West Midlands mayor heaps praise on the region’s ‘incredible’ community

Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street welcomed more than 1,600 attendees to the start of Limmud 2023 in Birmingham by praising the “incredible” contribution of the long-established community to the region.

But in his speech given at last Friday’s Shabbat candle lighting session at the annual event at the the Hilton Birmingham Metropole the mayor appeared temporarily lost for words as he spoke of the “incredibly difficult three months” since the “seventh of October incident”.

Mayor Street had said he was delighted that Limmud organisers had decided to stage the event in Birmingham again this year and added he was “keen to come along” to praise the impact of the small Jewish community in the region.

The Conservative leader named the three shuls in Birmingham, who Street said made him feel “very welcome” before also noting that Solihull also had its own community, and how Birmingham University now has the largest and most “special” JSoc in the country.

“That’s what the structure is here, “said Street, who added he wished to say “a little bit about how that structure conducted itself against the international backdrop because actually there’s a story here I am very proud of in my region”.

The mayor then continued: “Of course, and you will all sense it far more than me, that this has been an incredibly difficult three months since that… since that 7 of October incident.

“But the reaction in the West Midlands to that has, I think, been a source of incredible strength. Because what we have seen from both the Jewish leadership, and indeed, the critical point, the Muslim leadership, has been incredible dignity, moderation, tolerance and respect to one another.

“I want to publically applaud the leadership of the Jewish leadership here for how they have conducted themselves and led.

“But equally, I should applaud the Muslim community. So for example, the chair of our biggest Mosque actively condemned Hamas.

“And you can imagine the reaction he got for doing that. That was a brave thing to do. The leadership here of the Muslim community have, of course not been able to address everybody in their community, but have actually shown incredible restraint, and the best values of multifaith work.”

Street added he believed that the statistic that not a single person has been arrested on any demonstrations in the region was still correct since 7:October.

“That speaks a great deal to the fact that this is the most diverse city in Europe, the youngest, and a city where leadership across all faiths have worked very hard on the principle that toleration and respect for one another are alive every day.”

Street said he made “respect of all faiths” a feature of his current stint as mayor of the region.