Open letter to Andy Burnham
JVL Introduction
We post below a letter to Andy Burnham, incoming leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister, written by Jewish members of Holocaust Survivors and Descendants against Gaza Genocide (HSD), Jewish Voice for Liberation (JVL – formerly Jewish Voice for Labour) and Jews for Justice for Palestinians.
Associated correspondence from the HSD to the Minister of State for Policing and Crime, Sarah Jones MP, signed by 42 Holocaust survivors and Descendants, and her totally inadequate, indeed insulting, response is attached.
Jenny Manson (Co-Chair)
Jewish Voice for Liberation
16 July 2026
Andy Burnham MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Dear Mr Burnham,
How the Labour Government responds to Jews who support Palestinian rights
We are Jewish and write as members of Holocaust Survivors and Descendants against Gaza Genocide (HSD), Jewish Voice for Liberation (JVL – formerly Jewish Voice for Labour) and Jews for Justice for Palestinians.
Since October 2023, when the Israeli Government’s retaliation to Hamas’s murderous attack on 7th October was brutal and indiscriminate, we have marched along with the large Jewish Bloc on the Palestine Marches in support of Palestinians in Gaza, calling out what we firmly believe has become a clear case of genocide. We eagerly await your premiership in the light of your recent call for stronger action against Israel along with your apology for the Labour Government’s slowness to call for a ceasefire.
Our immediate concern relates to the letter from Sarah Jones at the Home Office in response to a letter to the Prime Minister from 44 Holocaust survivors and descendants. The letter criticised statements by Keir Starmer and others that linked attacks on Jewish persons and property to pro-Palestine marches. Symptomatic of the dismissive, we would say insulting, letter to the survivors and descendants is Ms Jones’s attempt to reframe their experience of harassment on the Marches. As noted in the response on 10 July from the survivors and descendants:
“… you fail to mention that this [hostility] has come not from our fellow pro-Palestinian protesters, from whom we have received only goodwill and support but from the pro- Israel counter-demonstrators”.
There are several Jewish ‘communities’ and a wide diversity of views on Israel among Jewish people in the UK and we trust that you will meet with us and other members of the Jewish Bloc in the near future.
There has been an increasingly charged disagreement over the interpretation of antisemitism, since 2015 in particular. Supporters of Israel have found a useful tool in the definition of antisemitism by the IHRA, long discredited among most Jewish scholars – and its original author, Kenneth Stern, who has vociferously condemned its abuse as a weapon to curtail free speech. See this article for example, here in the Guardian, from 2019.
In effect many of the examples in the IHRA encourage the conflation of antisemitism with criticism of Israel. The Labour Party’s treatment of allegations of antisemitism, guided by this conflation, was deeply flawed and resulted in around 70 Jewish members of the Party being accused in some way of antisemitism. Remarkably, even questioning the Labour Party’s interpretation or its processes was itself ammunition for a charge of antisemitism. This false interpretation has been destructive in its effects. It has spoilt relations between all communities, has given Israel a protective cloak around the brutality of its actions, has undermined the right to freedom of speech and the right to protest and, we now believe, is contributing to an increase in antisemitism by appearing to privilege Jews above other ethnic groups.
We hope you will oppose any further attempts to muzzle the Palestine marches.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Manson (Co Chair JVL)
Leah Levane (Co Chair JVL)
Stephen Kapos and Agnes Kory (both child survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust)
Richard Kuper (JVL and JJP)
+ 3 enclosures
Letter from Holocaust Survivors & Descendants – 12 May 2026
Thank you for writing this.
Starmer’s administration has been responsible for so many outrages against justice and our civil rights. Burnham either starts unravelling them within days, making a swift noticeable difference to the past – or loses a lot of his credibility immediately.
Maybe put aside the unpacking at no 10 for a few hours? The first pro-Palestine March takes place tomorrow … we’re all looking to see a different style of policing it and very different statements about the government’s position on Gaza and the right to protest in interviews with Burnham.
I am writing to express my profound concern regarding the ongoing conflict and the political actions surrounding it.
As a descendant of a Holocaust survivor whose family was relocated to the UK, I was raised with strong anti-racist values. From this perspective, I deeply object to policies of apartheid and genocide, and I do not support the historical and current actions related to the settlement and governance of the region.
I believe that the fundamental right to existence belongs to people rather than states. Given the historical role of British policy in this conflict, I urge the government to take decisive action. Specifically, I call for the classification and proscription of Zionism as a terrorist organization, the implementation of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) policies, and the immediate cessation of all arms sales and aid to Israel. Furthermore, I request that those complicit in these actions, including politicians, be held accountable and brought to justice.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this urgent matter.
The Labour party have just proscribed Iran. Almost as if we must support Israel or they will call us terrorists. This is the same anti Muslim hate we are seeing play out across the country. Burnham is an establishment mouthpiece without a posh accent. Its delusional to think he will suddenly ditch his allegiance to Zionism and stop the anti Muslim hate.
What a moving heartfelt statement.. I’m not holding my breath though that Andy Burnham will turn out to be much different..maybe just better at hiding his obeisance to Zionist “Donors”… Blair & Starmer have achieved the Establishment imperative to Destroy any chance of a Left wing Socialist Government.. The rot won’t suddenly be reversed.. I wonder if Burnham was promised a surprisingly easy & swift rise to Power ( Starmer literally bowed out) if he fulfilled a mandate to continue the Status Quo.. For decades Britain has only had a Facade of Democracy.. Red or Blue Tories.. then Corbyn rocked the boat.. & BOTH Parties & almost the ENTIRE UK MSM put all their combined efforts to destroy him & his like minded Politicians.. Burnham will have been a carefully considered candidate. Chosen from the Labour Friends of Israel list ? Because he’s ON that list..
I take exception to the phrase “Hamas murderous attack”..we now KNOW that Hamas only intended to take Hostages to offer in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel ( some for decades).. The Times Of Israel & HAARETZ both reported that hundreds of Israelis sent videos & testimonials that IOF had killed the Nova festival goers & Kibbutz dwellers . IOF Whistleblowers also revealed they were ORDERED to KILL Israelis to blame Hamas. Every IOF suicide has given their guilt over killing Israelis on oct7th as the reason they killed themselves. Even IF Hamas had intended to kill Israelis it would be in RETALIATION for the escalating violence & land theft by Israel. To label it “Murderous Attack ” is once again a whitewash of the TRUTH about the brutal EUROPEAN Colonial Regime of Zionist Jews in occupied Palestine against the descendents of the biblical Jews & first Christians just because over 1,000 years ago during Islamic conquest they mostly converted to Islam..
OK. He’s an improvement on KS but his reported appointments of Alan Milburn (arch NHS privatiser) and James Purnell (raised from the political dead) give cause for concern, who along with Burnham were all Ministers in the dark days of Blair. On resignation decades ago Purnell hopped from one top job to another, it being the oft-travelled route to enrichment of former ministers. I am also waiting for the current reluctance of the LP MPs to step out of line and break the convention of not speaking ill of the dead, ie re. the Norwegian Blue so recently un-nailed from its perch. For someone just emerging from a 5 year coma it would be difficult for them to understand why such a wonderful leader was being discarded.
Burnham’s eulogy was particularly worrying for anyone hoping for ‘change’.
It is completely unedifying to witness the readiness with which former supporters of the Corbyn leadership moved smoothly in behind KS given the ideological gap and now jostle for position behind Burnham. Such is the depth of their principles.
But all will be revealed (?) when actual ministerial positions are filled and policies emerge.
Still, hope springs eternal.
Brilliant letter!
Mr. Kuper
I have become a supporter of the Palestinian cause -in the wider sense. I appreciate your courage in taking a public stand on the issue knowing it would invite all sorts of accusations from your own community. That makes your action more difficult for you than most people. But truth and compassion are important.
I am angry at Christians who are seeking to portray the Kairos II document now heard by the Anglican Synod as ‘anti-Semitic.’ The document claims the people of the West Bank are subject to ethnic cleansing , forced displacement and racism as well as ‘genocide’. To me the issue is not whether the charge is anti-Semitic but true. The evidence for it is overwhelming in my view and denial is wrong. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan the people from the religious establishment walk by on the other side of the injured man. I feel the critics of the document are doing just that.
These days I often attend a local Quaker meeting and they have a long history of challenging -peacefully- religious ‘authority.’
Secondly Section 3.12 of the Kairos document honours Israelis who have tried to help the people of the West bank. It is not anti-Semitic.
I wish you success
Ian
You will have seen that we posted positively about the Kairos II document and the Synod debating it despite pressure from the Jewish Establishment https://jewishvoiceforliberation.org.uk/article/ultimate-chutzpah-from-the-uk-jewish-establishment/ and also https://jewishvoiceforliberation.org.uk/article/church-of-england-votes-to-support-palestinians-despite-the-chief-rabbi/
The letter from Sarah Jones is indeed disgraceful but there is no need to take it personally. My guess is that exactly the same letter was sent to everyone who wrote to the Government on this subject, regardless of what they said about it. There may be a slight tweak in the second paragraph but the rest is definitely off the peg.
If Burnham doesn’t respond with understanding to the letter from Jenny M etc, it is a profoundly depressing outlook with his leadership , despite all the rhetoric presenting Burnham as having a new vision.