The highlight of LFI’s 2021 Labour conference was the annual reception, which took place on Tuesday night. Turnout for the reception overwhelmed all expectations, with some 500 people attending the two-hour event. Speakers to the capacity crowd included LFI chair Steve McCabe, Dame Louise Ellman, shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy, Read more…
The foreign ministers of Israel and Sweden held their first phone call in seven years on Monday, in a move one Israeli diplomat called a “relaunching of relations” after a lengthy period of tension. Yair Lapid spoke with his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde, tweeting to thank her for “Sweden’s strong Read more…
Some 56 percent of Palestinians approve of recent “confidence-building measures” by the Israeli government, intended to improve everyday life for Palestinians. Polling by Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Survey and Policy Research, found that 56 percent of Palestinians viewed the moves positively, compared with 35 percent who Read more…
Israel’s foreign minister launched a major new Gaza initiative on Sunday, offering a “new vision” based on “economy for security”. Yair Lapid was speaking on the 16th anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from the coastal enclave, which has been wracked by war and a humanitarian crisis under the leadership of the Hamas terror Read more…
In LFI’s new pamphlet, The New Middle East: A Progressive Approach, contributors explored how the Middle East is changing and what a progressive UK foreign policy response might be. In this webinar, a number of the pamphlet authors and Chatham House experts discussed the publication’s main arguments and recommendations. Prof Read more…
Israel and Jordan could be poised for an unprecedented boom in water cooperation amid technological advancement, environmental pressures and improved diplomatic ties. Water deals between Jerusalem and Amman suffered in recent years under former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose critics accused him of neglecting ties with Jordan. However, in Read more…
The highest-level meeting between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in over a decade took place last week, and was followed by the announcement of a series of confidence-building measures. What happened Israel’s defence minister, Benny Gantz, met the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah last Sunday. “I came to the meeting Read more…
Join us for a discussion event on the Middle East’s changing political landscape, organised in collaboration with Chatham House. You can sign up for this fascinating discussion here ahead of the event itself on Tuesday 14th September at 2pm. Over the last decade, Middle Eastern countries have experienced significant changes in Read more…
The terrorist group Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since it seized power in 2007, has this week threatened Israel over the supply of aid into Gaza. Incendiary The threats come in the context of incendiary balloon arson attacks, a Hamas practice since 2018. Terrorists in Gaza launched several incendiary Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel director Michael Rubin has written the below article for LabourList. Click here to read the original. For those of us on the left who support Israel and want to see the forces of peace, progress and moderation advance in the Middle East, the last decade was without Read more…
LFI vice chair Cat McKinnell MP today pushed Middle East Minister James Cleverly about why the UK government isn’t showing more initiative to support the creation of the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, as envisioned by ALLMEP. Her question came following a written parliamentary question, in which the FCDO claimed Read more…
Palestinian Authority security forces arrested a Palestinian singer for performing in the Israeli settlement of Ariel on Monday. The singer, a resident of Kafr ad-Dik, will be tried on charges of “promoting normalisation with Israel”, sources told the Jerusalem Post. The singer was invited to perform at a party hosted by Read more…