‘No other community in Britain has to live like this’ – Reeves condemns Jew-hate

Chancellor Rachel Reeves declared, “No other community in Britain has to live like this – and nor should they,” as she addressed the rise of antisemitic hate and the recent terror attack on Heaton Park Synagogue during her keynote speech at the annual Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) lunch.

Reflecting on how “fears and anxiety over the rise in Jew-hate in this country were realised by the murderous attack at the Manchester synagogue during Yom Kippur,” Reeves told the audience—including Heaton Park’s Rabbi Daniel Walker—“The record increase in antisemitic attacks that we have seen since October 7 has been a stain on this country.”

She added, “This is a situation we cannot, and will not accept.”

Earlier in the event, at a central London hotel, LFI director Michael Rubin directly criticised the government’s stance on Israel, saying: “It is no secret, like us, many of you will be disappointed by some decisions made by the government, most especially with the timing and manner of the recognition of a Palestinian state this summer.”

The Labour Friends of Israel said 400 guests had attended, including Deputy Leader David Lammy, Justice Minister Sarah Sackman, Home Office minister Alex Davies-Jones, MPs Luke Akehurst and Christian Wakeford, as well as Progressive Judaism’s Rabbi Josh Levy and Rabbi Charley Baginsky, and Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg.

Elsewhere in her speech, the Chancellor said: “We must not tacitly accept the distortion that Zionism is something to be apologised for or, worse yet, a label to be surrendered to conspiracy theorists and antisemites.

“That progressive friends of Israel—whatever their criticism of particular governments—must be willing to say, unapologetically: I am a Zionist. And that I am a Zionist not in spite of my belief in democracy and freedom and equality, but because of those beliefs.” She continued: “Confronting the roots of antisemitism is a great moral challenge – for all of us.”

Reeves also announced, “Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will host representatives from Israeli and Palestinian civil society at Lancaster House in March, in support of an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, a longstanding LFI ask.”

In his speech, newly-appointed LFI chair Mark Sewards MP said: “As I set out on my year ahead as the honorary chair of LFI, an honour which I do not take lightly, I want the Jewish community to know that, in this endeavour that I have set out today, you will always have an ally and a friend in me.”

Former Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol paid tribute to the late Sir David Garrard, noting, “make a difference to people’s lives” as a reason many joined the Labour Party, and recalling how Garrard “persuaded Tony Blair to change the law on educational establishments to allow children from the ages of four to be given schooling, often in the most deprived areas of the country.”

Following the event, LFI director Rubin said: “Rachel Reeves’ commitment to Israel, the safety and security of the British Jewish community, and the fight against the rising tide of antisemitism shone through today’s speech.

“The chancellor laid out in the clearest possible terms that hatred of the world’s only Jewish state rests at the core of modern antisemitism. And she recognised that this simple truth is key to defeating Jew-hate in Britain today.”

Rubin added: “In opposition, Keir Starmer repeatedly pledged Labour’s support for establishing an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. At this critical time, we are delighted that the government is delivering on that pledge, drawing on the successful lessons of the Good Friday agreement to support peacebuilding and lay the vital civic society foundations for a two-state solution.”

LFI lay chair Adrian Cohen also expressed gratitude to those attending the annual event, during difficult times.

A group of pro-Palestine activists briefly made their way into the hotel lobby to protest the staging of the event, but were swiftly escorted outside.