Integration and Community Cohesion

Lord Palmer of Childs Hill Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow all these wonderful speeches. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, for initiating this debate and telling us her history. I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Raval and Lord Rook, on their speeches and their entry to the House. I am sure they will make a great difference to it.

This is a very diverse House. To qualify to speak in this debate, I think I ought to stress that my mother came from Poland as a teenager, between the wars. She married my father, who also came from far away—Newcastle—while my maternal grandmother and other family died in the Holocaust. There are many strands of diversity in your Lordships’ House and we have heard many of them today. I was sure that many speakers would focus on their community in relation to cohesion. I will concentrate on how the UK Jewish community fits into this essential task.

We are fortunate in the UK in having numerous communal organisations, including the Community Security Trust, the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council. There are many others. Sadly, external events can have a significant effect. Since Hamas killed and took hostages in Israel on 7 October 2023—as long ago as that—there has been a significant division in the UK. These divisions impact on Jewish life, resulting in tensions in the workplace, in educational institutions, on our streets and in communal spaces. There has, sadly, been a rise in anti-Semitism.

Many in the UK Jewish community feel more vulnerable than before and this is surely unacceptable. There are no easy answers. Interfaith initiatives need to be supported. Education needs to be improved on what is seen as anti-Semitism and how hurtful it is in the workplace, on the streets and in education. We have to face up to the fact that news travels faster than before, no more so than if that news is false or distorted. A lie once posted online soon becomes viral. Corrections, if made, are often ignored by those willing to believe those falsehoods.

It is often hard to explain to others that Israel plays an important part in the identity of the UK Jewish community due to religious, cultural, family and economic ties. It is not anti-Semitic to criticise Israel—after all, Jews and Israelis do it all the time—but it is an uncomfortable feeling to see the only Jewish state, comprising a population of only nine million, including non-Jews, singled out or held to higher standards than other nations. This can be seen in cases such as when a UK local authority supports the boycott and divestments campaign. We rarely hear of the 8 million Jews who fled Arab lands, mainly to settle in Israel. In the main that was because Israel, as we are trying to suggest today, integrates them into the general populace. There needs to be a stronger enforcement against extremism in the charity sector, which should be stamped on by the Charity Commission.

Of course, these falsehoods do not apply only to the UK Jewish community. In reflecting on the importance of community cohesion between Jewish and Muslim communities, I am heartened by initiatives such as Mitzvah Day, the UK’s largest day of social action. It brings together over 50,000 individuals from incredibly diverse backgrounds to engage in charitable activities that strengthen our social fabric. Notably, in 2024, Mitzvah Day’s theme was “Stronger Together”, emphasising unity in challenging times. Faith leaders from various traditions collaborated on projects supporting vulnerable families, exemplifying the power of collective action in fostering interfaith harmony. As examples, there were people knitting hats for premature babies in hospitals, while my wife was involved in cases for the homeless in Camden.

I acknowledge the contributions of many key figures in promoting interfaith relations. I know that the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, has been an ardent supporter of Mitzvah Day, a cross-religious and cross-cultural initiative, just for helping people. He has participated in its initiatives. The aim is to build bridges between communities. Additionally, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on women in faith has been instrumental in highlighting the vital role of women in fostering interfaith dialogue. We must all support initiatives aiming to deal with anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hate, anti-Hindu hate—hate of all sorts. I await the Minister’s reply. I will not set out specific questions as so many other questions have been raised already, except to ask: what initiatives can we expect from His Majesty’s Government?