(JTA) \u2014 Andy Burnham officially became Britain\u2019s new Labour prime minister on Monday, replacing Keir Starmer who resigned following the party\u2019s disastrous showing in local elections in May.\n<\/p>\n
Starmer left behind a mixed record<\/a> on antisemitism. He purged the party of its image as hostile to Jews under former party leader Jeremy Corbyn. But at the same time, attacks against Jews in Britain have risen in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, and uncertainty is at a high.\n <\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s successor has spent much of his political career over the past decade cultivating close ties with Britain\u2019s Jewish community<\/a>. As the former mayor of Greater Manchester, home to one of Europe\u2019s largest Jewish populations, Burnham frequently spoke out against antisemitism, attended Holocaust commemorations and worked closely with Jewish communal organizations. \u00a0<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Yet in the lead-up to his installation as prime minister, Burnham also signaled a shift in Labour\u2019s mainstream position on Israel and Gaza, including support for greater pressure on Israel.<\/p>\n Burnham\u2019s comments about Labour\u2019s leadership contest prompted a sharp rebuke <\/a>from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, which expressed \u201csignificant concerns\u201d over his framing of Gaza and Israel\u2019s war with Hamas. The umbrella groups also said they welcomed his commitment to tackling antisemitism.<\/p>\n Here is a look at some of Burnham\u2019s views on the subjects and how they might impact his party\u2019s policies going forward.<\/p>\n Early support for Israel and a two-state solution<\/p>\n During Labour\u2019s 2015 leadership contest<\/a>, Burnham said at a Jewish community debate that his first foreign trip, should he win the Labour leadership, would be to Israel. He opposed a boycott of Israel, asking, \u201cWhat message would it send?\u201d while stating that he supported a negotiated two-state solution.<\/p>\n In a questionnaire sent to him that year by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign<\/a>, he also stated that he supported \u201ctwo states living side by side in peace, and recognized by all of their neighbors.\u201d However, he added that he supported \u201can end to occupation and illegal settlement building by the Israelis, and an end to the rocket and terror attacks by the terrorist group Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n He also made it clear at the time that he did not support West Bank settlements, telling the PSC, \u201cLabour recognizes that the settlements and their continued expansion remain key obstacles to resolving the conflict, as [then party leader] Ed Miliband has said, they are both illegal and immoral.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour\u2019s antisemitism crisis<\/p>\n Burnham was vocal about tackling antisemitism when the Labour Party became embroiled in allegations of antisemitism under Corbyn\u2019s leadership between 2015 and 2020,.<\/p>\n Corbyn had in 2012 defended a mural <\/a>depicting hook-nosed Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of exploited workers. (He later said he regretted the defense.) He called representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah<\/a> \u201cfriends.\u201d<\/p>\n Burnham told the Board of Deputies in 2019 that<\/a> Labour had failed to deal with antisemitism complaints \u201cfirmly, quickly and decisively\u201d and warned that the party had lost the confidence of many Jewish voters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is inconceivable to me that a party which has prided itself on its record on racism could have become embroiled in an antisemitism crisis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In 2020, the U.K.\u2019s Equality and Human Rights Commission found Labour had committed unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination<\/a> related to antisemitism.<\/p>\n Oct. 7 and rising antisemitism<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, Burnham issued a statement <\/a>with his deputy mayor saying, \u201cWe condemn without reservation the appalling attacks in Israel by Hamas. Nothing justifies the taking of innocent lives in such a barbaric and indiscriminate manner.\u201d<\/p>\n He also stated that \u201cIsrael had a right to defend itself<\/a>, and protect its citizens, in line with international law\u201d<\/p>\n He told the Jewish community that he had spoken with Greater Manchester\u2019s chief constable, who assured him there would be an increased police presence alongside Jewish community organizations. Burnham said local leaders were \u201cdetermined that all our communities in Greater Manchester will be kept safe\u201d and that \u201cwe will never tolerate any form of hatred on our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n Manchester synagogue terror attack<\/p>\n Barely two years later on Yom Kippur 2025, Manchester became the target of a major terror attack<\/a>, outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation. Two people were killed amid a police response.<\/p>\n \u201cManchester stands together and we will not allow division in our communities,\u201d Burnham said, visiting the synagogue soon after what he described as an attack on the entire city<\/a>.<\/p>\n Golder\u2019s Green ambulance attack<\/p>\n Burnham spoke out in April when four Hatzola volunteer ambulances were set ablaze<\/a> in London\u2019s heavily Orthodox Golders Green neighborhood. \u201cThis is another terrible incident that will concern Jewish communities in London and in Greater Manchester who have faced appalling antisemitic attacks in recent months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Recent comments on Gaza<\/p>\n Burnham has been critical of Israel\u2019s military campaign in the aftermath of Oct. 7. He doubled down in a leadership campaign video<\/a> released last week and took his own party to task.<\/p>\n He condemned Hamas and once again rejected antisemitism, but he argued Britain should \u201cdo more to put pressure on the Israeli government,\u201d including considering further restrictions on arms exports and action against illegal West Bank settlements.<\/p>\n \u201cI know many people feel that at the start of Israel\u2019s military action in Gaza, my party didn\u2019t get it right, and I am sorry about that,\u201d he said. The party was \u201ctoo slow to call for a ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n He called images from Gaza \u201ca scar on our collective conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n His comments reflect a parliamentary push across the board <\/a>that Britain should do more to take action against Israel, including supporting a ban on all Israeli goods coming from the West Bank \u2014 something that Ireland<\/a> and other European countries<\/a> have been pushing for.<\/p>\n In his video, Burnham stopped short of describing Israel\u2019s actions as genocide, saying that such a determination should be made by international courts.<\/p>\n Jewish communal reaction<\/p>\n The video drew a swift response from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council. Burnham had seen \u201cfirst hand the links between hatred of Israel, antisemitic extremism and deadly violence against British Jews,\u201d the groups said.<\/p>\n They urged Burnham and other political leaders to \u201cshow the utmost care in their rhetoric\u201d at a time when antisemitism in Britain had become \u201cmore normalized, more extreme and more violent.\u201d<\/p>\n British Jews will watch closely how Burnham balances his longstanding engagement with the Jewish community and his increasingly critical stance toward the Israeli government.<\/p>\n The Campaign Against Antisemitism\u2019s Chief Executive Gideon Falter read aloud an open letter to Burnham on Monday calling on him to take a stand<\/a> against the rise in antisemitism in the country. \u201cYour legacy will not be remembered solely in terms of tax rates and hospital waiting times,\u201d Falter said. \u201cIt will be whether Jews were murdered or thrived in Andy Burnham\u2019s Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg congratulated Burnham on X<\/a>, and welcomed the new prime minister\u2019s \u201cearly commitment to tackling antisemitism,\u201d and that the Board \u201cwill work with his administration towards the U.K. playing its strongest role in global peace and security.\u201d<\/p>\n Ephraim Mirvis, the country\u2019s chief rabbi, posted a photo on X of himself and Burnham and offered a blessing. \u201cHe assumes the immense responsibility of leadership at a time of great challenge, both at home and abroad,\u201d Mirvis said<\/a>. \u201cMay he be blessed with the wisdom, strength and good judgment to keep our country safe and may his service bring prosperity and harmony for all.\u201d PJC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(JTA) \u2014 Andy Burnham officially became Britain\u2019s new Labour prime minister on Monday, replacing Keir Starmer who resigned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-553045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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