Report by David Warden
David is the humanist representative on the multi-faith Bournemouth & Poole Holocaust Memorial Day Committee.
On 17th July, I went to my first ever protest to join in solidarity with the Jewish community of Bournemouth and their friends to protest against a motion that was to be debated by local councillors in Bournemouth Town Hall. The proposal, tabled by Green Party councillor and humanist Joe Salmon, was to ‘de-twin’ the town of Bournemouth from Netanya in Israel. The towns have been twinned since 1995. Salmon claimed that the ‘plausible case for genocide’ against Israel meant Bournemouth should protect its reputation by severing its ties with Netanya. This followed criminal removal of the twinning signs from around Bournemouth by activists. Salmon said that twinning was ‘rooted in fostering mutual respect, cultural exchange and the promotion of peace and understanding’, but added: ‘When the actions and policies of a sister town’s nation contradict these values, it becomes imperative to reconsider and potentially sever such ties.’
I had imagined that the Jewish protest would number about a dozen people. In the event, the Jewish side easily outnumbered the pro-Palestinian side. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign waved expensively-produced banners demanding that Bournemouth be de-twinned from Netanya. They banged on drums and shouted their menacing slogan ‘From the River to the Sea’. On the Jewish side, we played loud popular Israeli music on a never-ending loop amidst a sea of Israel flags and Union Jacks. On our side, there was an upbeat atmosphere but this overlaid the deep fears and anxieties of the Jewish community in Bournemouth.
My instinctive reaction was to show solidarity with the Jewish community in Bournemouth because the motion to de-twin the town from Netanya feels like an attack on them. Bournemouth's twinning relationships should be viewed as non-political gestures of international friendship. Dragging them into the orbit of political protest is, in my opinion, fanatical and divisive. My instinct was also to cross the divide between the two opposing groups and engage in constructive dialogue. Having rabbis on one side and imams on the other shows just how damaging and divisive such political actions can be.
Word went round during the protest that the motion had been dropped. According to a report in The Telegraph, Bournemouth Charter Trustees, a group of councillors, said that having taken legal advice, the motion to de-twin Bournemouth with Netanya fell outside its remit. George Farquhar, the Mayor of Bournemouth, said the group was a non-political body and was there to promote the historic and ceremonial duties of the town. He added that a civic working group will be set up to review the scope of the trustees to take such decisions.
Town twinning was primarily a European movement developing after 1945 and then in the Cold War, Coventry and Dresden for example. It looks like Bournemouth's twinning with Netanya was much more recent, only 20 years ago. It's obviously highly political. The protest seems to contribute to the false conflation of British Judaiasm with the state of Israel, ignoring the fact that there are big differences of views among British Jews, many of whom are appalled at the actions of Israel in response to the 7/10 Hamas atrocities and hostage taking. And it draws Holocaust Memorial Day into the Israel/Gaza conflict, forcing people to take sides when HMD is all about remembering specified 20th century genocides, especially the Holocaust. I can't se…
Aaron, perhaps you have misunderstood what was happening here. No group was trying to force a decision on 400,000 people. A motion was put to the council by an elected councilor. Unfortunately it could not be voted on by the council, who of course are elected representatives of those 400,000 people, because of a procedural issue which I do not understand.
The issue is whether Bournemouth should be trained with a town in a country which is continuing to slaughter, largely by bombing of housing, schools and hospitals, tens of thousands of women and children.
I wonder if the author of this piece, David Warden, would be happy for Bournemouth to be twinned with a town in Russia, which is…
No group of volatile people should be able to force a decision on behalf of 400,000. Who do they think they are, and what happens to democracy if they in any way succeed.