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COMMUNITY BRIEFING
Board of Deputies to release Jewish Manifesto
following General Election announcement
The Board of Deputies has responded to this week's announcement of a
General Election to be held on Thursday December 12.
A spokesperson said: “As in all elections, we will shortly be releasing to
candidates from all parties our updated Jewish Manifesto which will cover
the issues pertinent to the community. As always, we will make no
recommendation on how individual Jews should vote, as we trust that
members of our community are fully able to make for themselves the

decision about which parties and candidates best represent their interests.”
Support for slave trade memorial in Hyde Park
Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl has supported a plan to build a slave trade memorial in Hyde
Park.
Marie said: “In the same way that the Government is supporting a Holocaust Memorial at Westminster, we
will feel it is fitting that it should fund a slave trade memorial in Hyde Park as a tribute to the millions of
people who were brought over from Africa and suffered in servitude for generations.”
Marie was a signatory to a letter supporting the memorial which appeared in The Times this week. You can
read the letter here.
Politicians from all parties put disputes about Brexit and elections aside to support Mitzvah Day at a
parliamentary event organised by the Board of Deputies and the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on
British Jews. Pictured (left to right) Andrew Hollingsworth of The Passage - a charity which helps the
homeless; Laura Marks, Founder and Chair of Mitzvah Day; Secretary of State for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs Theresa Villiers; Board of Deputies Preisdent Marie van der Zyl and Mitzvah Day Chief Executive
Georgina Bye. Read a full report on the event here.
ACTIVITY REPORT
INTERNATIONAL
President Marie van der Zyl and Chief Executive Gillian Merron attended a meeting of the Executive
Committee of the World Jewish Congress in Munich. There were discussions on Jewish unity and religious
diversity, the Iranian threat, and there was a round table with the International Special Envoys and
Coordinators Combatting Antisemitism which included Lord Pickles.
As members of the WJC delegation, President Marie van der Zyl and Chief Executive Gillian
Merron participated in a service at the memorial to the murdered Israeli 1972 Olympic athletes, and at the
Dachau Concentration Camp.
International Relations Officer Talia Ingleby attended an event in Parliament hosted by the Henry
Jackson Society, with United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combatting Antisemitism, Elan Carr.

Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb and International Relations Officer Talia Ingleby met with the
Azerbaijani Ambassador following the Board of Deputies' successful first ever delegation to Azerbaijan, to
discuss ties between the UK and Azerbaijani Jewish communities, and peace and security in the Middle
East.
Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb and International Relations Officer Talia Ingleby attended an
event at the US Embassy for International Religious Freedom Day, and to celebrate the Hindu festival of
Diwali. The Board of Deputies was also represented at the National Day Celebrations and Independence
Day celebrations of the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus.
ANTISEMITISM
Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg joined communal colleagues from the Community Security Trust,
Antisemitism Policy Trust and the Jewish Leadership Council at the Cross Government Working Group on
tackling antisemitism. The community representatives discussed the current situation of antisemitism in the
UK and internationally, and ways to tackle it, with Faith and Communities Minister, the Viscount Younger of
Leckie, as well as officials from the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department
for Education, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg addressed the Camden Neighbourhood Clergy and Community
Leaders Interfaith Forum about antisemitism and its manifestations in the Labour Party.
HERITAGE
Archives and Heritage Manager Dawn Waterman attended the private view of the United Synagogue’s
new House of Life Exhibition about the project to tell the stories of people buried at Willesden Cemetery.
This was held in the Library in Willesden.
EDUCATION
Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb attended the Executive meeting of the National Association of
Standing Advisory Councils for Religious Education (NASACRE), which was held at the Baha’i Centre in
Knightsbridge. Topics discussed included a training film project for SACRE best practice, the new Ofsted
framework, and the regional conference in May 2020.
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