Senior UK rabbis come out in support of sanctions on Israeli settlements

Construction in the Jewish settlement of Alfei Menashe on the West Bank Photograph: Amir Levy/ View image in fullscreen Construction in the Jewish settlement of Alfei Menashe on the West Bank Photograph: Amir Levy/ Senior UK rabbis come out in support of sanctions on Israeli settlements Spiritual leaders stress diversity of views within Jewish community and warn against inaction on settler violence ‘It’s a good start’: prominent Israelis welcome UK sanctions Prominent British rabbis have backed Ed Miliband’s sanctions on Israeli settlements, warning that the time for inaction on settler violence must come to an end. The intervention comes after the UK’s chief rabbi, the spiritual leader of mainstream Orthodox Jews in the UK, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, described UK sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as a “dark day for British Jews” and warned they could embolden people who “use hatred as a weapon against Jews”. The sanctions were also condemned . Miliband rejects chief rabbi’s claim that West Bank sanctions put UK Jews at risk But other senior rabbis, many from the progressive wing of the community, have come forward to stress the diversity of views within the British Jewish community, with some backing Miliband’s sanctions, while others warned that concern about the measures should not become an excuse for ignoring settler violence and expansion, and others calling for the government to go further. Jonathan Wittenberg, a senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism, said he was in the Palestinian village of Umm al Khair while Miliband was delivering his speech, and had seen the results of settler violence “with my own eyes”. “What is taking place today in the West Bank is a Chillul HaShem, a violation of God’s name of the worst order. This is terrible for Palestinian people who want to get on with their lives in peace. It is terrible for Israel,” he said. Wittenberg added: “We must speak out. We must do so out of deep concern for what is human and just, and for the sake of Israel and Judaism. The Anglo-Jewish community is committed to a Jewish state that is founded, not on oppression and violence, but, in the words of Israel’s declaration of independence, ‘on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged ’.” Wright, who had recently visited the Palestinian village Umm al-Khair, which has faced relentless attacks , called on the Jewish community to “not hold back any progression towards a two-state solution”.