Britain’s Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council on Friday expressed “significant concerns” over comments by Andy Burnham, expected to be the UK’s next prime minister, about Israel.

In a video posted to social media on Thursday, Burnham said Britain must do more to pressure Israel over its treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and that it must bar the sale of weapons that Israel will use in the West Bank and Gaza.

“It’s completely unacceptable that innocent Palestinians, including children, continue to be killed,” he said. “That there’s still a humanitarian crisis with too little aid getting in, and that the Israeli military continues to expand the area it controls in Gaza. We’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government.”

In response, the two Jewish organizations in a joint statement urged UK leaders to “show the utmost care in their rhetoric in relation to the conflict,” noting the recent surge of antisemitism in the UK.

“Antisemitism cannot be confronted without addressing all its drivers,” the statement said

“In today’s Britain, this includes Islamist, far-left and far-right extremists who go beyond criticism of the Israeli government to a place of hatred directed at Jews and Israelis,” the statement said.

“These voices build on distorted or one-sided portrayals of the situation in Gaza and its causes, and ceaseless attempts to single out the world’s only Jewish state.”

"In a country in which antisemitism has become more normalised, more extreme and more violent, we call on our leaders to show the utmost care in their rhetoric in relation to the conflict." Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" ||........

© The Times of Israel