Boris' Admiration For Israel

by Justin Cohen - Thursday 8th May 2008


Boris Visiting A Stamford Hill School

Newly-elected London Mayor Boris Johnson has pledged “to extend the hand of friendship” to Israel as the Jewish state enters its seventh decade.

In comments which will immediately mark him out from Ken Livingstone, whose stance on the country was a bone of contention with London Jewry, his successor took the opportunity of Israel’s birthday to express his support and even admiration for the state.

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"I am delighted that one of my first acts as Mayor of London is to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel,” he told TJ. “There is much of which the country can be extremely proud. Its development as a democracy, thriving economy and pioneering technological advances have all distinguished what is a beautiful country. The last six decades have seen a lot of pain as well as success, and I hope that Israel’s immediate and long-term future is altogether more peaceful.”

The Conservative politician added: “Israelis have made their welcome presence felt in London for a long time. This anniversary will be noted with great pleasure throughout the capital. I will do whatever I can as Mayor to extend the hand of friendship to Israel – a nation I believe in, support and admire.”

The new mayor’s remarks come after he was congratulated by Jewish leaders including the Chairman of the London Jewish Forum, the organisation credited with helping to forge better relations with the Mayor’s office during Livingstone’s time in office.

Adrian Cohen said the forum has “an opportunity to build on our established relationships with City Hall, within a new political context”. He added that during talks with the mayor next week, the organization would offer “the advice, support and good counsel of LJF on the full range of issues of concern to our community including housing, community relations and culture...We look forward to working with him”.

However, there was concern after the British National Party gained a seat on the London Assembly for the first time. Under a partial system of proportional representation, the level of support for the BNP qualified it for one of 11 seats allocated between the competing parties according to their share of the total vote. Cohen pledged that “we will be working with the Mayor and the mainstream political parties in the Assembly to promote harmonious community relations notwithstanding this result”.

In the run-up to the poll, the Board of Deputies led the Your Voice or Theirs campaign to try to stop the BNP gaining ground by urging community members to vote for other candidates.

Board Chief Executive Jon Benjamin said: “The very high turnout in areas with a sizable Jewish population is a credit to the community response to the threat of extremism. While we were disappointed that the politics of the far right has managed to secure a voice in London, we are encouraged at the response of the other parties, who have stated their intention to marginalise the proponents of discrimination and division.”

The CST’s Mark Gardner added: “The BNP were predicting that they would receive three seats in London and we believed that this was possible. It is unfortunate that they received one seat but the situation could have been worse but for the efforts of Jewish voters and many other voters across London.”

Meanwhile, Nicky Gavron, who served as Deputy Mayor under Livingstone, lost out to incumbent Brian Coleman in Camden and Barnet. But she was elected to the Assembly after being placed at the top of Labour’s list.

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