Barnet Council passes motion to twin with Israeli city Haifa after Hackney severs ties

A London council has passed a motion to twin with Israel’s third largest city months after Hackney Council severed its ties with it.

Barnet Council is set to explore a twinning partnership with Haifa - located in northern Israel - with a mixed population of Israelis and Palestinians.

The motion was passed at the council meeting after being put forward by the Conservatives - all of whom bar two voted in favour.

All Labour councillors abstained from the vote, while the single Green councillor opposed it.

Haifa is located in the northern part of Israel

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Haifa is Israel’s third-largest city as well as its largest seaport. It lies within Israel's sovereign territory established in 1948, rather than the major Palestinian settlements in the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip.

Haifa is regarded as significant as a unique hub of Arab-Israeli coexistence. Unlike many segregated regions, Haifa is celebrated for being a city where Jewish Israelis and Arabs who identify as Palestinian can live, work, and study side-by-side.

This complex identity has made the city a beacon of interest internationally.

Campaigners behind Hackney's "de-twinning" motion argued that maintaining links with a major Israeli military port was “incompatible” with its values during the current Gaza conflict

Town twinning is a social agreement between two cities in an effort to build a working relationship and commercial links.

Israelis watch the Mediterranean Sea from a lookout in the northern Israeli city of Haifa

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Often twin towns might engage in school exchanges, shared events, or community visits. They might also look to encourage local trade and business networking.

Haifa had been twinned with the north London borough of Hackney for more than 50 years - though the relationship had been dormant since 2019.

Ms Garbett later apologised for her “deeply regretful oversight” and changed the deadline to October 14.

Mayor of Hackney, Zoe Garbett, announced the council would sever ties with Haifa

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Mayor of Haifa, Yona Yahav

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The mayor of Haifa, Yona Yahav, condemned Hackney Council’s decision to sever ties earlier this month, explaining that “Hackney’s decision regarding this historic relationship is its own. Haifa’s values, and our commitment to living by them, will remain unchanged.”

Barnet is one of London’s big hitters for twinning links, with existing partnerships with Chaville in France, Pokhara in Nepal, Siegen-Wittgenstein in Germany, and Montclair in the USA.

The borough also has an existing relationship with the Israeli city of Ramat Gan.

Conservative councillor Raffy Lachter told the Jewish Chronicle: “My vision is to officially twin Barnet with the city of Haifa,” he said. “But what I’m most excited for is what the ties can achieve, like meaningful cooperation in healthcare, education, and research.”

“There are two universities in Haifa, and we have the University of Middlesex in Barnet. We have Barnet General Hospital, and they’ve got Rambam Hospital. There are real opportunities to connect.”

In the past, medical professionals from Homerton Hospital in Hackney had travelled to Israel to compare medical skills and techniques.

Mr Lachter explained that he wanted that relationship to be replicated with Barnet General.

He added: “Haifa is the most diverse city in Israel. It’s a multicultural city. It’s a city where Arabs and Jews rub along and work together, so we thought it was appropriate.”

“Anyone who knows Israel and knows the city will understand that, and many of the residents in Barnet would also understand that.”