London, Friday, October 31, 2003 
Letter to the Editor of The Daily Telegraph:
Questions of
representation Sir - THE Board
of Deputies of British
Jews recently succeeded
in its complaint against an eminent professor at
Oxford University regarding a part-time Israeli
soldier who had applied to become his student and
was refused on the grounds of his nationality
(News, Oct 28). The complaint was upheld, and the
professor was suspended
without pay and his
career damaged. Website
note: The
Board of Deputies of British
Jews was established in 1760 as a
voluntary association of synagogue
representatives; its constitution dates
from 1835. Its full name for statutory
purposes is "The London Committee of
Deputies of the British Jews". Its 350
members are elected from 200 synagogues
and forty Jewish organisations in the
U.K. The Board lists its terms of reference
and objects as follows. The Board
shall 
"Protect, support and defend the
interests, religious rights, and culture
of Jews and the Jewish community."
"Defend and ensure the security, safety,
well being and standing of British Jews in
cooperation with the statutory authorities
and relevant parties."
"Take such appropriate action as lies
within its power to advance Israel's
security, welfare and standing."
"Support and seek to protect Jews and
Jewish communities outside the U.K."
"Initiate, undertake and coordinate
research into matters affecting the Jewish
community." |
The Board of Deputies was founded in 1760, and
claims to be the national representative body of
the British Jewish community. As such, it exists to
defend the rights and interests of that community
in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, under the
direction of its chief executive, Neville
Nagler, those aims have been suborned to an
agenda whereby it has become a political pressure
group for the Israeli government, whose policies
are anathema to a large section of British
Jewry.There is a groundswell of opinion, certainly in
Britain and Europe, that the actions of the Israeli
government (and the IDF) constitute ethnic
cleansing, and that the Board of Deputies is acting
ultra vires its constitution in becoming apologists
and supporters of that regime. My family and I are fourth-generation British
Jews, and we wish formally to dissociate ourselves
from the actions of this body who, we claim, now
increasingly represent the interests of the
government of Israel rather than the rights of the
British Jewish community. Michael Halpern,
Stanmore,
Middlesex © Copyright of
Telegraph Group Limited 2003. 
![[]](../../online/std/dings/list.gif)
Our dossier on
the Board of Deputies of British Jews-
David Irving's Legal Action against the Board of
Deputies of British Jews-
November 4, 1996: David Irving lodges a
formal complaint
with the Data Protection Agency about the
Board's illegal use of computerised
databases.
-
Affidavit
by Michael Whinge, "Research Director" of
the Board of Deputies of British Jews, November
19, 1996, in which he admits that the Board
supplied the lying reports about David Irving to
the Canadian authorities.
-
The German communist newspaper Antifaschistische
Nachrichten,No. 6/1997, repeats the
Board of Deputies of British Jews
allegations.[
 in
German]
|
write to David
Irving