Hackney votes to begin severing 58-year twinning link with Haifa 

Hackney Council has voted to begin the process of ending its twinning relationship with the Israeli city of Haifa, a civic link signed in September 1968 by the then Mayor of Hackney, Stanley Clinton Davis, and his Haifa counterpart Abba Hushi.

The recommendations were carried by a majority on a show of hands at Tuesday’s full council meeting (28 July), delivering on a manifesto commitment made by the Green party before its landslide victory in May’s local elections.

The cabinet member with responsibility for twinning relationships Cllr Sam Mathys told the chamber the move followed the International Court of Justice’s findings that it was “plausible” Israel’s acts could amount to genocide, and that its continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory was unlawful.

“It is our responsibility as a Green-led council to ensure that our institutional relationships are consistent with our values and commitment to human rights, international law, justice and international solidarity,” she said.

“Our manifesto promised to end Hackney’s current twinning relationship with Haifa at its earliest convenience, which is what we are delivering today.”

The report’s five recommendations include agreeing in principle to terminate the 1968 agreement — subject to an engagement exercise and a full equality impact assessment — authorising the Mayor to write formally to the Mayor of Haifa to seek the city’s views, and establishing a six-member cross-party working group, chaired by Cllr Mathys, to review all five of the council’s twinning arrangements. 

Cllr Mathys told the chamber the working group would report back to full council in January — the next scheduled meeting after November falls on 28 January 2027. Residents will be able to give their views through Citizen Space, the council’s consultation hub, and legal advice in the report recommends a minimum of three months’ notice to Haifa given the near 60-year length of the arrangement.

‘Naivety’

The proposal drew fierce opposition from the Conservative and Labour benches.

Councillor Simche Steinberger (Con, Springfield) said the administration had failed to consult any of the borough’s six Jewish councillors and accused it of dismantling the only twinning link that produced tangible benefits.

“It’s probably the only twinning which actually does something,” he said, recalling doctors from Haifa’s Rambam Medical Centre visiting Homerton Hospital to share expertise. “I think it’s naivety more than anything else.” 

The council’s agenda papers mention the Homerton–Rambam link, noting the last known civic event was a reception for visiting Rambam nurses in October 2019.

Deciding to detwin before the review had taken place, he said, was “like building a house and first putting a roof and then putting the bricks”.

“If I was Haifa, I’d be ashamed to twin with Hackney in such a current situation,” he added. “It’s a disgrace, and it’s not asked for.”

He noted that Haifa was among Israel’s most left-leaning cities, where the Green party is the second-largest group on the council, and claimed two of Hackney’s five twinning arrangements were “completely inactive” yet had not been brought before members. 

The published council agenda papers in fact state that the Göttingen and Barbados links have been dormant for 25 years, describe the Haifa link itself as inactive since 2019, and propose that the working group review all five relationships.

Labour opposition

Councillor Ben Lucas (Labour, Hoxton West) said his party could not support the paper “in all good conscience”, while stressing: “We are unequivocal in our abhorrence of the devastation and violence in Gaza caused by the Israeli government, and we utterly condemn the Hamas terrorist attacks.”

The twinning, he said, was forged in 1968 “in a spirit of working-class solidarity” and built on medical cooperation.

“You are punishing people for the actions of a government,” he told Green members. “This is a performative gesture that will only inflame community tensions. Let’s be bridge builders, not burners.”

He also questioned the report’s structure, noting members were being asked to approve a review that had not yet begun, without a full equality impact assessment.

Labour group leader Anntoinette Bramble (London Fields) echoed the criticism: “How can a transparent review that is non-partisan, open and transparent, already come with a decision before the review has begun? You need to be honest about what you’re doing here.”

“Twinning is about local communities having a civic partnership,” she added.

Commenting on disrespectful behaviour in the chamber, she asked:”If we can’t get civility right in this chamber, how do we then build the bridges that we want in our communities?”

‘Justice for Palestine’

Speaking remotely after technical difficulties — with majority group whip George Grün (Green, Clissold) opening the speech on her behalf — Councillor Manal Massalha (Green, Dalston), a daughter of Nakba survivors who was elected only a month earlier in the 25 June by-election, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank demanded action.

She told members that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,100 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire, 282 of them children — “one child a day on average”. Citing Amnesty International, B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch’s conclusions that Israel practises apartheid, she said racial hierarchy in Israel was “the norm and the law”.

“Never again is never again for everyone,” she said. “Detwinning is not about opposing a people, a religion or a culture. It’s about ensuring that our institutional relationships reflect those values… Justice for Palestine is justice for all.”

‘Against Jewish law’

The most personal intervention came from Councillor Florence Schechter (Green, Brownswood), the cabinet member for finance, resident services and digital, who invoked her bat mitzvah in support of the move — and made clear she did not speak alone.

“It is my Jewish values that inform me: Hackney should no longer be twinned with Haifa,” she said. “And I am not the only Jewish councillor in the Green Group who believes this. I also stand here on behalf of [Green councillor] Cathy Troupp, who believes the same — daughter of a Holocaust survivor.”

Citing the sixth commandment and the sanctity of life in Jewish doctrine, she argued: “What the Israeli state is doing to the Palestinian people — killing innocent people — is against Jewish law.”

She said Israel’s actions constituted a Chillul Hashem — a desecration of God’s name, which she described as the burden every marginalised group carries when the conduct of one member reflects on all. “It isn’t fair and it isn’t right that the actions of Israel should reflect on all Jewish people,” she said. “If the Jewish people of Britain want to fight rising antisemitism, the first thing they must do is condemn the genocide in Palestine.” 

Second exchange and vote

Returning to the floor before the vote, Cllr Steinberger — who earlier claimed four minutes of speaking time as “the only one here” for his group — called for the report to be withdrawn “and we look into it properly”, saying the first he had heard of the proposal was its appearance on the agenda. Referring to the working group, he asked: “Are you going to use me now for your propaganda? I don’t want to be part of it.” 

He also objected to the religious turn of the debate: “Bringing in God with Chillul Hashem and all that — I don’t want to talk now about God. That’s very uncomfortable, to be honest.”

“I hope that this will be my first time and last time that I’ll have to get up and vote against something with the Greens,” he said.

Responding, Cllr Mathys said the working group would be cross-party, not Green-only, and invited each party to put forward representatives. She added: “This is the constitutionally correct way to open a decision of this kind to public debate. An item can’t be properly scrutinised by the public unless it’s on the agenda.”

The recommendations were carried by a majority on a show of hands, with the Speaker, Cllr Antoinette Fernandez, calling in turn for votes in favour, against and abstentions.