BOARD OF DEPUTIES REPORT

David Montague & Michael Sharron

The Board continues to be actively engaged in monitoring, supporting and defending Jewish rights and interests in the United Kingdom and we highlight a selection of it’s activities since our last report.

The Board hosted a meeting of senior academics from around the country to discuss the fight against anti-Israel movement on campus. The past academic year has been marred by threats and insults to Jewish students, the dismissal of two Israeli academics at UMIST and a call for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel. The President, Jo Wagerman, wrote to the Vice Chancellors of 87 British Universities advising of the dangers of allowing advocacy of an academic boycott of Israel, and asking that they continue to guarantee academic integrity.

At a meeting held at the Board, representatives of the Lecturer’s Union (NATFHE) condemned anti-semitism. NATFHE told the Board that those distributing inflammatory literature attacking Jews should be prosecuted and every effort made to ensure that college campuses provide a safe environment for all students free from violence and intimidation.

The BBC has upheld a Board complaint regarding the broadcasting of anti-Israel poems on radio 3 during the intervals of the evening Proms. The poems likened the Israeli actions to those of the Nazis and made further reference to victims of the Holocaust who "had not learnt their lesson". The Head of the BBC’s Programme Complaints Unit wrote to the Board expressing his concern about the lack of impartiality on the part of the BBC.

The Board wrote to Tower Hamlets Council appealing against its proposal to twin the Borough with Jenin. The Board expressed its concern that a Borough such as Tower Hamlets, well-known for its strong sense of multi-culturalism and its rich Jewish history, should be twinned with a town notorious as a hotbed of Palestinian terrorism.

The Board, with the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and the European Jewish Congress, wrote to the Italian Prime Minister protesting about a Holocaust denial conference that had been planned in Verona. Responding to these protests, the Italian Deputy Prime Minster assured the International Jewish Community that such a conference would never be held in Italy. Subsequently, the hotel cancelled the booking for the conference.

The Board wrote to the Foreign Secretary regarding the proposed broadcast of a drama series on Egyptian television portraying a fictitious antisemitic plot to control the Middle East and the world. Entitled "Horse without a Horseman", the series is heavily based on "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". In earlier correspondence, the Board urged the Egyptian Ambassador to counter his attempt to fan the flames of racial and religious hatred.

The Board wrote to UK members of the European Parliament urging them to support requests to set up a temporary committee of inquiry to investigate EU funding in the Middle East. The Board has long been concerned by allegations that millions of euros provided to the Palestinian Authority have been misused to fund Palestinian terrorism.

The Board wrote to Madame Tussauds following a number of complaints about a poster of Yasser Arafat situated at the museum’s entrance alongside posters of the Queen and Diana, Princess of Wales. The Board requested the removal of the poster with immediate effect.

The Board delivered its heartfelt condolences to the family of Ilan Ramon, following the tragic events of the space shuttle, Challenger. Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli to go into space, taking with him symbols of Jewish heritage. The memory of such a heroic man, who fought for his country and become the source of hope and spirit of many people, will serve as an inspiration for Jewish people throughout the world.

The Board wrote to Mike O’Brien, Minister at the Foreign Office, to deplore Libya’s election to the Chairmanship of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, given the country’s record of human rights violations and state sponsored terrorism.

The Board wrote to the editor of "The Independent" and lodged a formal complaint with the Press Complaints Commission regarding an offensive cartoon in the daily broadsheet. The caricature of Ariel Sharon went far beyond acceptable political commentary by drawing on the medieval blood-libel using the stereotype of Jews as blood suckers and vampires. The Board complained that the use of deep rooted antisemitic stereotypes was totally unacceptable in a British broadsheet.

For more details of the Board’s activities and to receive updated press releases, please visit the Board’s web-site: www.bod.org.uk