Dear Councillor Swords,

WE write to you as Jewish groups in relation to your actions against Razed Roof following the recent holocaust memorial event on Sunday 25th January in Harlow.

A member of Razed Roof read out the names of several genocides during their performance at the event: “Holodomor, (Nazi) Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, Rohingya, Xinjiang and Gaza: 2023: 70,000 Palestinians in the Gaza strip are indiscriminately killed by the state of Israel; up to 90% of the population are internally displaced.” 

Rabbi Irit Shillor who was at the event said in response “…the last statement is a statement of opinion, its not fact. None of these facts have been verified.”

The following day you wrote to Razed Roof, stating you would be taking the following actions:

● A ban on Razed Roof using any council facilities, venues or assets

● Termination of all council in-kind support to Razed roof

● Referring the group to the Charity Commission

● Referring the group to the police “in light of references to a proscribed terrorist

organisation, and the potential commission of criminal offences”

● Raising formal concerns with “relevant statutory authorities, use of disabled

participants….”

● Notifying all third-party funders for whom the council administers grants to Razed

Roof

● Notifying the Community Security Trust of the incident

● Informing the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

Your letter to Razed Roof concluded by saying “the council has a duty to take a firm and unwavering position to ensure that council-supported events and organisations do not promote hatred, intimidation or extremist narratives” and that “the decisions are not subject to negotiation or appeal.”

Your actions are not only extraordinarily harsh and punitive but also display a cruelty and vindictiveness which is hard to fathom. They also show a disregard for reality, which make you a genocide denier.

For your information:

1. The International Court of Justice ruled 2 years ago there is a plausible case of genocide against Israel, since confirmed by countless genocide scholars, including Jewish experts, the United Nations, human rights organisations, including B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, and many others.

2. The guiding motto of Holocaust remembrance is “never again”, i.e. never again for anyone. The inclusion of the Gaza genocide, alongside the many others mentioned, was therefore entirely appropriate.

Some of us also held a Holocaust memorial event recently and talked about many of the genocides which have occurred, including in Namibia, Viet Nam, China, Congo, Ireland, Sudan, and yes in Gaza too.

3. Rabbi Irit Shillor‘s comments were incorrect. The 70,000 deaths figure is long known about, and was recently confirmed by the Israeli Defence Force, in the Israeli press.

More recent research, published in the world-renowned medical journal, The Lancet, states that officially recorded deaths are undercounted by a third or more. Rabbi Shillor‘s response is therefore, clearly opinion, not fact.

4. 5. Why was mention of the Palestinian genocide considered outrageous?

The comments made about Gaza are not antisemitic; they criticise the state of Israel, not Jews. The conflation of all Jews with the actions of the state of Israel (as in your letter), on the other hand, is an antisemitic stereotype; it portrays all Jews having a single view or belief.

6. Razed Roof made no reference to any “terrorist organisation”, much less invited support for such a group. This shows a blatant disregard for the truth on your part.

Your actions follow the typical Zionist narrative: denial of the Gaza genocide (when denial of the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a classic antisemitic trope); conflation of criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and the attempt to suppress all mention of Palestinians. Indeed, you have conflated terrorism with sympathy for Palestinians being killed by Israel.

Your conduct is historically ignorant, and racist against Palestinians (as well as towards Jews). It is acrude attempt to intimidate Razed Roof, as well as any other group speaking the truth about Israel’s genocide.

You have done all this in your official capacity as Council leader. This breaches your duty to adhere to principles of objectivity, integrity, and accountability, as set out in standard codes of conduct and governance principles of the Local Government Association.

Your actions are clearly also an abuse of power. In addition, you ruled out any discussion or appeal against your actions, clearly denying the group due process.

We draw your attention to the fact that the overwhelming majority of comments in the local press in Harlow and on social media about this issue are sympathetic to Razed Roof. They oppose your actions, some doing so very strongly.

We call on you to withdraw all of your actions and issue an apology to Razed Roof. Failing this, we will be lodging a formal complaint with the Council Monitoring Officer and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Jewish Network for Palestine

Jewish Anti-Zionist Action

Jewish Voice for Liberation

Jewish Peaceniks

Jewish Artists for Palestine

Doikayt Collective