Shul campaign leads to pledge on refugees
BARNET COUNCIL has responded to lobbying from Finchley Progressive Synagogue and other groups by agreeing to accept more Syrian refugees, government funding permitting.
The council has pledged to take three refugees annually from the war-torn country over the next ten years.
Welcoming the news, Finchley Progressive’s Rabbi Rebecca Birk said that through positive engagement with the council, “we have already secured the resettlement of 50 Syrian families that now call our borough home. Many visit the synagogue each week and have become true members of our community.
“Finchley Progressive members strongly believe that we can and must do more to help refugees, as a borough and as a country. I am delighted Barnet continues to be a leading humanitarian voice on this issue and I hope we can encourage other councils to do the same.”
The shul has been at the forefront of a Barnet Citizens campaign, along with Middlesex University students and refugee support groups, to lobby the council to act.
Local Conservative MP Mike Freer joined Syrian refugees who have settled in the borough at a Succot service at the synagogue which also marked the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport, which brought 10,000 children to Britain from Europe before the Second World War. Council leader Richard Cornelius told the rabbi that her community had played an important role in the scheme, and would continue to do so.
“In this year, the anniversary of the Kindertransport, Barnet can hardly fail to fulfil its part of this ambitious plan.”
Charlotte Fischer of Citizens UK said: “The UK cannot turn its back on these children but the government continues to insist that local councils don’t want to help. It is fantastic that Finchley Progressive Synagogue, Middlesex University Students Union and the members of Barnet Citizens have secured a pledge from Barnet council to take more child refugees, sending a clear message to government that our local politicians and communities are ready to help these incredibly vulnerable children.”
Rabbi Danny Rich, Liberal Judaism’s senior rabbi, said that while the Barnet breakthrough was to the credit of locals, “I am proud of the early pioneering leadership of the Syrian refugee campaign by Liberal Judaism”.
The movement was also holding “Sanctuary Succot” events in Birmingham, Lambeth, Kingston and Leicester to raise awareness of the plight of Syrian refugees.