Jewish Chronicle
November 28, 2013
Baroness Julia Neuberger says the Jewish community must speak out more on behalf of immigrants, and should welcome the Romanians and Bulgarians expected to arrive in the UK next year.
Baroness Neuberger, the senior rabbi of West London Synagogue, said prejudice against the immigrants from the two Balkan states — who will be able to settle in Britain in 2014 as a result of membership of the EU — “really does stink”.
She added: “Unless they are a convert, no Jew in the UK is not an immigrant or economic migrant. We who know about prejudice should speak out. There is a Jewish voice on immigration, but it’s not a loud voice.
“It’s not a popular thing to say, ‘let more people into Britain’.”
She praised the migrant drop-in centres organised by the West London and New North London synagogues. “These things are enormously important,” she said.
The baroness also found fault with the community’s care for the elderly, saying more could be done for the “old and frail.
“As a community, we take the view that we include people as much as we can, [but] we’re not perfect. There’s plenty that I could criticise.