(Normally I distrust this source, but this report sounds mostly credible.)

Several former members of Leicester Progressives were left “Jewishly homeless” in the city after resigning from the synagogue following a dispute over the shul’s approach to Israel.

A handful of members of the small community resigned their membership from Neve Shalom: Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation in January last year, claiming that anti-Israel members had gained a foothold in the synagogue’s ruling council. Neve Shalom has rejected these claims of bias, stating that the community continues to have a close relationship with Israel and prays for the release of the hostages every week.

The exodus began when a Neve Shalom member objected to the inclusion of an Israeli flag in the community’s digital newsletter and the council agreed to remove the flag. Two months later, a member was told he could not advertise a Board of Deputies rally for Israel because it would be perceived as “political”.

Four members of the Kaufman family resigned their membership over the rift and the JC has seen evidence that another family also left the shul over the issue. One former member told the JC that approximately 20 members resigned, but the Neve Shalom council disputed that number.

In November 2023, a few weeks after [the] attack on southern Israel, Victor Kaufman, 39, and his husband Richard Bartfield, 42, stepped down from their roles on the Neve Shalom council after a member of the community objected to an Israeli flag on the shul’s email newsletter.

Bartfield, who served as the community’s secretary and oversaw its e-newsletter, added an Israeli flag and the words “Bring them home” to the bulletin following the October 7 attack. After several weeks, a congregant emailed the council expressing dismay at the flag, describing it as “shocking” and “deeply offensive”.

The member claimed that “offensive racist language being used by some senior Israeli politicians” meant including the flag on the Neve Shalom e-newsletter was tantamount to “flying the flag for the Israeli government”. The member added that the war was “unacceptable to most of us at Neve Shalom”.

Following the complaint, the community’s then-president agreed to remove the flag pending a council vote. “I have no personal objections [to the Israeli flag] but I quite understand that some of our congregation would,” the president wrote in an email to Bartfield. “I think the easiest way forward would be to remove it.”

Bartfield opposed the decision and resigned as secretary in protest. Kaufman also stepped down as treasurer, stating, “I cannot serve a community that falls short of fulfilling its commitment to the state of Israel at a time where solidarity with the Jewish State has never been needed more.”

[…]

Kaufman lamented that the one place in Leicester where he had expected to find solidarity with Israel – his synagogue – was no longer an option. […] “There is no safe space to be a [Progressive and a] supporter of Israel in Leicester – even a moderate supporter,” Kaufman said. “I don’t like Netanyahu or the settlements – but it got to a point where I could not even support Israel at my shul.”

No comment.