US secretary of state Antony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia this week, with improving ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia on the agenda for talks. Blinken “will discuss US-Saudi strategic cooperation on regional and global issues and a range of bilateral issues including economic and security cooperation”, the State Read more…
The Biden administration reportedly wants the Israeli government to halt its judicial reforms and restart peace talks with the Palestinian Authority in order for the US to make progress with brokering normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The past week has seen a number of reports that Jerusalem and Riyadh Read more…
US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said last week that the Biden administration would consider diplomatic normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia as being in its national security interest, underlining American commitment to expanding the 2020 Abraham Accords. Sullivan’s comments went further in support of ties between Jerusalem and Riyadh Read more…
Yesterday was Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s independence day. This year marks a particular milestone as Israel celebrates its 75th birthday! Formal celebrations A national ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem led celebrations of yesterday’s anniversary, as government officials, security leaders and other prominent Israelis gathered for a ceremonial torch-lighting honouring citizens for their Read more…
The below is Labour Friends of Israel’s 2023 National Policy Forum submission, to the ‘Britain in the world’ commission. Labour Friends of Israel: NPF Consultation Submission About LFI Established in 1957, Labour Friends of Israel campaigns for a negotiated two-state solution for two peoples; with Israel safe, secure and recognised Read more…
Saudi Arabia has reportedly asked the United States to approve the development of a civilian nuclear programme in exchange for the kingdom normalising relations with Israel. The demand is the latest in a series of asks put to the US from Riyadh, though such a deal remains “very far off”, the Times Read more…
A number of LFI peers have this evening taken part in a debate on ‘calming the violence and build a lasting peace between the government of Israel and the Palestinian people’ in the House of Lords. LFI Lords chair Baroness Ramsay reminded colleagues of how Iran’s support for terrorism in Read more…
Israeli president Isaac Herzog has praised a summit involving the biggest business delegation from the Gulf which “would have been pure fantasy a few years ago”. Herzog formally opened the OurCrowd summit, the biggest investor event in the Middle East for start-up companies, saying he was particularly glad to see Read more…
An El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Bangkok become the first Israeli airliner to cross over Oman’s airspace on Sunday night, three days after the Gulf state opened its skies to aircraft from all countries, including the Jewish state. The journey to Thailand, which would normally take 10.5 hours, 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…
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…
Saudi Arabia will not normalise ties with Israel without progress towards a two-state solution with the Palestinians, the kingdom’s top diplomat asserted last week. The comments by Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, followed reported discussion of the topic between Israeli prime minister Read more…