Hackney Council votes to end Haifa twinning

The Hackney Council, led by the Green Party, has voted to begin the process of ending its 56-year twinning partnership with the Israeli city of Haifa. The vote, taken at a full council meeting on July 28, initiates a formal review that is expected to culminate in the termination of the agreement later this year.

Mayor Zoë Garbett, who introduced the motion, cited the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and referenced a United Nations commission report that concluded Israel has committed genocide. She stated that maintaining a civic link with Haifa, which she described as a military port city, is fundamentally at odds with the council's anti-racist values. The council has established a cross-party working group to review all of Hackney's historic twinning relationships and explore new models focused on peacebuilding and climate justice.

The partnership with Haifa dates to July 26, 1968, and has primarily involved medical staff exchanges between Hackney's Homerton University Hospital and Haifa's Rambam Medical Centre, though these exchanges have been dormant since the COVID-19 pandemic. The move fulfills a manifesto pledge by the Hackney Greens, who took control of the council in...