‘A serious mistake’: Mayor says sorry for October 7 deadline in Haifa letter
Zoë Garbett has written a second letter to the Mayor of Haifa apologising for a “serious mistake”, after her original letter — sent on Wednesday to formally notify the Israeli city that Hackney councillors had voted “in principle” to terminate the boroughs’ 58-year twinning arrangement — invited a response by 7 October, the third anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel.
In that first letter, sent the day after Tuesday’s full council vote, the Mayor told her Haifa counterpart, Yona Yahav, that the relationship “no longer reflects the strategic priorities of the council”, cited the UN Commission of Inquiry’s conclusion that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, and formally invited the views of his administration on the proposed termination — by email, by 7 October 2026.
The Mayor’s follow-up letter, sent today (30 July) and obtained by the Citizen, extends the deadline for representations to 14 October and describes the original date as “a deeply regretful oversight”.
“I am aware that the 7th October marks the anniversary of the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks, a day that carries profound grief and distress for many,” Garbett writes.
“As Mayor, I take full responsibility for the correspondence issued under my name. Overlooking the significance of this date was insensitive and a serious mistake, and for this, I offer my sincere apologies.”
Calls to resign
The original deadline was first highlighted on social media on Wednesday evening, prompting a wave of criticism from Jewish communal organisations and national press coverage overnight.
Martin Sugarman, chair of the Hackney Anglo-Israeli Friendship Association, which oversees the twinning link and who was copied into both of the Mayor’s letters, told the Daily Mail that Garbett should resign, saying that if the date was chosen deliberately it was “vile and sinister” — and that if it was an error, it was staggering that nobody at the council had recognised its significance.
Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, told Jewish News that whether deliberate or the product of insensitivity, it was “an appalling choice of date”, and that the failure of anyone drafting or approving the letter to recognise its significance spoke volumes about the Hackney Greens’ attitude to the borough’s Jewish community. A Jewish Leadership Council spokesperson, quoted in the same report, called the deadline “crass and shockingly insensitive”.
Those reactions all came before today’s apology was issued, and none addresses the extension of the deadline to 14 October. The Citizen has approached the Board of Deputies and the Hackney Anglo-Israeli Friendship Association for their response to the Mayor’s letter.
Two explanations
Responding to a request from the Citizen this morning for an explanation of how the date was decided, a Hackney Council spokesperson said: “We apologise for the insensitivity of the original closing date for our consultation.
“We originally set the consultation to run for 10 weeks on the consultation platform. As soon as we noticed this error, we changed the closing date.”
The Mayor’s letter offers a somewhat fuller account. It states that officers extended the standard engagement period to ten weeks “to the day” specifically “to ensure it did not close during the Jewish holidays in September” — but that “in selecting a ten week engagement period to navigate the religious calendar, officers failed to recognise the significance of the 7th October date itself”.
Six decades of twinning
Hackney’s full council voted on Tuesday 28 July to begin the process of ending the twinning arrangement with Haifa, which dates back to 1968 and in practice has largely consisted of medical exchanges between Homerton Hospital and the Rambam Medical Centre — a programme dormant since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Campaigners including the Hackney Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Hackney PSC) had pressed the previous Labour administration to end the twinning since October 2023, arguing that civic ties with Haifa — home to the global headquarters of arms manufacturer Elbit Systems — normalised the treatment of Palestinians. Former Mayor Caroline Woodley twice declined, warning it risked inflaming community tensions. The Greens’ manifesto for May’s election, in which the party took 42 of the council’s 57 seats, committed to de-twinning at the earliest opportunity. Hackney PSC welcomed Tuesday’s vote.
Interested parties now have until 14 October to submit views and representations on the proposed termination, with the council expecting the process to conclude over the coming months.
“cited the UN Commission of Inquiry’s conclusion that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.”
The UN is deeply anti-Israel. A quarter of its members are Muslim countries. The criteria for genocide has not been met. Only 3% of the population died, so not genocide just on the numbers, and Israel facilitated the inoculating of 600,000 Gazan children against polio starting September 2024. This, and moving the civilian population of Gaza away from the fighting, is not the action of a country bent on genocide.
ICJ President Joan Donoghue already addressed this, stating: “The International Court of Justice did not find the genocide claim plausible, nor did it rule that a plausible case of genocide exists.”
What they actually said was that it was plausible that there might be created the conditions where genocide could happen.
Hardly the same thing at all, but this was picked up by the UN and used to legitimise the smearing of Israel because that’s what they do. They have had far more anti-Israel resolutions than the total number of resolutions against all other countries combined. Russia, Iran, China, all of them.
For more than two years, Israel has faced false allegations of genocide in Gaza. The accusation has been repeated so often that, in many circles, it is treated as an established fact.
Yet South Africa, which brought the case to the ICJ, has now requested an 18-month extension for the very case because they can’t produce any evidence.
They knew that it wasn’t true, they just wanted to get the word ‘genocide’ and the word ‘Israel’ in the same sentence. It was only intended to be a propaganda exercise. A false accusation does not become true through repetition, but that was the idea.
This does not reflect well on the citizens of Hackney. They are advertising that they value ignorance and hatred.
There is no coming back from this. Like Haifa, the largest example of coexistence between Arabs and Jews, could give a stuff this vile and malignant Mayor.
Worth adding that there is a new report which states that the United Nations is actively obstructing a U.S. investigation into Hamas infiltration of its Gaza aid agencies, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Six U.N. agencies have refused to provide complete personnel records or details about their interactions with Hamas.
The U.S. probe has reportedly identified:
• At least 100 Hamas members whose salaries were paid by UNRWA
• Around 1,500 UNRWA-linked individuals suspected of terrorist ties
• Multiple U.N. agencies withholding or providing only partial information.
The game is pretty much up for the UN. It has long been infiltrated by the terror networks supported by Middle East countries.
Maybe don’t use a smirking photo considering the issues?
It may be the democratic will of the people of hackney to disassociate our borough from Israel’s continuing violence, but that is no excuse for this kind of insensitivity. Good on the mayor for owning her mistake and issuing a prompt apology, as well as delivering on her campaign pledge. She will need to exercise more care in future.
It can only be a “mistake” if you are talking about utter incompetence from the Mayor through Council Officers and elected Councillors. I find that hard to believe as it would be an utter condemnation as to the quality of intellect of salaried and elected officials.
Whatever my personal views are on the current administration of Israel are they are held separately to the people of Israel.
As someone born and raised by the borough of Hackney I was always brought up to stand up for mutual equality of tolerance and respect. I think Hackney should stand with Haifa to work cooperatively for Peace and reconciliation.
So absurd. Not only does it hurt the people of Hackney – it hurts the Palestinians! A simple Google search reveals “ Yes, the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel, treats Palestinian patients from Gaza and the West Bank, particularly those requiring advanced or life-saving care not available locally.” The Greens have no business running anything.
I am a Hackney citizen I am horrified by both the detwining of Haifa and the choice of date. She can apologise all she likes but it’s too little too late, to not notice it was October 7th defies belief.
Hackney used to be proud of its multi culturalism but we now have a council that didn’t even think about the date October 7th until journalists and campaigners pointed it out, for so many Jewish people and allies that date is when the world changed and it is etched deeply in our psyches. Detwinning is an act of division and shows the greens have completely failed to understand the history of the Middle East and the injustice of their actions. I thought local authorities were meant to be looking after their residents not posturing about another part of the world. Mayor Garbet has alienated many of her residents already.
totally agree with Liz and other comments lamenting the proposed detwinning and the insult of picking October 7th. compare and contrast with the gracious response of the mayor of haifa
To Yonah Luecken et.al. who say The Citizen’s of Hackney “value ignorance and Hatred” unlike the Israeli population who love the civilian population in Gaza