Belfast
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Former UK Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis charged that the EU attempted to block kosher products from being exported to Northern Ireland, the UK Jewish News reported.

When asked during an interview about Conservative Party leadership contender Liz Truss’s claims of “widespread antisemitism” within the “woke” civil service, Lewis accused the EU of “trying to block the Jewish community of Northern Ireland from getting access to kosher products.”

“Where I saw anything against the Jewish community it was coming from the EU who were trying to block the Jewish community of Northern Ireland from getting access to kosher products. That’s what dealing with the Northern Ireland protocol was all about,” he said.

The Brexit process led to Northern Ireland’s tiny Jewish community, who mostly live in Belfast, facing a serious shortage of access to kosher foods, which must be shipped from Britain.

In December 2021, the ongoing inability of the UK and EU governments to find a solution to trade issues that have caused kosher food shortages in Northern Ireland led the UK Jewish community to demand an “urgent solution” and warn that “cupboards nearly bare of kosher foods” were putting local Jews in jeopardy.

With trade restrictions under the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol making it nearly impossible to import enough kosher food for the Belfast Jewish community, the Equality Commission and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission each demanded a solution.