UK chief rabbi voices concern over settlements
Britain’s chief rabbi has admitted that illegal settlement construction was troubling supporters of Israel in the United Kingdom but he was rebuffed by a visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis raised the issue in a meeting between Jewish leaders and Netanyahu in London on Wednesday evening.
Mirvis has reportedly told Netanyahu that friends of Israel approach him with the request to “help us help you,” by limiting settlement expansion.
Netanyahu replied that “settlements are not the issue,” and claimed that the conflict existed before the establishment of Israeli settlements beyond the Green Line.
Mirvis was not the only British Jewish leader to recently voice concern over Israel’s deteriorating image in Europe.
Speaking to the Herzliya Conference in June, Mirvis’s predecessor Lord Jonathan Sacks said that the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign made it “almost impossible” for European Jews to support Israel.
He said the campaign has already succeeded in dividing American and European Jewish communities.
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