— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) February 28, 2023
The letter continues: “We hope he returns from his visit to the UK well aware that 80 per cent of British Jews, according to JPR research, oppose his government.”
In the past Chikli has openly defended those who criticise the Jewish philanthropist George Soros, despite claims of antisemitic intent.
He tweeted earlier this year: “Criticism of Soros – who finances the most hostile organisations to the Jewish people and the state of Israel is anything but antisemitism, quite the opposite!”
Chikli has also targeted the liberal American organisation J Street with claims it is “hostile” to Israel.
He was photographed making a face at an anti-judicial reform march in New York City attended by hundreds of Jews.
It led to claims from a senior official to President Joe Biden that Chikli is “out of touch with the US Jewish Diaspora.”
He has also described the Palestinian Authority is a “neo-Nazi entity” and that it is necessary to “examine alternatives to its existence”.
In a Facebook post, written before he entered politics, he said that he believed that the “LGBT flag is no longer the flag of the gay community” but rather that of “a new nation-religion” which believes that “Zionism is the enemy of humanity.”
He has subsequently softened his stance saying gay people should “no longer need to be ashamed of their sexual preferences,” but that “does not mean that it should be a reason for pride.”
But criticising the annual Tel Aviv Pride event he wrote of its “disgraceful vulgarity” adding that “one of the most beautiful things in my eyes about sexuality is precisely the fact that it is subdued.”
Sharon Shochat of Defend Israeli Democracy UK told Jewish News:”We are in the middle of a fight for saving Israel’s democracy from the extremist government Shikli is coming here to represent.
“Our hope is that he will leave the UK with a vivid understanding that most members of the Jewish community bitterly oppose this government and are horrified at the grievous damage Chikli and his accomplices are wreaking upon the Jewish state.”
Jewish News has contacted the Board, the JLC, and the CST for comment.
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