Jewish Labour councillor accuses Hackney Greens of promoting ‘hate’ with anti-Israel motion

A “divisive” motion tabled by Hackney’s Green and Independent opposition groups urging the council to “cut all ties with Israel’s genocide” was defeated during an often stormy emergency council meeting.

Angrily condemning the motion veteran Jewish Labour councillor Michael Desmond accused the Greens and Independents of promoting the politics of “hate, not hope.”

He added:”Our primary duty as a local authority is promoting community harmony and social cohesion.”

Recalling his own visits to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Desmond said he had met with Palestinians and Israelis who held “similar views” in regards to all wanting eventual peace for the region.

Cllr Desmond also used his speech to condemn Green Party leader Zack Polanski, revealing he had signed a letter sent to him asking him to “rein in his local party.”

Desmond said Polanski had”failed the first test of leadership – he didn’t even reply.”

In one outburst, Green councillor Alastair Binnie-Lubbock swore at the Labour benches, shouting, “It is not f***ing okay!”

Cllr Binnie-Lubbock later apologised to the chamber following his outburst, but the Speaker called his contrition “very childish” and added his language had been “totally unacceptable.”

He argued that Labour’s amendments amounted to tacit approval for Israel’s “murdering innocent people.”

Seconding the motion for the Greens Cllr Zoe Garbet – which also called for the end of Hackney’s twinning scheme with the city of Haifa – accused Israel of “apaartheid, a genocide, a system of domination over the Palestinan people.”

But Labour’s amended motion was carried overwhelmingly.

Activists from the Hackney Palestine Solidarity Campaign had been working for months on trying to force the Labour Council to divest its pension funds from companie in Israel and to end the twinning arrangement with Haifa.

Support from Green and independent Socialist councillors managed to force an extraordinary council meeting to discuss these issues this Thursday, 23 October.

The borough’s community safety chief, Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, said the Greens and Independents  motion had “pitted communities against each other” following the deadly Manchester synagogue attack Yom Kippur, which was also mentioned by other Labour representatives.

Mayor Caroline Woodley said she hoped the council could “move on from the tension and passion tonight in an amicable way.”

Instead of agreeing to sever all ties, Woodley put forward an amended motion that struck out references to cutting ties and instead pledged to “explore options” around divestment.

The ruling party accused the opposition groups of “wasting taxpayer money” and sowing division, while one Labour defector attacked the amended motion as “delaying clauses disguised as moral outrage.”

Council Speaker Cllr Sharon Graham warned pro-Palestine protesters not to cause disruption or risk being removed by security staff.

Cllr Claudia Turbet-Delof, who tabled the original motion, said residents had “had enough of technical excuses” around divestment and accused the council of spreading “myths” about its fiduciary duty.

She reminded the chamber that the council had divested from Russian assets after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

She claimed that because “many” in the borough came from “occupied and colonised lands” they recognised the situation in the Middle East as “a struggle for humanity”.

Turbet-Delof claimed that failure by Hackney to “say a genocide is not important for local action” reflected on the lack of urgency it had “to tackle poverty, homelessness, racism and exclusion here at home.”

Mayor Woodley previously stated that Hackney was able to divest from Russia alongside other London councils because the government had imposed sanctions and fund managers considered it a financial risk rather than an ethical one.

She also explained the twinning scheme with Haifa had been inactive for sometime, and would not be