Top UK Jewish group suspends officer, disciplines dozens for condemning Gaza war, Israeli gov’t
Vice chair and executive committee member at Board of Deputies of British Jews to undergo complaints procedure; org’s chief says they weren’t authorized to speak on behalf of group
An umbrella organization for British Jewry suspended one of its leaders and is disciplining dozens of members for signing an open letter condemning the war in Gaza and the Israeli government.
On Tuesday, the Board of Deputies of British Jews announced that the vice chair of its international division, Harriett Goldenberg, would be suspended during the disciplinary review. The Jewish News, a British publication, also reported that Nat Kunin, the executive committee’s representative for members under age 35, has been asked to “step back” from his role.
Goldenberg and Kunin were among 36 members of the Board of Deputies to sign a letter in the Financial Times last week opposing Israel’s decision to end its ceasefire with Hamas and return to fighting in Gaza. The letter called the renewed fighting a “brutal war,” criticized Israel’s military conduct and warned that “extremism” in its government poses a threat to democracy.
Tuesday’s announcement from the Board of Deputies said the members, who comprise roughly 10 percent of the board’s deputies, would be “subject to a complaints procedure” due to last about four weeks. The deputies represent Jewish communities and organizations across the country.
“We take alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct very seriously. I am grateful to the Constitution Committee for the speed with which they have reviewed the initial complaints, and it is right that they are now given the time and space to review the cases with due process and impartiality,” said Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg in a statement. “The Board of Deputies is clear: only our democratically-elected Honorary Officers and authorised staff speak on behalf of the organisation.”
Rosenberg lambasted the group’s letter in an op-ed in Jewish News last Thursday, writing that the criticisms were not emblematic of the policy of the Board of Deputies and that the letter has unfairly skewed public perception of the board.
????Today @FT published a letter signed by dozens of members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, speaking out against Israel's far-right gov, the abandonment of hostages & calling for an end to the war. We're proud that our representatives signed.https://t.co/qqyIOIvbHw pic.twitter.com/rT0H5A132A
— Yachad UK (@YachadUK) April 16, 2025
“I am simply unable to agree with the viewpoint aired in the FT letter which lays blame squarely on the Israeli Government. I am confident that the vast majority of Deputies and the Jewish community as a whole agree with me,” wrote Rosenberg. The ongoing war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s devastating October 7, 2023, terror attack.
Following the letter’s publication, 90 members of the United Synagogue, the UK’s largest Orthodox body, questioned Rosenberg in a “fiery” online meeting and called for disciplinary action against the signatories, according to The Jewish Chronicle.
“The fallout was not the point, though that’s inevitable. We’re speaking out of love and concern for Israel. This is not anti-Zionist. The prime objective is the release of the hostages. We’re losing sight of that,” Goldenberg told The Jewish Chronicle.
Goldenberg joined the Board of Deputies’ executive in October, one of five women elected in order to achieve what the group called a “gender-balanced Executive Committee for the first time in the organisation’s 264-year history.” She represents the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London.
In the letter, the signatories argued that “the last 18 months of heartbreaking war have shown us that the most successful way of bringing the hostages home and creating a lasting peace is through diplomacy.”
They claimed the ceasefire deal signed in January had sufficient international guarantees to ensure Israel’s future security, and branded the war’s renewal last month as the so-called “‘Itamar offensive,’ so called as it was Itamar Ben Gvir’s condition for returning to the coalition, thus enabling the Israeli government’s budget to be passed within the tight deadline needed to avoid an election.”
The letter blamed Israel for the killing of hundreds of Palestinians since then, including 15 killed while in an ambulance convoy, in an incident in which the IDF has acknowledged acting in error.
“This most extremist of Israeli governments is openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, strangling the Palestinian economy and building more new settlements than ever,” they went on, also condemning a renewed judicial overhaul legislative push.
“Israel’s soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to,” the signatories said, adding that they stand with the hundreds of thousands who campaign for the hostages and an end to the war in weekly demonstrations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
In recent days, public appeals within Israel have also called on the government to secure the release of the hostages, even at the cost of ending the war. Polls show a large majority of Israelis would support an agreement to free the hostages that would require an end to fighting.
The Times of Israel Community.