Cries of ‘betrayal’ as Town Hall stands by twinning arrangement with Israeli city

Campaigners have lambasted Hackney Council for “betraying” its values – after the mayor faced down calls to cut ties with an Israeli city.

Activists from the local branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) this week descended on the Town Hall to demonstrate ahead of a much-anticipated debate over the borough’s civic twinning with Haifa.

Members of Hackney Greens and Independent Socialists spoke at the rally, as chants of ‘End the twinning — now, now, now!’ rang out.

But despite a petition to de-twin garnering more than 4,000 votes, a majority of councillors backed the status quo.

Mayor Caroline Woodley said that although she “understood the strength of feeling on both sides”, she remained “committed to twinning”.

“Once the conflict is resolved, we will consider future twinning relationships where meaningful and sustainable connections are in place between communities in Hackney and overseas — including, I hope, in Palestine.”

The Town Hall noted the “receipt” of the petition.

Matt Rowland Hill from Hackney PSC called the decision a ‘betrayal’ of the council’s legacy on human rights.

“Caroline Woodley and Hackney’s Labour council made a stand last night — against Amnesty International and the world’s other leading human rights organisations.

“All those groups make it very clear that Hackney is twinned with a city where Palestinians, a fifth of the population, live under a system of racist domination that amounts to apartheid.

“Last time the world took a stand against apartheid — in South Africa — Hackney Council was on the right side of history.

“What a betrayal of that legacy that the council now says it wants to ‘extend a hand of friendship’ to Israel’s apartheid system,” Hill said.

Pro-Palestine campaigners had piled into the chamber gallery to hear last night’s deputations, giving thunderous applause to those arguing in favour of de-twinning.

One woman briefly flew a Palestinian flag from the balcony but was forcibly restrained by a security officer.

The Citizen later learned that the council had instructed that no flags — Israeli or Palestinian — were to be flown in the chamber.

During the debate, Cllr Ben Lucas (Labour) argued that de-twinning would be divisive for the community.

“To pin the actions of the Israeli government in prosecuting their campaign in Gaza on the people and communities of Haifa, as this petition seeks to do, sends a deeply problematic message.

“This is an international, non-political, non-sectarian and multi-faith link, rooted in and led by our communities and built over a number of decades. That is to be celebrated, not shunned.

“If we truly want to promote dialogue with the region, and peace, these are the ties that we should be promoting,” he said.

Others pointed to the borough’s municipal ties with various other global cities.

“We’re twinned with Gottingham in Germany — we all know what happened in the war,” said Cllr Michael Desmond (Labour).

Cllr Chris Kennedy spoke against the petition and asserted the importance of people “connecting at a personal, individual level”.

“I want to see people from Hackney able to visit Haifa and see the harsh realities of life there […] and I want the people from Haifa to be able to come to Hackney and see how here people of all faiths, and none, can live peacefully together.”

But Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock (Green) made the case that though it was important to bring people together, it was “inappropriate” that the council retain its ties with Haifa while Israel was committing war crimes, and that this was “the view of many in the community”.

He also urged the council to divest its pension fund from arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, which is based in Haifa — echoing the demands of Hackney PSC and others since the outbreak of war.

“At the moment, we are funding bombs that are killing thousands and thousands of innocent Palestinians,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the PSC, resident Norma Cohen insisted that the twinning undermined community cohesion.

“The clear implication is that the council believes it has a duty to continue twinning with Haifa for the sake of Hackney’s Jewish community.

“But it’s as a Jew, in the Jewish tradition of struggle against segregation in the American South and apartheid South Africa, that I speak this evening.”

Cohen raised the fact that many of the borough’s Jewish residents recently signed an open letter to the mayor.

It demanded an end to the relationship and called on the council to “commit to ending Hackney’s pension fund investments in companies complicit in Israel’s war crimes and to develop a strategy to do this as rapidly as possible”.

She also pointed to the conclusions of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli non-profit B’Tselem — all of which have condemned Israel for the crime of apartheid.

Appealing directly to the mayor, Cohen asked:  “Surely you regard [these] as credible when they report abuses by other countries?

“So why would you choose to ignore their findings regarding Israel’s treatment of Palestinians?”

For many months, Hackney PSC has called for de-twinning from the port city in northern Israel, owing to the treatment of the Arab Israeli population as second-class citizens.

Cllr Binnie-Lubbock added that “the council would not have had a twinning relationship with apartheid South Africa and any city there”, and argued that any proposed twinning relationship with Palestine would also be insufficient so long as the council is “funding bombs that are killing them”.

It is believed that Hackney had two twinning relationships with South African townships during the 1980s and 1990s, both of which appear to be gestures of anti-apartheid solidarity, though the status of these links is unclear – the Citizen is seeking further clarity on these.

The Hackney Anglo-Israel Friendship Association (HAIFA), a group which facilitates a medical exchange between Homerton hospital and Rambam hospital in Haifa, has championed the relationship between the two cities.

But last week, Hackney PSC said the twinning was no longer justifiable, not only because of the current Israeli regime’s actions, but because Homerton Hospital revealed the exchange underpinning the twinning was effectively over, since it had been “inactive” for several years.

Amid the confusion, a spokesperson for Homerton said “that will remain the case for the present”.

Martin Sugarman, HAIFA’s chair, asserted that the exchange’s pause was due first to the pandemic and then to the war in Gaza, and that there are plans to reactivate the scheme at “the right time”.

The war began on 7 October last year, when Hamas militants broke through Israel’s southern border, killing more than 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages – the majority of whom are suspected to have died in captivity.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported that the death toll from Israel’s subsequent assault on the strip now stands at 44,330.

The United Nations has said its analysis shows the 70 per cent of civilian casualties in Gaza are women and children.

A new ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel, brokered by the United States and France, was described by US President Joe Biden as an attempt to deliver a “permanent cessation of hostilities”.

The Citizen yesterday received reports that a PSC member was arrested and charged for assaulting an individual supporting the Hackney-Haifa twinning outside the Town Hall meeting.

The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for clarification.

Update: this article was amended at 11.15am on 29 November 2024 to add some further context to Hackney’s twinning arrangements in South Africa, with further clarity on these being sought.