Labour Friends of Israel fully returned to Labour party conference for the first time since 2018 last week, as thousands of parliamentarians, delegates and members descended on Brighton for the first physical conference of Keir Starmer’s leadership. Main takeaways The 2021 conference was a huge success for LFI, with an overwhelmingly Read more…
The highlight of LFI’s 2021 Labour conference was the annual reception, which took place on Tuesday night. Turnout for the reception overwhelmed all expectations, with some 500 people attending the two-hour event. Speakers to the capacity crowd included LFI chair Steve McCabe, Dame Louise Ellman, shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy, Read more…
Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), boasted that Iran had “built power” to confront the US this week. “We have built power to defeat the US. When we build power [to confront] man’s largest military empire, i.e. the US, small powers like the Zionist regime are Read more…
Lebanese parliamentarians met this week to formally confirm the country’s new government. The appointment earlier this month of telecoms billionaire Najib Mikati as prime minister ends a year-long political deadlock following the resignation of his predecessor in the wake of the deadly Beirut port explosion last August. However, Mikati, who Read more…
Iran is on track to obtain enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb within one month, according to a report by the US-based Institute for Science and International Security. The report, published on Monday, estimated that a worst case scenario would see Iran produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear Read more…
The leaders of Israel and Egypt, Naftali Bennett and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, held the first open talks in a decade on Monday as Bennett flew to Sharm el-Sheik. The leaders discussed rising tensions in Gaza, where both countries have imposed border restrictions in recent months. An increase in cross-border violence Read more…
In LFI’s new pamphlet, The New Middle East: A Progressive Approach, contributors explored how the Middle East is changing and what a progressive UK foreign policy response might be. In this webinar, a number of the pamphlet authors and Chatham House experts discussed the publication’s main arguments and recommendations. Prof Read more…
Israel and Jordan could be poised for an unprecedented boom in water cooperation amid technological advancement, environmental pressures and improved diplomatic ties. Water deals between Jerusalem and Amman suffered in recent years under former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose critics accused him of neglecting ties with Jordan. However, in Read more…
Iran has embarked on a campaign to establish itself as Lebanon’s primary fuel supplier, in order to empower its local proxy: the terrorist group Hezbollah. A recent report by Iran’s state Tasnim media, titled ‘The Iranian ships, the triangle of resistance that shattered the American hegemony’, laid out the Iranian Read more…
Join us for a discussion event on the Middle East’s changing political landscape, organised in collaboration with Chatham House. You can sign up for this fascinating discussion here ahead of the event itself on Tuesday 14th September at 2pm. Over the last decade, Middle Eastern countries have experienced significant changes in Read more…
Protests in Iran have entered their third week, with reports of widespread arrests of protestors and the deadly use of force. The protests began on 15 July in response to the ongoing severe drought and water crisis in the Ahwazi region of Khuzestan. Protestors have said that water represented only Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel director Michael Rubin has written the below article for LabourList. Click here to read the original. For those of us on the left who support Israel and want to see the forces of peace, progress and moderation advance in the Middle East, the last decade was without Read more…