The local council of Hackney, a London borough led by the left-wing Green Party, on Tuesday voted to begin the process of ending its twinning agreement with Haifa, British media reported.
The vote, an exact numerical tally of which has not been publicly reported, was the first phase in a series of administrative decisions that would end the symbolic partnership between the borough and Israel’s third-largest city. Hackney’s Green Mayor, Zoë Garbett, quoted a disputed U.N. body’s claim that Israel was guilty of “genocide” in Gaza to justify the move.
Phil Rosenberg, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said that with the vote, “the Hackney Green Party showed its ignorance and bigotry.” Noting Haifa’s reputation for tolerance and Arab-Jewish coexistence, he added: ”If the Hackney Greens had any genuine interest in peace, they would celebrate Haifa, not censure it. This vote represents the prioritization of spite over sense.”
Several motions by The Greens to de-twin Hackney, which has a sizable Jewish population, have failed, largely because of Labour councilors who opposed it.
Earlier this year, the Green Party, which stands to the left of Labour and is more vocally anti-Israel, ended more than six decades of almost uninterrupted Labour rule, winning 42 of the council’s 57 seats, while Labour collapsed from 50 seats in 2022 to just nine.
Garbett won the directly elected mayoralty, replacing Labour’s Caroline Woodley. Labour suffered heavy losses in parts of London and among progressive urban voters and Muslims, many of whom were dissatisfied with the party’s stance on energy policies, housing and Gaza.
Hackney Greens targeted Haifa in a manifesto in the run-up to May’s local elections. “In Haifa, Palestinian people live under occupation and apartheid by the Israeli state; this is not a city that reflects Hackney’s values. Hackney’s current and future twinning relationships should reflect our values, rather than undermine them,” the manifesto reads.
Haifa’s population is 15-20% Arab. They enjoy full rights equal to those of Jews, and are not considered, according to international law, to be under occupation.
Hackney’s mayor will write formally to her Haifa counterpart, Yona Yahav, to seek his views on the proposal to terminate the twinning partnership, The Jewish News of London reported.
The twinning agreement has mainly involved exchanges between Homerton University Hospital and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, according to the paper.
Addressing the council ahead of the vote, Hackney Mayor Garbett reinforced her party’s stance: “Given the ongoing humanitarian crisis and a U.N. commission concluding Israel has committed genocide [...] we are reviewing our international links, including a proposal to end our twinning agreement with the military port city of Haifa in Israel. This is about who we are as a council, what we condone, who we work with, and what that says about who we are.”
A few dozen anti-Israel protesters gathered outside town hall ahead of the vote. Garbett said about them: ”I want to thank everyone who’s emailed with their thoughts on this and passionately spoken to us about this over the years, and to everyone who’s been protesting outside the town hall before this meeting.”
