Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning met with UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who told the PM that attacking Zionism is, in effect, attacking Jews, and noted that he fights this phenomenon.
The PM, his wife, and Minister Miri Regev later met with British Jewish community leaders, and recalled the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration, as well as the “liberation of the Land of Israel by the British Army, with Australian Light Horse, with New Zealand fighters 100 years ago.”
“People forget that,” Netanyahu said. “In a matter of two or three days, 100 years ago, the liberation of Be’er Sheva and the Balfour Declaration, and they have a lot to do with one another.”
The PM told his hosts about his dinner with British PM Theresa May, noting: “I think that our histories are intertwined, the history of Britain and Israel, and the Jewish community, from Chaim Weizmann and others, has been intertwined in the history of Zionism.”
“I thank you for that continuous bridge between Britain and Israel, between Zionism and Britain,” Netanyahu said.
UK Board of Jewish Deputies President Jonathan Arkush said: “Our community is a strong community, only one-half of one percent of the British population, but we carry a degree of confidence in ourselves and in Israel. And every single one of us round this table is working totally for the good of the Jewish community and for the State of Israel. And all of us here could say much more about the work we do in this country, and as you saw from the event on Thursday night, we can sometimes move quite a lot of the establishment in a way that even Chaim Weizmann also was able to do. Welcome; we’re delighted that you’re here amongst us.”