‘Enough is enough’ – members of leading British Jewish body criticise Israel

Health officials in Gaza say that another 22 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. One of those strikes, in Jabalia in the north, killed three young children from one family.

It’s scenes like this that have prompted thirty-six members of the largest body representing Jewish people in the UK to condemn Israel‘s renewed offensive in Gaza.

The members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews published an open letter saying they feared for Israel’s future. We spoke to one of the authors of that letter, Baron Frankal and asked him how difficult it was to speak out.

Baron Frankal: I think it’s very difficult because we’re all conflicted and we all face feelings of sadness and anxiety and despair. I think you can get a sense at the end of the day – 36 of us – 36 members of the board – deputies – out of 300. I would say at least that number again feel the same way, but didn’t feel able to say so publicly. But it’s difficult because you put your head above the parapet, don’t you? But I think it’s come to such a pass and such a crescendo that a critical mass was felt we needed to say so.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Yeah, so why now? What is it that has pushed you over the edge?

Baron Frankal: I’ll speak personally. I think the tipping point came with the return to war a month ago. I think the overwhelming wish of the vast majority of the community is to get the hostages back and objectively the evidence is unambiguous that the best way to bring the hostages back is through diplomacy. I think we’ve had 135 hostages now released in two waves of negotiation and just eight by military action and we don’t know how many killed by military action. And then I think when there was a deal on the table to bring all the hostages back, at the price of withdrawing from Gaza, and the fact that the Israeli government, that an extremist right-wing Israeli government would not take that path, to bring the hostages back, but instead for cynical political reasons to bring back an awful extremist Jewish power party back into the coalition in order to pass the budget, for many people, for me, that was a tipping point.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Obviously, there are people on the right of Israeli politics who say that people who take your view, from outside the Jewish community, the people who say ‘Israel broke the ceasefire, that the return to bombing is wrong, that you’re on the side of Hamas.’ What’s your response to that kind of criticism?

Baron Frankal: Of course we’re not. We know that 95% of the Jewish community don’t support Ben-Gvir. And Ben-Gvir was the bit that came back to the coalition that took us back to war. Ben-Gvir is openly racist, openly anti-Arab. If people understood the repercussions of having such people at the heart of the Israeli government. There was no moral universe where the great majority of people would – and Jews would – accept such people in any other walk of life and why should we accept them in Israel and why should we support them? Of course we can’t.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: What kind of reaction have you had?

Baron Frankal: There’s a strong, strong traditional view in the community that you don’t speak ill of Israel publicly. It’s a line that you don’t cross, it’s a taboo. I think we felt a backlash from that, and we’ve seen a backlash of that. But equally, I’ve had positive messages about, ‘thank you for standing up, thank you for your voice, well done.’ You know, I’ve definitely had more positive messages in the course of the day, thanking me for doing it, than I’ve had negative.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: That’s very interesting. Thank you very much.

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