B’nai B’rith UK

On the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel, the largest massacre of Jews on one day since the Holocaust, B’nai B’rith UK mourns all the victims who were murdered in acts of unspeakable barbarism. We will never forget the horrors that unfolded as Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israel, slaying the innocent, destroying entire families, raping women and kidnapping children and the elderly. These were horrors on an appalling scale and they have left deep wounds in Israeli society. At the same time, the Hamas attacks have led to a tsunami of antisemitism around the world. For three years, Jews have been attacked, victimised, ostracised and harassed in public spaces, compounding the grief of October 7. We stand with the Israeli nation on this solemn day, mourn alongside her victims and hope that in time, the wounds can be healed. We also hope that there can soon be a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians, one that is truly based on security, prosperity and dignity. Dr Jeremy Havardi Director, Bureau of International Affairs

B'nai B'rith UK is appalled by the Green Party's adoption of an explicitly antisemitic resolution, which is now party policy, that equates Zionism with racism. In effect, the party has taken one of the central definitions of Jewish identity and declared it to be racist, putting them at loggerheads with the majority of Jews in the UK. The motion also calls for the destruction of Israel, denying the right of Jewish national self-determination, sanctifying mass violence and echoing the genocidal rhetoric of Hamas. That such a motion falls so close to the commemoration of the October 7 attacks is a further mark of shame. The party has since claimed that Jewish members are safe from discrimination and bigotry. But this rings hollow when a motion to safeguard those members from disciplinary proceedings for attending a synagogue or other Jewish organisation was decisively rejected. As the party is almost certainly in breach of the Equality Act, it is time to refer it to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for institutional racism. Until this resolution is rescinded, the party must be treated with the same contempt one would reserve for any far-right grouping. . Dr Jeremy Havardi Director, Bureau of International Affairs