In suspending five prominent deputies, elected representatives of British Jews, who signed a letter published in your pages, and rebuking the other 31 deputies who also put their name to it, the Board of Deputies of British Jews appears to have mistaken conscience for insubordination (“Jewish body suspends deputies over Gaza letter”, Report, June 26).
These were not voices raised against Judaism or the Jewish community or even against Israel, but in the finest Jewish tradition of critical ethical protest — the sort that gave us prophets, not press releases.
The board’s heavy hand does not strengthen the Jewish community. It stifles moral debate and signals that any dissent by its members from the board’s problematic silence on Gaza — even when grounded in ethical principles, compassion, and international law — is no longer kosher.
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