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Rosenberg pledges to ‘double down on British Jewish Zionist values’ regardless of Israeli election result
Board president uses statement days ahead of critical Knesset elections to criticise failure to crackdown on settler violence
Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg has pledged to “double down on British Jewish Zionist values” regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s Israeli elections.
Delivering his statement at Sunday’s Board plenary, Rosenberg positioned the communal body under his leadership as opponents of “From the river to the sea,” whether that’s said on a demonstration in the UK or around the Israeli cabinet table.
He made clear that the Board would continue to “challenge bias, whether in the media or at the UN,” but also added that “we will urge the Israeli government to recognise that its failing reputational security, its woeful PR, seeking to sell unsellable policies, is a threat to its national security too.”
In a significant admission, Rosenberg suggested that alongside the continued threat of Palestinian terrorism, the “crimes” of violent settler extremists in the West Bank “are having a huge impact” on the image of Israel globally.
“In recent weeks and months, so many of us will have felt distress at the actions of violent extremist settlers,” he said. “Even if they are a small minority, their crimes are having a huge impact. This includes the response we’ve seen to people, including members of our own community, who are seeking to peacefully support the Palestinian olive harvest.”
He continued: “These actions were condemned by many in the Israeli government, including the president. But the persistence of this over many months and the IDF at times standing by or supporting actions suggest a government, at best, unable or unwilling to take the action required to stop it.”
Setting out his intention to focus on “British Jewish Zionism,” Rosenberg acknowledged: “Some will never want to hear public criticism. I understand that there is so much criticism about, so much of it is unfair, and even at times it is motivated by anti-Semitism in its modern guise of anti-Zionism.
“But here I would contrast real Zionism with zombie Zionism. British Jewish Zionism has never required us to switch off our minds to merely follow where extremists want to take our noble cause.”
He emphasised that, as the Board of Deputies, “our response to the election, regardless of the outcome, will be to double down on British Jewish Zionist values.”
Admitting there could be tensions between the policies of the Israeli government of the day and the Zionist values espoused by the Board, Rosenberg said: “To switch off our minds in that way is zombie Zionism. Real Zionism is a series of values which we will fight for, even if some of the prominent, meanwhile faces of the Zionist cause, even if it’s the elected Israeli government of the day, appear to go against them.
“With love and with determination, we will seek to work with the Israel we love to get it to where we want to see it, to where our values take us. Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, a state that is well capable of defending itself where it needs to, but willing to stretch out the hand of peace.”
He added: “We will continue to promote the pursuit, however difficult, of a two-state solution. Not because we are insensitive to the obstacles or how that is impossible tomorrow or next week, but because every alternative is far worse.
“We want to see a state that treats all its citizens, including Arab citizens, equally. A Jewish state for all streams of Judaism. Israel’s security, welfare, and standing remain non-negotiable for us. We will call out Iran, its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, as well as incitement by the Palestinian Authority.”
Rosenberg ended his pre-Israeli election statement saying: “Whatever happens in Tuesday’s election, we, the British Jewish Zionists, will seek to bring our values to bear for a future of hope, a future of peace, security, prosperity, and flourishing for Israelis, Palestinians, and the wider Middle East.”
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