North Durham MP Luke Akehurst has written the below article for the Jewish Chronicle. Click here to read the original.
The tragic conflict between Israel and Hamas has put the relationship between Britain and the Jewish state under great strain. The ceasefire deal agreed offers an opportunity for a reset – not simply to restore the relationship, but to deepen and strengthen it, to the mutual benefit of both countries.
At a time of international instability and insecurity, and big economic and social challenges and opportunities, the benefits to Britain are undeniable.
First, Israel is a key security partner for the UK. Cooperation to combat terrorism helps keep the streets of Britain safe; Israeli military equipment has protected British forces serving in combat zones; and both our governments recognise the huge threat posed to both the region and Europe by Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Shahed drone and ballistic missile programmes.
In the face of Putin’s aggression and sabre-rattling, it’s also clear we need to enhance Britain’s air defences, both at home and for our deployed forces in Eastern Europe. Germany has rightly recognised the importance of Israeli expertise and technology and purchased the Arrow-3 missile-shield system.
Cyberwarfare is another major threat to Britain – and Israeli cybersecurity experts are helping to protect us, including securing London’s place as a global financial centre.
Second, the UK-Israel trade partnership is worth nearly £6bn, of which more than half is made up of British exports to the Jewish state. Over 9,000 British businesses are involved in exporting or importing goods with Israel. And Israeli firms are the biggest supplier of NHS medicines, with their generics saving the health service an estimated £2.9 billion annually.
Finally, Israel has one of the world’s most innovative economies – leading the Middle East and North Africa and immediately behind China, Germany, Japan and France – and is a pioneer in applied AI, including in the fields of healthcare, climate tech, robotics, cybersecurity and agrifood. Indeed, in 2024 Israel’s AI startup activity was two to four times greater than in the United States or Europe, with the 2024 Stanford AI Index ranking Israel first globally in terms of AI talent concentration.
The synergies between Israel’s strengths and our government’s priorities couldn’t be clearer. So how can we best get relations back on track?
First, paradoxically, we need to start at home. Israelis are, rightly, horrified by the explosion of antisemitism we’ve seen in Europe and the US since the 7 October massacres – including in Britain. Since the horrific Manchester attack, the government has announced welcome steps on anti-Israel protests and tackling antisemitism in the NHS.
But the government knows we have to go much further. That means directly acknowledging and addressing the root of modern antisemitism: the global effort to demonise and delegitimise the world’s only Jewish state. “Anti-Zionist antisemitism is the antithesis of the Labour tradition,” Keir Starmer rightly said in 2021. Leadership on this issue would signal to the Israeli people – as well as British Jews – that we’re going to tackle not just the symptoms of anti-Jewish racism, but the causes.
Second, throughout this conflict our government has insisted on the need for Hamas to be disarmed and to have no role in Palestinian governance. Quite rightly, across the political spectrum, these are absolute red lines for Israel. This question will move to the forefront as the second stage of the ceasefire agreement – which Israel has accepted but upon which Hamas continues to equivocate – becomes the focus of international attention.
The knotty and complex problems of disarmament, decommissioning and verification were central to the Good Friday Agreement. Britain has huge experience on this topic – not least in the form of the prime minister’s current national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, who was Tony Blair’s chief negotiator – and we should offer Israel the benefit of that experience and expertise.
Finally, the government has recognised that we don’t get to choose the leaders of other countries. That’s been the basis on which we’ve forged warm working relations with other democracies – from Donald Trump’s America to Giorgia Meloni’s Italy and Narendra Modi’s India – which are led by governments that are not to our political taste and who we have profound disagreements with.
Israel – the region’s only democracy – should be no different.
We need to make it clear that our relationship with Israel has never rested on the political complexion of the government in Jerusalem. The Labour Party, as a political party, should absolutely deepen its relationship and solidarity with the Democrats (the merger of Labor and Meretz) as a centre-left sister party, but the UK Government needs to work with whoever the government is in Israel.
An important symbolic and substantive statement, now that the conflict is over, would be to restart the talks aimed at securing a free trade agreement – which were suspended in May but which Labour strongly backed in opposition and reaffirmed its commitment to in the immediate aftermath of the general election. This is in both our countries’ interests. There are major untapped opportunities: the services sector makes up around 80 per cent of both the UK and Israel’s economies but accounts for only just over one-third of total UK-Israel trade.
It would also underline an important principle: that whatever the disputes which may occur at times between their governments, the relationship between Israel and Britain is a strategic and economic necessity underpinned by our shared history and common democratic values.
