On the 14th May, 1948, on the termination of the British Mandate, Israel declared its independence. As the Jewish state celebrates its seventieth anniversary, here are seven defining moments in the history of the reborn Jewish state. 1948 – Israel’s War of Independence The Jewish Agency, pre-state Israel’s government-in-waiting, accepting Read more…
An Iranian drone which entered Israeli airspace in February was carrying explosives, it was revealed on Friday. The attempted attack – the explosives were sufficient to cause damage, although the precise target remains unknown – represents the first direct attack by the Islamic republic on Israel. It also indicates that Iranian Read more…
LFI chair Joan Ryan MP has written to Jeremy Corbyn, following the decision by the leader of the Israeli Labor party, Avi Gabbay, to suspend relations with the Labour leader. Her letter is below. LFI Director Jennifer Gerber also commented: “We fully understand why the Israeli Labor party has decided to Read more…
Sixteen Palestinians – eleven of whom were known members of terror organisations – died during clashes on the border between Gaza and Israel on Friday. The clashes took place in the context of a series of protests at the Gaza border, calling for the fulfilment of the Palestinian ‘right of Read more…
LFI chair Joan Ryan MP has written to shadow secretary of state for transport, Andy McDonald MP over his Holocaust comparison on Sky News. Click here to read the full letter.
Three Israelis were murdered in a weekend of terror attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Adiel Kolman, a 32-year-old father of four, was stabbed to death near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday. Two days earlier, two Israeli soldiers were killed and another two injured following Read more…
President Trump’s long-awaited Middle East plan is close to completion, according to reports in the US media last weekend. The timing of its release is not yet confirmed and details of its contents are highly guarded. However, the president’s enthusiasm for negotiating the “ultimate deal” – a peace agreement which brings an Read more…
This op-ed by Joan Ryan first appeared in the JewishNews, click here to read it. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is desperate and deeply concerning. Electricity supplies are highly restricted; water and sewage facilities are under strain; rising unemployment has hit 40 percent, with an estimated six in 10 young Read more…
The formal decision by Israel’s national police chief, Roni Alsheikh, to recommend indicting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a range of corruption charges has many on the left heralding the end of the Likud leader. Opposition leader Avi Gabbay proclaimed “The Netanyahu era is over”. Such pronouncements may be premature. Read more…
The government this week said it supported the establishment of an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Asked by LFI parliamentary supporter Luciana Berger at Foreign Office questions to “pledge the UK’s diplomatic support”, Middle East minister Alistair Burt announced: “The UK supports the concept of an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.” Read more…
“He does not have a public or moral mandate to determine such fateful matters for the state of Israel when there is the fear – and I have to say it is real and not without basis – that he will make decisions based on his personal interest in political Read more…
Despite the shock which accompanied it, there was an inevitability to the confrontation between Israel and Iran which took place over the skies of Syria and northern Israel last weekend. This may, moreover, be simply a harbinger of more – and worse – to come. The events unfolded in Read more…