Today Joan Ryan MP, Chair of LFI, wrote to Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol over concerns about the party’s inquiry into antisemitism allegations at Oxford University Labour Club: Dear Iain Further to our conversation on Monday evening, I write to express again my deep concern about the nature of the inquiry that has Read more…
Read the original article from the Guardian here. Labour opens inquiry into antisemitism allegations at Oxford student club, by Mark Tran for the Guardian, 17 February 2016 The Labour party’s national student organisation has launched an inquiry into allegations of antisemitic behaviour and intimidation at Oxford University Labour Club. Ed Read more…
Click here to read the original letter Read the JC’s article here Dear Grahame, I believe that you are planning to host an event in parliament next Tuesday, which Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East are promoting, at which Abdel Bari Atwan will be the moderator. I am Read more…
Labour parliamentarians have written to Jeremy Corbyn this week urging him to join them in persuading the NEC to overturn its decision to boycott G4S. Following an unscheduled intervention by UNITE political director Jennie Formby, the party’s governing body last month voted to bar G4S from providing security at Labour’s Read more…
In response to the decision of the Labour Party NEC last week to boycott G4S Rt Hon Joan Ryan MP, Chair of LFI said: “The Labour Party has a long-standing policy of oppositions to boycotts which the NEC’s decision directly contravenes. I am writing to the party’s general secretary, Iain Read more…
Rt Hon Joan Ryan MP Speech to LFI Annual Lunch 17th November 2015 Chief Rabbi, Deputy Ambassador, friends. I want to begin today by thanking you all for being here. The responsibility of supporters of Israel in the Labour Party has become even more important since we last met in Read more…
Check against delivery Annual Lunch 17th November 2015 Keynote speech by Guest of Honour Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP Shadow Foreign Secretary Sir David, Chief Rabbi, parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Shalom. Can I first of all apologise profusely for being late. I do hope you will understand that I Read more…
LFI chair Joan Ryan was in Israel this week, reaffirming Labour’s strong ties to its sister party. Meeting Labor chairman Isaac Herzog at the Knesset, she expressed her intention to bring more Labour MPs to Israel over the next year. “In my experience, it is the way to ensure MPs Read more…
OPINION: Corbyn’s missed opportunity to reassure on Israel by Joan Ryan MP, Chair of LFI – Published in the Jewish News: http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/opinion-corbyns-missed-opportunity-to-reassure-on-israel/ Last week in Brighton, over 500 people attended Labour Friends of Israel’s annual Labour party conference reception. It was one of the biggest meetings at the conference, demonstrating the Read more…
Jeremy Corbyn caused controversy on Tuesday night when he failed to mention the word “Israel” in his address to LFI’s annual party conference reception. At the end of the Labour leader’s eight-minute speech – in which he defended the vote to recognise Palestine last October and called for the lifting Read more…
Over the coming weeks and months, I intend to begin an open and frank dialogue with Labour’s new leadership. On behalf of LFI’s supporters, I want to do three things. First, we will make clear to Jeremy Corbyn why some are deeply concerned about statements he has made regarding Israel, Read more…
Former government minister Joan Ryan is to be the new chair of Labour Friends of Israel. Ryan, the newly elected MP for Enfield North, replaces Dame Anne McGuire, who stood down from parliament at the general election. A former Home Office minister, senior whip and vice-chair of the Labour Party, Read more…