Leibler: David Cameron and Anglo-Jewish leaders

Isi Leibler
Candidly Speaking from Jerusalem
18 June '11

http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=2975



Anglo-Jewish leadership is again under the spotlight following its response towards recent behavior by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Today every Jewish community engaged in dealing with government feels challenged by the need to balance silent diplomacy with public action. Even the American Jewish leadership, which prides itself on strident public action, is in a quandary as how to respond to the conflict between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

But Anglo Jewry has a long and unique tradition of maintaining a low profile as a matter of deliberate policy, even extolling the effectiveness of Jewish action based on “whispering” rather than “shouting.”

The problem is exacerbated with the status awarded to anti-Israel Jews, who are increasingly quoted approvingly in the mainstream media and frequently given greater prominence than the established Jewish leadership.

In addition, there is a growing inclination, conscious or otherwise, by increasing numbers of Jews to adopt an anti-Zionist chic in order to distance themselves from the growing anti-Israelism which saturates all levels of society. This is brilliantly portrayed in Howard Jacobson’s 2011 Booker prize novel, The Finkler Question, which satirically portrays an assimilated British Jew seeking to escape his Jewish heritage and “integrate” by turning against his people.

Last November, with British media hostility against Israel reaching an all-time high, this trend climaxed when Mick Davis, Chairman of the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA), publicly urged British Jews to be more critical of Israel, and made a number of bizarre statements condemning Israeli security policies. The issue was covered in a Jerusalem Post column I wrote earlier this year.

Huberman: What about JNF land in 'Arab' areas?

Bataween
Point of No Return
13 June '11

http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-about-jnf-land-in-arab-areas.html


Although some British community leaders deny it, David Cameron's resignation as Jewish National Fund honorary patron is the result of an insiduous Palestinian campaign of delegitimisation. But is the JNF, once a pillar of the Israeli establishment, doing enough to put its case? It's time to turn the tables and talk about the JNF land seized and squatted on by Arabs, says Michelle Huberman in her Jerusalem Post blog, Clash of Cultures:

Whilst the pro-Palestinian campaigners celebrate David Cameron stepping down as Honorary Patron of the JNF, our Jewish leaders here in the UK (thankfully with the exception of Harvey Rose of the ZF) seem to be excusing his actions rather than condemning them. Leading the choir is Mick Davis, the controversial UJIA chairman who asserts: "Whatever the reasons David Cameron may have for stepping down as patron of the JNF, I have no doubt he has not responded to pressure from anti-Israel groups and there is no basis for this assertion."

Has Mick Davies not seen the StoptheJNF campaign? This movement has been working relentlessly to delegitimise the JNF. They have a very polished operation and no doubt see Cameron’s actions as a victory for their struggle.

David Cameron is a great orator, and he gave a marvelous speech defending the Jewish community at a recent CST dinner, however before leaders sing his praise they should not forget that our British leader plays to his audience. It was not so long ago when he was in Turkey with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he was describing Gaza as prison camp and that the Israeli defensive attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable.

The Jewish community in London expect the leaders of the main Jewish charities to speak out in defense of the JNF. This charity is embedded in our hearts, and we have memories of putting our spare change in blue boxes in our parents' and grandparents' homes and saving up to buy trees in Israel.

As Samuel Hayek, the chairman of JNF UK stated: “The lack of vocal support for Israel on this issue from leaders of Anglo-Jewry has been deafening.” Earlier in the year he took the brave decision to withdraw the JNF from the Jewish Leadership council, an unelected body that has now “shifted significantly” towards foreign affairs and the actions of the Israeli government.

But are the JNF putting their case over well enough? How many people know that the JNF lays claim to 73,974 dunams in southern Syria (Jewish Property Claims against Arab Countries, by Michael Fischbach p36)? The earliest purchase was made in the 1880s when it was under Ottoman rule. Surely they should have been demanding compensation from the Syrian government? Maybe if this had come to public attention, it could have been negotiated for the Palestinian refugees that the Syrian government have allowed to fester and more recently mobilised to storm Israel's borders.

The same in Lebanon: 4,000 dunams. Originally purchased by the Palestine Israel Colonisation Association (PICA) and later transferred to the JNF. This could also have been negotiated.

Where is the outcry when Arabs build illegally on JNF-owned land? There is an extremely tangled web of Jewish ownership in Arab areas. There are hundreds of thousands of Arab squatters in 'Arab east Jerusalem' who live on land still owned by the Jewish National Fund. The JNF purchased hundreds of individual parcels of land in and around Jerusalem during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Some ended up under Jordanian control. In 1948, on one of these parcels the UN built the Kalandia refugee camp, seizing the land without permission from the owners, the JNF.

As Gil Zohar explained in his 2007 Jerusalem Post piece other parcels of land in 'Arab' east Jerusalem were cut off from their Iraqi and Iranian Jewish owners after they came under Jordanian rule. In total 145,976 dunams of Jewish land is said to have come under Jordanian control. (Jewish property claims against Arab countries by Michael Fischbach, p 85).

Another 16,684.421 dunams of Jewish land in the rural West Bank - including the Gush Etzion settlements, land between Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm, and in Bethlehem and Hebron - were seized by the Jordanians after 1948.

The Palestinians lament that JNF trees have been planted on the site of 400 villages, but Jews have been evicted from every city in the Arab world, their synagogues abandoned, their cemeteries bulldozed and their property seized – amounting to losses 50 percent greater than Palestinian. These Jews were loyal citizens and non-combatants, hundreds of miles away from the war in Palestine.

Now that Bibi has finally spoken about the Jewish refugees from Arab lands, maybe he will start to talk about the actual losses in monetary terms?

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The de-Zionization of Anglo Jewry

Isi Leibler
Candidly Speaking from Jerusalem
25 November '10

Mick Davis, the South African-born chief executive of the powerful mining group Xstrata, is chairman of Anglo Jewry’s United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) - the principal fund-raising institution for Israel of the UK Jewish community.

He also heads a body known as the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) - essentially comprised of a group of wealthy British Jews and their acolytes who, by virtue of their financial largesse, assume a dominant influence on many levels of communal life. The power represented by their collective wealth enables them not to be accountable to anyone and few would dare question their policies.

Anglo Jewry has been blessed in the past with rich philanthropists, many of whom were also endowed with wisdom. Despite his immense wealth and access to the most important leaders in the land, Sir Moses Montefiore was devoted to his people and, far from radiating hubris or arrogance, generated respect and love.

In striking contrast, Mick Davis, also known as “Big Mick,” displays characteristics associated with the nouveau riche, akin to the behavior of some of the Russian- Jewish oligarchs. His opinions are rarely challenged and he contemptuously rejects the suggestion that holding a communal role in any way precludes him from publicly expressing views which would normally be considered incompatible for anyone occupying such a position.

Needless to say, Davis is fully entitled to say whatever comes to his mind. Nobody seeks to deprive him of freedom of expression.

Many Jews are critical of Israeli governments.

But for a person holding senior public office in a major Diaspora community to indulge in crude public attacks on Israeli leaders and relate to Israel’s security requirements in relation to their impact on his image in non-Jewish circles is surely bizarre and utterly unconscionable.

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Analyzing British Jews' Views: The Opposite of What's Suggested

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
01 August '10

There is an interesting recent poll of Jews in the United Kingdom but an article about the poll is equally interesting. I’m not writing to criticize Jonathan Boyd’s analysis but to point out some of the assumptions it reveals. [No need to follow the link as I quote practically the entire text.]

His article’s theme is clear. Entitled, “The Writing on the Wall,” (suggesting that it is the beginning of the end for British Jewish support of Israel) the idea is that while the poll results show support for Israel it also reveals disquieting trends. My response is that all of the alleged contradictions of what British Jews are in fact not contradictions at all, and an analysis shows their support for Israel even stronger than it seems.


Here are two aspects to keep in mind:


--Jews should not have to think of Israel as perfect in order to support it. If on one hand the discovery that Israel makes mistakes or has imperfections drives some Jews on the left to reject it completely (Israel is horrible because it doesn't give the Palestinians everything they demand), those on the right often try too hard to prove Israel is perfect or demand that it fulfill their political standpoint regardless of Israel’s own interests (Israel is falling apart because it pulled out of the Gaza Strip or supports compromises).

--Most of their views are in the context of Israel’s own political spectrum of debate, which the author does suggest, or even policies. In this respect, thinking otherwise shows outdated or mistaken concepts of Israel that often surface in attacks on the country. There are simply ludicrous articles written, often in prestigious publications, by those who only identify as Jews when criticizing Israel and make the silliest errors about analyzing the country.

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