Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag of Whitefield Synagogue in North Manchester was the originator of one of the largest Israel advocacy conferences seen in the UK.
He was inspired to this action by an Israeli NGO’s study identifying London as a major center in the delegitimization campaign against the Jewish state. After reading a report published last year by the Tel Aviv-based Reut Institute, titled “Building a Political Firewall against the Assault on Israel’s Legitimacy,” he decided it was time to act.
The report referred to London as the “Mecca of delegitimization” and said that through a coordinated and ideological campaign, Israel was subject to a “global systemic and systematic assault” on its political and economic model that aimed to “precipitate its implosion.”
Guttentag said he’d found the report’s findings extremely disturbing, and this had inspired him to bring together the grassroots initiatives to help respond to the incessant rhetoric and campaigning against Israel. He called for "galvanizing the quarter of a million Jews who live in this country" and to "leverage that into several million non-Jews, who are surely fair-minded and can see that it is to their benefit to be supportive of Israel."
The Big Tent for Israel conference took place in Manchester on Nov. 27, 2011 with the attendance of 700+ people. Guttentag say the aim of the conference was “to make the Big Tent a massive springboard to mobilize many more grassroots activists who are willing to take on the challenge of reversing the trend of delegitimization of Israel and to ensure Israel’s image is honestly and positively projected to the many people who have been exposed to anti-Israel propaganda and media bias.”
The conference covered the five spheres in which the global campaign to delegitimize Israel is played out, as identified by the Reut study: the political arena, the media, the academic world, churches and trade unions.
Speakers at the conference included Jerusalem’s new ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub; MPs Ivan Lewis, Louise Ellman and Guto Bebb; Robbie Sabel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Histadrut chairman Yakov Triptou; the Reut Institute’s Eran Shayshon; Itamar Marcus from Palestinian Media Watch; Adam Levick from Comment is Free Watch; representatives of the New Israel Fund and the Israel advocacy group Yachad; and a host of other organizations and grassroots representatives.
The conference was endorsed and supported by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and Christian friends of Israel, among others.
The main address was given by Israeli Ambassador to Britain, Daniel Taub and reported by the Jewish Chronicle. In his first public address as ambassador, Daniel Taub, said that anti-Israel campaigns that delegitimize Israel opened a "new front for Israel" in the UK and were "a serious problem for those institutions and organizations which allow it to fester."
Ambassador Taub, condemned those who "call themselves" Israel's friends because they "support its right to exist".
"There are people asking, is there really delegitimisation of Israel? Not just criticism, but genuine attempts to question its basic sovereign rights? Taub advised people who doubt that there is a delegitimization campaign against Israel: "Don't listen to Israel's enemies, but listen to its friends or at least those people who call themselves its friends.
"I can't count the number of times I've heard somebody say, 'I'm a friend of Israel and I support its right to exist'. And I wonder, can you image anyone saying that in relation to any other country? 'I support Australia's right to exist' or 'Guatemala's right to exist' - as though that somehow makes me a friend of Guatemala. In relation to what other country does a discussion or policy descend into a question mark over the very existence of that state?"
Ambassador Taub also condemned what he called an anti-Semitic "sickness" inside some parts of the British media.
"When a leading newspaper publishes anti-Semitic words, such as we heard on the release of Gilad Shalit alleging that this deal shows that Zionists values the lives of the 'chosen' more than it values the lives of anyone else – as if we wouldn't have begged to reduce the number of terrorists that should have been released – yes, that's insulting to Israel, but more than that, it's a sign of a great sickness inside media and inside British journalism," he said.
Mr Taub added: "When a university is not able to allow free debate , when a student who wants to speak up in favour of Israel is fearful of intimidation or even violence, that's a problem for Israel, but more than that it is a problem for the university that has fallen short of its academic standards."
There were problems, however, in organizing the conference and demonstrating the lack of unity found among British Jewry. Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag, was forced by the Board of Deputies and the JLC into an embarrassing climb-down over his refusal to invite Progressive rabbis to speak, and they created an independent committee, including two Progressive representatives, to approve the choice of speakers.
Rabbi Guttentag told the JC: "It is a well-known mode of conduct and policy of Orthodox rabbis to seek not to grant rabbinic legitimacy to those who are styled as 'rabbi' but who are leaders of non-Orthodox congregations."
As a consequence of the setting up of the committee to decide on speakers, Yisrael Medad claimed that he was prohibited to speak at the Big Tent event. This was seen as a policy to not invite anyone representing the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Yisrael Medad is the Director of Information Resources at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, was previously the Director of Israel's Media Watch, and was a Knesset parliamentary aide.
Medad said: I was personally "disinvited" although I am not sure that I ever was officially invited. I think my name was proposed at the organizing meeting but I was told that opposition was strongly expressed by Board of Deputies head, Vivian Wineman. Vivian Wineman was also a former chairman of British Friends of Peace Now, and a founder of the British branch of the New Israel Fund.
Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag, the initiator of the event, is Newcastle-born rabbi of Whitefield Hebrew Congregation, in north Manchester, and has a BA in Jewish studies from Jews' College. Joint president of the Manchester Council of Christians and Jews, he is convenor of the National Association of Orthodox Schools.
In November of 2007, Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag was host to the European Conference of Rabbis in Manchester to discuss the rise of anti-Semitism towards Jewish students. The meeting included 33 counterparts from as far afield as Moscow and the Ukraine, including Britain’s Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks,
Sir Jonathan Sacks said: “Manchester is one of the loyalist Jewish communities in Europe. We wanted to pay tribute to it because of its extraordinary strength and vitality.
“Testament to that is Jonathan Guttentag, he is an outstanding example of how a rabbi can energise a community.”
The rabbis voiced concern about the general rise in anti-Semitism and particularly attacks on Jewish students on university campuses.
Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag is considered a possible candidate to be the next Chief Rabbi of Britain. He is seen as a successful communal rabbi, intelligent and sophisticated, and active in the educational arena. However, any chief rabbinical ambitions may be stymied by his low profile in London and among the rabbinate.
Read more:
The 2011 National Jewish University Student Survey in the UK
