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…
The Moroccan military announced this week that it had agreed to strengthen military cooperation with Israel, including in intelligence and cybersecurity, following defence meetings in Rabat. The two countries “agreed to further strengthen cooperation and expand it to other areas, including in intelligence, air defence and electronic warfare”, a Read more…
The parliament of Oman, which has widely been speculated to be a prime candidate for future diplomatic normalisation with Israel, voted last week to criminalise relations or interactions with “the Zionist entity”. The legislation would “severe any economic, sports or cultural relations” and “prohibit dealing in any way or means, Read more…
Last week, Likud Knesset member Danny Danon told an international Abraham Accords forum that he expects to “see an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the coming year.” Diplomats, business leaders and high ranking academics gathered in Rome at the Abraham Accords Global Leadership Summit to discuss ways to expand Read more…
Isaac Herzog this week returned to Israel after a two-day visit to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The Israeli President’s visit underlined the changed relationship between the two Gulf states and the Jewish state following the Abraham Accords, while also highlighting some potential difficulties on the horizon. What happened Read more…
Israel and its eastern neighbour Jordan have agreed to advance a joint green energy and water deal at the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt this week. The agreement, brokered by the United States and UAE, involves Israel constructing a designated desalination plant to export more water to Jordan, Read more…