‘Radical’ left-wing Jewish group accuses South African-born Chief Rabbi of supporting apartheid

Jewdas, the group which bills itself as “radical voices for the alternative diaspora”, has attacked Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis after he commented on the loss of life in the Gaza hospital blast.

He had written: “In all the pain and frustration of the clamour to wrongly blame Israel for the horrific loss of Palestinian life at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, let us not lose sight of what is, above all, a most awful human tragedy. Every life is sacred and I have written directly to the Most Rev. Hosam Naoum, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, to express my condolences”.

On Twitter/X, unidentified members of the group posted a picture of the Chief Rabbi with an online note showing his birthplace in South Africa. Observing “checks out”, the post then added: “You can take the boy out of 1950’s Johannesburg but you can’t…” The insinuation being that Sir Ephraim was a supporter of “Israeli apartheid”.

In fact, the chief rabbi’s family was vociferous in its response to South African apartheid. His father preached against the apartheid system, and visited political prisoners held on Robben Island, while his mother was the principal of the Athlone teacher training college, which was then the country’s sole college for training black pre-school teachers.

A previous Jewdas post on the same platform had noted: “There’s been a lot of debate about terminology — whether the proper word is ‘Terrorists’, ‘Militants’, or simply ‘Mass Murders.’ At times of tension it’s important to be precise with one’’s words. As such, we urge you to call them by their official name, the IDF”.

A spokesman for the Chief Rabbi said he would not dignify the post with a response.