Hackney’s Labour-run council has faced pressure from Greens and defectors to end its twinning relationship with an Israeli city, but the party has accused its opponents of political game-playing
An East London council meeting became sweary on Thursday night (October 23) as the council was accused of funding its staff pensions through “blood money”. Hackney’s Green and Independent opposition groups had triggered an emergency meeting to push for the council to ‘cut all ties with Israel’s genocide’.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the Labour-run council has been under sustained pressure to take action over Israel’s conduct, which a UN commission of inquiry in September found amounted to genocide.
Thursday’s motion resurrected Pro-Palestine groups demands to sever Hackney’s twinning relationship with Haifa and commit to “immediately starting the process” of divesting its pension fund holdings from firms profiting from Israel’s war in Gaza – and its ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories, widely considered illegal under international law.
Mayor of Hackney Caroline Woodley instead put down an amended motion striking out references to severing all ties and pledging to continue to “explore options” around divestment. Hackney Council has long argued that it is constrained by its legal obligations from divesting on its own from firm like Elbit Systems, which is headquartered in Haifa.
Temperatures ran high throughout the brief but rowdy debate, which Labour had dismissed as a “political stunt”. The ruling party accused the groups of “wasting taxpayer money” and sowing division, while one Labour defector attacked the amended motion as “delaying clauses disguised as moral outrage”.
The war of words was peppered by jeers and heckles coming from Pro-Palestine residents and activists, who had piled into the chamber gallery to watch. Before the debate was even underway, Council Speaker Cllr Sharon Graham warned them not to cause disruption or else they would be removed by security staff.
But the Speaker’s most dramatic intervention came from the chamber itself, when she reprimanded a Green councillor for swearing at the Labour benches. “It is not f***ing okay!”, said Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, arguing that the subtext of Labour’s amendments was tacit approval for Israel’s “murdering innocent people”.
Though he apologised to the chamber following the outburst this did not satisfy the Speaker, who found his contrition “very childish”.
‘Enough technical excuses’
Calls on Hackney to divest have grown louder as a number of England’s councils have pledged to pull investment from companies supplying countries like Israel with arms. But while Hackney’s pension committee chair previously gave those campaigners short shrift for “jumping on the bandwagon,” in September Mayor Woodley announced she would take “further steps towards divestment” after the UK formally recognised the State of Palestine.
The Green and Independent group said this commitment was “full of warm words but light on action” and attacked the Labour administration for “providing cover for the genocide of Palestinians”.
Cllr Claudia Turbet-Delof, who tabled the original motion, said residents had “had enough of technical excuses” around divestment and accused the council of spreading “myths” about its fiduciary duty. She reminded the chamber that the council had divested from Russian assets after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“This is not not time for exploring but time for leadership,” she said. “This is about humanity.”
Mayor Woodley last year stated that Hackney was able to divest from Russia alongside other London councils because the government had imposed sanctions and fund managers considered it a financial risk rather than an ethical one.
‘Wasting taxpayers’ money’
Labour councillors argued that the opposition groups were more interested in politicking and “divisive rhetoric”, arguing the council had already done all in its power to divest.
The borough’s community safety chief, Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, said the motion “pitted communities against each other” following the deadly Manchester synagogue attack and Peacehaven mosque arson attack earlier this month, adding that Hackney had seen a recent spike in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate incidents.
Her cabinet colleague Chris Kennedy said the opposition were “wasting taxpayer money” hypocritically putting pressure on Hackney Council to take instant action – despite the Green-controlled Bristol council being unable to guarantee immediate divestment.
Before Labour’s amended motion was overwhelmingly carried, Mayor Woodley said she hoped the council could “move on from the tension and passion tonight in an amicable way”.
‘Inactive’ twinning remains
This is the second time in the space of a year the council has debated Hackney’s twinning with Haifa in Israel. In November 2024 the council refused to sever this relationship, which has in the past supported medical exchanges between Hackney’s Homerton Hospital and Haifa’s Rambam Hospital.
The council has repeatedly said the arrangement has been “inactive” since before the Covid-19 pandemic. Labour defector Penny Wrout said the enduring link was akin to supporting “apartheid” South Africa. “I don’t care if it’s inactive”, she said.
The council at the time refused to immediately end the “non-political, non-sectarian and multi-faith” relationship. Last night, the Town Hall once more rejected calls to de-twin and instead pledged not to “engage in any twinning activity where conflict is ongoing, including in Haifa”.
As the meeting drew to a close, the gallery crowd held up signs spelling out ‘Blood Money’ and crying out “Shame on you!”. As Labour councillors filed out of the chamber, one activist warned them they had just endangered their seats at the local elections next May.
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