As an organisation whose members are drawn from many synagogues throughout Britain, we are delighted that, last week, 39 rabbis from two major Jewish denominations (Liberal and Reform) demanded an end to the bloodshed in Gaza. We hope that all UK political leaders will at last begin to realise that there are large numbers of British Jews who are deeply unhappy with Israel’s vastly disproportionate onslaught against Gaza.
The UK rabbis are quite right to highlight the dreadful toll of “tens of thousands” of Palestinian deaths, and the plight of many more who have suffered life-changing injuries and trauma. They are right to draw the world’s attention to those Gazans who still “lie buried under the rubble of destruction”. And they quite rightly warn that any Israeli ground offensive against Rafah “will have a devastating impact on vulnerable and traumatised civilians”.
