Latest News And Analysis
Analysis: The end of Bibi? Israel’s deadlocked election
For once, the polls were right. They had suggested for months that Israel’s general election yesterday would end in stalemate. While counting is not yet complete, exit polls and the current official tallies point to the same deadlock which followed April’s inconclusive general election. The results represent a massive blow to Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier[…]
Analysis: Desperate Bibi’s “election-stealing” bill blocked
A desperate Benjamin Netanyahu was this week thwarted in an attempt to push through the Knesset a controversial bill allowing party workers to bring cameras into polling stations. With polls showing the opposition Blue and White party narrowly edging ahead of the prime minister’s Likud party ahead of next week’s elections, Netanyahu had attempted to[…]
Analysis: Will Likud ditch Bibi if election ends in new stalemate?
With less than two weeks to go until polling day, Israel appears to be heading towards another general election stalemate – the second in less than six months. Polls this week show neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his principal rival, Benny Gantz, have succeeded in opening a decisive lead. Instead, they give the prime minister’s Likud[…]
LFI Delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Territories – July 2019
Labour Friends of Israel took a group of centre-left parliamentarians on delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Territories at the end of July. The group was led by LFI chair Dame Louise Ellman MP, and included LFI honorary president Joan Ryan MP, Rosie Cooper MP, Steve McCabe MP, and Phil Wilson MP. The group began[…]
Dame Louise Ellman MP becomes chair of Labour Friends of Israel
Dame Louise Ellman is to become the new chair of Labour Friends of Israel, replacing Joan Ryan, who will assume the role of honorary president – a position once held by Harold Wilson, a similarly staunch supporter of Israel and ally of the Jewish community in Britain. Ms Ryan has deservedly built an international reputation[…]
Analysis: Israeli left unites for elections – but Labor stands apart
With only days remaining until Israel’s political parties must present their finalised slates for September’s general election, there has been further maneuvering on the left and right, and between Arab parties. Two weeks ago, the Labor party announced that it had agreed a merger with Orly Levy-Abekasis’s Gesher party. The move was widely seen as[…]
Analysis: Labor’s Amir Peretz makes surprise election move to broaden party’s base
With less than two months to go until polling day, the contours of the battlefield for Israel’s general election on 17 September have begun to look a little clearer. Over the past week, Labor leader Amir Peretz announced a deal between his party and centrist Gesher party. Its leader, Orly Levy-Abekasis, will occupy the second-place slot on[…]
Analysis: Palestinian childrens’ summer camps named after terrorists
The issue of incitement to violence aimed at Palestinian children and young people is under the spotlight again with the emergence of new evidence of the naming of summer camps after terrorists. In recent days, images have emerged of two West Bank summer camps named after Dalal Mughrabi. Mughrabi is responsible for the most lethal[…]
Analysis: Can Ehud Barak unite Israel’s left?
Six weeks after the Knesset voted for new elections in September, the Israeli political landscape looks no more certain than it day after Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprising failure to form a government. The Israeli prime minister had appeared to emerge victorious from April’s general election, but weeks of talks failed to assemble a coalition capable of[…]
Analysis: Labor goes back to the future with Peretz
In a back to the future move, Amir Peretz last night succeeded Avi Gabbay as the next leader of the party that built the modern State of Israel. 67-year-old Peretz – who led Labor from 2005 to 2007 – beat two younger candidates famed for leading Israel’s 2011 social justice protests, Stav Shaffir, 34, and Itzik[…]
What we do
Key Issues
Our weekly update looking at the Middle East peace process, regional developments, domestic Israeli and Palestinian affairs and primary issues affecting UK policy on Israel
In Parliament
We work closely with Labour parliamentarians to strengthen relations between Britain and Israel and to promote a vision of coexistence founded on peace and liberal democracy
Publications
We support constructive and informed discussion within the Labour movement; explaining the intense debate within Israel over the challenges the country faces, including constant security and existential threats.
Campaigns
We run and promote campaigns to help create a lasting peace in the Middle East with Israel safe, secure and recognised within its borders; living alongside a democratic, independent Palestinian state