A Religious Jew's Disappointment with Communal Leadership
Jonathan Tebble, writing from Brighton, expresses dismay at how some British Jewish leaders and organisations responded to UK sanctions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements. He notes that many Jews in the UK are appalled by the Israeli government's actions, including ministers' promises to bury the idea of a Palestinian state and what he describes as unchecked settlement expansion and escalating settler violence. He criticises the media for often presenting a single view as representative of Jewish opinion, and points to groups like Yachad and Na'amod as offering an alternative anti-occupation narrative. He also rejects the notion that the chief rabbi speaks for all Jews, comparing that assumption to treating him as a pope-like figure.[S1]
Tebble acknowledges that rabbis in the UK who support the sanctions or have witnessed injustice in the West Bank exist, and he stresses that opinions on this nuanced issue are multiple and cannot be reduced to one leader's statement. He describes walking visibly Jewish with a kippah and attending synagogue during the High Holy Days, arguing that his safety as a Jew and the need for countries to call out Israel are not mutually exclusive. While recognising that Jews are unfairly held responsible for an Israeli government they do not control—a form of antisemitism that must be tackled—he believes that witnessing suffering compels action, invoking the phrase 'If not now, when?'[S1]
An Israeli Perspective on Timing and Electoral Consequences
Writing from Kibbutz Sde Nehemia in Israel, Robin Newell contends that the timing of the UK's sanctions was ill-judged. In his view, Israelis who have devoted years to pursuing a fair and secure two-state solution — and who will shortly have the opportunity to replace a government that keeps expanding settlements and denying Palestinian rights — now feel their efforts have been undercut. He cautions that an Israeli public convinced the world is set against it poses a danger, and argues Britain and other European nations may thereby have boosted the prospects of the very figures they oppose, citing Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Waiting until after 27 October, when a new government had taken shape, would have been wiser, he adds, and firm pledges on peace and security for both peoples would serve far better than sanctions imposed before an election.[S1]
Eyewitness Account of Settler Violence and State Inaction
Dr Vivienne Jackson from Walthamstow, London, recounts her experience 22 years ago in the West Bank village of Yanoun, where armed settlers severely harassed Palestinian villagers. She describes settlers killing livestock, contaminating wells, walking with guns through the hamlet, driving up and down village roads, and beating villagers. She observed with dismay how state forces indulged these renegade settlers: regional police, themselves settlers, laughed contemptuously at villagers' complaints, and the Israeli army arrived slowly or not at all when called for protection, doing nothing. She notes that in the last year, Yanoun's villagers have left their village for a second time, perhaps for good, and concludes that this is how ethnic cleansing works.[S1]
