london | The Jewish community in Britain appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach to a new coalition government that includes the Liberal Democrats, whose positions on Israel have alarmed many Jews.
Liberal Democatic Party leader Nick Clegg, who last year called for a European arms boycott of Israel, is Britain’s new deputy prime minister. And William Hague of the Conservative Party is the new foreign minister; during the 2006 Lebanon war, Hague called Israel’s military response to Hezbollah’s attack “disproportionate.”
The new prime minister, David Cameron of the Conservative Party, has been a strong backer of Israel. He took over after the May 11 resignation of Gordon Brown, who stepped down as leader of the Labor Party.
Brown’s resignation, in the wake of a May 6 general election that failed to deliver a clear winner, brought an end to nearly 13 years of Labor leadership. What influence the recent machinations will have on British foreign policy is, for now, a political unknown.
“With so much on the government’s plate, Israel — along with foreign policy in general — will be put way on the back burner,” said Robin Shepherd, foreign policy director of the Henry Jackson Society think tank and author of “Beyond the Pale: Europe’s Problem with Israel.” He said that “both parties in the coalition will be preoccupied with the economy” and “the Conservative Party has shown no real interest in the Middle East.”
Richard Millet, a freelance journalist and blogger who dissected the election’s winners and losers for the Jerusalem Post, wrote, “It could be a very uncomfortable five years for British Jews and for Israel” and referred to Clegg as “anti-Israel.”
Candidates affiliated with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said the Jews should not worry.
“I don’t think the Jewish community has anything to fear,” said Robert Halfon, a Jew and prominent figure in Conservative Friends of Israel who won a parliamentary seat last week for the Conservatives representing Harlow, north of London.
The country’s Jewish umbrella group, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, put out a statement saying it “warmly welcomes the new prime minister, David Cameron, and his coalition” and that it “looks forward to a constructive, fruitful working relationship” with Cameron and other officials.
Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, had no comment. “As a strategic body, it is not our role to provide a running commentary on a government that has yet to finalize its Cabinet and set out key policies,” he said.
As candidates, both Cameron and Clegg said they backed changes to the current “universal jurisdiction” legislation, which allows British magistrates to issue arrest warrants for visiting foreign politicians and military staff. The law has been used to target Israeli officials and soldiers for alleged war crimes, in some cases scaring away Israeli officials from visiting Britain.
Cameron and Clegg also have spoken out forcefully against anti-Semitism.