DEPUTIES ATTACK BOARD’S ‘LEFT AGENDA’
MORE THAN 20 members of the Board of Deputies have signed a letter in support of the Conservative MP Robert Halfon after he criticised the communal organisation for pursuing a “left-of-centre political agenda”.
The group, who describe themselves as of “mixed political leanings and electoral voting histories” state that Mr Halfon, “one of the most senior Jewish figures in Parliament, articulated sentiments that many of us and our constituents have felt for a long time.”
In the letter, the signatories say that they are “uniformly troubled that the Board is, as Mr Halfon rightly observes, intent on pursuing a left-of-centre political agenda and has a partisan bias”.
Backing the Harlow MP’s claims to the JC’s website on Sunday that the Board’s Community Briefing email — which is circulated among politicians and communal leaders — for the week ending April 23 “read like a press release for the Labour Party”, the letter suggests that there has “long been cause for concern” over the “imbalanced partisan leanings” of senior Board officials.
They write: “While nobody would question the dedication of the Board’s staff, the effect of their imbalanced partisan leanings — the Board is led by a former Labour minister and its political work by a recent Labour councillor — is obvious and has long been cause for concern.
“To give one example, even during the Corbyn era, the speakers at the Board’s annual dinners have been heavily skewed toward Labour figures.
“The influence of unelected officials over Board policy is compounded by the exclusion of ordinary deputies from decision-making processes at the Board.”
The signatories say they “welcome constructive meetings with the new Labour leadership held in private” but are critical of what they allege is the Board’s “rush to publicise these meetings and normalise relations” with the party.
They are particularly critical of the “scandalous” response to the Board’s meeting with Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy and accuse the communal organisation of attempting to “whitewash” the Labour MP’s “endorsement of the so-called ‘right-of-return’ — a policy tantamount to and designed to eradicate Israel as a Jewish state.”
The letter writers, whose names have been provided to the JC on the agreement that they remain anonymous, also slam “the Board’s hysterical response to Mr Halfon’s intervention”.
On Sunday, a Board spokesperson called Mr Halfon’s comments “ignorant… disingenuous and outright false” and questioned the “courage and integrity” of the MP.
In the letter, the signatories state: “Instead of moving quickly to repair relations with the party of government, which has stood by our community as we watched anti-Jewish racism take hold in Labour, the Board has poured fuel on the fire.
“The Board must immediately retract this shocking statement and explain to deputies how it came to be released.”
On Monday the Board president, Marie van der Zyl, and Mr Halfon spoke to discuss the weekend’s coverage. Following the call, the pair said: “We deeply regret this weekend’s exchange. Going forward, we will endeavour to share any concerns in private first.
“We discussed our shared agenda around issues like antisemitism, Israel and Jewish schools — issues on which we recognise each other’s valuable work — and will be focusing our future conversations on these matters.”