Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The UK’s largest Jewish representative body has suspended five of its deputies for two years and issued a warning to more than two dozen others after they signed an open letter criticising the Israeli government’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The decision by the Board of Deputies of British Jews comes after it launched a probe into 36 deputies who signed a letter published in the Financial Times in April that was highly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government.
It was the first public show of opposition from members of the board to Israel’s devastating 22-month war against Hamas and assaults against Palestinians by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The subsequent storm over the letter, which warned that “Israel’s soul is being ripped out”, exposed a growing rift within the body and the UK’s Jewish community over the actions of Netanyahu’s government.
Harriett Goldenberg, vice-chair of the organisation’s international division, on Thursday confirmed she had been suspended and told the FT that “so many Jews in the UK agreed with our sadly groundbreaking letter”.
“We were inundated with thanks from those who said we represented them and that we were their voice. It is tragic that a voice is still needed,” she said. “There are so many in our community in pain and in fear, who feel as we do.”
The letter was written after Israel broke a fragile ceasefire deal in March to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages, and intensified its offensive while imposing a full siege on the shattered strip.
The deputies wrote that they could not “turn a blind eye or remain silent at this renewed loss of life and livelihoods”. Condemning violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, they warned that “this extremism also targets Israeli democracy”.
In its statement, the board, which has about 300 deputies, said the signatories to the letter had breached the body’s code of conduct, adding that the “presentation and promotion of the letter” created “the misleading impression that this was an official document of the board as a whole”.
“In light of the seriousness of these breaches and in line with the code, the executive has agreed to suspend these five deputies from the Board’s activities for two years and remove them where applicable from elected positions they hold within the board,” the board said.
“In three of these five cases, the Deputies have been given the opportunity to reduce the suspension to six months by way of an apology to affected parties.”
It said 31 deputies who signed the letter “but did nothing more to promote it” would be sent “a notice of criticism” and a warning about “the likelihood of suspension if there is any further similar breach in future”.
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, according to Israeli authorities.
However, a significant minority has not. The letter thrust into the open growing concerns among some board members about the fate of the remaining hostages, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, Israeli assaults in the West Bank and Netanyahu’s decision to revive controversial judicial reforms.
Netanyahu insists he is pursuing the war to destroy Hamas and put pressure on the militant group to release more hostages.
After the US-brokered ceasefire collapsed in March, he blamed Hamas for refusing to agree to new proposals for a ceasefire deal.
But 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 56,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, reduced much of the strip to a wasteland and triggered fears of famine and widespread disease.
Robert Stone, one of the suspended deputies, said: “The views we expressed were those of many, many British Jews and Israelis.”
“The brutal Israeli government is betraying the ancient principles of Judaism, not least now the exhortation in Proverbs 25:21, ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,” he added.
