Have Israel Just LOST One Of Their BIGGEST Cheerleaders?

Right, so for over 18 months now, the world has watched in horror as Israel has waged a relentless and brutal genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Over 51,000 men, women, and children have been killed, entire families erased, hospitals and schools reduced to rubble, and a population being systematically starved and displaced under the guise of self defence and national security. The atrocities have been so extreme now though, especially in light of the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire, that even some of Israel’s most steadfast supporters are beginning to break ranks, which now includes a number of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, for so long the go to apologists of Israeli genocide for British mainstream media, supposedly the representatives of all British Jewry, though that is very much a self appointed claim, a great many British Jews as appalled by their previous comments on Israel and antisemitism as any number of the rest of us.
In what is a move I frankly never thought I’d see the day happening, a shift amongst a minority of its members, speaking out against the rest it would seem, have published an open letter in the Financial Times condemning Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza, which they describe as the "Itamar Offensive"—a reference to the foul far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and bringing him back into the Israeli government, shoring up Benjamin Netanyahu’s support, appearing even to some in the BoD to be the primary motivation for the renewed bloodshed.
Yet as surprising as this condemnation of Israel is, it is too little, too late. Making that worse is the fact that only 36 out of some 300 Board members signed the letter—roughly one in eight—demonstrates that the majority still refuse to acknowledge the gravity of Israel’s crimes. So does this change anything, or are we seeing cracks appearing in one of Israel’s most vocal British allies finally and will they widen further still?
Right, so The Board of Deputies of British Jews, and their staunch longstanding support of Israel really begs the question do they represent British Jews, or do they just represent Israel and for many people including a good many of the British Jews they claim to represent, the answer is very much the latter. It is not a neutral body. It has long functioned as a staunch advocate for Israel, often conflating Jewish identity with unwavering support for the Israeli state, which is a falsehood, anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, yet plenty of supposed Jewish representatives would demand you believe otherwise or be called a racist. This has become a more and more untenable position to take, particularly as Israel’s actions have grown increasingly extreme and therefore criticism of defending bodies like the BoD has become more vocal. The Board has consistently dismissed accusations of Israeli war crimes, opposed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and even lobbied the British government to adopt the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism, which critics argue, rightly in my view, is used to silence legitimate criticism of Israel.
For 18 months of genocide, the Board’s public statements have been overwhelmingly supportive of Israel, even as evidence of mass killings, forced starvation, and targeted destruction of civilian infrastructure mounted. Their silence, their justifications, have been deafening and made all the more so as the mainstream media wheel them out time after time to attack any given anti-Israel or Pro Palestine narrative.
Therefore, this recent letter, albeit signed by a minority of Board members, marks a significant shift, albeit a limited one insofar as it changes anything. The signatories have written this letter in the Financial Times and behind a paywall at that, so I cannot replicate it here, but an excerpt of Middle East Eye’s coverage of the story reads:
‘In an open letter, 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD) criticised the Israeli government for resuming its assault on Gaza, warning that "Israel's soul is being ripped out".
Published in the Financial Times (FT) on Wednesday, the letter is the first public show of opposition to Israel's war on Gaza from within the BoD.
Signatories urged the BoD, which has more than 300 elected deputies, to release a statement criticising the renewed offensive in Gaza last month, but the BoD has not done so.
The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out, the open letter says.
Israel’s soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to.
Silence is seen as support for policies and actions that run contrary to our Jewish values.’
What has also been said by these same board members, notably in relation to the ceasefire agreement from January, is that this had already provided Israel with more than enough security guarantees to move forward to Phase 2, which Israel has systemically objected to. Yet Netanyahu, who is of course facing corruption charges and desperate to maintain his far-right coalition so he stays in power, chose to reignite the war for no more reason than his own self interest. And of course we’ve seen the results of that in recent days. For example there has been the news of a father who has lost all six of his sons in a single Israeli strike on their vehicle as they travelled to volunteer at a nearby soup kitchen in Gaza, There was the strike on the Al-Hli Baptist Hospital, on Palm Sunday, the staff were given just five-minutes warning before being bombed, leaving the wounded with nowhere to go and Dr Mads Gilbert, who has volunteered in Gaza for the last 30 years has described working in Gaza now as making Dante’s Inferno look like a tea party.
These are not acts of self-defense. They are acts of calculated, deliberate cruelty, designed to inflict maximum suffering and death. It is genocide. At least some in the Board of Deputies appear to have finally come to this realisation.
But why has it taken this long for even a fraction of the Board to speak out? The esteemed Middle Eastern journalist Jonathan Cook summed this up nicely in a comment he put on Twitter, reading:
‘36 members of the Board of Deputies – the largest body claiming to represent British Jews – break with its support for Israel's genocide in Gaza. The group think 'Israel’s soul is being ripped out'.
- They are a year and half late noticing the genocide.
- They are 58 years late grasping that Israel has been an apartheid state.
- And they are 77 years late recognising that Israel is a settler colonial state.
But hey, better late than never.’
I don’t think he’s very impressed and none of us should be really. This is a belated and insufficient reckoning. The fact that the majority of the Board still refuses to condemn Israel’s actions—even now—suggests a deep institutional complicity and that is backed up by some of the more rancid right wing media outlets rapidly offering up a response by the majority of the BoD in light of this letter, one such publication being Jewish News and their chief apologist for Israel masquerading as a journalist Lee Harpin, part of which reads:
‘The Board of Deputies represents the diverse constituencies of the UK Jewish community.
We understand that around 10% of our Deputies signed this letter and that potentially others would associate themselves with it.
Others would no doubt put more emphasis on the fundamental responsibility of Hamas for this ghastly situation and the need to ensure that they are prevented from ever repeating the heinous crimes of 7 October.
This diversity is not unlike the politics of Israel itself, whose rambunctious democratic culture sees a fierce exchange of views about these excruciating life and death issues.’
Genocide is apparently rambunctious democratic culture now it seems, the majority of the Board are not form turning.
Moreover, the decision by these dissenting Deputies to publish their letter in the Financial Times, behind a paywall, rather than in a widely accessible forum, underscores even their reluctance to fully confront their own role in enabling Israel’s crimes and how timid they are even now in calling it out. If these members truly believed in the urgency of their message, why not release it openly? Are you representatives of British Jewry, or not? Why hide this behind a paywall?
So if the Board are not really making much fuss at all here ultimately, does this letter matter at all? Well it does demonstrate something of a split within its ranks.
This fracture within the Board of Deputies is perhaps symbolically significant, perhaps this is something that will continue to grow and drive bigger divides, but it does not absolve the organisation of its past and ongoing failures to call out Israel’s genocide of the last 18 months. What Hamas did on October 7th was reprehensible, their being solely at fault for the fatalities of that night remains questionable however in light of Israeli confessions and witness testimonies, but even if you hang what happened on that night solely on Hamas, it doesn’t excuse everything we’ve seen Israel do since. Only 10% of the BoD seem to now agree though, even now. The majority’s continued support for Israel, even in the face of genocide, exposes willful moral and ethical blindness within the ranks of the BoD.
For those of us who have been paying attention, the atrocities in Gaza have long been undeniable. The fact that even some of Israel’s most loyal defenders are now wavering should serve as a wake-up call. If they can no longer justify the slaughter, how can the rest of the BoD and indeed haw can anyone else besides?
Pressure has clearly come donw on the BoD for its stance and so more of that please, might continue to make life difficult for them if they don’t take a stronger stance. The minority who signed the letter must push for the entire organisation to condemn Israel’s actions unequivocally, but quivering behind paywalls as they seem to be, whether they have enough spine for that remains debatable in my view.
The BoD aside, more support for Palestinian voices and journalists who have been documenting these crimes for months will add to the pressure felt on the likes of the BoD and the government and this is especially pertinent, since the British pro Israel establishment is coming for Richard Medhurst again, who has just been ordered to surrender himself by the middle of next month to police at Heathrow.
We must keep up our demands that governments impose sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law and we should continue to boycott companies and institutions that profit from or enable Israel’s occupation and genocide.
The Board of Deputies’ letter is a small crack in a dam of denial for this organisation and we need a flood to see change.
History will judge not just Israel, but those who enabled its crimes, whoever and wherever they are. The Board of Deputies’ delayed and partial condemnation does not erase 18 months of complicity and much more before that. True morality requires more than a whisper—it demands a roar, so will the rest of the Board find its voice, or will it remain on the wrong side of history, whilst squeaking from the sidelines?
Meanwhile, whilst some of Israel’s erstwhile supporters are finding that unequivocal support harder and harder to justify, Israel’s ability to continue its genocide of Gaza and its war fronts elsewhere might be taken out of its hands before much longer and it’s China who might actually be responsible for that, ending the US arms supply chain to Israel as they appear more than capable of doing right now and all because of Trump’s tariffs. Get all the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch. Please do also hit like, share and subscribe if you haven’t already done so, so as to ensure you don’t miss out on all new daily content as well as supporting the channel at the same time which is very much appreciated, holding power to account for ordinary working class people and I will hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.