UK Jewish body calls for open Gaza aid amid Starmer row

The Board of Deputies set out concerns over the UK recognising a Palestinian state

A protest outside the Foreign Office in London by the campaign group Na'amod and Mi-Neged. Photo: Lia Na'ama Ten Brink

The UK’s largest Jewish body has called for across-the-board access for aid shipments into the Gaza Strip in a statement critical of Israeli restrictions.

The message on the plight of Gazans came as the community group pushed back against UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s pledge to recognise Palestine.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the Israeli pause in fighting to allow aid was “essential if long overdue”, after a special meeting on Tuesday was called following Mr Starmer’s announcement.

“We need to see a rapid, uninhibited, and sustained increase in aid through all available channels, and we need to see all agencies co-operating in this endeavour,” said the board’s president, Phil Rosenberg.

It is the BoD’s first statement on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, weeks after internal rifts over the organisation’s position on the war deepened.

However, it also challenged Mr Starmer’s pledge that he would recognise a Palestinian state next month if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire. The board said the promise risked “putting gestures ahead of substance”, which could also “empower or reward Hamas”.

“We are therefore seeking clarification that the UK Government will not recognise a Palestinian state while Hamas fails to meet UK demands, including accepting a ceasefire and releasing the hostages,” Mr Rosenberg said.

“Recognising a Palestinian state without a diplomatic agreement risks putting gestures ahead of substance.

“However, our primary concern regarding the government’s announcement is to avoid empowering or rewarding Hamas, or giving it incentives to continue evading a ceasefire,” he added.

The pushback is shared by former hostage Emily Damari, a British-Israeli who was held in Gaza by Hamas for more than a year. Ms Damari said Mr Starmer’s pledge was not “on the right side of history”.

“Prime Minister Starmer is not standing on the right side of history. Had he been in power during World War II, would he have advocated recognition for Nazi control of occupied countries like Holland, France, or Poland?” she wrote on social media.

“This is not diplomacy – it is a moral failure. Shame on you, Prime Minister.”

The board has faced escalating internal tension in the past three months over its public stance on the Israel-Gaza war, which critics say failed to reflect the diversity of views among British Jews regarding the conflict.

Last month, five members of the BoD who had written an open letter to the FT criticising Israel’s renewed military campaign in Gaza from March this year were suspended for two years.

The BoD said at the time that it did not take issue with members’ criticism of the war, but with the fact that their letter had been presented as a statement from the organisation itself.

Yet the rift has caused a small but growing number of British Jews to feel disillusioned with the organisation, which has historically been the community’s representative to British officialdom.

The campaign group Na’amod, a movement of British Jews seeking an end to the war and a solution to the Palestinian issue, and Mi-Neged, a group of Israelis living in the UK, organised a protest outside the Foreign Office earlier this week calling for “forceful action” on Israel “to stop Israel’s starvation, displacement and bombing of Palestinians in Gaza”.

"Palestinian self-determination is an inalienable right, not a bargaining chip," they told The National, in response to Mr Starmer's announcement.

"The UK must uphold its obligations under the Genocide Convention and the ICJ 2024 advisory opinion on the illegality of the occupation. It needs to impose sanctions on Israel and an immediate arms embargo."