The president of the largest communal body of Jews in the UK has responded to an open letter signed by some of its representatives criticising Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Phil Rosenberg, president of The Board of Deputies of British Jews, said he disagreed with the letter, which he said “lays blame squarely on the Israeli Government”.
He also criticised the letter, published in the Financial Times, for “barely” mentioning Hamas and the role he said it had played in the breakdown of hostage release negotiations.
On Tuesday, 36 members, or Deputies, signed the letter, saying it was their “duty, as Jews, to speak out”.
It was the first show of opposition to the Gaza war by some of the Board’s members – which is made up of more than 300 Deputies.
Writing in an opinion piece published in the Jewish News on Thursday, Mr Rosenberg said: “Whether intentionally or otherwise, the impression that has now been put forward by certain national and international news outlets is that yesterday’s letter published in the Financial Times, signed by approximately ten percent of Deputies, is the position of the Board of Deputies as an organisation, and therefore the position of the UK Jewish community as a whole.
“This is emphatically not the case, and as president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, I speak for the organisation as a whole.”
He said the signatories “are now experiencing what I and other senior Board representatives know all too well; that it is remarkably easy to get the media to listen to you in this country if you highlight your Jewish identity while vocally criticising Israel or its government”.
Mr Rosenberg criticised the letter for the lack of mention of Hamas, stating that it gives the group “absolutely no agency… regarding the failure of the implementation of the second stage of the hostage deal”.
Israel resumed its offensive on Gaza last month after the first stage of a three-part ceasefire deal expired. It blamed Hamas for refusing to extend the first phase of the ceasefire, while Hamas accused Israel of reneging on its commitment to hold talks on the second stage.
The Board president accused Hamas of rejecting the latest ceasefire proposal, saying: “Given that Hamas just this week rejected yet another mediation put forward via Egypt, which would have required the terrorist group to disarm, I am simply unable to agree with the viewpoint aired in the FT letter which lays blame squarely on the Israeli Government.
“I am confident that the vast majority of Deputies and the Jewish community as a whole agree with me.”
He added that he believed the signatories of the open letter “have a strong and completely genuine concern for the situation in Israel and Gaza”.
Mr Rosenberg also visited Israel on Thursday, where he met Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar.
In a post on social media, featuring a picture of the two shaking hands, Mr Rosenberg wrote: “@BoardofDeputies is clear: Jewish leadership is standing up for peace & security in Israel & the Middle East:
“Getting hostages out, defeating Hamas, pursuing lasting peace & security.
“Unity is strength. Division serves only our enemies.”
In Wednesday’s open letter, signatories took aim at the Israeli government, warning “Israel’s soul is being ripped out”.
The letter accused Israel’s government of choosing to “break the ceasefire and return to war in Gaza”, rather than engage in diplomacy and agree the next phase of a ceasefire deal.
Israel blocked the entry of food, medicine and other supplies on 2 March, a day after the first phase of the ceasefire expired, saying it did so to pressure Hamas. It resumed the war two weeks later.