Why London’s Hackney Council wants to repeal its ‘twin’ status with Haifa

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Hackney Council in east London is due to vote on Tuesday on whether to end its nearly 60-year “twinning” arrangement with Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city. The link, agreed in July 1968, was intended to promote contact and exchanges between residents. Council documents cited by Al Jazeera say the relationship has been inactive since the COVID-19 pandemic and that Hackney would not take part in Haifa twinning activity while the conflict continues.

The proposal follows May local elections in which the Green Party replaced Labour as the controlling group on the council. The Greens have campaigned on a pro-Palestinian platform and pledged to end the Haifa link, arguing that Hackney’s international partnerships should reflect human rights values. Al Jazeera says the motion also calls for a wider review of twinning arrangements and the creation of a cross-party working group.

According to the report, pressure to cut ties grew after a 2024 petition from the Hackney Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and later council motions. Council documents refer to residents’ concerns over Israel’s war in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis, and Haifa’s role as a naval and defence industry hub. They also cite a UN commission report accusing Israeli forces of serious international law violations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The move has drawn criticism from Jewish community figures and former Hackney Labour councillor Luke Akehurst, who argued that Haifa is a mixed Arab-Jewish city with a history of coexistence and that the twinning reflected Hackney’s Jewish community links. Hackney’s council data cited the 2021 census as recording 6.7 percent of residents as Jewish, while noting the figure may be an undercount.