‘What date did Hamas attack Israel?’ – inside the council’s 7 October blunder

Hackney Council brought forward the deadline for views on ending the borough’s twinning with Haifa from the end of October to 7 October – the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel – three days after the mayor was told the consultation would run until the end of the month, documents show.

Emails, draft letters and internal chat messages released to the Hackney Citizen under the Freedom of Information Act show the date was reached by bringing the deadline forward from the end of October – a change missing from the council’s public explanation that officers lengthened the consultation to avoid the Jewish holidays.

On 26 July a council officer emailed Mayor Zoë Garbett, copying in Cllr Sam Mathys (the cabinet member responsible for twinning), asking her to sign off the consultation page and her letter to the mayor of Haifa, Yona Yahav.

“The current plan is for the engagement to run until the end of Oct, which also accounts for Jewish holidays in Sept,” the council officer wrote. The email set out a timetable ending with a final decision at Full Council in January.

Drafts of the letter to Mayor Yahav dated 24 and 27 July – either side of the 26 July request for the mayor’s sign-off – asked for views by 29 October 2026. The version dated 29 July, the day the letter was sent, gave a deadline of 7 October.

Agreed

At 17:09 that day, the mayor asked a council officer in an internal chat to change the closing date, which she said appeared in bold on the consultation page.

The council officer replied: “We did discuss 7 October and agreed amongst officers that was the best date, earlier than originally suggested in case you want to try for an earlier date and to give us long enough to analyse. Does it pose a problem?”

After another participant wrote “omg no not oct 7th!!”, the council officer replied “No just realised”, and then: “It’s not that simple.”

In a separate chat minutes later, one participant asked: “What date did Hamas attack Israel? And what date does our consultation close. Think we need to extend the consultation. Sorry I never spotted.”

The date was changed on the council’s consultation website at 17:23, by which time 103 responses had been received. After an interim change that evening, the closing date was set at 14 October the next morning.

On 30 July Kieran Read, the council’s director of corporate strategy and transformation, told Labour opposition councillor Ben Lucas that the choice of 7 October was “a deeply regrettable administrative oversight by officers”.

He said legal guidance recommended an engagement period of six to eight weeks, but officers recognised that eight weeks would overlap with the Jewish holidays and “extended the engagement window to 10 weeks”.

The council’s FOI response gives the same account, saying a wish to avoid closing the engagement during the Jewish holidays “was the reason for extending this to 10 weeks”.

The documents show the holidays had already been accounted for in the end-of-October plan put to the mayor. The 10-week deadline came from bringing that plan forward by three weeks. The council officer’s stated reason for the change was “in case you want to try for an earlier date”.

An earlier council officer email, on 23 July, set out what an earlier date would mean. It suggested leaving the consultation open “until early/mid Oct and then work towards November Full Council”, noting the holidays “would support an Oct end date”, and added: “If possible, I’d like to wrap everything up by November.”

Sign-off

The FOI response says the mayor and Cllr Mathys “were not involved in setting the specific end date, which was organised by officers”.

It says the mayor “signed off the content of her letter to the Mayor of Haifa before confirmation of the consultation end date. Once agreed the date was added to the Hackney mayor’s letter to the Mayor of Haifa.” It adds that it was Hackney’s mayor who “first noticed the issue and immediately asked for the date to be changed”.

The drafts released with the response show the letter already carried a deadline, 29 October, before 7 October replaced it. The council did not release any record of when the mayor signed off the letter or which version she approved, although the Hackney Citizen requested it. The records also do not show at what time the letter was emailed to the mayor of Haifa, Yona Yahav.

Removed

The 29 July draft also removed a sentence that reflected legal advice.

On 23 July Louise Humphreys, the council’s monitoring officer, advised that to “minimise allegations of predetermination” the letter should make clear that views from the consultation would be taken into consideration. She warned that any suggestion the mayor’s mind was “irrevocably made up” could be seen by the courts as predetermination “and thus potentially taint the decision”.

The drafts of 24 and 27 July included the line: “However, we are keen to hear the views of others, and the views received through the period of engagement will be taken into consideration before any final decision.”

It does not appear in the letter sent to Haifa, which says the mayor’s administration “is seeking to conclude this chapter of our civic history”.

The same draft replaced a description of Haifa as “widely recognised” to be “a military port city” with a reference to “a civic connection in Israel”. On 24 July Kieran Read had warned colleagues that “the more rationales we have… the more risk of challenge”, and favoured the military port city wording because it was specific to Haifa.

A reply from the mayor’s office on 14 August again described Haifa as “a major naval and military port city”.

Assessment

A briefing prepared for the mayor said that if Full Council voted to end the twinning arrangement, a full equality impact assessment “will be completed ahead of any public consultation and final decision”. The FOI response says the assessment will be completed later this year and will draw on the results of the consultation.

Cllr Lucas called for “a fuller investigation” into how the date was set. The council said no terms of reference exist for any investigation. It said its information governance team was reviewing records to answer FOI requests, and that they “confirm that the choice of 7 October was a genuine mistake”.

By 5pm on 8 October the council had received 2,902 responses. The consultation closed on 14 October, and a final decision is due at Full Council this civic year.

Unanswered

The Hackney Citizen’s request asked for the job titles of those who drafted, reviewed and approved the letter, and for any sign-off record or approval chain. None was provided: the council referred back to its answer on the length of the consultation.

The FOI request asked when and by whom the 10-week period was chosen. The records show officers agreed 7 October, but not who proposed bringing the date forward from 29 October.

The Citizen’s FOI request asked for all drafts, including tracked-changes versions. The drafts were released as text only, without comments or tracked changes, and a draft numbered v3 was not released, so it is not clear who removed the sentence on considering views before a final decision.

The council’s reply to Cllr Lucas was released. Kieran Read wrote in it that he had “written in similar terms to the Conservative Group”, but that letter was not released, and nor was any answer to further questions Cllr Lucas sent on 31 July.

Paragraphs of the mayor’s briefing containing legal advice were withheld.