Dame Louise Ellman has launched a strong attack on antisemitism in the Labour party. In her first major speech since becoming chair of Labour Friends of Israel, she said she understood and shared the fear of many Jews about Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister. Speaking at the LFI annual reception Read more…
For once, the polls were right. They had suggested for months that Israel’s general election yesterday would end in stalemate. While counting is not yet complete, exit polls and the current official tallies point to the same deadlock which followed April’s inconclusive general election. The results represent a massive blow Read more…
A desperate Benjamin Netanyahu was this week thwarted in an attempt to push through the Knesset a controversial bill allowing party workers to bring cameras into polling stations. With polls showing the opposition Blue and White party narrowly edging ahead of the prime minister’s Likud party ahead of next week’s Read more…
With less than two weeks to go until polling day, Israel appears to be heading towards another general election stalemate – the second in less than six months. Polls this week show neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his principal rival, Benny Gantz, have succeeded in opening a decisive lead. Instead, they Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel took a group of centre-left parliamentarians on delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Territories at the end of July. The group was led by LFI chair Dame Louise Ellman MP, and included LFI honorary president Joan Ryan MP, Rosie Cooper MP, Steve McCabe MP, and Phil Read more…
Dame Louise Ellman is to become the new chair of Labour Friends of Israel, replacing Joan Ryan, who will assume the role of honorary president – a position once held by Harold Wilson, a similarly staunch supporter of Israel and ally of the Jewish community in Britain. Ms Ryan has Read more…
With only days remaining until Israel’s political parties must present their finalised slates for September’s general election, there has been further maneuvering on the left and right, and between Arab parties. Two weeks ago, the Labor party announced that it had agreed a merger with Orly Levy-Abekasis’s Gesher party. The Read more…
With less than two months to go until polling day, the contours of the battlefield for Israel’s general election on 17 September have begun to look a little clearer. Over the past week, Labor leader Amir Peretz announced a deal between his party and centrist Gesher party. Its leader, Orly Levy-Abekasis, will Read more…
The issue of incitement to violence aimed at Palestinian children and young people is under the spotlight again with the emergence of new evidence of the naming of summer camps after terrorists. In recent days, images have emerged of two West Bank summer camps named after Dalal Mughrabi. Mughrabi is Read more…
Six weeks after the Knesset voted for new elections in September, the Israeli political landscape looks no more certain than it day after Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprising failure to form a government. The Israeli prime minister had appeared to emerge victorious from April’s general election, but weeks of talks failed to Read more…
In a back to the future move, Amir Peretz last night succeeded Avi Gabbay as the next leader of the party that built the modern State of Israel. 67-year-old Peretz – who led Labor from 2005 to 2007 – beat two younger candidates famed for leading Israel’s 2011 social justice protests, Read more…
The first part of Donald Trump’s much-delayed plan to secure “the ultimate deal” – peace between Israel and the Palestinians – was published on Saturday. The document, entitled Peace To Prosperity, outlines a $50bn investment plan ahead of an “economic workshop” in Bahrain this week. The Palestinian Authority, which is Read more…