Hackney’s new leadership has chosen division over dialogue

Hackney is one of Britain’s most diverse boroughs. For generations it has been home to people of many faiths and backgrounds, including one of Britain’s oldest Jewish communities. Together they have shaped the borough’s rich identity and demonstrated that diversity and coexistence are strengths to be celebrated and protected, not undermined.

One of the first major acts of Hackney’s new leadership has been to begin dismantling a decades-old friendship with Haifa. That should concern everyone. At a time when residents are looking to their council to improve public services, strengthen communities and tackle the real challenges facing the borough, its priority has been to target a city thousands of miles away while further polarising and hurting its own Jewish community. What kind of leadership chooses division as its opening act?

The persecution of Jews is one of history’s oldest and most enduring forms of hatred. From medieval expulsions to the Holocaust, and most recently the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust on 7 October 2023, history repeatedly shows the devastating cost of allowing prejudice to become normalised. Those who have exploited hatred of Jews for political gain may have won power, but they lost their humanity. Leadership should be about breaking that cycle, not adding to it.

Many British Jews already feel more vulnerable than they have in decades as antisemitic incidents have risen sharply across the UK. Public bodies should be working to build trust, strengthen community cohesion and reassure all their residents that they belong. Instead, decisions like this risk deepening alienation and reinforcing the feeling that Britain’s Jewish community is being singled out rather than supported.

The decision is all the more misguided because Haifa embodies the very values Hackney claims to champion. It is one of Israel’s most diverse cities, where Jews, Muslims, Christians and Baháʼís live, work and study together. It is home to world-leading institutions such as the Technion and Rambam Health Care Campus—centres of innovation, medicine and research whose expertise could only enrich partnerships with Hackney. If councils genuinely believe in coexistence, collaboration and learning from one another, Haifa should be a partner to celebrate, not one to reject.

Whether intentional or not, choosing 7 October as the deadline for this process sends a deeply painful message. On a date that represents unimaginable trauma for Jewish families, Hackney Council should have shown greater sensitivity. This was a moment to unite communities, not deepen division.

Real leadership improves the lives of its residents. It brings people together, especially in difficult times. It builds bridges, not barriers. Hackney Council should reconsider this decision and choose dialogue over division.

Nivi Feldman served as the leader of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in the UK