Jewish community leaders in Manchester, England claim their children are becoming more “hostile to Israel.” They blamed the hostile mainstream British media for filling their children with one-sided anti-Israel information.
David Berkeley, president of the local Zionist Central Council, told online edition of The Jewish Chronicle in Britain last week that his children are less able to appreciate Israel's position than those of former generations.
“My children have only lived with Israel [called] the regional superpower, Israel the aggressor, the occupier and human rights abuser,” he claimed.
Berkeley attended a meeting last week to plan a major pro-Israel conference with the Reut Institute, based in the Jewish State.
The Reut Institute is a non-partisan nonprofit think tank in Tel Aviv designed to provide strategic decisions in real time to Israel. The organization provides its services pro bono solely to the government.
Also at the meeting was Jewish Representative Council president Lucille Cohen, along with 12 other leaders. She, too, claimed that British Jewish children are no longer able to understand the reasoning behind Israel's actions.
“Our youngsters, our own grassroots, have lost their pro-Israel stance,” Cohen said. “A lot of young people are left wondering whether Israel is doing something wrong.”
Two teenagers interviewed for the article, both male, said they and their friends seriously questioned Israel's choices. Some have questioned Israel's right to exist as well.
David Tuck, 17, told TJC “it is hard when there is so much anti-Israel news and a lot of people I go to school with are quite strongly anti-Israel.”