Board of Deputies Community Briefing 19th December 2019 copy

that he did not ‘serve Israel as well as you would’ve liked’.
“We would ask all the political parties in question to treat these cases with the utmost seriousness, and use
the full range of disciplinary measures as appropriate, from training on antisemitism and the pernicious use
of antisemitic tropes up to and including suspension of the whip (as has already been done in the case of
Mr Hanvey).”
Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl, Vice President Edwin Shuker and Interfaith and Social Action
Officer Anthony Silkoff at Azhar Academy, a Muslim girls school in Newham. They spoke to teachers and
students about the prejudice faced by Muslims and Jews. They spent the afternoon with leaders of South
Woodford Mosque, where they discussed some of the most challenging issues of Muslim-Jewish relations,
from Zionism to antisemitism, and agreed to work together on peacebuilding and community cohesion
ACTIVITY REPORT
POLITICAL
The Board of Deputies has condemned Baroness Tonge for her comments following the General Election
results on Friday morning. A spokesperson said: “We stand behind the 90 peers who are urging Baroness
Tonge to give an unqualified apology following her latest antisemitic trope of blaming Labour’s election
defeat on ‘the pro-Israel lobby’. She should also be ashamed that she spoke of the Chief Rabbi dancing in
the streets at a time when Rabbi Mirvis has actually been mourning the death of his father. As has been
proved time and again, Jenny Tonge is unfit to sit in the House of Lords.”
ANTISEMITISM
Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl commented on Tottenham Hotspur's consultation on fans'
use of the Y-Word at matches. She said: “Tottenham Hotspur’s survey of fans into the use of the ‘Y-word’
offers mixed results. However, it is telling that 94 per cent of respondents acknowledged that the Y-word
can be considered a racist term against a Jewish person. Indeed, the fact that Tottenham Hotspur refer to it
as the ‘Y-word’ indicates that the authors of the survey are sensitive to its use as a term of abuse. We
believe that its continued use keeps this racist term in the football vernacular, where it will stay until Spurs
fans stop using it. We strongly urge the club to discourage fans from its use from now on.” Read the JC
report here.
LIMMUD
The Board of Deputies will be out in force with a full programme of events at this year’s Limmud Festival,
which begins on Sunday 22 December. See full details of the Board of Deputies programme here. Go to the
Limmud website for full details about the festival.