How many kinds of stupid….

674 days ago Hamas terrorists, together with large numbers of Gazan assistants, invaded Israel, murdered over 1,200 people and took about 250 people hostages.  Of the victims of this war crime, 50 remain in captivity, with about 20 believed to be alive.

On Sunday of this week a rally took place in London in support of the hostages, organised by Stop the Hate and the Hostage and Missing Families Forum UK.  There were a number of speeches, including the Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis who said: “The government’s announcement [concerning recognition of Palestine) two weeks ago has dealt a blow to the welfare, the wellbeing and the lives of every single one of the hostages”.

The Chief Rabbi was spot on.  The idea that the British Government will reward Hamas if the Israeli Government doesn’t call a cease fire was not only ridiculous but must also have been a heart-warming statement of support to all those people taking part in the hate marches up and down the country.  Bear in mind, every public complaint against the Israeli Government, every press release condemning one member of that government or other and every call for a two-state solution is music to Hamas ears.  Why?  Because these are not attacks on Hamas. They have worked out that they can continue with their murderous ideology with impunity since all of the criticism in relation to the war is being heaped upon Israel and the Jews.

When I learned of the rally, I was disappointed.  Not because I thought it was a poor idea.  On the contrary I thought it was a first-rate plan.  I was disappointed because I couldn’t attend, being on holiday at the time.

So it was with some interest that I read about the rally only to discover that there really is no limit to how stupid people can be.  Two progressive Rabbis who spoke at the rally didn’t only talk about the hostages.  According to The Jewish News it is understood the rabbis had agreed to talk on the proviso they could condemn Israeli government policy in line with the position of their colleagues in Israel. This was a rally about hostages, not Israeli Government policy and certainly not an opportunity for certain speakers to use the rally as a platform for their own ideas.  Why the organisers agreed to these demands is a mystery and frankly just stupid.

Moving on to the attempt to make their speech, I am not surprised that they were heckled when calling for recognition of Palestinian self-determination.  Seriously?  This was a rally about a war crime, concentrating on the return of the 20 living hostages and retrieving the bodies of another 30 believed to dead.  What on earth has this got to do with anything else?  Absolutely nothing.  The return of the hostages is an imperative, completely sperate from a two-state solution, losses of Palestinian civilians and certainly not connected with Palestinian statehood in any way. But these progressive rabbis thought better, though I suspect when the protests from the crowd became too loud for them to continue speaking, they might have worked out that they had misjudged their audience.  More stupidity.

Then, as a sort of poisonous icing on the cake enter the Board of Deputies condemning the response from the crowd.  Their statement included the following: “Confronting the challenges we face as a community will only be done successfully if we can do it in a united and cross-communal way.  We deplore the way a section of the crowd treated the Co-Chief Executive Rabbis of Progressive Judaism Judaism’s today, and that they were asked to leave the stage. It was disrespectful and self-defeating and should have no place in our communal life”.

What did they expect the crowd to do when faced with the comments from the two progressive rabbis?  The rally was about a war crime.  It was not about Israeli politics and it was not about Palestinians.  Just the war crime, simple and horrific as that.  As for the suggestion the protests from the crowd were disrespectful and self-defeating, I rather think the Board got that completely wrong, though no surprise there.  It wasn’t the crowd who behaved badly, it was the rabbis.  Their comments were disrespectful to the hostages because they had nothing to do with gaining their release. Self-defeating because Hamas would have been pleased to see more communal leaders criticise Israel instead of acting in a united manner.  The Board backed the wrong horse here.   More stupidity.

So in summary, lots of stupid acts.  The rabbis thinking they could dictate their own agenda, the organisers for letting them do it, the Board completely missing the point and frankly how all of these players could possibly be surprised at the response from the crowd is just beyond belief.  Good to see that Natasha Hausdorff was able to reflect the mood of the rally.  At least someone knew what the problem is – 20 remaining live hostages.  The message to the UK Government and other governments around the world is really simple – let my people go.