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9/1/2002 (9:47) |
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British Jews at odds after rabbi criticises Israel's 'colonialism' policies
By Andrew Johnson
28 October 2001
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=101898
Leading members of Britain's Jewish community are locked in an angry
dispute over Israel's role in the international crisis.
A prominent liberal, Rabbi Dr David Goldberg, has provoked consternation
by describing Israel as the 'last colonial power in the world', a 'fact'
which had left many Jews questioning their unconditional support of the
country.
An passionate argument has followed, with the pages of the Jewish
Chronicle carrying demands that he has no right to criticise Israel in the
current climate.
Another liberal, Rabbi Dr Sidney Brichto, wrote in the paper that those
who disagree with Israeli policy should 'keep their feelings to
themselves'.
'When leading Jews start criticising the behaviour of the Israeli
government it gives the green light for those who are not friends of
Israel,' he said.
Former Labour shadow minister Gerald Kaufman, a lifelong supporter of
Israel, entered the debate with a statement that he would never visit the
country again because its current policies 'make me despair'. The writer A
N Wilson followed up by openly questioning the right of Israel to exist
because 'it never was a state'.
His comments drew a passionate response from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the
chief rabbi of Britain, who said Israel existed because 'for a thousand
years Jews had been persecuted in Christian Europe, from the first crusade
to Hitler's Final Solution'. But yesterday, speaking to The Independent on
Sunday, Rabbi Goldberg, senior rabbi at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St
John's Wood, London, repeated his criticisms of Israel and defended his
right to speak out.
He said: 'We are perhaps the most critical people on Earth of each other
and of ourselves, yet when it comes to Israel it is a golden calf and all
our critical faculties go. It is probably due to a great deal of insecurity
from the Holocaust. But I no longer think we can invoke the Holocaust as
our justification. I think the moral goodwill we had has all been used up.
Nothing we say here is as open or as honest or as critical as what they say
in Israel itself. In Israel you get killed for your views, but people still
speak out That gives me hope.
'I do find it extraordinary that people should question the right of
Israel to exist. I feel it is going to rain flesh and blood for a while,
but then a Palestinian state will emerge. It will then be in Palestinian
self-interest to live in peace with Israel and to deal with their own
extremists. I have no doubt that will happen.''
His views were backed by members of his congregation. Speaking at Kiddush,
an after-synagogue gathering, Bob Kirk from south London said: 'This is a
question of ethics. If you think something is wrong you have to be able to
speak out about it.'' Another long-serving member of the synagogue, who
asked not to be named, said: 'If Israel or any other country including the
UK has a policy with which I disagree with I must feel at liberty to say
so.'' And Rabbi John Rayner, Rabbi Goldberg's predecessor at the synagogue,
said: 'It is a misplaced sense of solidarity that leads people to stifle
debate but stifling debate is a totalitarian tactic.''
A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, an umbrella group
uniting Britain's Jewish community, said they did not share Rabbi
Goldberg's views but he had every right to speak out.
The spokesman said: 'We are not in the habit of slapping down individuals
who express an opinion. He is within his rights to speak his mind.'
[END]
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(Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/Independent)
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