UK Board of Deputies asks candidates to support PA State

UK Jewish leadership sends both candidates list of 10 Commitments; May and Corbyn promised to keep them – one is to advocate for a PA state.

Arutz Sheva

British Jewish leaders urged both candidates for British premiership to support Palestinian statehood and get Jewish votes in return, Israel National News has learned. Israeli members of government, most of whom strongly oppose this request have expressed their displeasure privately.

The Board of Deputies is considered the main representative body of British Jews. Yesterday, the Board distributed an email linking to videos sent to the Jewish community by the two prime-ministerial candidates, Conservative candidate Theresa May and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The Board’s email explains the video messages were “sent in response to the Board of Deputies’…10 Commitments we have asked all prospective parliamentary candidates to sign up to” – that is, before trying to get the Jewish community’s vote.

The “10 commitments” drafted by the Board of Deputies were obtained by Israel National News. They mainly relate to “issues of concern to Jewish voters” such as kashrut, Shabbat observance, anti-Semitism, Holocaust remembrance, faith schools and culturally sensitive youth and social care services.

However, “Commitment 5” insists that the British leaders accommodate their Jewish constituents by advocating for a “viable” Palestinian state. (For the entire list, see end of this article.)

Predictably for such a close election, the video messages both from May and from Corbyn praise the Board of Deputies’ “10 commitments” document and promise that the candidates will advocate for establishment of a Palestinian state — as requested by their Jewish voters