British PM warns of Jewish ‘exodus’ from Northern Ireland
Title : British PM warns of Jewish ‘exodus’ from Northern Ireland
Link : British PM warns of Jewish ‘exodus’ from Northern Ireland
According to the report, Johnson told MPs the government had been approached by representatives of the Jewish community in the province who raised fears over supplies of kosher food under post-Brexit trade rules which Johnson negotiated and signed in 2019 and which began coming into effect in January.
Giving evidence to the House of Commons Liaison Committee, Johnson blamed disruption of food supplies on the European Union’s implementation of the new regulations, saying the onus was on the EU, rather than the UK, to make concessions in the joint committee set up to oversee the operations of his Northern Ireland protocol, which avoided a hard border with the Republic by effectively creating a customs border in the Irish Sea.
Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and the president of the Jewish Board of Deputies, Marie van der Zyl, joined David Kale and Michael Black of the Belfast Jewish community in a meeting with Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis on Tuesday to call for action to avoid the protocol “potentially ending Jewish life in Belfast”, according to The Independent.
They said that supplies of foods that comply with dietary guidelines set by traditional Jewish law from the British mainland will end in September under the terms of the protocol and warned, “If kosher food and religious artefacts cannot be supplied, the community is likely to collapse.”
Johnson reportedly told MPs the government had received “very serious representations” from the Jewish community that “because of the problem with the food sector, it was becoming difficult to for them to have timely access – or any access – to kosher food”.
He then warned the liaison committee, “They are talking now about an exodus from Northern Ireland by the Jewish community. Clearly, we want to do everything we can to avoid that and to sort it out.”
Following Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Deputies said that Lewis had pledged the government’s support on the issue.
“The Belfast Jewish community is a great community with a rich history, but also an older and vulnerable one. We thank the minister for his time, and urge the UK and the EU to generate a creative solution which means that Jews can continue to practice their faith in Northern Ireland,” said van der Zyl.
British PM warns of Jewish ‘exodus’ from Northern Ireland
British PM warns of Jewish ‘exodus’ from Northern Ireland
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