Leading British Jews have denied that they have snubbed the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook by "postponing" a dinner at which he was to have been the guest of honour because of their anger over his controversial visit to Israel.

Mr Cook called for Israel to halt expansion of settlements

The Board of Deputies of British Jews told BBC News Online it had delayed its president's dinner because the original date in May clashed with the G8 summit of the world's leading economic nations, which Britain is hosting in Birmingham.

But the board's President Eldred Tabachnik told the Jewish Chronicle: "Considering the strength of feeling in the community, we did not think we should have him at our dinner.

"Hopefully, we will able to ask him when things cool down."

Mr Cook had been asked to address the dinner, which was planned to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel.

Mr Cook's meeting with a Palestinian official at Har Homa infuriated Israel

The postponement comes a week after the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, cancelled a dinner with Mr Cook because the British minister had met a Palestinian official at the disputed Har Homa settlement on occupied Arab territory in east Jerusalem.

The Foreign Office, which was informed by the board that the event had been postponed for "organisational reasons", said the invitation would be issued again once the dinner had been rescheduled later this year. It denied the decision was a snub.

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