OPINION: To demonstrate leadership, our communal bodies must stand with Israel democracy protesters
Where was the Board when Bibi came to town? asks Joseph Moses, CEO of Campaign PR
The past few months have been a tumultuous time for the thousands-strong Israeli community living in the UK.
Being a British Israeli and a former employee of the Board of Deputies (BoD) myself, I’ve always had pride in the UK Jewish community’s social, charitable and political impact.
This was recently exemplified by the strong stance taken by the BoD in support of asylum seekers. Yet the inability of leading communal organisations to stand with their Israeli sisters and brothers as they have taken to the streets to oppose Netanyahu’s government of fanatics and their blatant assault on Israeli democracy is beyond disappointing. It is an abdication of leadership.
The silence is even more jarring as prominent UK Jewish philanthropists and business people – deeply invested in Israel’s present and future – have taken an active stand, with several speaking at the next planned demonstration in London on April 30.
Netanyahu’s misguided attempt to seek respite from protests at home and position himself as a respectable world statesman in London last month was the perfect opportunity for the Jewish leadership to show true solidarity. Instead, it exposed a fear that I had long forgotten about.
Ahead of the last protests in London, the (Israeli) organisers sent the following message: “Five years ago, the British Jewish community stood in Parliament Square to say ‘Enough is enough’ about hostility to the Jewish community. Today, Israelis are out on the streets in the hundreds of thousands to say ‘enough is enough’ to the assault on our democracy… We call on all members of the Jewish community and friends of Israel who are able to do so to join.”
Unfortunately, the response to the message from Jewish communal leadership was a thunderous and deafening silence.
Israel is a real place with real people. It is not just an idea or a fail-safe – nor is it just a sunny beach-side holiday destination. Solidarity with it, and with the people who have worked and fought hard to build a vibrant and thriving democracy there, means far more than Yom Haatzma’ut parties or combating anti-Israel rhetoric, important though that may be.
At this moment, real solidarity and true Jewish unity means standing with and by those real people, who in Israel, in London and many cities around the world are fighting for what is right – for a country that means so much to them, and symbolises so much to so many.
Being an Israel supporter today means standing with those who have bravely taken to the streets to cry out and defend democracy. Real Jewish unity means speaking truth to power, standing up, even when it is painful, inconvenient, or challenging. It doesn’t mean hiding behind plenary votes at the Board of Deputies and tepid ‘both-side’ statements.
At times like these, the diaspora can’t sit on the sidelines. Leaders of this community can’t ignore the Israelis who are part of their community in their thousands, or the Israelis who are part of the wider Jewish family who are taking whatever steps they can to stop Israel descending into a de-facto dictatorship (or, at the very least, an illiberal democracy – not a club we want our hard-won country, the fruit of a two thousand-year-old hope, to join).
What these organisations need to realise is that solidarity from diaspora communities really matters. Has the Iranian diaspora, for instance, been misplaced in supporting popular uprisings back home? At what point does the Jewish diaspora leadership realise that everyone who cares about Israel’s future has skin in Netanyahu’s cynical, self-serving game – when Israel becomes another Hungary or Poland? Instead of balking, the leaders of this established and proud community ought to say “enough is enough” this time too.
There are so many things to be afraid of: the fear of criticising an Israeli government, the fear of bad-faith anti-Israel actors using criticism by British Jewish bodies as cover, the fear of coming under severe criticism from minority extreme elements of the community, the fear of it all being too much too complex – or too fast-paced – for the community as a whole to grasp. However, being crippled by fear is not leadership.
On the morning of the nationwide strikes in Israel, President Herzog said to Netanyahu: עיני כל העם בישראל נשואות אליכם. עיני *כל העם היהודי* נשואות אליכם – The eyes of all of Israel are on you and the eyes of the entire Jewish people are on you.
The Jewish community has a role and they have a voice. With protests renewing in London this week, the likes of the BoD and the Jewish Leadership Council have an opportunity to play an active role and demonstrate a real connection with real Israelis living both in Israel and here in the UK.
To show true Jewish unity, solidarity, and leadership, all the diaspora and its main institutions have to do is actively attend the next protest on April 30th, wear and fly the Israeli flag with pride like they’ve done countless times before, sing Israeli songs and Hatikva, enjoy the wit, creativity, and cleverness of Israeli slogans, and determinedly and vocally oppose all of those posing a threat to Israel being a Jewish and democratic state – including from within.
Does that seem so scary after all?
- Joseph Moses, CEO of Campaign PR
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