I’d like to begin tonight by paying tribute and offering thanks to my three predecessors:
Steve McCabe stepped down as chair at the general election after taking the helm in 2020.
As a parliamentary candidate, I was lucky enough to travel to Israel on an LFI delegation led by Steve.
His knowledge, commitment and leadership shone through at all times.
Louise and Joan Ryan led LFI through its most difficult period.
They took a courageous and principled stand against the shame of antisemitism within our own ranks.
I’m particularly delighted that Joan is with us this evening – back at Labour conference where she belongs.
After 14 long years in opposition, this is a moment of great hope for our party and for LFI. A chance to make Britain and the world safer, less divided, more prosperous.
I’d like to thank LFI’s many friends in government, parliament and across the party who are joining us tonight – evidence of our movement’s, and indeed our country’s, commitment to Israel, to peace and to a two-state solution.
This is also a moment of great challenge.
The situation in northern Israel and Lebanon is of grave concern.
The deaths of innocent civilians, whether in Israel, Palestine or Lebanon, are heartbreaking.
We join with the Government in calling for restraint and de-escalation leading to a diplomatic resolution that requires Hezbollah to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions it has egregiously breached for years, stops its indiscriminate daily rocket fire into northern Israel and allows the 60,000 displaced Israelis to return home.
A year ago, we gathered in the immediate aftermath of the 7 October pogrom.
The 101 hostages held in Hamas’s hands must return home.
Their suffering must end.
The torment of their families must end.
Some of them are represented here tonight:
Sharone and Noam,
We stand with you tonight.
Our hearts go out to you.
Oded, Shlomo and all the hostages are very much in our thoughts.
Our message is clear: Bring, Them. Home.
The terrible suffering of all innocent Israelis and Palestinians must end.
We must have an immediate ceasefire.
And a surge of aid to ease the plight of the people of Gaza.
All the lives lost, the interminable pain of those left behind, must never be repeated
In their name there has never been a more important time for the shared ambitions of LFI and our new Labour government:
To work towards two states for two peoples:
Because it is the only means by which to guarantee Israel’s security,
to preserve its precious identity as a Jewish and democratic state,
and to satisfy the legitimate demand of the Palestinian people for self-determination and national sovereignty.
We are, always have been, and always will be, Labour Friends of a two-state solution.
To promote peacebuilding:
Because we need to build new constituencies for peace and foster the values of reconciliation, coexistence and mutual respect between Israelis and Palestinians.
To strengthen regional security and prosperity:
Because the threat posed by terror groups – not just in the Middle East, but here in the UK, in Europe, and throughout the world – won’t be tackled until the threat posed by the Iranian regime is acknowledged and addressed.
That’s why we must start by banning Tehran’s terror army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
To enhance the relationship between Britain and Israel:
Because Israel is our only ally in the region which shares our liberal democratic values.
We must defend our liberal democratic friends and allies against the autocrats, the extremists and the terrorists.
Let’s not forget that the missiles Putin is launching against Kyiv were provided by the very same regime that provides the weaponry Hezbollah is firing at the Galilee.
The Moscow-Tehran axis is a menace to all of us who value freedom, peace and democracy.
And to fight anti-Zionist antisemitism:
Because the appalling surge in antisemitism we’ve seen on the streets of Britain since 7 October is intolerable.
None of us should be prepared to settle for a country in which
Jewish places of worship are protected by security guards;
Jewish pupils can’t wear their uniforms on the way to school;
And antisemites feel empowered to intimidate Jews by chanting for Jihad, glorifying Hamas’ crimes, and comparing the State of Israel to those who sought to annihilate European Jewry less than a century ago.
Keir Starmer defeated antisemitism in the Labour party.
Now we must work with our new Labour government to defeat the scourge of antisemitism in the country.
