OPINION: We couldn’t represent this Israeli government, say 23 former embassy staff

We are former employees of the Israeli Embassy in London. We include British, Israeli and dual citizens. We are former Embassy speechwriters, press and public affairs officers, security officers, administrators and support staff. All of us are proud to have worked at the Embassy helping to represent the interests of the State of Israel to British audiences.

Today, however, we could not in good conscience carry out the roles we were once so proud to hold. Amid the crisis brought about by Israel’s extremist coalition, we do not believe that the Embassy is any longer a place where the interests of the Jewish and democratic State of Israel can effectively be represented.

Indeed, if we worked there today then if we hadn’t already walked out we would be strongly considering our positions.

Our work involved communicating difficult truths to the British public about the tough choices a democratic state must take to defend its citizens from terror, and communicating positive facts about Israel as a vibrant, thriving, liberal democracy in stark contrast to the slanders of Israel’s enemies.

You cannot credibly warn of the threat of terror which Israeli citizens tragically face daily while working for a government whose National Security Minister has multiple convictions for violence and incitement to terror, but who has the audacity to call peaceful Israeli demonstrators “terrorists”.

Sadly, under this government, embassy staff are no longer part of an effort to tell difficult truths on behalf of a liberal democracy, but part of an effort to whitewash Israel’s first government with explicitly anti-democratic intentions.

The roles we used to perform, therefore, are no longer credible.

You cannot credibly warn of the dangers of extremism when Israel’s finance minister responds to murderous mob violence against the village of Huwara by calling for the ethnic cleansing of that village by the IDF.

Israeli policemen blocking demonstrators in Tel Aviv from entering the Ayalon Highway. Credit: Jotam Confino

You cannot credibly warn of the threat of terror which Israeli citizens tragically face daily while working for a government whose National Security Minister has multiple convictions for violence and incitement to terror, but who has the audacity to call peaceful Israeli demonstrators “terrorists”.

Many of the arguments we used to make leaned heavily, and sincerely so, on the kinship of shared values between liberal democracies.

But you cannot credibly strengthen the relationship between Israel and Britain on the basis of solidarity between democratic states while working for this government. A government that seeks to move Israel out of the camp of liberal democracies. A government that by pushing through “Judicial reforms” would remove all the civil rights protections enjoyed by Israel’s citizens, trampling the values of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

You cannot credibly strengthen the relationship between Israel and Britain on the basis of solidarity between democratic states while working for this government.

It cannot be ‘business as usual’ and we urge those working at the Embassy today – both diplomats and staff – not to stand by while a cynical, extremist government threatens the very soul of the State of Israel.

We could not in good conscience have done our jobs for a government that is betraying the Zionist vision of a Jewish and democratic state and imperilling its future.

No doubt current members of staff at the Embassy are considering their positions.

They should be.

To our successors there, we urge you at the very least to stand in solidarity with the Israeli public. This Sunday March 12, an Israeli led demonstration against the so-called Judicial reforms is taking place in London.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich arrive to a cabinet meeting on the state budget, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, Feb. 23, 2023. (Alex Kolomoisky/POOL)

We hope that current diplomats and staff of the Embassy will join that demonstration.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in recent weeks, flying Israeli flags and singing Hatikva while demanding that their government cease its attempt to establish an illiberal regime.

They have done so not as political partisans, not as part of this camp or other, but as patriotic Israelis who love their country and cherish its democracy.

In the face of an unprecedented crisis we hope that you will not stand by, but do the same.

Orly Amedy Burgess

Itai Bar

Vered Berkovi

Erez Cabili

Lior Ganon

Paul Gross

Ma’ayan Israeli

Shiri Kraus

David Krikler

Natalie Lee

Lior Lev-Ari