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Ed Miliband meets Jewish community leaders to discuss foreign policy tone
New Foreign Secretary holds meetings with the JLC and the Board, and with Progressive Judaism’s senior rabbis
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has held meetings with communal leaders, as well as Progressive Judaism’s two most senior rabbis, as part of efforts to define foreign policy under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
In a joint statement, the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council described their meeting as “an early opportunity to engage with the new Foreign Secretary and to outline concerns on foreign policy matters which continue to have an impact on the safety of the Jewish community and community relations at home in Britain.”
It is understood that Board president Phil Rosenberg and JLC chair Keith Black led the discussion from the communal organisation’s perspectives.
Following their own meeting with Miliband, Progressive Judaism co-leads Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy said there had been a “really good conversation” in which Miliband demonstrated a “commitment to serious and sustained engagement with the Jewish community.”
The Board and JLC noted that their discussions with Miliband covered “UK-Israel relations, delegitimisation of Israel, ongoing efforts for peace in the region, antisemitism, and the global threat posed by Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
In a lengthier statement, Baginsky and Levy added: “What impressed us particularly was that this did not feel like engagement simply about the immediate moment. There was a real sense of a longer-term commitment to maintaining the conversation, including when the issues are difficult or there are areas of disagreement.”
There were also indications that the Burnham government is considering further sanctions on Israel over settlement policy and settler violence.
“On settlements and the West Bank, there will clearly be further statements and policy detail to come, and we would not want to pre-empt those,” said Baginsky and Levy. “But our sense was that they have learnt from the debate around Palestinian recognition that it is not enough simply to make an announcement: there has to be real clarity and detail about how each decision fits within a wider vision for the region and for a viable political future.
“There was a strong sense of a government thinking carefully about how to be both brave and clear: absolutely committed to a thriving, safe and secure Israel, while also recognising that the current situation in the West Bank and the wider status quo cannot simply continue.”
Miliband is also understood to have approached the Office of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis separately to arrange a meeting.
Jewish News has approached the Foreign Office for comment.
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