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The UK’s largest Jewish representative body has suspended one of its vice-chairs and launched an investigation into three dozen of its members after they signed a letter criticising the Israeli government’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said in a statement on Tuesday that it had taken the action over complaints from deputies after the open letter, signed by 36 of its members, was published in the Financial Times last week.
The board’s action points to a growing rift within the body — which has about 300 deputies — and the UK’s Jewish community over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to resume Israel’s offensive in Gaza, as well as his far-right government’s other hardline policies.
Harriett Goldenberg, vice-chair of the organisation’s international division, has been suspended while she and 35 fellow signatories are subject to a complaints investigation, the board said.
In the letter — the first public show of opposition to Israel’s 18-month war against Hamas from members of the board — the deputies said they could not “turn a blind eye or remain silent at this renewed loss of life and livelihoods”.
They also condemned Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while warning that “this extremism also targets Israeli democracy”.
“Israel’s soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to,” the letter said. “Silence is seen as support for policies and actions that run contrary to our Jewish values.”
Goldenberg told the FT last week that it was essential for British Jews to speak up, “otherwise, we run the risk of being complicit”.
“In Jewish history, silence is not a good thing,” she said.
Phil Rosenberg, president of the board, said in the statement that the body took “alleged breaches of the code of conduct very seriously”.
“The Board of Deputies is clear: only our democratically elected honorary officers and authorised staff speak on behalf of the organisation,” Rosenberg said.
Britain’s Jewish community has largely rallied around Israel since the war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, during which militants killed 1,200 people and seized 250 hostages.
However, a significant minority has not. And the letter thrust into the open growing concerns among some board members about the fate of remaining hostages, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, Israeli assaults in the West Bank, and Netanyahu’s decision to revive judicial reforms.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a fragile ceasefire in January under which the militant group agreed to free the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a surge of aid into Gaza.
However, the ceasefire collapsed last month after Israel sought to change the terms of the second phase of the deal, which Hamas rejected.
Netanyahu’s government then imposed a full siege on Gaza and renewed its offensive.
The veteran premier insists he is pursuing the war to destroy Hamas and put pressure on it to release more hostages. He blames the militant group for refusing to agree to new proposals for a ceasefire deal.
In their letter, the deputies accused Netanyahu of breaking the ceasefire and failing to prioritise the hostages.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 51,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, and reduced much of it to wasteland.
