I am acutely aware of my own past mistakes – thoughtless actions for which I have apologised, taken responsibility and learned from. That experience informs my conviction that clarity matters now more than ever, at a time when confusion and the distortion of truth are doing real harm – even when speaking plainly is not without consequence. It requires responsibility from all of us.

We cannot answer injustice with more injustice. If we do, we don’t end the cycle, we extend it. The only way to break it is to refuse to pass it on. That means being unequivocal: standing against anti-Semitism wherever it appears, while recognising that anti-Muslim hatred and all forms of racism draw from the same well of division. They must be confronted with the same resolve. It also means speaking out against the immense loss of innocent life without fear, but with care and responsibility.

Nothing, whether criticism of a government or the reality of violence and destruction, can ever justify hostility toward an entire people or faith.

Public debate has, at times, become so polarised that positions are reduced to absolutes. There has been little room for nuance, deepening the confusion that fuels division. That debate has also ignored the diversity of views within Jewish communities, including many who are openly and publicly critical of certain state actions.
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If we are serious about confronting this, we must be honest about the conditions in which it grows – and clear about where anger is directed, and where it must never be allowed to fall. When anger is turned toward communities – whether Jewish, Muslim, or any other – it ceases to be a call for justice and becomes something far more corrosive.