CFI Honorary President Lord Polak CBE sent his Rosh Hashanah wishes and reflected on the past year for the British Jewish community in an article published in the Jewish Tribune this week.
He wrote: “This Rosh Hashanah, we should not only reflect on these devastating lows, but also look back on a year of great achievements for the Jewish community and Israel”.
Highlighting the Conservative election win in December 2019, Lord Polak said: “The Conservative party’s victory in December was a great high, with the defeat of Corbynism and triumph of self-declared ‘passionate Zionist’ Boris Johnson…We can rest assured that Boris Johnson’s government will remain true to its word; we are not short of friends around the Cabinet table”.
He added: “The Conservative manifesto pledged to ban public bodies from supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against foreign countries – preventing pension schemes from divesting from Israel – was welcomed by our community. Security funding of £14 million per annum continues to be granted by the Home Office to help keep our community safe”.
Lord Polak reflected on numerous milestones of UK-Israel ties in the past year, including HRH Prince Charles’s first official visit to Israel; flourishing bilateral trade; the centenary of the San Remo Conference; and 70 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
He also welcomed the normalisation between Israel and Gulf states as “a landmark breakthrough in Israel’s relations with the Arab world”.
Lord Polak emphasised: “The exciting opportunities these ground-breaking events bring cannot be understated; not least for the possibilities for travel. The landscape in the Middle East is changing in front of our eyes, and despite the difficulties of the last year there is much to be hopeful for”.
