Israeli Ambassador Daniel Taub this week urged British Jews to find a way to engage with Israel even if they disagreed with the government's policies.
Addressing the Limmud Conference at the University of Warwick, Taub said: "In the dialogue between Israel and the Jews abroad, the table should be round, not rectangle. All sides should come to the table with all of their assets and passions."
The ambassador, who reminded his audience that he had attended the first Limmud conference more than 30 years ago when he was the UJS education officer, added: "Relations with Israel should not be predicated on just defending Israel. You should use your passions for social justice and equality as a bridge. Israel is a house of many doors and it has keys for everyone.British Jews, in common with other Jews, had to rediscover the miracle of Israel. We need to recapture the dreams of our grandparents so that we can dream for our children."
However, when questioned about some of recent Knesset legislation that was seen by some as being anti-minority and anti-democratic -such as the loyalty law and the NGO Bill - Taub said that the way the laws were portrayed in the media "blurred the reality".
Taub also noted that anyone arriving in Tel Aviv would see just how the country was not "security centred or fundamentalist", prompting some in the audience to question whether Tel Aviv represented Israel or the anti-women actions of some of the ultra-Orthodox on buses and in Beth Shemesh, where an eight-year-old Orthodox girl was spat at by males who thought she was dressed "immodestly".
Acknowledging that his views on ties between British Jews and Israel were "a work in progress", Taub, he said that in the past, his parents and grandparents believed that "Israel is there for us and we are here for it" - a no-questions-asked attitude that didnt work with today's generation.
"When we speak of the Wall, today's generation is more likely to think of the security barrier rather than the Western Wall, and they are more likely to think of the Gaza flotilla than the Exodus illegal immigrants' ship," he said.
Noting that British Jews were involved in social justice projects and local government, Taub appeared to take a snipe at "one gevalt conference after another" that dealt with the delegitimisation of Israel. "British Jews need to be more outward looking," he said.
This year, the annual week-long Limmud Conference has attracted more than 2,200 Jews from all over the world. Apart from the ambassador's talk, they were able to hear sessions on anything from the thoughts of French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas through decluttering to Tunisian kosher cooking.
As ever, Limmudniks were entertained in the evenings by comedy and performances by kosher gospel music star Joshua Nelson.
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