Latest News And Analysis
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[…]
Analysis: Trump’s economic plan for Palestine falls flat
The first part of Donald Trump’s much-delayed plan to secure “the ultimate deal” – peace between Israel and the Palestinians – was published on Saturday. The document, entitled Peace To Prosperity, outlines a $50bn investment plan ahead of an “economic workshop” in Bahrain this week. The Palestinian Authority, which is boycotting the summit, immediately rejected[…]
LFI vice-chair speaks about the plight of Jewish refugees
LFI vice-chair Dame Louise Ellman MP has spoken about the forgotten plight of the Jewish refugees from the Middle East and north Africa, in a Parliamentary debate. In a debate in Westminster Hall, Dame Louise Ellman highlighted the tragic plight of the 850,000 Jews displaced from the Middle East in the last seventy years. “It[…]
Analysis: Quarter of a million people celebrate Tel Aviv Pride
An estimated 250,000 people took to the streets of Tel Aviv last Friday to celebrate the city’s 21st annual Pride parade. The event is one of the few Pride events in the Middle East outside of Israel, and is the eighth largest in the world. The parade marked the culmination of more than 45 events[…]
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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
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