Halifax bank has sent a letter to a customer living in Tel Aviv, Israel,  describing the address as “Palestinian Territories, Occupied”.

UKLFI has written to Halifax to demand an apology and that the employees responsible for this are disciplined.

In their letter to Russell Galley, the managing director of Halifax bank, UKLFI pointed out: “As you can understand, it is a very difficult time for Israelis, and for Jews all around the world, following Hamas’s horrific massacre in Israel, where over 1500 people were murdered, some of them after being raped or tortured, and including babies who were baked alive,  and over 250 residents taken hostage.   Israel has declared war on Hamas, whose stated aim is to destroy Israel.”

The customer’s son shared the Halifax letter on social media, explaining that his father had been a customer of the bank for 20 years.

Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI, said: “As tens of thousands of people in Britain’s streets call for Israel’s existence to be extinguished, and chant ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free’, Halifax bank appears to have succumbed to the same anti-Israel sentiment. We are shocked that Halifax also appears to be supporting Hamas’s cause by obliterating Israel.”

She added: “We hope that Halifax finds the employees responsible for this and that they are severely disciplined, and that Halifax will send an apology and compensation to the customer or customers affected.”

UPDATE

The Bank has responded to an article in the Jewish Chronicle, saying that an employee entered the wrong country code from a database on the letter, which led to the printing error.

A spokesperson for the bank said: “We’ve investigated and can confirm this was due to an individual human error, which was corrected in August. 

“We are sorry for any upset caused and are contacting our customer to apologise for the mistake.”