ISRAELI GOVERNMENT WILL BE A CHALLENGE, WARNS BOARD

Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl has spoken of the “challenging” situation for many Jews in the diaspora following the election of a far-right government in Israel, writes Jotam Confino.

Van der Zyl told deputies at Sunday’s January meeting that she had met with Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, twice this month and discussed with him the UK community’s concerns about the political situation in the Jewish state.

She added: “I didn’t want anyone to think that I hadn’t mentioned to President Herzog what the concerns in the UK were and it’s going to be challenging.

“I’m sure it will be quite di cult in the times ahead, but I urge the community to be respectful in its discourse and that we should talk together as a community and try to work our way through this situation.”

She revealed Herzog had made it clear he was aware of the concerns of those in the diaspora about Israel around issues such as threats to change the Law of Return, attacks on the LGBT+ community and the weakening of the role of the judiciary.

The president also raised concerns about the derogatory treatment of progressive Jews, and developments with

An estimated 110,000 protest in Tel Aviv last weekend. Inset: Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl regard to the egalitarian prayer space at the Kotel.

Van der Zyl said that while the board would continue to “call out” issues that emerged under prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, she also wanted to “make sure we all support Israel”.

She spoke of visiting the Jewish state herself since 1968, after her grandparents made aliyah.

“I absolutely love Israel,” she con-