Rt Hon Joan Ryan MP, LFI chair, speech to Labour Friends of Israel Annual Lunch 2017 Chief Rabbi, Ambassador Regev, friends Thank you to all of you for being here today. In particular, I want to thank Sir David Garrard and Isaac Kaye, our long-standing lunch sponsors. I also want to Read more…
Joan Ryan MP, parliamentary chair of LFI, has written a reply to Richard Burden MP regarding a letter to Middle East minister Alistair Burt on the Gaza crisis. Ms Ryan writes that she shares Mr Burden’s concern for the humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip and agrees that the recent deterioration in Read more…
One week after its signing, the agreement reached between Hamas and Fatah last week – accompanied by pictures of handshakes between the two sides in Cairo and celebrations in the streets of Gaza – is already throwing up many unanswered questions. The deal formalised the previous agreement that the Palestinian Read more…
The effort to broker a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah returned to Cairo this week. This morning, it was announced that that the two sides had reached an agreement, and more negotiations would take place next week. At the outset of this latest round of talks between the two sides, which are being Read more…
In the 10 years since Hamas executed its bloody coup and seized control of Gaza, the terror group and President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement have attempted to patch up their differences on many occasions. But agreements aimed at restoring Palestinian unity at Mecca in 2007, Sana’a in 2008, Cairo Read more…
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is reaching crisis point. 96% of water in the enclave is unfit for human consumption, and the strip receives only four to six hours of electricity per day. A significant portion of the money pledged for reconstruction in Gaza after the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel has Read more…
This month sees two significant and related anniversaries. Twelve years ago this week Israel began its unilateral pull out from the Gaza Strip, while 26 August marks the third anniversary of the end of Operation Protective Edge, the 50-day bloody conflict waged by the Jewish state to stop Hamas’ Read more…
Ten years ago this month, Hamas executed a brutal takeover of Gaza, one that saw the terrorist group murder its political opponents and impose an Islamist regime on the poverty-stricken enclave. On three occasions since, most recently in 2014, the group has provoked bloody conflicts with Israel after sustained attacks Read more…
Hamas’ attempt to re-write their charter looks no closer to resolution as the militant group remains divided on proposed changes. Reformists within the group are trying to remove a series of anti-semitic clauses and include a provisional acceptance of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. These changes, however, have Read more…
Likud transport minister Yisrael Katz voiced his support again last week for a new sea port on the Gaza coast, indicating continuing Israeli concern about the future of the Palestinian enclave. The idea has been proposed in various forms over the past five years, though Katz’ vision is particularly ambitious: Read more…
Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the American Presidency has worried advocates of a two-state solution across the globe. A number of early proposals and statements have aligned the incoming Republican President with both sceptics and opponents of a two-state deal. Heavy criticism followed Trump’s appointment of bankruptcy lawyer David Freidman as Read more…
This article first appeared on Jewish News. You can read the full, original letter here. Labour Friends of Israel has called for the Home Secretary to ban a leading Palestinian leadership contender from entry into the UK. LFI chair Joan Ryan MP asked Amber Rudd to bar Jibril Rajoub, a Read more…