STANMORE & CANONS PARK SYNAGOGUE - Stanmore and ...

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Alistair de Kare Silver
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I have recently been working in
Parliament with Bob Blackman, MP
for Harrow East, with the aim of
going into public affairs. During the
past year I became a deputy on the
Board of Deputies of British Jews
representing Stanmore Synagogue
and, in the summer, I was then
elected to the Community Issues
Division. The intention of this body
is to launch initiatives which increase
communal involvement in many
different areas such as education,
heritage and social action.
Given my interests in political activity, I
decided that I want to create a working
group to increase political engagement
with MPs at a grass roots level. I believe
that we need a concerted effort to ensure
we have strong relationships in place
with MPs of all political persuasions in
order that the relationship is already
there, should issues arise. At the
moment there are a number of MPs who
have strong ties to Conservative Friends
of Israel, but have little or no
relationship with the wider Jewish
community. Whilst it is usually perceived
that Israel is the most pressing issue
facing the Jewish community, recent
events have clearly demonstrated that we
are going to face renewed difficulties and
threats to core Jewish practices such as
Shechita and Brit Milah. It is important
therefore that we bring these MPs on
board and engage them with the wider
community. It is also important to
consolidate existing relationships with
them, as well as forge new relationships
with MPs with whom we have no
contact.
In constituencies where there are large
Jewish populations, strong relationships
already do exist; for example with
Matthew Offord, MP for Hendon, Mike
Freer, MP for Hendon and Golders
Green, and Bob Blackman, MP for
Harrow East. The importance of these
relationships cannot be underestimated
and these MPs have been the most vocal
in their unequivocal support for Israel, in
particular during the recent crisis in Gaza.
In the summer Bob Blackman MP
secured a debate on the 40th Anniversary
Bob Blackman with a group of Stanmore members at the AJEX Remembrance Parade
of the massacre at the Munich Olympic
Games. In a speech to the House of
Commons he said:
Everyone will have their own views on the
opening and closing ceremonies of the London
Games. I think that it was right that we
remembered the fallen of two world wars and,
of course, the victims of the 7/7 terrorist
attacks, but the one thing that was not mentioned
was the darkest hour of the Olympic games—the
Munich massacre. I think that it is indeed
shameful that the International Olympic
Committee could not find one minute during the
six weeks of the games to commemorate the
victims of the worst terrorist attack in Olympic
history. I feel very strongly about this and have
been very vocal in my belief. I have trumpeted it
not only in the House of Commons, but at every
event during the summer to do with the Olympics.
Whilst it is essential that these excellent
relationships are maintained and
consolidated, the wider aim of this
project is to move beyond the confines
of North West London and establish
relationships where they either don’t exist
or in areas where there are few or no
Jewish constituents.
Consolidating existing relationships and
establishing ones where they don’t exist
can be done in a number of ways. What we
need to do as members of Harrow East,
together with other groups who live in
heavily Jewish populated areas, is to
maintain regular email contact with MPs
and invite them to communal events. I
have already started to do this with Bob
Blackman MP as demonstrated recently
when he attended the AJEX memorial
parade and subsequently events taking
place in Stanmore Synagogue as part of
Mitzvah day. He recently attended the
annual doughnut party.
In order to establish new relationships with
MPs which are not already in place, I am
going to start inviting them to high profile
activities in the communal calendar such as
Mitzvah Day and other important services
that take place during Holocaust Memorial
Day. Over time the objective is to see more
and more MPs at important events
throughout the communal calendar such
as the Ajex parade, Mitzvah Day and
Israel’s Independence Day. I am convinced
that the more MPs we have on board over
time, the more support we will have in
times of crisis.
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