The next Labour government will challenge antisemitic incitement by the Palestinian Authority, support the establishment of an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and continue to oppose the BDS movement, the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, told this week’s annual LFI lunch. Ms Thornberry also repeated Labour’s pledge to recognise a Read more…
*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY *** HMA Mark Regev, Israeli Ambassador, speech to Labour Friends of Israel Annual Lunch 2017 Chief Rabbi, Lords and Ladies, Members of Parliament, Distinguished guests, It is a real pleasure to be back here at Central Hall for LFI’s Annual Lunch. I would like to begin by Read more…
*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY *** Rt Hon Emily Thornberry MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary, speech to Labour Friends of Israel Annual Lunch 2017 Chief Rabbi, Ambassador Regev, Parliamentary colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is an honour to be here today. Sir David, thank you for that kind introduction, and on behalf of Read more…
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…
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry returned to Britain this week after visiting Israel with LFI. During a four-day trip to Israel and the West Bank, she was accompanied by the shadow minister for peace and disarmament Fabian Hamilton. Ms Thornberry met with the new leader of the Israeli Labor party, Read more…
On the eve of the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, polling commissioned by a UK think tank has revealed support for Israel in Britain is at a seven-year high. The poll, carried out by Populus for BICOM, asked respondents for their views on a range of issues relating to Israel 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…
The bland statements issued from Jerusalem, Ramallah and Washington last week gave no hint to the success of otherwise of the US’ latest attempt to push a peace initiative in the Middle East. Following talks last week in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Israel and Palestine by the Read more…