Ephraim Mirvis

it.Emma, I wanna ask you about the communal response in the UK.

I know that Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said that it was truly a dark day for British Jews, and that sanctions were little more than a political flag-bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric that would embolden people who, quote, "use hatred as a weapon against Jews." Obviously, the Board of Deputies of British Jews is not happy with what happened.

What are you seeing? What does it mean?

Well, I think first to say that the response from the Jewish communal establishment mainstream, and even to some extent the sort of center left, I'm thinking of the Jewish Labor movement, which is sort of the supposed Jewish affiliate of the Labor Party, has been abysmal.

What's the name of this one? Prominent British rabbis have backed, um, Ed Miliband sanctions on Israel.

Uh, this comes after, this is the UK's chief rabbi, the spiritual leader of mainstream Orthodox Jews, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, uh, was anti the, uh, anti the sanctions.

Uh, of course all the right-wing media reported on Sir Ephraim Mirvis, whereas obviously many other, um, you know, leaders, Jewish leaders are, uh, broadly support these sanctions.

Uh, and again, one has to reiterate, these sanctions really are microscopic.

I mean, no one's, we haven't talked about it really on the channel.

The longest serving member of Conservative Friends of Israel describing it as a, a, as a moment for freedom and, and decency.

And Ed Miliband, the son of a Holocaust survivor, accused effectively by Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the, the, the chief rabbi, of, um, uh, emboldening those who use hatred as a weapon against Jews.

I, I, th- there is a danger in...

I think there's a danger in attributing any form of logic to antisemites, just as with all racists.

It also announced it will stop staff from charities, including Save the Children and Oxfam, from going to Israel.

Here, the Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, accused the government of gesture politics, which would only fuel extremism.

But Mr. Burnham said it was important for the UK to do more than just speak out in support of a two-ta-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Britain has to stand for fairness against injustice.

Um, but one prominent critic has dominated many of the newspaper headlines.

Britain's Chief Rabbi, um, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, released, um, this statement.

So he said, "This is a truly dark day for British Jews.

Today, our government has chosen to ignore the deep concerns expressed by so many of us.

And to sort of compound this point I'm making, uh, I wanna read out a tweet from a gentleman called Ben Kentish, uh, who's LBC, and he made a comment about Ephraim Mervis, um, earlier on today About one o'clock, and Ben Kentish, like I said, is Jewish, and he's blocked me on X. I believe he's blocked you on X.

He's blocked me on X as well.

He, he's not politically sympathetic to us Important to note that the UK Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, is the senior rabbi for one Orthodox conservative branch of Judaism in the UK.

As such, he represents around 20% of Jews in Britain.

But I thought I'd been focused on the UK.

Um, the UK's chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, described the ban as gesture politics that would succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed deep regret over the announcement, and urged both the UK and Israeli governments to avoid pursuing what appears to be party interests over national interest.

So that's quite scathing.

Now, this came after he had met with, or he had spoken with members of the British Jewish community.

Uh, Burnham's government, um, has been in touch with them a- about antisemitism, and you heard from the UK's Chief Rabbi, um, Ephraim Mirvis, how disappointed he was that the UK's organized Jewish community, um, made very clear their concerns that antisemitism, real antisemitism, what British Jews are facing, is not, you know, just people who won't sit next to Jews because Jews smell bad or have horns.

Not that kind of, uh, brute- Antisemitism.

The real active and violent antisemitism right now has to do with the idea that, uh, Israel is this uniquely, uh, guilty and uniquely bloodthirsty state that's engaged in genocide, and all these terms that we hear being promoted.