This op-ed first appeared in the Jewish News, click here to view the original. Many of us have never needed convincing about just how dangerous Hezbollah is. That’s why – alongside Jewish communal organisations and colleagues from across the House of Commons – we campaigned to have this antisemitic terror group proscribed Read more…
Following reports that the UK security services in 2015 foiled an plot by Hezbollah agents in the UK, LFI chair Joan Ryan has written to Home Secretary Sajid Javid expressing concern about the withholding of information about the plot from both the public and parliament. Until February of this year, Read more…
The German parliament last week passed a motion condemning as antisemitic the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. The motion was the joint initiative of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and centre-left Social Democrat party, and was backed by the Greens and the centrist Free Democrats. Entitled “Resist the Read more…
Britain’s ban on Hezbollah came into force last Friday. It means that being a member or supporter of the antisemitic terror group is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The government’s move followed several years of campaigning by LFI and Jewish groups. Previously, only Hezbollah’s military wing was banned Read more…
The British government last week announced it was banning Hezbollah in its entirety in a major victory for LFI’s long-running campaign. Previously, only the military wing of the antisemitic terror group was proscribed in Britain. LFI chair Joan Ryan and vice-chair Dame Louise Ellman have led parliamentary efforts to ban Read more…
LFI chair, Joan Ryan MP, has today resigned from the Labour Party. Please see a below statement from LFI and from Joan Ryan MP: A statement from Labour Friends of Israel: “LFI respects the very difficult decision taken by MPs this week to leave the Labour Party, including that of Read more…
LFI chair Joan Ryan writes to Emily Thornberry in response to Emily’s letter to Jeremy Hunt on the situation in Syria. Joan states that Emily’s letter is “nothing short of a complete misreading of the facts” and that “in a dispute between the Middle East’s only democracy and a brutal Read more…
The deputy leader of the Labour party, Tom Watson, has led the protests against the decision of Malaysia to bar Israeli athletes from participating in the World Para Swimming Championships, a qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, which takes place in the country this summer. The championships are Read more…
Joan Ryan MP has sent letters, to the Malaysian high commissioner and minister for sports, in protest at the country denying entry visas to Israeli swimmers to compete in this summer’s World Para Swimming Championships, a qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. You can view the letter Malaysian Read more…
This week, LFI, in partnership with CFI and the Israeli Embassy, hosted a special briefing in parliament to commemorate the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran. Ambassador Mark Regev and Board of Deputies vice-president Edwin Shuker spoke about the 850,000 Jewish refugees who were forced to flee Read more…
LFI’s chair Joan Ryan vowed to lead the fight against antisemitism in the Labour party “whatever the personal cost” in her speech to our annual lunch on Tuesday. In a strongly worded address, Ms Ryan also pledged to stand up to “the politics of hatred and division” and defend “the Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel Annual Lunch, 27 November 2018 Remarks by the Ambassador of Israel, HE Mark Regev. Check against delivery. Chief Rabbi, Chair of the Jewish Agency, Isaac Herzog, Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, Chair of LFI, Joan Ryan, Parliamentarians and friends, And a very special thanks to Sir Read more…