Keir Starmer hosts ‘landmark’ meeting with Israeli Labor party officials

Keir Starmer and senior members of his team have hosted meetings with officials from Israel’s Labor Party in London in a move that has highlighted growing links between the “sister parties”.

Starmer, his deputy Angela Rayner, and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting were among the Labour team to meet with Israeli delegation, who included the party’s chief executive Nir Rosen and the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv Chen Arieli.

Michael Rubin, the director of Labour Friends of Israel, tweeted a photograph of the nine Havoda Party officials meeting with Starmer and Rayner in the Labour leader’s office.

It is understood that the Israelidelegation also travelled to Barnet at one stage in their visit where they observed from a distance campaigning by local Labour activists in the north London borough ahead of next week’s elections.

Streeting hosted a dinner with the delegation, while shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, and Labour general secretary also met with the Israelis.

Discussions are believed to have included shared accounts of battling back from poor election performances.

In Israel, despite a dip in the party’s fortunes, Labor has earned a place in the current coalition government.

Rubin told Jewish News:”I’m absolutely delighted that Labour has this week hosted a delegation of our friends from the Israeli Labor Party.

“The visit is an important landmark in the rebuilding of the deep and historic relationship with our sister party, as well as a fantastic opportunity to share best practice.

“This exchange is testament to the progress made by Keir Starmer in tackling anti-Jewish racism and rebuilding trust with our longstanding partners in Israel.

“LFI will continue to prioritise fostering close links between progressives in the UK and Israel, and I look forward to seeing the sister party relationship go from strength to strength under the leaderships of Keir and Merav Michaeli.”

Jonathan Cummings, international adviser to the Israeli Labor leader Merav Michaeli, told the Guardian it was a “great relief” to be in contact with the party and said they were struck by the time they had been given by senior politicians.

“Our main concern was always about antisemitism and the Jewish community – anti-Israel, anti-Zionism, that was almost a secondary issue. We wanted to be on the right side, supporting the community here,” he said.

Previous Israeli Labor leader Avi Gabbay infamously cut ties with the UK party under Corbyn in 2018 over his handling of the antisemitism crisis.