3 September 2018

EIGHT Liberal Judaism rabbis were among the religious leaders to sign a letter in yesterday’s Sunday Times asking the British Government to honour our country’s tradition of saving child refugees.

Rabbis Danny Rich and Charley Baginsky – Liberal Judaism’s senior rabbi and director of strategy and partnerships – were among the signatories to the powerful letter, along with Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, the chair of the Conference of Liberal Rabbis and Cantors.

The letter states: “Three years ago today Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Kurdish refugee, drowned because he had no safe route to sanctuary in Europe. The lives of more than 9,000 people fleeing war and persecution have been lost in the Mediterranean since that little boy’s death.

“This autumn Britain will mark a more hopeful anniversary. Eighty years ago the Kindertransport was launched, a rescue operation that saved 10,000 Jewish and other refugee children from Nazi persecution.

“Now it is our turn to honour that legacy by helping more child refugees to find safety here. On this anniversary we call on the Government to match the efforts of the Kindertransport and establish a lasting route to protection in the UK for 10,000 child refugees in future years.”

Liberal Judaism vice president Rabbi Harry Jacobi MBE, who himself came to Britain as a child refugee feeling the Nazis, also signed the letter alongside Liberal colleagues Rabbis Dr Margaret Jacobi, Richard Jacobi, Rebecca Birk and Dr Jackie Tabick.

They were joined by 34 other Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders, including former archbishop of Canterbury Lord Dr Rowan Williams, in calling on the Government to offer sanctuary.