A Green Party-controlled local council in London is on track to terminate Hackney Borough’s 56-year-old civic twinning agreement with the Israeli coastal city of Haifa, a move driven by widespread condemnation of Israel’s ongoing occupation, systemic apartheid, and reported genocide against Palestinian people. The vote on the separation proposal, scheduled for Tuesday, will fulfill a key election pledge the Green Party made ahead of its May 2024 council election victory. The Greens currently hold 42 of the council’s 57 seats, leaving the proposal all but guaranteed to pass when put to a vote.
The partnership between Hackney and Haifa was first established in 1968, and Palestine solidarity advocacy groups have spent years pushing previous Labour-led council administrations to end the arrangement. Advocacy pressure ramped up dramatically following the outbreak of Israel’s large-scale military campaign in Gaza starting in October 2023, which has been widely criticized by human rights groups for its devastating humanitarian impact on Palestinian civilians.
Alongside calls to end the twinning agreement, campaigners have also pushed the council to divest its public employee pension fund from any corporations tied to Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territories.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, one of the leading groups organizing around the de-twinning demand, argues that ongoing formal civic ties between Hackney and Haifa effectively normalize the “racist domination” that Israel has imposed on Palestinian communities across the occupied territories. The organization also drew attention to Haifa’s key strategic role: it serves as the global headquarters of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer and a primary supplier of military equipment to the Israeli Defense Forces.
According to multiple human rights reports, Israel maintains a formal apartheid regime over Palestinian people living in the occupied West Bank, while Palestinian citizens of Israel also face widespread institutionalized discrimination across core sectors including land allocation, urban planning, municipal funding, and fundamental civil rights.
In a public statement outlining its commitment to ending the twinning agreement, the Hackney Green Party noted that despite repeated mass calls from local residents and community groups for de-twinning, prior Labour-led council leadership consistently refused to cut formal ties with Haifa. “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 party added.
The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from pro-Israel political figures within the Labour Party. Michael Desmond, a sitting Labour councillor and self-identified avowed Zionist, previously characterized demands to end the twinning arrangement as an “appalling, abusive tirade” and has described Israel as an “inclusive” nation.
Luke Akehurst, a pro-Israel Labour Member of Parliament who served 12 years as a Hackney councillor before his election to national office, said he was “disgusted” by what he called the Greens’ “performative and spiteful gesture politics.” Akehurst, who previously led the pro-Israel advocacy group We Believe in Israel, has publicly defended Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as proportionate.
This report was originally covered by Middle East Eye, an outlet that provides independent, in-depth reporting and analysis on the Middle East, North Africa, and surrounding regions.