The Board of Deputies of British Jews stands accused of genocide denial

PRESS RELEASE

Jews Against Genocide Denial

Contact: Tony Booth
Email: [email protected]

10th November 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Board of Deputies of British Jews stands accused of genocide denial

Today, Jews Against Genocide Denial have released an open letter (see full letter below) accusing the Board of Deputies of British Jews of denying the genocide perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinians. Our letter followed its attack on the Green Party and its Jewish Leader, Zack Polanski, calling it a racist party for passing a motion declaring Zionism to be a form of racism. We are Jews who have a range of views on the merits of that motion and include many Jewish members of the Green Party. We all abhor antisemitism and other forms of racism or discrimination. None of us see the motion as racist, antisemitic or feel it is a threat to our safety as Jews.

We believe that the Board of Deputies has attacked the Green Party in order to hide its own racism against Palestinians and protect Israel from further censure. Instead of reflecting on its own position and listening to its internal critics it has silenced them. It deploys false accusations of antisemitism against the Green Party and anyone else who documents and publicises Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Allegations of institutional antisemitism against the Green Party are false, use antisemitism as a political weapon, and are therefore an abuse of Jews.

The Green Party motion had defined Zionism as the dominant form it has taken over the last one hundred years, leading up to the creation of an ethnically cleansed, apartheid state and culminating in the genocide of the Palestinians to which we have borne daily witness on our phones, computers and televisions. The motion represents the perspective of Palestinians within the Green Party.

Genocide denial is part of genocide, sometimes called its final phase. The denial of the World War II Holocaust, abuses Jews and all its other victims. Denial of the genocide in Palestine abuses Palestinians and supports Israel’s war crimes.

We call on the Board of Deputies to stop aiding genocide. When we recognise that genocide is happening to anyone, anywhere, we Jews must know that our duty is to condemn it and act against it.

OPEN LETTER TO THE BOARD OF DEPUTIES OF BRITISH JEWS

We Jews assert that the Green Party is not racist for passing a motion linking Zionism with racism. We accuse the Board of Deputies of British Jews of genocide denial. We urge it to desist.

We Jews, including many Jewish members of the Green Party, are writing to condemn your motion calling the Green Party racist. We abhor all antisemitism, all racism, all discrimination.

We are all in agreement that the Green Party is an anti-racist Party, and its motion, Zionism is Racism, is not antisemitic. None of us find it a threat to ourselves, as Jews. Some Jewish Greens supported it, some opposed it, some thought it unnecessary, given the party’s already strong stance against Israel’s oppressive regime and war crimes. You are seizing an opportunity to join with others opposed to the motion to attack the Green Party and its Jewish leader Zack Polanski because of the Party’s firm stance against Israel’s genocide. Zack Polanski is supported by the vast majority of Jewish Greens. Your allegations of institutional antisemitism against the Green Party are false, use antisemitism as a political weapon, and are therefore an abuse of Jews.

The Green Party motion was born out of Palestinian horror at the genocide. Its main proposer has lost 56 members of her wider family in Gaza. Yet your lengthy motion fails to mention genocide or any of the other institutional trappings of racism within Israel. Your motion is a device to hide your own racism and Israel’s institutional racism, reflected in a discriminatory legal system, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

You had tried to discredit the evidence of Israel’s apartheid. You know that Israel was a close ally of apartheid South Africa. Its apartheid was named by the towering figure of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. You ignored the 2021 report from B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, which characterised the apartheid of the Israeli administration: “a regime of Jewish supremacy from the river to the sea”. You rubbished the conclusions of reports on Israel’s apartheid from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. We Jews should be wary of condemning and ridiculing human rights organisations, given their emergence after the horrors of the second world war. We need their protection, too.

You had welcomed the government’s claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza “cannot be described as a genocide”. Channel 4 Dispatches showed that the UK government has hidden its own complicity by manipulating the advice it receives. Yet even the limited recognition by the International Court of Justice in 2024, of a “plausible genocide” carries duties of genocide prevention under international law. You must know that the genocide has since been confirmed by the overwhelming majority of genocide scholars, human rights organisations and the United Nations.

You complained about the government’s token reduction of arms licenses to supply the Israeli military. You showed your opposition to international law, again, when your president urged EdMiliband to avoid banning trade in goods and services with illegal West Bank settlements. You have cheered the banning of Palestine action, who try to prevent genocide by stopping the manufacture of weapons for Israel. You support the campaign by your close allies in the Community Security Trust and Jewish Leadership Council for the proscription not to be overturned by the Supreme Court.

You subject to sanctions any criticism of Israel within your ranks. A petition was started against previous vice-president, Sheila Gewolb accusing her of breaching the IHRA definition of antisemitism, for criticising the Israeli Nation State Law. Former president, Marie van der Zyl, blocked an internal survey of opinion on Israel amongst deputies in order, it seems, to obscure the variety of opinion within the organisation. When 36 deputies mourned the massive loss of Palestinian life and condemned Israel for breaking a ceasefire rather than saving hostages, you responded with reprimand, suspension and accusations of disloyalty. They said:

“The inclination to avert our eyes is strong as what is happening is unbearable. But our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out.”

You should have acted on their words. Instead, you silenced them.

You are genocide deniers. Genocide denial is part of genocide. It makes you complicit. The denial of the World War II holocaust, abuses Jews and all its other victims. Denial of the genocide in Palestine abuses Palestinians and supports Israel’s war crimes.

For the last two years, a group of Jews, young and old, observant and secular, have fasted for Gaza on Yom Kippur outside the Houses of Parliament. You and others were called on there, to desist from genocide denial. We ask you to face the reality that the dominant ideology of Zionism, over more than a hundred years, has fed Israel’s racism, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. We demand that you stop weaponizing antisemitism to hide these crimes. When we recognise that genocide is happening to anyone, anywhere, we Jews know our duty is to condemn it and act against it.

We will always remain open for dialogue.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Booth
On behalf of Jews Against Genocide Denial and 260 other signatories.

Erika Adler
Marion Adler
Ethan Almond
Scilla Alvarado
Euphrosyne Andrews
Ruth Appleton
Yael Arbell
Chaim BabadDaphna Baram
Sue Bard
Judith Baron
Moshe Behar
Yoav Beirach
Netanel Ben Yarden
Ofra Ben Porat Ram
Alan Bernstein
Carla Bloom
Emanuel Bloom
Louise Bloom
Peter Bolwell
Alice Bondi
Hannah Booth
Katie Booth
Hagit Borer
Rachel Boyd
Philipa Bragman
Haim Bresheeth-Zabner
Tana Bronstein
Benjamin Brown
Maya Brown
Erica Burman
John Cagan
Ariel Caine
Eve Cina
Judith Clark
Aaron Clarke
Katie Clarke
Rosalind Clay
Annabel Gottfried Cohen
Ron Cohen
Simon Cohen
Sylvia Cohen
Zoe Cohen
Katy Colley
Rebecca Collier
Esther Crasnow-Dodd
Noah Crasnow-Dodd
Mandy Croft
Hannah Cross
Mike Cushman
Sima Cutting
Georgina Daniels
Professor Miriam E. David
Felicity De MottaAlan Joseph Deadman
Peter Deadman
Mary Deigan
Rob Denison
Merav Devere
Angela DOindale
Elliot Doom
Pippa Dowswell
Pamela Dub
Sally Rebecca Eason
Mark Elf
Kip Erev
Judith Favish
Andrew Feinstein
Jonathan Feldman
Shelley Feldman
Maia Filler
Mark Findlay
Deborah Fink
Martin Fisher
Sylvia Finzi
Torr Fischman
Jonathan Fluxman
Peter Frankental
Nicky Freeling
David Fried
Kathy Fried
Klaus Fried
Beth Frieden
Debbie Friedman
Ruth Friedman
Kenny Fryde
Jonathan Galton
Ophira Gamliel
Ruth Garde
Carrie Gaye
Margaret Gelb
Victor Gelb
Carolyn Gelenter
Ray Gergen
Zohar Dina Glouberman
Judith Glynn
Dr David Goldberg
Simon Goodman
Stuart Goodman
Joshua GottliebMel Gould
Nick Greenberg
Sandra Greenberg
Tony Greenstein
Joshua Greig
Ruth Grimberg
Helen Grisdale
Cameron Haberberg
Yohai Hakak
Sara Hall
Alison Harris
Robert Harris
Scarlet Harris
Summer Hemmings
Joel Hirsch
Miriam Hoffman
Jessica Howard
Carol Hudson
Adam Hurst
Jeremy Isaacs
Lin James
Zeben Jameson
Diana Jerome
Ahuvia Kahane
Lola Karpf
Jenny Kassman
Ellie Kavner
John Keidan
Alison Kerr
Angie Kotler
Ann Kramer
Judith Kramer
Debbie Krantz
Sarà Krish
Richard Kuper
Felix Lane
Ruth Lass
Felicity Laurence
Michelle Laufer
Mike Layward
Joanna Leigh
Taló ra Leigh
Judith Lesser Cravitz
Leah Levane
Anna Liddle
Sonja LindenGeorge Lissauer
Adrian Litvinoff
Robert Lizar
Dave Lukes
Leon Lukes
Peter Lukes
Nina Lyndon
Barbara Macintosh
Tal Machover
Camile Mair-Behar
Marji ManOield
Jenny Manson
Helen Marks
Stuart Markless
Helen Martins
Daniel Maxwell
Jessica McDonald
Naomi McDonald
Ruth McGrath
Leora McNamara
Heather Mendick
Torin Menzies
Tamara Micner
Angie Mindel
Sara Mokone
Felix Moore
Rosie Morland
Shosh Morris
Rebecca Moss
Idit Nathan
Mica Nava
Yael Navaro
Marc Neal
Arthur Neslen
Diana Neslen
Diana Neslen
Esther Neslen
Margaret Owen O.B.E
Sam Oliver
Craig Parr
Susan Pashkoff
Peter Perrett
Charlie Phillips
David Phillips
Anna Sophie PlaOker
Corinna PowisCharlotte Prager Williams
Dr Penny Rabiger
Caroline Raine
Roland Rance
Robert Reiner
Robert Reiner
Valerie Remy
Charlotte Reynolds
Charlotte Reynolds
Raffaella Risi Bindman
Angie Roberts
Marion Roberts
Ben Rogaly
Chris Romberg
Jonathan Rosenhead
Robert Rosenthal
Carolyn Roth
John Rubinstein
Ben Samuel
Marsha Sanders
Ian Saville
Dada Schling
Karel Michael Schling
Mike Scott
Beau Sebastian
Glyn Secker
Irene Sedler
Marian Sedley
Ori Selkirk
Cath Senker
Meir Shabat
Nick Sherwood
Avi Shlaim
Liz Silver
Noah Simon
Sue Simmonds
Ludi Simpson
Erica Smith
Rachel Solnick
Donatella Soldi
Elena Solomon
Leni Solinger
Bernard Spiegal
Charlotte Stein
Emilia Steuerman
Helen StollarAdam Stock
Tamar Szmuilowicz
Emma Tait
Inbar Tamari
Ash Taylor
Anthony Traub
Benjamin Treuhaft
Michel Trainer
Sam Troiani
Abi Tucker
Eva Turner
Shereen Usdin
Clara Usiskin
Tessa van Gelderen
Carole Vincent
Bob Walker
Nicholas Weaver
Sally Webber
Janet Weitz
Anthony Whiteson
Susan Whiteson
George Wilmers
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi
Professor Emeritus Richard Wistreich
Talia Woodin