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In Brief: Israeli govt ends residency freeze for 4,000 Palestinians

Benny Gantz. Image Credit: U.S. Secretary of Defense, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Israel announced this week that it had officially legalised the status of 4,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, ending a decade-long freeze in which almost no requests were authorised under Benjamin Netanyahu. The move was part of the government’s ongoing effort, led by…

In Brief: Israeli officials express concern over rise in settler crimes

Israeli police in Lod. Credit: Israel Police, CC BY-SA 3.0. Israeli defence officials have expressed concern over a dramatic rise in hate crimes and violence by Jewish nationalists in the past two years. Most of the perpetrators appear to be West Bank settlers. Ynet news found that hate crimes increased significantly in 2020 compared with 2019, with a…

Westminster Hall Debate on Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA

LFI chair Steve McCabe MP. In the first week back after the conference recess, parliamentarians debated Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA nuclear deal in a Westminster Hall Debate organised by Stephen Crabb. A refresher The JCPOA, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was agreed in 2015 after some 20 months of negotiations. Signed in Vienna, the…

LFI director reflects on Labour conference

Labour Friends of Israel director Michael Rubin has written the below article for Fathom. Click here to read the original. Six years ago, at his first conference as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn attended the Labour Friends of Israel reception and managed the remarkable feat of addressing attendees without uttering the name of the Jewish state. Corbyn’s behaviour underlined the…

In Brief: Iranian supreme leader’s representative calls for Israel’s destruction

Ayatollah Khamenei. Image Credit: Tasnim News, CC BY 4.0. Lotfallah Dezhkam, the representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Fars province, called for the destruction of Israel in a sermon in Shiraz last week. The clerical firebrand declared, “the global arrogance led by America with complicity of Israel seeks to delay the realisation of [...] the destruction…

In Brief: Israeli ministers meet with PA to “keep two-state solution alive”

Nitzan Horowitz > Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Two Israeli ministers from the left-wing Meretz party, Nitzan Horowitz and Isawi Frej, met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday night. Health minister Horowitz said his party was working to “keep the two-state solution alive” within Israel’s new coalition government, which is led by right-wing…

In Brief: Iraqi notables call for diplomatic normalisation with Israel

Iraq base map > ERCC Portal, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. More than 300 prominent Iraqis made an unprecedented plea for regional reconciliation on 25 September, as they called for their country to normalise ties with Israel. “We demand full diplomatic relations with the State of Israel […] and a new policy of normalisation based on…

Analysis: Capacity crowd as LFI makes full return to Labour conference

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 positive response on our stall and…

LFI back with a bang at packed conference reception

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, shadow Middle East minister…

Dame Louise Ellman returns to the Labour Party

Dame Louise Ellman at LFI conference stall > Ian Vogler photography, Jewish News. The highlight of Labour's 2021 conference was the return of Dame Louise Ellman to Labour. Dame Louise, a former LFI chair and MP for Liverpool Riverside, resigned from Labour in October 2019 in protest at the culture of antisemitism that had developed under the leadership…