Young pro-Israel activists appear on video supporting annexation

Young pro-Israel activists have featured in a video voicing support for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

The clip, viewed more than 5,000 times, was produced by the National Director of Herut UK, Harry Markham.

It features a university Jewish Society president, former candidate to lead for Union of Jewish Students, and the ex-national director of Bnei Akiva.

This comes as communal groups such as the Board of Deputies have come under immense pressure to publicly comment on annexation.

The video opens with Ruchama Tannen of UCL, who says that “for too long now our voices have been ignored. Enough is enough.”

Marcus Langford, Reading University Jsoc President says: “We as Jews stand by Israel in asserting its sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria. Historic heartlands of Israel”.

Ben Dov, former National Director at Bnei Akiva six years ago, said “Judea and Samaria is such a central part of the Jewish religion, that any Jewish person, any Zionist, whether they are right wing or left wing, Orthodox, Reform or secular, should in their heart, in their gut, feel sad if we had to give it away.”

Among the 16 people featured included Etan Feingold, a former UJS presidential candidate and Jacob West, whose family are members of Woodford Forest United Synagogue.

Markham said the video was made “in order to show that there is no anti annexation consensus amongst young Jews” and “to ensure the community discussions on Judea and Samaria are fair and representative. “You can’t have a debate regarding an extension of Israeli sovereignty with just those that oppose it. No one else was going to be the case in favour of Israel’s plans forward, so we did”.

The Union of Jewish Students said it “has never commented on the political opinion and actions of individual Jewish students and at this stage does not plan on changing that now.”

“In recent years there has been no vote on Annexation at UJS conference”.

Bnei Akiva commented on Ben Dov’s appearance, saying “while many may share his views he is not an official representative of Bnei Akiva UK. The membership of Bnei Akiva holds a range of views on the subject of annexation and as a movement Bnei Akiva UK is politically non-partisan.”

You can watch their video here: