Dear President,

As young British Jews we are deeply concerned by your comments at the Conservative Friends of Israel reception encouraging the UK government to relocate our country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

We are the future leaders of the British Jewish community and we wholeheartedly object to this inflammatory speech being made in our name. As the President of the Board of Deputies, we would expect you to consider the perspective of young British Jews before making such divisive remarks in a public sphere. We wish to make it explicitly clear that you do not represent us and cannot claim to be speaking on our behalf on this issue.

There is a strongly held belief among significant numbers of young British Jews that, whilst Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, moving the UK embassy to Jerusalem would jeopardise the prospect of a political resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. To do so in the absence of a political agreement — regardless of which neighbourhood the embassy would be moved to — would be to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the entire city, cementing the status-quo. We know that the majority of British Jews support a two-state solution. Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, whilst failing to recognise even the right to a Palestinian state, goes against claims to support two states.

We find your comparison to Trump’s America sickening: his government is not one that we should be seeking to emulate. The President’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem in 2018 sparked mass protests on the Gaza border, with over 100 Palestinians killed. If the UK were to do the same, the consequences could be deadly. There is less than one month until the Israeli legislative elections and tensions are already running high.

We, alongside all Britons, are facing a cost-of-living crisis and record high inflation. People up and down the country are struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes. It is inconceivable to us that you would support the UK government in diverting millions of pounds to support a costly embassy move at a time like this.

We are demanding that you and the other Honorary Officers of the Board of Deputies do not publicly support the embassy move to Jerusalem, nor profess to be the voice of the young British Jewish community on this matter.

Signed,