Samual Hayek said in Jerusalem Post “Jews have no future in England”[i]. When questioned by Jewish News he said “The evidence is the number of immigrants to England. The demographic of British society is changing.” And “Our problem in the West is that we do not understand Islam. In Islam there is not a term for ‘peace’.[ii]”
These right wing ideas that there is an alien group with a different religion and different agenda that is taking over the existing society are not new. Last time the target was the Jews, this time, according to Mr Hayek, the threat is the Muslims.
Mr Hayek is the Chairman of the Jewish National Fund. Jewish organisations and individuals have strongly objected to his comments. “More than 40 members of the Board of Deputies have called for the resignation of JNF UK chairman Samuel Hayek
Representatives of Reform, Liberal, United and Masorti communities, plus the Union of Jewish Students, also said they would advise their organisations to have nothing to do with the charity until Mr Hayek relinquishes office.
.. “If we have come to expect zero tolerance of antisemitism, we must show zero tolerance of racism and islamophobia.”
Another leader of the Jewish National Fund is its treasurer, Gary Mond. He wrote on Facebook “all civilization” is “at war with Islam”[iii]. He has now resigned from his post as vice president of the Board of Deputies.
“Key people at the Board have made it clear that they no longer wish to work with me, which effectively forces my decision,” Mond announced in his resignation statement.[iv]
The lack of any comment from the JNF against Hayek has led to a petition among Jewish students to boycott the JNF[v].
The Jewish National Fund UK is a registered British Charity. All British charities must be for the public good. The Charity Commission has launched a regulatory case into the JNF[vi].
The attacks on Hayek and Mond are to be welcomed. The growth of right wing conspiracy theories is a threat to Muslims, Jews and all other minorities.
The Stop the JNF campaign have long campaigned about the policies of the JNF. It has pointed out its racism and complicity in ethnic cleansing. Here are two current issues.
On 9th January 2022 Peace Now reported that the Israeli Attorney General has ruled that there is no obstacle to the eviction of the Sumarin family from their home in East Jerusalem. The eviction is being driven by the JNF.[vii]
On the 18th January Israeli police arrested 41 Arabs in the Negev.
Local Arabs demonstrated in the Negev in recent days in protest of the confiscation of their lands by the Jewish National Fund, an organization that collects money from Jews around the world to seize Palestinian property.
We welcome the Charity Commission’s investigation into the racism of the leadership of the racist Jewish National Fund. We hope that truth will prevail against its traditional dishonest defence of the JNF.
[i] https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/jews-do-not-have-a-future-in-england-687711 and https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/charity-chiefs-migrant-warning-sparks-communal-outrage/
[ii] https://www.thejc.com/news/community/calls-for-jnf-uk-chair-samuel-hayek-to-quit-over-islamophobic-comments-3sYf4VyyJUF69EyxnqIzut
[iii] https://www.timesofisrael.com/british-jewish-leader-resigns-following-comments-about-war-with-islam/
[iv] https://www.timesofisrael.com/british-jewish-leader-resigns-following-comments-about-war-with-islam/
[v] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16jXsSMqiLq5shEd1UfkLrO_Be4rjOm5Wv2cYpxT1NU0/viewform?edit_requested=true
[vi] https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/charity-commission-is-investigating-jnf-uk-after-comments-by-chair/
[vii] https://peacenow.org.il/en/the-attorney-general-supports-the-eviction-of-the-sumarin-family-from-silwan