TO CHANGE OXFAM’S POLICY, WE HAVE TO ENGAGE

Cancelling the Grow Tatzmiach project would benefit nobody: ( Battle lines drawn over Oxfam links, January 4) not the young people of our community, who would be denied the superb training it could offer them, nor the disadvantaged, who the entire project is designed to help. Assuming we actually want to change Oxfam’s policy on Israel, we have to engage in conversation with them. Any constructive dialogue starts by exploring common ground — in this case our shared opposition to poverty and famine.

I mentioned the debate to a nonJewish friend. He thought I was joking. For a democratic organisation representing the entire Jewish community of this country, to sever all ties with a high-profile and much-loved social justice charity would make us look ridiculous and out of touch.

I sincerely hope my colleagues on the Board will reach the right decision. Gabriel Webber Deputy for UJS Lissant Close, Long Ditton, KT6

Time and again those with a clear anti-Israel agenda have used Jews who support their campaigns of vilification as a shield when their bias and double standards are highlighted.

Given its shameful history (which the Israeli embassy has described as putting “a clearly political agenda above any humanitarian concern”) it would be naïve to expect Oxfam to pass up the opportunity this project brings to launder its reputation with British Jewry and add credibility to its one-sided condemnations of Israel and relative silence at the incitement to violence by both the PA and Hamas. David Saul Deputy for Stanmore & Canons Park Synagogue Jesmond Way, Stanmore, HA7

It is particularly heartening to see the board forming common ground with all sections of British society, especially in this case an admired NGO that does good work around the world for Jews and gentiles alike.

To protect Israel’s standing, the suggestion appears to be that the Jewish community should cut itself off from any organisation that has ever had the temerity to voice an opinion that Israeli policy is not ideal. This could be perceived by the outside world as sulking and confirm every prejudice about Zionist intransigence.

Numerous groups in Israel and the wider Jewish community, including Liberal Jewish Youth, have suggested that its policy toward the Palestinians is less than ideal. Groups affiliated to the board have said as much. The Board, by backing this motion, would be saying it wants nothing to do with anyone who deviates from a single narrow relationship to the state of Israel. By this logic, would anyone deviating from this line be boycotted by the Board? Or are Oxfam’s statements fine if made by a Jewish group? Sam Alston Deputy for LJY–Netzer sammatthewa@gmail.com

Laura Marks displays her political naivety if she believes that by pushing the Board into bed with Oxfam it can stem the tide of decades of anti-Israel rhetoric.

If it feels the need to link itself to any outside social justice programmes, the Board should first think of providing help to the million or more Israeli children living below the poverty line and going to school on empty stomachs, and the dire living conditions of Jews in Eastern Europe. Leila Cumber Elizabethan Court, Hendon Lane, N3