LONDON: Leading members of the Jewish diaspora, including former UK foreign secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, have penned a letter urging an end to “attacks by Jewish extremists” in the occupied West Bank.
The open letter to Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, was organized by the London Initiative, a liberal Zionist network that includes more than 300 eminent Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian public figures.
It has drawn more than 3,000 signatories from countries including the UK, US, Canada, Australia and South Africa, with diplomats, philanthropists, academics and rabbis joining the appeal.
In March, Israeli settlers carried out a wave of killings and arson attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territories.
The letter said: “Israel’s security forces are clearly better able to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, living under different levels of Israeli military and civil control, from Jewish terror. That they do not act decisively suggests a lack of directives from the government.
“Mr. President, the terror, death and destruction inflicted by Jewish-Israeli extremists against innocent Palestinians across the West Bank is an abomination.
“It is not only morally shameful but a strategic threat to the future of Israel. It damages world Jewry and the relationship of future generations with Israel.
“Sadly, based on events and on the statements of the most extreme coalition partners it can be concluded that the violence now engulfing the West Bank is not only condoned by the government but is in fact policy.”
Signatories to the letter in Britain include Rifkind; Matthew Gould, former UK ambassador to Israel; Lord Michael Levy, former Middle East envoy and a close ally of former prime minister Tony Blair; peer and Times columnist, Daniel Finkelstein; philanthropist, Dame Vivien Duffield; and Sir Mick Davis, founder of the London Initiative.
Internationally, the appeal was also signed by billionaire Canadian philanthropist, Charles Bronfman; Israeli diplomat, Ilan Sztulman Starosta; former US ambassador to Belgium, Michael M. Adler; and the former Canadian ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen.
Herzog responded to the letter in a post on X.
He referred to the “recent surge of violence by extremist elements in Judea and Samaria” and “grave offenses against innocent people.”
The president added: “I share your conviction that these acts of violence stand in stark contradiction to the values upon which Israel was founded and to the enduring ethical tradition of the Jewish people.”
Authorities have been ordered to “employ all available means to bring those responsible to justice and put an immediate end to this unacceptable phenomenon,” he said.
In August 2025, the London Initiative organized an open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that was signed by 6,300 prominent Jews around the world.
It called on the Israeli leader to “permanently restore the provision of food and humanitarian aid to the Gazan population” and end the war in the enclave, as well as “enforce the law in the West Bank.”
