BNEI AKIVA SPLIT?
THE British branch of Orthodox Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva is re-examining its relationship with World BA after the international group’s general secretary, Rabbi Noam Perel, held on to his job despite calling for a revenge attack on Palestinians. The rabbi said the IDF should “take the foreskins of 300 Palestinians” in retribution for the killing of the three Israeli teenagers. The British group, which condemned the rabbi’s remarks, could decide on its future in the next two weeks the conflict. The majority of questions posed to Foreign Secretary William Hague during Monday’s 85-minute session focused on whether the response to Hamas’ rocket attacks had been “disproportionate”. Repeatedly asked to condemn Israel’s air strikes on Gaza in the strongest terms, Mr Hague said he would not succumb to “pressure to adopt totemic words”.
Among those defending Israel’s right to self-defence were Labour’s Louise Ellman and Tories Rob Halfon and Matthew Offord, who all highlighted the rocket attacks faced by Israeli civilians.
Labour MP Graham Jones apologised after he posted a tweet accusing a British Jewish journalist of “killing children” in Gaza. In response to a question from Jewish News reporter Justin Cohen about the conflict, Mr Jones had written: “Murder is murder. There’s no justification on either side. You’ve lost any sense of humanity & justice. You’re killing children.”
In Casablanca, Morocco, a rabbi was assaulted. In Germany, pro-Hamas rallies took place and in The Hague, Holland, several hundred people blocked a street carrying signs which read: “Stop doing what Hitler did to you.”