The Knesset last night passed the first reading of key elements of the Netanyahu government’s judicial reform package, despite widespread protests, polling showing strong public opposition, and calls by President Isaac Herzog for a delay and negotiations. The legislation was passed by 63-47. However some MKs, including the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, Read more…
LFI vice-chair Catherine McKinnell MP has written the below article for JewishNews. Click here to read the original. Last week, I travelled to Israel for the first time as part of a delegation organised by Labour Friends of Israel. As we heard repeatedly, our trip comes at a time when the Read more…
Two children and a 20-year-old student died in a terrorist attack in northern Jerusalem on Friday when a car was driven into a crowd waiting at a bus stop. The attack brought to 10 the number of Israeli civilians killed by terrorists in the last two weeks. The two children who Read more…
Israel’s foreign minister is paying a rare visit to Turkey today and is expected to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Eli Cohen said he wanted to visit the country to show Israel’s solidarity and support following last week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Israel swiftly despatched a 160-strong search Read more…
Iran’s state airline is being used to smuggle advanced long-range armed drones to Russia for use in Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. The Guardian reported on Monday that some of the drones – at least 18 in total – were transferred to the Russian navy at sea by an Iranian vessel, which Read more…
The Netanyahu government’s controversial judicial reforms have begun their passage through the Knesset this week – amid a national strike, huge demonstrations and an unprecedented appeal from President Isaac Herzog for the current plans to be abandoned. What happened More than 100,000 Israelis rallied at the Knesset on Monday Read more…
LFI chair Steve McCabe MP and CFI chair Stephen Crabb MP have written the below article for the Daily Telegraph. Click here to read the original. As it clings on to power with ever greater desperation, deploying unimaginable violence against its own citizens for daring to call for greater freedoms, the Read more…
The shadow foreign secretary assailed the government’s failure to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in parliament last week. Facing foreign secretary James Cleverly during Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office questions, David Lammy accused the IRGC of being “responsible for 10 kidnap and death plots on British soil, the execution Read more…
Iran and Russia are finalising plans to build an advanced drone factory, according to weekend media reports. The new plant – which will be located nearly 600 miles east of Moscow – is intended to manufacture 6,000 drones for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Read more…
Over 100,000 Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday as mass protests against the Netanyahu government’s controversial judicial reforms enter their sixth week. Demonstrations took place throughout the country, but, as before, Israel’s second city saw the biggest crowds. As the protests continued, President Isaac Herzog attempted Read more…
The biggest Labour Friends of Israel delegation in more than a decade this week met with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog. The delegation also met with Israeli Labor party leader Merav Michaeli; Tzachi Hanegbi, the head of the National Security Council; and the Palestinian Authority’s deputy foreign minister Amal Jadou. LFI chair Steve Read more…
At Home Office Questions today, two Labour MPs pushed the government to take a tougher stance against the operation of Iranian agents in the UK, in particular the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the proscription of which is a longstanding LFI policy goal. LFI parliamentary supporter Virendra Sharma MP asked: It Read more…