Silence is not safety. Nuance is not weakness

After two years of conflict, Britain is tired of choosing sides. Yet within the Jewish community, many of us are still told that unless we speak from fear or suspicion, we are abandoning our people.

More In Common’s new report, After Choosing Sides, shows otherwise. It affirms what many in Progressive Judaism have long known: nuance is not weakness.

The data tells a striking story. Despite relentless pressure, most Britons do not choose a side. They are not apathetic or naive. They are horrified by suffering in Israel and Gaza, desperate for hostages to return, devastated by the calamity facing Gazans, and frightened by rising antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate on British streets.

This has been the position of Progressive Judaism from the start: principled, compassionate, clear in condemning brutality wherever it appears, and unwilling to diminish or sacrifice the humanity of either people.

Parts of the Jewish communal conversation dismiss nuance as betrayal. Too often the loudest voices claim safety comes from tightening the circle and speaking only to those who agree. Their response to fear has been to flatten Jewish experience into a single defensive narrative.

But silence is not safety.

The report makes clear that the public instinct is for complexity, compassion and an end to suffering. It is also the instinct Jewish tradition demands of us.

The research now confirms what our communities have shown for two years:

• People want moral clarity without dehumanisation.
• They reject Hamas and lament Palestinian suffering.
• They want Jewish safety and the freedom to oppose Islamophobia.
• They want to worry about their neighbours, not fight them.

As progressive Jewish communities, we have insisted on the principle that healing comes from open conversations about painful things. We refuse to push our young people into ideological corners. We make space for questions without shame, for grief for Israelis and Palestinians at the same time, and for Jewish identity that is emotionally honest and proud.

This is not a failure of conviction. It is a refusal to let extremes define us.

The report also warns of a small, intensely polarised group, on both right and left, shaping the public square. They fill streets, dominate social media and frighten others into silence. They claim to speak for whole communities while the majority sit quietly, hearts broken and unsure where they fit.

Those who call nuance a luxury misunderstand the moment. Nuance is a duty. It is how multifaith Britain survives this crisis. As a Jewish community we will protect ourselves not by narrowing our world but by strengthening our voice.

Progressive Judaism must meet this moment with confidence. The centre ground disappears only when we fail to defend it. The middle is not soft. It is where the country actually is and where our Jewish values live.

This is courageous, nation-building work.

The vast majority of Britons, Jewish and not, want what we want: safety, dignity, justice and hope.

Our task now is to uphold justice and compassion and to lead without apology.

• Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy are Co-Leads of Progressive Judaism