Ambassador toasts launch of new Israel support group

A glittering crowd which included the Marquess of Reading, the Earl of Balfour, Baronesses Deech and Shackleton, gathered at the Savoy on Tuesday for the launch of the newest Israel support group, UK Israel Future Projects. It had the blessing of Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely, too, who welcomed the initiative.

Lord Bew, the new organisation’s chairman, said the launch had been timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Israel’s independence. “There is no question that Israel is actually stronger than when i first visited (aged 17), in its commitment to democratic values.”

Noting Israel’s present “internal debate”, Lord Bew said “we need to have an ever more nuanced and intelligent understanding of what’s happening in Israel, and what that means to the relationship between Israel and the United Kingdom”.

UK Israel Future Projects was born after a fierce internal split in the running of the Anglo-Israel Association. Many of those formerly associated with the AIA were present for the Savoy event, which was chaired by Bernard Shapiro.

The keynote speaker was Maj Gen (ret) Tamir Hayman, managing director of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, and former chief of the IDF Intelligence Directorate.

The INSS is Israel’s oldest think tank, established after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israeli intelligence had “missed the broader picture” and failed to warn of the forthcoming Egyptian and Syrian attacks. Now the INSS, with 100 personnel, is set up as a policy-orientated research body, which “wants to make a difference.”

In his address Major-General Hayman warned of the threat posed by Iran and also suggested that more attention needed to be paid to the younger generation of Palestinians, many of whom had lost any belief in the two-state solution and were turning more to terrorism.

Questions needed to be asked about the future of the Palestinian Authority after the anticipated death of its leader Abu Mazen, 86. “The Palestinian Authority is a skeleton without muscles, which is crumbling,” he told the audience.

The writer and former head of the Charity Commission, William Shawcross, gave an emotional appeal for the new organisation, which he said was needed more than ever.